{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_66357/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_66357","id":"gutenberg_66357","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66357","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Folklore -- Hawaii","Legends -- Hawaii"],"text":"HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL LEGENDS\n\n                               By\n                        W. D. WESTERVELT\n          Author of \u201cMaui the Demi-God of Polynesia\u201d;\n     \u201cLegends of Old Honolulu\u201d; \u201cHawaiian Gods and Ghosts\u201d;\n       \u201cAround the Poi-bowl\u201d; \u201cHawaiian Volcanoes,\u201d etc.\n\n\n                          ILLUSTRATED\n\n\n                     New York      Chicago\n                   Fleming H. Revell Company\n                      London and Edinburgh\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n                               To\n              my wife, Caroline Castle Westervelt,\n             and my son, Andrew Castle Westervelt,\n               this sixth of my books on Hawaiian\n               Literature is heartily dedicated.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nFrom mist to sunshine\u2014from fabled gods to a constitution and\nlegislature as a Territory of the United States\u2014this is the outline of\nthe stories told in the present volume. This outline is thoroughly\nHawaiian in the method of presentation. The old people rehearsed\nstories depending upon stories told before. They cared very little for\ndates. This is a book of stories related to each other.\n\nVeiled by the fogs of imagination are many interesting facts concerning\nkings and chiefs which have been passed over untouched\u2014such as the\nvoyages of the vikings of the Pacific, who left names and legends\naround the islands. For instance, Hilo, in the island of Hawaii, is\nnamed after Whiro, a noted viking who sailed through many island groups\nwith his brother, Punga, after whom the district of Puna is named.\nKa-kuhi-hewa, ruler of Oahu, was the King Arthur of the Hawaiians, with\na band of noted chiefs around his poi-bowl. Umi was a remarkable king\nof the island Hawaii. Many individual incidents of these persons are\nyet to be related.\n\nThe Hawaiian language papers since 1835, Fornander\u2019s Polynesian\nResearches, and many of the old Hawaiians have been of great assistance\nin searching for these \u201cfragments of Hawaiian history,\u201d now set forth\nin this book.\n\n\n    W. D. W.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPRONUNCIATION\n\n\nIn reading Hawaiian words do not end a syllable with a consonant, and\npronounce all vowels as if they were Italian or French.\n\n\n                       a = a in father.\n                       e = e in they.\n                       i = i in pin.\n                       o = o in hold.\n                       u = oo in spoon.\n\n\nThis is a fairly good rule for the pronunciation of all Polynesian\nwords.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n    CHAPTER                                    PAGE\n\n        I.   Maui the Polynesian                 13\n       II.   Maui Seeking Immortality            19\n      III.   The Water of Life                   24\n       IV.   A Viking of the Pacific             35\n        V.   Home of the Polynesians             41\n       VI.   Sons of Kii                         47\n      VII.   Paao from Samoa                     65\n     VIII.   Moikeha the Restless                79\n       IX.   Laa from Tahiti                     86\n        X.   First Foreigners                    93\n       XI.   Captain Cook                       100\n      XII.   The Ivory of Oahu                  114\n     XIII.   The Alapa Regiment                 125\n      XIV.   The Last Prophet of Oahu           143\n       XV.   The Eight of Oahu                  149\n      XVI.   The Red Mouth Gun                  155\n     XVII.   The Law of the Splintered Paddle   162\n    XVIII.   Last of the Tabu                   176\n      XIX.   First Hawaiian Printing            183\n       XX.   The First Constitution             189\n      XXI.   The Hawaiian Flag                  200\n             Index                              217\n\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n                                                   FACING PAGE\n\n    Idols by Which Captain Cook Was Worshipped      Title page\n    Spear Throwing Contest                                  62\n    Chiefs in Feather Cloaks and Helmets                    88\n    Landing of Warriors                                    134\n    Hawaiian Grass Houses                                  172\n    First Leaflet Printed, 1822                            184\n    Title Page of First Hymn Book, 1823                    186\n    First Bible Printing, 1827                             188\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nMAUI THE POLYNESIAN\n\n\nAmong the really ancient ancestors of the Hawaiian chiefs, Maui is one\nof the most interesting. His name is found in different places in the\nhigh chief genealogy. He belonged to the mist land of time. He was one\nof the Polynesian demi-gods. He was possessed of supernatural power and\nmade use of all manner of enchantments. In New Zealand antiquity he was\nsaid to have aided other gods in the creation of man.\n\nNevertheless he was very human. He lived in thatched houses, had wives\nand children, and was scolded by the women for not properly supporting\nhis family. Yet he continually worked for the good of men. His\nmischievous pranks would make him another Mercury living in any age\nbefore the beginning of the Christian era.\n\nWhen Maui was born his mother, not caring for him, cut off a lock of\nher hair, tied it around him and cast him into the sea. In this way the\nname came to him, Maui-Tiki-Tiki, \u201cMaui formed in the topknot.\u201d\n\nThe waters bore him safely. Jellyfish enwrapped him and mothered him.\nThe god of the seas protected him. He was carried to the god\u2019s house\nand hung up in the roof that he might feel the warm air of the fire and\nbe cherished into life.\n\nWhen he was old enough he came to his relations while they were at\nhome, dancing and making merry. Little Maui crept in and sat down\nbehind his brothers. His mother called the children and found a strange\nchild, who soon proved that he was her son. Some of the brothers were\njealous, but the eldest addressed the others as follows:\n\n\u201cNever mind; let him be our dear brother. In the days of peace remember\nthe proverb, \u2018When you are on friendly terms, settle your disputes in a\nfriendly way; when you are at war, you must redress your injuries by\nviolence.\u2019 It is better for us, brothers, to be kind to other people.\nThese are the ways by which men gain influence\u2014by labouring for\nabundance of food to feed others, by collecting property to give to\nothers, and by similar means by which you promote the good of others.\u201d\n\nThus, according to the New Zealand story related by Sir George Grey,\nMaui was received in his home.\n\nMaui\u2019s home in Hawaii was for a long time enveloped in darkness.\nAccording to some legends the skies pressed so closely and so heavily\nupon the earth that when the plants began to grow all the leaves were\nnecessarily flat. According to other legends the plants had to push up\nthe clouds a little, and thus the leaves flattened out into larger\nsurface, so that they could better drive the skies back. Thus the\nleaves became flat and have so remained through all the days of\nmankind. The plants lifted the sky inch by inch until men were able to\ncrawl about between the heavens and the earth, thus passing from place\nto place and visiting one another. After a long time Maui came to a\nwoman and said: \u201cGive me a drink from your gourd calabash and I will\npush the heavens higher.\u201d The woman handed the gourd to him. When he\nhad taken a deep draught he braced himself against the clouds and\nlifted them to the height of the trees. Again he hoisted the sky and\ncarried it to the tops of the mountains; then, with great exertion, he\nthrust it up to the place it now occupies. Nevertheless, dark clouds\nmany times hang low along the great mountains and descend in heavy\nrains, but they dare not stay, lest Maui, the strong, come and hurl\nthem so far away that they cannot come back again.\n\nThe Manahiki Islanders say that Maui desired to separate the sky from\nthe earth. His father, Ru, was the supporter of the heavens. Maui\npersuaded him to assist in lifting the burden. They crowded it and bent\nit upward. They were able to stand with the sky resting on their\nshoulders. They heaved against the bending mass and it receded rapidly.\nThey quickly put the palms of their hands under it, then the tips of\ntheir fingers, and it retreated farther and farther. At last, drawing\nthemselves out to gigantic proportions, they pushed the entire heavens\nup to the very lofty position which they have ever since occupied.\n\nOn the island Hawaii, in a cave under a waterfall, dwelt\nHina-of-the-fire, the mother of Maui.\n\nFrom this home Maui crossed to the island Maui, climbed a great\nmountain, threw ropes made from fibres of plants around the sun\u2019s legs,\npulled off many and then compelled the swift traveller of the heavens\nto go slowly on its way that men might have longer and better days.\n\nMaui\u2019s home, at the best, was only a sorry affair. Gods and demi-gods\nlived in caves and small grass houses. The thatch rapidly rotted and\nrequired continual renewal. In a very short time the heavy rains beat\nthrough the decaying roof. The home was without windows or doors, save\nas low openings in the ends or sides allowed entrance to those willing\nto crawl through. Here Maui lived on edible roots and fruits and raw\nfish, knowing little about cooked food, for the art of fire-making was\nnot yet known.\n\nBy and by Maui learned to make fire by rubbing sticks together.\n\nA family of mud hens, worshipped by some of the Hawaiians in later\nyears, understood the art of fire-making.\n\nFrom the sea Maui and his brothers saw fire burning on a mountain side\nbut it was always put entirely out when they hastened to the spot.\n\nMaui proposed to his brothers that they go fishing, leaving him to\nwatch the birds. But the Alae counted the fishermen and refused to\nbuild a fire for the hidden one who was watching them. They said among\nthemselves, \u201cThere are three in the boat and we know not where the\nother one is, we will make no fire to-day.\u201d\n\nSo the experiment failed again and again. If one or two remained or if\nall waited on the land there would be no fire\u2014but the dawn which saw\nthe four brothers in the boat, saw also the fire on the land.\n\nFinally Maui rolled some kapa cloth together and stuck it up in one end\nof the canoe so that it would look like a man. He then concealed\nhimself near the haunt of the mud-hens, while his brothers went out\nfishing. The birds counted the figures in the boat and then started to\nbuild a heap of wood for the fire.\n\nMaui was impatient\u2014and just as an old bird began to select sticks with\nwhich to make the flames he leaped swiftly out and caught her and held\nher prisoner. He forgot for a moment that he wanted the secret of\nfire-making. In his anger against the wise bird his first impulse was\nto taunt her and then kill her for hiding the secret of fire.\n\nBut the bird cried out: \u201cIf you are the death of me\u2014my secret will\nperish also\u2014and you cannot have fire.\u201d\n\nMaui then promised to spare her life if she would tell him what to do.\n\nThen came a contest of wits. The bird told the demi-god to rub the\nstalks of water plants together. He guarded the bird and tried the\nplants. Then she told him to rub reeds together\u2014but they bent and broke\nand he could make no fire. He twisted her neck until she was half\ndead\u2014then she cried out: \u201cI have hidden the fire in a green stick.\u201d\n\nMaui worked hard but not a spark of fire appeared. Again he caught his\nprisoner by the head and wrung her neck, and she named a kind of dry\nwood. Maui rubbed the sticks together but they only became warm. The\ntwisting process was resumed\u2014and repeated until the mud-hen was almost\ndead\u2014and Maui had tried tree after tree. At last Maui found fire. Then\nas the flames rose he said: \u201cThere is one more thing to rub.\u201d He took a\nfire stick and rubbed the top of the head of his prisoner until the\nfeathers fell off and the raw flesh appeared. Thus the Hawaiian mud-hen\nand her descendants have ever since had bald heads, and the Hawaiians\nhave had the secret of fire-making.\n\nMaui was a great discoverer of islands. Among other groups he \u201cfished\nup from the ocean\u201d New Zealand and the Hawaiian Islands with a magic\nhook. One by one he pulled them to himself out of the deep waters. He\ndiscovered them.\n\nThus Maui raised the sky, lassoed the sun, found fire and made the\nearth habitable for man.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nMAUI SEEKING IMMORTALITY\n\n\nThe story of Maui seeking immortality for the human race is one of the\nfinest myths in the world. For pure imagination and pathos it is\ndifficult to find any tale from Grecian or Latin literature to compare\nwith it. In Greek and Roman fables gods suffered for other gods, and\nyet none were surrounded with such absolutely mythical experiences as\nthose through which the demi-god Maui of the Pacific ocean passed when\nhe entered the gates of death with the hope of winning immortality for\nmankind. The really remarkable group of legends which cluster around\nMaui is well concluded by the story of his unselfish and heroic battle\nwith death.\n\nThe different islands of the Pacific have their hades, or abode of the\ndead. Sometimes the tunnels left by currents of melted lava running\ntoward the west are the passages into the home of departed spirits. In\nSamoa there are two circular holes among the rocks at the west end of\nthe island Savaii. These are the entrances to the underworld for chiefs\nand people. The spirits of those who die on the other islands leap into\nthe sea and swim around the land from island to island until they reach\nSavaii. Then they plunge down into their heaven or their hades.\n\nThere is no escape from death. The natives of New Zealand say: \u201cMan may\nhave descendants but the daughters of the night strangle his\noffspring\u201d; and again: \u201cMen make heroes, but death carries them away.\u201d\n\nMaui once said to the goddess of the moon: \u201cLet death be short. As the\nmoon dies and returns with new strength, so let men die and revive\nagain.\u201d\n\nBut she replied: \u201cLet death be very long, that man may sigh and sorrow.\nWhen man dies let him go into darkness, become like earth, that those\nhe leaves behind may weep and wail and mourn.\u201d\n\n\u201cMaui did not wish men to die but to live forever. Death appeared\ndegrading and an insult to the dignity of man. Man ought to die like\nthe moon which dips in the life-giving waters of Kane and is renewed\nagain, or like the sun, which daily sinks into the pit of night and\nwith renewed strength rises in the morning.\u201d\n\nThe Hawaiian legends say that Maui was slain in a conflict with some of\nthe gods. The New Zealand legends give a more detailed account of his\ndeath.\n\nMaui sought the home of Hine-nui-te-po\u2014the guardian of life. He heard\nher order her attendants, the brightest flashes of lightning, to watch\nfor any one approaching and capture all who came walking upright as a\nman. He crept past the attendants on hands and feet, found the place of\nlife, stole some of the food of the goddess and returned home. He\nshowed the food to his brothers and friends and persuaded them to go\nwith him into the darkness of the night of death. On the way he changed\nthem into the form of birds. In the evening they came to the house of\nthe goddess on an island long before fished up from the seas.\n\nMaui warned the birds to refrain from making any noise while he made\nthe supreme effort of his life. He was about to enter upon his struggle\nfor immortality. He said to the birds: \u201cIf I go into the stomach of\nthis woman do not laugh until I have gone through her, and come out\nagain at her mouth; then you can laugh at me.\u201d\n\nHis friends said: \u201cYou will be killed.\u201d Maui replied: \u201cIf you laugh at\nme when I have only entered her stomach I shall be killed, but if I\nhave passed through her and come out of her mouth I shall escape and\nHine-nui-te-po will die.\u201d\n\nHis friends called out to him: \u201cGo then. The decision is with you.\u201d\n\nHine was sleeping soundly. The sunlight had almost passed away and the\nhouse lay in quiet gloom. Maui came near to the sleeping goddess. Her\nlarge fishlike mouth was open wide. He put off his clothing and\nprepared to pass through the ordeal of going to the hidden source of\nlife, tear it out of the body of its guardian and carry it back with\nhim to mankind. He stood in all the glory of savage manhood. His body\nwas splendidly marked by the tattoo-bones, and now well oiled shone and\nsparkled in the last rays of the setting sun.\n\nHe leaped through the mouth of the enchanted one and entered her\nstomach, weapon in hand, to take out her heart, the vital principle\nwhich he knew had its home somewhere within her being. He found\nimmortality on the other side of death. He turned to come back again\ninto life when suddenly a little bird laughed in a clear, shrill tone\nand Great Hine, through whose mouth Maui was passing, awoke. Her sharp,\nobsidian teeth closed with a snap upon Maui, cutting his body in the\ncentre. Thus Maui entered the gates of death, but was unable to return,\nand death has ever since been victor over rebellious men. The natives\nhave the saying:\n\n\u201cIf Maui had not died he could have restored to life all who had gone\nbefore him, and thus succeeded in destroying death.\u201d\n\nMaui\u2019s brothers took the dismembered body and buried it in a cave\ncalled Te-ana-i-hana. \u201cThe cave dug out,\u201d possibly a prepared burial\nplace.\n\nMaui\u2019s wife made war upon the gods, and killed as many as she could to\navenge her husband\u2019s death. One of the old native poets of New Zealand\nin chanting the story to Mr. White said: \u201cBut though Maui was killed\nhis offspring survived. Some of these are at Hawa-i-ki (Hawaii) and\nsome at Ao-tea-roa (New Zealand) but the greater part of them remained\nat Hawaiki. This history was handed down by the generations of our\nancestors of ancient times, and we continue to rehearse it to our\nchildren, with our incantations and genealogies, and all other matters\nrelating to our race.\u201d\n\n\n        \u201cBut death is nothing new\n        Death is, and has been ever since old Maui died\n        Then Pata-tai laughed loud\n        And woke the goblin-god\n        Who severed him in two, and shut him in,\n        So dusk of eve came on.\u201d\n\n                            \u2014Maori Death Chant.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE WATER OF LIFE [1]\n\n\n\u201cThe Self-reliant Dragon\u201d is frequently mentioned in the oldest\nHawaiian legends. This dragon was probably a very old crocodile\nworshipped as the ancestor goddess of the Hawaiian chief families.\n\nShe dwelt in one of the mysterious islands mentioned in the Hawaiian\nchants as Kua-i-Helani, \u201cthe Far-away Helani,\u201d lying in the ancient far\nwestern home of the Polynesians.\n\nIku was the chief. He had several sons. The youngest was\nAukele-nui-a-Iku, Aukele the Great Son of Iku.\n\nAukele was a favorite of the Self-reliant Dragon. She gave him a large\nbamboo stick. Inside she placed an image of the god Lono, and also a\nmagic leaf which could provide plenty of food for any one who touched\nthe leaf to his lips. She put in a part of her own skin.\n\nShe said, \u201cThis skin is a cloak for you. If you lift it up against any\nenemies, they will fall to pieces as dust and ashes.\u201d\n\nThey put all these treasures in the bamboo stick. Then the dragon\ntaught the boy all kinds of magic power.\n\nThe brothers, who were great warriors, determined to sail away, find a\nnew land and conquer it by fighting. Aukele persuaded them to take him.\nThen he sent one to get the stick he had brought from the dragon pit\nwhich was near the sea.\n\nAfter a long time on the sea all their food was gone and they were\nstarving and lying in the bottom of the boat. Aukele fed them from the\nleaf which he touched to their lips.\n\nSome days passed and Aukele said, \u201cTo-morrow we will come to a land\nwhere a woman is the ruler. Let me tell why we journey.\u201d\n\nThey said, \u201cDid you build this boat, and have you its chant?\u201d\n\nHe said: \u201cWe must not call this a boat for war, but of discovery, to\nfind new land.\u201d\n\nThe chiefess of that land looked out and saw a boat in the ocean, and\nsent some birds to see what the boat was doing and learn whether it was\na war canoe, or a travelling boat. The birds went out, and Aukele\nwanted his brothers to say it was a travelling boat. The birds asked\nand the brothers said: \u201cThis is a war canoe.\u201d The birds went away.\nAukele took up the bamboo stick and threw it in the sea, and leaped in\nafter it. The brothers threw the cloak of Aukele on the beach. The\nchiefess found the cloak and shook it toward the boat, then threw it\naway. The brothers broke into small dust and were destroyed. The boat\nand the brothers sank to the bottom of the sea.\n\nAukele swam to the beach, pulled up his stick, found his cloak and lay\ndown under a tree and slept. A watchdog came out, and smelled the man,\nand barked.\n\nThe chiefess called two women, and told them to see who it was, and if\nthey found any one, kill him. They came down and the god of Aukele\nawakened him, and told him the names of the women.\n\nThe women came and he greeted them. They were ashamed because he had\nfound their names, and one said to the other, \u201cWhat can we give him for\nnaming us?\u201d The other said, \u201cWe will let him be the husband of our\nruler.\u201d So they came and sat down by him, and they talked lovingly\ntogether and he won their hearts.\n\nThe women told him that they had been sent to kill him, but that they\nwould say they did not find him; then other messengers would be sent.\nThey went home and told the chiefess: \u201cWe went to the precipice; there\nwas no one there. Then to the forest and the sea. There was no one\nthere. Perhaps the dog made a mistake.\u201d\n\nThe chiefess turned the dog out again; at once there was more barking.\nShe told her bird brothers to go and look over the land. Lono saw them\nand said; \u201cHere is another death day for us. I will tell you who these\nbirds are. When they come you say their names quickly and welcome\nthem.\u201d So he did. They wondered how he knew their names. This knowledge\ngave him power over them and they could not harm him. The birds also\nthought they would have to offer their ruler as a wife to this\nwonderful stranger. They went back to their sister and told her they\nhad found a husband for her. This pleased her. She sent them after\nAukele. He told them he would go by and by.\n\nLono said to Aukele, \u201cDeath has partly passed, but more trouble lies\nbefore us. When you go up do not sit down or enter the house. Stand at\nthe door. First these two women will come. If they say \u2018Aloha\u2019 it is\nall right. The dog will come and will try to kill you. When he has\npassed by, the brothers will come. The food they make and put in old\ncalabashes, do not eat. See if the calabash has anything growing in its\ncracks. You will find new calabashes scattered over the ground. Food\nand fish and water are inside. Eat from these.\u201d\n\nHe made ready to go, and went up to the house, and stood by the door.\nThe two women said \u201cAloha\u201d and called to him to come in, but he would\nnot enter. The dog ran out, opened her mouth and tried to bite Aukele\nthrough the magic cloak. The dog became ashes. The chiefess saw the dog\nwas dead and was very sorry because he was the watchman for her land.\n\nThe brothers came to him with food which they had put in moss-covered\ncalabashes. He never touched it. It was the death food. He went to a\nplace where green calabash vines were growing, took a calabash, shook\nit, broke it, opened it and found good food inside.\n\nThen they lived as man and wife. The chiefess had been a cannibal but\nat this time stopped eating men. Soon a son was born.\n\nAfter a time the bird brothers taught Aukele how to leap into the air\nand fly as a bird.\n\nThe chiefess told her brothers to go away into the heavens and find her\nfather, Ku-waha-ilo, a cannibal god. He was also the father of Pele,\nthe goddess of volcanic fire. They must tell him that she had given all\nher treasures to her husband\u2014stars, lands, and seas. She told them to\ntake her husband to see the father.\n\nThey flew away, Aukele flying faster than the others. The father saw\nhim and thought his daughter was dead. He said, \u201cShe is the watchman\nfor my land, and no man could come here if she were alive,\u201d and he was\nangry.\n\nLono told Aukele to put on his magic cloak that now covered him from\nhead to foot. Then he understood there must be a battle. The cannibal\nfather made fire, called Kuku-ena (the lightning); then Ikuwa, a stone\ncrashing like thunder. The lightning and the crashing stone were struck\nby the cloak and rattled into ashes, cracking and breaking,\nreverberating, sounding like a drum.\n\nThe bird brothers saw the fire and heard the thunder. They were far\nbehind Aukele. They saw the lightning and the thunder defeated. After\nthe battle, they all came before their father and told him that the\ndaughter was well and this was her husband.\n\nAfter this flight to a cannibal land and this victory over the cannibal\ngod, Aukele returned to his wife.\n\nAfter a time the ghosts of his brothers appeared to him and reminded\nhim of their grave in the sea.\n\nAukele was very sorry and ate nothing for days. His wife, with great\nsympathy, told him if he had strength enough to find the living water\nof Kane he could still restore his brothers. He was encouraged and ate.\nHe asked what path he should take to find the land of the water of\nlife. She made a straight line toward the East, the sunrise, and told\nhim to fly straight, not swerving to either side.\n\nHe took his bamboo stick with all his aid inside and put it under his\narm, put on his magic cloak, and said \u201cAloha.\u201d A long time passed.\n\nHe thought he was flying in a straight line, but one arm became tired\nbecause the stick was under it. He changed the stick, and this moved\nhis direction. His god saw this and told him he was leaving the\nstraight line and was flying to some other place. There was fire far\nbelow. All the people had fled except one. The god said, \u201cLet us go\nstraight till we come to that one; then you catch him and hold him\nfast. We shall have life.\u201d This was the moon, who was an ancestress of\nhis wife. The moon had been cooking food. She arose to take up her food\nand get ready to go. But Aukele caught her, held her and ate her food.\nShe thus became thin\u2014a new moon\u2014and the traveller gained strength to\nreturn to his home.\n\nAukele thought he would try again, according to his wife\u2019s line. She\nmade a line from the door of the house toward the sunrise, and warned\nhim. He flew straight a long time until he found a strange land with a\ndeep pit lined with trees and wonderful plants. At the bottom was the\nspring of the water of life. He leaped down upon the back of a watchman\non the edge of the pit, who had been put there by the guardian to kill\nany one coming after the water. He tried to shake Aukele off, saying:\n\u201cWho are you? What do you mean, O proud man? My grandchild, the brother\nof Pele, never got on my back. Who are you?\u201d He gave his name and\nancestors, and told the watchman he had come for the water of life for\nhis brothers. The watchman said: \u201cGo straight out from where I stand.\nDo not turn to the side or you will strike bamboo which will make a\ngreat noise, and my grandchild, Pele\u2019s brother, will hear and will\ncover the water tight, and you cannot get it.\u201d\n\nSo Aukele flew and leaped straight on the second watchman, who told him\nnot to go to the left or he would strike the lama trees (very hard\nwood, used for building houses for the gods). These trees would make a\ngreat noise and the guardian would cover the water tight and he could\nnot get it.\n\nHe flew to another watchman, who told him to go straight to the bottom\nof the pit. \u201cThere a blind woman will be sitting. Look at the place\nwhere she is cooking bananas. She will take them one by one. You eat\nall her bananas. Then she will become angry and throw ashes. If she\nthrows on the right side, you must fly to the left. Watch if she\nstrikes with a stick, then run quickly, sit in her lap, and tell her\nwho you are.\u201d\n\nWhen he had done all these things and all attempts to kill him had\nfailed, Aukele made the old blind woman lie down under a cocoanut tree.\nHe got two young cocoanuts and told her to turn her eyes toward the\nsky. He dropped the cocoanuts in her eyes. She wept sorely because of\nthe pain. He told her to rub the water out of her eyes and not cry. She\ndid so, and said: \u201cI can see you.\u201d He came down from the tree and she\ntold him what he must do to get the water of life: \u201cGo and break the\nstem of a water plant, and near it a bush with white flowers. Bring\nthem to me.\u201d This he did and laid the plants before her. She squeezed\nthe water from the plants into a cup, took charcoal and other things\nand mixed them together until black; then she painted Aukele\u2019s hands\nvery black, like the hands of the brother of Pele. His hands were\nblack, and those watching the water of life would look at the hands\nreaching for water and make no mistake. They would tightly cover up the\nwater if a white hand came down. \u201cWait until the guardian god is asleep\nand the servants are preparing drink for him when he should awake. Then\ngo to the door and one will give you some water. The first will be\ndirty water; throw it away. Put your hand down again. They will give\nyou another calabash of water. This will be the living water of Kane;\ntake it.\u201d\n\nHe went down and put his hand in for the water. The watchman handed out\na calabash of dirty water. He threw it away and again thrust his black\nhand down the pit.\n\nThe watchman gave him a calabash of the pure water of life.\n\nHe flew rapidly along the path to the outside world. In his haste he\nstruck the leaves of the groves of trees and the noise was that of\nstrong winds thrashing the branches and leaves back and forth, up and\ndown. The sound swept through the land of the water of life like\nrolling thunder.\n\nThe brother of Pele and his servants awoke and followed, but he fled\nthrough the heavens to the place where the ghosts of his brothers lay\nin the sunken ship by the home of the goddess of the sea.\n\nThey all went down to the sea. The chiefess told her husband to pour\nthe water of life in his hand. She put her fingers in the water and\nsprinkled drops over the sea.\n\nOut in the ocean under the moving surface was a boat, its mast coming\nup through the waves. In a little while they saw men standing in the\nboat. These were the brothers of Aukele. After the welcome, he gave\nthem lands and homes.\n\nIn that strange far-off land of the ancestors\u2014the mysterious \u201cFloating\nIsland\u201d\u2014the \u201cHidden Island of Kane,\u201d it is said they still live under\nthe rule of their younger brother.\n\nAukele thought he would like to see his parents once more, so he went\nto the far-away Helani\u2014but the land was desolate. The parents were\ngone, the people had disappeared, the houses had all decayed, and the\nland was covered with a forest.\n\nOnly a dragon was left\u2014one of the family of the \u201cSelf-reliant Dragon.\u201d\nHe discovered her body fast in the coral reef near the shore. He\nthought she was dead, but he stood up and stamped with full strength\nand broke the coral so that the dragon was free. He saw the body\nmoving, but the dragon was very weak and near death.\n\nHe was sorry for her, remembering that it was by the aid of dragon\npowers he had gone into the heavens and from the deep pit of the skies\nsecured the water of life. Therefore he provided food and gave new life\nto the dragon. He asked about his parents and their gods, and the\ndesolation of the land.\n\nThe dragon told him how the entire household of gods, dragons and men\nhad found a new home, in the Islands of Oahu and Hawaii. She told how\n\u201cthe child adopted or brought up by the gods,\u201d and the Maiden of the\nGolden Clouds, had been taken by the Self-reliant Dragon to Oahu, and\nhow all the rest had gone, leaving her as a guard in the old land of\nhis birth and childhood.\n\nAukele went back to the legendary land, the \u201cHidden Island of Kane,\u201d\nand there lived among the ghost gods who welcome the dead as they\nescape from wandering over the islands and fly by the path of the\nsunset back to the home of the most distant ancestors\u2014the mysterious\nlands in the skies of the western seas.\n\nHere he and his brothers are high chiefs of the au-makuas, the ghost\ngods of Hawaii, who wait to welcome and give peace to the spirits of\nthe dead.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nA VIKING OF THE PACIFIC\n\n\nHistory is frequently legendary. That historian is incompetent who\ndeliberately ignores tradition and fable. A nation founded in the\nsunlight of civilisation cannot have a legendary past, but it must\ndepend many times upon the cloudy memory of individuals. Legends are\nthe indistinct memories of nations, and are of real value when there is\nany opportunity for comparison. Early Norse history was told in song\nlegends. The sagas of the Vikings are rivalled in some measure by the\nmeles of the Hawaiians. The Hawaiians have both the chant\u2014the mele, and\nthe tradition\u2014the olelo. From these come Hawaiian ancient history. The\nVikings, \u201csea kings,\u201d as they are often named, the \u201cwickel-ings,\u201d as\nFroude calls them, the men who sailed out from the \u201cvicks,\u201d the fjords\nof the Scandinavian coast, were brave mariners. They swept the European\ncoast; they infested Mediterranean waters; they found the North\nAtlantic islands. They made themselves at home in Sneeland (Snowland),\nnow Iceland and Greenland. They named the countries newly discovered\nafter their own fancies, as Flatland, Woodland, and Vinland, for\nNewfoundland, Nova Scotia and Massachusetts, respectively.\n\nThe Polynesian folklore abounds in stories of remarkable men, bold\nexpeditions, stirring adventures and voyages to far-off lands. The\nVikings of the Pacific gave to their foreign lands the names by which\nthese lands were then known, and by which they are known to-day.\n\nIn the long Hawaiian chant of Kumu Honua, \u201cthe first created,\u201d there is\na part devoted to Hawaii-loa, the first sea-king of the Polynesians. He\nis reported as making long journeys and discovering the Hawaiian\nIslands. Besides this chant there are many legends and references which\nmake him an important ancestor among Hawaiians, an ancestor of islands\nrather than of families. He lived in the \u201cland of the handsome or\ngolden god, Kane.\u201d To the north lay the land Ulu-nui or \u201cthe Great\nUlu,\u201d possibly Ur of Chaldea. His home was near the \u201cgreen precipiced\nparadise\u201d of Hawaiian legend, the place where the water of life gave\nforth healing even for the dead.\n\nHawaii-loa was a noted fisherman. He launched out into deep waters. He\nfished for new worlds and found them. From the Great Ulu to Java, from\nJava to Jilolo, and from Jilolo far out into the eastern Pacific,\nHawaii-loa sailed. His relative, Ti-i, also launched out into the deep\nseas. Ti-i went almost directly east from the old home, and found the\nSociety Islands. These he made his home, according to the Society\nIsland legends, becoming the creator of the islands.\n\nHawaii-loa sailed to the northeast, following \u201cIao,\u201d Jupiter, as the\nmorning star. Iao was a favorite guiding star among the Hawaiians. Five\nof the planets were known by the sea-rovers. The planets were called\n\u201cNa Hoku hele\u201d\u2014\u201cthe going stars.\u201d Mars was known as \u201cHoku ula,\u201d \u201cthe\nred star.\u201d \u201cNa hoku paa\u201d were \u201cthe fastened stars, immovable in the\nheavens.\u201d The name \u201cIao\u201d is given to one of the mountains of the Island\nof Maui.\n\nHawaii-loa found the fire islands\u2014the islands somewhat like the old\nJava home, luxuriant and volcanic. He named the large island\nHawa-i-i\u2014\u201cthe little or the burning Java.\u201d\n\nThe large island was full of delight to the bold navigator, and he\ndetermined to bring his family to this new land for their permanent\nhome. He took them from \u201cthe land where his forefathers dwelt before\nhim.\u201d He sailed through the \u201cdotted sea,\u201d the sea with many islands\nlying near his old ancestral home, \u201cthe rainy Zaba\u201d\u2014the modern Zaba or\nSaba of the Arabian seacoast\u2014from which his own name, \u201cHawa,\u201d is easily\nderived. On his journey back and forth he passed through a sea which\ndelighted his heart as a fisherman\u2014\u201ca sea where the fishes run.\u201d He\nmust have found excellent deep-sea fishing. He crossed the\n\u201cmany-coloured  ocean\u201d and the \u201csky-blue sea.\u201d He revelled in the\nbeauty of the sun rising and setting in glorious colours on the\nrestless waves. On he sailed with his family until he came to\nHawaii\u2014\u201cthe burning Java,\u201d the land of volcanoes and earthquakes and of\nluxuriant valleys and fertile seacoasts.\n\nFornander suggests that Hawaii is derived from Java and Java from the\nArabian Saba.\n\nEvidently a Polynesian chief of high rank gathered a number of\nadherents or members of his tribe, and sailed eastward over the\nPacific, about the beginning of the Christian era. His descendants, or\nat least such portion of his family as did not follow him on his\nvoyage, seem to have moved from Java to the Molucca Islands and settled\nin Jilolo.\n\nIt is said that after he brought his family to Hawaii, new islands\nsprang out of the sea, well wooded and well watered. These he divided\namong his children.\n\nWhen the later sea-rovers came to Hawaii, possibly in the fifth or\nsixth century, they found the islands already inhabited by people of\ntheir own race, and yet apparently without a chief\u2014probably a servant\nclass. If we sift the legends and then assume that in the course of\nthree or four hundred years the family of the chief, Hawaii-loa, became\nextinct in Hawaii, leaving only the servants on the islands, we have at\nleast a probable explanation of the coming of the so-called little\npeople, or fairies, from the Southern Pacific to Hawaii.\n\nThe South Pacific islanders called their servants, or laborers, the\nManahune people.\n\nThe fairies were known in the Hawaiian legends as the Menehunes.\nSometimes they were credited with powers like the gnomes of old\nEngland. They were supposed to work only at night. A very ancient stone\nwater-wall along the side of one of the swift-flowing Hawaiian rivers\nhas no tradition or history save that the Menehune people built it in\none night. Another very ancient stone wall around a large fish pond is\nreferred to the Menehunes, who did not finish their work in one night,\ntherefore the wall has always been incomplete. So also some of the most\nancient temples were referred to the mysterious midnight labors of this\npeople.\n\nOne of the legends states that a priest desired to carry the Menehune\npeople across the long stretch of ocean between the foreign lands and\nthe Island of Oahu, therefore \u201che stretched out his hands to the\nfarthest bounds of Tahiti and over him the Menehunes\u2014the\nservants\u2014crossed to Oahu.\u201d\n\nIt was this same sorcerer-priest who saw the sun die and the earth\nbecome dark. He leaped across to the foreign land, caught the sun\nbefore it was buried, brought it back to Hawaii and placed it in the\nheavens, where it has been ever since. These are simply graphic\ndescriptions of an eclipse, and also of a chief who carried his common\npeople\u2014his servants\u2014with him across the waters. The presence of this\nservant class in the very ancient times is unquestioned.\n\nChiefs coming later found this servant class which readily accepted new\nrulers.\n\nHawaii-loa\u2014\u201cthe Great Hawaii\u201d\u2014may well be considered both a founder of\nthe Polynesian race and the first settler of the Hawaiian Islands.\nBrave lover of the sea and founder of nations, Hawaii-loa deserves\nfirst place among the Vikings of the Pacific.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nLEGENDARY HOME OF THE POLYNESIANS\n\n\nThe Hawaiians, like the native residents of many other groups of\nislands in the Pacific Ocean, have not taken kindly to the European\nnames tacked upon their doorposts by the sailors who discovered them.\nThis is very fortunate for those who desire to gather together the\nfacts out of which to weave a connected history of Polynesia.\n\nIt is also fortunate that the language spoken in the groups so widely\ndiffused over the Pacific Ocean, has the same common structure, with\nonly such differences as may be resolved into dialects.\n\nThe Tahitian, Samoan, New Zealander, and Hawaiian, though thousands of\nmiles apart, are members of one family, and require but a short period\nto acquire the faculty of a free exchange of ideas.\n\nStudents find a slight difficulty in the different spellings which\ndifferent voyagers have given to the native words according to the way\nin which they heard the sounds\u2014for instance, \u201cHawaii\u201d was \u201cOwyhee\u201d in\nthe days of Captain Cook.\n\nThis difficulty was not overcome when the Polynesian dialects were\nreduced to writing by the many missionaries to the different parts of\nthe Pacific Ocean. It was impossible to adopt a uniform method. In some\nplaces \u201ch\u201d was used, in others \u201cf\u201d and \u201cl\u201d or \u201cr\u201d or \u201ck,\u201d as in the\nHawaiian word \u201caloha\u201d\u2014which in other island groups was \u201calofa\u201d and\n\u201caloofa,\u201d \u201caroha,\u201d \u201ckaoha,\u201d \u201cakaaroa,\u201d all meaning \u201cfriendship.\u201d\n\nIn attempting to trace the place of origin of the Hawaiians and other\nPolynesians it is absolutely necessary to take into account this\nphonetic difficulty.\n\nFornander gives the following list of island groups with the various\nmethods of using the word Hawaii:\n\n\n                    Hawaii\u2014Hawa-i-i.\n                    Tahiti\u2014Hawa-i-i.\n                    Samoa\u2014Sawa-i-i or Sava-i-i.\n                    New Zealand\u2014Hawa-iki.\n                    Marquesas\u2014Hawa-iki.\n                    Raro Tonga\u2014Awa-iki.\n                    Tonga\u2014Haba-i.\n\n\nHawaii in some form of the word is the most universally used name among\nall the Polynesians as the place for their ancestral home.\n\nThe name of the Hawaiian Islands is taken from this mythological name.\nSo also is the Savaii of the Samoan Islands. So also the small island\nHawaiki in Lake Rotorua of New Zealand, where the New Zealand legends\nsay the ancestors of the Maoris placed the relics which they brought\nwith them from their ancestral Hawaiki when they settled in New\nZealand. In far eastern Tahiti is a place on Raiatea, the island now\nknown as Opoa. Its ancient and sacred name was Hawaii.\n\nSome writers have thought that Samoa might be the center of dispersion\nto the other Pacific islands, but the Samoan dialect is very corrupt,\nits legends are fragmentary, and its history of sea rovers seems to\nlack a sufficient similarity of names with the migrators from the\noriginal home to allow this supposition to have very great weight.\n\nIt is also interesting to note that the Hawaiian Islands do not have a\ngood foundation for any claim to be the original centre of dispersion,\nalthough many of the most ancient legends of Hawaii and of New Zealand\nare the same. There is abundance of proof of a common origin, but not\nsufficient to found any claim for Hawaiian parentage.\n\nEllis, writing in 1830 concerning the Tahitians and inhabitants of\nneighbouring islands, says:\n\n\u201cA tradition stated that the first inhabitants of these islands\noriginally came from a country in the direction of the setting sun, to\nwhich several names were given. Pigs and dogs were brought from the\nWest.\u201d\n\nIn the Hawaiian Islands the point from which the ancient voyages sailed\naway to visit the other groups of islands of the Pacific was off the\nwestern coast of the island of Maui and was called Ke-ala-i-kahiki, The\nPath to Tahiti. They might ultimately sail eastward to Tahiti or to the\nMarquesas Islands, but they started toward the home of their ancestors,\nwestward. They called their vikings\u2014Ka-poe-holo-kahiki, The People\nSailing to Tahiti. Tahiti at last meant any distant or foreign group of\nislands, although individual names of islands are used in the\nchants\u2014such as Bolabola and Upolu.\n\nThe Hawaiian said that, ke alo, the face or front of an island, was\ntoward the west. The back, ke kua, was toward the east. This, as\nFornander says, was \u201cbecause the ancestors of the islanders came from\nthe west originally.\u201d\n\nThe students of Polynesian legends are practically united in ascribing\nthe Hawaii of mythology to some place west of all the islands.\n\nEarly writers on the origin of the Polynesians took it for granted that\nthese ancestors were Malays. Certain words and names among both Malays\nand Polynesians were similar, but later study has convinced the vast\nmajority of students that this theory is not true. It is now believed\nthat the Polynesians came to the island groups from the neighbourhood\nof the straits of Sunda, where they had their home for a long time. The\nfierce Malay tribes descended upon them and scattered them in all\ndirections over the seas. A trace of the remnants of this dispersion is\nfound even among the mixed elements of the people of Japan. Another\ntrace is found in Madagascar, while the great body of the storm-tossed\npeople took possession of the middle and southeastern islands of the\nPacific.\n\nHon. Edward Tregear, of New Zealand, writing about the original home of\nthe Polynesians, thinks that their first residence was either India or\nCentral Asia, from whence they passed through India, there making a\nstay of some time. Then they journeyed to the Malay archipelago,\nresiding there many generations until driven out by the Malays. This is\nthe original Hawa-iki from which Polynesia was first settled,\nexpeditions probably passing out to the far distant island groups. Then\nlastly came the canoe voyagers\u2014the rovings of the vikings of the\nPacific which in New Zealand meant a new peopling of the land of the\n\u201clong white cloud,\u201d and to the Hawaiians and Tahitians and other\nislands almost two centuries of adventurous sea roving.\n\nThe late Hon. S. Percy Smith, Minister of Native Affairs in New\nZealand, traces the Polynesians from Aryan connection in Asia Minor and\nWestern Europe to India, Malayasia and thence to the scattered islands\nof the Pacific.\n\nMax M\u00fcller calls attention to the use of the word Av-iki by both\nBrahmins and Buddhists as the name of their \u201chades.\u201d\n\nHawa-iki was the name of the place from which the Polynesians came and\nabout which they talked in their most ancient stories. This other world\nbecame mysterious as the ages passed by until at last Hawa-iki meant\nthe place to which the spirits of the dead went, as well as the home\nfrom which their ancestors came. A journey to or from any of the\nPolynesian islands meant passing out of one world into another. The\narea of vision bounded by the horizon was the world in which the people\nlived. Passing out of sight over the waters was breaking through the\nwall dividing one world from another. The idea that Hawa-iki was the\nhome of the ghosts could very easily be derived from the other world\nbeyond the shining wall of the sky into which any one sailing out of\nsight of land might be forever lost.\n\nThe path into this other world\u2014this Hawa-iki of the ancestors\u2014was\nuniversally toward the west\u2014the golden path of the setting sun.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nTHE SONS OF KII\n\n\nSometime during the fifth or sixth century of the Christian\nera\u2014according to estimates based on Hawaiian genealogies\u2014two brothers,\nUlu and Nanaulu, came to the Hawaiian Islands and established a dynasty\nof high chiefs. Their father was Kii, a king in the Southern Pacific\nIslands. Tahiti, the chief island of the Society group, furnishes the\nonly ancient king of that name. We have the additional fact that in\nHawaiian legends the place to which Hawaiian Vikings frequently sailed\nfor centuries was usually Kahiki or Tahiti, the old home of the family\nof ruling chiefs.\n\nIt has been suggested that Ulu remained in the southern islands and\nthat Nanaulu alone found his way to Hawaii; but the frequent use of the\nname Ulu in the genealogies of the chiefs of the two large islands,\nHawaii and Maui, would support the position taken in the story that\nfollows\u2014that the brothers, sailing together, found Hawaii.\n\n\n\nTwo strong young men, about six feet in stature, were hastening\ntogether along a mountain spur leading down to the harbour of Papeete.\nThey had met but a short time before, one coming around the base of the\nturreted crags of an extinct volcano known as \u201cLa Diademe\u201d\u2014The Diadem,\nor crown of Tahiti. The other had left his house in the hills from\nwhich the beautiful river of the Vai-ta-piha valley takes its source.\nThey had given each other the universal Polynesian greeting\u2014\u201cLove to\nyou,\u201d with the reply, \u201cLove indeed.\u201d\n\nSoon they came to the seashore where a long boat, the waa of Ulu, had\nbeen built. Large crowds of natives were watching the workmen as the\nstone adzes rang for the last time on the boarded-up sides of the boat.\n\nAs the two young chiefs drew near they saw a small company of solemn,\ndignified men, evidently of high rank, emerge from the door of a large\ngrass house and march slowly to the side of the long boat.\n\nA trumpet shell was sounded. The people fell with their faces toward\nthe ground. Another blast, and there could be seen a number of gigantic\nslaves coming from the door of a stone temple not far away. Each slave\nwas leading a prisoner. In a few minutes they surrounded the boat. Two\nprisoners were held at the prow of the boat, two at the stern, four\nalong the boat sides and others in a line extending to the beach.\n\nA priest stepped forth from the little company of leaders. In a strong\nand yet monotonous tone he began a chant of praise of Kii and his sons.\nHe sang of the boat building and the protecting care of the gods.\n\nHe chanted the charms which would control the action of the gods of the\nseas over which the boats might sail. He invoked the gods of the home\nland to make friendly the gods of any new country to which the sailors\nmight go. He pleaded for the acceptance of the human sacrifice about to\nbe made to the gods.\n\nExecutioners with sharp-edged clubs of heavy hardwood then struck down\nthe prisoners as the boat was rushed to the sea.\n\nHuman sacrifices at the launchings of the canoes of chiefs were not at\nall unusual, but the two young chiefs from the mountains had never\nbefore known such wholesale slaughter. The importance of the plans of\nthe high chiefs was made evident by this large human sacrifice. The new\nboat of the king\u2019s son, Ulu, was evidently destined for some very\nimportant expedition.\n\n\u201cE Taunoa,\u201d cried a chief to the two latest arrivals, calling one of\nthem by the name of his district. \u201cMake haste or you will be too late\nto hear the voice of the king.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow is it, Taunoa,\u201d said another, \u201cthat you, a chief of Nanaulu,\nshould be present at the call of Kii in the interest of Ulu?\u201d\n\nTaunoa replied: \u201cWe shall soon see Nanaulu with a cloud of boats. I was\nsent to announce his coming to his father, the king. His heart is with\nhis brother Ulu in the observance of the plans of Kii. I found this\nyoung chief of Vai-ta-piha on his way hither, and made him my\ncompanion. Take me at once to Kii, the king.\u201d\n\nOkela, the chief who had called to Taunoa, at once preceded the crowd\nthronging hastily behind, giving Taunoa the post of honour after Okela.\nAs they approached the dignified high chiefs they all prostrated\nthemselves to the ground except Okela and Taunoa.\n\nTaunoa drew from under his cloak a feathery frond of the cocoanut, and\nraising it above his head, asked for an interview with the king.\n\nThe trumpeter with his large pu or conch shell sounded the call of the\ncoming of the king. Trumpet shells responded from the temple and from\nthe king\u2019s residence. A terrific beating of drums followed, the people\nfell upon their faces; even the high chiefs prostrated themselves. Only\nthe messenger from Nanaulu remained partially upright.\n\nFrom the king\u2019s house came the royal retinue. King Kii was borne on the\nshoulders of a stalwart slave, supported by two other slaves, while\nranks of trusted chiefs walked by his side. Following the king, riding\nin the same way upon the shoulders of slaves, was Ulu, the king\u2019s son,\nsurrounded also by his chosen chiefs.\n\nTo the king Taunoa at once presented his tuft of the cocoanut and was\nordered to give his message.\n\n\u201cO King,\u201d he said, \u201cNanaulu, the high chief, your son, has heard of the\nboat of Ulu and your purpose of sending Ulu upon a mysterious mission.\nNanaulu, the elder brother, was the kahu (caretaker) of Ulu in the days\npast. He desires to still stand by his brother\u2019s side and care for him\nin the place of Kii, the royal father. He has searched the forests of\nthe sharp-peaked mountain and has fashioned a boat, the Mano-nui (great\nshark), and soon expects to come to Papeete with a royal fleet to do\nhonour to the king, his father.\u201d\n\nThe king had turned his eyes for a moment toward Ulu and had caught the\njoy flashing from his eyes when he heard of his brother\u2019s speedy\ncoming, then, looking down upon Taunoa, who had prostrated himself as\nsoon as his message was delivered, simply said:\n\n\u201cYour message gives joy,\u201d and then was borne into the midst of the\ngroup of high chiefs.\n\nThe king\u2019s herald then made proclamation:\n\n\u201cWhere are you, O chiefs? Where are you, O nobles of Tahiti? Where are\nyou, O servant people? For the message is to all, from the highest to\nthe lowest. Listen, O men of Tahiti, to the will of Kii, your king.\n\n\u201cIt is his wish that Ulu, his son, should sail toward the west and\nshould find the land of our fathers, He will have many companions, but\nthese will be selected from only the most worthy. His prophets and\npriests, his teachers, have already been chosen. But now choice must be\nmade of chiefs and warriors and common people. Two days will be given\nyou for rest. On the third day the king and his high chiefs will be\njudges of wrestling contests. On the fourth day will be struggles in\nthe surf; or, if the sea gods are not propitious the chiefs will\ncontest on the hillsides and in the games of physical strength. On the\nfifth day there will be the exercise with the spears and clubs. The\nskill and strength of the Tahitians will be manifest during these\ndays.\u201d\n\nThen followed such a scene of unbridled revelry as could occur only in\na land given up to physical pleasures and passions. Feasting and the\nheiva dance and drinking kava occupied the time of the common people.\n\nThe chiefs gave themselves up to gambling and rioting until the night\nwas wearied with their excesses and the new day sent the revellers to\nneeded rest wherever any tree or grass house afforded even a little\nshade.\n\nAs the afternoon of the first day began to cast its long shadows, a\nlarge fleet of hundreds of canoes filled the entrance to Papeete Bay.\nThey were preceded by a very large war canoe with a prow shaped into a\nrude resemblance of a shark\u2019s head, with shark\u2019s teeth fastened in the\nopen jaws. The body of the boat was of polished wood, well oiled. The\nmultitude of canoes following were painted and stained with as many\nbrilliant dyes as possible. Not a torn or weather-beaten sail hung by\nthe masts. Sails of dyed kapa cloth and woven matting, new and\nbeautifully painted, had been made ready long before, that Nanaulu\u2019s\nhomecoming might have no blot upon its impressive appearance. As the\nlarge boat came near the shore the oarsmen leaped into the surf; chosen\nmen from the other canoes joined them. Passing strong cords of cocoanut\nfibre under the keel, they lifted the boat, with several chiefs resting\nupon a small deck which partially covered the canoe. Then they bore the\ngreat burden up the beach toward the grass house of Kii. Standing by\nthe mast of the canoe was Nanaulu, a chief of splendid physical\nappearance, about thirty years of age, before whom all the people\nprostrated themselves as he was carried by.\n\nMidway between the beach and the king\u2019s house a young chief rushed down\nto meet Nanaulu. As he came near the canoe he leaped over the heads of\nthe bearers, landing on the deck by the side of Nanaulu and catching\nthe mast gracefully, steadied himself for a moment and then, throwing\nhis arms around Nanaulu, began the loud Polynesian wailing, with which\nin sorrow or in joy alike they were accustomed to greet one another.\nThis was Ulu, the younger brother, not over twenty-five years old, and\nhis warm-hearted greeting of his elder brother, who during his boyhood\nhad been his steadfast friend and caretaker, showed the deep love which\nbound them together. Ulu was of higher chief rank than his elder\nbrother. Sons of Kii, they were nevertheless sons of different queens\nof unequal rank; therefore Nanaulu owed allegiance to his brother.\nAfter the wailing was over the boat was carried to the king\u2019s house,\nwhile the two brothers discussed plans. Nanaulu requested that his own\nretainers might be given an opportunity to contest in the games and\nathletic exercises of the coming days. To this his brother readily\nacceded.\n\nEarly in the morning of the next day the contests were opened by the\nchiefs of the various districts of Tahiti, who called their best\nwrestlers together and chose the champions to contest with other\nchampions from other districts.\n\nAfter the king had taken his place the ceremonies of the day were\nintroduced by the royal ceremonial dance. Over a hundred chiefs,\nthrowing aside their cloaks and putting on tall helmets making the\naverage stature about eight feet and, taking slender, thin paddles,\nranged themselves before the king in lines, and then passed through a\nseries of gymnastic exercises, gracefully moving the paddles in exact\nharmony, at the same time changing their positions, passing in and out\nbetween one another, sometimes forming squares, circles and\nsemi-circles. The music for the rhythmic motion was furnished by rude\ndrums, upon which musicians beat time. The dance ended by two chiefs\ntaking war clubs and, while in motion, keeping time with the drums,\ntwirling the clubs and striking rapidly at each other, circling the\nclubs over each other\u2019s heads and yet avoiding all injury to one\nanother.\n\nOne of the chiefs stepped to the centre of the open arena and began to\nchant:\n\n\n        \u201cI am the wrestler\n        From the groves of Papeete,\n        By the sea waters.\n        Where are you, Opale,\n        The great man! the strong man!\n        Living by the rough waves\n        Of Makavia?\n        Come and fight with Makima.\u201d\n\n\nThe champion wrestler from Matavia Bay very slowly walked into the\narena, trying to appear utterly oblivious of his antagonist. He looked\ninto the sky, glanced along the sand, then shouted:\n\n\n        \u201cWhere are you, Makima,\n        The boastful little man,\n        The weak in limb and arm?\n        Where are you, Makima,\n        Who dares to fight with Opale?\u201d\n\n\nIt was the custom of the Polynesians to throw out a taunt in a\nhalf-shouting, defiant tone. Each combatant approached the other,\ntrying to make the audience think that he considered his antagonist so\nfar beneath his notice that he only needed to move his arm and the\nmatch would be over. Thus in lordly dignity they ignored each other\nuntil, standing side by side, each made a sudden movement as if\nexpecting to find the other off his guard. In a moment there was a\nconfused mass of squirming limbs and arms and writhing bodies. A cloud\nof sand obscured the struggle. For a time there was no motion, and\npeople saw the champions bending around each other with strained\nmuscles, neither having any advantage, but each apparently exerting all\nhis strength to make the other give way in response to brute strength.\nEach endeavoured to learn the trick by which his antagonist would\nchange the order of battle. The least loosening of muscles on the part\nof one was interpreted in a moment by the other, and neither one\nhastened to carry out a move which might place him at the other\u2019s\nmercy. It was a splendid exhibition of statuesque athletics. Doing his\nvery best to prevent betrayal by any loosened grasp in any direction,\nOpale suddenly swept one foot with terrific force against his\nantagonist\u2019s leg, at the same time pulling him to one side; but the\nhalf second\u2019s unconscious loosening of the muscles preparatory to\nOpale\u2019s action gave Makima notice, and even as Opale\u2019s foot struck him,\nhe raised the unbalanced chief and whirled him over his head, at the\nsame time by a whirlwind motion preserving his own equilibrium. Opale\nlay for a moment unconscious, while Makima received the applause of the\nmultitude.\n\nThen followed match after match, sometimes interspersed with boxing. In\nthe boxing contests severe blows were given until one of the boxers was\nstricken senseless to the earth or an arm was broken. Sometimes both\nwrestling and boxing contests resulted in the death of a chief. At such\ntimes the chief\u2019s retainers quietly carried away the body, while the\nshouts which greeted the victor filled the air. Such deaths were taken\nas incidental, and no wailing showed the grief of stricken friends.\n\nIn this way the forenoon passed, and at last a few noble chiefs,\nexquisite in the beauty of perfect muscular manhood, stood before the\nking, chosen to be the special bodyguard of Ulu in the mysterious\njourney of the coming days. In the afternoon the followers of Nanaulu\nwere tested and a like bodyguard selected for this young prince.\n\nDuring that night a heavy wind tossed the sea waves into foam, but as\nthe morning broke the wind died away, leaving ideal surf waves rolling\nin from the far-off coral reef, through the harbour, up to the beach.\n\nA number of chiefs, taking long boards, thinned and smoothed by stone\nknives and polished with the rough skin of the shark, swam far out into\nthe ocean. There where the surf waves began to form as the tide rolled\nlandward each chief turned his surf board to follow the tidal pathway.\nCanoes were stationed at the point from which the older chiefs had\ndecided that the swimmers must start. Groups of ten or fifteen\ncontestants were allowed to start together. The rider with the swiftest\nand most skilfully managed surf board was chosen from each group.\nHundreds of natives having any kind of claim to chief\u2019s blood had\npresented themselves for this contest.\n\nSome of the surf-riders contented themselves by simply lying on the\nboard, endeavouring by skilful use of hand and foot to hasten their\npassage on the crest of the huge surf waves. This was by no means an\neasy thing to do. Success consisted in gaining on the surf. Ordinarily\nmany surf waves passed from beneath the surf-riders before they could\ncomplete the long distance over the sea. To hang to a wave, cling to\nits white mane, to have such mastery over it as not to be thrown back\nto the next wave, was a trial of strength and judgment, and might\neasily bring the sought-for reward. These, of course, were the first to\nreach the shore.\n\nOthers pushed their boards rapidly through the first waves encountered.\nThen, balancing the board on the crest of the largest inrolling waves,\nleaped to their feet, and standing upright guided the board by the\nswaying of their bodies, adjusting themselves to the changing forces of\nthe surf. Sometimes a very skilful surf-rider would go through the\nmotions of fighting a battle\u2014throwing the javelin, pushing with a\nspear, striking with a war-club or stabbing with a dagger. This was\nseldom attempted without an ignominious overthrow of board and rider as\nthe undertow from the beach struggled with the incoming surf. Then the\nacrobat received the jeers of the people as he and his boat rolled\nunder the foam. A successful completion of such a ride marked a high\ndegree of combined courage and training and judgment. During the course\nof the entire test of the men of both Ulu and Nanaulu only two men\nperfectly performed this difficult task. These were the two young high\nchiefs Okela and Taunoa. The highest honours for surf-riding were,\nhowever, given by all to Vai-ta-piha, the inferior chief who had come\nto the contest with Taunoa.\n\nSoon after the group of riders in which he was placed started shoreward\na squall broke over them. The surf ceased rolling for a few moments in\ncontinuous waves. The boards and their riders were thrown against and\nover one another. Then a large wave swept the confused and struggling\ncompany toward the beach. Vai-ta-piha easily extricated himself, and\nbalanced upon his surf board was about to dash to land, but he saw in\nfront of his board the body of an insensible chief roll from between\ntwo boards and begin to sink. In a second he leaped ahead of his board,\ncaught the chief with one hand and with the other secured the\nsurf-board floating by. He drew the chief and himself up until he\nrested upon the board. Leaping to his feet he held the body in his\nhands, balancing himself and guiding his frail craft until the wave was\nabout to take its final plunge upon the sand, when he dropped off into\nthe water and carried his burden to the massage or lomilomi women, who\nby skilful kneading of the body soon restored the injured chief to his\nfriends. The unselfish rescue as well as the skill displayed in\nbringing the body to land, all in a few moments, won the approval of\nthe judges.\n\nThe fourth day the chiefs rested and the common people gave an\nexhibition of their attainments, and a sufficient number of\ncanoe-makers, house-builders, fishermen and other helpers were easily\nsecured. These were to be the oarsmen of the expedition.\n\nThe fifth day brought a new order of contestants. Around Papeete Bay\nare some beautiful hills, with sloping, grassy sides. Here the chiefs\ngathered with sleds which were from six to twelve feet long. These were\nmade by taking finely polished hardwood for runners, usually about\ntwelve inches apart.\n\nLong sticks were placed lengthwise over these runners and fastened\ntightly to cross pieces. Frequently a board was tied between the sticks\nand a piece of matting laid upon it for the benefit of the rider. Holes\nwere bored through these boards with sharp-pointed bones or shells, and\nthey were strongly tied to the runners.\n\nThe riders of shorter sleds would grasp the sticks along the edges,\nusing them as handles, raise the sled and run along the brow of the\nhill, giving the sled a hard push down the declivity as they threw\nthemselves flat on the narrow board. Sometimes this resulted in a\nmortifying overthrow of the rider at the first leap of the sled\ndownward. The rider with the longer sled was content to push his sled\nrapidly a few feet and then dash down the hillside. The slides or paths\nfor the sleds were so well worn that little ridges formed along the\nsides, sometimes keeping the sled in the path, and just as often\ncatching a runner and causing an overthrow of the rider.\n\nThe slides were frequently well covered with cut grass or leaves. Often\nthe chiefs preferred the carefully kept, grass-covered, smooth hillside\nwhere but few marks of sleds appeared.\n\nThis was an exciting and sometimes dangerous sport. Fearful velocities\nwere sometimes attained. Sleds swerved against slight unevennesses\nalmost imperceptible until struck by a runner on one side or the other.\nThe sudden shock swept the sled out of its course against the sled or\nin the pathway of an opponent, and in a moment a confused mass of\nbroken sleds and stunned riders would be dashed down the hillside. Many\ntimes a sled thus turned spilt its runner on one side. It was\nconsidered evidence of great skill when a rider instantaneously\nadjusted himself to a broken sled, kept it in its course and finally\nlanded safely in the smooth plain below.\n\nWhere the slopes were sufficiently gradual some of the chiefs chose the\nslower ride, but took it in a standing position, when the dangers would\nbe intensified, a broken sled being accompanied by broken limbs or a\nbroken neck.\n\nDuring the day messengers of the chiefs competed for a place in the\nexpedition. The contest required the men to go around the mountain\nwhich formed the larger part of the Island of Tahiti, usually a two\ndays\u2019 journey, with allowance for a few hours\u2019 rest along the way. The\nfirst and second runners to win in this race were to go as the\nmessengers of Ulu and Nanaulu.\n\nThe contests among the chiefs had resulted in the selection of a much\nlarger number of chiefs than could possibly go with the two young\nprinces. New trials of skill were instituted to sift out the least\nskilful or the most unlucky.\n\nThe first test applied was that of javelin throwing. The high chiefs\nhad prepared for their own sport a long, smooth path, beaten down until\nit was hard as a rock. Here they were accustomed to throw heavy\nhardwood darts, which, sliding along the path, would either pass\nbetween two marks at a given distance from the thrower or sometimes\nstrike a small stick set upright at the end of a straight line drawn\nalong the centre of the path. This was called the Pakee or the play\nwith the darts or javelins.\n\nA second test was made along the same beaten track in the game called\nUlu-maika. In this contest were used circular stones, flat-sided, of\ndifferent sizes, according to the pleasure of the contestants. The\nsmaller stones were about an inch thick and about six inches in\ncircumference. The larger maika-stones were frequently two inches thick\nand a foot and a half in circumference. The ordinary stone used by most\nof the chiefs was an inch thick and about ten inches in circumference.\nThese stones were smoothed and polished to a very high degree.\n\nThose who had stood the test of javelin-throwing were formed in line\nthat each one might, without delay, step to the head of the track and\nroll his disc, pass on and permit another to take his place.\n\nThis trial was, by virtue of a suggestion of Nanaulu, made a triple\ntest. The stone was to be rolled more than the ordinary distance, made\nto pass between two upright sticks, then between two more posts, and\nthen some distance beyond strike a mark set up in the centre of the\ntrack. Those accomplishing the entire feat would not be required to\nstand further trial in order to secure the coveted membership in the\nexpedition. Those passing the posts should be entitled to another\ntrial. It was not very difficult to roll the stone between the posts,\nbut very few were able to keep the disc in the centre of the track and\nstrike the far-distant mark.\n\nThe spear-catching contest was instituted as one of the final\nstruggles. A difficult condition was attached to this spear-catching.\nSix spears were to be hurled at once by six chiefs not over sixty feet\ndistant from the catcher. He was required to catch or stop at least\nfour of these spears, not permitting more than two to pass by him.\n\nThus the contests ended, and thus by a skilful use of Polynesian games\ncompanions were selected for the sons of Kii in their long journey to\nHawaii.\n\nThe wives of the young princes and some of the chiefs and warriors and\nboatmen were given places by the side of their husbands.\n\nSo from Tahiti, in the long ago, a voyage of many days to many lands,\nthrough many strange experiences, was undertaken by brave men and women\nin a small fleet of the larger kind of Polynesian boats. So the sons of\nKii sailed away toward the west to find the home from which their\nancestors had come to found the dynasty of Tahitian kings which held\nrule over Tahiti until the white man controlled the beautiful islands\nof the Pacific. Instead of the original home of the Polynesians on the\ncoast of Asia, the sons of Kii probably made their way to the new\nHawaii and there founded two races of kings. The descendants of Ulu\nruled the larger southern islands until overthrown in the eleventh\ncentury by Paao on the Island of Hawaii. The descendants of Nanaulu\nruled the northern islands until a few years after Captain Cook\ndiscovered the Hawaiian group and called it \u201cThe Sandwich Islands.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nPAAO FROM SAMOA\n\n\nKa-meha-meha is the chief name around which Hawaiian history gathers.\nIt is the nimbus of a cloud of stories, legends and chants. Hawaiians\nnever reckoned history by dates, but by genealogies\u2014as did the Hebrews.\nThey measured time not by the years but by the lives of men; not by the\ndays passed, but by the deeds done. These genealogies formed the most\nessential part of Hawaiian literature. They proved the royal descent of\nthe high chiefs.\n\nWhen Ka-meha-meha became king of \u201cThe Rainbow Islands,\u201d his royal chant\ntook the supreme place. Other genealogies lost their importance except\nas they blended in that of the great king. He traced his royal blood to\nPili, \u201cfrom a foreign land,\u201d and through Pili back to Wa-kea, a\nPolynesian chief of perhaps the second century; and thence back through\na series of hero-gods to Kumu-Honua, \u201cthe first created.\u201d It is a\nremarkable genealogy and worthy of study.\n\nIn November, 1736, he was born in North Kohala, Hawaii. Pili had\nsettled in North Kohala about thirty generations preceding. A quarter\nof a century is accepted as the average life of a generation. Pili,\ntherefore, landed in Hawaii in the early part of the eleventh century.\n\nThe story of Pili depends upon another story which must be told first.\nIn fact the Hawaiian traditions tell a great deal more about Paao, the\nfounder of the high-priest family of Hawaii, than about Pili, the\nancestor of kings.\n\nNot far from the year 1100 A.D., two priest brothers were living on\nUpolu, one of the Samoan Islands. Lonopele, the elder, lived in one of\nthe luxurious valleys opening upon the seacoast. Paao, the younger, was\na seaman as well as a priest. He lived near the beach, where he kept a\nsmall fleet of canoes.\n\nIn some way bitter feeling arose between the two households, making\nthem jealous and suspicious of each other. One day Lonopele came to the\ntemple where his brother was making ready to sacrifice a sacred black\nhog.\n\n\u201cWhere are you, O Paao,\u201d he cried, \u201cthat you prepare a sacrifice for\nthe favour of the gods, when you do not watch your oldest boy?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is your thought?\u201d asked Paao.\n\n\u201cSome of my choice fruits, brought from Tahiti, are beginning to ripen;\nand each night Kaino, your son, creeps under the low branches, and\ngathers whatever is good.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is false!\u201d angrily replied the father.\n\nTheft was considered the greatest of crimes among the Polynesians.\n\n\u201cNo! It is true. He is coming even now from his feast. If he touches my\nfruit again he shall die. It is tabu\u201d (sacred).\n\n\u201cE! Kaino!\u201d called the father.\n\nThe boy came near, evidently having just been eating.\n\n\u201cHave you taken fruit from Lonopele in the night?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo. I have fruit at home, but better are the baked dog and fish. I\nwould not eat his fruit.\u201d\n\nLonopele became angry, and cried out: \u201cMay the god, Kanaloa, curse you\nand break your body into fragments, for your falsehood.\u201d\n\n\u201cCut open my stomach, O my uncle, and I shall be proved innocent.\u201d\n\nThe ancient days had little of the modern care for children. Fathers\nand mothers readily gave away their babes, or slew them with their own\nhands. Paao determined to substitute his son for the sacrifice he was\npreparing, and thus prove his guilt or innocence. No trace of fruit was\nfound in the body.\n\nLonopele bowed his head in shame and hastened away. When the flush of\nindignant anger had passed, Paao grieved over the body which lay\ndecomposing upon the altar. The Hawaiian traditions say that after this\nact he determined to leave Upolu. He called together a few of his\ntrusted friends and told them his purpose. They agreed to prepare their\nlarge canoes, and go with him, seeking the \u201cBurning-Java,\u201d or Hawaii,\nsomewhere toward the north.\n\nThe sides of the boats were to be built two or three feet higher. This\nwas done by hewing boards with stone axes, and sewing them to each\nother through holes, drilled by bones, using cords of cocoanut fibre\nfor thread. Thus canoes were prepared capable of carrying thirty to\nsixty persons.\n\nDried bananas, pigs, fish, and pounded taro were made ready.\n\nOne day Paao saw his brother\u2019s son coming near the boats.\n\nIn a fit of anger he rushed upon the boy and slew him.\n\nLonopele soon discovered the murder, and made war upon Paao.\n\nPaao and his friends launched their canoes as fast as possible, placing\nin them their families and such provisions as were at hand. His\nwarriors, defeated by Lonopele, hastened to the canoes, and shoved out\ninto the deep waters.\n\nThe battle was evidently fierce, for the legends say that some of the\nprophet friends who could not escape to their canoes, leaped from the\nprecipitous cliffs to \u201cfly\u201d to the boats, and were dashed to pieces on\nthe rocks below. Lonopele probably drove them over the brink of a\nprecipice. One of the priest-friends leaped into the water, calling for\nPaao to return and rescue him. \u201cNot so,\u201d answered Paao, \u201cwe have left\nthe shore. It would be an evil omen to turn back. We will wait for you\nwhere we are.\u201d The legends say, \u201cThe priest flew like a bird to the\ncanoes\u201d and was warmly received by Paao. Lonopele sent a storm to\ndestroy the canoes. Probably he launched his own fleet and made\npursuit. Two great fish aided the fugitives. The Aku pushed the boats.\nThe Opelea hindered the storm waves by opposing his great body and\nbreaking their force. Lonopele ordered his magic bird to take up great\nwaves of water and pour them from the sky, overwhelming the fugitives.\nThe canoe-men hurriedly arranged mats covering the boats, and the water\nwas turned into the sea. Thus they escaped.\n\nThe days passed. Sometimes showers fell upon the mats arranged like\nfunnels, filling the water calabashes afresh. Sometimes they passed\nthrough a school of fish, and caught all they could, drying them for\nfuture use. Some died and descended to the \u201cbountiful islands in the\nworld under the waters.\u201d Some of the canoes were abandoned. And they\nsailed on almost hopelessly, still moving northward.\n\nOne day Paao said: \u201cI was watching the stars last night and my thought\nis that some water-god has put his hands under out boats and moved us\naway from Hawaii.\u201d\n\nAn astrologer said: \u201cI have heard the pilots from the burning islands\ntalk about the water-gods and one of them claimed that sometimes a\nstrange god had turned their boats from a straight path.\u201d\n\nThe action of the ocean currents was supposed to be the malicious work\nof some strange deity.\n\nThat night Paao could not sleep. He studied the stars. He felt a breeze\nthat seemed to him in some way different from the ordinary sea-breezes.\n\n\u201cDo you feel the new wind from the eastern star?\u201d he said softly to his\nsteersmen.\n\n\u201cAye!\u201d they replied. \u201cWe have to hold the steering paddles more\nfirmly.\u201d\n\nPaao awakened his prophet and whispered: \u201cDoes the new wind have a\nvoice for you?\u201d\n\nThe prophet sniffed the air, then stepped upon the high prow and\nbreathed again.\n\n\u201cAye, the wind has the voice of smoke, perhaps the smoke of the\nburning-mountain.\u201d\n\n\u201cSay nothing about the voice. We will change our course and sail toward\nthe bright star.\u201d\n\nDuring the day the men said, \u201cthis is a new wind and it has the storm\nvoice.\u201d\n\nThe next day came, and then the next. Paao and his prophet alternated\nbetween hope and fear. The awful suffering of hunger and thirst was\namong them. If a mistake had been made there was no possible escape\nfrom starvation. In the very early morning of the third day, as Paao\nwas restlessly looking eastward, his wife crept to his side.\n\n\u201cO my Paao,\u201d she said, \u201cI am about to die. I have just dreamed of the\ngreen-walled paradise. I smelled the sweet Maile blossoms and the\nleaves of our marriage wreath. I saw the spirits of my sons stand by\nthe cocoanut tree. The vision is from the gods, I must surely die.\u201d\n\n\u201cHush,\u201d said Paao quickly, \u201cI too have heard the voice of the Maile\nborn on the winds but I was awake. You shall not die. Call the\nastrologer, and then listen to his words.\u201d\n\nThe astrologer came quickly.\n\n\u201cTake breath strong and deep and tell me what the winds say.\u201d\n\n\u201cI hear no voice,\u201d was the reply.\n\nPaao handed his friend a calabash with a little precious water, bidding\nhim bathe his parched mouth and nostrils.\n\n\u201cNow what do the winds say?\u201d\n\n\u201cHawaii! Hawaii!! and the strong voice of the Maile blossoms, and the\ngentle voice of the sugar-cane. I can hear the bread-fruit call \u2018Come\nand eat.\u2019 The Lau-hala\u2019s voice comes over the sea. Awake, awake, oh\ncanoe-men! The fingers of the morning touch the mountains of Hawaii.\nThe morning is raising its hand to beckon us on. O friends of the\ncanoes, awake! Hear the land voices. Hear the wind that has no salt in\nit. Awake and hear Hawaii.\u201d\n\nIn a moment shouts and songs of gladness were heard from all the\ncanoes. When hope begins to grow, it ripens rapidly. New life, new\nstrength, pervaded the weakened wanderers. The steersmen unconsciously\nchanged the course of the boats toward the blue haze of land outlined\nby the dawn.\n\nThus the day passed. There was no longer any need to husband food. They\nate the last morsels. They drained the water from their calabashes.\nThey cheered each other from boat to boat. They toiled hard in rowing,\nand as the night dropped its shadows around them, they made\npreparations for landing in this new home.\n\nBundles of feather robes were unrolled. Native cloth, brilliantly\ncoloured, was taken from its wrappings. Paao robed himself in a\nhigh-priest\u2019s tabu mantle of black feathers, wearing a white helmet\nornamented with black plumes. Around the short masts they placed new\nmats as sails, inscribed with strange and mysterious emblems. All the\npeople put on their most gorgeous and costly apparel.\n\nThus, as the new morning dawned, they came to Hawaii. Thus they landed\nas if their journey had known nothing of starvation and death. Thus\nthey met the wondering natives who hastened along the beach to the spot\nwhere the boats must land.\n\nGreetings were given. The language of the newcomers was almost\nidentical in meaning and pronunciation with the native tongue. The\npriests with new gods were received with offerings. Food and clothing\nin abundance were given. Land in Puna, near Hilo, was set apart for\ntheir dwelling-place. Paao, aided by the Hawaiians, at once built a\ntemple at Wahaula, which after being twice restored, was destroyed in\n1820. From Paao, the high priest\u2019s family, highest in priestly rank of\nall dwelling in the islands, was perpetuated, until Ka-meha-meha\u2019s high\npriest, Hewa-hewa, a lineal descendant of Paao, in 1819, aided in\ndestroying the temples of the gods. With his own hands Hewa-hewa set\nfire to shrines and idols, overthrowing the system of worship and\nsacred tabu which Paao had established nearly 700 years before. Some\nyears later Hewa-hewa became a devoted adherent to Christianity.\n\nSome time during the fifth or sixth centuries two Polynesian brothers,\nsons of Kii, came to the Hawaiian group with a number of followers.\nThey belonged to a high chief family and appeared to have assumed\nauthority without opposition. They divided the islands. Ulu took Maui\nand Hawaii. Nanaulu settled on Oahu, taking possession of Oahu, Kauai\nand Molokai.\n\nKapawa was the last high chief of unblemished blood in the Ulu line on\nHawaii.\n\nThe Nanaulu line maintained its independence through all the centuries,\nuntil it was finally absorbed by the Ka-meha-meha family. The Ulu line\nin Hawaii was replaced by a Samoan family of high chiefs brought into\nHawaii by Paao, in connection with the overthrow of Kapawa.\n\nThe high chiefs of \u201cthe good old days of Hawaii\u201d had certain\nprerogatives which were never questioned. They were his by \u201cdivine\nright.\u201d He visited the inferior chief of any district at pleasure. He\nwas readily supplied with all the available kapa cloth of the district\nfor clothing and sleeping mats for himself and followers. The hunters\nof the district were required to search the mountain forests for birds\nof rare plumage, whose feathers the women were required to weave in\nmantles and helmets. All the food of the district was subject to his\ncommand. He levied upon any canoe attracting his fancy. Food and cloth\nand canoes were the wealth of the islands. The high chief usually left\neach district impoverished. There was no complaint against Kapawa on\nthis score, although he had used his \u201cdivine right\u201d in the most\nburdensome manner. The idle, the dissolute, the depraved and the\nreckless among the sub-chiefs of the various islands flocked to Kapawa\nand became his \u201ceating companions\u201d\u2014those who received from his bounty\ntheir food and clothing. The atrocious lives which such men lived in\nany community can be imagined. But this was not criminal.\n\nWhen the Hawaiian legends say \u201cThe Ulu line of high chiefs became\nextinct on account of the crimes of Kapawa,\u201d something must be\nconsidered besides property, morality or human life. It was not until\nthe sanctity of the temples was attacked that the chiefs decided that\neven royal blood of many generations might become too impure for a\nruling chief.\n\nOne day the district chief of Hilo came to the temple, asking to see\n\u201cthe priest of the brother tongue, who worshipped the two round white\ngods.\u201d\n\nWhen he was brought before Paao he said:\n\n\u201cI speak to you as to a brother. But I must first ask if the priest\nfrom afar will make his home by the burning mountain?\u201d\n\n\u201cAye,\u201d said Paao.\n\n\u201cThe priest is wise and knows the genealogies of the chiefs, the sons\nof the gods. He knows the chant of the royal line of Hawaii.\u201d\n\nPaao bowed his head.\n\n\u201cThe priest understands that our high chief, Kapawa, is descended from\nUlu. Is the priest aware that Kapawa is cruel and evil, that he\ntramples the life out of the land and that he violates the temples and\ndrags out of the city of refuge the man who has safely entered therein?\nDoes the priest know that the high chief is already planning to visit\nhim, to examine his stores and secure whatever new ornaments have been\nbrought from Samoa?\u201d\n\n\u201cI fear no king. I am the voice of the gods. I am the friend of \u2018Lono,\nwho walks on the sea.\u2019 I fear no man,\u201d replied Paao, quietly.\n\n\u201cTrue,\u201d said the chief. \u201cNevertheless the gods aid the man who crosses\nthe channel in a canoe a little more than the man who tries to cross by\nswimming. We must plan together and hew out our canoe. We want you to\nconsult the gods and tell us their will.\u201d\n\nPaao was practical. He knew that by becoming the high priest of the\nchiefs he would establish his position in Hawaii. He knew the value of\nadvice that comes through mysterious channels.\n\nHe went into the temple. After some time he returned and said to the\nchief:\n\n\u201cThe gods answer slowly. They show that you must gather the chiefs upon\nwhom you can depend and have the hard wood prepared for making spears.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe bird that speaks\u201d flew to Kapawa with the news that the priest\nfrom afar was seeking the wisdom of the gods to use against him, and\nthat the chiefs were organising a rebellion.\n\nSeveral weeks of weary warfare followed.\n\nKapawa was driven from refuge to refuge. All the district chiefs\nfinally deserted him, and gave adherence to Paao.\n\nThe defeated king fled across the channel between the Islands of Hawaii\nand Maui.\n\nHe sought the Maui branch of the Ulu descendants, a discouraged and\nruined king.\n\nThe legends say that here he died. His body was placed in the royal\nburial cave, in Iao Valley, back of the village Wailuku. The native\ncustodians of this cave guard its secrets jealously. Probably none of\nthe white residents have seen its mysteries.\n\nThus the old royal family of Hawaii was overthrown, and the way\nprepared to introduce \u201cPili, the king, from a foreign land.\u201d\n\nPaao was afraid that the district chiefs would ask him for a high chief\nas soon as they should come together. Some of the chiefs had already\nsaid, \u201cIt may be the will of the gods that the high priest become the\nhigh chief also.\u201d\n\nBut Paao knew the inherent reverence of the Polynesians for\nblood-royal. He knew his own power. He felt that his position as high\npriest was unassailable. He wanted no civil entanglements. He had\nmanaged through all the campaign, to surround himself with mysteries,\nand had gained unbounded influence through arousing superstitious fears\nas well as through warlike deeds.\n\nThe Hawaiian legends tell us Pili, a very high chief of Samoa, was\npersuaded by messengers from Paao to move to the islands of the north.\n\nPili journeyed with, what the legend called, a \u201ccloud of boats.\u201d It was\nan eleventh century migration of a small nation to a distant home.\n\nThus was Pili set apart as King of Hawaii.\n\nFrom Hilo, the eleventh century king went to the beautiful Waipio\nValley, taking Paao with him. Later he moved to the Kohala district.\nHere Paao built the Mookini temple, in a place to which he gave the\nname it still bears\u2014Lae Upolu, the Cape of Upolu.\n\nHere, in Kohala, from the eleventh century to 1819, the high priests\nand the chiefs of Hawaii made their home. The priest and the king stand\nout from the mists of the past, representing two great forces of\nHawaiian government\u2014the religious and the civil. Independent of each\nother, the rights of each were jealously guarded.\n\nPaao gave Pili no chance for choice. While he granted to the king civil\nauthority, he retained absolutely independent control over the minds of\nthe chiefs and the people in religious matters.\n\nKa-meha-meha, the most noted person of all Hawaiian history, was a\ndescendant in a straight genealogical line from Pili, and Hewa-hewa,\nthe Christian, was the last high priest of the Paao line.\n\nThis is the story of the founding of the Ka-meha-meha family. The\nlegends have been shorn of the fabulous element which naturally\ngathered around them, in order that the true names and customs of the\ntime might be delineated.\n\nOne of the most important results was the establishment of an\nAha-alii\u2014council of chiefs\u2014or herald\u2019s college, which demanded the\ngenealogy and proof of high birth, before admission was granted to the\nprivileges of rank. In meeting this demand genealogies became of great\nimportance. The separation between chiefs and common people became a\ngulf fixed by custom.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nMOI-KEHA, THE RESTLESS\n\n\nFolklore is sometimes the outgrowth of a sympathy with nature,\nresulting in nature myths and sometimes it is an outgrowth of sympathy\nwith history. The imagination loves a truth in nature or in history and\nweaves around it a web of thoughts of things which might have been.\n\nThe story of Moi-keha, the restless, is an historical myth. There are\nsome unquestioned facts and much which was impossible.\n\nFornander, the omnium-gatherum of Hawaii, thinks Moi-keha lived in the\nthirteenth century.\n\nThe two boys, Moi-keha and Olopana, were born on the island of Oahu.\n\nTheir boyhood was like that of other Hawaiian youths of high chief\nblood. They studied the spear and surf-board exercises. They gambled\nwith hidden stones. They sported with discus and javelin throwing. They\nraced down green hillsides with their long coasting sleds. They\nwrestled and fought with their companions and listened to the tales of\nthe sea rovers of the Pacific. They learned the routes to the southern\nand southeastern islands and heard with fired imaginations the\ndescriptions of Tahiti and Samoa. If the Romans believed that an ocean\nof thick mist, peopled with all imaginable terrors lay to the north of\nEurope, we can well accept the fact that strange fascinations and the\nhope of marvellous adventures in the South Pacific might stir the\nrestless minds of young Hawaiian chiefs.\n\nMoi-keha and Olopana gathered a strong band of brave retainers and,\nbidding farewell to Oahu, as their ancestors had done before them,\nsailed toward the South.\n\nFor some reason the brothers took with them a young chief of high\nposition, whose ancestor, Pau-makua, had made renowned voyages to\nfar-off lands. The story of Laa, who, in late life, was known as \u201cLaa\nfrom Tahiti,\u201d must be reserved for later record. Moi-keha, however,\nseems to have taken this young man under his own especial protection as\nhis foster son.\n\nThe company from Kauai stopped at Waipio Valley, on the island of\nHawaii, one of the most beautiful and inaccessible valleys of the whole\nHawaiian group.\n\nHere Olopana was set apart as ruler of the district.\n\nThe days and nights were filled with fishing and feasting, ruling and\nrevelling. Olopana soon found a beautiful young chiefess, who was in\nfull sympathy with his ambitions, whom he took from her home as his\nlife-companion. This woman, Luu-kia, was said to be a descendant of the\nNanaulu line of chiefs, originally coming to Hawaii from Tahiti.\n\nStorms, floods and freshets swept Waipio Valley. The people fled from\nthe scene of disasters. The young chiefs found themselves homeless.\nAgain the love of adventure excited them. They prepared provisions for\na voyage of many days. They selected the wisest students of the stars.\nThey plotted their proposed route over the ocean. We are not told that\nthey had any one with them who had already been to Tahiti. It is\nprobable, however, that some of the old prophets and astrologers of\ntheir fathers were with the young people as their priestly guardians.\nThey never seemed to doubt their ability to find their way. With their\nselected companions the two brothers sailed for Tahiti.\n\nOlopana and his wife, Luu-kia, occupied one of the large ocean-going\ncanoes and Moi-keha with Laa sailed in another. Some of the legends say\nthat they went away with a fleet of five large canoes.\n\nThe Hawaiian story says that the brothers arrived safely in Tahiti,\nwhere Olopana soon became chief of a district known in the legends as\n\u201cThe-open-great-red-Moa.\u201d One of the harbours of Raiatea of the\nTahitian Islands was known as Ava-Moa, the Moa Harbour, or \u201cThe Sacred\nHarbour.\u201d Fornander justly argues that there is little doubt that this\nwas the place selected by Olopana as his permanent home.\n\nMoi-keha appears to have been the priest of the family, for it is said\nthat he built a temple and called it Lanikeha or \u201cthe heavenly\nresting-place.\u201d\n\nAfter a time Moi-keha found that life with his brother was not so\npleasant as might be desired, therefore he again prepared for a new\nvoyage, this time returning to his native land. He left Laa with\nOlopana.\n\nTwo of the companions of Moi-keha on this return voyage became famous\nin the annals of Hawaii. Kama-hua-lele was known through all the ages\nby his chant in honour of Moi-Keha.\n\nHe superintended the building of the strong canoes. He was a kilokilo,\nan astrologer who understood the places of the stars in the heavens and\nthe proper course to steer, guided by the sun by day and the stars by\nnight. He was the poet and seer and kahu or guardian of his chief\nMoi-keha. The expedition was practically subject to his directions.\n\nLaa-mao-mao, who aided Moi-keha as priest of the gods of the winds,\nlater dropped out of the story and moved to the island Molokai, where\nhe was supposed to have made his home near a place known as House of\nLono, a well-known hill on that island. Here he took his calabash of\nwinds and became the god of the winds, opening his calabash and letting\nbreezes or storms escape according to the wishes of the one seeking his\naid. He controlled the direction in which the winds should travel, by\nlifting the cover on one side of the calabash. Then the imprisoned\nwinds burst forth and sped away in the desired direction.\n\nIt is said that when Moi-keha came back to the Hawaiian Islands he\nvisited all along the island coasts until he came to Kauai. Whenever he\nlanded he seems to have given prominence to one after another of the\ncompanions of his long voyage. Places were named after some of them and\nother places given to others for their future residence.\n\nAt last they came to Kauai, the most northerly island of the group.\nThey timed their approach so that the shadows of the night were around\nthem. Then as the light of the morning rose over sea and shore, with\nhis canoes flying the royal banners of a high chief, he drew near.\n\nKama-hua-lele, standing by the mast which bore the royal colours, sang\nthe chant of Moi-keha. The closing part of the chant is thus translated\nby Fornander:\n\n\n        \u201cO, Moikeha, the chief who is to reside.\n        My chief will reside on Hawaii.\n        Life, life, O buoyant life!\n        Live shall the chief and the priest.\n        Live shall the seer and the slave,\n        Dwell on Hawaii and be at rest,\n        And attain to old age on Kauai.\n            O Kauai is the island\n            O Moikeha is the chief.\u201d\n\n\nThis chant had been clearly recited wherever Moi-keha had visited any\nof the islands, and now fell for the first time on the ears of the\ncurious inhabitants of Kauai. The warm welcome was given to Moi-keha\nand his companions, which was always extended to high chiefs.\n\nKing Kalakaua adds a romantic incident to the coming of Moi-keha to\nKauai.\n\nPuna, the king, had a daughter who belonged to the fairy tale period of\nEurope rather than to the free giving and taking in marriage of the\nHawaiians. She had many suitors among the young chiefs, but could not\ndecide upon the one highest in her esteem.\n\nHer father at last had decided that the only way to keep her suitors\nfrom always living at his cost was to have a contest. This had been\nagreed upon before the coming of Moi-keha. When Moi-keha saw Hooipo,\nthe daughter of the king, he determined to have her for his wife and\nplanned to enter into the contest.\n\nThe king had sent a human hair necklace and whale tooth ornament to be\nplaced on one of the small islands some distance from Kauai. The first\nchief to secure the necklace should have the king\u2019s daughter.\n\nThe fine large canoes of the various chiefs with their strong crews of\noarsmen were drawn up in line. Moi-keha had only a small canoe prepared\nwhich still lay on the shore under the care of one of his comrades from\nTahiti.\n\nAt the given signal the canoes sped on this journey, but Moi-keha\nlingered. The young princess had now decided that Moi-keha was the\nchief she desired, but she could not urge him to go, and still he\nlingered.\n\nAfter a time, when the other boats were almost lost to sight, he\nlaunched his little canoe, and with his companion, paddled out into the\nocean. Then he raised his mast and fastened to it his mat-sail.\n\nSoon the boat leaped through the waters. No paddle was needed save for\nsteering. Laa-mao-mao was in the canoe with him, holding strong winds\nin his calabash. He let loose these servants just behind the sail and\nthey pushed the canoe forward with incredible rapidity. Long before the\nother chiefs came in sight of the island Moi-keha had found the\nnecklace and had sailed away to Hooipo.\n\nIn time Moi-keha became the king of Kauai.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nLAA FROM TAHITI\n\n\nWhen history is told by genealogies, rather than by cycles of years,\nthe time-problem is difficult to solve. But in the story of\nLaa-mai-Kahiki [2] the stories and genealogies of two widely separated\ngroups of Pacific islands produce a certain degree of apparent\naccuracy. The Society Islands have the story of Raa who became a ruler\nand established a line of rulers which has continued to the present\nday. The genealogy of this Raa family coincides very closely in extent\nwith the number of names given in the Hawaiian genealogies from the\ntime of the visit of Laa from Tahiti to his uncle Moi-keha the Restless\nand his subsequent return to Tahiti. This places the time of Laa in the\nthirteenth century.\n\nMoi-keha sailed away from the Hawaiian Islands with his brother Olopana\nand his nephew Laa. He returned alone, and won the island Kauai as his\nkingdom. Olopana and Laa remained in the \u201cwide spreading\u201d valley under\nthe shadow of what the Hawaiians called the mountain Kapa-ahu the Tapa\nCloak in far away Tahiti.\n\nThe mountains of Tahiti have been built upward from the floors of the\nocean until their rugged ravines rise several thousand feet above the\nsurf-washed beach. The centuries have softened the harsh mountain\noutlines and swept vast masses of debris down into the valleys, until\nat last tropical luxuriance dominates mountain slope and level plain.\nHere Laa\u2019s youth was spent, and his manhood gained. Here he proved his\nsuperiority over the Tahitian chiefs among whom he had found his\npermanent home. Laa\u2019s record is that of a Polynesian viking. He was\nborn on the island Oahu. He went to Hawaii with his uncles and spent a\npart of his boyhood in the royal valley of Waipio. With these same\nuncles he sailed the many hundred miles to Tahiti.\n\nIt has always been the ambition of Hawaiian chiefs to excel in all\nathletic sports and warlike exercises. This was a course of training\nwell fitted to make Laa high-spirited, courageous and ever ready to\ntake the leadership among his fellow-chiefs in the new land where he\nmade his home.\n\nYears passed by. Moi-keha was held back from longed-for sea journeys by\nthe cares of his kingdom and the restful delights of a prosperous home.\nChildren whose names became noted in Hawaiian legends grew to manhood\nand womanhood around him. Kahai, the sea-rover, a grandson of Moi-keha,\nis said to have sailed to Upolu in the Samoan Islands and there found a\nnew species of breadfruit which he thought might well be placed by the\nolder Hawaiian breadfruit. This he brought back with him and planted at\nPearl Harbor.\n\nKila, the third son of Moi-keha, was made a messenger to Tahiti by his\nfather. A great longing had taken possession of Moi-keha to see the\nfoster son whom he had carried away many years before. Kila was said to\nbe very careful and courageous with a strong desire to emulate the\ndeeds of his ancestors. The call to the sea was hereditary and with\neagerness he grasped the opportunity. The largest double canoes were\nselected, their mat sails were made from new and strong hala leaves and\nthey were equipped for the long voyage. Fornander says that some of\nKila\u2019s brothers went with him. The old astrologer and sailor,\nKama-hua-lele, who had come from Tahiti with Moi-keha, was selected to\nbe the guardian of the young chiefs and pilot of the expedition.\n\nKila sailed from island to island until at last he left the high\nmountains of the island Hawaii and sailed away to the South. The\nKalakaua legends say that Kila bore with him a brilliant royal mantle\nmade from the rare feathers of the mamo, and that Moi-keha had been\nmany months in the manufacture of the mantle, assisted by hundreds of\nbird hunters and skilled workmen. This was an especial offering to Laa,\na reminder of the high esteem in which his foster father still held\nhim, and a proof of the intense desire for him to visit his native\nland.\n\nThe long canoe voyage appears to have been blessed with favouring winds\nand clear skies. The stars were easily observed and followed until\nTahiti was found. It seems to those who now cross the ocean in great\nships that such a voyage is almost incredible, but the Hawaiians were\nvikings and were as intrepid sailors as the Norsemen who were sailing\nacross the Atlantic Ocean about the same time.\n\nAt Tahiti they found Laa and his uncle Olopana. Fornander says that one\nset of legends gives the story of Laa\u2019s speedy return to Hawaii with\nKila. Another set of legends rehearses the age of Olopana and his\ndesire for Laa to remain with him until his life should end. All the\nlegends agree in stating that Laa returned to the Hawaiian Islands,\nthat he had with him a large retinue when he visited the home of his\nchildhood and that he brought the drum known through all the later\nyears as Ke-eke-eke. It was made by cutting out the pithy heart of a\nsection of a large cocoanut tree, and thinning the shell as far as\nsafety would allow. Then the ends were covered with the skin of a\nshark. Fornander says that \u201cevery independent chief, and every temple\nwhere human sacrifices were offered, had their own drum and drummer\nfrom Laa-mai-Kahiki\u2019s time to the introduction of Christianity.\u201d\n\nThe great event by which Laa was indelibly impressed upon the legends\nof Hawaii was his triple marriage with three selected chiefesses of the\nisland Oahu.\n\nThe highest chiefs among the Hawaiians were glad to ally themselves\nwith Laa-mai-Kahiki. Not only did the romance of far-away lands and\nmighty deeds attract attention, but his personal appearance and royal\nbearing seemed to have conquered all who came near. There was the\ngeneral feeling that this powerful chief, who would soon return to\nRaiatea, must leave descendants among the Hawaiians.\n\nOfferings were sent to the temples and the priests were consulted. The\nmost sacred tests were made of the most important auguries known by the\npriesthood. The decision was announced that Laa must have wives given\nto him from among the young women of highest rank on Oahu, the home of\nLaa in his boyhood and still the place where the larger portion of his\nnearest relatives resided.\n\nThe daughters of the chiefs of the districts Kualoa, Kaalaea and\nKaneohe, all on the island Oahu, were selected and married to him in\nthe midst of a great round of feasts and games.\n\nIt was always known that Laa would return to Tahiti, and yet many\ninducements were placed before him to lead him to stay. But he only\nwaited until each of the three chiefesses gave birth to a son, and then\nsailed away to establish a lasting line of rulers in Tahiti, where,\naccording to Tahitian custom, he was called Raa.\n\nThe ancient Hawaiian chants recorded the names of the three sons of Laa\nthus:\n\n\n            \u201cO Laa from Tahiti, the chief.\n            O Ahukini, son of Laa.\n            O Kukona, son of Laa.\n            O Lauli, son of Laa, the father.\n        The triple canoe of Laa-mai-Kahiki.\n        The sacred first-born of Laa,\n        Who were born on the same one day.\u201d\n\n\nThis gift of three sons\u2014a \u201ctriple canoe\u201d\u2014to the Hawaiians is one of the\nmost fully accepted facts of the traditions of long ago. They\nestablished families of great prominence and their descendants were\nproud of this distinction as \u201cchildren of Laa.\u201d\n\nApparently there was little intercourse later with the southern groups\nof the islands of the Pacific Ocean. The vikings passed away and their\ndescendants failed to conquer the dangers of the seas. It may be that a\nprolonged season of volcanic activity discouraged sea roving. It is\nprobable that many sailed away and were never heard of again. History\nseldom records the long list of failures among men. It has been better\nto tell of victories.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nFIRST FOREIGNERS\n\n\nIt is said that the Chinese gave to the clove the name \u201cThengki\u201d\u2014\u201cthe\nsweet-scented nail.\u201d When the clove came to Rome, the haughty lovers of\nspices exclaimed \u201cclavus\u201d\u2014\u201ca nail.\u201d The English made a slight change\nand said \u201cclove.\u201d Solomon, the wise, and King Hiram, the Ph\u0153nician,\nsent fleets on voyages of long duration. Their ships returned from\nthese voyages laden with the fragrant products of the spice lands.\n\nMarco Polo rehearsed the abundant aromas of the Orient as well as the\ngold and jewels and silks. Columbus, in 1492, went west that he might\nfind more ready access to these eastern riches. The spice islands lay\nsomewhere in a great ocean toward the sunset from Spain, provided the\nworld was round, as Columbus argued.\n\nBalboa must have wished for a Nicaraguan or Panama Canal when he\ncarried timbers across the isthmus and built a ship on the Pacific\ncoast to explore the new ocean which he had discovered. In 1513 he\nlaunched his little ship, intending to find the oriental riches, if\npossible.\n\nIn October of the year 1527, three Spanish ships were \u201cfitted out\u201d by\nCortez. They set sail from Zacatula, Mexico, for the Molucca Islands.\nOne only, under the command of Saavedra, reached its destination. A\nfierce storm drove the little squadron far north of the ordinary route,\nand swept two of the ships out of the record of history. Alexander\nsays: \u201cIt seems certain that a foreign vessel which was wrecked about\nthis time on the Kona coast of Hawaii must have been one of Saavedra\u2019s\nmissing ships.\u201d From this ship a white man and woman escaped. After\nreaching the beach they knelt for a long time in prayer. The Hawaiians,\nwatching them, waited until they rose, and received welcome. The place\nwas at once named \u201cKulou\u201d\u2014\u201ckneeling.\u201d Through all the succeeding years\nthe name kept the story of the wrecked white chiefs before the Hawaiian\npeople. The Hawaiians received their white visitors as honoured guests,\nand permitted them to marry into noted chief-families. In the Hawaiian\nlegends the man and woman are called brother and sister. The man was\nnamed Ku-kana-loa. Their descendants were well known, one of them being\na governor of the island of Kauai. These white citizens came to the\nislands in the reign of Ke-alii-o-ka-loa, who was born about A.D. 1500,\nand became a king of Hawaii about A.D. 1525.\n\nThere seems to be scarcely a trace of the Spanish language or of the\nChristian religion as practiced by the Spaniards. The nearest approach\nto any permanent influence possibly coming from this shipwrecked man is\nthe statement made to a chief by a native prophet long before the\nislands were discovered by Captain Cook, that from his predecessors he\nhad learned the prophecy: \u201cA communication would be made to them from\nHeaven, the place of the real God, entirely different from anything\nthey had known and that the tabu of the country would be subverted.\u201d\n\nThe Hawaiian traditions have several references to foreigners coming to\nthe islands. Pau-makua, of Oahu, was one of the Vikings of the Pacific\nduring the twelfth century. He is recorded as visiting many foreign\nlands. He brought priests to Oahu. Judge Fornander suggests that quite\npossibly these were Indians from the American coast. Professor\nAlexander, in his \u201cHistory of Hawaii,\u201d thinks there is scarcely\nsufficient foundation for the suggestion. However, Pau-makua and his\njourneys are accepted as part of Hawaiian history.\n\nIn the thirteenth century \u201cthe white chief with the iron knife\u201d was\nwrecked on the coast of the island of Maui, near the village Wailuku.\nThree men and two women were saved. Wakalana, a chief, took his\noutrigger canoe through the surf and rescued them. These persons are\nsupposed to have been Japanese. The captain of the ship carried a long\nsword which became renowned throughout the islands as \u201cthe wonderful\niron knife.\u201d It was a tremendously effective weapon, when matched with\nwooden daggers and war clubs. King Kalakaua relates the amplified\nlegend and chant in his \u201cMyths and Legends of Hawaii,\u201d and in\nimagination pictures some of the battles fought and trades made for the\npossession of the iron knife. The Hawaiians came from all parts to see\nthese remarkable strangers. They were astonished to see the women eat\nthe same kinds of food, and from the same dishes as the men. \u201cNothing\nwas tabu to the strangers.\u201d This was entirely new to Hawaiian ideas.\nAnother legend mentions a foreign ship, called Ulupano, and the captain\nwas remembered as Malolano. It is supposed that the ship soon sailed\naway. Other hints are found of ships having been seen out on the ocean\nby fishing parties who had gone far from land. These ships were called\nmoku [islands], the name used to the present day.\n\nThere are undoubted proofs of the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands in\n1555 by the Spaniard, Juan Gaetano. This is the first known record of\nthe islands among the civilised nations. There are evident references\nto this group in the legends of the Polynesians in other Pacific\nislands.\n\nGaetano passed through the northern part of the Pacific and discovered\nlarge islands which he marked upon a chart as \u201cLos Majos.\u201d The great\nmountains upon these islands did not rise in sharp peaks, but spread\nout like a high tableland in the clouds, hence he also called the\nislands \u201cIsles de Mesa,\u201d the Mesa Islands or the Table Lands. One of\nthe islands was named \u201cThe Unfortunate.\u201d Three other smaller islands\nwere called \u201cThe Monks.\u201d\n\nLe Perouse, the celebrated Frenchman who visited Hawaii in A.D. 1796,\nsays that Gaetano saw these islands \u201cwith their naked savages,\ncocoanuts and other fruits, but no gold or silver.\u201d There was nothing\nattractive, and the wealth-loving Spaniard marked the islands on his\nchart and never visited them again. So the record lay for many years.\nThis record, kept in Spain\u2019s archives, is now accepted as marking the\nreal discovery of the Hawaiian Islands.\n\nMeanwhile, the Hawaiians were as completely ignorant of the rest of the\nworld as if no civilised eyes had ever seen their mountains. They\noffered each other as human sacrifices; they fought for supremacy. They\ndied at the will of their chiefs. They lived almost as lustfully as the\nbrutes. They had nothing that could be called a home, with an\naffectionate household gathered inside its walls. They ate, and slept,\nand died. They entered with zeal into the national sports as well as\ninto the national quarrels. They chanted their genealogies and personal\nprowess. The art of sailing long distances by the aid of the stars had\nfallen into disuse. The age of the Western Vikings had passed by. For\nthree or four hundred years no voyagers had found their way to foreign\nlands. Then some time in the early part of the eighteenth century a\nking of Oahu involuntarily made a journey which was celebrated as a\npart of his genealogical chant. The entire \u201cmele,\u201d or song, stretches\nout to about six hundred lines. It is an interesting poem filled with\ngraphic references to people and places, to winds and seas, and to\nbirds and fishes.\n\nIn this chant the king of Oahu relates his strange experience on the\nocean. Fornander quotes the poem in his \u201cPolynesian Race\u201d:\n\n\n        CHANT OF KU-ALII (KU\u2014THE CHIEF)\n\n        \u201cO Kahiki, land of the far reaching ocean.\n        Within is the land\u2014outside is the sun,\n        Indistinct are the sun and the land when approaching.\n            Perhaps you have seen it.\n            I have seen it.\n            I have surely seen Kahiki.\n\n        \u201cA land with a strange language is Kahiki.\n        The men of Kahiki have ascended\n        The backbone of heaven (mountains)\n        Up there they trample down,\n        They look down on those below.\n        Men of our race are not in Kahiki.\n        One kind of men is in Kahiki\u2014the white man.\n            He is like a god.\n            I am like a man,\n            A man, indeed.\n\n        \u201cWandering about, the only Hawaiian there.\n        Days and nights passing by.\n        By morsels was the food.\n        Picking the food like a bird.\n            Listen, O bird of Victory!\n            Hush, with whom was the victory?\n                With Ku, indeed.\u201d\n\n\nThe chant states that the king was \u201cwandering about,\u201d probably driven\nby the winds far south from the islands. He and his oarsmen were almost\nstarving. The food became \u201cmorsels,\u201d or only enough for a bird to \u201cpick\nup.\u201d But Ku\u2014the chief\u2014won the victory over the ocean. He went to the\n\u201cforeign land.\u201d He found the white man\u2019s home, where the \u201cland was\n\u2018within,\u2019\u201d i.e., lying to the east, with the sun \u201coutside,\u201d i.e.,\nwestward over the waters, most of the day. Perhaps the misty mountains\nconcealed the sun until the forenoon was far spent. He saw \u201cthe land of\nthe far-reaching ocean,\u201d and returned in safety to Oahu. \u201cWith Ku\u2014the\nchief\u2014indeed was the victory.\u201d\n\nJudge Fornander says: \u201cIt is probable that some Spanish galleons picked\nup Ku and his companions, carried them to Acapulco, Mexico, and brought\nthem back on the return voyage.\u201d\n\nIn 1743, Lord Anson, of the British ship Centurion, captured a Spanish\nship near the Philippine Islands, and found a chart locating a group of\nislands in the North Pacific\u2014the same group that Gaetano discovered in\n1555. This chart, and the story of Lord Anson\u2019s voyage, were almost\ncertainly known by Captain Cook, who made three voyages through the\nPacific.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nCAPTAIN COOK\n\n\nIn response to an appeal from the British Admiralty, Captain Cook left\nEngland to enter upon his third voyage in July, 1776, with the purpose\nof restoring some natives of the Society Islands to their home;\nexamining islands of the Pacific for good harbours for future English\nuse; and then to pass along the northwest coast of America to find, if\npossible, a sea passage from the Pacific Ocean to Hudson\u2019s or Baffin\u2019s\nBay. During the year 1777 he felt his way from island group to island\ngroup. He recognised the close relationship in language and features,\nbetween inhabitants of many of these island worlds.\n\nOn January 18, 1778, he discovered Oahu and later Kauai, of the\nHawaiian Islands. He named the group \u201cThe Sandwich Islands,\u201d in honour\nof Lord Sandwich, the patron of the expedition.\n\nThis name has never been accepted among the Hawaiians. The home name,\nthe name used for centuries, could not be supplanted by an English\ndiscoverer. The Hawaiians have always called themselves \u201cKa poe\nHawaii\u201d\u2014\u201cthe Hawaiian people.\u201d\n\nThere are four different sources of information concerning the coming\nto and death of Captain Cook in the Hawaiian Islands. Captain King\nwrote the account given in \u201cCook\u2019s Voyages.\u201d\n\nLedyard, an American petty officer on one of Captain Cook\u2019s ships,\nwrote a story published in America.\n\nThe surgeon on Captain Cook\u2019s boat kept a diary which has recently been\npublished.\n\nThe historian must remember that there were thousands of native\neye-witnesses whose records cannot be overlooked in securing a true\nhistory. The following account is almost entirely from the Hawaiians\nonly:\n\nCaptain Cook came to Waimea, Kauai. He was called by the Hawaiians \u201cO\nLono,\u201d because they thought he was the god Lono, one of the chief gods\nof the ancient Hawaiians.\n\nThe ship was seen coming up from the west and going north. Kauai lay\nspread out in beauty before Lono, and the first anchor was dropped in\nthe bay of Waimea, in the month of January, 1778. It was night when the\nship anchored.\n\nA man by the name of Mapua, and others, were out fishing, with their\nboats anchored. They saw a great thing coming up, rising high above the\nsurf, fire burning on top of it. They thought it was something evil and\nhurried to the shore, trembling and frightened by this wonderful\napparition. They had fled, leaving all they had used while fishing.\nWhen they went up from the beach they told the high chief Kaeo and the\nother chiefs about this strange sight.\n\nIn the morning they saw the ship standing outside Waimea. When they saw\nthis marvellous monster, great wonder came to the people, and they were\nastonished and afraid. Soon a crowd of people came together, shouting\nwith fear and confused thought until the harbour resounded with noise.\nEach one shouted as he saw the ship with masts and the many things,\nsuch as ropes and sails, on them. One said to another, \u201cWhat is this\nthing which has branches?\u201d Another said, \u201cIt is a forest of trees.\u201d A\ncertain priest, who was also a chief, said, \u201cThis is not an ordinary\nthing; it is a heiau [temple] of the god Lono, having steps going up\ninto the clear sky, to the altars on the outside\u201d (i.e., to the yards\nof the upper masts).\n\nThe chiefs sent some men to go out in canoes and see this wonderful\nthing. They went close to the ship and saw iron on the outside of the\nship. They were very glad when they saw the amount of iron. They had\nknown iron before because of iron in sticks washed up on the land. Then\nthere was little, but at this time they saw very much. They rejoiced\nand said, \u201cThere are many pieces of pahoa\u201d (meaning iron). They called\nall iron pahoa\u2014a tool for cutting, because there was once a sword among\nthe old people of the Islands.\n\nThey went up on the ship and saw \u201ca number of men with white foreheads,\nshining eyes, skin wrinkled, square-cornered heads, indistinct words,\nand fire in their mouths.\u201d\n\nA chief and a priest tied the ends of their long malo-like sashes and\nheld them up in their left hands. \u201cThey went before Kapena Kuke\n(Captain Cook), bent over, squatted down, and offered prayers,\nrepeating words over and over; then took the hand of Kapena Kuke and\nknelt down; then rose up free from any tabu.\u201d\n\nCaptain Cook gave the priest a knife. For this reason he named his\ndaughter Kua-pahoa, after this knife. This was the first present of\nCaptain Cook to a Hawaiian.\n\nWhen they saw the burning of tobacco in the mouth of a man they thought\nhe belonged to the volcano family. When they saw peculiar and large\n\u201ccocoanuts\u201d (probably melons) lying on the deck, they said, \u201cThis is\nthe fruit of a sorceress, or mischief-maker of the ocean, who has been\nkilled.\u201d They saw the skin of a bullock hanging in the front part of\nthe ship and said, \u201cAnother mischief-making sorceress has been killed.\nPerhaps these gods have come that all the evil kupuas [monsters] might\nbe destroyed.\u201d\n\nThese messengers returned and told the king and chiefs about the kind\nof men they had seen, what they were doing, their manner of speech, and\nthe death of some of the monsters of the ocean. \u201cWe saw the fruit and\nthe skin hanging on the altar. There is plenty of iron on that temple\nand a large amount is lying on the deck.\u201d\n\nWhen the chiefs heard this report they said, \u201cTruly this is the god\nLono with his temple.\u201d\n\nThe people thought that by the prayer of the priest all troubles of\ntabu had been lifted, so they asked the priest if there would be any\ntrouble if they went on this place of the god. The priest assured them\nthat his prayer had been without fault and there would be no death in\nall that belonged to the gods. There was no interruption of any kind\nduring the prayer.\n\nHao was another name for \u201ciron\u201d and also hao meant \u201ctheft.\u201d\n\nA certain war-chief said, \u201cI will go and hao that hao treasure, for my\nprofession is to hao\u201d (steal). The chiefs assented. Then he paddled out\nto the ship and went on board and took iron and went down. Some one\nshot him and killed him. His name was Kapu-puu (The Tabu Hill). The\ncanoes returned and reported that the chief had been killed by a wai-ki\n(a rush of smoke like water in a blow-hole).\n\nSome of the chiefs cried out, \u201cKill this people because they killed\nKapu-puu!\u201d The priest heard the cry and replied, \u201cThat thought is not\nright. They have not sinned. We have done wrong because we were greedy\nafter the iron and let Kapu-puu go to steal. I forbade you at first,\nand established my law that if any one should steal, he shall suffer\nthe loss of his bones. It is only right that we should be pleasant to\nthem. Where are you, O Chiefs and People! This is my word to you!\u201d\n\nThat night guns were fired and sky-rockets sent up into the sky, for\nthe sailors were glad to have found such a fine country. The natives\ncalled the flash from the guns \u201cKa huila\u201d (lightning) and \u201cKane-hikili\u201d\n(thunder of the god Kane). The natives thought this was war.\n\nThen a high chiefess, Ka-maka-helei, the mother of Kaumu-alii, the last\nking of Kauai, said: \u201cNot for war is our god, but we will seek the\npleasure of the god.\u201d So she gave her own daughter as a wife for\nLono\u2014Captain Cook. After this there was promiscuous living among the\nmen of the ship and the people of the land, with the result that the\nvile diseases of the white people were quickly scattered over all the\nislands.\n\nA boat came to Oahu from Kauai with a chief. The Oahu people asked him,\n\u201cWhat kind of a thing was the ship?\u201d The chief said \u201cit was like a\nheiau (temple) with steps going up to the altars, masts standing with\nbranches spread out each side, and a long stick in front like the sharp\nnose of a swordfish, openings (portholes) in the side and openings\nbehind. The men had white heads with corners, clothes like wrinkled\nskin, holes in the sides (pockets), sharp-pointed things on their feet,\nfire in their mouths, and smoke with the fire like a volcano coming\nfrom their mouths.\u201d\n\nKalaniopuu, king of Hawaii, was at Koolau, Maui, fighting with the\npeople of Kahekili, king of Maui. Moho, a messenger, told Kalaniopuu\nand the chiefs the news about this strange ship. They said, \u201cThis is\nLono from Kahiki.\u201d\n\nThey asked about the language. Moho, putting his hand in his malo, drew\nout a piece of a broken calabash and held it out like the foreigners,\nsaying: \u201cA hikapalale, hikapalale, hioluio, oalaki, walawalaki, waiki,\npoha, aloha kahiki, aloha haehae, aloha ka wahine, aloha ke keiki,\naloha ka hale.\u201d Of course, this was a jumbled mass of words or sounds\nwith but very little meaning.\n\nThe natives relate how, with veneration, they received the white man.\nThey robed Captain Cook with red native cloth and rich feather cloaks.\nThey prostrated themselves before him. They placed him in the most\nsacred places in their temples. When he despoiled a temple of its\nwoodwork and carried off idols for firewood to use upon his ships, the\nnatives made no protest. They supposed that Lono had a right to his\nown. But afterward, when death proved that Captain Cook was \u201ca man and\nno god,\u201d the feeling of resentment was exceedingly deep and bitter.\nThis was the standpoint from which the Hawaiians welcomed their\ndiscoverers.\n\nOn the other hand, when Captain Cook saw the islands in 1778, he was\nimpressed with the friendly spirit of the people, and with their hearty\nwillingness to give aid in any direction. There was also an appearance\nof manliness and dignity about the high chiefs. There was such respect\nand ready service on the part of the people\u2014there were such\nprostrations before the kings of the various islands that Captain Cook\naccepted the \u201cworship\u201d offered him as the proper respect due to the\nrepresentative of Great Britain. He was glad to receive a welcome that\nfreed him from much anxiety. He was thankful that the chiefs accepted\nhis superiority. He could easily procure the supplies needed for his\nships. He could prosecute his investigations concerning harbours and\nresources without danger to himself or to his men.\n\nAfter securing such supplies as he needed, in February, 1778, he sailed\nfor North America. Here he spent the summer and fall, exploring the\ncoast from San Francisco to Alaska. He consulted the Russians who were\nfur-hunting in this region. He became satisfied that there was no\nnorthwest channel across North America, to either Hudson\u2019s or Baffin\u2019s\nBay. He made a chart of the coast. The winter came on suddenly and\nseverely. He fled to the \u201cSandwich Islands,\u201d and in November, 1778,\nsighted the island of Maui, or, as Captain Cook phonetically spelled\nit, \u201cMowee.\u201d Soon he discovered the large island Hawaii, or \u201cOwhyhee.\u201d\nHe was surprised to see the summits of the mountains covered with snow.\nAs he drew near the channel between Maui and Hawaii, Ka-meha-meha  with\nseveral of his friends went on board one of the ships and passed the\nnight. He was at that time forty-three years of age.\n\nThen for eleven days Captain Cook sailed in the channel between Maui\nand Hawaii. On the second day of December he anchored near Kohala, the\nnorthern point of the island Hawaii.\n\nCaptain Cook purchased pigs for a piece of iron or barrel hoop, to make\naxes or knives or fish-hooks. A pig one fathom long would get a piece\nof iron. A longer pig would get a knife for a chief. If a common man\nreceived anything, the chief would take it. If it was concealed and\ndiscovered the man was killed.\n\nThey brought offerings\u2014pigs, taro, sweet potatoes, bananas, chickens,\nand all such things as pleased Captain Cook.\n\nLono went to the western bay Ke-ala-ke-kua and the priest took him into\nthe temple, thinking he was their god. There they gave him a place upon\nthe platform with the images of the gods\u2014the place where sacrifices\nwere laid. The priest stepped back after putting on Captain Cook the\noloa (the small white tapa thrown over the god while prayer was being\nrecited) and the red cloak haena, as was the custom with the gods. Then\nhe offered prayer thus:\n\n\u201cO Lono! your different bodies in the heavens, long cloud, short cloud,\nbending cloud, spread-out cloud in the sky, from Uliuli, from Melemele,\nfrom Kahiki, from Ulunui, from Haehae, from Anaokuululu, from\nHakalanai, from the land opened up by Lono in the lower sky, in the\nupper sky, in the shaking bottom of the ocean, the lower land, the land\nwithout hills.\n\n\u201cO Ku! O Lono! O Kane! O Kanaloa! the gods from above and from beneath,\ngods from most distant places! Here are the sacrifices, the offerings,\nthe living things from the chief, from the family, hanging on the\nshining cloud and the floating land! Amama (amen); ma noa\u201d (the tabu is\nlifted).\n\nSeveral weeks passed by. Trivial troubles arose. The natives learned to\nsteal some things from the supposed \u201cheavenly\u201d visitors. The harmony\nbetween the sailors and the Hawaiians was disturbed.\n\nIn February, 1779, Lono went on his ship and sailed as far as Kawaihae.\nHe saw that one of his masts was rotten, so he went back to make\nrepairs, and anchored again at Ke-ala-ke-kua. When the natives saw the\nships returning they went out again, but not as before. They had\nchanged their view, saying: \u201cThese are not gods; they are only men.\u201d\nSome, however, persisted in believing that these were gods. Some of the\nmen said, \u201cThey cry out if they are hurt, like any man.\u201d Some of them\nthought they would test Lono, so went up on the ship and took iron. The\nsailors saw them and shot at them. Then the natives began to fight. The\nsailors grabbed the canoe of the chief Polea, an aikane (close friend)\nof the king.\n\nHe opposed their taking his boat and pushed them off. One of them ran\nup with a club and struck Polea and knocked him down. The natives saw\nthis and leaped upon the sailors. Polea rose up and stopped the\nfighting. Because he was afraid Lono would kill him he stopped the\nquarrel.\n\nAfter this he no longer believed that Lono was a god. He was angry, and\nthought he would secretly take one of the ship\u2019s boats, break it all to\npieces for the iron in it, and also because he wanted revenge for the\nblow which knocked him down. This theft of a boat was the cause of the\nquarrel with, and death of, Captain Cook.\n\nCaptain Cook and his people woke up in the morning and saw that his\nboat was gone. They were troubled, and Captain Cook went to ask the\nking about the boat. The king said, \u201cI do not know anything about it.\nPerhaps some native has stolen it and taken it to some other place.\u201d\nCaptain Cook returned to the ship and consulted with his officers. They\ndecided they had better get the king, take him on the ship, and hold\nhim until the boat should be returned, and then set him free. Officers\nand men took guns and swords and prepared to go ashore and capture the\nking.\n\nCaptain Cook tried to persuade the king to go to the ship with him. The\nking was held back by his chiefs. They were suspicious, but the king\ncould not readily give up his confidence.\n\nMeanwhile, a chief living across the bay saw Captain Cook going ashore.\nHe and another chief launched a double canoe and sailed quickly across.\n\nSailors saw these men in red cloaks, fired upon them from the ships and\nkilled one of them. The other hurried his boatmen and escaped to the\nking\u2019s house. Captain Cook had issued an order forbidding canoes to\ncome near the ships. When the chief saw the king by the side of Captain\nCook he cried out: \u201cO Kalani! O the sea is not right\u2014Kalimu has been\nkilled! Return to the house!\u201d He told how the sailors had fired upon\nhis friend and himself.\n\nKalola, wife of Kalaniopuu, heard the death-word, and that the chief\nhad been killed by the gun of the foreigners, so she ran out of the\nwoman\u2019s house, put her hand on the king\u2019s shoulder and said, \u201cO Kalani,\nlet us go back.\u201d\n\nThe king turned, thinking he would go back, but Captain Cook seized his\nhands. A chief thrust his spear between them, and the king and some of\nhis chiefs went back to the house.\n\nThen the battle commenced. When Lono (Captain Cook) saw the spear\npushed between the king and himself he caught his sword and struck that\nchief on the head, but the sword slipped and cut the cheek. Then that\nchief struck Lono with his spear and knocked him down on the lava\nbeach.\n\nLono cried out because of the hurt. The chief thought, \u201cThis is a man,\nand not a god, and there is no wrong.\u201d So he killed Lono (Captain\nCook). Four other foreigners also were killed. Many daggers and spears\nwere used in killing Captain Cook.\n\nWhen the officers and men saw that Captain Cook and some others had\nbeen killed, they ran down, got on the boat, fired guns and killed many\nof the natives. Some natives skilled in the use of sling-stones threw\nstones against the boat. When the sailors saw that Captain Cook was\ndead, they fired guns from the ship. The natives held up mats as\nshields, but found they were no protection against the bullets.\n\nThe king offered the body of Captain Cook as a sacrifice. This\nsacrifice meant that the body was placed on an altar with prayers as a\ngift to the gods because the chief and his kingdom had been saved by\nthe gods. When the ceremonies of the sacrifice were over, they cleaned\noff the flesh from the bones of Lono and preserved them. A priest\nkindly returned a part of the body to the foreigners to be taken on\ntheir ship. Some of the bones were kept by the priests and worshipped.\n\nEight days after the death of Lono at Ka-awa-loa the natives again met\nthose who remained on the ship.\n\nMonday, February 23, 1779, the ship went to Kauai. On the 29th of that\nmonth they secured water and purchased food. Because they wanted the\nyams of Niihau, they sailed over to that island and purchased yams,\nsweet potatoes, and pigs, and on March 15th sailed out into the mist of\nthe ocean and were completely lost to sight.\n\nThis is the end of Captain Cook\u2019s voyage along the coasts of these\nislands.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nTHE IVORY OF OAHU\n\nKING KAHAHANA, ABOUT 1773\n\n\nThe story of the ivory of Oahu is a tale of treachery and triumph on\nthe part of Kahekili, King of Maui, and of defeat and death for\nKahahana, the last independent king of Oahu.\n\nKahahana was the son of Elani, chief of Ewa, one of the most powerful\namong the high chiefs of Oahu. While still a child, he was sent to Maui\nto pass the years of his young manhood in close contact with one of the\nmost noted courts among the different island kings\u2014the court of his\nrelative, Kahekili.\n\nAfter many years had gone by the Oahu chiefs deposed their king and\ndrove him away to the island of Kauai. Then they met in a great council\nto select a new king from the high chief families. After careful\nconsideration, it was decided that Kahahana was the most available of\nall who could be accepted for their future ruler, and an embassy was\nsent to Maui to recall him and inform him of the exalted position for\nwhich he had been chosen by his fellow-chiefs of Oahu.\n\nThe Maui king was wise in his own generation and determined to make all\nthe use possible of this selection. Therefore, he objected to the young\nchief\u2019s acceptance of the place of ruler of the neighbouring island.\nWhen this objection had been overruled by the high chiefess, who had\nbeen sent from Oahu to bring back the young king, Kahekili again\ndelayed proceedings by refusing to permit the young wife to go with\nhim. Then there came another season of councils and consultations. It\nwas easy for the King of Maui to control the line of thought as\nadvanced by his chiefs. It seems that they argued that it was best for\nthe wife to go if a suitable return should be made in some way by the\nnew King of Oahu. Then again it was conceded on all sides that Kahahana\nwas very deeply in debt to his relative for the protection afforded him\nand the careful and royal attention bestowed upon him in the court of\nMaui.\n\nKahekili and his chiefs were pronounced worshippers of the various\nHawaiian gods, therefore they argued that they should receive a place\non the northeastern shores of Oahu where a noted heiau or temple was\nlocated. The cession of the Kua-loa lands, with this temple, would be a\nvery satisfactory partial recompense. The young king thought that this\nwas a small part of his kingdom and would scarcely be missed, hence he\nreadily promised to grant the Kua-loa district to his friend.\n\nThere were certain gifts of the sea which were very highly prized by\nall the chiefs of the Hawaiian Islands. Among these, whalebone and the\nvery scarce whale\u2019s teeth were most prominent. These were \u201cthe ivory\u201d\nof the Islands. The whalebone and the teeth were called palaoa. The\n\u201civory\u201d was usually made into a \u201chooked ornament\u201d with a large hole\nalmost in the middle, through which was passed a large number of\nstrings of human hairs, thus forming a necklace unique and costly.\nSmall portions of the ivory were pierced and fashioned into beads.\nThese were strung together and also used as necklaces. It was a burial\ncustom to place the palaoa in the burial cave in which the bones of any\ndead chief might be secreted.\n\nKahekili and his ready followers argued that as a slight return for the\nroyal favour which had been shown to Kahahana in caring for him at\ncourt and in permitting his wife to go with him, he could very readily\ncovenant to bestow upon Kahekili all the ivory which might be found on\nthe shores of Oahu. Probably this matter was not presented as the\npayment of tribute, but as a recognition of benefits received, and\nKahahana again readily promised the ivory\u2014the gift of the seas.\n\nThis was as far as Kahekili dared to go in his demands. Apparently the\ntwo kings then discussed the continuance of the friendly relations\nwhich had bound them together so many years, and entered into some kind\nof an alliance by which Kahekili might receive assistance in his wars\nwith the chiefs of the large island of Hawaii. Two, or perhaps three,\nyears after this consultation, Kahahana sent heavy reinforcements from\nOahu to Maui, which aided Kahekili in the complete annihilation of the\nAlapa Regiment, about eight hundred chiefs, from Hawaii, in the noted\n\u201cBattle of the Sand-Hills,\u201d near Wailuku.\n\nSoon the morning came for sailing to Oahu. Kahahana, his wife, and the\nhigh chiefess who had come from Oahu to bring the news of his election,\nand a large retinue of retainers left Maui in regal state, while the\ngood-bye \u201caloha\u201d rang out over the waters from crowds of friends.\n\nWhen the Oahu priests in the heiaus on the slopes of Leahi or Diamond\nHead saw the fleet of canoes coming from Maui, swift runners were\ndespatched to all the high chiefs of the island that they might\nassemble at Waikiki and give welcome to their new king. It is not\ndifficult to imagine the barbaric splendour of the royal canoes and\ntheir occupants as they crossed the outer coral reefs and drew near to\nthe white sands of the most famous beach in Hawaiian history. The\ncanoes were fitted with triangular sails made from the leaves of the\nhala tree, while brilliant pennants floated from every mast head. The\nking and high chiefs wore the feather cloaks and helmets betokening\ntheir rank. From these the sunlight flashed in gold and crimson fire.\nThe retainers wrapped their garments of richly coloured tapa around\nthem, while the boatmen, whose bronzed bodies glistened with freshly\napplied oil, formed a pleasing background to the gaudy display of those\nhighest in rank. Thus Kahahana came to his own.\n\nThe Oahu chiefs made a display no less gorgeous along the sands of\nWaikiki, as they received their king. Nights were spent in revelry and\ndays in feasting until the ceremonies of installation were completed.\n\nAt last Kahahana called the high chiefs and those belonging to the\nhighest priesthood together for consultation concerning the affairs of\nthe kingdom.\n\nAt this time he broached the agreement he had entered into with\nKahekili concerning the ivory of Oahu and the temple lands of Kualoa.\n\nKahahana was an elected, rather than a hereditary, king of Oahu.\nTherefore, when, in 1773, he came from Maui to take the reins of\ngovernment in his hands, it was very important for him to keep the\nfriendship of the high chiefs who had given him the position. He could\nnot assume any self-sufficient aspect and not care whether the other\nchiefs were well pleased or not. His power to fulfil his agreement\ndepended upon the willingness of the council of high chiefs to ratify\nwhat he had promised.\n\nKahahana gave in full his reasons for agreeing to the demands. He spoke\nof the experience gained in the wars between the kings of Maui and\nHawaii, and stated that the bestowal of the ivory and the temple lands\nupon Kahekili might readily be granted as an honourable return from the\nchiefs of Oahu for the training given to their young king.\n\nA number of chiefs at once yielded to this argument. It was a strong\nappeal to their honour. They were willing to pay for what they\nreceived. But other chiefs were doubtful of the expediency of this\naction. They desired to please their king and do all that honour\nrequired. Yet the wisdom of doing what was asked was not clear.\nMoreover, Kahahana was not trained to become a king. He had been kept\nat the court of Maui because he was a relative of the king. Perhaps the\nking of Maui was asking more than he ought.\n\nThen arose Ka-o-pulu-pulu, the high priest of Oahu, one of the most\nfar-seeing and statesman-like men in all the islands. He understood the\nMaui king and his ambitious designs for the conquest of the islands\nMolokai and Oahu.\n\nKa-o-pulu-pulu carefully pointed out the fact that there was a great\ndeal to the demands of Kahekili which did not appear on the surface.\nThe surrender of the temple and the ivory was practically accepting\nKahekili as sovereign. It was the same as yielding the independence of\nOahu. Kua-loa with the temple and the lands surrounding it was, in\nreality, one of the most sacred places in the islands. Here were kept\nthe two war drums sacred from ancient times. The high priest argued\nthat the chiefs could not afford to give these war drums to Kahekili\nbecause the favour and protection of the war gods belonged to the king\nwho could call them by the beating of the drums. Moreover, their anger\nwould be against those who had lightly given away the drum-voices.\n\nThen again the chiefs must remember that the consecrated hill of\nKa-ua-kahi would go as a part of the temple lands. This would give to\nKahekili a basis for invasion, a powerful influence over the gods of\nOahu, and would make it still more difficult for the Oahuans to\nmaintain this independence.\n\nThe high priest reminded the chiefs also concerning the ivory of Oahu,\nthat this, too, was a proof of the favour of the gods. This time it\nmeant the gods of the sea. To surrender the ivory would turn away the\nfavour of the gods whose assistance was prayed for in all things\nconnected with the great waters. They must not give to Kahekili the\ngods of both land and sea.\n\nAgain Ka-o-pulu-pulu, the high priest, argued that if Kahahana, this\nnew king, had come with warriors and subdued Oahu, the chiefs of Oahu\ncould have nothing to say concerning the disposition of anything\nbelonging to the island. The conqueror could do as he wished with the\npeople or the land. Inasmuch as the chiefs had called Kahahana to the\nthrone, however, \u201cit would be wrong for him to cede to another the\nnational emblems of sovereignty and independence.\u201d\n\nThis rather full argument from the lips of the high priest shows the\nexceedingly strong hold which the tabus and worship of the gods had\nupon the most enlightened and upright men of the days immediately\npreceding the discovery of the islands by Captain Cook. The chiefs had\ndeeply rooted principles of loyalty and honour toward each other, and\nyet the reign of the gods was supreme even while accompanied by a host\nof burdens such as continual human sacrifices and tabus extremely hard\nto bear.\n\nKahahana and the chiefs of Oahu readily accepted the views of the high\npriest and decided that they could not accede to the demands of\nKahekili. One thing, however, remained which they could do for the Maui\nking, which would abundantly repay him for all the aid he had ever\ngiven to this young king. They would offer fleets of canoes filled with\nwarriors to aid him in his battles with the king of Hawaii. In this way\nfriendly relations and a state of peace would be maintained between the\nislands of Oahu and Maui.\n\nKahekili was greatly disappointed by his failure to secure the ivory,\nthe gift of the gods, and the sacred lands with the all-powerful war\ndrums, but he covered his chagrin as best he could by accepting the\noffer of warriors, for his spies assured him that his powerful\nbrother-in-law, the king of Hawaii, was preparing an immense army with\nwhich to conquer the whole of Maui. He heard of the organisation of the\ntwo powerful bodies of young chiefs known in Hawaiian history as \u201cthe\nregiments called Alapa and Pii-pii.\u201d The Alapa regiment alone numbered\nabout eight hundred of the finest and bravest chiefs of the island of\nHawaii.\n\nHe felt his inability to meet his Hawaiian enemies alone, therefore he\ncalled for aid from Oahu. Then came the \u201cBattle of the Sand-Hills\u201d\nbelow Wailuku and the defeat of the forces of the king of Hawaii. It\nwas a dearly purchased victory which he never could have won without\nthe aid of the Oahu warriors, and yet he was not profuse in thanks for\nthe assistance given. The failure to win the desired grant rankled in\nhis heart and he still nourished the purpose of securing a foothold on\nthe island of Oahu. The year after the Battle of the Sand-Hills,\nKahekili found an opportunity for making his next move.\n\nKahahana went from Oahu to Molokai to consecrate a temple. Oahu had\nmaintained sovereignty over Molokai for some time, therefore the\ndedication of a heiau of any importance was in the hands of the king as\nthe person of highest and most sacred rank. On Molokai there was also a\nlarge taro patch. This needed attention, and some time was to be\ndevoted to the oversight of the repairs called for.\n\nKahekili and his advisers thought this was an excellent opportunity to\nrenew influence over Kahahana. The two kings met on Molokai and spent\ndays in royal entertainments.\n\nAt the advice of his high priest, the Maui king craftily set to work to\nundermine Kahahana\u2019s faith in the Oahu priesthood. While the kings\nvisited and feasted together, Kahekili, from time to time, introduced\nremarks concerning the way he was treated in the matter of the ivory of\nOahu. At one time, apparently as an offset to the sacred lands which he\ndid not get, he asked for the large and fertile tract of land on\nMolokai known as the lands of Halawa. This Kahahana readily gave to him\nas land that had been conquered and won from its inhabitants,\nconcerning which there would be small dispute.\n\nThen Kahekili insinuated that the high priest of Oahu, in refusing the\ngrant of the ivory and the sacred lands, had been very insincere. He\ntold Kahahana that the prophet, while pretending to be friendly to\nOahu, had at the same time offered the entire government of Oahu to\nhimself. Thus he began the distrust which was to lead Kahahana to\nultimately destroy this wise and loyal high priest. In the various\nconversations he tried to impress the Oahu king with the belief that\nthe prophet was really a traitor instead of a friend. The king\u2019s utter\nlack of principle and his knowledge of the character, of the young king\nare shown in the way in which he made Kahahana believe in his personal\nfriendship. He took pains, in his wily and apparently open-hearted way,\nto let it be known that the only reason why he had not become the king\nof Oahu as well as of Maui was because of his great personal love for\nhis young friend. He would not stand in the way of one in whom he felt\nso much interest. But this personal kindness must not blind the eyes of\nthe young king to the fact that his high priest was practically a\ntraitor.\n\nThe young king returned to Oahu with great faith in his enemy and a\nlikewise great unbelief in his friends. He began a course of action\ninspired by his Maui advisers which was thoroughly overbearing and\ncapricious and finally created dissension throughout his kingdom.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXIII\n\nTHE ALAPA REGIMENT\n\n1776\n\n\nKa-lani-opuu was the Moi, or king, of Hawaii, at whose feet Captain\nCook was slain in 1779. He had been the ruling chief since 1754. He was\na restless warrior and signalised his reign by bloody battles with the\nchiefs of the neighbouring island of Maui. The decimation of the\nHawaiian race began in these inter-island wars before the coming of the\nwhite race.\n\nAbout 1760 Kalaniopuu attacked the southern coast of Maui and captured\nthe famous fort of Kau-wiki.\n\nFor fifteen years the Maui chiefs were not able to recapture it. During\nthese years Kalaniopuu had frequently gathered his best company of\nwarriors and attacked the Maui seacoast. From each invasion he had\nreturned laden with captives and spoil. At last, in 1775, the king was\nthe victim of his own ambition. His supreme desire was to rule two\nislands instead of one, and he was willing to fight for it.\n\nHe carried the war close to the home of Kahekili, king of Maui. A\nbattle was fought. There was a great destruction of life and property.\nThis raid received the name \u201cKalae-ho-hoa\u201d\u2014\u201cpounded on the\nforehead\u201d\u2014because, as the records say, \u201cThe captives were unmercifully\nbeaten on their heads with war clubs.\u201d For a time victory was with the\ninvaders; the Maui forces were not prepared for the onset, but warriors\nwere hastily assembled from all parts of the island.\n\nThere was a bloody hand-to-hand struggle, in which thrusting with\nspears and striking with clubs meant almost certain death to those who\nwere not able to get in the first blow.\n\nIt was a terrible defeat for Hawaii. The old king had been taken to the\ncoast and placed in his royal double canoe ready to escape if his army\ncould not win the day.\n\nOne of the most noted and daring warriors of the time, Ke-ku-hau-pio,\nheld his place against the Maui men while his comrades were driven\nback. Several antagonists crowded around him. When one fell another\ntook his place. Heavy blows from war clubs and spears beat down the\nweapons of the stalwart warrior and rained blows upon his head and\nbody. Once and again he swept back the circle of his enemies. But they\nclung to him. They wearied and wounded him until he began to stagger\nunder the blows against which he furnished imperfect guard. His\nstrength was gone, and hands were outstretched to seize him and carry\nhim as a living sacrifice to the nearest heiau.\n\nSuddenly a giant Hawaiian with a very long and heavy war club scattered\nthe group around the fainting warrior.\n\nAs he beat down the Maui warriors his cry rang out: \u201cE kokua! E\nkokua!\u201d\u2014\u201cTo the rescue! To the rescue!\u201d\n\nHe gave the old chief a moment\u2019s rest while he kept the surrounding\ncrowd at bay; then he dashed against the wall of warriors and broke it\ndown. Turning, he caught the old chief and aided him in hurried\nretreat, while his terrible war club played with lightning strokes\nagainst his foes. The young giant screamed with joy when he struck to\nearth enemy after enemy. With the insane inspiration of battle he made\ncharge upon charge, as he pushed the confused mass of chiefs and people\ninto an impetuous flight. Then he hastened back to his friend and aided\nhim still further in the retreat.\n\n\u201cIt is Ka-meha-meha the sacred,\u201d the Maui warriors cried; \u201cthe gods are\nin him. Kaili, the war god, strikes through his arms. We cannot fight\nagainst the gods.\u201d\n\nSo they made way for the whirlwind warrior as he helped his friend to\nthe sea. In a few moments they were in a waiting canoe making their\nescape to Hawaii.\n\nKa-meha-meha came from this battle an idolised chief. He fulfilled\nCarlyle\u2019s definition of \u201cKing\u201d\u2014\u201cK\u00f6nig,\u201d \u201cthe man who can\u201d\u2014the man who,\nafter the battle, would be \u201clifted upon his comrades\u2019 shields and\nhailed as hero.\u201d From that time the young giant was a recognised\nleader. His position was substantially the same as that of the king\u2019s\nown sons.\n\nThis was a sore defeat for the king of Hawaii. He was humiliated and\nangry. His self-love and ambition were sorely stricken, but he did not\npour out his wrath upon his followers. He cheered them and encouraged\nthem to prepare for new endeavours.\n\nHe called upon the high chiefs of the various districts of his island\nfor a more thorough preparation of men and war supplies, that with a\nnew and larger army he might make complete subjugation of Maui.\n\nThis was in 1775, at the same time that in America the \u201cBoston tea\nparty\u201d and Battle of Bunker\u2019s Hill were being followed by the struggle\nfor freedom on the part of England\u2019s colonies. In England, King George\nwas calling upon Parliament for advice and funds wherewith to subdue\nthe blood brothers in America. Both King George and King Kalaniopuu\nwere equally obstinate in the determination to rule the lands across\nthe waters.\n\nThe chiefs devoted all the energies of their districts to the\npreparation for the new war.\n\nThe warriors went up into the mountains to find the Kauila\u2014the spear\ntree\u2014that they might cut down and dry the wood for spears and war clubs\nand daggers.\n\nThe lava ledges were searched for the hardest pa-hoe-hoe\u2014the\nfine-grained, compact lava, well fitted for tools with which to hew out\nand smooth the many new canoes needed. The stone age is not so very far\naway from to-day\u2014in some parts of the world. The forests were searched\nfor the best trees from which canoes could be made. The sound of stone\naxes and adzes rang throughout the land. Hundreds of workmen hewed and\nscraped and other hundreds polished, until at last a large fleet of\ncanoes and a vast quantity of weapons were prepared.\n\nThe fishermen made new offerings to their gods. Large quantities of\nfish were caught and dried for the commissary department of the new\narmy.\n\nThe cloth-makers sought eagerly for the bark of the woke\u2014the paper\nmulberry tree. They made offerings to their gods, Hia and Lauhuki, of\nbark and leaves, with the prayer that the bark might be easily\nmanufactured into the finest cloth. Then they pounded the bark into\nsheets which they stained with vegetable and mineral dyes. Sometimes\nthey made this paper-cloth into waterproof cloaks and sheets by soaking\nit in cocoanut or kukui nut oil.\n\nEvery taro field was carefully cultivated, and prayers offered and\nsacrifices made to the hideous images of gods placed at some corner of\neach field to watch over the growing plants. A large amount of taro\nmust be ready to be pounded into poi the next season for the warriors\u2019\npoi-bowls.\n\nThe large number of young chiefs throughout the island was organised\ninto three bands. The young men of royal blood, the king\u2019s sons and\ntheir cousins, were set apart as the bodyguard of the old king. They\nwere the Keawe, or \u201cthe bearers.\u201d They were the supporters of the king\nin whatever move he might make. They were personally responsible for\nhis safety.\n\nThe chiefs who were the boon companions of the royal family, who had\nthe privilege of eating around the royal poi-bowls, were separated into\ntwo regiments: the Alapa\u2014\u201cthe slender\u201d\u2014and Piipii\u2014\u201cthe furious.\u201d\n\nThe Alapa chiefs were the flower of Hawaiian nobility next to the\nhighest chiefs. Eight hundred warriors were in its ranks. They were of\nalmost equal stature, averaging nearly six feet in height. Their spears\nwere of equal length. The bird-hunters of each chief had scoured the\nforests for the rich crimson feathers of the iiwi, which were woven\ninto glistening war capes. The regimental uniform\u2014light bamboo helmets,\nfeather-coated and crested with brilliant plumes, added to the majestic\nappearance of these stalwart chiefs.\n\nMany were the chants and stories about the prowess of the individuals\nbelonging to this noble band. They were all members of the Aha-alii, or\n\u201cCompany of Chiefs.\u201d Their genealogies would give them a welcome and a\nposition in any court on any island.\n\nAllegiance could be transferred from one king to another, or from\nisland to island, without loss of rank. Once a chief, always a chief.\nThere could be no system of degradation from the station conferred by\nbirth.\n\nAllegiance was usually given for family reasons. The blood relatives\nwere loyal even unto death to the king of their own blood. Sometimes\nfor personal reasons, such as intermarriage or friendship, a chief\nwould be led to espouse the cause of a new king. Sometimes captives\nwere given the choice between allegiance or death as a human sacrifice\nbefore the gods. If they accepted the new service, they were at once\ntreated like friends and property and marriage secured for them. Insult\nor injury at the hands of a superior chief was always considered good\ngrounds for a transfer of allegiance.\n\nChiefs were never made slaves, kauwa hooluki\u2014\u201cwearied servants.\u201d The\ncommon people were in a state of serfdom akin to European feudalism.\nLife and property and family were absolutely at the will of the high\nchief, but the servant could leave everything and seek another master.\n\nIn time of war a captured chief, unless claimed as a \u201cblood brother\u201d by\na friend in the ranks of the enemy, or accepted by the new king, was\nsentenced to the heiau, or temple, as a human sacrifice. Each chief of\nthe \u201cAha-alii\u201d had the right to wear the beautiful feather lei, or\nwreath, and the feather cape, and the niho palaoa, or ivory hook,\nsuspended from a heavy necklace of human hair. He had the right to sail\na canoe stained red, from the mast of which floated a pennant over a\nred sail.\n\nThe bond of brotherhood among chiefs was a matter of individual\nconcern. \u201cTwo young men adopted each other as brothers. They were bound\nto support each other in weal or woe. If they found themselves in\nopposing ranks, and one was taken prisoner, his friend was bound to\nobtain his freedom, and there is no record in all the legends and\ntraditions that this singular friendship ever made default.\u201d The\nhighest chiefs were called alii-tabu\u2014the tabu chiefs. They were sacred\nin the eyes of the people, who prostrated themselves with faces in the\ndust when the high chief came near them. \u201cIt was said that certain\nchiefs were so tabu that they did not show themselves abroad by day.\u201d\n\nAlexander says: \u201cIt was death for a common man to remain standing at\nthe mention of the king\u2019s name.\u201d\n\nWhile this army was being recruited, great preparations were made for\nthe purchase of the favour of the gods. Temples were repaired and the\ngods reclothed. This was a peculiar ceremony. New kapa, or paper-cloth\ngarments, were made and consecrated to the god with prayer and\nsacrifices. This cloth for the gods was made from the finest bark of\nthe mulberry tree. It was beautifully coloured and brought to the idol.\nAnother series of prayers and offerings\u2014and frequently a human\nvictim\u2014then the ornamented kapa was wrapped around the image as a war\ncloak.\n\nSuch preparations, on so large a scale, could not be concealed from\nKahekili, king of Maui. He also gathered warriors and weapons as far as\npossible from his subjects. But he felt his weakness and sent an\nembassy to Oahu. He must have a large body of reinforcements and the\nonly available army must come from Oahu. He knew of only one priest in\nthe island group who refused absolutely to acknowledge the superiority\nof Holoae, the high priest of Hawaii. Therefore, he had requested the\nking of Oahu to send the high priest Ka-leo-puu-puu to combat the\nsupernatural powers of the high priest of Hawaii. Both of these high\npriests were of the highest rank. Priestly prestige and power depended\nupon genealogy. Each of these priests could look back through a\nstraight line of ancestors, to the days of the Vikings of the Pacific\nand the sea voyages of the eleventh century.\n\nHoloae was a direct descendant of Paao, the eleventh century priest\ncoming from Upolu, Samoa, to Hawaii. His prerogatives in Hawaii and\nMaui were unquestioned.\n\nKa-leo-puu-puu was able to prove beyond question that the mantle of\npriesthood had never passed out of the family since the days of\nPau-makua of the eleventh century. There was strong rivalry between the\ntwo priestly lines. Kahekili of Maui desired to bring the two priestly\npowers into conflict with each other. This was the real beginning of\nthe new war.\n\nNew temples were built and old temples repaired by both kings, and all\nwere filled with gods and priests and sacrifices. Prayers and\nincantations innumerable were used by both parties. Many human\nsacrifices were laid upon the altars.\n\nAt last the Maui priest informed his king that he was assured by the\ngods of final victory. \u201cThe warriors of Hawaii should come like fish\ninto a bay and should be caught in a net.\u201d From this suggestion came\nthe plan of battle afterward carried out.\n\nThe new year dawned\u2014the year known in the civilised world as 1776. It\nwas the year of the Declaration of Independence in America. It was the\nyear of increased British effort and many reverses on the part of the\ncolonies. It was in this year that King George\u2019s dark-skinned brother\nin ambition, Ka-lani-opuu, set sail with \u201ca cloud of boats.\u201d Hundreds\nof canoes crossed the channel between the two islands and then coasted\nwestern Maui.\n\nThey landed wherever any little valley on the rugged slope of Mt.\nHale-a-ka-la\u2014\u201cHouse of the sun\u201d\u2014afforded soil sufficient to give life\nor foothold. They destroyed the villages and drove the terrified\ndefenceless people up the lava cliffs to mountain hiding-places.\n\nEarly one morning a part of the king\u2019s army landed at Maalaea Bay, near\nthe spot where they had been defeated. The chiefs looked over the sandy\nisthmus lying between the two great Maui mountains\u2014Mt. Hale-a-ka-la and\nMt. Iao. On the other side of some sand hills in this isthmus lay\nWai-luku, the home of the Maui king. The cry arose: \u201cOn to Wai-luku! On\nto Wai-luku!\u201d No strong force had offered opposition so far in the\ninvasion. It seemed fair to presume that they had completely surprised\nthe Maui warriors.\n\nThrough the Wai-luku lands dashes a swiftly flowing stream of clear,\ncold water, breaking through the foothills of Mt. Iao. The banks of\nthis stream had already been the scene of many a bloody battle, hence\nthe name Wai-luku\u2014\u201cWater of destruction.\u201d\n\nIt was nearly ten miles away\u2014but that would be only a short morning\u2019s\nrace for the hardy chiefs.\n\nThe Alapa warriors shouted, \u201cLet us drink of the waters of Wai-luku\nthis day!\u201d The king, surrounded by his bodyguard of royal chiefs,\nwatched the splendid array of warriors as they hastened to surprise the\nMaui warriors. The king\u2019s prophet chanted as they passed him:\n\n\n        \u201cRoll on, roll on, waves of Hawaii!\n        You are the surf waves.\n        The war god rides on the surf\n        To land on the banks of Wai-luku.\u201d\n\n\nOver the long desert isthmus sped the stalwart chiefs on up the divide\nbetween the two great mountains, until they saw the valley of the\nWai-luku and the ocean waters of the eastern coast. On sped the eight\nhundred bronzed and sinewy athletes. It was to them an easy race for\nvictory. Below Wai-luku lies a sandy tract through which the winds\nswept with power. It has long been a tangled group of large rounded\nsand hills. As they entered this rough region the first serious show of\nforce met the exultant Hawaiians. There was obstinate resistance, but\nthe onset of the Hawaiian chiefs was irresistible. They literally\ntrampled the warriors of Maui beneath their feet. On into the sand\nhills they rushed, chanting their song of victory. Suddenly their Maui\nfoe disappeared, and in front and rear and on every side rose up\nhundreds of warriors from Oahu\u2014strangers to the Alapa chiefs.\n\nThe scouts of Maui had faithfully reported the movements of\nKa-lani-opuu and the coming of the Alapa high chiefs, giving the Maui\nking time to select and place his allies from Oahu. The wily king had\nmade thorough preparation to catch his enemies \u201cin a net.\u201d The\nambuscade was not ordinarily a part of Hawaiian warfare. In battle,\ndependence was placed upon the strong arm rather than in cunning wit.\nOften the beginning of a battle would be delayed by a series of single\nconflicts between challenging chiefs, as in the days of European\nknight-errantry. Banners were seldom carried. Some giant chief with\nmarked helmet towered above his fellows and was the centre around which\nhis followers could gather. Sometimes war gods\u2014images of hideous and\ndistorted features\u2014were carried by priests and thrust into the faces of\nopponents.\n\nThis battle of the Alapa regiment was unlike the ordinary contests. The\nbrave warriors massed their strength and expected to override all\nopposition.\n\nBut when they were drawn into conflict in the sand hills their ranks\nwere broken. They were forced to pass around the obstacles or climb\nover them.\n\nFrom every wind-raised hill the Oahu men hurled heavy stones upon the\nplumed helmets beneath them, and thrust long spears into those who\nstormed the hillsides.\n\nStill up the loose sand the Alapa warriors struggled, putting to death\nevery foe, as they took possession of one hill after another, while\ntheir comrades forced the Oahu warriors back through the winding sand\nvalleys.\n\nThe conflict continued hour after hour. The blazing tropical sun filled\nthe struggling warriors with raging thirst, and the waters of the\nWai-luku were still nearly a mile away.\n\nThen the struggle toward the stream was checked. The Oahu warriors were\ncontinually reinforced by fresh, unwearied men. The broken ranks of the\nAlapa regiment were met by a constantly increasing host of enemies.\nSoon the larger bodies were separated into small bands, each one\nhopelessly surrounded by picked warriors.\n\nBroken helmets and tattered feather cloaks lay crushed and trampled\ninto the sand. Fragments of broken spears, javelins and war clubs lay\nin splinters under the feet. Naked and bleeding the chiefs raised\nbroken arms to ward off descending blows. They died bravely, avenging\nthemselves to the utmost in their death.\n\nOnly one of the large regiment was captured alive. Hundreds of bodies\nof his companions marked the progress of the fight. This last warrior,\nKe-awe-hano\u2014\u201cthe silent supporter\u201d\u2014noted for his valour, fought to the\nlast and then was beaten down and captured.\n\n\u201cTo the chief! To the chief!\u201d was the cry of the Oahu warriors. The\nwounded man was carried at once to the camp of the king. They decided\nthat he should be sacrificed to the gods, but his wounds were severe\nand he died before they could carry him to the temple.\n\nTwo other valiant chiefs side by side fought their way through their\nenemies and escaped. They evidently left before the regiment had been\nannihilated, for they were unnoticed until they had gone so far that\npursuit was useless. They reached the camp of Kalaniopuu at sunset\u2014the\nlast of the Alapa regiment.\n\n\u201cInto the valley of death rode the six hundred.\u201d Like sacrifices mark\nthe brave deeds of brave men in all nations.\n\nThis battle received the name in Hawaiian history\u2014\u201cThe furious\ndestruction at Kakanilua\u201d\u2014Kakanilua was the name of the sand hills\nbelow Wai-luku.\n\nGreat was the wailing among the royal chiefs of Hawaii and throughout\nthe army. Sore was the heart of the disappointed king. He called a war\ncouncil of the powerful chiefs of his bodyguard. It was a night\ncouncil. The old king seemed to have a secret feeling that the gods\nwere fighting against him. Apparently he desired to give up the\ninvasion. He was surrounded by a turbulent band of fighting chiefs.\nThey waged war among themselves when they could not attack the\nneighbouring islands.\n\nThey decided to press on the next day and defeat Kahekili and his\nallies. Before day began to dawn the camp was roused for action. The\nmajestic masses of clouds almost always hanging over Mt. Iao were\nglorious in the morning light as the great army drew near the sand\nhills. The Maui army crowded up toward the steep sides of the mountain\nas if to avoid the scene of the battle of the preceding day. The debris\nof battle, the mutilated bodies of hundreds of warriors inspired the\ngreat army to endeavour to avenge the recent defeat.\n\nBut the Maui army had the advantage of a well chosen position. The\nHawaiians had to fight up hill or else drift down to the sand hills. In\neither case advance was difficult. Each step forward was fully earned.\nEach sand hill passed was almost as much of a defeat as a victory.\nThere was a full day of savage fighting, marked by inhuman acts of\nawful brutality. The native account of the battle says: \u201cIt was not a\nwar characterised by deeds of princely courtesy.\u201d Many noted names of\nvaliant chiefs were never again mentioned in Hawaiian story. The story\nand the life ended together in this Wailuku battle.\n\nAt last the Hawaiian warriors were forced to retreat to the camp of\ntheir king, where Kalaniopuu and his guard had waited for the result of\nthe battle.\n\nKahekili evidently suffered almost as severely as the invaders, for\nthere was scarcely any attempt at pursuit.\n\nKalaniopuu had brought part of his household with him. His chief queen,\nKa-lo-la, was the sister of Kahekili. She had come to share in the\nvictory over her brother and assist in the pacification of her former\nfriends. The attack had been made, and the ragged remnants of a\nvanquished army had come back.\n\nHe was too heavily burdened with camp equipage and suffering men for\nimmediate fight. He proposed that they sue for peace and that his wife,\nKa-lo-la, be the messenger to her brother. The queen utterly refused to\nface her brother. There had been too many past personalities between\nthem, and she had evidently been a vigorous endorser of her husband\u2019s\ninvasions into her old homeland. Life was too precious to be risked in\nthat brother\u2019s presence. She proposed that the royal prince, Kiwalao,\nher son, be sent as ambassador.\n\nKiwalao was robed with all the royal elegance of a king according to\nthe customs of that almost naked, savage life. He wore his finest neck\nornaments, his most costly feather cloak and girdle and helmet. He was\nattended by high chiefs carrying the royal kahili, or large feather\nbanner, and a royal calabash. These chiefs preceded the young prince as\nhis heralds.\n\nWhen his name and position were announced to the outposts of the Maui\narmy, they fell flat on the face in the sand while he passed by. It was\ndeath to stand before a prince or a tabu chief. Kiwalao was one of the\nhighest sacred tabu chiefs in all the islands.\n\nRunners carried the news of the coming of this prince to the Maui king.\nHe was lying on a mat in the royal grass house at Wailuku.\nKa-lani-hale\u2014\u201cthe heaven house\u201d\u2014was the name of this home of the king.\n\nAs Kiwalao drew near the door all the Maui chiefs prostrated themselves\nbefore him, while the king lazily turned over and partly raised\nhimself, lifting his head in token of friendly greeting. To have turned\naway from the prince, letting his face look down, would have been the\nsign of immediate death of his visitor. Kiwalao, with slow and\ndignified tread, crossed the room and seated himself in his uncle\u2019s\nlap. Then both wailed over the troubles which had brought them\ntogether, and over the deaths among their followers.\n\nThe embassy was successful, and terms of peace between the two kings\nwere arranged. Kalaniopuu returned to Hawaii, to begin at once a new\ncrusade against Kahekili. During the ensuing two years the war\ndegenerated into a series of petty raids by which he kept his wife\u2019s\nbrother busy marching warriors from one end of Maui to the other to\nrepel his attacks. In 1779 the coming of Captain Cook changed the\ncourse of action and gave the people new things to think about, until\nKamehameha secured white men\u2019s arms and conquered all the islands.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXIV\n\nTHE LAST PROPHET OF OAHU\n\nIN THE DAYS OF KAHAHANA, 1782\n\n\nPaumakua was one of the great voyagers among the ocean-rovers of over\neight hundred years ago. Fornander in his \u201cAccount of the Polynesian\nRace\u201d says: \u201cOne of the legends relates that Paumakua, on his return\nfrom one of his foreign voyages, brought back with him to Oahu two\nwhite men said to have been priests A-ua-ka-hinu and A-ua-ka-mea,\nafterwards named Kae-kae and Ma-liu, from whom several priestly\nfamilies in after ages claimed descent and authority.\u201d These persons\nwere described as:\n\n\n        \u201cKa haole nui maka alohilohi\n        (A large foreigner, bright sparkling eyes)\n        A aholehole maka aa\n        (White cheeks, roguish staring eyes)\n        Ka puaa keokeo nui maka ulaula!\n        (A great white pig with reddish eyes).\u201d\n\n\nIn the later years of Hawaiian history, two of the most prominent high\npriests in all the islands were among the descendants of these\nforeigners. Ka-leo-puu-puu had been high priest of Oahu, but on the\ndeath of his king he was superseded by his elder brother,\nKa-o-pulu-pulu. He was angry and jealous and gladly welcomed an\nopportunity to go to Maui as the high priest of Kahekili, the king of\nMaui. Born on the island of Oahu and belonging to one of the most\nfamous families of priests, he understood thoroughly the temperament of\nthe chiefs of that island and was able to give valuable counsel to his\nnew ruler. He also tried to make as much trouble as possible for his\nbrother Ka-o-pulu-pulu.\n\nIt was said that Kahekili followed his advice in creating a division\nbetween the king of Oahu and Ka-o-pulu-pulu. He made Kahahana believe\nthat the high priest was secretly hoping to take Oahu from its king and\nturn it over to himself. This statement was drilled into the mind of\nthe Oahu king while visiting on the island of Molokai. When Kahahana\nreturned to Oahu he did not hesitate to show his enmity toward the high\npriest. He refused to listen when the priest attempted to give counsel\nin the meetings of the chiefs. He slighted him in all ways possible and\nmade the fact very evident that he had no confidence in him.\n\nThe king not only drove away his high priest, but also estranged his\nchiefs. It is probable that some of the chiefs rebuked the king for his\ntreatment of such a wise priest and prophet. At any rate the king\n\u201cbecame burdensome to the people as well as capricious and heedless.\u201d\n\nAfter nearly two years of distrust and dissension in the court of the\nking of Oahu, the king of Maui decided to attempt the conquest of his\nyoung friend\u2019s kingdom. Internal troubles among the chiefs of the\nisland of Hawaii had arisen in connection with the destruction of the\nAlapa chiefs and Ka-meha-meha\u2019s ascent to rulership. There was\ntherefore no danger of an immediate attack from that quarter. Oahu was\nentirely unsuspicious of danger. The chief difficulty in the way of\nconquest was the wise and powerful priest Ka-o-pulu-pulu.\n\nThe king of Maui sent one of his most trusted servants to Oahu to bring\nto a climax the enmity of the king toward his priest. This servant came\nwith an appearance of great concern and told Kahahana very\nconfidentially that the priest had once more sent word to the Maui king\nthat he was ready to turn over Oahu to him and aid in the overthrow of\nKahahana, but the Maui king felt such great affection for his friend on\nOahu that he could not accept such treachery. His feeling, however, was\nthat he ought to warn Kahahana against such a deceitful subject.\n\nThe poison again entered into the soul of the king and his anger grew\nhot within him. He determined that the priest should die. He knew well\nthat he was king by virtue of the choice of his chiefs and not by blood\ndescent. He had already found that his word was not the only law in the\nkingdom. He could not openly declare war against the priest, but he\ncould command him to render assistance in worship and sacrifice.\nTherefore he announced that he was intending to journey around the\nisland for the avowed purpose of consecrating certain temples and\noffering sacrifices in others. As king he had the right to perform\nthose duties in person, assisted by his priest.\n\nWhen he had made full preparation he started on his journey, attended\nby the usual large train of servants and companions. He proceeded as\nfar as the village Wai-anae on the southwestern coast of the island.\nFrom Wai-anae the king sent servants with a command to the priest to\ncome to him.\n\nThroughout all the Hawaiian Islands no priest had a reputation for\nability to read the signs of the sacrifices, utter oracles and prepare\nincantations against enemies greater than that of Ka-o-pulu-pulu. He\nwas thoroughly skilled in all the deep mysteries of priestly lore. He\nunderstood the dread power of \u201cpraying to death,\u201d a power which causes\neven the intelligent natives of the twentieth century to tremble.\n\nKa-o-pulu-pulu was fully aware of the enmity of his king and the danger\nwhich attended his yielding obedience. He knew also that the plea of\nthe need of omens and sacrifices was well founded. To him the future of\nOahu looked very dark. He felt that he could not refuse attendance upon\nthe king in this round of public sacrifices. If any opportunity arose\nfor consulting the omens in regard to the future welfare of Oahu it was\nhis duty to give the benefit of his wisdom to his people. It was one\nmore instance of going into the jaws of death for the sake of loyal\nobedience.\n\nHe took his son, Ka-hulu-pue, with him and went to Wai-anae. There he\nwas given no opportunity to offer sacrifice, but was attacked by the\nservants of the king. The priest\u2019s son was forced backward toward the\nsea. The spirit of prophecy came upon the father as he saw the danger\nof his son and he gave utterance to one of the oracles for which the\nHawaiian priesthood has been noted. He called out to his son: \u201cI nui ke\naho a moe i ke kai (it is far better to sleep in the sea), no ke kai ka\nhoi ua aina\u201d (for from the sea shall come the life of the land).\nFornander says that the servants drove the young man into the sea,\nwhere he was drowned. The seer no longer felt the compulsion of duty\nimpelling him to seek the king. The king\u2019s purpose was evident to all\nthe chiefs and Ka-o-pulu-pulu would not be misjudged if he attempted to\nescape; therefore he fled eastward toward Honolulu, but was overtaken\nat Pearl Harbour and killed.\n\nWhen Kahekili learned of the death of this great priest he hastened to\ngather his warriors together and fit out an immense fleet of canoes in\norder to undertake the conquest of Oahu.\n\nThe decisive battle was soon fought and Kahekili secured control over\nOahu. Kahahana escaped and for many months wandered over the mountains\nback of Honolulu, but was at last betrayed and killed.\n\nThe oracle of Ka-o-pulu-pulu uttered at the time of the death of his\nson was kept in the hearts of the natives and its method of fulfilment\nhas been noted. The oracle was easily remembered, although the words\nconcerning the death of his son are repeated in various forms. The\noracle reads: \u201cNo ke kai ka hoi ua aina\u201d (from the sea comes the life\nof the land).\n\nWhen Kahekili landed from his fleet of canoes, and conquered Kahahana,\nthe people said, \u201cThe life of the land has come from the sea.\u201d Then\nagain when Ka-meha-meha came from Hawaii, conquered Oahu and made\nHonolulu the centre of his kingdom, the old natives of the island\nrepeated the prophecy and considered it fulfilled.\n\nAnd yet once more the prophecy was remembered when the foreigners came\nover the ocean filling the land with new ideas, and with the bustle of\nnew and enlarged business, beautifying and enriching all the island\nlife with new homes and new arts.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXV\n\nTHE EIGHT OF OAHU\n\n\nThis is a story of one of the most daring deeds in Hawaiian history.\nAfter the death of Captain Cook in 1779 Ka-meha-meha was slowly gaining\ndominion over the large island of Hawaii. Meanwhile the king of Maui,\nKahekili, seemed to be far more successful in extending the boundaries\nover which he exercised rule. Kahekili had control of Maui and the\nadjacent islands and had sent expeditions to harass the followers of\nKa-meha-meha on Hawaii. Oahu was also tempting Kahekili, and he had\nalready taken steps to weaken the forces of that island.\n\nKahekili had fomented distrust and bloodshed among the Oahu chiefs and\nat last with an immense fleet of canoes filled with warriors had landed\non the beach, south of the crater Leahi, now known as Diamond Head. His\ncanoes were spread along the beach below Diamond Head, covering the\nsands of Waikiki. This was in the early part of the year 1783.\n\nThe King of Oahu had been taken by surprise. He was staying for a time\nin the beautiful valley back of Honolulu. The Nuuanu stream with its\nmany falls and sweet waters was a place where kings had always loved to\nrest. While revelling there in seductive pleasures the king,\nKa-ha-hana, suddenly was awakened by the report of the coming of the\nMaui chief. The uninvited guest was unwelcome because no preparation\nhad been made for the reception.\n\nMessengers were hurried to all parts of Oahu, and the warriors were\nhastily gathered together. Over the mountains and along the arid plains\nthey came. But the force was woefully inadequate to meet the Maui\ninvaders.\n\nIn this company there were eight famous warriors, who seemed to think\nthemselves invulnerable. They had often faced danger and returned\nchanting victory.\n\nThe night shadows were falling around the camp when these eight men,\none by one, crept away from the other chiefs. Word had been passed from\none to the other and a secret expedition partially outlined. Therefore\neach man was laden with his spear, club, and javelins. When free from\nall chance of interference they encouraged each other to undertake an\nexpedition, as Fornander says, \u201con their own account and inflict what\ndamage they could.\u201d\n\nThose who have known the Waikiki beach of to-day with its splendidly\nwooded shores, the luxuriant park inland, the plains covered with\ntrees, and the lower mountain ridges choked with lantana bushes, cannot\nrealise the desolate wastes of the past. The tropical luxuriance of the\nregion around Honolulu belongs to to-day and not to a hundred years\nago.\n\nIt was over this arid plain dotted here and there by cocoanut trees and\nacross a few streams bordered by taro patches that the eight famous\nchiefs picked their way. It was not smooth walking. Lava had been\npoured out from the craters in the mountains and foothills. The softer\nparts of the petrified streams had dissolved and the surface of the\nland was covered with the hard fragments which remained. The trail\nwhich they followed led in and out among great boulders until they came\nto the sandy slopes of Diamond Head.\n\nWith the coming of morning light they found themselves not far from the\nold temple, which had been used for ages for most solemn royal\nceremonies, a part of which was often the sacrifice of human beings,\nand here, aided by their gods, they thought to inflict such injuries\nupon the Maui men as would make their names remembered in the Maui\nhouseholds.\n\nFornander says: \u201cIt was a chivalrous undertaking, a forlorn hope,\nwholly unauthorised but fully within the spirit of that time for\npersonal valour, audacity, and total disregard of consequences. The\nnames of these heroes were: Pupuka,  Makaioulu, Puakea, Pinau,\nKalaeone, Pahua, Kauhi and Kapukoa.\u201d\n\nSeveral hundred warriors from Maui were stationed near this temple at\nthe foot of Diamond Head. Probably some of them had carelessly watched\nthe approach of eight chiefs of Oahu. \u201cInto the valley of death rode\nthe six hundred,\u201d but this was not an impetuous torrent of six hundred\nmounted cavalry men sweeping through Russian ranks. It was a handful of\neight against what was said to be a force of at least six hundred.\n\nInto these hundreds the eight boldly charged. The conflict was hand to\nhand, and in that respect was favourable to the eight men well skilled\nin the use of spear and javelin. Side by side, striking and smiting all\nbefore them, the little band forced its way into the heart of the body\nof its foes. The Maui warriors had expected to take these men, as a\nfire without trouble swallows up splinters cast into it. They had\nthought that this little company would afford them an excellent\nsacrifice for their war gods, and had hoped to take them alive, even at\nthe expense of the lives of a few men. But quickly the formidable\ncharacter of the eight fighters was appreciated.\n\nWave upon wave of men from Maui beat against the eight, but each time\nthe wave was shattered and scattered and destroyed. Large numbers were\nkilled while the eight still fought side by side apparently uninjured.\n\nIt has been said that this was a fight \u201cto which Hawaiian legends\nrecord no parallel.\u201d Eight men attacked an army and for some time were\nvictorious in their onslaught.\n\nBut the force around them was continually receiving additions, and an\noverwhelming body of men was slowly crowding over the dead and dying\nand preparing to crush them by weight of numbers. Then came the\nwhispered call to retreat, and the eight made a terrific onslaught\nagainst the circle of warriors surrounding them. It was a marvellous\nescape. After an awful struggle the opposition was broken down and the\neight leaped over the piles of the slain and fled toward the mountains.\nOne of the eight was short and bow-legged. He could fight well, but\ncould not run away as swiftly as his comrades. The Maui men pressed\nclosely after the fleeing chiefs.\n\nThe bow-legged man was tripped and thrown. In a moment his spear and\njavelin were taken from him and a renowned Maui chief caught him and\nplaced him on his back with the face upward, so that he could not do\nany injury. He started swiftly toward the temple to have his captive\nsacrificed \u201cas the first victim of the war.\u201d\n\nThe friends of the captive were still near at hand and heard him cry\nout that he was captured. They had no hope of being able to rescue him\nbut turned to see if anything could be done. He saw them and called to\none of them to kill him rather than let him be sacrificed alive. He\nurged that a spear be thrown to pierce him through the stomach. \u201cIn\nhope of shortening the present and prospective tortures of his friend,\nknowing well what his fate would be if brought alive into the enemy\u2019s\ncamp, the chief did as he was bidden.\u201d\n\nThe spear came unerringly toward the prisoner, but as he saw the\npolished shaft almost piercing him he twisted to one side and it sank\ndeep into the body of the chief who carried him.\n\nIn the confusion attendant upon the death of this great chief the\nbow-legged warrior escaped to his friends and soon all the little\ncompany were beyond pursuit.\n\nWhat became of the eight? Only one lived to perpetuate his name among\nthe families of Oahu. Pupuka became the ancestor of noted chiefs of\nhigh rank. The others were probably all killed in the destructive\nbattles which soon followed. Kahekili conquered the Oahu army with\ngreat slaughter and finally received the body of Kahahana, which was\ntaken to the temple at Waikiki and offered in sacrifice. After this\nannihilation of the Oahu army no hint is given of the other members of\nthe band of the famous eight. They live on the pages of history.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXVI\n\nTHE RED MOUTH GUN\n\n(KA-PU-WAHA-ULAULA)\n\n\nThe Red Mouth Gun is the name given by the Hawaiians to the great canoe\nbattle fought off Waipio, Hawaii, in the year 1791, according to\nFornander. This was the first naval battle in which guns were the\nprominent weapons used by the Hawaiian chiefs.\n\nKa-meha-meha I, in 1789, had gained the adherence of the noted chief\nKaiana, who had already visited China and purchased guns and\nammunition. This was probably the best stroke of diplomacy exercised by\nhim during all his great work of welding the scattered islands into a\nunited kingdom. Kaiana\u2019s real relations were with Kauai rather than\nHawaii. In transferring Kaiana\u2019s arsenal from Kauai to Hawaii\nKa-meha-meha secured an advantage over all the other chiefs of the\nislands. The man who has material at hand is equipped for any\nemergency. The possession of this armament led Ka-meha-meha to seize\nthe two white men, Isaac Davis and John Young in the year 1790. These\ntwo men were the second great factor in the consolidation of the\nislands. With arms and ammunition and men skilful in gunnery and wise\nin counsel Ka-meha-meha was practically invincible.\n\nFrom this time he dated victories instead of defeats. During the year\n1790 he overran Maui and Molokai and subdued a serious rebellion on his\nown island, Hawaii.\n\nDuring this conflict at home the high chiefs of the other islands held\nconsultation concerning their common enemy and the best way to\noverthrow him. They had guns and here and there a white man who had\nbeen kidnapped or persuaded to desert from the few ships already\nvisiting the islands. By combining forces it seemed easy to overthrow\nthe high chief of Hawaii. The king of Kauai and the king of Oahu were\nbrothers. Kahekili, the ruler of Oahu, was also the high chief of Maui,\nwhich he had placed under the control of his son, Ka-lani-kupule.\nTherefore the entire northern, group of islands was able to combine\nagainst Hawaii. It was Ka-meha-meha and one island against the rest of\nthe group.\n\nThe natives had used large shells for trumpets. They had a famous war\nshell known as the \u201ckihapu.\u201d Anything, therefore, which gave out an\nexplosive noise when blown into was called \u201cpu.\u201d When they saw a white\nman holding a gun to the shoulders, with the resulting smoke and\nexplosion, they gave to the death-dealing magic trumpet the name\n\u201cpu-waha-ulaula\u201d\u2014the trumpet with the red mouth. Pu became the name for\na gun.\n\nThe chiefs had massed their forces on Maui. Here Ka-eo-ku-lani, the\nchief of Kauai, took the leadership of the expedition and, looking upon\nMaui as redeemed from the victorious inroad of Ka-meha-meha, assumed\nthe island as one of his perquisites of the campaign. Fornander\nsuggests that his older brother, Kahekili, king of Oahu, might have\nagreed to give him land or even the island as a reward. But here the\nchiefs of Maui interfered. They were not willing to have the island\ndisposed of in that way. A quarrel arose and the Kauai men attempted to\ntake by force the lands which their high chief claimed and had promised\nthem. Spears were seized, war clubs swung and oval, double-pointed\nstones dropped into the slings. For a little while there was an\nexchange of blows. One of the sons of Kahekili, king of Oahu, withstood\na large number of Kauai men, holding them at bay unaided. Evidently the\nquarrel was smoothed over. The Kauai chiefs were never able to again\nlay any claim to Maui.\n\nThe two brothers separated their forces. One fleet of canoes under the\nKauai king rendezvoused his boats at Hana, an old and well-known\nharbour on Maui just across the channel from Hawaii. Hana was the home\nof some of the most ancient Polynesian legends when applied to the\nHawaiian Islands. The demi-god Maui is said to have noticed how close\nthe sky or clouds came to the earth, and then pushed the sky up until\nhis mother could have room to dry the cloth she was making and the\nplants have space in which to grow.\n\nWhen Ka-eo-ku-lani, chief of Kauai, climbed the hills above the seaport\nhe carried his war spear. Standing among the ruins of an ancient fort\nhe threw his spear far up toward the clouds above. Referring to the\nlegends, he cried: \u201cIt is said of old that the sky comes close to Hana,\nbut I find it very high. I have thrown my spear and it did not pierce\nthe clouds. I doubt if it will strike Ka-meha-meha. But listen, O you\nchiefs, warriors and kindred! Be strong and valiant and we shall drink\nthe water of Waipio and eat the taro of Kunaka.\u201d\n\nAfter a little rest the Kauai fleet swept across the channel and passed\ndown the eastern side of Hawaii. The winds of the ocean climb the\nmountains of Hawaii from the northeast. As they touch the cold surface\nof the lofty mountain slopes they let fall in heavy showers their\nburden of waters borne from the sea. Great gulches, bordered by\nenormous growths of tropical luxuriance, are rapidly formed. Waterfalls\nhundreds of feet in height shake the falling streams into clouds of\nspray. Of all these gulches and noted falls on Hawaii, Waipio stands\nsupreme. It was the pride of kings, the sacred home of priests, and the\nplace for the bountiful food supply of royal retinues.\n\nHere the Kauai chief became vandal. He evidently cared but little for\nthe preservation of this, one of the most ancient places on Hawaii. His\nfollowers ravaged the taro patches and fish ponds. They seized whatever\nthey wanted for present use and then destroyed the growing plants and\nbroke down protecting banks and walls. To show their contempt for\nHawaii they were permitted, and probably commanded by their chief, to\ntear up and destroy very old and sacred portions of the heiaus, or\ntemples. The ancient palace of Hawaiian kings was supported by sacred\nposts of pepper tree. These were burned. The palace, of course, was\nonly a large thatched house and could be easily replaced, but the\nposts, consecrated by the blood of human sacrifices and cared for\nthrough many generations, were irretrievably lost.\n\nThe natives of Hawaii have a special class of deities known as\nau-makuas. These are the ghosts of the ancestors watching over the\nplace known in this earthly life, and the family of which they were the\nprogenitors. They were supposed to punish severely any injuries\nreceived by those under their care. The people of Hawaii claimed that\nthe Kauai king suffered sorely for his impiety.\n\nSoon Kahekili, chief of Oahu, with the Oahu and Maui war canoes, was\ndriven by Ka-meha-meha from the northwestern coast which they had been\ndevastating. They fled to Waipio and united with the Kauai fleet.\nKa-meha-meha had been able to secure some small cannon, which he placed\non some of his larger canoes. Isaac Davis and John Young took charge of\nthis portion of battle array. The other canoes were well supplied with\nfirearms. The fleet of the invading army formed in battle array out in\nthe deep waters off the Waipio coast. Here the canoes of Ka-meha-meha\nfound their foes.\n\nIn former years a naval battle meant the clash of canoe against canoe,\nthe heavy stroke of war clubs against war clubs and clouds of hurled\njavelins and spears. The conflict was largely a matter of taunts and\nshouts, broken canoes and drowning warriors. But in this fight the\nopposing parties combined the rattle of firearms and the roar of small\ncannon with the usual war of words. Boats were shattered and the sea\nfilled with swimming men.\n\nThe people on the bluffs saw the red flashes of the guns and noted the\nincreasing noise of the artillery until they could no longer hear the\nvoices of men. As the clouds of smoke crept over the sea the battle\nbecame, in the view of the watchers, a fight between red mouth guns,\nand they shouted one to another the news of the progress of the\nconflict according to the predominance of flashing muskets and cannon.\nIt was soon seen that the invaders were being defeated. The man who had\nthe best arms and the best gunners won the victory.\n\nThe Kauai and Oahu kings fled with their scattered fleets to Maui.\nKa-meha-meha soon followed them, and during the next three years, step\nby step, passed over the islands until the kingdom was his.\n\nThe death rate during these years of devastating warfare was beyond all\ncalculation and thus came a tremendous decrease in the Hawaiian\npopulation.\n\nIn the eyes of the old Hawaiians the ghost-gods had avenged themselves\nin the battle of \u201cthe red mouth guns.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXVII\n\nTHE LAW OF THE SPLINTERED PADDLE\n\n\nWould you know the story of the Splintered Paddle? It came to pass on\nthe island of Hawaii in the year 1783. It is a true incident in the\nlife of Ka-meha-meha, the great consolidator of the Hawaiian Kingdom.\n\nThere are slightly different versions of the tale as frequently occurs\nwhen handed down verbally through different channels. The main points\nare substantially the same. The stalwart king descended to the plane of\na highway robber and received his punishment. As a native writer says:\n\u201cThe foundation of the law of the splintered paddle was the greed and\nshame of a chief dealing with a common man.\u201d But, like a true man,\nKa-meha-meha made this incident the occasion of a decision to neither\ncommit nor permit any more highway robbery in his kingdom. This then is\nthe outline of the incidents which changed a king into a\nself-respecting and somewhat law-abiding citizen.\n\n\n\nTwo Hawaiian chiefs of splendid physique were hurriedly climbing a\nzigzag path up the face of an exceedingly steep bluff bordering the\nlittle bay of Lau-pa-hoe-hoe. The moment they reached the summit they\nhastened to the edge that broke in a sheer precipice to the ocean\u2019s\nbrink. Eagerly they gazed over the far-reaching waters southward along\nthe banks of the island. \u201cThere is no pursuit,\u201d said the younger man.\n\u201cNo,\u201d replied the elder chief, resting on his spear, \u201cthe men of Hilo\nhave crawled back to their homes to heal their wounds. Their war canoes\nare not among the shadows on the water. Nor do their warriors move\nalong the side of the white mountain (Mauna Kea). Our watchmen do not\nsend the banner of smoke to the sky.\u201d\n\nThe two chiefs were of high rank. They could both trace their high\nchief blood through more than a thousand years of royal ancestors.\nHowever, the elder chief was of lower rank than the other, because his\nancestry had not been guarded with the same jealous care that\nsurrounded the birth of his friend. Among the Hawaiians the \u201cAhaalii\u201d\nor \u201ccouncil of nobles\u201d guarded the rank of each chief and assigned to\nhim a place according to the purity of his blood-royal. The younger\nchief covered his face with his hands and uttered the Auwe\u2014the Hawaiian\nwail for the dead. After a time he raised his head and spoke to his\ncompanion, whom we will call Kahai.\n\n\u201cO my Kahai,\u201d he said, \u201cyesterday and the defeat at Hilo make my\nthoughts burn! How do the prophets chant the death of my chiefs and\nwarriors?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe singers in the war canoes sang softly, O King, while the boats\nwere hurried along through the night. They sang of our friends whose\nbodies lie in the ferns. They pronounced curses upon the Hilo chiefs.\nThey called the struggle \u2018the bitter battle\u2019 and that shall be its name\nin the coming days.\u201d\n\nA shudder passed over the young man as he said: \u201cMy chiefs no longer\nlie in the ferns. In my thought I see the temple servants carrying the\nbodies of my friends to the altars of the gods. It is almost the hour\nfor the evening sacrifice. The hands of the priests are red with blood.\nThe bones of my choice companions will be used for fish hooks.\nAuwe-Auwe-e-e! Woe to me. My name is indeed The Lonely-one\u2014The\nDesolate!\u201d\n\n\u201cO King! thou art Ka-meha-meha, \u2018The Lonely One,\u2019 the one supreme in\nroyal genealogy, but not \u2018The Desolate.\u2019 Your friends are with you.\nTo-night your war chiefs would die for you. Your prophet has said: \u2018The\ncloud of Ka-meha-meha shall rest on the mountains of all the islands.\u2019\nSo shall it be. The gods have said it. Your friends believe it.\u201d\n\nKa-meha-meha (The Only-Only) was an ideal chief. He was over six feet\nin height, strong and sinewy, excelling all other chiefs in athletic\nexercises, cruel to enemies, ruling his own household with a rod of\niron, generous and brave among his friends, and filled with a\nfatalistic belief in his own destiny. At heart he was devoted to the\ninterests of his country as far as he understood them. He believed that\nhe knew best, therefore in after years when he became ruler over the\ngroup of islands he was thoroughly autocratic. The king\u2019s will was to\nbe the people\u2019s will. His was a savage face, large-featured, often\nferocious and repulsive. On the other hand it was capable of a vast\nrange of playing passions.\n\nHis uncle, Ka-lani-opuu, who ruled the large island of Hawaii at the\ntime of the death of Captain Cook, had died in 1782. Ka-meha-meha had\nbeen chosen king by a number of influential chiefs in opposition to his\ncousin Kiwa-lao, the son of Ka-lani-opuu. War arose between the\ncousins. Kiwa-lao was slain in one of the early conflicts. Other\nchiefs, of the southern part of the island, refused to swear allegiance\nto Ka-meha-meha, and had continued the war. The favors of the war gods\nhad been almost equally distributed. The last battle had been fought at\nHilo. At the time when our story opens Ka-meha-meha\u2019s attack had been\nrepulsed with fearful loss on the part of his followers. At this time\nhe was forty-seven years of age and just commencing the life work of a\nking and savage statesman.\n\nThe king looked thoughtfully down into the valley where the wounded and\nwearied warriors were drawing the war canoes out of the inrolling surf.\nIn the village could be heard wailing as the scanty news of the battle\nwas hastily reported, and the people realised that some loved chief or\nfriend would never return again to their homes.\n\nThe king\u2019s heart grew warm toward his faithful friends as he want down\ninto the valley to tell them there was no pursuit, and they could seek\nrest and healing. While the chiefs were around the poi-bowl that\nevening he was very quiet. He was thinking of the bodies of his\nwarriors laid on the altars before the gods of the southern districts\nof the island. He thought of the naked altars of his own Waipio temple,\nto which he had brought no captives to be slain in sacrifice. He\nimagined that he might go alone and do some daring deed, perhaps make a\nhurried raid upon some unsuspecting point of his enemy\u2019s territories.\nHe rose from his mat and quietly passed out into the darkness. He\ncalled a few strong boatmen and his favourite canoe steerer, launched\none of the war canoes, and with sail and paddle sped southward.\n\nThat night was rough for Hawaiian seas. Thunder reverberated in\noft-repeated echoes from the sea cliffs. Thunder and lightning are rare\nin this part of the great Pacific. Heavy winds blew and dashed the\nwaves high around the canoe. The natives say, \u201cThe chief was not in\ndanger, because his steersman was skilful and watchful. The sea did not\nbreak over the boat, nor were they wet. Like a dolphin the boat ran\nover the waves.\u201d\n\nIt was a misty morning as he passed Hilo Bay, where the greater part of\nhis enemies was encamped. His boat, far out in the shadows, was not\nnoticed. He passed around a corner of the island and planned to\nsurprise the natives of a noted fishing-ground, hoping to make captives\nand secure booty from some of the warriors against whom the recent\nbattle had been fought.\n\nThe morning light was touching the inland mountain tops. It rested, a\nsilver star, on the snowy summit of Mauna Kea. It made a golden glory\nof the fire clouds of the volcano Kilauea. It glistened over the black\nbeds of pa-hoe-hoe, or smooth, shining lava. It began to bring into\nstrong relief the uplifted heads of the cocoanut trees of a century\u2019s\ngrowth. The white foam of ocean waves began to be visible along the\nouter reef.\n\nThe natives of Papai, a bay on the Puna coast, hastened into the sea to\ngather the delicacies which are usually found among the shell-fish\nalong the reef, and also to set nets and snares for fish.\n\nAs the mists rose from the waters, the oarsmen entered into the spirit\nof the adventure. Like a shark the war canoe dashed toward the\nfishermen.\n\nThe people of Puna, looking toward the dawn on the sea, had noticed the\nboat far out. They asked each other, \u201cWhat boat is this of the early\nmorning?\u201d After a little they counted the number of oarsmen. They saw\nthat the newcomers were strangers. Then they asked a native who was\nvisiting them, whose home was on the other side of the island: \u201cO\nPaiea, do you know who this is?\u201d\n\nPaiea looked, recognised his ruling chief and called out: \u201cIt is\nKa-meha-meha!\u201d Then the people were filled with fear, for the prowess\nof the chief was well known and greatly feared. They seized paddles and\nnets and snares and with the screaming women and children fled, rushing\nalong the reef, falling into the deep holes, swimming and stumbling\ntoward the mainland.\n\nThe king, commanding the others not to follow, leaped from the canoe to\nattack two stalwart natives who had been aiding the weak to escape.\n\nThe story, related by Kukahi, is that Ka-meha-meha did not succeed in\novertaking any of the Puna people before they gained the shore and fled\ninland. Closely pursuing he called on them to stop; but with greater\nterror they continued their flight. Then he became angry and quickened\nhis pace. A fisherman turned and threw his fishnet over the pursuing\nchief, causing him to fall down upon the sharp lava. \u201cBlood crawled\nover the stones around the fallen body.\u201d Then he tore the nets which\nentangled him and again rushed heedlessly on. While straining himself\nto see where the men were running, his foot broke through a thin shell\nof lava into a crevice. To pull it up was impossible.\n\nThe men turned back and struck at him with their paddles, but after a\nfew blows the paddles were destroyed. He managed to grasp a large piece\nof lava. The men ran away. \u201cThe thrown stone struck the trunk of a Noni\ntree, broke it off and with the tree fell to the bottom of a small\nravine, and the spot is shown to this day.\u201d\n\nThe steersman became anxious concerning his chief and came up from the\nboat. Meantime the fishermen had secured spears and were returning to\nkill Ka-meha-meha. The steersman broke the sharp edges of lava away\nfrom the imprisoned foot, but did not succeed in liberating his chief\nbefore the natives began to thrust at him with their spears.\n\nThe agile chief, fettered as he was, avoided the thrusts, but the\nsteersman was awkward. One of the spears pierced him. Ka-meha-meha\nseized this spear and quickly broke it near the body. When the men saw\nthat he had a weapon they ran away.\n\nWhen Ka-meha-meha had freed himself he and his companion came down to\nthe shore. He warned the men not to repeat the story of the injured man\nand the battle between himself and the flying fishermen of Puna. He did\nnot want his high chiefs to know that he had been struck and hurt by a\ncommon man. The chiefs were very strenuous in upholding the dignity of\ntheir caste. They thought but little of putting to death their\nservants. That some of the lower classes should have struck their\nhighest chief was sufficient ground for killing any of his companions\nwho had failed to protect him even at the cost of their own lives.\n\nKa-meha-meha knew how unreasonably wilful he had been in forbidding his\nsteersman to join in the pursuit, and therefore felt the injustice of\npermitting him to be punished. It was a weary journey for the defeated\nking and his wounded steersman.\n\nThe spear-head and part of the shaft still rested in the side of the\nwounded man. The king could not have the spear removed without great\ndanger, so waited, thinking to have the wound well cared for after\nreaching Lau-pa-hoe-hoe. However, it was impossible to keep the boatmen\nfrom telling the story of the splintered paddle and the wounded\nsteersman. The chiefs soon heard the particulars and called the council\nof chiefs. There they grimly voted to \u201cheal\u201d the wounded man.\n\nKa-meha-meha appealed to them:\n\n\u201cO chiefs! The night of our going away was a very evil night. There was\nstorm and wind and thunder; yet I received no injury, nor was I even\nwet by the sea. Nor was I permitted to feel the least fear. My\nsteersman was wise and skilful. He was my close friend on the deceitful\nand dangerous sea. Therefore I ask you, if you wish to see him healed,\nhave him brought before my eyes for the treatment.\u201d\n\nBut some of the chiefs went out and instead of bringing the wounded man\ninto the council took him and twisted the spear-point, pulling it back\nand forth, until he died.\n\nAfter Ka-meha-meha returned from his Puna excursion he rested for a\ntime. His adventure was not encouraging. He decided that he could not\nhasten the plans of the gods. The ancient Hawaiian was very much of a\nfatalist. So also is the Hawaiian of to-day. What has to be is accepted\nwithout rebellion.\n\nKa-meha-meha realised that he was too weak, both in personal strength\nand in the number of warriors, to make further effort for the time\nbeing. Therefore, he sent his warriors home to cultivate their fields\nand prepare new war material for future conflicts.\n\nWhile this preparation was going on, a new element entered into\nHawaiian warfare. The white man\u2019s ships and the white man\u2019s weapons\nwere becoming familiar to the great king.\n\nWhite men were secured to take charge of small cannon, and to drill\nsquads of warriors equipped with the rude firearms of a century ago.\n\nSome of these white leaders and their muskets found their way into the\nservice of almost all the important chiefs throughout the islands.\n\nKa-meha-meha owned the best harbours and offered the best inducements\nfor trade with the foreigners. He secured the best equipment of arms\nand men. This gave Ka-meha-meha a vast advantage over the antagonistic\nkings and chiefs of his own and other islands. He had large boats built\nand armed with small swivel cannon. He had sixteen foreigners in his\nservice. He led his victorious warriors from island to island. In his\nlast campaign it is said his fleet of canoes lined the beach of one of\nthe islands for a distance of four miles.\n\nIn a few years his friends saw the prophecy fulfilled. \u201cHis cloud was\nresting on the mountains of all the islands.\u201d He had unified the group\nunder one autocratic government, and had established the Ka-meha-meha\ndynasty.\n\nThen came the memory of that excursion made in 1783 to Puna for the\nsake of robbery and possible murder. The king wondered what had become\nof the men who had attacked him. He had gone to Hilo and was having a\nfine fleet of wide and deep canoes made in the splendid koa forests\nback of Hilo. While waiting here, some time between the years 1796 and\n1802, he determined to find the men of the splintered paddle. He knew\nthat these men might have changed their residence from the Puna\ndistrict to Hilo. So he sent messengers throughout both districts\nsummoning all the people to a great meeting in Hilo. Certain large\ngrass houses were set apart for the large assembly. The Hilo people\nwere separated from the families of the other district. When the people\nwere thus gathered together they found themselves prisoners. They\nfeared wholesale destruction. The days of human sacrifices among the\nHawaiians had not passed by. The new king, against whom they had at one\ntime fought, might intend their sacrifice in numbers. They were his\nproperty to be burned or cut to pieces and placed in the temples of the\ngods. No one could dispute the will of the chief. It was a political\ncondition which the Hawaiians of a hundred years later could scarcely\nbegin to realise. That man is very ignorant who thinks the old days\nbest.\n\nThe king passed through the houses allotted to the Hilo people. It must\nhave been an anxious time for the prisoners. Wholesale destruction,\npossibly because of the bitter war of 1783, stared them in the face.\nBut the chief touched them not and passed through their lines out to\nthe houses in which the Puna people were confined.\n\nA suspicion at least of the reason for their imprisonment must have\ncome to the guilty men. The story runs that when they saw Ka-meha-meha\nthey bowed their heads, hoping to escape recognition. But this revealed\nthem at once to Ka-meha-meha, and he approached them with the command\nto raise their heads. It was an interesting scene when these common men\nwere brought before the chiefs for final judgment. It is said the chief\nasked them if they were not at the sea of Papai. They assented. Then\ncame the question to two of them:\n\n\u201cYou two perhaps are the men who broke the paddle on my head?\u201d\n\nThey acknowledged the deed.\n\n\u201cTo the death, to the death!\u201d cried the chiefs around the king.\n\n\u201cDown the face!\u201d \u201cCommand the stones!\u201d \u201cLet the man and his friends be\nstoned to death!\u201d\n\nThe king listened to the suggestions of his companions. Then he said:\n\u201cListen! I attacked the innocent and the defenceless. This was not\nright. In the future no man in my kingdom shall have the right to make\nexcursions for robbery without punishment, be he chief or priest. I\nmake the law, the new law, for the safety of all men under my\ngovernment. If any man plunders or murders the defenceless or the\ninnocent he shall be punished. This law is given in memory of my\nsteersman and shall be known as \u2018Ke Kana-wai Ma-mala-hoa,\u2019 or the law\nof the friend and the broken oars. The old man or the old woman or the\nchild may lie down to sleep by the roadside and none shall injure\nthem.\u201d\n\nThe law with the name Ma-mala-hoa is still on the statute books of\nHawaii. It has been greatly modified and enlarged, but the decree\nagainst robbery by any man, and especially the plunder of the weak by\nthe powerful, had its beginning for Hawaii in the days of Ka-meha-meha.\n\nAlexander says in his history of the islands: \u201cDuring the days of\nKa-meha-meha energetic measures were taken for the suppression of\nbrigandage, murder and theft throughout the kingdom.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Law of the Splintered Paddle\u201d marked the awakening of a pagan\nconscience to a sense of just dealing between the strong and the weak.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXVIII\n\nLAST OF THE TABU\n\n\nTo-day the thatched house is a curiosity in the Hawaiian Islands. In\nthe time of our story the grass roof was the only shelter from the rain\nand heat, except the thick-leaved tree or the insecure lava cave. The\nlong rushes and grasses from the sea marshes and the long leaves of the\npandanus tree made a very good if not a very enduring home. There the\nchiefs and common people alike were born, and out of such grass houses\ntheir bodies were carried when life was over.\n\nIt was the same story told over again on islands or continents. The\nchief\u2019s house might have a few more mats of a little finer texture, or\ncalabashes of wood with markings a little more unique, but birth nights\nleft fully as many beautiful children, and the hours of death took away\nfully as many noble men and women from the poor hut built by the taro\npatch as from the better-apportioned home under the silver-leaved kukui\nor candle-nut tree. Out of the ranks of the unappreciated have come\nsome of the best people of the earth, and some of the strongest\ninfluences changing nations.\n\nThere was a modest grass house in one of the upland valleys of Kailua,\nHawaii. Tall cocoanut trees bent over it. Near it grew the ohia, or\nnative apple tree, luxuriant in crimson tassel-like blossoms. The\nsacred ohelo berries ripened in the iliahi or sandalwood forest above.\n\nOne bright afternoon a tall, finely formed woman broke through the\narching branches which obstructed the path and approached the door\nwhere an old woman sat crooning to a child resting in her arms. The old\nwoman looked up, and then fell on her face, crying:\n\n\u201cOh! my chief! my chief! My Ka-ahu-manu!\u201d\n\nThe queen gently raised the old woman, calling her \u201cmother,\u201d as was the\nHawaiian custom when speaking to favourite retainers.\n\n\u201cWhere are Oluolu and her husband?\u201d asked the queen.\n\n\u201cComing soon with the pink taro you so dearly love,\u201d was the reply.\n\nWhile the favourite queen of Ka-meha-meha was visiting with her old\nnurse, a happy young couple came from the near-by taro patch. The young\nman carried a bunch of rare bananas. When he saw the queen he\nprostrated himself at her feet and, without thinking, gave the bananas\nto her.\n\nKa-ahu-manu laughed gaily, saying: \u201cO my thoughtless one, you have\ntempted your queen to break tabu.\u201d\n\nA horrified expression crossed his face and he hastily started to\nwithdraw the bananas. But the queen was wayward and self-willed. Her\nhand was on the bunch as she said:\n\n\u201cThis is mine. It is your offering to your chief. I will eat of these\nbananas.\u201d In a moment she was eating the delicious fruit.\n\nThen the old woman began to wail: \u201cAuwe, auwe! The queen must die and\nwe shall all be destroyed!\u201d\n\n\u201cHush, mother,\u201d said the young man, as he glanced significantly over to\nOluolu, who had evidently some secret knowledge of the way to violate\ntabu. \u201cMany people think that the tabu is not right, and that the\nthreatened punishments come not from the gods, but from the priests\nthemselves. The white men in Ka-meha-meha\u2019s court do not keep tabu, nor\ndo they die. Even the king does not require human sacrifices. Old\nthings are passing away.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut the gods will punish the people for the growing unbelief,\u201d\nmurmured the grandmother.\n\n\u201cNot if the belief is false,\u201d said Oluolu.\n\nKa-ahu-manu listened in astonishment. She had done many things secretly\nwhich she did not care to have come to the ears of the priests, but she\ncould scarcely believe that the common people did the same. She said:\n\n\u201cIs this the talk of the common people?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d answered Oluolu. \u201cOnly a few speak freely one to another. The\ndread of the priest is over the land.\u201d\n\nWhen Ka-ahu-manu returned to the king\u2019s houses she kept these things in\nher heart. She saw the priests and their spies becoming more vigilant\nand more violent. She realised that the foreigners were exerting a\nstrong influence against the tabu system. Her outspoken speeches, for\nwhich the priests did not dare to punish her, were bearing fruit. The\nindignation of the queens of Ka-meha-meha was aroused when a priest\ncommanded that a little girl who had been caught eating bananas should\nhave one of her eyes gouged out. Then came a carousal, after which a\ntipsy woman stumbled into her husband\u2019s eating-house and was put to\ndeath for violating the tabu. Ka-ahu-manu talked these and many other\nsimilar experiences over when she visited the old grass house, gaining\nnew ideas and new confidence from her loyal retainers; but the old\nwoman, with aching heart, sat in the door, muttering incantations to\nkeep her queen and her children from the danger which their words\nseemed to invite.\n\nKa-meha-meha died about 2 o\u2019clock in the morning of May 8, 1819. When\nhe knew that his illness was serious he gave the kingdom jointly to\nKa-ahu-manu and his son, Liho-liho.\n\nThe very morning of Ka-meha-meha\u2019s death some chiefs came to\nKa-ahu-manu with the proposition that she use her authority and declare\nthe tabu at an end. But there was an indescribable scene of riotous\nconfusion and revelry and lust. Even the ordinary restraints of savage\nsociety were laid aside. Priests were occupied with signs and\nincantations to discover some one who might have prayed the great king\nto death. Ka-ahu-manu\u2019s party of practical unbelievers were under\nsuspicion. Therefore the queen decided that the time had not yet come\nto take such an eventful step. However, some of the people violated\ndifferent tabus and suffered no injury. Kee-au-moku, the queen\u2019s\nbrother, broke the tabu staff of the priests, and Hewa-hewa, the high\npriest, later gave his influence not only toward the suppression of the\ntabus, but also toward the destruction of the idols and their temples.\n\nAfter a few days Liho-liho, the young king, and Ka-ahu-manu, in their\nmost regal apparel, met and together assumed the government of the\nHawaiian Islands. At that time Ka-ahu-manu proposed that they\nhenceforth disregard the tabus. But the king, although under the\ninfluence of liquor, was not quite ready to take this step. Some of the\nchiefs also opposed such action. Keopuolani, one of the queens, asked\nthe king to eat with her. But Liho-liho delayed the answer. Then she\ntook his little brother (afterward Ka-meha-meha III) and induced him to\neat with her. This gave an example of the most sacred tabu chief in the\nland violating tabu with her little son. Soon the king yielded and\nopenly ate and drank with the queens at a feast in which many tabu\narticles were placed. The word passed rapidly from island to island,\nand was hailed with joy by the mass of the people.\n\nBut the guardian of the war god, Kaili, felt responsibility placed upon\nhim by the dying charge of Ka-meha-meha. He felt that it was his high\ntrust to protect the tabus and the worship of the gods. He was strong\nand fearless. The priests and chiefs who wished to perpetuate tabu\ngathered around him and a rebellion was instituted.\n\nThe story of the \u201cbattle of Kua-moo\u201d must be told very briefly. It was\nthe death struggle of the fanatics. It was the attack of the handful\nupon the better armed and larger army. It was a long drawn-out\nconflict. At last the guardian of the war god, wounded and bleeding,\nfought, seated upon a block of lava. By his side his wife stood, also\nfighting bravely. As he, struck by a musket ball, fell back dead, she\ncried out: \u201cI surrender!\u201d But at that moment a ball struck her in the\ntemple and she fell dead by the body of her husband.\n\nHow the tabus were laid aside, the idols destroyed and the temples\nburned\u2014all this is a matter of history. But no writer has chronicled\nhow the young husband carried the news from Kailua to the grass house\nunder the cocoanut trees. No one has written of the joy of Oluolu in\nthe life of broader privileges secured by abolishing the tabu system.\nAnd no one has described the old woman who could not understand the new\norder of things, but sat in the door of the grass house in the valley\nand grieved over the shattered doctrines of her forefathers.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXIX\n\nFIRST HAWAIIAN PRINTING\n\n\nForeigners from all over the world called on the Hawaiians and remained\nwith them forty years before the missionaries came. Their influence was\nnegative. They did not study the people or help them to study. John\nYoung, Don Marin and Isaac Davis were notable exceptions in a few\nthings, but the fact remains that no earnest effort was made by any one\nto help the natives intellectually until the missionaries came.\n\nAlexander Campbell, who, in 1809, was left in Honolulu by a whaling\nship on account of frozen feet, revealed the situation. The king\nTamaah-maah (Ka-meha-meha) ordered Boyd, his carpenter, to make a loom\nfor Campbell to use in weaving cloth for sails. Boyd declined, saying,\n\u201cThe natives should be taught nothing that would render them\nindependent of strangers.\u201d\n\nCampbell places on record the feeling among the foreigners. \u201cWhen a\nbrother of the Queen\u2019s, whose name I do not remember\u2014but who was\nusually called by the white people John Adams\u2014wished me to teach him to\nread, Davis would not permit me, observing, \u2018They will soon know more\nthan ourselves.\u2019\u201d It is interesting to note that Gov. Adams, whose\nnative name was Kuakini, did learn to read and write under the\nmissionaries and has left two short letters, in both of which he\npresents a request for saws.\n\nIn one he says, \u201cMy wife is going away to Hawaii. If perhaps she can\ncarry, give you to me sahs tools,\u201d signed \u201cGov. Adams.\u201d In the other\nletter he says he is building a house and wants a \u201csah tool\u201d which he\nwill return when the work is done.\n\nThe missionaries landed at Kailua on the island Hawaii, April 4, 1820,\nand there divided their party, the larger number coming to \u201cHanaroorah,\nHonolulu, April 19.\u201d\n\nMr. Bingham says, \u201cThey began at once to teach.\u2014The first pupils were\nthe chiefs and their favourite attendants and the wives and children of\nforeigners.\u201d The first instruction was necessarily in English, but the\nmissionaries used every opportunity to become acquainted with the\nspeech of the people and make it a written language. They wrote down as\ncarefully as they could every new word which came to their ears. This\nwas no small task and was absolutely necessary as the foundation of a\nwritten language.\n\nAs soon as the missionaries were sure of the orthography and\npronunciation of a number of words they prepared a primer or spelling\nbook to be printed for the schools they were carrying on. Mr. Bingham\nsays: \u201cOn the 7th of January, 1822, we commenced printing the language\nin order to give them letters, libraries and the living oracles in\ntheir own tongue. A considerable number was present, and among those\nparticularly interested was Ke-au-moku (Gov. Cox) who after a little\ninstruction by Mr. Loomis applied the strength of his athletic arm to\nthe lever of a Ramage press, pleased thus to assist in working off a\nfew impressions of the first lessons.\u201d\n\nAlthough these impressions were merely proof sheets, probably, of the\nfirst half of the spelling book, yet the large number printed and put\nin use, nearly 100 in all, would make this the first item printed.\n\nThis was the first printing done in the Hawaiian islands and along the\nNorth Pacific coast west of the Rocky Mountains. These first sheets\ncreated a new interest among the chiefs. King Liho-liho (Ka-meha-meha\nII) visited the press, saw a sheet of clean white paper laid over the\ntype, then \u201cpulled the lever around and was surprised to see the paper\ninstantly covered with words in his own language.\u201d\n\nWhile the chiefs were awakened by these proof impressions to\nintellectual desires never before experienced, the work was being\npushed of finishing the second \u201csignature\u201d and the complete book of\nsixteen pages was printed in an edition of 500 copies. Gov. Adams\n(Kuakini) secured one of the first copies of these lessons \u201cand was\nquickly master of them.\u201d\n\nLiho-liho was glad to have the chiefs instructed and took 100 copies of\nthe first primer for his friends and attendants. Ka-ahu-manu took 40\nfor her friends. These probably came from this printing of 500 copies.\nIn the latter part of September, another printing of 2,000 copies was\nmade from the same type.\n\nLiho-liho felt a little like the foreigners who did not want the\nnatives instructed. He wanted the education reserved for the chiefs\nbecause, according to Mr. Bingham, \u201che would not have the instruction\nof the people in general come in the way of their cutting sandalwood to\npay his debts.\u201d\n\nNevertheless, the flood could not be held back and the privilege of\nreading and writing rapidly spread among the people. In six years there\nwas the record\u2014\n\n\u201cOahu: Mission Press, Nov. 1828; 5 Ed.; 20,000. Total, 120,000.\u201d\n\nMeanwhile a great deal of other printed matter had been issued from\nthat first press.\n\nMarch 9, 1822, at the request of the king and high chiefs a handbill,\nentitled, \u201cPort Regulations,\u201d was printed, probably to aid the rulers\nin quieting the differences which were continually arising with sea\ncaptains. The fourth item recorded as issued in these islands was in\nDecember, 1823, and is the very rare and unique little book of 60 pages\nof Hawaiian hymns prepared by Rev. Hiram Bingham and Rev. William\nEllis, an English missionary from Tahiti who resided in Honolulu at the\ntime, heartily allying himself with the American missionaries. His\nprevious knowledge of the similar language of Tahiti made it easy for\nhim to learn Hawaiian. The edition of this hymn book was 2,000 copies.\n\nThe most interesting part of the story of printing in the Hawaiian\nIslands belongs to the greatest work accomplished for the good of the\npeople\u2014the printing of the Bible in the Hawaiian language. This article\nhas space for only a few facts. The first printed Bible passage was in\na revised spelling book published April, 1825. This was John 3, 16\u201321.\nThen in June, 1825, a booklet, 4 pages, called\u2014\u201cHe olelo a ke Akua,\u201d or\n\u201cSelected Scriptures,\u201d was probably printed on the same demy with \u201cHe\nui,\u201d or \u201cA catechism,\u201d 8 pages\u2014each 7,000 copies. In November, 1825,\nthe hundredth Psalm was \u201cprinted on a card for the opening of the\nchurch built by Ka-lai-moku at Honolulu,\u201d then in December, 1825, the\nTen Commandments and the Lord\u2019s Prayer; in July, 1826, the Good\nSamaritan, and in January, 1827, the Sermon on the Mount.\n\nIn December, 1827, came the first systematic attempt toward printing\nthe Bible. Twelve pages of the Gospel of Luke were struck off\u201410,700\ncopies. Later the entire book of Luke was printed in Honolulu. The\nother gospels, Matthew, Mark and John, were printed in 1828 in the\nUnited States. A copy of these three gospels, bound in an elegant and\nsubstantial cover, was presented to Ka-pio-lani, the high chiefess who\ndefied Pele on the brink of the pit-crater of Kilauea in 1825. This\nvolume now lies in the archives of the Hawaiian Board. The entire Bible\nwas completed and \u201cthe finishing sheet was struck off May 10, 1839.\u201d\n\nAn interesting prophecy concerning the completion of the Bible is found\nin a writing book, where, under the date April 30, 1827, is the record\nof a conversation. Mr. Bingham says that it is the duty of the mission\nto complete a translation of the Bible in five years from this time and\nthinks that with circumstances as favourable as they now are it will be\ndone.\n\nMr. Whitney says: \u201cI say if the whole Bible is in print in the Hawaiian\nlanguage in ten years from this time it is as much as I expect, and I\nthink will be a progress exceeding that of any other mission to any\nheathen country having a language not previously written or reduced to\norder.\u201d It was a little over twelve years after the first pages were\nprepared before the complete Bible was in print.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXX\n\nTHE FIRST CONSTITUTION\n\n\nMany subtle influences were at work in the evolution of Hawaiian\ncivilisation. Between the years 1835\u20131840 there was a culmination of\nseveral forces, each one important in itself and all uniting to bring\nabout the exceedingly interesting series of events which marked the\nHawaiian history of that time. Missionary instruction commenced in\n1820. The work of translating the Bible into the Hawaiian language was\ncompleted and the book published in 1839. For several years the\nthoughts of the Bible had been studied and preached with great\nclearness and power as the result of the labour of translating and\ncriticising the different books. Then came one of the most remarkable\nreligious revivals in history. These years of religious instruction,\nwith their resultant awakening of conscience and yearning for a better\nlife, could not escape a close connection with the contemporaneous\ndemands of civilisation. The double development could not be separated.\n\nDuring these same years there came a new relation to the larger nations\nof the world. International complications succeeded each other with\ngreat rapidity. A controversy with Roman Catholic priests, much as it\nwas deprecated by the missionaries, was nevertheless a very useful\nfactor in making the king and chiefs realise that they must be better\nprepared to deal with foreign interference. There was plain necessity\nfor a knowledge of law and government. Schools and churches and the\nfirst newspapers published in the Pacific Ocean were all enforcing the\ndemand for better government.\n\nIn 1833 King Ka-meha-meha III was thinking seriously of holding\nunbridled sway over his people. Alexander says that he \u201cannounced to\nhis chiefs his intention to take into his possession the land for which\nhis father had toiled, the power of life and death, and the undivided\nsovereignty.\u201d His purpose was to have no government distinct from the\nwill of the king.\n\nThe earthquake changes in civil conditions occurring at that time\nthroughout the islands speedily made the king and the chiefs conscious\nof their ignorance of methods of government, and in 1836 they applied\nto the United States \u201cfor a legal adviser and instructor in the science\nof government.\u201d This was a request difficult to grant speedily. In 1838\nthe right man for the place was selected from among the American\nmissionaries in the islands. His name was William Richards. Under his\ninstruction an outline of forms of civil government was rapidly given\nto the leading men of the kingdom. Ka-meha-meha III determined to put\nthe lessons into practice, and in 1839 issued what he called \u201cA\nDeclaration of Rights\u2014Both of the People and the Chiefs,\u201d and in\nOctober, 1840, promulgated the first Constitution of the Hawaiian\nIslands, quickly following these documents with a code of laws agreed\nto unanimously by the council of chiefs and signed by both the king and\nhis premier.\n\nThese laws and the Constitution and Declaration of Rights were first\npublished in English in 1842. The Declaration and Constitution owe much\nof their remarkably clear and broad conceptions of the relation of\nruler and subject to Mr. Richards. Nevertheless, it is a somewhat\nremarkable fact that men of such limited civilisation as the king and\nchiefs should have been willing to voluntarily give up so large a use\nof power as is marked in the adoption of such a radically new form of\ngovernment as arose in 1839\u20131840. It was a revolution of ideas and\npurposes and customs remarkable in its extent and thoroughness.\n\nLaws had been made by kings and chiefs as far back as the year 1823.\nMany difficulties had been decided according to the tabu, or practices\nof the chiefs, or according to the general principles of common law.\nThe established customs of civilised nations had considerable force in\ndisputes between natives and foreigners. But at last the rulers of the\nland began to put their government into permanent shape. Mr. Richards\nhad much to do in the preparation of the new system of rule. The\nforeign consuls assisted and even wrote some of the earlier laws.\nCommanders of warships made suggestions. Missionaries were consulted.\nDavid Malo, John and Daniel Ii and other pupils of the early\nmissionaries wrote some of the original laws. The king and the high\nchiefs ratified these laws, explained them to the people and put them\nin force. This is in brief the situation immediately preceding and\naccompanying the peaceable and yet irreclaimable establishment of\nconstitutional rights and privileges in Hawaii.\n\nThree steps are to be noticed in the growth of the recognition of the\nrights of the common people. The Declaration of Rights, the\nConstitution, and the Enactment of Laws by an elected legislature. Once\ntaken, no royal will could ever retrace these steps. The king and his\nchiefs made a gulf between their past and their future history and\ncould not bridge it or re-cross it. The Hawaiian Magna Charta, like\nthat of King John Lackland, was irrevocable, because, like the great\ncharter of England, it was a step in the evolution of human liberty. It\nis interesting to note the similarity of thought and language when the\nleading principle of the Magna Charta is placed beside the supreme gift\nof the king granted in the Hawaiian Declaration of Rights.\n\nWhat has been called \u201cThe essence and glory of Magna Charta\u201d reads as\nfollows: \u201cNo freeman shall be taken, or imprisoned, or dis-seized, or\noutlawed, or banished, or anyways injured, nor will we pass upon him,\nnor send upon him, unless by the legal judgment of his peers or by the\nlaw of the land.\u201d\n\nThe Hawaiian Declaration of Rights, issued June 7, 1839, stated first\nthe principle upon which the American Declaration of Independence was\nfounded, viz.:\n\n\u201cThat God has bestowed certain rights alike on all men, and all chiefs,\nand on all people of all lands.\u201d\n\nThen the further fundamental principle was outlined that:\n\n\u201cIn making laws for the nations, it is by no means proper to enact laws\nfor the protection of the rulers only, without also providing\nprotection for their subjects.\u201d\n\nThen came the necessary conclusion, which is very similar to the crux\nof Magna Charta:\n\n\u201cProtection is hereby secured to the persons of all the people,\ntogether with their lands, their building lots, and all their property\nwhile they conform to the laws of the kingdom, and nothing whatever\nshall be taken from any individual, except by express provision of the\nlaws.\u201d\n\nIn order to carry out this Declaration of Rights Ka-meha-meha III and\nhis high chiefs were led irresistibly to the promulgation of a\nConstitution which should differentiate the functions of the different\nbranches of government and provide for a proper presentation of the\nneeds of the people. As surely as the sunlight follows the morning star\nso certainly came the provision for a House of Nobles representing the\nchiefs and a House of Representatives representing the people.\n\nThe Constitution was promulgated October 8, 1840. After reiterating the\nDeclaration of Rights the king defines the legislative, executive and\njudicial branches of government and establishes the legislature and\nbestows upon it the power of enacting laws. Previously he had enacted\nlaw with the advice of his council of high chiefs.\n\nThe laws which were passed after this Constitution was promulgated are\nboth curious and instructive. There is a very large concession on the\npart of the king and the high chiefs who constituted his advisers, and\na correspondingly large increase of privileges on the part of the\ncommon people. This is especially noticeable in the enactment of laws\nconcerning taxation. Before the days of the Constitution and\nlegislature the king held all power in his own hands, although the\nAha-alii, or Council of Chiefs, was a factor with which he continually\nreckoned. The common people were not taken very much into account\nbefore the influence of Christianity was felt by both king and chiefs.\n\nIn the act of the Legislature and House of Nobles signed by the king\nNovember 9, 1840, three forms of taxation are specified\u2014the poll tax,\nthe land tax, and the labour tax.\n\nThe poll tax could be paid in arrowroot, cotton, sugar or anything\nwhich had a specific money value. The most important exemption looked\ntoward the preservation of large families. \u201cIf any parents have five,\nsix, or more children, whom they support ... then these parents shall\nby no means be required to pay any poll, land or labour tax until their\nchildren are old enough to work, which is at fourteen years of age.\u201d\n\nThe land tax was to be paid in swine.\n\nIf lands were forfeited they were to go back into the hands of the\nking, \u201cand he shall give them out again at his discretion, or lease\nthem, or put them into the hands of those who have no lands, as he\nshall think best.\u201d\n\nThe labour tax would be considered an exceedingly heavy burden by the\npublic of the present time and yet that labour law was very much less\noppressive than the semi-civilisation which preceded it. The native who\nsighs for the return of the days of the olden time would speedily try\nto get back out of the fire into what he considers a frying pan. Twelve\ndays\u2019 public labour out of every month would be considered exceedingly\noppressive if exacted by the government of to-day. Yet thus reads a\npart of the enactment of 1840:\n\n\u201cWhen public labour is to be done of such a nature as to be a common\nbenefit to king and people, and therefore, twelve days in a month are\ndevoted to labour; then all persons, whether connected with the land or\nnot, and also all servants shall go to the work or pay a fine of half a\ndollar a day.\u201d\n\nFines were exacted from the late and lazy. The man coming after 7\no\u2019clock in the morning was fined an eighth of a dollar, and after\ndinner a fourth of a dollar. While the man who was lazy and idle one\nday was fined two days\u2019 extra labour. There were, of course, exemptions\nfor infirmity, large families and other good reasons.\n\nThere was enacted a special law for the lazy and worthless element of\nthe community.\n\nThe words of the law seem to come from the lips of the king. \u201cAs for\nthe idler, let the industrious man put him to shame, and sound his name\nfrom one end of the country to the other.\u201d The chiefs were exhorted \u201cto\ndisperse those lazy persons who live in hordes around you, through whom\nheavy burdens are imposed upon your labouring tenants.\u201d \u201cTreat with\nkindness those who devote their strength to labour, till their tattered\ngarments are blown about their necks, while those who live with you in\nindolence wear the clean apparel for which the industrious poor have\nlaboured.\u201d\n\nIt is well known that laws are applied sermons, but these laws are\nsometimes primarily sermons, as the introduction to Act III well says:\n\u201cA portion of this law is simply instruction and a portion is direct\nlaw. That part which simply disapproves of certain evils is\ninstruction. If a penalty is affixed that is absolute law.\u201d Hence the\nfollowing exhortations are made to the chiefs: \u201cThat the land agents\nand that lazy class of persons who live about us should be enriched to\nthe impoverishment of the lower classes, who with patience toil under\ntheir burdens, is not in accordance with the designs of this law. This\nlaw condemns the old system of the king, chiefs, land agents and tax\nofficers. That merciless treatment of common people must end.\u201d\n\nIt is worthy of notice that the fourth act of these early laws\npractically recognised the New England system of \u201clocal\u201d or \u201ctown\u201d\ngovernment. The words are peculiar, \u201cIf the people of any village,\ntownship, district, or state consider themselves afflicted by any\nparticular evils in consequence of there being no law which is\napplicable ... then they may devise a law which will remedy their\ndifficulties. If they shall agree to any rule, then that rule shall\nbecome a law for that place, but for no other.\u201d This was to apply\nespecially to any community\u2019s desire concerning fences, animals at\nlarge, and roads. \u201cThough no such law can be at variance with the\ngeneral spirit of the laws of the nation nor can there be any\noppressive law nor one of evil tendency.\u201d\n\nIn 1842 an act was signed by the king and the premier, in which the\nevident intent is a lesson for the common people\u2014a lesson to be\nenforced by contrasts. \u201cThe people are wailing on account of their\npresent burdens. Formerly they were not called burdens. Never did the\npeople complain of burdens until of late. This complaint of the people,\nhowever, would have a much better grace if they with energy improved\ntheir time on their own free days; but lo! this is not the case. They\nspend their days in idleness, and therefore their lands are grown over\nwith weeds and there is little food growing. The chiefs, of their own\nunsolicited kindness, removed the grievous burdens. The people did not\nfirst call for a removal of them. The chiefs removed them of their own\naccord. Therefore the saying of some of the people that they are\noppressed is not correct. They are not oppressed, but they are idle.\u201d\n\nFor that reason a new law was enacted stating that it \u201cshall be the\nduty of the tax officer whenever he sees a man sitting idle or doing\nnothing on the free days of the people (i.e., the days, when they were\nnot required to work for the king or chiefs) to take that man and set\nhim at work for the government, and he shall work till night.\u201d\n\nAccompanying this act compelling idlers to toil there was a clear\nstatement of the strong contrast between the burdens of the time\nimmediately preceding and those after the passage of the new laws.\nThese changes are worth noting because of their historical bearing upon\nthe past and present condition of the native Hawaiians.\n\n\u201cFormerly if the king wished the property of any man he took it without\nreward, seized it by force or took a portion only, as he chose, and no\nman could refuse him. The same was true of every chief and even the\nlandlords treated their tenants thus.\u201d This was so changed that if a\nchief should attempt it \u201che would instantly cease to be a chief on this\narchipelago.\u201d\n\n\u201cFormerly the chief could call the people from one end of the islands\nto the other to perform labour.\u201d \u201cIf the king wished the people to work\nfor him they could not refuse. They must work from month to month. So\nalso at the call of every chief and every landlord.\u201d\n\n\u201cFormerly if the people did not go to the work of the king when\nrequired, the punishment was that their houses were set on fire and\nconsumed.\u201d The fact must be recognised that before the adoption of this\nConstitution under the influence of the American missionaries the\ncommon people never owned any land or had any especial rights.\n\nThe power of the king and chiefs up to the time of their freely giving\nthis constitution and new set of laws was practically unlimited. The\nfact that they voluntarily limited themselves for the benefit of the\npeople must be noted to the credit of an awakened conscience under\nmissionary guidance.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nXXI\n\nTHE HAWAIIAN FLAG\n\n\nThe flag which has floated over the Hawaiian Islands for more than a\ncentury is a combination of the \u201cUnion Jack\u201d and stripes rather than\nthe \u201cStars and Stripes,\u201d to which it now gives precedence. The Union\nJack in the upper or \u201chalyard\u201d corner, and eight stripes, red, white\nand blue, constitute the old flag of Hawaii.\n\nThis flag has a story worth hearing.\n\nVancouver visited the \u201cSandwich Islands\u201d with Captain Cook. Nearly\nfifteen years later he returned in command of an expedition. February\n21, 1794, he entered into an agreement with Ka-meha-meha I and his\nCouncil of Chiefs to receive the islands under the protection of Great\nBritain. February 25, with great ceremony, the English flag was raised\nover Ka-meha-meha\u2019s royal home on the island of Hawaii. Probably this\nflag was the first \u201cUnion Jack\u201d adopted by King James, 1603\u20131625, on\nthe political union of England and Scotland.\n\nThis flag was succeeded in 1801 by the present Union Jack, which is\nmade by placing three crosses upon a blue field\u2014St. George\u2019s of\nEngland, a red cross; St. Andrew\u2019s of Scotland, a white cross, and St.\nPatrick\u2019s of Ireland. The Irish addition to the flag consisted of St.\nPatrick\u2019s red cross laid upon St. Andrew\u2019s white cross, and half\ncovering it. This was the second Union Jack. The name \u201cJack\u201d is said to\nhave come from the red cross on the \u201cjacque\u201d\u2014the coat of mail or outer\ncoat of the soldiers of England.\n\nThe second Union Jack was the second flag to float authoritatively over\nthe Hawaiian Islands. The fact that Ka-meha-meha placed the English\nflag over his government has sometimes been construed as a technical\n\u201ccession of the islands to the English crown.\u201d But the astute\nKa-meha-meha, while looking for English protection from the greed of\nother nations, stipulated that the Hawaiians should \u201cgovern themselves\nin their own way and according to such laws as they themselves might\nimpose.\u201d The action of Vancouver was not ratified in England, owing to\nmore important European questions, and a real protectorate was never\nestablished. Nevertheless, there was a nominal guardianship afforded by\nthe presence of the English flag floating over the Hawaiian grass\nhouses and fleets of boats.\n\nIt should be said that during preceding centuries each high chief had\ncarried a pennant of coloured native cloth at the masthead of his\ndouble war canoe, but these were individual and family rather than\nnational banners.\n\nAt first the English flag was established only upon the island of\nHawaii. Then it passed with Ka-meha-meha from island to island as he\nconquered the high chiefs and became the sole ruler of the group. When\nthe king made Honolulu his chief royal residence the flag floated over\nhis house near the seashore. On Kauai, the island farthest north of all\nthe group, there was a strong Russian influence. The Russians built a\nfort at the mouth of one of the rivers. Against their armed possession\nof any part of the islands King Ka-meha-meha made strong objection,\nbut, according to the statements of sailors, the Russian flag was used\nby the high chief of Kauai until finally displaced by the Hawaiian\nflag.\n\nThe English flag over Honolulu was a warning to other nations, and also\nto lawless individuals. No man could tell exactly how far to go in the\npresence of that flag. The sailors of those days unquestionably ran\nriot in wickedness, and the early influences of white civilisation were\nabsolutely awful. But there was a limit beyond which the lawless\nelement did not dare to pass. The flag would permit England to advance\nwhatever claim might be desired in case of any great trouble.\n\nThis continued from 1794 to 1812. Then war broke out between England\nand the United States. Alexander, in a report to the Hawaiian\nHistorical Society, says that upon the outbreak of this war a friendly\nAmerican persuaded Ka-meha-meha I \u201cto have a flag of his own.\u201d\n\nAn English Captain (George C. Beckley) some time near the beginning of\nthe century brought a small ship to the islands and sold it to the\nchiefs. He then settled in Honolulu and became a friend of the king,\nwho made him a \u201ctabu-chief.\u201d He married an Hawaiian woman of high\npriestly family. Nevertheless, \u201cshe had to kolo-kolo or crawl on her\nhands and knees whenever she entered the house of her husband, the\ntabu-chief.\u201d\n\nTo Captain Beckley was entrusted the task of designing and making the\nfirst Hawaiian flag. The pattern flag, the first one made, was\nafterward \u201cfashioned into a child\u2019s frock and worn on special occasions\nby each one of the children in succession, and was long preserved as an\nheirloom in the family.\u201d\n\nThis was apparently a compromise between the flags of the two\nantagonistic English-speaking nations. The Jack was retained to show\nthe king\u2019s friendship for England. The stripes were said to represent\nthe red, white and blue of the American flag. They were eight in\nnumber, to represent the eight principal islands of the group. It was a\ncombination of Hawaiian with European and American interests.\n\nThe old king was very proud of his beautiful new flag, and displayed it\nfrom his palace and over the royal homes in other islands. It\nsuperseded the Russian flag on Kauai. He built a new coral rock fort,\n300 \u00d7 400 feet dimensions, with walls twelve feet high and twenty feet\nthick. In it he placed forty guns, six, eight and twelve pounders, from\nwhich thundering salutes were fired on every possible occasion. He gave\ncommand of this fort to Captain Beckley, and over it flung his new flag\nto the breeze.\n\nHe sent his flag to China at the masthead of a ship he had purchased\nfor the sandalwood trade. The captain of this ship, Alexander Adams,\nfound trouble waiting for him at Canton, \u201cbecause the Chinese\nauthorities refused to recognise the Hawaiian flag, which had never\nbefore been seen in that port.\u201d We have the statement on good authority\nthat Captain Adams had to pay such heavy harbour dues that the report\nthereof to Ka-meha-meha taught the Hawaiian king one of the principles\nof civilised business, i.e., to charge fees for every boat entering his\nharbour. He lost about $3,000 in this voyage to China, \u201cchiefly owing\nto the new flag.\u201d The lesson learned concerning the harbour dues was\nprobably worth all that was lost, although the king lived less than two\nyears afterwards to enjoy his new source of income.\n\nThe flag has figured prominently in several international episodes.\n\nThe Hawaiian Islands were fertile fields to greedy land-loving rovers\nof the seas. In 1842 and 1843 Mr. Charlton, an English consul, made\ntrouble for the Hawaiian chiefs by laying claim to a very valuable\npiece of land in Honolulu, which the chiefs claimed could not possibly\nhave been given to him by the rightful owners. This was the foundation\nof a series of disagreements. The consul was an open advocate of\nEnglish annexation, and reported a dangerous state of affairs to\nEngland. Finally, leaving his consulate in the hands of a friend, he\nwent to England to present his own claims. Meanwhile, a captain of an\nEnglish frigate, Lord George Paulet, was sent to Honolulu. He seized\nupon every pretext for advancing his intention of seizing the islands\nin the name of the English crown. The king, Ka-meha-meha III, meanwhile\nmade earnest protest and planned resistance, but his wise counsellors\npersuaded him not to give Lord Paulet any pretext for action, but to\nforestall him by making a provisional cession of the kingdom pending\nthe appeal to the protection of the United States and England. On\nFebruary 25, 1843, the Hawaiian flag was hauled down and the Union Jack\nwas once more raised over a part of the islands. On February 25, 1794,\nforty-nine years before, Vancouver\u2019s flag-raising ceremony had taken\nplace. Like Vancouver, Lord Paulet evidently had little doubt about\nEngland\u2019s glad welcome of a new colonial possession.\n\nKa-meha-meha III made a short speech of protest, closing with the\nwords: \u201cI have hope that the life of the land will be restored when my\nconduct shall be justified.\u201d Lord Paulet then took possession of the\nfort, confiscated Hawaiian ships, compelled natives to enlist to form\nan English army, and began to increase taxes to meet the expenses of\nhis new government. The king withdrew to another island, and, with his\ncabinet, disclaimed the authority of Lord Paulet, and continued to\nappeal to England.\n\nThis triumphal flight of the English flag was not at all permanent. In\nthe first part of July, about four months and a half after Lord\nPaulet\u2019s seizure of the islands, Commodore Kearney, in the old U. S.\nfrigate Constitution, entered Honolulu harbour. The native chiefs\nvisited his ship. Lord Paulet had collected all the Hawaiian flags and\ndestroyed them, but a new flag was hastily made and raised over the\nvisitors, and a salute fired in its honour\u2014to Lord Paulet\u2019s helpless\nindignation.\n\nHowever, in the new flag the colors of the bars were permanently\nreversed. In this respect the modern Hawaiian flag is different from\nthe flag first made.\n\nA few days later Admiral Thomas, commander of the English navy in the\nPacific, arrived in Honolulu, and \u201cin most courteous terms solicited a\npersonal interview with the king.\u201d In a few hours it became known that\nhe had come to restore the independence of the islands.\n\nOn Monday morning, July 31, 1843, the admiral issued a proclamation\nrestoring the islands to their king, and incidentally mentioning in\nhigh terms the work of the American missionaries. Monday forenoon, \u201ca\nparade of several hundred English marines appeared on the plain of\nHonolulu (now known as Thomas Square), with their officers, their\nbanners waving proudly and their arms glittering in the sunbeams.\nAdmiral Thomas and the suspended king proceeded thither in a carriage,\nattended by the chiefs and a vast multitude of people. The English\nstandard bearers advanced towards his majesty, their flags bowed\ngracefully, and a broad, beautiful Hawaiian banner, exhibiting a crown\nand olive branch, was unfurled over the heads of the king and his\nattending chieftains. This was saluted by the English troops with field\npieces, then by the guns of Lord Paulet\u2019s ship, whose yards were manned\nin homage to the restored sovereign. Then succeeded the roar of the\nguns of the fort, Punchbowl battery, the admiral\u2019s ship, the United\nStates ships and others.\u201d\n\n\u201cThomas Square\u201d was so named and set apart as a perpetual park near the\nheart of the city, in honour of this action of Admiral Thomas. Monday\nafternoon the king and chiefs and several thousand people gathered in\nthe new native stone church, Kawaiahao, and held an enthusiastic praise\nmeeting. The king in an eloquent speech uttered a motto worthy of the\nhighest statesmanship. This was later adopted as the national motto and\ninscribed on all Hawaiian coins: Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka\npono\u2014\u201cPerpetuated is the life of the land by its righteousness,\u201d or\n\u201cThe perpetuation of the life of the land depends upon the\nrighteousness thereof.\u201d The church was beautifully decorated and on the\npulpit was the restored Hawaiian flag. The \u201carmy\u201d enlisted by Lord\nPaulet gladly renounced allegiance to England. The ships were restored\nand the king\u2019s cabinet again took the reins of government. It was not\nlong before word came that Europe and America had, as early as April,\nrecognised the independence of the Hawaiian Kingdom.\n\nUndeterred by this English experience, a Frenchman thought it worth his\nwhile to secure the little kingdom. In 1849 Admiral Tromelin sailed\ninto Honolulu harbour and made some emphatic demands, alleging that the\nking had unlawfully fined a French ship. The king replied that the ship\nhad violated his laws and was necessarily held responsible. The admiral\nat once landed an armed force with field pieces and scaling ladders and\ncaptured the fort. The king, however, had withdrawn his troops, leaving\nan empty fort with the Hawaiian flag flying from its staff. The\nFrenchman did not quite dare to pull that flag down in the face of very\nearnest protests from both the English and American consuls. The French\nsmashed calabashes, spiked the guns, poured powder into the harbour,\nwrote on the walls of the fort that they were \u201cLes Braves\u201d and then\nwithdrew, turning their trouble over to their home government. For\nnearly two years the French made trouble. At last the king,\nKa-meha-meha III, became tired and placed his kingdom \u201cprovisionally\nunder the protection of the United States,\u201d declaring that the\nprotectorate should be \u201cperpetual\u201d if the relations with France were\nnot placed on a better footing. The Frenchmen soon discovered that the\ndifficulties could be easily settled, and the long list of grievances\n\u201cwere reduced to two points, viz., the liberty of Catholic worship and\nthe trade in spirits.\u201d This last meant the abundant entrance of French\nbrandy. \u201cNothing more was heard of the rest of the demands.\u201d\n\nFlag episodes after these experiences were limited to ordinary affairs\nof government. Sometimes it floated proudly over fort and palace, while\nsalutes were fired from men-of-war entering the harbour. Sometimes it\nhung at half mast over the palace while the body of some member of the\nroyal family or some one of high chief blood lay in state. Sometimes\nits absence from the palace marked the king\u2019s departure for some other\nisland. Its reappearance was the signal of the king\u2019s return. It\nfloated over ministers\u2019 and consuls\u2019 offices in different parts of the\nworld and fulfilled its modest duty as the representative of one of\n\u201cthe little kings.\u201d\n\nThen came the turbulent times of internal dissension through the reign\nof Kalakaua and that of his sister, Liliuokalani, resulting in the\noverthrow of the monarchy in 1893. January 14, 1893, the queen thought\nherself strong enough to abrogate the Constitution of the islands and\npromulgate a new Constitution suited to her own wishes. She found that\nshe had opened a volcano under her feet. She prorogued the Legislature\nin the forenoon and attempted to install her new Constitution. Her\ncabinet objected. A group of prominent citizens strengthened the\ncabinet. An impromptu mass meeting was held in the afternoon and a\ncommittee of public safety of thirteen was appointed. This was\nSaturday. Sunday was a day of suppressed excitement. Monday, January\n16, over 1,300 citizens gathered in the armory and authorised this\ncommittee of public safety to take such steps as might be necessary.\nThat afternoon at 5 o\u2019clock 300 United States marines and sailors were\nlanded. The marines were stationed at the American legation and the\nsailors at Arion Hall.\n\nThe next day, January 17, the committee of public safety issued the\nfollowing proclamation:\n\n\u201cFirst\u2014The Hawaiian monarchial system of government is hereby\nabrogated.\n\n\u201cSecond\u2014A Provisional Government for the control and management of\npublic affairs and the protection of public peace is hereby\nestablished, to exist until terms of union with the United States of\nAmerica have been negotiated and agreed upon.\u201d\n\nThis Provisional Government, with President Dole at its head, under the\nold Hawaiian flag, was at once recognised, under date of January 17, as\nthe \u201cde facto government of the Hawaiian Islands,\u201d by Minister Stevens\nof the United States. January 18, ministers and consul-generals from\nseveral nations hastened to hand in their recognition of the new\ngovernment, and on the 19th English and Japanese ministers practically\ncompleted the list.\n\nThis continued until February 1, 1893, when negotiations had progressed\nso far that United States Minister Stevens felt safe in raising the\nStars and Stripes over the government buildings and declaring a\nprotectorate. This was the fourth time that a far-away representative\nof a foreign power had felt certain that his annexation of Hawaii would\nbe joyfully received by his home government. And this fourth act was\nsubject to reversal. Five prominent men went to Washington, empowered\nto make a treaty of annexation with the United States. March 4, 1893,\nPresident Cleveland was inaugurated. He withdrew the treaty from\nconsideration by the Senate. Then came the visit of \u201cParamount Blount,\u201d\nwho arrived in Honolulu March 29.\n\nThe Provisional Government was strongly entrenched, and Mr. Blount\nfound that the only thing he could do was to withdraw United States\nprotection.\n\nApril 1st the announcement was made in the morning papers that the\nUnited States flag would be lowered at 11 o\u2019clock, and the Hawaiian\nflag restored as the emblem of the Provisional Government. For the\nbrief space of almost two months the Stars and Stripes had floated over\nHawaii.\n\nHundreds of people flocked to the spacious grounds around the\ngovernment buildings. It was a curious crowd\u2014Orientals, Europeans,\nAfricans and Americans\u2014mingling together. The Stars and Stripes slipped\ndown the rattling lines from the flagstaff when the bugle call was\nsounded. \u201cThere was another gleam of colour and the Hawaiian flag\ncrawled up the now taut ropes and shook itself free, its blue, white\nand crimson bars floating in their accustomed place. The silence was\nundisturbed. The troops of the Provisional Government presented arms,\nbut the American men-of-war in the harbour did not salute the restored\nflag.\u201d\n\nAs time passed, President Cleveland\u2019s desire to restore the monarchy\nbecame more and more apparent, and under the same old Hawaiian colours,\n\u201con July 4, 1894, the Constitution of the Republic of Hawaii was\npromulgated,\u201d and all designs for United States interference were\nthwarted. The beautiful and loved flag of Hawaii, the royal flag from\nthe times of Ka-meha-meha I, the ensign of the Provisional Government,\nunchanged, became the banner of the first Republic of the Pacific\nOcean.\n\nIt remained the flag of the Republic until the news reached Honolulu\nthat President McKinley, on July 7, 1898, had signed the joint\nresolution of annexation adopted by both houses of Congress.\n\nIt was necessary that the officials of the newly annexed islands should\ntake the oath of allegiance to the United States, and that the final\nchange of government should be marked by a new and authorised\nflag-raising ceremony. Great preparations were made for the solemn\nexercises attending the transfer of the Republic of Hawaii to the\nRepublic of the United States. On August 12, 1898, thousands of people\nagain crowded into the government grounds. The National Guard of Hawaii\nand companies of United States marines were drawn up around the former\npalace. In front of the palace, now the Capitol Building, was a\ngrandstand, about which the Hawaiian and United States colours were\nintertwined.\n\nThe Hawaiian and United States officials, the diplomatic corps and a\nfew friends filled the grandstand. After prayers came the formal\ntransfer of sovereignty.\n\nThe final salute to the Hawaiian emblem of an independent nation was\nfired. As the last report died away in echoes among the surrounding\nhills, the Hawaiian national anthem, \u201cHawaii Ponoi,\u201d in solemn\ngrandeur, stirred the hearts of the multitude. Mrs. Garland, an\neye-witness, said: \u201cThe music ceased and for one instant the Hawaiian\nflag still floated, then as it was slowly lowered, utter stillness held\nevery one mute. A great wave of intense feeling seemed to flow over the\npeople. For the moment we were in a country without a flag. There were\nfew who did not weep. Then a clear sounding call from the bugles of the\ns. s.  Philadelphia, a sudden stir through all the throng, and then\nwith the triumphant ringing strains of the \u2018Star Spangled Banner,\u2019 up\nrose majestically our own dear flag, reaching the truck with the last\ngrand chord. Three mighty cheers burst forth. Men grasped each other by\nthe hand, and hats and handkerchiefs waved. A group of Hawaiian young\nwomen stood behind us. As the Stars and Stripes went up, from one came\nthe repressed exclamation, \u2018Oh, you beautiful thing.\u2019\u201d\n\nThen President Dole and his cabinet took the oath of allegiance to the\nUnited States. The soldiers marched to their barracks to be sworn into\ntheir new service. The crowd dispersed, while salutes were fired from\nthe ships in the harbour. The American flag floats in its own\ninfluential place over the palace, not as a kingly, but as a republican\nflag. The Hawaiian flag still floats over many a home in the islands,\nas well as over the corner posts of the old palace under the American\nflag, as the permanent flag of the Territory of Hawaii.\n\nThe Hawaiian flag is surrounded by many historical memories which mean\nmuch to residents of both native and foreign descent, and they rejoice\nthat the dear old flag is not lost from the nation\u2019s history. As one\nwriter says, this feeling shows that \u201cthe flag does not represent so\nmuch a particular form of government as it does the great heart of the\npeople which throbs beneath.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n[1] This is one of the most ancient legends in Hawaiian annals.\n\n[2] Laa-mai-Kahiki means Laa-from-Kahiki in the Hawaiian language, or\nRaa-from-Tahiti in the Tahitian dialect. In the Hawaiian stories he was\nalways known as Laa-mai-Kahiki. He was a very high chief from Hawaii\nabsorbed in the royal line of Tahiti. The letter \u201cr\u201d being used for \u201cl\u201d\nand \u201ct\u201d for \u201ck\u201d explains the slight difference in the names, Laa and\nRaa-Kahiki and Tahiti. This is simply such a change as is found in\ndialects everywhere.","title":"Hawaiian Historical Legends","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":45901}