HIIAKA ADDRESSES POHAKU-O-KAUA’I—THE TWO WOMEN RIG UP A CANOE—SHE SALUTES KAENA—SALUTE TO HAUPU—SEES LOHIAU’S SPIRIT FORM
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Emerson, Nathaniel Bright
The road this that leads to desire—
One’s travel stays not at twilight,
Nor to ease one’s back of its load.
My journey’s to Ka-hua-nui;
She is the goal of my passion.
If love be the targe of thy aim,
And I that targe, ruin awaits thee!
Source notes
1Kua-o-ka-La (the back of the sun), a personification and deification of that orb. ↑
2Kowelowelo, to sink into; to be submerged. ↑
3Haupu, a famous hill on Kauai, visible from Oahu. When it was capped with a cloud, Hawaiians said, “Ua kau mai ka pua’a i Haupu; e ua ana.” If that occurred in the rainy season, they said it was about to clear. ↑
4Waha, the same as haawe, i.e., a load for the back. In this case it was a bank of mist or clouds. ↑
5Ke-olewa, a hill, smaller than Haupu, on the side towards Kipu-kai. The word also applied to the floating clouds about the mountain. ↑
6Lawa-kua, a precious object bound to the back; applied, therefore, to a child, a dear friend and the like; the local name applied to a wind at Ka-lalau. ↑
7Ka-unu-kupukupu, a land in Puna. The intrinsic meaning of the phrase is an increasing, overmastering, passion ka-unu, a passion; kupukupu, to grow up, to increase. ↑
8Li’u-la, twilight. ↑
9Poha-kau, a resting place where the burden-carrier leaned back and relieved his shoulders of their burden for a time. ↑
10Kaulia, old form of kauia (kau ia). It connotes the removing from the back the haawe, preliminary to a long rest. ↑
11Kilohana, here means a comfort, a relief. ↑
12Ka-hua-nui, the elder sister of Lohiau. ↑
13Kau-nu, desire, passion. Wai o kau-nu, lit., the water of love—“the warm effects.” ↑