It is the breaking up of the composition into a number of
parts that have but a loose seeming connection the one with
the other.

[Illustration: BULLETIN 38 PLATE XI
ULI-ULI, A GOURD RATTLE]

[Page 107]

XIII.--THE HULA ULI-ULI

The hula _uli-uli_ was so called from the rattle which was
its sole instrument of accompaniment. This consisted of a
small gourd about the size of a large orange, into the cavity
of which were put shot-like seeds, like those of the canna; a
handle was then attached (pl. xi).

The actors who took part in this hula belonged, it is said,
to the class termed hoopaa, and went through with the
performance while kneeling or squatting, as has been
described. While cantillating the mele they held the rattle,
_uli-uli_, in the right hand, shaking it against the palm of
the other hand or the thigh, or making excursions in one
direction and another. In some performances of this hula
which the author has witnessed the olapa also took part, in
one case a woman, who stood and cantillated the song with
movement and gesture, while the hoopaa devoted themselves
exclusively to handling the uli-uli rattles.

The sacrificial offerings that preceded the old-time
performances of this hula are said to have been awa and a
roast porkling, in honor of the goddess Laka.

If the dignity and quality of the meles now used, or reported
to have been used, in the hula _uli-uli_ are to be taken as
any criterion of the quality and dignity of this hula, one
has to conclude that it must be assigned to a rank below that
of some others, such, for instance, as the _ala'a-papa_,
_pa-ipu_, _Pele_, and others.

David Malo, the Hawaiian historian, author of _Ka Moolelo
Hawaii_,[246] in the short chapter that he devotes to the hula,
mentions only ten hulas by name, the _ka-laau_,
_pa'i-umauma_, _pahu_, _pahu'a_, _ala'a-papa_, _pa'i-pa'i_,
_pa-ipu_, _ulili_, _kolani_, and the _kielei_. _Ulili_ is but
another form of the word _uli-uli_. Any utterance of Malo is
to be received seriously; but it seems doubtful if he