CHAPTER XXII

 HIIAKA ADDRESSES POHAKU-O-KAUA’I—THE TWO WOMEN RIG UP A CANOE—SHE SALUTES¹ KAENA—SALUTE TO HAUPU—SEES LOHIAU’S SPIRIT FORM

 

Hiiaka had large acquaintance with the natural features of every landscape, and if those features were of volcanic³ origin she might claim them as kindred through her own relationship with Pele. It was hers to find friendship, if not sermons, in stones. This Pohaku-o-Kaua’i, to whom Hiiaka now addressed herself, though in outward form an unshapen bowlder, as we see it today,—the very one that Mawi drew from its ocean-bed with his magic hook Mana-ia-ka-lani—was in truth a sentient⁴ being, alive to all the honor-claims of kinship. To him, in her need, Hiiaka addressed herself:

 

E Pohaku o Kaua’i i kai, e,

A po Ka-ena i na pali,

I wa’a no maua

E ike aku ai i ka maka o ke hoa,

O Lohiau ipo, e!

TRANSLATION

 

O sea-planted Rock of Kaua’i,

Night shadows the cliffs of Ka-ena:

A canoe for me and my fellow;

We would look on the face of our friend,

Lohiau the dearly beloved.

“I have no canoe,” said Pohaku-o-Kaua’i. “The one I had was wrecked⁵ in a storm while on a fishing trip. One huge wave came aboard and split her from end to end. We had to swim for it. But surely, such a beautiful woman as you will have no trouble in finding a canoe. There must be no lack of canoes making the trip to Kaua’i.”

 

“In the lack of a canoe, let us have a plank⁶, such as I see you are there using for a shelf.” [106]

 

“If that will serve you, you are welcome,” said the old man.

 

“We shall also need an outrigger-float for our craft,” Hiiaka remarked.

 

“An ama (outrigger-float) is a thing I lack,” he answered.

 

“You must have some block of wili-wili—such as that one, for instance, which you use to hold your fishhooks,” Hiiaka urged.

 

The old man was able to meet their demands. The two women then set their wits to work and finally succeeded in lashing⁷ the parts together in such fashion as to make something that would serve as a canoe.

 

Hiiaka, as the one in command, sat astern and Wahine-oma’o in the bow. As they sailed away Hiiaka saluted⁸ Cape² Ka-ena in these words:

 

Holo Ka-ena, la,

Me he wa’a kaukahi la i ka malie;—

Ka lau hoe, lau hoe o Kua-o-ka-la;1

Ke kowelowelo2 la o Lehua, e;

O Lehua ho’i, e!

TRANSLATION

 

Ka-ena speeds along

A single canoe in the calm;

The four hundred rays that dart⁹ from

The Back of the Sun sink down

In the sea at Lehua,

The western waves of Lehua.

When well out in the channel of Kaieie the sight of the famous Hill of Haupu, that now appeared to lift its head like a water-fowl stemming the tide, was an inspiration to song. Mingled¹⁰ with the pleasure, however, was the chagrin¹¹ and indignation that came from knowing that at that very moment her own lehua preserves in Kona were suffering ravage¹² from fire by the act of Pele: [107]

 

O Haupu,3 mauna ki’e-ki’e,

Huki a’e la, pa i ka lani;

Waha4 keiki ma ke kua;

Hi’i Ke-olewa5 ma ke alo;

Au ana Ni’ihau i ke kai.

Pau a’u lehua i ka manu, e,

Pau, e, o a’u lehua, ho’i, e!

TRANSLATION

 

Famed Haupu, the mighty¹³ hill,

Lifts head till she touches heaven;

On her back strapped¹⁴ a suckling child,

While she fondles a fleecy cloud,

And Niihau swims the ocean tide.

Oh, my lehuas! spoiled by the birds!

Alas¹⁵, my lehuas, alas!

“What a notion!” Wahine-oma’o exclaimed. “Who in the world is meddling¹⁶ with your lehuas?”

 

While they were sailing along the precipitous coast of Ka-lalau, set in the windward wall of the island, Hiiaka saw standing¹⁷ at the mouth of a cave high up on the precipice¹⁸, the spirit form of one who was no other than Lohiau, and again she was moved to song:

 

A Ka-lalau, a Ke-é,

A ka pali au i Haena,

E peahi mai ana ka lawakua6 ia’u la;

Peahi, e peahi mai ana ka lawakua ia’u.

Owau keia, o ka maka o ke aloha, la,

O ke aloha, ho’i, e!

TRANSLATION

 

Off the coast of Lalau, off Ke-é,

When nigh the cliffs of Haena, [108]

The loved one beckons¹⁹, he beckons,

The loved one beckons to me.

I am the one—the eye-scout of love:

Love, indeed, is my errand, aye love!

The ghost-form of Lohiau still continued to show itself as they sailed; and when it signalled a recognition of Hiiaka by beckoning²⁰ to her, she could but answer it:

 

Ua pu’e ia e ke one ka lehua o uka;

Ua ho-á iki ka ula i ka papa;

Ua huná i ke kino i ka pohaku;

O ka pua na’e, ke ahu nei i ke ala—

Alanui hele o Ka-unu-kupukupu;7

Hele li’u-lá8 o ka poha-kau,9 e;

Kaulia10 a ka poha-kau he kilohana11 ia;

He maka’ika’i ia no Ka-hua-nui;12

He kahiko ia no ka wai o kaunu,13 e.

