Note 7 — Chapter XXXVI · PAOA SEEKS OUT THE BODY OF HIS DEAD FRIEND LOHIAU

Nawele ka maka o Hina-ulu-ohi’a. By metonymy, a figure of speech for which the Hawaiian poets showed great fondness, the name of the goddess, or superior being, Hina-ulu-ohi’a, is here used instead of the fruit which seems to have been her emblem. This fruit, the ohi’a puakea, is a variety of the ohi’a ai, or mountain apple, as it is commonly called. The common variety is of a deep red color shading into purple; but this variety, departing from the usual rule, is of a pale lemon color. This pale variety shows a faint pink or reddish ring about the maka, or eye where the flower was implanted. The poet’s fancy evidently makes a comparison between this delicate aureole and the dim glow by which the volcanic fire made itself perceived in its periphery at Kahiki. ↑