THE DRAGON GHOST-GODS

Dragons were among the ghost-gods of the ancient Hawaiians. These dragons were called mo-o. The New Zealanders used the same names for some of their large reptile gods. They, however, spelled the word with a "k," calling it mo-ko, and it was almost identical in pronunciation as in meaning with the Hawaiian name. Both the Hawaiians and New Zealanders called all kinds of lizards mo-o or mo-ko; and their use of this word in traditions showed that they often had in mind animals like crocodiles and alligators, and sometimes they referred the name to any monster of great mythical powers belonging to a man-destroying class.

Mighty eels, immense sea-turtles, large fish of the ocean, fierce sharks, were all called mo-o. The most ancient dragons of the Hawaiians are spoken of as living in pools or lakes. These dragons were known also as kupuas, or mysterious characters who could appear as animals or human beings according to their wish. The saying was: "Kupuas have a strange double body."

There were many other kupuas besides those of the dragon family. It was sometimes thought that at birth another natural form was added, such as an egg of a fowl or a bird, or the seed of a plant, or the embryo of some animal, which when fully developed made a form which could be used as readily as the human body. These kupuas were always given some great magic power. They were wonderfully strong and wise and skilful.

Usually the birth of a kupua, like the birth of a high chief, was attended with strange disturbances in the heavens, such as reverberating thunder, flashing lightning, and severe storms which sent the abundant red soil of the islands down the mountain-sides in blood-red torrents known as ka-ua-koko (the blood rain). This name was also given to misty fine rain when shot through by the red waves of the sun.

By far the largest class of kupuas was that of the dragons. These all belonged to one family. Their ancestor was Mo-o inanea (The Self-reliant Dragon), who figured very prominently in the Hawaiian legends of the most ancient times, such as "The Maiden of the Golden Cloud."

Mo-o-inanea (The Self-reliant Dragon) brought the dragons, the kupua dragons, from the "Hidden Land of Kane" to the Hawaiian Islands. Mo-o-inanea was apparently a demi-goddess of higher power even than the gods Ku, Kane, or Kanaloa. She was the great dragon-goddess of the Hawaiians, coming to the islands in the migration of the gods from Nuu-mea-lani and Kuai-he-lani to settle. The dragons and other kupuas came as spirit servants of the gods.

For a while this Mo-o-inanea lived with her brothers, the gods, at Waolani, but after a long time there were so many dragons that it was necessary to distribute them over the islands, and Mo-o-inanea decided to leave her brothers and find homes for her numerous family. So she went down to Puunui in the lower part of Nuuanu Valley and there made her home , and it is said received worship from the men of the ancient days. Here she dwelt in her dual nature--sometimes appearing as a dragon, sometimes as a woman.

Very rich clayey soil was found in this place, forced out of the earth as if by geyser action. It was greatly sought in later years by the chiefs who worshipped this goddess. They made the place tabu, and used the clay, sometimes eating it, but generally plastering the hair with it. This place was made very tabu by the late Queen Kaahumanu during her lifetime.

Mo-o-inanea lived in the pit from which this clay was procured, a place called Lua-palolo, meaning pit-of-sticky-clay. After she had come to this dwelling-place the dragons were sent out to find homes. Some became chiefs and others servants, and when by themselves were known as the evil ones. She distributed her family over all the islands from Hawaii to Niihau. Two of these dragon-women, according to the legends, lived as guardians of the pali (precipice) at the end of Nuuanu Valley, above Honolulu. After many years it was supposed that they both assumed the permanent forms of large stones which have never lost their associations with mysterious, miraculous power.

Even as late as 1825, Mr. Bloxam, the chaplain of the English man-of-war, recorded in "The Voyage of the Blonde" the following statement:

"At the bottom of the Parre (pali) there are two large stones on which even now offerings of fruits and flowers are laid to propitiate the Aku-wahines, or goddesses, who are supposed to have the power of granting a safe passage,"

Mr. Bloxam says that these were a kind of mo-o, or reptile, goddesses, and adds that it was difficult to explain the meaning of the name given to them, probably because the Hawaiians had nothing in the shape of serpents or large reptiles in their islands.

A native account of these stones says: "There is a large grove of hau-trees in Nuuanu Valley, and above these lie the two forest women, Hau-ola and Ha-puu. These are now two large stones, one being about three feet long with a fine smooth back, the other round with some little rough places. The long stone is on the seaward side, and this is the Mo-o woman, Hau-ola; and the other, Ha-puu. The leaves of ferns cover Hau-ola, being laid on that stone. On the other stone, Ha-puu, are lehua flowers. These are kupuas."

Again the old people said that their ancestors had been accustomed to bring the navel cords of their children and bury them under these stones to insure protection of the little ones from evil, and that these were the stone women of Nuuanu.

Ala-muki lived in the deep pools of the Waialua River near the place Ka-mo-o-loa, which received its name from the long journeys that dragon made over the plains of Waialua. She and her descendants guarded the paths and sometimes destroyed those who travelled that way.

One dragon lived in the Ewa lagoon, now known as Pearl Harbor. This was Kane-kua-ana, who was said to have brought the pipi (oysters) to Ewa. She was worshipped by those who gathered the shell-fish. When the oysters began to disappear about 1850, the natives said that the dragon had become angry and was sending the oysters to Kahiki, or some far-away foreign land.

Kilioe, Koe, and Milolii were noted dragons on the island of Kauai. They were the dragons of the precipices of the northern coast of this island, who took the body of the high chief Lohiau and concealed it in a cave far up the steep side of the mountain. There is a very long interesting story of the love between Lohiau and Pele, the goddess of fire. In this story Pele overcame the dragons and won the love of the chief. Hiiaka, the sister of the fire-goddess, won a second victory over them when she rescued a body from the cave and brought it back to life.

On Maui, the greatest dragon of the island was Kiha-wahine. The natives had the saying, "Kiha has mana, or miraculous power. like Mo-o-inanea." She lived in a large deep pool on the edge of the village Lahaina, and was worshipped by the royal family of Maui as their special guardian.

There were many dragons of the island of Hawaii, and the most noted of these were the two who lived in the Wailuku River near Hilo. They were called "the moving boards" which made a bridge across the river.

Sometimes they accepted offerings and permitted a safe passage, and sometimes they tipped the passengers into the water and drowned them. They were destroyed by Hiiaka.

Sacred to these dragons who were scattered over all the islands were the mo-o priests and the sorcerers, who propitiated them with offerings and sacrifices, chanting incantations.   Back to Contents

THE HOME OF THE ANCESTORS

The ancestors of the New Zealand Maoris have a definite ancestral home from which they came to New Zealand. This bears the name Hawaiki which is the same as Hawai'i as also Savai'i in Samoa. Some students try to make Samoa the distributing centre from which the settlers of the various island groups of the Pacific started to find new homes. This theory has scarcely any foundation.

Hawaii in some form of the word is found from Java on the western side of the Pacific to Tahiti on the eastern. Hon. L. Percy Smith of New Zealand says: "The universality of this name points to the fact that it is extremely ancient and that it was under that form the Fatherland was originally known. The way in which the name has been used proves the belief of the Polynesians in a western origin of the race now accepted as from India. Hawa in its many forms refers to rice fields, the great rice fields of Indonesia."

While Hawaii is used so frequently elsewhere, it is seldom named in the Hawaiian Islands as the ancestral home. Fornander, in "The Polynesian Race," quotes from an ancient chant, "Hawaii with the green back and dotted sea," and says this refers to the ancient far-away home of the Hawaiians. This reference stands almost alone, and therefore emphasizes the statement that the word Hawaiian seldom refers to any land outside the group now called the Hawaiian Islands. This has probably come from the inability of the people to distinguish between a foreign Hawaii and a home Hawaii, although for centuries they have said "Hawaii nei," meaning "the Hawaii in this spot," as they say "hale nei, " meaning "this particular house in which we are." Almost certainly this has no reference to an ancestral home.

The Hawaiians, however, had one word for all outside lands. This was Kahiki or Tahiti. If any one sailed to any far-away place, east or west, he went to Kahiki.

The ancient Hawaiian chants also mention places or rather islands in the western and southwestern parts of the Pacific Ocean, as Bolabola, Nuuhiwa, Wawau or Vavau, and Upolu. These places were visited by the Hawaiian sea-rovers several hundred years ago and the names preserved in meles, or chants. Usually these places are mentioned as located in the great mysterious outside world Kahiki. They are not called the home from which the forefathers came. They are only definite place,; visited by sea-roving Hawaiians in their long journeys to foreign lands.

Besides this, there were some beautiful descriptive terms naming the ancestral islands or lands from which the "ancient ones came to Hawaii."

The most prominent was Kuai-he-lani or Kua-i-he-lani. Kuai-he-lani was defined by one of the best Hawaiian scholars as "the purchased heaven." This, however, is a modern thought, read into it from theology. Another and better rendering is "the rubbing or grinding heaven," as if the land had been stirred up by earthquakes or by strife among the inhabitants. If the name is Kua-i-he-lani, it means "a heaven lifted up in sharp ridges," signifying that the people came from a land of high mountains with sharp peaks, a volcanic country.

Kane-huna-moku (the hidden land of Kane) belonged more to the spirit world than the home of the ancestors. it was like an "ignis fatuus," a thing which appeared and disappeared. It was an enticing island, inviting boatmen to seek its shores and then disappearing as they came near. It was the Hawaiian dreamland. Nevertheless, sometimes it was mentioned as one of the places from which the ancestors came.

