The wreath-maker, _haku-lei_ (verse 7), who dwells at Waimea, is perhaps the ocean-vapor, or the moist sea-breeze, or, it may be, some figment of the poet’s imagination—the author can not make out exactly what. The _hinahina_ (verse 14), a native geranium, is a mountain shrub that stands about 3 feet high, with silver-gray leaves. _Maka-weli, Maka-li’i, Koae’a_, and _Pa-ie-ie_ are names of places on Kauai. _Puu-ka-Pele_ (verse 20) as the name indicates, is a volcanic hill, situated near Waimea. The key or answer (_puana_), to the allegory given in verse 20, _Ke kahuna kalai-hoe o Puu-ka-Pele_, the paddle-making kahuna of Pele’s mount, when declared by the poet (_haku-mele_), is not very informing to the foreign mind; but to the Hawaiian auditor it, no doubt, took the place of our _haec fabula docet_, and it at least showed that the poet was not without an intelligent motive. In the poem in point the author acknowledges his inability to make connection between it and the body of the song. One merit we must concede to Hawaiian poetry, it wastes no time in slow approach. The first stroke of the artist places the auditor _in medias res_. [Page 113] XIV.—THE HULA PUÍLI The character of a hula was determined to some extent by the nature of the musical instrument that was its accompaniment. In the hula _puíli_ it certainly seems as if one could discern the influence of the rude, but effective, instrument that was its musical adjunct. This instrument, the _puíli_ (fig. 1), consisted of a section of bamboo from which one node with its diaphragm had been removed and the hollow joint at that end split up for a considerable distance into fine divisions, which gave forth a breezy rustling when the instrument was struck or shaken. The performers, all of them hoopaa, were often placed in two rows, seated or kneeling and facing one another, thus favoring a responsive action in the use of the puíli as well as in the cantillation of the song. One division would sometimes shake and brandish their instruments, while the others remained quiet, or both divisions would perform at once, each individual clashing one puíli against the other one held by himself, or against that of his vis-a-vis; or they might toss them back and forth to each other, one bamboo passing another in mid air. [Illustration: FIG. 1.—Puíli, bamboo-rattle.]