Note 272 — CONTENTS. (continued 5)

It is said that in the olden time they had no oo, no axe or other implement fit to do their work with, but they went in search and found sharp-edged stones, called pahoa,272 and with these sharp-edged stones they went into the woods and cut material for oo’s for themselves. These are the woods that are fit to be made into oos: the mamane, the ohia, the wind-swept aalii, and other hardwood trees. Before they shaped them into oos this is what they first did: They called on the “hewing” deities, because if they did not first invoke the gods before they shaped their oos, then their implements would all be broken; therefore they invoked the gods of the mountain, calling on them thus: