INTRODUCTION
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Emerson, Nathaniel Bright
Hui1 iho nei ka wa’a a Ka-moho-alii
E kii ana i ko lakou pokii, ia Kane-apua, i Nihoa.
Pili aku nei ka wa’a o Ka-moho-alii i uka nei o Nihoa,
Kahea aku nei i ko lakou pokii, ia Kane-apua,
E kau aku ma ka pola o ka wa’a.
Hui iho nei ka ihu o ka wa’a o Ka-moho-alii—
He wa’a e holo ana i Niihau,
Kau aku nei o Ka-moho-alii i ka laau, he paoa,2
E imi ana i ko lakou aina e noho ai, o Kauai:
Aole na’e i loa’a.
Kau mai la o Ka-moho-alii i ka laau, he paoa;
O Ahu3 ka aina.
Ia ka ana iho nei o lakou i Alia-pa’akai,
Aole na’e he aina.
TRANSLATION
Ka-moho-alii turned his canoe
To rescue lad Kane from Nihoa.
Anon the craft lies off Nihoa’s coast;
They shout to the lad, to Kane-apua,
Come aboard, rest with us on the pola.4
Ka-moho-alii turns now his prow,
He will steer for the fertile Niihau.
He sets out the wizard staff Paoa,
To test if Kauai’s to be their home;
But they found it not there.
Once more the captain sails on with the rod,
To try if Oahu’s the wished for land:
They thrust in the staff at Salt Lake Crater,
But that proved not the land of their promise.
Arrived at Oahu, Ka-moho-alii, who still had Pele in his keeping, left the canoe in charge of Holoholo-kai and, with the rest of the party, continued the journey by land. The witchery of the Paoa was appealed to from time to time, as at Alia-pa’akai, Puowaena (Punchbowl Hill), Leahi (Diamond Head), and lastly at Makapu’u Point, but nowhere with a satisfactory response. (The words of Pele in the second verse of the kaao next to be given lead one to infer that she must for a time have entertained the thought that they had found the desired haven at Pele-ula—a small land-division within the limits of the present city of Honolulu.) Let the poet tell the story:
Ke ku nei makou e imi kahi e noho ai
A loa’a ma Pele-ula:
O Kapo-ula-kina’u ka wahine;
A loa’a i ka lae kapu o Maka-pu’u.
Ilaila pau ke kuleana;
Imi ia Kane-hoa-lani,
A loa’a i ka lae o Maka-hana-loa.—
He loa ka uka o Puna:
Elua kaua i ke kapa hookahi.
Akahi au a ike—haupu mau, walohia wale: