New-York tribune., 1910-01-23

meie (songS)- perhaps IL Is Just as WeA
that some of the sugar Is left untranslated.
Here is a colorful stanza:
Ewa's lagoon is red with dirt
Dust blown by the cool Moa.e:
An ocherous tint in the bay
A lover speaks:
MaIua fetch water Of love.
Give drink this marnane bud
The birds they singing ecstatic.
Slipping Panaewas nectared lehua
Beside themselves with the fragrance
Exhaled from the garden Ohele
Your love comes to me a tornado
Il has rapt away my whole oocy
The heart you once sealed as your own
There planted the seed OF desire
Answers the inamorata:
Thought you twas the tree OF Hoppe.
This tree. whose bloom you would pluck
Meaning. probably, that the lover made
mistake In regarding her as the sacred tree
of Hopoe. whose blossoms no man dared
to touch.
charming little hula poem. called the
"song Of the Tree She'll is thus rendered:
Trin a-far
TrilI a-near.
A dainty sons-wreath.
Wreath akoea,
kolea. koiea,
Fetch some dew.
Dew from pink akoiea
The tree shell is a snail-like creature IN
habiting trees and supposed 70 make
chirping noise. while akolea is a fern and
kolea a red-breasted plover-
Among the musical instruments used IN
the hula orchestra the one or bamboo-nose
flute is the oldest The performer holds
the instrument TO his right nostril with MS
left hand. stopping the other nostril with
his thumb, and manipulates the three stops
on the flute with his right hand fingers
Air is driven through the nasal passage
with force sufficient to produce compara-
lively powerful tones.
Although the hula music of to-day IS sup
posed 10 be built on the diatonic scale
which was early introduced in the Ha-
waiiau Islands. it continues 10 be savagely
elusive and defes attempts at precise
transcription. There are -mbroidcrfes, frac-
ttonaI tones and color effects of a subtle
character Moreover, there are great varl-
ations in the rendition OF song
Music does not come spontaneously TO the
Hawaiian ii is said. but is the result or
careful and studied art First came the
poem, then the rhythm of song TO match
t.s words Not from a mere bubbling up
OF underlined emotion does the native carol
but because he has something TO say and
can say it best in uetrical form
Describing the dance feature OF hula,
the author says
The motions Of the hands arms and OF
the whole body. including the pelvis-which
has its own peculiar orbital and sidelonS
swing-were in perfect sympathy one part
with another The movements were so fas-
cinating that one at first almost hyp-
Noticed and disqualified for criticism and
analytic Judgment. Not 10 derogate from
the propriety and modesty Of the woman 5
I motions under the influence OF her Delsar-
tian grace one gained new appreciation OF
the charm of woven PAGES and OF waving
| hands The hands Of the hula dan
| Ger are going out in gesture, her body
| swaytng and pivoting itself in attitudes of
| expression. Her whole physique is a liv-
! ing and moving picture of feeling. senti-
ment and passion. If the range OF thought
I is not always deep high, II is not the
| fault of her art. but the limitations OF her
| original endowment"
Hula gestures are largely fixed and have
! a wide range Of meaning. A precipice, or
an obstacle of size, is represented symbol
cally by the hand vertically posed the
| outstretched arm, palm outward To show
/ that the obstacle Is surmounted. the hand
/ is pushed forward and does climbing act.
/ Walking or travelling is expressed by a
| forward undulatory movement of the out
/ stretched arm and hand An open level
/ space is meant by extending the hands with
/ nalnns down. The act of putting on clothes
| &c shown by placing the hollow of each
hand over the opposite shoulder with a
I sort Of hugging action. Hands with palms
up. edge to edge. little fingers touching, in
dicate union or harmony while one hand
turned down and the other up signifies