CHAPTER XVIII

[Footnote 56:  The three mountain domes of Hawaii rise from 13,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea, and the two highest are in the wintertime often capped with snow.]

[Footnote 57:  The games of kilu and ume, which furnished the popular evening entertainment of chiefs, were in form much like our “Spin the plate” and “Forfeits.” Kilu was played with “a funnel-shaped toy fashioned from the upper portion of a drinking gourd, adorned with the pawehe ornamentation characteristic of Niihau calabashes.”  The player must spin the gourd in such a way as to hit the stake set up for his side.  Each hit counted 5, 40 scoring a game.  Each player sang a song before trying his hand, and the forfeit of a hula dance was exacted for a miss, the successful spinner claiming for his forfeit the favor of one of the women on the other side. Ume was merely a method of choosing partners by the master of ceremonies touching with a wand, called the maile, the couple selected for the forfeit, while he sang a jesting song.  The sudden personal turn at the close of many of the oli may perhaps be accounted for by their composition for this game.  The kaeke dance is that form of hula in which the beat is made on a kaekeeke instrument, a hollow bamboo cylinder struck upon the ground with a clear hollow sound, said to have been introduced by Laamaikahiki, the son of Moikeha, from Tahiti.]

CHAPTER XIX

[Footnote 58:  In the story of Kauakahialii, his home at Pihanakalani is located in the mountains of Kauai back of the ridge Kuamoo, where, in spite of its inland position, he possesses a fishpond well stocked with fish.]

[Footnote 59:  The Hawaiian custom of group marriages between brothers or sisters is clearly brought out in this and other passages in the story.  “Guard our wife”—­Ka wahine a kaua—­says the Kauai chief to his comrade, “she belongs to us two”—­ia ia kaua.  The sisters of Aiwohikupua call their mistress’s husband “our husband”—­ka kakou kane.  So Laieikawai’s younger sister is called the “young wife”—­wahine opio—­of Laieikawai’s husband, and her husband is called his punalua, which is a term used between friends who have wives in common, or women who have common husbands.]

[Footnote 60:  The Hawaiian flute is believed to be of ancient origin.  It is made of a bamboo joint pierced with holes and blown through the nose while the right hand plays the stops.  The range is said to comprise five notes.  The name Kanikawi means “changing sound” and is the same as that given to Kaponohu’s supernatural spear.]

CHAPTER XX

[Footnote 61:  At the accession of a new chief in Hawaii the land is redistributed among his followers.]