Nuu-mea-lani (the raised dais of heaven),, meaning a land with elevated plateaus and possibly rich valleys among high mountains, was a place from which many of the people of the past came to the new volcano land. Sometimes it simply means "cloud land."

Ulu-kaa (moving or floating forest) was like Kane-huna-moku, an ocean island which had no abiding place. Storm-driven voyagers would see it through the mist clouds around them. They would put forth every effort to reach it and never find it, or, if found, its sweet fruits and fragrant flowers were like dust to those who ate or breathed them, ultimately bringing death. Nevertheless, Ulu-kaa was a land from which the ancestors came.

Hapa-kuela is very seldom mentioned in the legends. Its meaning is very obscure. It is possible that it may be Hapaku-wela. Then it might mean the burning or fiery portions or walls between land districts. This was a home of Pele according to some of the Hawaiian legends, although most of them say that she came from Kuai-he-lani.

Ke-alohi-lani (the shining or glorious heaven) was the where the vivid imagination placed all things beautiful. It was the ancient land to be desired. Another interpretation, however, makes it the land of shining clouds, probably lit by volcanic fires, reflecting the glory of the burning flames.

Moku-mana-mana (the divided island) was some island projecting into thc ocean like branches from a tree, an island with bays and inlets.. This was one of the places to be desired among thc different lands from which the ancestors came. Now it is only known as one of the ancestral places lying toward the sunset.   Back to Contents

HONOLULU AQUARIUM

The Honolulu Aquarium is located in Kapiolani Park on the famous Waikiki Beach, about five miles from the centre of the city. From 600 to 1,000 fish, covering some 200 varieties of remarkable form and bewildering color, are on exhibition here, forming one of the finest collections in the world.

This Aquarium was built in 1904 by Mr. and Mrs. Chas. M. Cooke on land donated for the purpose by Mr. Jas. B. Castle brother-in-law to Mr. Westervelt, the author, and is stocked and maintained by the Honolulu Rapid Transit Company. The plant has cost over $20,000, and is being added to and improved from time to time. The color plates included in this volume show only a few of these wonderful fish.

BISHOP MUSEUM

Mr. Chas. R. Bishop, who founded the Bishop Museum, died in California early in 1915, having just passed his ninety-third birthday. He was born in Glens Falls, N.Y., and sailed around Cape Horn to Hawaii in the early days before steamship communication.

His wife, Berenice Pauahi, was a very high chiefess descended from the royal line of Kamehameha the Great. To her Kamehameha V. offered the throne, and on her refusal to espouse him remained a bachelor and died without heir. Mrs. Pauahi Bishop bequeathed her vast estate and fortune to found the schools for Hawaiian boys and girls, known as the Kamehameha Schools, Honolulu, and near these Mr. Bishop founded the Bishop Museum; which contains all themagnificent feather-cloaks, helmets, calabashes, etc., handed down from generation to generation through the royal line of the Kamehamehas and inherited by Mrs. Bishop. This has been greatly increased by other gifts and purchases and now forms the finest museum in the world, of relies of the Polynesian race.

MELES

"The history of Hawaii can be traced only through the ancient meles, poems without rhyme or metre, but strictly accented, often several hundred lines in length, handed down orally from one generation to another. The mele included all forms of poetical composition intended for chanting. They are usually divided into four groups, as the religious chants, prayers, and prophecies; the inoas, or name songs composed at birth of a chief recounting heroic deeds of his ancestors; the kanikaus, or dirges for the dead; the ipos, or love songs.--All the modern songs are love songs.--

The cadencing consisted of a prolonged trilling or fluctuating movement called i-i, in which the voice went up and down in an interval less than a half-tone. This was used extensively in the oli (a songful expression of joy, or a humorous narrative), which was even more lyric than the mele.

HULA

The modern hula is not the hula of ancient time. The hula combined pantomime, poetry, music, and the dance. It was enacted in honor of the goddess Laka and furnished entertainment for the chiefs and their retinues. It included the mysteries of Polynesian mythology and the history of the nation. It was given by trained and paid performers, as it was a difficult accomplishment and required long and rigid training in both song and dance.

Hulas varied in dignity and rank, and the character was influenced by the musical instruments used, which were as follows: the ipu, a drum made of two large pear-shaped gourds of unequal size, joined together at the smaller ends,in which a hole was made to increase the resonance; the pahu, a drum made of coconut wood and covered with shark skin on its upper end, originally used in the heiaus and on rare occasions in the halau; the puniu used with the pahu, a small drum made from a coconut shell and fish skin, which was strapped to the thigh and played with a thong of braided fibres; the uli uli, a small gourd filled with seeds; the puili, bamboo sticks splintered into fine divisions at one end and giving a rustling sound like wind; the laau, two pieces of resonant wood; the ili ili, two pebbles used like castanets; the ukeke, something like a jew's-harp--the strings being plucked with ribs of grass; the conch shell, or trumpet; the pua, a small gourd; and the ohe, or nose flute.

