Since
the spirit may go abroad independently of the body, such romantic shifts
as the vision of a dream lover, so magically introduced into more
sophisticated romance, are attended with no difficulties of plausibility
to a Polynesian mind. It is in a dream that Halemano first sees the
beauty of Puna. In a Samoan story (Taylor, I, 98) the sisters catch the
image of their brother in a bottle and throw it upon the princess's
bathing pool. When the youth turns over at home, the image turns in the
water.]
[Footnote 16: The feathers of the _oo_ bird (_Moho nobilis_), with which
the princess's house is thatched, are the precious yellow feathers used
for the manufacture of cloaks for chiefs of rank. The _mamo_ (_Drepanis
pacifica_) yields feathers of a richer color, but so distributed that
they can not be plucked from the living bird. This bird is therefore
almost extinct in Hawaiian forests, while the _oo_ is fast recovering
itself under the present strict hunting laws. Among all the royal capes
preserved in the Bishop Museum, only one is made of the _mamo_
feathers.]
[Footnote 17: The reference to the temple of Pahauna is one of a number
of passages which concern themselves with antiquarian interest.
Pages:
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356