Xxx.—The Hula Kolea

There was a peculiar class of hulas named after animals, in each one of which the song-maker developed some characteristic of the animal in a fanciful way, while the actors themselves aimed to portray the animal’s movements in a mimetic fashion. To this class belongs the hula kolea. It was a peculiar dance, performed, as an informant asserts, by actors who took the kneeling posture, all being placed in one row and facing in the same direction. There were gestures without stint, arms, heads, and bodies moving in a fashion that seemed to imitate in a far-off way the movements of the bird itself. There was no instrumental accompaniment to the music. The following mele is one that was given with this hula:

Kolea kai piha! I aha mai nei? Ku-nou mai nei. E aha kakou? E ai kakou. Nohea ka ai? No Kahiki mai. Hiki mai ka Lani, Olina Hawaii, Mala’ela’e ke ala, Nou, e ka Lani. Puili pu ke aloha, Pili me ka’u manu. Ka puana a ka moe? Moe oe a hoolana Ka hali’a i hiki mai; Ooe pu me a’u Noho pu i ka wai aliali. Hai’na ia ka pauna. O ka hua o ke kolea, aia i Kahiki. Hiki mai kou aloha, mae’ele au.

[Translation.]

A plover at the full of the sea— What, pray, is it saying to me? It keeps bobbing its noddy. To do what would you counsel? Why, eat its plump body! Whence comes the sweet morsel? From the land of Kahiki. When our sovereign appears, Hawaii gathers for play, Stumble-blocks cleared from the way— Fit rule of the king’s highway. Let each one embrace then his love; For me, I’ll keep to my dove. Hark now, the signal for bed! Attentive then to love’s tread, While a wee bird sings in the soul, My love comes to me heart-whole— Then quaff the waters of bliss. Say what is the key to all this? The plover egg’s laid in Kahiki. Your love, when it comes, finds me dumb.

The plover—kolea—is a wayfarer in Hawaii; its nest-home is in distant lands, Kahiki. The Hawaiian poet finds in all this something that reminds him of the spirit of love.