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
Hiiaka had large acquaintance with the natural features of every landscape, and if those features were of volcanic origin she might claim them as kindred through her own relationship with Pele. It was hers to find friendship, if not sermons, in stones. This Pohaku-o-Kaua’i, to whom Hiiaka now addressed herself, though in outward form an unshapen bowlder, as we see it today,—the very one that Mawi drew from its ocean-bed with his magic hook Mana-ia-ka-lani—was in truth a sentient being, alive to all the honor-claims of kinship. To him, in her need, Hiiaka addressed herself:
E Pohaku o Kaua’i i kai, e,
A po Ka-ena i na pali,
I wa’a no maua
E ike aku ai i ka maka o ke hoa,
O Lohiau ipo, e!
TRANSLATION
O sea-planted Rock of Kaua’i,
Night shadows the cliffs of Ka-ena:
A canoe for me and my fellow;
We would look on the face of our friend,
Lohiau the dearly beloved.
“I have no canoe,” said Pohaku-o-Kaua’i. “The one I had was wrecked in a storm while on a fishing trip. One huge wave came aboard and split her from end to end. We had to swim for it. But surely, such a beautiful woman as you will have no trouble in finding a canoe. There must be no lack of canoes making the trip to Kaua’i.”
“In the lack of a canoe, let us have a plank, such as I see you are there using for a shelf.”
“If that will serve you, you are welcome,” said the old man.
“We shall also need an outrigger-float for our craft,” Hiiaka remarked.
“An ama (outrigger-float) is a thing I lack,” he answered.
“You must have some block of wili-wili—such as that one, for instance, which you use to hold your fishhooks,” Hiiaka urged.
The old man was able to meet their demands. The two women then set their wits to work and finally succeeded in lashing the parts together in such fashion as to make something that would serve as a canoe.
Hiiaka, as the one in command, sat astern and Wahine-oma’o in the bow. As they sailed away Hiiaka saluted Cape Ka-ena in these words:
Holo Ka-ena, la,
Me he wa’a kaukahi la i ka malie;—
Ka lau hoe, lau hoe o Kua-o-ka-la;1
Ke kowelowelo2 la o Lehua, e;
O Lehua ho’i, e!
TRANSLATION
Ka-ena speeds along
A single canoe in the calm;
The four hundred rays that dart from
The Back of the Sun sink down
In the sea at Lehua,
The western waves of Lehua.
When well out in the channel of Kaieie the sight of the famous Hill of Haupu, that now appeared to lift its head like a water-fowl stemming the tide, was an inspiration to song. Mingled with the pleasure, however, was the chagrin and indignation that came from knowing that at that very moment her own lehua preserves in Kona were suffering ravage from fire by the act of Pele:
O Haupu,3 mauna ki’e-ki’e,
Huki a’e la, pa i ka lani;
Waha4 keiki ma ke kua;
Hi’i Ke-olewa5 ma ke alo;
Au ana Ni’ihau i ke kai.
Pau a’u lehua i ka manu, e,
Pau, e, o a’u lehua, ho’i, e!