Hawaiian Pahu (Drum)
Standing drum of the Hawaiian islands, carved from a single log of coconut or breadfruit wood and headed with sharkskin or stingray skin stretched and braced with cords. Two kinds are known: the pahu hula, struck with the hands to accompany the hula and chant, and the larger pahu heiau, the sacred temple drum beaten in the heiau to summon the gods and mark the rites of the priests. The drum stands upright and is played with open palms or heel and fingertips, and in the temple it was considered so sacred that only certain priests might sound it, its rhythms regarded as a channel of divine mana.