The performer did not depend simply upon the musical tone, but rather upon the modification it produced in the utterances that were strained through it. It would certainly require a quick ear, much practice, and a thorough acquaintance with the peculiarities of Hawaiian mele to enable one to distinguish the words of a song after being transformed by passage through the niau-kani. As late as about thirty or forty years ago the niau-kani was often seen in the hands of the native Hawaiian youth, who used it as a means of romantic conversations and flirtation. Since the coming in of the Portuguese and their importation of the _uku-lele_, the _taro-patch-fiddle_, and other cheap stringed instruments, the niau-kani has left the field to them and disappeared. The author’s informant saw the niau-kani dance performed some years ago at Moana-lua, near Honolulu, and again on the island of Kauai. The dance in each case was the same. The kumu, aided by a pupil, stood and played on the niau-kani, straining the cantillations through the reed-protected aperture, while the olapa, girls, kept time to the music with the movements of their dancing, [Page 133] _Mele_ E pi’i ka wai ka nahele, U’ina, nakolo i na Molo-kama;[286] Ka ua lele mawaho o Mamala-hoa. He manao no ko’u e ike 5 I na pua ohi’a o Kupa-koili,[287] I hoa kaunu no Manu’a-kepa;[288] Ua like laua me Maha-moku.[289] Anapa i ke kai o Mono-lau.[290] Lalau ka lima a noa ia ia la, 10 I hoa pili no Lani-huli.[291] E huli oe i ku’u makemake, A loa’a i Kau-ka-opua.[292] Elua no pua kau A ka manao i makemake ai. 15 Hoohihi oe a hihi I lei kohu no neia kino. Ahea oe hiki mai? A kau ka La i na pali;[293] Ka huli a ka makani Wai-a-ma’o,[294] 20 Makemake e iki ia ka Hala-mapu-ana, Ka wai halana i Wai-pá.[295] NOTE.—The proper names belong to localities along the course of the Wai-oli stream. [Footnote 286: _Molokama_ (more often given as _Na Molo-kama_). The name applied to a succession of falls made by the stream far up in the mountains. The author has here used a versifier’s privilege, compressing this long word into somewhat less refractory shape.] [Footnote 287: _Kupa-koili_. A grove of mountain-apples, _ohia ai_, that stand on the bank of the stream not far from the public road.]