Читать книгу The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai - S. N. Haleole - Страница 24

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Whatever the original home of the Laieikawai story, the action as here pictured, with the exception of two chapters, is localized on the Hawaiian group. This consists of eight volcanic islands lying in the North Pacific, where torrid and tropical zones meet, about half again nearer to America than Asia, and strung along like a cluster of beads for almost 360 miles from Kauai on the northwest to the large island of Hawaii on the southeast. Here volcanic activity, extinct from prehistoric times on the other islands, still persists. Here the land attains its greatest elevation—13,825 feet to the summit of the highest peak—and of the 6,405 square miles of land area which constitute the group 4,015 belong to Hawaii. Except in temperature, which varies only about 11 degrees mean for a year, diversity marks the physical features of these mid-sea islands. Lofty mountains where snow lies perpetually, huge valleys washed by torrential freshets, smooth sand dunes, or fluted ridges, arid plains and rain-soaked forests, fringes of white beach, or abrupt bluffs that drop sheer into the deep sea, days of liquid sunshine or fierce storms from the south that whip across the island for half a week, a rainfall varying from 287 to 19 inches in a year in different localities—these are some of the contrasts which come to pass in spite of the equable climate. A similar diversity marks the plant and sea life—only in animal, bird, and especially insect life, are varieties sparsely represented.

Most of the action of the story takes place on the four largest islands—on Oahu, where the twins are born; on Maui, the home of Hina, where the prophet builds the temple to his god; on Hawaii, where lies the fabled land of Paliuli and where the surf rolls in at Keaau; and on Kauai, whence the chiefs set forth to woo and where the last action of the story takes place. These, with Molokai and Lanai, which lie off Maui "like one long island," virtually constitute the group.

Laie, where the twins are born, is a small fishing village on the northern or Koolau side of Oahu, adjoining that region made famous by the birth and exploits of the pig god, Kamapuaa. North from Laie village, in a cane field above the Government road, is still pointed out the water hole called Waiopuka—a long oval hole like a bathtub dropping to the pool below, said by the natives to be brackish in taste and to rise and fall with the tide because of subterranean connection with the sea. On one side an outjutting rock marks the entrance to a cave said to open out beyond the pool and be reached by diving. Daggett furnishes a full description of the place in the introduction to his published synopsis of the story. The appropriateness of Laie as the birthplace of the rainbow girl is evident to anyone who has spent a week along this coast. It is one of the most picturesque on the islands, with the open sea on one side fringed with white beach, and the Koolau range rising sheer from the narrow strip of the foothills, green to the summit and fluted into fantastic shapes by the sharp edge of the showers that drive constantly down with the trade winds, gleaming with rainbow colors.

Kukaniloko, in the uplands of Wahiawa, where Laielohelohe is concealed by her foster father, is one of the most sacred places on Oahu. Its fame is coupled with that of Holoholoku in Wailua, Kauai, as one of the places set apart for the birthplace of chiefs. Tradition says that since a certain Kapawa, grandson of a chief from "Tahiti" in the far past, was born upon this spot, a special divine favor has attended the birth of chiefs upon this spot. Stones were laid out right and left with a mound for the back, the mother's face being turned to the right. Eighteen chiefs stood guard on either hand. Then the taboo drum sounded and the people assembled on the east and south to witness the event. Say the Hawaiians, "If one came in confident trust and lay properly upon the supports, the child would be born with honor; it would be called a divine chief, a burning fire."[1] Even Kaméhaméha desired that his son Liholiho's birth should take place at Kukaniloko. Situated as it is upon the breast of the bare uplands between the Koolau and Waianae Ranges, the place commands a view of surprising breadth and beauty. Though the stones have been removed, through the courtesy of the management of the Waialua plantation a fence still marks this site of ancient interest.

The famous hill Kauwiki, where the seer built the temple to his god, and where Hina watched the clouds drift toward her absent lover, lies at the extreme eastern end of Maui. About this hill clusters much mythic lore of the gods. Here the heavens lay within spear thrust to earth, and here stood Maui, whose mother is called Hina, to thrust them apart. Later, Kauwiki was the scene of the famous resistance to the warriors of Umi, and in historic times about this hill for more than half a century waged a rivalry between the warriors of Hawaii and Maui. The poet of the Kualii mentions the hill thrice—once in connection with the legend of Maui, once when he likens the coming forth of the sun at Kauwiki to the advent of Ku, and in a descriptive passage in which the abrupt height is described:

Shooting up to heaven is Kauwiki,

Below is the cluster of islands,

In the sea they are gathered up,

O Kauwiki,

O Kauwiki, mountain bending over,

Loosened, almost falling, Kauwiki-e.

Finally, Puna, the easternmost district of the six divisions of Hawaii, is a region rich in folklore. From the crater of Kilauea, which lies on the slope of Mauna Loa about 4,000 feet above sea level, the land slopes gradually to the Puna coast along a line of small volcanic cones, on the east scarcely a mile from the sea. The slope is heavily forested, on the uplands with tall hard-wood trees of ohia, on the coast with groves of pandanus. Volcanic action has tossed and distorted the whole district. The coast has sunk, leaving tree trunks erect in the sea. Above the bluffs of the south coast lie great bowlders tossed up by tidal waves. Immense earthquake fissures occur. The soil is fresh lava broken into treacherous hollows, too porous to retain water and preserving a characteristic vegetation. About this region has gathered the mysterious lore of the spirit world. "Fear to do evil in the uplands of Puna," warns the old chant, lest mischief befall from the countless wood spirits who haunt these mysterious forests. Pélé, the volcano goddess, still loves her old haunts in Puna, and many a modern native boasts a meeting with this beauty of the flaming red hair who swept to his fate the brave youth from Kauai when he raced with her down the slope to the sea during the old mythic days when the rocks and hills of Puna were forming.

Footnotes to Background of the Story

[Footnote 1: Kuakoa, iv, No. 31, translated also in Hawaiian Annual, 1912, p. 101; Daggett, p. 70; Fornander, II, 272.]

[Illustration: MAUNA KEA IN ITS MANTLE OF SNOW (HENSHAW)]