The pa-ú worn by the danseuse, when of tapa, was often of such volume as to balloon like the skirt of a coryphée. To put it on was quite an art, and on that account, if not on the score of modesty, a portion of the halau was screened off and devoted to the use of the females as a dressing room, being known as the _unu-lau-koa_, and to this place they repaired as soon as the kumu gave the signal for dressing. The hula pa-ú of the women was worn in addition to that of daily life; the hula pa-ú of the men, a less pretentious affair, was worn outside the malo, and in addition to it. The method of girding on the pa-ú was peculiar. Beginning at the right hip—some say the left—a free end was allowed to hang quite to the knee; then, passing across the back, rounding the left hip, and returning by way of the abdomen to the starting point, another circuit of the waist was accomplished; and, a reverse being made, the garment was secured by passing the bight of the tapa beneath the hanging folds of the pa-ú from below upward until it slightly protruded above the border of the garment at the waist. This second end was thus brought to hang down the hip alongside of the first free end; an arrangement that produced a most decorative effect. The Hawaiians, in their fondness for giving personal names to inanimate objects, named the two free ends (_apua_) of the pa-ú respectively _Ku-kápu-úla-ka-láni_ and _Léle-a-mahu’i_. According to another method, which was simpler and more commonly employed, the piece was folded sidewise and, being gathered into pleats, a cord was inserted the length of the fold. The cord was passed about the waist, knotted at the hip, and thus held the garment secure. [Page 51] While the girls are making their simple toilet and donning their unique, but scanty, costume, the kumu, aided by others, soothes the impatience of the audience and stimulates their imagination by cantillating a mele that sets forth in grandiloquent imagery the praise of the pa-ú. _Oli Pa-ú_ Kakua pa-ú, ahu na kikepa![92] I ka pa-ú noenoe i hooluu’a, I hookakua ia a paa iluna o ka imu.[93] Ku ka nu’a[94] o ka pali o ka wai kapu, 5 He kuina[95] pa-ú pali[96] no Kupe-hau, I holo a paa ia, paa e Hono-kane.[97] Malama o lilo i ka pa-ú. Holo ilio la ke ala ka Manú[98] i na pali; Pali ku kahakó liaka a-i, 10 I ke keiki pa-ú pali a Kau-kini,[99] I hoonu’anu’a iluna o ka Auwana.[100]