The ceremony now reaches a new stage. The kumu lifts the tabu by uttering a prayer—always a song—and declares the place and the feast free, and the whole assembly sit down to enjoy the bounty that is spread up and down the halau. On this occasion men and women may eat in common. The only articles excluded from this feast are _luau_—a food much like spinach, made by cooking the young and delicate taro leaf—and the drupe of the _hala_, the pandanus (pl. xviii). The company sit down to eat and to drink; presently they rise to dance and sing. The kumu leads in a tabu-lifting, freedom-giving song and the ceremony of ai-lolo is over. The pupils have been graduated from the school of the halau; they are now members of the great guild of hula dancers. The time has come for them to make their bow to the waiting public outside, to bid for the favor of the world. This is to be their “little go;” they will spread their wings for a greater flight on the morrow. The kumu with his big drum, and the musicians, the ho’o-pa’a, pass through the door and take their places outside in the lanai, where sit the waiting multitude. At the tap of the drum the group of waiting olapa plume themselves like fine birds eager to show their feathers; and, as they pass out the halau door and present themselves to the breathless audience, into every pose and motion of their gliding, swaying figures they pour a full tide of emotion in studied and unstudied effort to captivate the public. DÉBUT OF A HULA DANCER The occasion is that of a lifetime; it is their _uniki_, their debut. The song chosen must rise to the dignity of the occasion. Let us listen to the song that enthralls the audience seated in the rushstrown lanai, that we may judge of its worthiness. _He Mele-Inoa (no Naihe)_[38] Ka nalu nui, a ku ka nalu mai Kona, Ka malo a ka mahiehie,[39] Ka onaulu-loa,[40] a lele ka’u malo. [Page 36] O kakai[41] malo hoaka,[42] 5 O ka malo kai,[43] malo o ke alii E ku, e hume a paa i ka malo. E ka’ika’i [44] ka la i ka papa o Halepó;[45] A pae o Halepó i ka nalu. Ho-e’e i ka nalu mai Kahiki;[46] 10 He nalu Wakea,[47] nalu ho’ohua.[48] Haki opu’u [49] ka nalu, haki kua-pa.[50] Ea mai ka makakai [51] he’e-nalu, Kai he’e kakala [52] o ka moku, Kai-ká o ka nalu nui, 15 Ka hu’a o ka nalu o Hiki-au.[53] Kai he’e-nalu i ke awakea.