PRONUNCIATION
“A syllable in Hawaiian may consist of a single vowel, or a consonant united with a vowel or at most of a consonant and two vowels, never of more than one consonant. The accent of five-sixths of the words is on the penult, and a few proper names accent the first syllable.
In Hawaiian every syllable ends in a vowel and no syllable can have more than three letters, generally not more than two and a large number of syllables consist of single letters—vowels. Hence the vowel sounds greatly predominate over the consonant. The language may therefore appear monotonous to one unacquainted with its force.
In Hawaiian there is a great lack of generic terms, as is the case with all uncultivated languages. No people have use for generic terms until they begin to reason and the language shows that they were better warriors and poets than philosophers and statesmen. Their language, however, richly abounds in specific names and epithets.
The general rule, then, is that the accent falls on the penult; but there are many exceptions and some words which look the same to the eye take on entirely different meanings by different tones, accents, or inflections.
The study of these kaaos or legends would demonstrate that the Hawaiians possessed a language not only adapted to their former necessities but capable of being used in introducing the arts of civilized society and especially of pure morals, of law, and the religion of the Bible.”
The above quotations are from Lorrin Andrew’s Dictionary of the Hawaiian Language, containing some 15,500 Hawaiian words, printed in Honolulu in 1865.
| Hawaiian vowels |  | a is sounded as in father |
| e is,, sounded,, as,, in,, they | ||
| i is,, sounded,, as,, in,, marine | ||
| o is,, sounded,, as,, in,, note | ||
| u is,, sounded,, as,, in,, rule or as oo in moon | ||
| ai when sounded as a diphthong resembles English ay | ||
| au when sounded as a diphthong resembles ou as in loud |
The consonants are h, k, l, m, n, p, and w. No distinction is made between k and t or l and r, and w sounds like v between the penult and final syllable of a word. [[1]]
I
THE MIGRATION OF THE HAWAIIANS
The fountain source of the Mississippi has been discovered and rediscovered. The origin of the Polynesian race has been a subject for discovery and rediscovery. The older theory of Malay origin as set forth in the earlier encyclopædias is now recognized as untenable. The Malays followed the Polynesians rather than preceded them. The comparative study of Polynesian legends leads almost irresistibly to the conclusion that the Polynesians were Aryans, coming at least from India to Malaysia and possibly coming from Arabia, as Fornander of Hawaii so earnestly argues. It is now accepted that the Polynesians did not originate from Malay parentage, and that they did occupy for an indefinite period the region around the Sunda Straits from Java to the Molucca Islands, and also that the greater portion of the Polynesians was driven out from this region and scattered over the Pacific in the early part of the Christian Era. The legends that cluster around Wakea have greatly aided in making plain some [[2]]things concerning the disposition of the Polynesians. By sifting the legends of Hawaii-loa we learn how the great voyager becomes one of the first Vikings of the Pacific. His home at last is found to be Gilolo of the Molucca Islands. From the legends we become acquainted with Wakea (possibly meaning “noonday,” or “the white time”) and his wife Papa (earth), the most widely remembered of all the ancestors of the Polynesian race. Their names are found in the legends of the most prominent island groups, and the highest places are granted them among the demi-gods and sometimes among the chief deities. Their deeds belong to the most ancient times—the creation or discovery of the various islands of the Pacific world. Those who worshipped Wakea and Papa are found in such widely separated localities that it must be considered impossible for even a demi-god to have had so many homes. Atea, or Wakea, was one of the highest gods of the Marquesas Islands. Here his name means “light.” The Marquesans evidently look back of all their present history and locate Atea in the ancient homeland. Vatea in the Society Islands, Wakea in Hawaii and New Zealand, Makea, Vakea and Akea are phonetic variations of the one name when written down by the students who made a written form for words repeated from generation to generation by word of mouth [[3]]alone. Even under the name “Wakea” this ancient chief is known in most widely separated islands. The only reasonable explanation for this widespread reference to Wakea is that he was an ancestor belonging in common to all the scattered Polynesians. It seems as if there must have been a period when Wakea was king or chief of a united people. He must have been of great ability and probably was the great king of the United Polynesians. If this were the fact it would naturally result that his memory would be carried wherever the dispersed race might go.
In the myths and legends of the Hervey Islands, Vatea is located near the beginning of their national existence. First of all the Hervey Islanders place Te-ake-ia-roe (The root of all existence). Then there came upon the ancient world Te Vaerua (The breath, or The life). Then came the god time—Te Manawa roa (The long ago). Then their creation legends locate Vari, a woman whose name means “the beginning,” a name curiously similar to the Hebrew word “bara,” “to create,” as in Gen. i. 1. Her children were torn out of her breasts and given homes in the ancient mist-land, with which, without any preparation or introduction, Hawaiki is confused in a part of the legend. It has been suggested that this Hawaiki is Savaii of the [[4]]Samoan Islands, from which the Hervey Islands may have had their origin in a migration of the Middle Ages. One of the children of Vari dwelt in “a sacred tabu island” and became the god of the fish. Another sought a home “where the red parrots’ feathers were gathered”—the royal feathers for the high chiefs’ garments. Another became the echo-god and lived in “the hollow gray rocks.” Another as the god of the winds went far out “on the deep ocean.” Another, a girl, found a home, “the silent land,” with her mother. Wakea, or Vatea, the eldest of this family, remained in Ava-iki (Hawaii), the ancestral home—“the bright land of Vatea.” Here he married Papa. This Ava-iki was to the Herveyites of later generations the fiery volcanic under-world. When the long sea-voyages ceased after some centuries, the islanders realized that Ava-iki was very closely connected with their history. They had but a misty idea of far-off lands, and they did know of earthquakes and lava caves and volcanic fires—so they located Ava-iki as the secret world under their islands. This under-world with legendary inconsistency was located on the ocean’s surface, when it became necessary to have their islands discovered by the descendants of Vatea. According to the Hervey legends, Vatea was the father of Lono and Kanaloa, two of the great gods of the Polynesians. [[5]]They were twins. Lono had three sons, whom he sent away. They sailed out through many heavens and from Ava-iki pulled up out of the deep ocean two of the Hervey Islands. The natives of the Hervey group supposed that the horizon around their group enclosed the world. Beyond this world line were heavens and heavens. A daring voyager by sailing through the sky-line would break out from this world into an unknown world or a heaven bounded by new horizons. Strangers “broke through” from heaven, sometimes making use of the path of the sun. Thus about twenty-five generations ago Raa (possibly Laa, the Hawaiian) broke down the horizon’s bars and established a line of kings in Raiatea. So also when Captain Cook came to the Hervey Islands the natives said: “Whence comes this strange thing? It has climbed up [come up forcibly] from the thin land, the home of Wakea.” He had pierced the western heavens from which their ancestors had come.
When the sons of Lono unexpectedly saw a speck of land far away over the sea, they cried out that here was a place created for them by their deified ancestors. As they came nearer they “pulled up” the islands until they grew to be high mountains rising from the deep waters. In these mountains they found the lava caves [[6]]and deep chasms which they always said extended down under the seas back to Ava-iki. They made their caves a passageway for spirits to the fairy home of the dead, and therefore into certain chasms cast the bodies of the dead, that the spirit might more easily find the path to the under-world.
Vatea was a descendant of “the long ago,” according to the Hervey legend. Wakea of Hawaii was a son of Kahiko, “the ancient.” Wakea’s home is more definitely stated in the Hawaiian than in the Hervey legends. He lived in O-Lolo-i-mehani, or The Red Lolo, a name confidently referred by Fornander in “The Polynesian Race” to Gilolo, the principal island of the Moluccas. The Red Lolo, as suggested by Fornander, would refer not alone to volcanic action and its decaying debris, but would fittingly designate the largest and most important island of the group. The fire bursting from many volcanoes in the region of the Sunda Straits was “royal” to the beholders, who felt that divine power was present in the mysterious red flames. Hence all the Polynesian tribes invested the red color with especial dignity as a mark of royalty and pre-eminence. It was on the banners allowed only to chiefs when their boats sailed away to visit distant lands. It was the color of the war cloaks of chiefly warriors. In [[7]]the recent days of the monarchy of Hawaii, the richest crimson was the only color allowed in upholstering the great throne room. Gilolo might worthily bear the name “The Red Lolo” in Hawaiian story. Here Hawaii-loa, the first of the Polynesian Vikings, had his home. Here the Chieftainess Oupe, a Polynesian princess, dwelt. In O-Lolo Wakea married the granddaughter of Oupe, whose name was Papa. She is almost as widely known in legends as her husband. Papa was said to be a tabued descendant of Hawaii-loa and therefore superior in rank to Wakea. Papa is described as “very fair and almost white.” Her name means “earth,” and Wakea’s name might mean “noonday.” This, with the many experiences through which they both passed, would lay the foundation for a very pretty sun-myth, but we cannot avoid the human aspect of the legends and give them both a more worthy position as ancestors of a scattered people.
Kahiko, the ancient, is recorded as having had three sons, from whom descended the chiefs, the priests and the common people,—the husbandmen,—almost a Shem, Ham and Japheth division. Other legends, however, give Kahiko only two sons, the eldest, Wakea, having power both as chief and priest. All the legends unite in making Wakea the head of the class of chiefs. This would very readily explain the [[8]]high place held by Wakea throughout Polynesia and also the jealous grasp upon genealogical records maintained by the royal families of the Pacific.
YOUNG HONOLULU AND LEAHI
Wakea and Papa are credited with being the creators of many island kingdoms of the Pacific. Sometimes the credit is given partly to a mischievous fisherman-god, Maui, after whom one of the Hawaiian Islands is named. One of the Hawaiian legends goes back to the creation or discovery of Hawaii and ascribes the creation of the world to Wakea and Papa. The two were living together in “Po”—“darkness,” or “chaos.” Papa brought into existence a gourd calabash including bowl and cover, with the pulp and seeds inside. Wakea threw the cover upward and it became heaven. From the pulp and seeds he made the sky and the sun and moon and stars. From the juice of the pulp he made the rain. The bowl he fashioned into the land and sea. Other legends limit the creative labors of Wakea to the Hawaiian group. With the aid of Papa he established a portion of the islands; then discord entered the royal family and a separation was decided upon. The Hawaiian custom has always been for either chief or chiefess to exercise the right to divorce and to contract the marriage ties. Wakea is said to have divorced Papa by spitting in her face, according to an ancient [[9]]custom. Wakea selected a chieftainess named Hina, from whom the island Molokai (the leper island) received the name “Molokaihina”—the ancient name of the island. Morotai was also an island lying near Gilolo in the Molucca group, and might be the place from which Wakea secured his bride. Papa selected as her new husband a chief named Lua. The ancient name of Oahu (the island upon which Honolulu is located) was “Oahu-a-lua” (The Oahu of Lua). One of the Celebes Islands bears a name for one of its districts very similar to Oahu—“Ouadju.” Papa seems to have been partially crazed by her divorce. She marries many husbands. She voyages back and forth between distant islands. In an ancient island, Tahiti, she bears children from whom the Tahitians claim descent. In the Celebes she and her people experience a famine and she is compelled to send to O-Lolo for food. In New Zealand legend she becomes the wife of Langi (Hawaiian Lani, or heaven), a union of “earth” and “heaven.” They have six children. Four of these are the chief gods of ancient Hawaii: Ka-ne, “light”; Ku, “the builder”; Lono, “sound”; and Kanaloa. Two of the children are not named in Hawaiian annals, unless it might be that one, Tawhirri, should be represented in Kahili, the tall standard used for centuries as the insignia of very high [[10]]chief families. The other name, “Haumia,” might possibly be Haumea, a second name given to Papa in the legends. The Maoris of New Zealand deify all of these six sons of Lani and Papa.
Ka-ne was “father of forests.” He was very strong. In ancient days the sky was not separated from the earth. He lifted up the heavens and pushed down the earth—and thus made space for all things to grow. It was while the sky rested its full weight upon the earth that the leaves started into life, but were flat and thin because there was no chance to become plump and full like the fruit which came later. Here is the foundation for another sun-myth of the Pacific, wherein it might be said light came and separating darkness from the earth brought life into the world. Light could well be “the father of forests.” The second son was Tawhirri, “the father of winds and storms.” A part of his name was “matea,” which might possibly be referred to Wakea. He dwelt in the skies with his father Lani.
The third son was Lono, who was “the father of all cultivated food.”
The fourth was Haumia, “the father of uncultivated food”—such food as grew wild in the forests or among the herbs or in the midst of the edible sea-mosses.
The fifth son was Kanaloa, “the father of all [[11]]reptiles and fishes,” at first dwelling in Hawaiki on the land with all his descendants.
The sixth son was Ku “with the red face,” “the father of fierce or cruel men.” Ku was easily made angry, and after a time waged war against his brothers and their followers. There was great destruction, but Ku could not win the victory alone. He was compelled to call upon Tawhirri, “the father of winds and storms.” Fierce men and fierce storms made it difficult for the remainder of the household to escape. The “father of forests” bowed to the earth under the terrific force of hurricanes and tornadoes. The “fathers of foods” buried themselves deep in the ground to escape destruction at the hands of cruel mankind and tempestuous nature. Then came the bitter conflict between the family of Kanaloa and their combined enemies. Cruel men were without pity in the blows dealt against their inferior kindred. At last the fish fled to the sea and sought safety in distant waters, finding homes where the children of Ku did not care to follow. The reptiles fled inland to the secret recesses of the mountains and forests. There they have kept their wild savage life through the centuries even to the present day, as in Sumatra, Borneo, the Celebes, the Philippines and other sections of the region around the Sunda Straits. They are not now ocean [[12]]lovers any more than in the ages past. They do not “go down to the sea in ships.” Neither do they love the coming of Dutch or Spanish or American civilization. They seem to have an hereditary dislike for strange and cruel men.
The sea rovers became great wanderers, carrying with them the name of “Kanaloa” and planting it in almost all the Pacific islands to be worshipped as one of the supreme gods.
How much these domestic troubles surrounding the name of Papa may have had to do with an early migration of the Polynesians we do not know. It may be that while the household was engaged in war the Malays came from the north and with tornado power scattered the divided family, compelling swift flight to distant lands. It is now understood that the great dispersion of the Polynesians came from the incursions of the powerful Malays during the second century of the Christian Era. Some of the Hawaiian and New Zealand legends imply that for a number of generations a part of the Polynesians remained in the old family home, Hawaiki. The New Zealanders enter quite fully into the account of the troubles attending the coming of their ancestors from Hawaiki. They mention battles and domestic discords. They tell of the long journeys and wearisome efforts put forth until their ancestors find Northern [[13]]New Zealand, Ke-ao-tea-roa (The great white land). This was pulled up out of the sea for them by Maui with his wonderful fish-hook. This story of the magic fishing of the disobedient and mischievous Maui is common in Polynesia.
After the discovery of New Zealand, boats were sent back to Hawaiki to induce large companies of colonists to leave the land of warfare and trouble and settle in rich lands bordering the beautiful bays of New Zealand.
Like stories of discovery of new lands and return for friends adorn the legends of all Polynesia. Wakea’s descendants were clannish and stood by each other in that great migration of the second century as well as in the better-remembered journeys of later years. There seems to have been a continued migration of the Polynesians. Sometimes they were apparently fought off by the black race, as in Australia; sometimes they held their own for a time, keeping the black men inland, as in Fiji; and sometimes they struck out boldly for new lands, as when they sailed long distances to the Hawaiian and Easter Islands. It is said that the purest forms of the Polynesian language, most harmonious with one another, were carried by the children of Wakea to the far distant islands of New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island. [[14]]
II
LEGENDARY PLACES IN HONOLULU
Ho-no-lu-lu is a name made by the union of the two words “Hono” and “lulu.” Some say it means “Sheltered Hollow.” The old Hawaiians say that “Hono” means “abundance” and “lulu” means “calm,” or “peace,” or “abundance of peace.” The navigator who gave the definition “Fair Haven” was out of the way, inasmuch as the name does not belong to a harbor, but to a district having “abundant calm,” or “a pleasant slope of restful land.”
“Honolulu” was probably a name given to a very rich district of farm land near what is now known as the junction of Liliha and School Streets, because its chief was Honolulu, one of the high chiefs of the time of Kakuhihewa, according to the legends. Kamakau, the Hawaiian historian, describes this farm district thus: “Honolulu was a small district, a pleasant land looking toward the west,—a fat land, with flowing streams and springs of water, abundant water for taro patches. Mists resting inland breathed softly on the flowers of the hala-tree.” [[15]]
Kakuhihewa was a king of Oahu in the long, long ago, and was so noted that for centuries the island Oahu has been named after him “The Oahu of Kakuhihewa.” He divided the island among his favorite chiefs and officers, who gave their names to the places received by them from the king. Thus what is now known as Honolulu was until the time of Kamehameha I., about the year 1800, almost always mentioned as Kou, after the chief Kou, who was an ilamuku (marshal), under King Kakuhihewa. Kou appears to have been a small district, or, rather, a chief’s group of houses and grounds, loosely defined as lying between Hotel Street and the sea and between Nuuanu Avenue and Alakea Street.
Ke-kai-o-Mamala was the name of the surf which came in the outer entrance of the harbor of Kou. It was named after Mamala, a chiefess who loved to play konane (Hawaiian checkers), drink awa, and ride the surf. Her first husband was the shark-man Ouha, who later became a shark-god, living as a great shark outside the reefs of Waikiki and Koko Head. Her second husband was the chief Hono-kau-pu, to whom the king gave the land east of Kou, which afterward bore the name of its chief. In this section of Kou now called Honolulu were several very interesting places. [[16]]
Kewalo was the place where the Kauwa, a very low class of servants, were drowned by holding their heads under water. The custom was known as “Ke-kai-heehee,” “kai” meaning “sea” and “hee” “sliding along,” hence the sliding of the servants under the waves of the sea. Kewalo was also the nesting-ground of the owl who was the cause of a battle between the owls and the king Kakuhihewa, where the owls from Kauai to Hawaii gathered together and defeated the forces of the king.
Toward the mountains above Kewalo lies Makiki plain, the place where rats abounded, living in a dense growth of small trees and shrubs. This was a famous place for hunting rats with bows and arrows.
Ula-kua, the place where idols were made, was near the lumber-yards at the foot of the present Richards Street.
Ka-wai-a-hao (The water belonging to Hao), the site of the noted old native church, was the location of a fine fountain of water belonging to a chief named Hao.
Ke-kau-kukui was close to Ula-kua, and was the place where small konane (checker) boards were laid. These were flat stones with rows of little holes in which a game was played with black and white stones. Here Mamala and Ouha drank awa and played konane, and [[17]]Kekuanaoa, father of Kamehameha V., built his home.
Kou was probably the most noted place for konane on Oahu. There was a famous stone almost opposite the site of the temple. Here the chiefs gathered for many a game. Property and even lives were freely gambled away. The Spreckels Building covers the site of this well-known gambling resort.
In Hono-kau-pu was one of the noted places for rolling the flat-sided stone disc known as “the maika stone.” This was not far from Richards and Queen Streets, although the great “Ulu-maika” place for the gathering of the chiefs was in Kou. This was a hard, smooth track about twelve feet wide extending from the corner of Merchant and Fort Streets now occupied by the Bank of Hawaii along the seaward side of Merchant Street to the place beyond Nuuanu Avenue known as the old iron works at Ula-ko-heo. It was used by the highest chiefs for rolling the stone disc known as “the maika stone.” Kamehameha I. is recorded as having used this maika track.
Ka-ua-nono-ula (rain-with-the-red-rainbow) was the place in this district for the wai-lua, or ghosts, to gather for their nightly games and sports. Under the shadows of the trees, near the present Hawaiian Board Mission rooms at [[18]]the junction of Alakea and Merchant Streets, these ghosts made night a source of dread to all the people. Another place in Honolulu for the gathering of ghosts was at the corner of King Street and Nuuanu Avenue.
HONOLULU HARBOR
Puu-o-wai-na, or Punchbowl, was a “hill of sacrifice” or “offering,” according to the meaning of the native words, and not “Wine-hill” as many persons have said. Kamakau, a native historian of nearly fifty years ago, says: “Formerly there was an imu ahi, a fire oven, for burning men on this hill. Chiefs and common people were burned as sacrifices in that noted place. Men were brought for sacrifice from Kauai, Oahu, and Maui, but not from Hawaii. People could be burned in this place for violating the tabus of the tabu divine chiefs.”
“The great stone on the top of Punchbowl Hill was the place for burning men.”
Part of an ancient chant concerning Punchbowl reads as follows:
“O the raging tabu fire of Keaka,
O the high ascending fire of the sacrifice!
Tabu fire, scattered ashes.
Tabu fire, spreading heat.”
Nuuanu Valley is full of interesting legendary places. The most interesting, however, is the little valley made by a mountain spur pushing [[19]]its way out from the Kalihi foothills into the larger valley, and bearing the name “Waolani,” the wilderness home of the gods, and now the home of Honolulu’s Country Club. This region belonged to the eepa people. These were almost the same as the ill-shaped, deformed or injured gnomes of European fairy tales. In this beautiful little valley which opened into Nuuanu Valley was the heiau Waolani built for Ka-hanai-a-ke-Akua (The chief brought up by the gods), long before the days of Kakuhihewa. It was said that the two divine caretakers of this chief were Kahano and Newa, and that Kahano was the god who lay down on the ocean, stretching out his hands until one rested on Kahiki (Tahiti or some other foreign land) and the other rested on Oahu. Over his arms as a great bridge walked the Menehunes, or fairy people, to Oahu. They came to be servants for this young chief who was in the care of the gods. They built fish-ponds and temples. They lived in Manoa Valley and on Punchbowl Hill. Ku-leo-nui (Ku-with-the-loud-voice) was their master. He could call them any evening. His voice was heard over all the island. They came at once and almost invariably finished each task before the rays of the rising sun drove them to their hidden resorts in forest or wilderness. [[20]]
Waolani heiau was the place where the noted legendary musical shell “Kiha-pu” had its first home—from which it was stolen by Kapuni and carried to its historic home in Waipio Valley, Hawaii. Below Waolani Heights, the Menehunes built the temple Ka-he-iki for the “child-nourished-by-the-gods,” and here the priest and prophet lived who founded the priest-clan called “Mo-o-kahuna,” one of the most sacred clans of the ancient Hawaiians. Not far from this temple was the scene of the dramatic plea of an owl for her eggs when taken from Kewalo by a man who had found her nest. It forms part of the story of the battle of the owls and the king.
Nearer the banks of the Nuuanu stream was the great bread-fruit tree into which a woman thrust her husband by magic power when he was about to be slain and offered as sacrifice to the gods. This tree became one of the most powerful wooden gods of the Hawaiians, being preserved, it is said, even to the times of Kamehameha I.
At the foot of Nuuanu Valley is Pu-iwa, a place by the side of the Nuuanu stream. Here a father, Maikoha, told his daughters to bury his body, that from it might spring the wauke-[1]tree, used for making kapa ever since. From this place, the legend says, the wauke-tree spread over all the islands. [[21]]
In the bed of the Nuuanu is the legendary stone called “The Canoe of the Dragon.” This lies among the boulders in the stream not far from the old Kaumakapili Church premises.
In Nuuanu Valley was the fierce conflict between Kawelo, the strong man from Kauai, assisted by two friends, and a band of robbers. In this battle torn-up trees figured as mighty war-clubs.
These are legendary places which border Kou, the ancient Honolulu. Besides these are many more spots of great interest, as in Waikiki and Manoa Valley, but these lie beyond the boundaries of Kou and ancient Honolulu. In Kou itself was the noted Pakaka Temple. This temple was standing on the western side of the foot of Fort Street long after the fort was built from which the street was named. It was just below the fort. Pakaka was owned by Kinau, the mother of Kamehameha V. It was a heiau, or temple, built before the time of Kakuhihewa. In this temple, the school of the priests of Oahu had its headquarters for centuries. The walls of the temple were adorned with heads of men offered in sacrifice.
Enormous quantities of stone were used in the construction of all these heiaus often passed by hand from quarries at great distances so [[22]]the work of erection was one consuming much time and energy.
According to the latest investigations there were one hundred and eight heiaus on the island of Oahu, some evidences of which may still be traced, showing the far-reaching influence of kings and priests over these primitive people.
AMEHAMEHA
[[23]]
[1] Mulberry, Broussonetia papyrifera. [↑]
III
THE GOD OF PAKAKA TEMPLE
Pakaka[1] was a heiau, or temple. There are several legends connected with this heiau. One of the most interesting is that which tells how the god of the temple came into being.
The story of the god of this temple is a story of voyages and vicissitudes. Olopana had sailed away from Waipio, Hawaii, for the islands of distant seas. Somewhere in all that great number of islands which were grouped under the general name “Kahiki” Olopana found a home. Here his daughter Mu-lei-ula (Mu-with-the-red-garland) was experiencing great trouble being near to childbirth. For some reason Haumea, one of the divine Polynesian ancestors, had stopped for a time to visit the people of that land. When the friends were afraid that Mu-lei-ula would die, Haumea came to help, saying: “In our land the mother lives. The mother and child both live.” The people said, “If you give us aid, how can we render payment or give you a reward?”
Haumea said: “There is a beautiful tree with [[24]]two strange but glorious flowers, which I like very much. It is ‘the tree of changing leaves’ with two flowers, one kind singing sharply, and the other singing from time to time. For this tree I will save the life of the chief’s daughter and her child.”
Gladly the sick girl and her friends promised to give this beautiful tree to Haumea. It was a tree dearly loved by the princess.
Haumea commenced the prayers and incantations which accompanied her treatment of the sick, and the chiefess rapidly grew stronger. This had come so quickly and easily that she repented the gift of the tree with the beautiful flowers, and cried out, “I will not give the tree.”
Immediately she began to lose strength, and called to Haumea that she would give the tree if she could be forgiven and healed. However, as strength came to her once more she again felt sorry for her tree and refused to let it go. Again the incantations were broken off and the divine aid withdrawn.
Olopana in agony cried to his daughter: “Give up your tree. Of what use will it be with its flowers if you die?” Then Haumea, with the most powerful incantations, gave her the final strength, and mother and child both lived and became well and strong.
Haumea took the tree and travelled over the [[25]]far seas to distant Hawaii. On that larger island she found no place to plant the tree. She crossed over to the island Maui, and came to the “four rivers.” There she found the awa of the gods and prepared it for drinking, but needed fresh water to mix with it.
She laid her tree on the ground at Puu-kume by the Wai-hee stream and went down after water. When she returned the tree had rooted. While she looked it began to stand up and send forth branches. She built a stone wall around it, to protect it from the winds. When it blossomed Haumea returned to her divine home in Nuumealani,[2] the land of mists and shadows where the gods dwelt.
By and by a man took his stone axe and went out to cut a tree, perhaps to make a god. He saw a new tree, short and beautiful, and after hours of labor cut it down. The night was coming on, so he left it as it fell and went home.
That night a fierce and mighty storm came down from the mountains. Blood-red were the streams of water pouring down into the valleys. During twenty nights and twenty days the angry rain punished the land above and around Wai-hee. The river was more than a rushing torrent. It built up hills and dug ravines. It hurled its mighty waves against the wall inside [[26]]which the tree stood. It crushed the wall, scattered the stones, and bore the tree down one of the deep ravines. The branches were broken off and carried with the trunk of the tree far out into the ocean.
For six months the waves tossed this burden from one place to another, and at last threw the largest branch on the reef near the beach of Kailua, on the island Hawaii. The people saw a very wonderful thing. Where this branch lay stranded in the water, fish of many kinds gathered leaping around it. The chiefs took this wonderful branch inland and made the god Makalei, which was a god of Hawaii for generations.
Another branch came into the possession of some of the Maui chiefs, and was used as a stick for hanging bundles upon. It became a god for the chiefs of Maui, with the name Ku-ke-olo-ewa.
The body of the tree rolled back and forth along the beach near the four waters, and was wrapped in the refuse of the sea.
A chief and his wife had not yet found a god for their home. In a dream they were told to get a god. For three days they consulted priests, repeated prayers and incantations, and offered sacrifices to the great gods, while they made search for wood from which to cut out their god. On the third night the omens led them [[27]]down to the beach and they saw this trunk of a tree rolling back and forth. A dim haze was playing over it in the moonlight. They took that tree, cut out their god, and called it Ku-hoo-nee-nuu. They built a heiau, or temple, for this god, and named that heiau Waihau and made it tabu, or a sacred place to which the priests and high chiefs alone were admitted freely.
The mana, or divine power, of this god was very great, and it was a noted god from Hawaii to Kauai. Favor and prosperity rested upon this chief who had found the tree, made it a god, and built a temple for it.
The king who was living on the island Oahu heard about this tree, and sent servants to the island Maui to find out whether or no the reports were true. If true they should bring that god to Oahu.
They found the god and told the chief that the king wanted to establish it at Kou,[3] and would build a temple for it there. The chief readily gave up his god and it was carried over to its new home.
So the temple, or heiau, was built at Kou and the god Ku-hoo-nee-nuu placed in it. This temple was Pakaka, the most noted temple on the island Oahu, while its god, the log of the tree from a foreign land, became the god of the chiefs of Oahu. [[28]]
[1] Foot of Fort Street near lumber yards. [↑]
[2] See “Home of the Ancestors,” Part II., in Legends of Ghosts and Ghost-Gods. [↑]
IV
LEGEND OF THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE
The wonderful bread-fruit[1] tree was a great tree growing on the eastern bank of the rippling brook Puehuehu.[2] It was a tabu tree, set apart for the high chief from Kou and the chiefs from Honolulu to rest under while on their way to bathe in the celebrated diving-pool Wai-kaha-lulu. That tree became a god, and this is the story of its transformation:
Papa and Wakea were the ancestors of the great scattered sea-going and sea-loving people living in all the islands now known as Polynesia. They had their home in every group of islands where their descendants could find room to multiply.
They came to the island of Oahu, and, according to almost all the legends, were the first residents. The story of the magic bread-fruit tree, however, says that Papa sailed from Kahiki (a far-off land) with her husband Wakea, landing on Oahu and finding a home in the mountain upland near the precipice Kilohana.
Papa was a kupua—a woman having many [[29]]wonderful and miraculous powers. She had also several names. Sometimes she was called Haumea, but at last she left her power and a new name, Ka-meha-i-kana, in the magic bread-fruit tree.
Papa was a beautiful woman, whose skin shone like polished dark ivory through the flowers and vines and leaves which were the only clothes she knew. Where she and her husband had settled down they found a fruitful country—with bananas and sugar-cane and taro.[3] They built a house on the mountain ridge and feasted on the abundance of food around them. Here they rested well protected when rains were falling or the hot sun was shining.
Papa day by day looked over the seacoast which stretches away in miles of marvellous beauty below the precipices of the northern mountain range of the island Oahu. Clear, deep pools, well filled with most delicate fish, lay restfully among moss-covered projections of the bordering coral reef. The restless murmur of surf waves beating in and out through the broken lines of the reef called to her, so, catching up some long leaves of the hala-tree, she made a light basket and hurried down to the sea. In a little while she had gathered sea-moss and caught all the crabs she wished to take home. [[30]]
She turned toward the mountain range and carried her burden to Hoakola, where there was a spring of beautiful clear, cold, fresh water. She laid down her moss and crabs to wash them clean.
She looked up, and on the mountain-side discerned there something strange. She saw her husband in the hands of men who had captured and bound him and were compelling him to walk down the opposite side of the range. Her heart leaped with fear and anguish. She forgot her crabs and moss and ran up the steep way to her home. The moss rooted itself by the spring, but the crabs escaped to the sea.
On the Honolulu side of the mountains were many chiefs and their people, living among whom was Lele-hoo-mao, the ruler, whose fields were often despoiled by Papa and her husband. It was his servants who while searching the country around these fields, had found and captured Wakea. They were forcing him to the temple Pakaka[4] to be there offered in sacrifice. They were shouting, “We have found the mischief-maker and have tied him.”
Papa threw around her some of the vines which she had fashioned into a skirt, and ran over the hills to the edge of Nuuanu Valley.
BREADFRUIT-TREES
Peering down the valley she saw her husband and his captors, and cautiously she descended. [[31]]She found a man by the side of the stream Puehuehu, who said to her: “A man has been carried by who is to be baked in an oven this day. The fire is burning in the valley below.”
Papa said, “Give me water to drink.”
The man said, “I have none.”
Then Papa took a stone and smashed it against the ground. It broke through into a pool of water. She drank and hastened on to the bread-fruit tree at Nini, where she overtook her husband and the men who guarded him. He was alive, his hands bound behind him and his leaf clothing torn from his body. Wailing and crying that she must kiss him, she rushed to him and began pushing and pulling him, whirling him around and around.
Suddenly the great bread-fruit tree opened and she leaped with him through the doorway into the heart of the tree. The opening closed in a moment.
Papa, by her miraculous power, opened the tree on the other side. They passed through and went rapidly up the mountain-side to their home, which was near the head of Kalihi Valley.
As they ran Papa threw off her vine pa-u, or skirt. The vine became the beautiful morning-glory, delicate in blossom and powerful in medicinal qualities. The astonished men had lost their captive. According to the ancient Hawaiian [[32]]proverb, “Their fence was around the field of nothingness.” They pushed against the tree, but the opening was tightly closed. They ran around under the heavy-leaved branches and found nothing. They believed that the great tree held their captive in its magic power.
Quickly ran the messenger to their high chief, Lele-hoo-mao, to tell him about the trouble at the tabu bread-fruit tree at Nini and that the sacrifice for which the oven was being heated was lost.
The chiefs consulted together and decided to cut down that tree and take the captive out of his hiding-place. They sent tree-cutters with their stone axes.
The leader of the tree-cutters struck the tree with his stone axe. A chip leaped from the tree, struck him, and he fell dead.
Another caught the axe. Again chips flew and the workman fell dead.
Then all the cutters struck and gashed the tree.
Whenever a chip hit any one he died, and the sap of the tree flowed out and was spattered under the blows of the stone axes. Whenever a drop touched a workman or a bystander he fell dead.
The people were filled with fear and cried to their priest for help. [[33]]
Wohi, the priest, came to the tree, bowed before it, and remained in silent thought a long time. Then he raised his head and said: “It was not a woman who went into that tree. It was Papa from Kahiki. She is a goddess and has a multitude of bodies. If we treat her well we shall not be destroyed.”
Wohi commanded the people to offer sacrifices at the foot of the tree. This was done with prayers and incantations. A black pig, black awa and red fish were offered to Papa. Then Wohi commanded the wood-cutters to rub themselves bountifully with coconut oil and go fearlessly to their work. Chips struck them and the sap of the tree was spattered over them, but they toiled on unhurt until the great tree fell.
Out of this magic bread-fruit tree a great goddess was made. Papa gave to it one of her names, Ka-meha-i-kana, and endowed it with power so that it was noted from Kauai to Hawaii. It became one of the great gods of Oahu, but was taken to Maui, where Kamehameha secured it as his god to aid in establishing his rule over all the islands.
The peculiar divine gift supposed to reside in this image made from the wonderful bread-fruit tree was the ability to aid worshippers in winning land and power from other people [[34]]and wisely employing the best means of firmly establishing their own government, thus protecting and preserving the kingdom.
Papa dwelt above the Kalihi Valley and looked down over the plains of Honolulu and Ewa covered with well-watered growing plants which gave food or shade to the multiplying people.
It is said that after a time she had a daughter, Kapo, who also had kupua, or magic power. Kapo had many names, such as Kapo-ula-kinau and Laka. She was a high tabu goddess of the ancient Hawaiian hulas, or dances. She had also the power of assuming many bodies at will and could appear in any form from the mo-o, or lizard, to a human being.
Note: Kapo is the name of a place and of a wonderful stone with a “front like the front of a house and a back like the tail of a fish.” The legends of sixty years ago say that Kapo still [[35]]stood in that place as one of the guardians of Kalihi Valley.
Kapo was born from the eyes of Haumea, or Papa.
Papa looked away from Kapo and there was born from her head a sharp pali, or precipice, often mist-covered; this was Ka-moho-alii. Then Pele was born. She was the one who had mighty battles with Kamapuaa, the pig-man, who almost destroyed the volcano Kilauea. It was Ka-moho-alii who rubbed sticks and rekindled the volcanic fires for his sister Pele, thus driving Kamapuaa down the sides of Kilauea into the ocean.
These three, according to the Honolulu legends, were the highest-born children of Papa and Wakea.
Down the Kalihi stream below Papa’s home were two stones to which the Hawaiians gave eepa, or gnomelike, power. If any traveller passes these stones on his way up to Papa’s resting-place, that wayfarer stops by these stones, gathers leaves and makes leis, or garlands, and places them on these stones, that there may be no trouble in all that day’s wanderings.
Sometimes mischievous people dip branches from lehua-trees in water and sprinkle the eepa rocks; then woe to the traveller, for piercing [[36]]rains are supposed to fall. From this comes the proverb belonging to the residents of Kalihi Valley, “Here is the sharp-headed rain of Kalihi” (“Ka ua poo lipilipi o Kalihi”).
BREAD FRUIT.
[[37]]
[1] Ulu—Artocarpus incisa. [↑]
[2] Near Nuuanu Street Bridge. [↑]
[4] The Pakaka temple through its hundreds of years of existence received from time to time human sacrifice. [↑]
V
THE GODS WHO FOUND WATER
Four great gods with a large retinue of lesser gods came from Kahiki to the Hawaiian Islands. “Kahiki” meant any land beyond the skies which came down to the seas around the Hawaiian group. These gods settled for a time in Nuuanu Valley, back of the lands now known as Honolulu. These four great gods were worshipped by the Polynesians scattered all over the Pacific Ocean. Their names were Ku, Lono, Ka-ne and Kanaloa.
Ka-ne and Kanaloa were the water-finders, opening springs and pools over all the islands, each pool known now as Ka-Wai-a-ke-Akua (The water provided by a god).
