Exactness of reproduction was in fact regarded as a proof of divine inspiration.  When the chief’s sons were trained to recite the genealogical chants, those who were incapable were believed to lack a share in the divine inheritance; they were literally “less gifted” than their brothers.[4]

This distinction accorded to the arts of song and eloquence is due to their actual social value.  The mele, or formal poetic chants which record the deeds of heroic ancestors, are of aristocratic origin and belong to the social assets of the family to which they pertain.  The claim of an heir to rank depends upon his power to reproduce, letter perfect, his family chants and his “name song,” composed to celebrate his birth, and hence exact transmission is a matter of extreme importance.  Facility in debate is not only a competitive art, with high stakes attached, but is employed in time of war to shame an enemy,[5] quickness of retort being believed, like quickness of hand, to be a God-given power.  Chants in memory of the dead are demanded of each relative at the burial ceremony.[6] Song may be used to disgrace an enemy, to avenge an insult, to predict defeat at arms.  It may also be turned to more pleasing purposes—­to win back an estranged patron or lover;[7] in the art of love, indeed, song is invaluable to a chief.  Ability in learning and language is, therefore, a highly prized chiefly art, respected for its social value and employed to aggrandize rank.  How this aristocratic patronage has affected the language of composition will be presently clear.

Footnotes to Section III, 1:  Aristocratic Nature of Polynesian Art

[Footnote 1:  Jarves says:  “Songs and chants were common among all classes, and recited by strolling musicians as panegyrics on occasions of joy, grief, or worship.  Through them the knowledge of events in the lives of prominent persons or the annals of the nation were perpetuated.  The chief art lay in the formation of short metrical sentences without much regard to the rhythmical terminations.  Monosyllables, dissyllables, and trisyllables had each their distinct time.  The natives repeat their lessons, orders received, or scraps of ancient song, or extemporize in this monotonous singsong tone for hours together, and in perfect accord.”

Compare Ellis’s Tour, p. 155.]

[Footnote 2:  Moerenhout, I, 411.]

[Footnote 3:  Andrews, Islander, 1875, p. 35; Emerson, Unwritten Literature, pp. 27, 38.]

[Footnote 4:  In Fornander’s story of Lonoikamakahiki, the chief memorizes in a single night a new chant just imported from Kauai so accurately as to establish his property right to the song.]

[Footnote 5:  Compare with Ellis, I, 286, and Williams and Calvert, I, 46, 50, the notes on the boxing contest in the text of Laieikawai.]

[Footnote 6:  Gill, Myths and Songs, pp. 268 et seq.]

[Footnote 7:  See Fornander’s stories of Lonoikamakahiki, Halemano, and Kuapakaa.]