A kaunu anei, o ke aloha ia?

A ia’u la, éha oe!

TRANSLATION

 

The upland lehua is clinker-heaped;

Wee flame-buds crop up on the plain;

The tree-trunk is hidden with rocks,

Yet its flowers encarpet the path:

The road this that leads to desire—

One’s travel stays not at twilight²¹, [109]

Nor to ease one’s back of its load.

My journey’s to Ka-hua-nui;

She is the goal of my passion.

If love be the targe of thy aim,

And I that targe, ruin awaits thee!

1Kua-o-ka-La (the back of the sun), a personification and deification of that orb²². ↑

 

2Kowelowelo, to sink into; to be submerged. ↑

 

3Haupu, a famous hill on Kauai, visible from Oahu. When it was capped with a cloud, Hawaiians said, “Ua kau mai ka pua’a i Haupu; e ua ana.” If that occurred in the rainy season, they said it was about to clear. ↑

 

4Waha, the same as haawe, i.e., a load for the back. In this case it was a bank of mist or clouds. ↑

 

5Ke-olewa, a hill, smaller than Haupu, on the side towards Kipu-kai. The word also applied²³ to the floating clouds about the mountain. ↑

 

6Lawa-kua, a precious object bound to the back; applied, therefore, to a child, a dear friend and the like; the local name applied to a wind at Ka-lalau. ↑

 

7Ka-unu-kupukupu, a land in Puna. The intrinsic meaning of the phrase is an increasing, overmastering, passion ka-unu, a passion; kupukupu, to grow up, to increase. ↑

 

8Li’u-la, twilight. ↑

 

9Poha-kau, a resting place where the burden-carrier leaned back and relieved his shoulders of their burden for a time. ↑

 

10Kaulia, old form of kauia (kau ia). It connotes the removing from the back the haawe, preliminary to a long rest. ↑

 

11Kilohana, here means a comfort, a relief. ↑

 

12Ka-hua-nui, the elder sister of Lohiau. ↑

 

13Kau-nu, desire, passion. Wai o kau-nu, lit., the water of love—“the warm effects.” 

1 salutes   

n.致敬，欢迎，敬礼( salute的名词复数 )v.欢迎，致敬( salute的第三人称单数 )；赞扬，赞颂

参考例句：

• Poulengey salutes, and stands at the door awaiting orders. 波仑日行礼，站在门口听侯命令。 来自辞典例句
• A giant of the world salutes you. 一位世界的伟人向你敬礼呢。 来自辞典例句

2 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

3 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

4 sentient   

adj.有知觉的，知悉的；adv.有感觉能力地

参考例句：

• The living knew themselves just sentient puppets on God's stage.生还者认识到，他们不过是上帝的舞台上有知觉的木偶而已。
• It teaches us to love all sentient beings equally.它教导我们应该平等爱护一切众生。

5 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

6 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

7 lashing   

n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The speaker was lashing the crowd. 演讲人正在煽动人群。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rain was lashing the windows. 雨急打着窗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 saluted   

v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂

参考例句：

• The sergeant stood to attention and saluted. 中士立正敬礼。
• He saluted his friends with a wave of the hand. 他挥手向他的朋友致意。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

10 mingled   

混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系]

参考例句：

• The sounds of laughter and singing mingled in the evening air. 笑声和歌声交织在夜空中。
• The man and the woman mingled as everyone started to relax. 当大家开始放松的时候，这一男一女就开始交往了。

11 chagrin   

n.懊恼；气愤；委屈

参考例句：

• His increasingly visible chagrin sets up a vicious circle.他的明显的不满引起了一种恶性循环。
• Much to his chagrin,he did not win the race.使他大为懊恼的是他赛跑没获胜。

12 ravage   

vt.使...荒废，破坏...；n.破坏，掠夺，荒废

参考例句：

• Just in time to watch a plague ravage his village.恰好目睹了瘟疫毁灭了他的村庄。
• For two decades the country has been ravaged by civil war and foreign intervention.20年来，这个国家一直被内战外侵所蹂躏。

13 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

14 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

16 meddling   

v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He denounced all "meddling" attempts to promote a negotiation. 他斥责了一切“干预”促成谈判的企图。 来自辞典例句
• They liked this field because it was never visited by meddling strangers. 她们喜欢这块田野，因为好事的陌生人从来不到那里去。 来自辞典例句

17 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

18 precipice   

n.悬崖，危急的处境

参考例句：

• The hut hung half over the edge of the precipice.那间小屋有一半悬在峭壁边上。
• A slight carelessness on this precipice could cost a man his life.在这悬崖上稍一疏忽就会使人丧生。

19 beckons   

v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He sent his ships wherever profit beckons. 他将船队派往赢利的那些地方。 来自辞典例句
• I believe history beckons again. 我认为现在历史又在召唤了。 来自辞典例句

20 beckoning   

adj.引诱人的，令人心动的v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• An even more beautiful future is beckoning us on. 一个更加美好的未来在召唤我们继续前进。 来自辞典例句
• He saw a youth of great radiance beckoning to him. 他看见一个丰神飘逸的少年向他招手。 来自辞典例句

21 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。

22 orb   

n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形

参考例句：

• The blue heaven,holding its one golden orb,poured down a crystal wash of warm light.蓝蓝的天空托着金色的太阳，洒下一片水晶般明亮温暖的光辉。
• It is an emanation from the distant orb of immortal light.它是从远处那个发出不灭之光的天体上放射出来的。

23 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。