Note 5 — PREFACE. (continued 2)

“To Keawenuiaumi belongs the canoe.” The boy again asked: “A canoe and where is it going to?” “It is a canoe going in search of Pakaa.” “Search for Pakaa, what is Pakaa?” “A servant.” At this Kuapakaa turned and said to his father: “I thought you were a chief. I see that you are a servant. Well, what of that any way? Supposing you are a servant. I am a chief on my mother’s side and shall continue to be so as long as I live in Molokai.” Pakaa said to the boy: “Ask them again if he is a real servant.” Kuapakaa therefore asked: “Is he a real servant?” “No, he is not a real servant, but a backbone,5 a holder of the kahili and bearer of the king’s calabash of ointment.”6 By this answer the boy was satisfied that his father was, after all, of chiefly grade; so he said to his father: “Your rank as a chief and my mother’s position as a chiefess, make me a chief of some importance and I shall live as such, here in Molokai.”