found
who can give a satisfactory explanation of the logical
connection existing between the passage here cited and the
rest of the poem. It treats of an armed conflict between
Kauahoa and his cousin Kawelo, a hero from Oahu, which took
place on Kauai. Kauahoa was a retainer and soldier of
Ai-kanaka, a king of Kauai. The period was in the reign of
King Kakuhihewa, of Oahu. Kawelo invaded Kauai with an armed
force and made a proposition to Kauahoa which involved
treachery to Kauahoa's liege-lord Ai-kanaka. Kauahoa's answer
to this proposition is given in verse 28; _Hu'e a kaua, moe i
ke awakea!_--"Strike home, then sleep at midday!" The sleep
at midday was the sleep of death.]

[Footnote 434: _Kapae ke kaua o ka hoahanau!_ This was the
reply of Kawelo, urging Kauahoa to set the demands of kinship
above those of honor and loyalty to his liege-lord. In the
battle that ensued Kauahoa came to his death. The story of
Kawelo is full of romance.]

[Footnote 435: _Kaio'e_. Said to be a choice and beautiful
flower found on Kauai. It is not described by Hillebrand.]

[Footnote 436: _Ka nioi o Paka'a-lana_. The doorsill of the
temple, _heiau_, of Paka'a-lana was made of the exceedingly
hard wood _nioi_. It was to this temple that Puapua-lenalena
brought the conch Kiha-pu when he had stolen (recovered) it
from god Kane.]

[Footnote 437: _Qumukahi_. See note _c_ on p. 197.]

[Footnote 438: _Awa kau-laau o Puna_. It is said that in Puna
the birds sometimes planted the awa in the stumps or in the
crotches of the trees, and this awa was of the finest
quality.]

The author of this mele, apparently under the sanction of his
poetic license, uses toward the great god Ku a plainness of
speech which to us seems satirical; he speaks of him as
_makole_, red-eyed, the result, no doubt, of his notorious
addiction to awa, in which he was not alone among the gods.
But it is not at all certain that the Hawaiians looked upon
this ophthalmic redness as repulsive or disgraceful.
Everything connected with awa had for them a cherished value.