ABSTRACT
An important chiefly chant, "Haui ka Lani" describes a similar term for beloved pet roosters, moamahi, which also means "to cherish and cultivate". The chapter describes how such pets slept with people, snuggled on their chests like little children. Notably, there was a specific term for such pet pigs, pua'a moe poli; poli is a poetic reference to the heart, and is often used in mele to describe sweethearts, children, and lovers, the only ones close enough to lay their bodies on one's chest, or who were important enough to carry love in one's heart for. Mary Kawena Pukui and Handy write, "Hawaiians loved children and were adopters, taking the children of others to rear as their own", and if a child was not wanted, "relatives and neighbours would beg for it and no matter how large a family there was always room for one more".