In one of the very old Hawaiian newspapers the question was asked, “What are the waters of Ka-ne?” The answers came: The heavy showers of life-giving rain, the mountain stream swelling into a torrent lifting and carrying away canoes, the rainbow-colored rain loved by Ka-ne, the continually flowing brooks of the valleys and the fresh waters found anywhere—these were the waters of Ka-ne. [[38]]
It may reasonably be surmised that from the realization of the blessing of fresh waters the ancient Polynesians as well as the Hawaiians looked up to some waters to be found somewhere in the lands of the gods, which were called “the waters of life of Ka-ne.” The Hawaiian legends said: “If any one is dead and this water is thrown upon him, he becomes alive again. Old people bathing in this water go back to their youth.” If the common fresh water of the hills and plains was good, it was easy to look beyond to something better.
The gods Ka-ne and Kanaloa were very closely allied to the farming interests of the people of the long ago. Prayers were offered to them in all the different stages of the process of farming. When a field was selected some article of food was cooked and offered with the prayer:
“Here is food,
O Gods, Ka-ne and Kanaloa!
Here is food for us.
Give life to us and our family.
Life for the parents feeble with age.
Life for all in the household.
When digging and planting our land
Life for us—
This is our prayer. Amama.”
A similar prayer was made while cultivating the crops or harvesting the ripened product. [[39]]
It may be that the close connection of waters with plant growth made these two gods the especial gods of farmers.
There was a host of other gods whose names were sometimes used in prayers offered while farming. Each of these gods bore the name “Ka-ne” (sometimes Ku or Lono would be substituted), followed by an adjective showing some method of work, but all these names of lesser gods were apparently used to explain the particular task desired, as when the name “Ka-ne-apuaa” was mentioned in some prayers, the word “puaa” (pig) carried the idea of digging or uprooting the soil.
Ka-ne and Kanaloa were great travellers. Together they journeyed over Kauai, coming (according to an account written in the Kuokoa about 1868 by the Rev. J. Waiamau) from far-away lands. They appeared more like men than gods, and the Kauai people did not worship them, so they opened up only a few springs and crossed over to the island Oahu.
Throughout all the islands the awa root has been found. It was bitter and very astringent, but when crushed and mixed with water the juice became a liquor greatly loved by the people. “These two gods drank awa from Kauai to Hawaii,” so the old legends say.
They journeyed along the coast of the island [[40]]Oahu until they came to Kalihi, one of the present suburbs of the city of Honolulu. For a long time they had been looking up the hillsides and along the water courses for awa[1]—but had not found what seemed desirable.
At Kalihi a number of fine awa roots were growing. They pulled up the roots and prepared them for chewing. When the awa was ready Kanaloa looked for fresh water, but could not find any. So he said to Ka-ne: “Our awa is good, but there is no water in this place. Where can we find water for this awa?”
Ka-ne said, “There is indeed water here.” He had a “large and strong staff,” in some of the legends called a spear. This he took in his hands and stepped out on the bed of lava which now underlies the soil of that region. He began to strike the earth. Deep went the point of his staff into the rock, smashing and splintering it and breaking open a hole out of which water leaped for them to mix with their prepared awa. This pool of fresh water has been known since the days of old as Ka-puka-Wai-o-Kalihi (The water door of Kalihi). The gods, stupefied by the liquor, lay down and slept. When at last they were weary of that resting-place, they passed Nuuanu Valley and went into the most beautiful rainbow valley of the world, Manoa Valley, the home of the rainbow princess. This [[41]]valley is one of the well-settled suburbs of Honolulu.
Well-wooded precipices guard the upper end of the valley and make difficult the path to the tops of the mountains rising thousands of feet above.
Here the gods found most excellent awa, and Kanaloa cried, “O my brother, this is awa surpassing any other we have found; but where shall I go to find water?” Ka-ne replied, “Here in this hillside is water.” So he took his staff and struck it fiercely against the precipice by which they had found awa. Rapidly the rocks were broken off. The precipice crept back from the mighty strokes of the god and a large pool of clear, cool water appeared among the great stones which had fallen. There they mixed awa and water and drank again and again until the sleep of the drunkard came and they rested by the fountain they had made. This pool is still at the head of Manoa Valley, and to this day is called Ka-Wai-a-ke-Akua (The water provided by a god).
The servants of hundreds of chiefs have borne water from this place to their thirsty masters.
In the days of Kamehameha I. very often messengers came from this pool of water of the gods with calabashes full of water swinging from the ends of sticks laid over their shoulders. [[42]]When they came near any individual or group of Hawaiians they had to call out loudly, giving warning so that all by whom they passed could fall prostrate before the gift of the gods to the great king.
Ka-ne and Kanaloa made many springs of fresh waters in all the different islands. Sometimes a watchman refused to let them take the desired awa—the legends say that they called such persons stingy, and caught them and put them to death. At Honuaula they broke a large place and made a great fish-pond.
They went to Kohala, Hawaii, and found a temple in which they lived for a long time, and the people of Hawaii thought they were gods. Therefore they brought sacrifices and offered worship, and Ka-ne and Kanaloa were satisfied to remain as two of the gods of the islands.
This idea of “striking a rock for water springs” is not connected with or derived in any way from Biblical sources. The tool used by Hawaiians for centuries for digging was called the o-o, which was but little more than a sharp-pointed stick or staff, which was a lever as well as a spade. There is nothing in the legend beyond the expression of a desire to locate water springs as a gift from the gods. [[43]]
VI
THE WATER OF LIFE OF KA-NE
A Legend of Old Hawaii
“When the moon dies she goes to the living water of Ka-ne, to the water which can restore all to life, even the moon to the path in the sky.”—Maori Legend of New Zealand.
The Hawaiians of long ago shared in the belief that somewhere along the deep sea beyond the horizon around their islands, or somewhere in the cloud-land above the heavens which rested on their mountains, there was a land known as “The land of the water of life of the gods.” In this land was a lake of living water in which always rested the power of restoration to life. This water was called in the Hawaiian language Ka wai ola a Ka-ne, literally “The water living of Ka-ne,” or “The water of life of Ka-ne.”
Mention of this “wai ola” is found in many of the Pacific island groups, such as New Zealand, the Tongas, Samoa, Tahiti and the Hawaiian Islands. The thought of “water of life” cannot be limited to only a few references in legends. Some of the most interesting legendary [[44]]experiences in several island groups belong to the stories of a search after this “water of life.”
Ka-ne was one of the four greatest gods of the Polynesians. In his hands was placed the care of the water of life. If any person secured this water, the power of the god went with it. A sick person drinking it would recover health, and a dead person sprinkled with it would be restored to life.
In the misty past of the Hawaiian Islands a king was very, very ill. All his friends thought that he was going to die. The family came together in the enclosure around the house where the sick man lay. Three sons were wailing sorely because of their heavy grief.
An old man, a stranger, passing by asked them the cause of the trouble. One of the young men replied, “Our father lies in that house very near death.”
The old man looked over the wall upon the young men and said slowly: “I have heard of something which would make your father well. He must drink of the water of life of Ka-ne. But this is very hard to find and difficult to get.”
The old man disappeared, but the eldest son said, “I shall not fail to find this water of life, and I shall be my father’s favorite and shall [[45]]have the kingdom.” He ran to his father for permission to go and find this water of life.
The old king said: “No, there are many difficulties and even death in the way. It is better to die here.” The young prince urged his father to let him try, and at last received permission.
The prince, taking his water calabash, hastened away. As he went along a path through the forest, suddenly an ugly little man, a dwarf (an a-a), appeared in his path and called out, “Where are you going that you are in such a hurry?” The prince answered roughly: “Is this your business? I have nothing to say to you.” He pushed the little man aside and ran on.
The dwarf was very angry and determined to punish the rough speaker, so he made the path twist and turn and grow narrow before the traveller. The further the prince ran, the more bewildered he was, and the more narrow became the way, and thicker and thicker were the trees and vines and ferns through which the path wound. At last he fell to the earth, crawling and fighting against the tangled masses of ferns and the clinging tendrils of the vines of the land of fairies and gnomes. They twined themselves around him and tied him tight with living coils, and finally he lay like one who was dead.
For a long time the family waited and at last came to the conclusion that he had been overcome [[46]]by some difficulty. The second son said that he would go and find that water of life, so taking his water calabash he ran swiftly along the path which his brother had taken. His thought was also the selfish one, that he might succeed where his brother had failed and so win the kingdom.
As he ran along he met the same little man, who was the king of the fairies although he appeared as a dwarf. The little man called out, “Where are you going in such a hurry?”
The prince spoke roughly, pushed him out of the way, and rushed on. Soon he also was caught in the tangled woods and held fast like one who was dead.
Then the last, the youngest son, took his calabash and went away thinking that he might be able to rescue his brothers as well as get the water of life for his father. He met the same little man, who asked him where he was going. He told the dwarf about the king’s illness and the report of the “water of life of Ka-ne,” and asked the dwarf if he could aid in any way. “For,” said the prince, “my father is near death, and this living water will heal him and I do not know the way.”
The little man said: “Because you have spoken gently and have asked my help and have not been rough and rude as were your brothers, I [[47]]will tell you where to go and will give you aid. The path will open before you at the bidding of this strong staff which I give you. By and by you will come to the palace of a king who is a sorcerer. In his house is the fountain of that water of life. You cannot get into that house unless you take three bundles of food which I will give you. Take the food in one hand and your strong staff in the other. Strike the door of that king’s house three times with your staff and an opening will be made. Then you will see two dragons with open mouths ready to devour you. Quickly throw food in their mouths and they will become quiet. Fill your calabash with the living water and hurry away. At midnight the doors will be shut, and you cannot escape.”
The prince thanked the little man, took the presents and went his way rejoicing, and after a long time he came to the strange land and the sorcerer’s house. Three times he struck until he broke the wall and made a door for himself. He saw the dragons and threw the food into their mouths, making them his friends. He went in and saw some young chiefs, who welcomed him and gave him a war-club and a bundle of food. He went on to another room, where he met a beautiful maiden whom he loved at once with all his heart. She told him as she looked [[48]]in his eyes that after a time they would meet again and live as husband and wife. Then she showed him where he could get the water of life, and warned him to be in haste. He dipped his calabash in the spring and leaped through the door just at the stroke of midnight.
With great joy he hastened from land to land and from sea to sea watching for the little man, the a-a, who had aided him so much. As if his wish were known soon the little man appeared and asked him how he fared on his journey. The prince told him about the long way and his success and then offered to pay as best he could for all the aid so kindly given.
The dwarf refused all reward. Then the prince said he would be so bold as to ask one favor more. The little man said, “You have been so thoughtful in dealing with me as one highly honored by you, ask and perhaps I can give you what you wish.”
The prince said, “I do not want to return home without my brothers; can you help me find them?” “They are dead in the forest,” said the dwarf. “If you find them they will only do you harm. Let them rest in their beds of vines and ferns. They have evil hearts.”
But the young chief pressed his kindly thought and the dwarf showed him the tangled path through the forest. With his magic staff he [[49]]opened the way and found his brothers. He sprinkled a little of the water of life over them and strength returned to them. He told them how he had found the “living water of Ka-ne,” and had received gifts and also the promise of a beautiful bride. The brothers forgot their long death-like sleep and were jealous and angry at the success of their younger brother.
They journeyed far before they reached home. They passed a strange land where the high chief was resisting a large body of rebels. The land was lying desolate and the people were starving. The young prince pitied the high chief and his people and gave them a part of the bundle of food from the house of the god Ka-ne. They ate and became very strong. Then he let the chief have his war-club. Quickly the rebels were destroyed and the land had quiet and peace.
He aided another chief in his wars, and still another in his difficulties, and at last came with his brothers to the seacoast of his own land. There they lay down to sleep, but the wicked brothers felt that there were no more troubles in which they would need the magic aid of their brother, so they first planned to kill him, but the magic war-club seemed to defend him. Then they took his calabash of the water of life and poured the water into their water-jars, filling his calabash again with salt, sickish sea-water. They [[50]]went on home the next morning. The young prince pressed forward with his calabash, gave it to his father, telling him to drink and recover life. The king drank deeply of the salt water and was made more seriously sick, almost to death. Then the older brothers came, charging the young prince with an attempt to poison his father. They gave him the real water of life and he immediately became strong as in the days of his youth.
The king was very angry with the youngest son and sent him away with an officer who was skilled in the forest. The officer was a friend of the young prince and helped him to find a safe hiding-place, where he lived a long time.
By and by the three great kings came from distant lands with many presents for the prince who had given them peace and great prosperity. They told the father what a wonderful son he had, and wanted to give him their thanks. The father called the officer whom he had sent away with the young man and acknowledged the wrong he had done. The officer told him the prince was not dead, so the king sent messengers to find him.
Meanwhile one of the most beautiful princesses of all the world had sent word everywhere that she would be seated in her house and any prince who could walk straight to her along a line [[51]]drawn in the air by her sorcerers, without turning to either side, should be her husband. There was a day set for the contest.
The messengers sent out by the king to find the prince knew all about this contest, so they made all things known to their young chief when they found him. He went with his swift steps of love to the land of the beautiful girl. His brothers had both failed in their most careful endeavors, but the young prince followed his heart’s desire and went straight to a door which opened of its own accord. Out leaped the maiden of the palace of the land of Ka-ne. Into his arms she rushed and sent her servants everywhere to proclaim that her lord had been found.
The brothers ran away to distant lands and never returned. The prince and the princess became king and queen and lived in great peace and happiness, administering the affairs of their kingdom for the welfare of their subjects.
[[52]]
VII
MAMALA THE SURF-RIDER
“Kou” was a noted place for games and sports among the chiefs of long ago. A little to the east of Kou was a pond with a beautiful grove of coconut-trees belonging to a chief, Hono-kau-pu, and afterward known by his name. Straight out toward the ocean was the narrow entrance to the harbor, through which rolled the finest surf waves of old Honolulu. The surf bore the name “Ke-kai-o-Mamala” (The sea of Mamala). When the surf rose high it was called “Ka-nuku-o-Mamala” (The nose of Mamala).
Mamala was a chiefess of kupua character. This meant that she was a mo-o, or gigantic lizard or crocodile, as well as a beautiful woman, and could assume whichever shape she most desired. One of the legends says that she was a shark and woman, and had for her husband the shark-man Ouha, afterward a shark-god having his home in the ocean near Koko Head. Mamala and Ouha drank awa together and played konane on the large smooth stone at Kou.
LE PASSAGE DES BRISANTS À HAWAII—SALON DE 1913—LIONEL WALDEN SOCIÉTÉ DES ARTISTES FRANÇAIS
Mamala was a wonderful surf-rider. Very [[53]]skilfully she danced on the roughest waves. The surf in which she most delighted rose far out in the rough sea, where the winds blew strong and whitecaps were on waves which rolled in rough disorder into the bay of Kou. The people on the beach, watching her, filled the air with resounding applause, clapping their hands over her extraordinary athletic feats.
The chief, Hono-kau-pu, chose to take Mamala as his wife, so she left Ouha and lived with her new husband. Ouha was angry and tried at first to injure Hono and Mamala, but he was driven away. He fled to the lake Ka-ihi-Kapu toward Waikiki. There he appeared as a man with a basketful of shrimps and fresh fish, which he offered to the women of that place, saying, “Here is life [i.e., a living thing] for the children.” He opened his basket, but the shrimps and the fish leaped out and escaped into the water.
The women ridiculed the god-man. As the ancient legendary characters of all Polynesia could not endure anything that brought shame or disgrace upon them in the eyes of others, Ouha fled from the taunts of the women, casting off his human form, and dissolving his connection with humanity. Thus he became the great shark-god of the coast between Waikiki and Koko Head. [[54]]
The surf-rider was remembered in the beautiful mele, or chant, coming from ancient times and called the mele of Hono-kau-pu:
“The surf rises at Koolau,
Blowing the waves into mist,
Into little drops,
Spray falling along the hidden harbor.
There is my dear husband Ouha,
There is the shaking sea, the running sea of Kou,
The crab-like moving sea of Kou.
Prepare the awa to drink, the crab to eat.
The small konane board is at Hono-kau-pu.
My friend on the highest point of the surf.
This is a good surf for us.
My love has gone away.
Smooth is the floor of Kou,
Fine is the breeze from the mountains.
I wait for you to return,
The games are prepared,
Pa-poko, pa-loa, pa-lele,
Leap away to Tahiti
By the path to Nuumealani (home of the gods,)
Will that lover (Ouha) return?
I belong to Hono-kau-pu,
From the top of the tossing surf waves.
The eyes of the day and the night are forgotten.
Kou has the large konane board.
This is the day, and to-night
The eyes meet at Kou.”
[[55]]
VIII
A SHARK PUNISHED AT WAIKIKI
Among the legendary characters of the early Hawaiians was Ka-ehu—the little yellow shark of Pearl Harbor. He had been given magic power and great wisdom by his ancestor Ka-moho-alii the shark-god, brother of the fire goddess Pele.
Part of his life had been spent with his parents, who guarded the sea precipices of the Coast of Puna in the southern part of the island Hawaii. While at Pearl Harbor he became homesick for the beauty of Puna, so he chanted:
“O my land of rustling lehua[1]-trees!
Rain is treading on your budding flowers,
It carries them to the sea.
They meet the fish in the sea.
This is the day when love meets love,
My longings are stirring within me
For the spirit friends of my land.
They call me back to my home,
I must return.”
[[56]]
Ka-ehu called his shark friends and started along the Oahu shores on his way to Hawaii. At Waikiki they met Pehu, a shark visitor from Maui, who lived in the sea belonging to Hono-ka-hau. Pehu was a man-eating shark and was swimming back and forth at Kalehua-wike.[2] He was waiting for some surf-rider to go out far enough to be caught.
Ka-ehu asked him what he was doing there. He replied, “I am catching a crab for my breakfast.”
Ka-ehu said, “We will help you catch your crab.”
He told Pehu to go near the coral reef while he and his large retinue of sharks would go seaward. When a number of surf-riders were far out he and his sharks would appear and drive them shoreward in a tumultuous rush; then Pehu could easily catch the crab. This pleased the shark from Maui, so he went close to the reef and hid himself in its shadows.
Ka-ehu said to his friends: “We must kill this man-eating shark who is destroying our people. This will be a part of our pay to them for honoring us at Puu-loa (Pearl Harbor). We will all go and push Pehu into the shallow water.”
A number of surf-riders poised on the waves, [[57]]and Pehu called for the other sharks to come, but Ka-ehu told him to wait for a better chance. Soon two men started on a wave from the distant dark blue sea where the high surf begins.
Ka-ehu gave a signal for an attack. He told his friends to rush in under the great wave and as it passed over the waiting Pehu, crowd the men and their surf-boards to one side and push the leaping Pehu so that he would be upset. Then while he was floundering in the surf they must hurl him over the reef.
As Pehu leaped to catch one of the coming surf-riders he was astonished to see the man shoved to one side, then as he rose almost straight up in the water he was caught by the other sharks and tossed over and over until he plunged head first into a deep hole in the coral. There he thrashed his great tail about, but only forced himself farther in so that he could not escape.
The surf-riders were greatly frightened when they saw the company of sharks swimming swiftly outside the coral reef—but they were not afraid of Pehu. They went out to the hole and killed him and cut his body in pieces. Inside the body they found hair and bones, showing that this shark had been destroying some of their people.
They took the pieces of the body of that [[58]]great fish to Pele-ula,[3] where they made a great oven and burned the pieces.
Ka-ehu passed on toward Hawaii as a knight-errant, meeting many adventures and punishing evil-minded residents of the great sea.
Feather Helmet
[[59]]
[1] Ohia-lehua. Metrosideros polymorpha. [↑]
[3] Near corner Nuuanu and Beretania Streets. [↑]
IX
THE LEGENDARY ORIGIN OF KAPA
Note: Dr. Brigham, the director of the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, well says, “Kapa (tapa) is simply ka (the) and pa (beaten) or the beaten thing.”
The cloth used for centuries by the Hawaiians and some other Polynesians was “the beaten thing” resulting from beating the inner mucilaginous bark of certain trees into pulp and then into sheets which could be used for clothing or covering.
The letters “k” and “t” have from time immemorial been interchangeable among the Hawaiians, therefore the words “kapa” and “tapa” have both been freely used as the name of the ancient wood-pulp cloth of the Hawaiians.
Kapa or Bark Cloth (piece of real tapa)
Kapa or Bark Cloth (piece of real tapa)
The old people said that in the very long ago their ancestors did not have anything like the kapa cloth which has been known for many centuries. They said also that there was no kapa maoli, meaning that there was nothing in nature which provided clothing or covering. Very little reference is made in the legends to the use of skins as clothing, although the dog and [[60]]pig were brought with chickens by their early ancestors.
The clothing of the oldest time was sometimes made by tying dried banana leaves around the body, and coverings were made by throwing dry banana leaves over the body. Thus Kawelo was warmed and brought back to life, according to one of the most famous legends of the island Kauai.
The long, fragrant leaves of the ti[1] plant were dried, soaked in water until soft, the outside scraped off, then fastened together by braiding or tying. In this way a very warm cloak was made and worn by bird-catchers. They found it very good for shedding rain and keeping out cold when they went into the mountains.
Sometimes the long leaves of the Lau-hala were thatched into covering for the body as well as for the house. So also grass was braided into very fine cloaks as well as into mats. Banana leaves hanging in strips like a fringe were used for malos (loin cloths) for men, and pa-us (skirts) for women.
For many generations the Hawaiians made most beautiful and costly feather garments. They braided or wove a foundation mesh of very fine vegetable fibres, such as the long threads of the ieie[2] vine. This mesh was fashioned into a mahiole, or warrior’s helmet, a kihei, or shoulder [[61]]cape, or an ahuula, or long cloak, and covered with the most brilliant red and golden feathers which could be secured from the birds of the forest.
In the legend of Makuakaumana the gods Ka-ne and Kanaloa are represented as feeling pity for one of their worshippers when they saw him shivering in a fierce storm of cold rain; therefore they taught him how to make a kihei, or shoulder cape. Great was the wonder of the people of the northern side of the island of Oahu when he appeared among them and taught them how to make cloaks like “the gift of the gods.” The legend is interesting, but only shows that the people sometime learned how to make a work-day cloak. Presumably the Hawaiian method of pounding the adhesive bark of certain trees until that bark becomes a pulpy mass and then making it into sheets and drying it was used in Samoa and many other islands of the Pacific Ocean and also even in Mexico hundreds of years ago. Evidently the Hawaiian brought the art with him or learned it from the sea rovers of about the tenth century. Nevertheless, the Hawaiian legend of the origin of kapa is a myth well worth keeping on record in Hawaiian literature. It was partly published in a native paper, the Kuokoa, in 1865, but many references in other legends printed about the same time fill out the story. [[62]]
Back of Honolulu a beautiful valley rises in a gentle slope between two rugged, precipitous ranges of lava mountains until it reaches cloudland and drinks ceaselessly from the fountains of the sky. A stream of laughing water rising from waterfalls blown into spray by swift winds rushes and leaps in numberless cascades through pleasant groves down this valley of restful shadows until it is lost in the coral reefs of an iridescent sea.
This is the noted Nuuanu Valley of winding ways loved by sightseers as they climb to the grand outlook over extinct craters, island coast and boundless ocean, called “the view from Nuuanu Pali.”
This was the valley supposed to have been the first habitation of the gods, from which all life spread over the island group. Here the gnomes, or the eepa people, had their home, and here the Menehunes (the fairies) built a temple for “the child adopted by the gods.”
The waters of the valley stream fertilized large areas where the valley broadened into the broad [[63]]seaside plain in which now lies the city of Honolulu. Here at Pu-iwa, by the side of the running water, a farmer by the name of Maikoha lived with his daughters, having no care except raising whatever food they needed for themselves and for their tribute to the king and their offerings to the gods.
Years passed by and Maikoha became weak and ill. The eepa people of the upper valley had always sent driving rains and cold winds down the valley, and Maikoha had cared little for them; but the old man at last went into the days of death feeling a chill which struck to his very heart. On his death-bed he called his daughters and commanded them to listen carefully and to obey his words, saying: “When I die, bury my body close to the waters of our pleasant stream. A tree will grow from that burial-place. This tree will be to you for kapa, from which you will make all things good for clothing as well as covering when you sleep or are ill. The bark of this tree is the part you will use.”
When death came, the daughters buried their father by the running water. After a time a tree grew from the grave. The daughters saw that it was a new tree such as they had never seen before. It was not tall and large, but threw out a number of small, spreading branches. This was the wauke[3] tree. [[64]]
The daughters with great fear drew near to this monument which was over their father’s grave. They believed it was a gift from the aumakua, the ghost-god, into which they supposed the spirit of their father had been changed.
Reverently they touched the tree, broke off some of the branches, stripped off the bark, and pounded and pounded until the pieces were fastened together in a rude kind of cloth. Thus they found kapa, “the beaten thing,” and learned how to make it into small and large pieces and out of these fashion such clothing as met their need.
Wherever they cut or broke the branches of this new tree the broken pieces took root, or, if the fragments were caught by the swift-flowing stream, they were tossed on the bank or carried and scattered over the plain, and wherever they went they found a place to plant themselves until they grew even to the sea.
Branches were carried to the other islands; thus the wauke became a blessing to all the people. This tree under the name “aute,” which is the same as wauke, was a blessing to many Polynesians, from Tahiti to New Zealand.
In after years other trees, such as the mamaki,[4] the maa-loa and po-ulu, were found to have bark [[65]]from which kapa could be made; but the old people said, “From the wauke we get the best kapa for fine, soft clothing.”
Maikoha became the chief aumakua, or ancestor-god, of the Hawaiian kapa-makers, and has been worshipped for generations. When they planted the wauke branches, or shoots, prayers and incantations and sacrifices were offered to Maikoha. Before branches were cut and placed in bundles to be carried to a field set apart for kapa-making, the favor of Maikoha was again sought.
One of the daughters of Maikoha, whose name was Lau-hu-iki, became the aumakua of all those who pounded the prepared bark, for to her was given the power of finding kapa in the bark of the wauke-tree, and she had the power of teaching how to pound as well as bless the labor of those who worshipped her.
The other daughter, Laa-hana, was also worshipped as an aumakua by those who used especially marked clubs while beating the bark into patterns or marked lines, for they said she learned how to scratch the clubs with sharks’ teeth so that marks would be left in the pounded sheets. She was also able to teach those who worshipped her to mark figures or patterns on the pounded kapa.
Thus Maikoha and his daughters became the [[66]]chief gods of the kapa-makers; but other ancestral gods were also found from time to time as some new step was taken in perfecting the art.
Ehu, a man, was made the aumakua of kapa-dyers because he learned how to dip the cloth in dyes and give it color. He discovered the red dye in the blood of the kukui[5] tree; therefore prayers were offered to him and sacrifices laid on his altar when the kapa-maker desired to color some of the work.
A small corner in a house in the kapa-field usually had a very small pile of stones called “the altars.” Here small offerings of leaves or fruit could be placed while the worshipper chanted his prayer.
Kapa-dyers searched forests for trees and plants which could give life-blood for different dyes. The sap of these plants was carefully put in bamboo joints and carried to the place where the pounders sang and worked.
Offerings of leaves and fruits and flowers were made to Ehu from time to time while the dyes were being collected as well as when they were used to color the kapa.
Sometimes the sheets were spotted by sprinkling colors over them. Sometimes they were marked in lines and figures by using bamboo splints or bamboos with ends pounded into brush-like [[67]]fibres. Stone cups were kept in the kapa-fields for the dye and the marking-splint.
Sometimes torn-up pieces of dyed kapas were pounded up with new sheets, producing a mottled effect. White kapas of the best texture were used in the temples to cover the gods during certain parts of the temple ceremonies. They were also used to mark a strict tabu. When kapa was laid on an object, it meant that it was not to be touched under pain of punishment by the guarding aumakua. Fastened to a staff and placed in a path, it meant that this path was tabu. It was in this way that tabu standards were placed around the temples.
A kapa dipped in a black dye was kept for the death covering, especially for those of very high rank.
Sometimes the perfumes of sweet flowers or the oil of such trees as the iliahi[6] (sandalwood) were pounded into the kapa while it was being made. The perfumes were made in this way. The sweet-smelling things were placed in a calabash and covered with water. Hot stones were put in the water and the fragrance drawn out of the plants. The water was boiled away until the perfume became very strong. This was done with the sweet-scented flowers of the niu[7] (coconut) and of the lau-hala,[8] and [[68]]the wood of the iliahi and other fragrant plants.
