Volume 6 / Part 2 — Nahienaena.
Reading edition
The kapa-beater of the bark grown thrifty and wide,
A kapa block from Kahiki.
The breadfruit bark torn into shreds,
The mapele bark broken up in like manner,
The kapa bark and the kapa water-bowl. 5.
Nahienaena is kapa bark, symbolically.
Transforming Kalani-nui-kua-liholiho
Into an overseer of the fish, tortoise.
That is the bark which is being beaten.
Kalani beats kapa in a circular manner; the chief beats. 10.
The chiefs joined together the earth will be eternal.
The chiefs being allied the earth is established for Lani,
The chiefs stick together; sleep together for pleasure,
While the chiefs join the earth abides firm.
’Tis a day of tremulous heat, hot overhead. 15.
The mountain noises clash together, the sea also is noisy,
The voice of frequent thunder speaks on high,
The voice of frequent thunder roars heavily above.
The voice of the earthquake is rumbling heavy,
The voice of the earthquake rumbles below. 20.
The voice of the fine rain is increasing,
The voice of the heavy rain is roaring in the uplands,
The voice of the conch sounds intermittently,
The voice of the night-sounding locust in the uplands,
Piercing the eyes of Haukuku; of Haukaka, 25.
Breaking the coconut for the chief to eat,
The bailer that will overcome the chief’s leak.
The chief Kauikeaouli is the resident who governs
The care of the land throughout the whole island;
Of the land that is great; that is very small, 30.
Of the little, small, departing short veteran; Kalani possesses the land.
Of Nahienaena, burdensome is her naholo kapu.
Olue was an ancient descendant of that place.
A guard of the water; of the smooth, black pebbles,
She shall stitch [the kapas], she shall bite [the thread], 35.
She shall stitch, bite and bite.
Bite, run quickly, run, run,
Let Kalani run.
A sounding axe is the mallet.
Flee Kalani to the resident whose is the land of beating kapa, 40.
In beating kapa there’s a noise, ’tis a chief’s kapa beating sound.
Go carefully, whistle, lie down; lift up.
Angry is Kalani at the crooked path.
’Tis the chief, the chief Kauikeaouli, thy companion.
Nahienaena is the resident whose it is to enjoy the land; 45.
The island of the resident is eaten by coarse men.
The resident enjoying the land is the resident indeed.
The feature of Kona is its calm smooth sea.
Kalani is its district chief on living there.
Nahienaena lives upland and seaward, upland and seaward. 50.
The long fish-net is taken in and out,
The fish gather in shoals and are entrapped;
The fish are gathered at one draught,
Lifting up the net till the water rejoices.
The water, the water was up to the breast; 55.
The bubbling water it comes and goes.
The breath is inhaled in ascending;
Climbing upward, fatigued and panting, till the top is gained.
For the sin, for the sin, for the causing to sin,
The unpardonable sin during evil times. 60.
The sin, the sin, let the sin be atoned for.
The women breaking kapu go up the hill,
The passers over go beyond the precincts becoming a chief
Which bore fruit on the forbidden sands of Puuolea;
In the rich sands of Laamaikahiki. 65.
’Tis come.
Whence came they?
We two are from above, chiefs of noble, royal birth,
The blossom of the chief’s multitude is plucked.
Beautiful is the chief’s pond that is above. 70.
Above is Leiau, the woman who went up to heaven.
The world above where Nahienaena treads majestically.
Nahienaena issues forth as chief of the rising sun.
It comes, it rises, it moves on, it broadens, it extends forth.
The extremities of the great chief spread forth upwards. 75.
Thou dwellest far above,
Where dwells the heavenly host.
Hinaaikamalama was the daughter,
The beautiful wife of Papa,
Who lived with Akea whereby Haloa was born, the progenitor of chiefs. 80.
Haloa was born a true chief,
The chief of the severe kapu;
The ruler that was established on high.
Low lieth the foreign land; the gentle moving current,
The current of the island where dwell the monsters. 85.
When the sky is overcast with threatening clouds,
Life runs through the limb without sudden numbness;
Without shame, the double canoe sails on,
Sails on carefully and hesitatingly,
The cautious footsteps of the chiefs from afar, 90.
Traveling on the current of light kapus.
’Tis a sacred bosom,
’Tis a burial shelf for the chiefs.
The king, the chief, Kauikeaouli, they are companions,
They are the people of the foreign land; 95.
The people with scaly skin, wrinkled by the water.
The people with the scaly, puckered skin.
The aged ones with wrinkled back and skin.
Lono has a wrinkled skin; he is anointed. he loathes water,
Blackened is the skin by the kapued water of the kalo-patch. 100.
Such are sacred chiefs with very strict kapus.
Heralded is the renown of the chiefs sacred to Keawe.
Beautiful are the chiefs as the ebb and flow of the tides,
Causing the downfall of Ku, and the flight of Luamea
Of the rumbling stone. 105.
The shrill sound, a sacred place strictly forbidden,
A temple is a sacred place casting away all evil,
A temple sacred to refuse matter, heavenly fire thrown aside, answering a call;
A response to a call from another.
’Tis a call which is heard, 110.
An answering voice comes,
A true assent, a true [assent] of them,
They, they verified it,
In the rushing together, the clashing company of Kanaloa,
Of the many dogs, a chief was born. 115.
Nahienaena was born a resident of Hawaii,
Of Hawaii, of Hawaii, of South Hawaii,
Beneath it is the residence of Wakea far below the earth’s crust.
The place where Wakea dwells.
Wakea lives at the foundation of Hulikaiakea. 120.
Wakea, Luanuu and Kahiko were chiefs,
As also Kaulapa and Keakamaliokea.
The sky is the shadow of Ku.
The first born flies away, the kapu of Kahookoine flies off;
The calm of Ku extends on high. 125.
Ku flies to the land, forsaking the sea,
The voice of the great sea, it is heard from,
If one stands listening,
Listen not, listen not to it.
Come hither quickly, rise up and come instantly; 130.
Approach, approach, approach, approach thou;
Come cautiously and deliberately;
Let the crawling to the chief be crawling;
Voiced above is the crawling to the chief,
The great chief guarded by the stringent kapus. 135.
Indistinct, obscured, hidden, dark is the heavens,
The chief Kauikeaouli, the warrior of Hawaii;
Hawaii, where the kiele is thriving,
[The island] that is like a hook holding the chief,
The bunch in the throat, thou art destined a chief, 140.
A chief of the great sea. Akea is of the heavens,
O Papa, O Hoohokukalani, the heavenly chiefs,
The ancestors of Haloa; of Haloa indeed is the chief,
Yes, of Haloa indeed is the chief Kauikeaouli.