A lalo maua o Wai-pi’o, Ike i ka nani o Hi’i-lawe. E lawe mai a oki I na hala o Naue i ke kai, 5 I na lehua lu-lu’u pali; Noho ana lohe i ke kani o ka o-ó, Hoolono aku i ka leo o ke kahuli. [Translation.] _Song_ We twain were lodged in Wai-pi’o, Beheld Hi’i-lawe, the grand. We brought and cut for our love-wreath The rich hala drupe from Naue’s strand, 5 Tufted lehua that waves on the cliff; Then sat and gave ear to song of o-ó, Or harked the chirp of the tree-shell. _Wai-pi’o_, the scene of this idyl, is a valley deep and broad which the elements have scooped out in the windward exposure of Hawaii, and scarce needs mention to Hawaiian [Page 121] tourists. _Hi’i-lawe_ is one of several high waterfalls that leap from the world of clouds into the valley-basin. BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE XII [Illustration: PUPU-KANI-OE, POETICALLY STYLED KAHULI HAWAIIAN TREE-SHELLS (ACHATINELLA)] _Kahuli_ is a fanciful name applied to the beautiful and unique genus of tree-shells (Achatinella), plate XII, that inhabit the Hawaiian woods. The natives are persuaded that these shells have the power of chirping a song of their own, and the writer has often heard the note which they ascribe to them; but to his ear it was indistinguishable from the piping of the cricket. This is the song that the natives credit to the tree-shells: _Mele_ Kahuli aku, Kahuli mai, Kahuli lei ula, Lei akolea.[255] 5 Kolea, kolea,[256] Ki’i ka wai, Wai akolea. [Translation.] _Song of the Tree-shell_ Trill a-far, Trill a-near, A dainty song-wreath, Wreath akolea. 5 Kolea, Kolea, Fetch me some dew, Dew from pink akolea. This little piece of rustic imagination is said to have been used in the hula, but in connection with what dance the author has not been able to learn. [Footnote 255: The _akolea_ is a fern (by some classed as a Polypodium) which, according to Doctor Hillebrand (Flora of the Hawaiian Islands), “sustains its extraordinary length by the circinnate tips which twine round the branches of neighboring shrubs or trees.”] [Footnote 256: _Kolea_. The red-breasted plover.] [Page 122] XVII.—THE HULA KÁ-ÉKE-ÉKE