Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes: (mythology) Collected and Translated from the Hawaiian |
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Common terms and phrases
ancient angry au-makuas beautiful body broken burning called canoe caves chanted chief chiefess clouds crater dance destroy destructive dragons earth earthquakes eruption feet ferns fire-goddess fire-pit fish floods of lava flowers forest ghost ghost-gods goddess of fire gods Haleakala Haumea Hawaiian Islands Hawaiian mythology Hawaiian Volcano Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Hiiaka hill Hilo holua Honolulu Hopoe hurled incantation island Hawaii journey Kaha-wali Kama-puaa Kamehameha Kapiolani Kauai Keaau Kilauea kupuas lake of fire land lava flow leaped legends say lehua lightning living Lohiau magic Maui Mauna Kea Mauna Loa mighty miles Moo-lau mountain Na-maka-o-ka-hai natives Niihau Oahu observatory ocean ohia Pana-ewa Pau-o-palae Pele family Pele's Poliahu Polynesian Polynesian language poured precipice priests prophet Puna river side sister skirt smoke sometimes spirit stone story struck surf tabu threw trees volcano Kilauea Wahine-omao waves Westervelt winds woman
Popular passages
Page 143 - ... leave. So much like life they looked that they at first supposed them merely at rest, and it was not until they had come up to them and handled them that they could detect their mistake.
Page 191 - ... reigns past it had kept below the level of the surrounding plain, continually extending its surface and increasing its depth, and occasionally throwing up, with violent explosions, huge rocks, or red-hot stones.
Page 142 - ... began to shake and rock beneath their feet, and it became quite impossible to stand. Soon a dense cloud of darkness was seen to rise out of the crater, and, almost at the same instant, the thunder began to roar in the heavens, and the lightning to flash. It continued to ascend and spread around until the whole region was enveloped, and the light of day was entirely excluded.
Page 143 - The rear body, which was nearest the volcano at the time of the eruption, seemed to suffer the least injury, and after the earthquake and shower of sand had passed over, hastened forward to escape the dangers which threatened them, and rejoicing in mutual congratulations that they had been preserved in the midst of such imminent peril. But what was their surprise and consternation, when on coming up with their comrades of the center party, they discovered them all to have become corpses.
Page 144 - A blast of sulphurous gas, a shower of heated embers, or a volume of heated steam would sufficiently account for this sudden death. Some of the narrators, who saw the corpses, affirm that though in no place deeply burnt, yet they were thoroughly scorched.
Page 147 - Tamehameha went, attended by a large retinue of chiefs and priests, and, as the most valuable offering he could make, cut off part of his own hair, which was always considered sacred, and threw it into the torrent.
Page 142 - ... the thunder began to roar in the heavens and the lightning to flash. It continued to ascend and spread abroad until the whole region was enveloped, and the light of day was entirely excluded. The darkness was the more terrific, being made visible by an awful glare from streams of red and blue light variously combined, that issued from the pit below, and lit up at intervals by the intense flashes of lightning from above.
Page 143 - But what was their surprise and consternation when, on coming up with their comrades of the centre party, they discovered them all to have become corpses. Some were lying down and others were sitting upright, clasping with dying grasp their wives and children, and joining noses (their form of expressing affection) as in the act of taking a final leave. So much like life they looked that they at first supposed them merely at rest, and it was not until they had come up to them and handled...
Page 191 - ... huge rocks or red-hot stones. These eruptions, they said, were always accompanied by dreadful earthquakes, loud claps of thunder, with vivid and quicksucceeding lightning. No great explosion, they added, had taken place since the days of Keoua...