g the hill Ma'e-ma'e,
35 To look on thy charms, dear one,
The fragrant buds of the mountain.
What perfume breathes from thy body,
Such time as to thee I come close,
My scarlet bloom of lehua
40 Yields nectar sought by the birds.

This mele is said to have been the production of Prince
[Page 110] William Lunalilo--afterward King of the Hawaiian islands--and
to have been addressed to the Princess Victoria Kamamalu,
whom he sought in marriage. Both of them inherited high chief
rank, and their offspring, according to Hawaiian usage, would
have outranked her brothers, kings Kamehameha IV and V.
Selfish and political considerations, therefore, forbade the
match, and thereby hangs a tale, the shadow of which darkens
this song. Every lover is one part poet; and Lunalilo, even
without the love-flame, was more than one part poet.

The poem shows the influence of foreign ways and teachings
and the pressure of the new environment that had entered
Hawaii, in its form, in the moderation of its language and
imagery, and in the coherence of its parts; at the same time
the spirit of the song and the color of its native imagery
mark it as the product of a Polynesian mind.

According to the author's interpretation of the song,
_Alekoki_ (verse 2), a name applied to a portion of the
Nuuanu stream lower down than the basin and falls of _Kapena_
(_Kahiwai a o Kapena_--verse 14), symbolizes a flame that may
once have warmed the singer's imagination, but which he
discards in favor of his new love, the pool of Kapena. The
rain, which prefers to linger in the upland regions of Nuuanu
(verses 3 and 4) and which often reaches not the lower
levels, typifies his brooding affection. The cold, the storm,
and the tempest that rage at _Mamala_ (verse 21)--a name
given to the ocean just outside Honolulu harbor--and that
fill the heavens with driving scud (verses 27 and 28)
represent the violent opposition in high quarters to the
love-match. The tale-bearing wind, _makani ahai-lono_ (verse
29), refers, no doubt, to the storm of scandal. T