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The dancers ('olapa) in the painting are wearing kapa garments of the style in use at the time of European contact (1778) as well as garlands of ferns. Their instruments are 'uli'uli, rattles made from gourds and decorated with feathers. A ho'opa'a (drummer and chanter) at the extreme left is playing a pahu hula (dance drum). His companion plays the pa ipu, made of two gourds cemented together with breadfruit gum. Resonant sounds are produced in various rhythms by striking the sides with the fingers and the palm, and thumping the base upon a pad of folded kapa. Strapped to his thigh just above the knee is a puniu, a small drum made from a coconut shell. Above, a storyteller enchants his audience. Recitations of poems and chants, often by famous touring orators, drew enthusiastic and highly critical audiences. At left is the akua pa'ani, a standard symbolic of Lonoikamakahiki, spirit of the Makahiki celebrations.

Page 102, Ancient Hawaii