_o_ from the substantive _Ahu_,
to which it becomes joined to form the proper name of the
island now called Oahu.

_Mele_

Ke amo la ke ko'i ke akua la i-uka;
Haki nu'a-nu'a mai ka nalu mai Kahiki,
Po-po'i aku la i ke alo o Kilauea.[335]
Kanaka hea i ka lakou puaa kanu;
5 He wahine kui lei lehua i uka o Olaa,
Ku'u moku lehua i ke alo o He-eia.
O Kuku-ena[336] wahine,
Komo i ka lau-ki,
[Page 191] A'e-a'e a noho.
10 Eia makou, kou lau kaula la.
Eli-eli, kau mai!

[Footnote 335: The figure in the second and third verses, of
waves from Kahiki (_nalu mai Kahiki_) beating against the
front of Kilauea (_Po-po'i aku la i ke alo o Kilauea_), seems
to picture the trampling of the multitude splashing the mire
as if it were, waves of ocean.]

[Footnote 336: _Kukuena_. There is some uncertainty as to who
this character was; probably the same as Haumea, the mother
of Pele.]

[Translation]

_Song_

They bear the god's ax up the mountain;
Trampling the mire, like waves from Kahiki
That beat on the front of Kilauea.
The people with offerings lift up a prayer;
5 A woman strings wreaths in Olaa--
Lehua grove mine bord'ring He-eia.
And now Kukuena, mother god,
Covers her loins with a pa-u of ti leaf;
She mounts the altar; she sits.
10 Behold us, your conclave of priests.
Enter in, possess us!

This has the marks of a Hawaiian prayer, and as such it is
said to have been used in old times by canoe-builders when
going up into the mountains in search of timber. Or it may
have been recited by the priests and people who went up to
fell the lehua tree from which to carve the Makahiki[337] idol;
or, again, may it possibly have been recited by the company
of hula folk who climbed the mountain in search of a tree to
be set up in the halau as a representation of the god whom
they wished to honor? This is a question