Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/236

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
CULIN]
HAWAIIAN GAMES
205

ceremony was over.[1] This was followed by sham fights, until the king put a stop to them and repaired to the he-i-au (temple) to pay his devotions to Lo-no.

The next day the long idol was stripped of its ornaments, which were packed up and deposited in the temple for use another year, and a white canoe, called Lo-no's canoe, to return to Ka-hi-ki in, was sent to sea, after which all restrictions on fishing and farming were removed (no-a ka ma-ka-hi-ki).


GAMES

1. Ko-wa-li: Jumping-rope.—The rope may be swung by two persons, by one person with the other end fastened, or by one person who also jumps. Two girls frequently jump together, counting until they miss. Andrews gives pu-he-o-he-o as "a sport of children like jumping the rope." Ko-wa-li, the term given by my informants, is the name of the convolvulus, the vine of which is used as a rope.

Taylor[2] describes the skipping rope of New Zealand under the name he piu. Two persons generally hold the rope, and a third skips over it; sometimes they tie an end of the rope to a post and one twirls the rope while several jump over at the same time. It is also used by one person as with us.

2. Le-le-ko-a-li: Swinging.—A single rope is used, to which a stick is attached, across which one person sits, while another sits facing him astride his legs. The swingers are pulled by ropes from the opposite side. The name is from le-le, "to fly," and ko-a-li, the convolvulus, the vine formerly used for swings.

Ellis[3] says of the Tahitians that they were very fond of the tahoro, or swing, and frequently suspended a rope from a branch of a lofty tree, and spent hours in swinging backward and forward. They used the rope singly, and at the lower end fastened a short stick.

—————
  1. Alexander states that Kamehameha always caught the spear himself.
  2. Op. cit., p. 173.
  3. Op. cit., 1, p. 228.