[Footnote 114: _O awili o Malu-ó._ The most direct and evident
sense of the word _awili_ is to wrap. It probably means the
wrapping of the pa-ú about the loins; or it may mean the
movable, shifty action of the pa-ú caused by the lively
actions of the dancer. The expression _Malu-ó_ may be taken
from the utterance of the king’s _ilamuku_ (constable or
sheriff) or other official, who, in proclaiming a tabu, held
an idol in his arms and at the same time called out _Kapu,
o-o!_ The meaning is that the pa-ú, when wrapped about the
woman’s loins, laid a tabu on the woman. The old Hawaiian
consulted on the meaning of this passage quoted the
following, which illustrates the fondness of his people for
endless repetitions and play upon words:
Awiliwili i ka hale[119] o ka lauwili, e.
He lauwili ka makani, he Kaua-ula,[120]
I hoapaapa i ka hale o ka lauwili, e:
[Translation.]
Unstable the house of the shifty man,
Fickle as the wind Kaua-ula.
Treachery lurks in the house of Unstable.
]
[Footnote 115: _Kaupoku._ A variant of the usual form, which is
_kaupaku_, the ridgepole of a house, its apex. The pa-ú
when worn takes the shape of a grass house, which has the
form of a haystack.]
[Footnote 116: _Ula ka pali._ Red shows the pali, i. e., the
side hill. This is a euphemism for some accident by which the
pa-ú has been displaced, and an exposure of the person has
taken place, as a result of which the boys scream and even
the sea-bird, the _a’o_, shrieks itself hoarse.]
[Footnote 117: _A’o._ A sea-bird, whose raucous voice is heard
in the air at night at certain seasons.]
[Footnote 118: _Hi’i-lawe_. A celebrated waterfall in Wai-pi’o
valley, Hawaii.]
[Footnote 119: Primitive meaning, house; second, the body as
the house of the soul.]
[Footnote 120: Kaua-ula. A strong wind that shifted from one
point to another, and that blew, often with great violence,
at Lahaina, Maui. The above triplet was often quoted by the
chiefs of olden time apropos of a person who was fickle in
love or residence. As the old book has it, “The double-minded
man is unstable in all his ways.” (_O ke kanáka lolilua ka
manao lauwili kona mau aoao a pau._)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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