his jaw "like a shovel," a picture of the surf
rider--"foam rose on each side of his neck like a boar's tusks," and the
appearance of the Sun god's skin, "like a furnace where iron is melted,"
will, perhaps, cover them all. In each the figure is exact, but
ornamental, evidently used to heighten the effect. Images are
occasionally elaborated with exact realization of the bodily sensation
produced. The rainbow "trembling in the hot rays of the sun" is an
example, and those passages which convey the lover's sensations--"his
heart fainted with love," "thick pressed with thunders of love," or such
an image as "the burden of his mind was lifted." Sometimes the image
carries the comparison into another field, as in "the windings and
twistings of his journey"--a habit of mind well illustrated in the
occasional proverbs, and in the highly figurative songs.]

[Footnote 32: The Polynesians, like the ancient Hebrews, practiced
circumcision with strict ceremonial observances.]

[Footnote 33: The gods invoked by Aiwohikupua are not translated with
certainty, but they evidently represent such forces of the elements as
we see later belong among the family deities of the Aiwohikupua
household. Prayer as an invocation to the gods who are called upon for
help is one of the most characteristic features of native ritual, and
the termination _amama_, generally accompanied by the finishing phrases
_ua noa_, "it is finished," and _lele wale aku la_, "flown away," is
genuine Polynesian. Literally _mama_ means "to chew," but not for the
purpose of swallowing like food, but to spit out of the mouth, as in the
preparation of _awa_. The term may therefore, authorities say, be
connected with the ceremonial chewing of _awa_ in the ritualistic
invocations to the gods. A similar prayer quoted by Gill (Myths and
Songs, 120) he ascribes to the antiquity of the story.]

[Footnote 34: The _laau palau_, literally "wood-that-cuts," which Wise
translates "war club," has not been identified on Hawaii in the Bishop
Museum, but is described from other groups. Gill, from the Hervey
Islands, calls it a sharpened digging stick, used also as a weapon. The
gigantic dimensions of these sticks and their appellations are
emphasized in the hero tales.]

[Footnote 35: The Hawaiian cloak or _kihei_ is a large square, 2 yards
in size, made of bark cloth worn over the shoulders and joined by two
corners on one side in a knot.]

[Footnote 36: The meaning of the idiomatic