Aiwohikupua evidently travels in disguise as the mere follower
of a chief.]
[Footnote 28: In Hawaiian warfare, the biggest boaster was the best man,
and to shame an antagonist by taunts was to score success. In the
ceremonial boxing contest at the Makahiki festivities for Lono, god of
the boxers, as described by Malo, the "reviling recitative" is part of
the program. In the story of _Kawelo_, when his antagonist, punning on
his grandfather's name of "cock," calls him a "mere chicken that
scratches after roaches," Kawelo's sense of disgrace is so keen that he
rolls down the hill for shame, but luckily bethinking himself that the
cock roosts higher than the chief (compare the Arab etiquette that
allows none higher than the king), and that out of its feathers, brushes
are made which sweep the chief's back, he returns to the charge with a
handsome retort which sends his antagonist in ignominious retreat. In
the story of Lono, when the nephews of the rival chiefs meet, a sparring
contest of wit is set up, depending on the fact that one is short and
fat, the other long and lanky, "A little shelf for the rats," jeers the
tall one.
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