[Footnote 5: The most important of these chants translated from the
Hawaiian are the "Song of Creation," prepared by Liliuokalani; the "Song
of Kualii," translated by both Lyons and Wise, and the prophetic song
beginning _"Haui ka lani,"_ translated by Andrews and edited by Dole. To
these should be added the important songs cited by Fornander, in full or
in part, which relate the origin of the group, and perhaps the name song
beginning "The fish ponds of Mana," quoted in Fornander's tale of
_Lonoikamakahiki_, the canoe-chant in _Kana_, and the wind chants in
_Pakaa_.]


II. NATURE AND THE GODS AS REFLECTED IN THE STORY

1. POLYNESIAN ORIGIN OF HAWAIIAN ROMANCE

Truly to interpret Hawaiian romance we must realize at the start its
relation to the past of that people, to their origin and migrations,
their social inheritance, and the kind of physical world to which their
experience has been confined. Now, the real body of Hawaiian folklore
belongs to no isolated group, but to the whole Polynesian area. From New
Zealand through the Tongan, Ellice, Samoan, Society, Rarotongan,
Marquesan, and Hawaiian groups, fringing upon the Fijian and the
Micronesian, the same physical characteristics, the same language,
customs, habits of life prevail; the same arts, the same form of
worship, the same gods. And a common stock of tradition has passed from
mouth to mouth over the same area. In New Zealand, as in Hawaii, men
tell the story of Maui's fishing and the theft of fire.[1] A close
comparative study of the tales from each group should reveal local
characteristics, but for our purpose the Polynesian race is one, and its
common stock of tradition, which at the dispersal and during the