Classic Poem

Mr. F.W. Christian, of the Polynesian Society of New Zealand, whose
personal acquaintance with the South Sea Islands and their dialects is
unique, is translating "Kapiolani" into Rarotongan. He writes--

"I enclose a four-line stanza which, translating your first line--'Where
the great green combers break,' etc.--strictly according to East
Polynesian ballad-metres, ushers in your great theme.

"'Kapiolani' will, I trust, God willing, become a household classic
in many of the Eastern Islands, such as Rapa and Manahiki, where the
Rarotongan language runs current as a sort of Lingua Franca or Sacred
Esperanto, thanks to the magnificent translation of the Bible by the
great missionary, John Williams. I have translated the poem most carefully,
and as accurately as possible into the peculiar metre and cast of
expression which an Eastern Polynesian 'Atu-Pe'e, or Versifier, would
immediately grasp as idiomatic. The first lines run thus:--"


Tei te ngai mangúngú--anga no te an ngaru roro'a
Ki rúnga no te púnga matoato'a
Ngàru kerekere, ngáru mamaáta e tini
Ki rúnga no te 'Akau-Pipíni.