The ukelele, a small guitar having only four strings, now used was introduced in the time of Kalakaua and is modern. It affords, however, an effective accompaniment for the deep, rich quality of the Hawaiian voices.

The halau was a flat-topped open structure covered usually with coconut leaves specially erected for the performance of the hula and to which leis and awa were brought as emblems of light-heartedness and joy. In every halau there was a bower of green leaves which were supposed to be the abode of the presiding deity. The devotees of the hula worshipped many gods, but the goddess Laka was the patron to whom special prayers and offerings were made."   Back to Contents

POLYNESIAN LANGUAGE

"A few words should be added on the peculiar genius and structure of the Polynesian language in general and of the Hawaiian dialect in particular.

It is the law of all Polynesian languages that every word and syllable must end in a vowel, so that no two consonants are ever heard without a vowel sound between them.

Most of the radical words are dissyllables, and the accent is generally on the penult. The Polynesian ear is as nice in marking the slightest variations in vowel sound as it is dull in distinguishing consonants.

The vocabulary of the Hawaiian is probably richer than that of most other Polynesian tongues. Its child-like and primitive character is shown by the absence of abstract words and general terms.

As has been well observed by M. Gaussin, there are three classes of words, corresponding to as many different stages of language: first, those that express sensations; second, images; third, abstract ideas.

Not only are names wanting for the more general abstractions, such as space, nature, fate, etc., but there are very few generic terms. For example there is no generic term for animal, expressing the whole class of living creatures or for insects or for colors. At the same time it abounds in specific names and in nice distinctions.

So in the Hawaiian everything that relates to their everyday life or to the natural objects with which they are conversant is expressed with a vivacity, a minuteness and nicety of coloring which cannot be reproduced in a foreign tongue. Thus the Hawaiian was very rich in terms for every variety of cloud. It has names for every species of plant on the mountains or fish in the sea, and is peculiarly copious in terms relating to the ocean, the surf and waves.

For whatever belonged to their religions, their handicrafts or. their amusements, their vocabulary was most copious and minute. Almost every stick in a native house had its appropriate name. Hence it abounds in synonyms which are such only in appearance, i.e., "to be broken" as a stick is 'haki,' as a string is 'moku,' as a dish 'naha,' as a wall 'hina.'

Besides the language of every-day life, there was a style appropriate to oratory and another to religion and poetry.

The above-mentioned characteristics make it a pictorial and expressive language. It still has the freshness of childhood. Its words are pictures rather than colorless and abstract symbols of ideas, and are redolent of the mountain, the forest and the surf.

However it has been and is successfully used to express the abstractions of mathematics, of English law, and of theology."

"The Hawaiian is but a dialect of the great Polynesian language, which is spoken with extraordinary uniformity over all the numerous islands of the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and Hawaii. Again, the Polynesian language is but one member of that wide-spread family of languages, known as the Malayo-Polynesian or Oceanic family, which extends from Madagascar to the Hawaiian Islands and from New Zealand to Formosa. The Hawaiian dialect is peculiarly interesting to the philologist from its isolated position, being the most remote of the family from its primeval seat in Southeastern Asia, and leading the van with the Malagasy in the rear. We believe the Hawaiian to be the most copious and expressive, as well as the richest in native traditional history and poetry. Dr. Reinhold Forster, the celebrated naturalist of Captain Cook's second voyage, drew up a table containing 47 words taken from 11 Oceanic dialects and the corresponding terms in Malay, Mexican, Peruvian and Chilian. From this table he inferred that the Polynesian languages afford many analogies with the Malay while they present no point of contact with the American.

Baron William von Humboldt, the distinguished statesman and scholar, showed that the Tagala, the leading language of the Philippine Islands, is by far the richest and most perfect of these languages. 'It possesses,' he says, 'all the forms collectively of which particular ones are found singly in other dialects; and it has preserved them all with very trifling exceptions unbroken and in entire harmony and symmetry.'

The languages of the Oceanic region have been divided into six great groups; i.e., the Polynesian; the Micronesian; the Melanesian or Papuan; the Australian; the Malaysian; the Malagasy. Many examples might be given if they were needed to illustrate the connection of these languages. The Polynesian is an ancient and primitive member of the Malay family. The New Zealand dialect is the most primitive and entire in its forms. The Hawaiians, Marquesans and Tahitians form a closely related group by themselves. For example, the Marquesan converts are using Hawaiian books and the people of the Austral Islands read the Tahitian Bible."

The above was written by W. D. Alexander in Honolulu in 1865, author of the "History of the Hawaiian Islands" as preface to Andrew's Dictionary.

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