While it is true that the testimony of the various _kumu-hula_, teachers of the hula, and devotees of the art of the hula, so far as the author has talked with them, has been overwhelmingly to the effect that Laka was the one and only divine patron of the art known to them, there has been a small number equally ready to assert that there were those who observed the cult of the goddess Kapo and worshiped her [Page 25] as the patron of the hula. The positive testimony of these witnesses must be reckoned as of more weight than the negative testimony of a much larger number, who either have not seen or will not look at the other side of the shield. At any rate, among the prayers before the kuahu, of which there are others yet to be presented, will be found several addressed to Kapo as the divine patron of the hula. [Footnote 25: The teacher, a leader and priest of the hula. The modern school-master is called _kumu-kula_.] [Footnote 26: _Kanaloa_. Kane, Ku, Kanaloa, and Lono were the major gods of the Hawaiian pantheon.] [Footnote 27: _Ku-pulupulu_. A god of the canoe-makers.] [Footnote 28: _Kini Akua_. A general expression—often used together with the ones that follow—meaning the countless swarms of brownies, elfs, kobolds, sprites, and other godlings (mischievous imps) that peopled the wilderness. _Kini_ means literally 40,000, _lehu_ 400,000, and _mano_ 4,000. See the _Pule Kuahu_—altar-prayer—on page 21. The Hawaiians, curiously enough, did not put the words _mano_, _kini_, and _lehu_ in the order of their numerical value.] [Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 38 PLATE III HÁLA-PÉPE (DRACÆNA AUREA) ] Kapo was sister of Pele and the daughter of Haumea.[29] Among other roles played by her, like Laka she was at times a sylvan deity, and it was in the garb of woodland representations that she was worshiped by hula folk. Her forms of activity, corresponding to her different metamorphoses, were numerous, in one of which she was at times “employed by the _kahuna_[30] as a messenger in their black arts, and she is claimed by many as an _aumakua_,” [31] said to be the sister of Kalai-pahoa, the poison god. [Footnote 29: _Haumea_. The ancient goddess, or ancestor, the sixth in line of descent from Wakea.] [Footnote 30: _Kahuna._ A sorcerer; with a qualifying adjective it meant a skilled craftsman; _Kahuna-kalai-wa’a_ was a canoe-builder; _kahuna lapaau_ was a medicine-man, a doctor, etc.]