, e!

[Translation]

_Song_

Let's worship now the bird-cage.
Seest thou the furzy woodland,
The shag of herb and forest,
The low earth-tinting rainbow,
5 Child of the Sun that swings above?
O, happy bird, to drink from the pool,
A bliss free to the million!

[Footnote 217: _Punohu_. A compact mass of clouds, generally
lying low in the heavens; a cloud-omen; also a rainbow that
lies close to the earth, such as is formed when the sun is
high in the heavens.]

This is the language of symbolism. When Venus went about to
ensnare Adonis, among her other wiles she warbled to him of
mountains, dales, and pleasant fountains.

The mele now presented is of an entirely different character
from those that have just preceded. It is said to have been
the joint composition of the high chief Keiki-o-ewa of Kauai,
at one time the kahu of Prince Moses, and of Kapihe, a
distinguished poet--haku-mele--and prophet. (To Kapihe is
ascribed the prophetic and oracular utterance, _E iho ana o
luna, e pii ana o lalo; e ku ana ka paia; e moe ana kaula; e
kau ana kau-huhu--o lani iluna, o honua ilalo_--"The high
shall be brought low, the lowly uplifted; the defenses shall
stand; the prophet shall lie low; the mountain walls shall
abide--heaven above, earth beneath.")

This next poem may be regarded as an epithalamium, the
celebration of the mystery and bliss of the wedding night,
the _hoao ana_ of a high chief and his high-born _kapu_
sister. The murmur of the breeze, the fury of the winds, the
heat of the sun, the sacrificial ovens, all are symbols that
set forth the emotions, experiences, and mysteries of the
night:
[Page 100]

_Mele_

(Ko'ihonua)

O Wanahili[218] ka po loa ia Manu'a,[219]
O ka pu kau kama[220] i Hawaii akea;
O ka pu leina[221] kea a Kiha--
O Kiha nui a Pii-lani--[222]
5 O Kauhi kalana-honu'-a-Kama;[223]
O ka maka iolena[224] ke koohau