HAWAII-167 - A COMPACT ABSORPTION-LINE OBJECT AT Z=2.35

During the course of the Hawaii K-band (2.1 mum) survey (Songaila et a l. 1994; Cowie et al. 1994) we have detected a compact object, Hawaii 167, lying at a redshift of 2.33, in which are seen both low- and high -ionization absorption lines. In the near-infrared we see broad Halpha emission at a redshift of 2.35 but do not detect the other Balmer lin es, [O II] lambda3727, or [O III] lambda5007. The absence of strong Mg II or C IV emission in the rest ultraviolet suggests that, at these w avelengths, we may be seeing a poststarburst galaxy rather than a quas ar. Indeed, this class of object may be common enough to represent a m ajor episode of galaxy formation, possibly the formation of the sphero ids. However, Q0059-2735, the most extreme member of the class of Mg I I absorbing broad absorption line quasars, is very similar to the pres ent object, and there may be an evolutionary sequence or some other cl ose connection between Hawaii 167 and the broad absorption line quasar s.