When the kapas were perfumed, they were dried inside a house so that the fragrance should not be lost.
Sometimes the kapas were well scraped with pieces of shell or rubbed with stones, then were rolled in dirt and put in a calabash and well soaked for a long time. When these kapas were washed, scraped and pounded again, they became very soft. Often the kapa-maker would take these sheets of kapa and spread them over a layer of cold, wet, fresh-water moss, leaving them all night for the dew to fall upon. These kapas became very bright and shining. Sometimes finished kapas were oiled so that they became excellent protectors from the wet and cold of heavy mists and rains. These oiled kapas were frequently varnished by being rubbed with eggs. Spider eggs were considered the best for this purpose.
In the early time a flat stone was used upon which to pound out the sheets of kapa, but blocks of wood and long, heavy sticks were found to give the best results. These were called kua-kuku. A block cut in a certain way was very much liked by the women, for it gave back a soft sound with the rhythmic beat of the mallets, accompanied by their own chants [[69]]and incantations to Maikoha or one of the other aumakuas.
Hina, the mother of the demi-god Maui, was the great kapa-maker of the legends of the ancient Hawaiians. It is said that she still spreads her kapas in the sky. They are the beautiful clouds of all colors, sometimes piled up and sometimes lying in sheets. When fierce winds blow and lift and toss the cloud kapas and roll off the stones which Hina has placed on them to hold them down, or when she throws off the stones herself, the noise of the rolling stones is the thunder which men hear.
When Hina rolls the cloud sheets together, the folds glisten and flash in the light of the sun; thus what men call lightning is the sunlight leaping from sheet to sheet of Hina’s kapas in cloudland.
KAPA BEATER
[[70]]
[3] Broussonetia papyrifera. [↑]
[6] Santalum Freycinetianum. [↑]
[8] Pandanus adoratissimus. [↑]
X
CREATION OF MAN
The Kamakau Legend
Note: Mauka[1] of Honolulu rises a cloud-capped range. Beyond this is the place where Kamakau, a native historian of about sixty years ago, says that the Hawaiian gods created the first inhabitants of these islands. The story has been repeated in several Hawaiian papers and with embellishments, was adopted by Judge Fornander and mentioned in notes in his work “The Polynesian Race.” Parts of the story are evidently old Hawaiian, but the part which describes the creation of man is thoroughly Biblical with the addition of a few touches of the imagination.
“The sky is established.
The earth is established.
Fastened and fastened,
Always holding together,
Entangled in obscurity,
Near each other a group of islands
Spreads out like a flock of birds.
Leaping up are the divided places.
Lifted far up are the heavens.
Polished by striking,
Lamps rest in the sky.
Presently the clouds move,
The great sun rises in splendor,
Mankind arises to pleasure,
The moving sky is above.” Hawaiian Chant.
[[71]]
CALABASH & COVER
Ku, Ka-ne, Lono and Kanaloa were the first gods made.
The gods had come from far-off unknown lands. They brought with them the mysterious people who live in precipices and trees and rocks. These were the invisible spirits of the air.
The earth was a calabash. The gods threw the calabash cover upward and it became the sky. Part of the thick “flesh” became the sun. Another part was the moon. The stars came from the seeds.
The gods went over to a small island called Mokapu, and thought they would make man to be chief over all other things. Mololani was the crater hill which forms the little island. On the sunrise side of this hill, near the sea, was the place where red dirt lay mixed with dark blue and black soil. Here Ka-ne scratched the dirt together and made the form of a man. [[72]]
Kanaloa ridiculed the mass of dirt and made a better form, but it did not have life. Ka-ne said, “You have made a dirt image; let it become stone.”
Then Ka-ne ordered Ku and Lono to carefully obey his directions. They were afraid he would kill them, so at once they caught one of the spirits of the air and pushed it into the image Ka-ne had made.
When the spirit had been pushed into the body, Ka-ne stood by the image and called, “Hiki au-E-ola! E-ola!” (“I come, live! live!”)
Ku and Lono responded “Live! live!” Then Ka-ne called again, “I come, awake! awake!” and the other two responded, “Awake! awake!” and the image became a living man.
Then Ka-ne cried, “I come, arise! arise!” The other gods repeated, “Arise! arise!” and the image stood up—a man with a living spirit. They named him Wela-ahi-lani-nui, or “The great heaven burning hot.”
They chanted, giving the divine signs attending the birth of a chief:
Note: Fornander, in his book “The Polynesian Race,” says that Lono brought whitish clay from the four ends of the world, with which to make the head, but there is no foundation for this statement in the legends. This must have been a verbal statement made to him by Kamakau. [[73]]
“The stars were burning.
Hot were the months.
Land rises in islands,
High surf is like mountains,
Pele throws out her body (of lava).
Broken masses of rain from the sky,
The land is shaken by earthquakes,
Ikuwa[2] reverberates with thunder.”
The gods took this man to their home and nourished him. When he became strong he went out to walk around the home of the gods. Soon he noticed a shadow going around with his body. It walked when he walked, and rested when he rested. He wondered what this thing was, and called it “aka,” or “shadow.”
When he slept, Ku, Ka-ne and Lono tore open his body, and Ka-ne took out a woman, leaving Ku and Lono to heal the body. Then they put the woman by the side of the man and they were alike.
Wela-ahi-lani-nui woke and found a beautiful one lying by him, and thought: “This is that thing which has been by my side, my aka. The gods have changed it into this beautiful one.” So he gave her the name “Ke-aka-huli-lani” (The-heaven-changed-shadow). These were the ancestors of the Hawaiians and all the peoples of the islands of the great ocean. [[74]]
It must be remembered that there are many other Hawaiian legends which mention other first men and women as ancestors of the Hawaiian people.
CALABASH BEARER
[[75]]
[2] Ikuwa was the month of thunder and lightning. [↑]
XI
THE CHIEF WITH THE WONDERFUL SERVANTS[1]
A certain chief who lived on the island of Oahu in the very misty memory of long, long ago thought he would travel over his lands and see their condition. So pleased was he that he boasted of his wide domain when he met a fellow-traveller. The man said, “I can see the lands of Wakea and Papa and they are larger and fairer than these fine places of yours.” Then they decided to go together to find that wonderful land of the gods.
Soon they passed a man standing by the way-side. The chief asked him what he was doing. The man replied: “I am Mama-loa [The very swift]. I am waiting for the sun to rise, that I may run and catch him.” They all waited until the sun appeared and started to rise above the island. The man ran very fast and caught it, tied it, and held it as a prisoner for a time.
Then the three travelled together—the chief, whose name was Ikaika-loa (The very strong), [[76]]and the man who could see clearly a long distance, whose name was Ike-loa (The-far-sighted), and Mama-loa. In a little while they saw two men sleeping by the path. One was shivering with cold; his name was Kanaka-make-anu (Man-who-dies-in-the-cold). The other was burning as if over a fire; his name was Kanaka-make-wela (Man-who-dies-in-the-fire). They warmed one and cooled the other, and all went on together.
They came to a field for rat-shooting, and found a man standing with bow and arrow, shooting very skilfully. His name was Pana-pololei (The-straight-shooter). They asked him to go to the lands of Wakea and Papa, so he journeyed with them. By and by they found a man lying by the path with his ear to the ground. The chief asked him, “What are you doing?” He looked up and said, “I have been listening to the quarrel between Papa and Wakea.” The man who was listening to their harsh words was Hoo-lohe-loa (The-man-who-could-hear-afar-off). They all journeyed on until they entered a land[2] more beautiful than any they had ever seen before.
The watchmen of that country saw six fine-looking men coming and with them a seventh [[77]]man, superior in every way. The report of the coming of these strangers was quickly sent to the chiefess who ruled the land under Wakea and Papa. She commanded her chief to take his warriors and meet these strangers and bring them to her house. There they were entertained. While they slept the chiefess gathered her people together until the enclosure around the houses was filled with people.
In the morning Ikaika-loa, the chief, said to the chiefess: “I have heard that you propound hard riddles. If I guess your riddles you shall become my wife.” The chiefess agreed, took him out of the house, and said, “The man who is now my husband is standing by the door of the house of Wakea and Papa; where is the door of that house?” The chief turned to Ike-loa and secretly asked if he could see the door of Papa’s house. He looked all around and at last said: “The door of that house is where the trunk of that great tree is. If you are strong and can break that tree you can find the door, because it is in one of the roots of that tree.”
Then the chief went out to that tree and lifted and twisted the bark and tore away the wood, opening the door.
After this the chiefess said: “There are three dogs. One belongs to our high chief, Wakea; one to his wife, Papa; and one is mine. Can [[78]]you point out the dog belonging to each of us?”
The chief whispered to his servant Hoo-lohe-loa, “Listen and learn the names of the dogs.” So the man who could hear clearly put his ear to the ground and heard Papa telling her servants: “This black dog of Papa’s shall go out first, then the red dog of Wakea. The white dog belonging to the chiefess shall go last.” Thus the chief learned how to name the dogs.
When the black dog leaped through the door the chief cried out, “There is the black dog belonging to Papa.”
When the red dog followed he said, “That is the red dog of Wakea.”
Then came the white dog, and the chief cried out, “That white dog belongs to us, O Chiefess.”
After this they prepared for a feast. The chiefess said: “Very far is the sweet water we wish. You send one of your men and I will send one of my women each with a calabash for water. If your man comes back first while we eat, we will marry.”
The chief gave a calabash to Mama-loa and he made ready to go—a woman with her calabash standing by his side.
At the word they started on their race. The man ran swiftly, thinking there was no one among all men so swift as he, but the woman passed him and was leaving him far behind. [[79]]
The chief called Pana-pololei, the straight shooter, and told him they needed his skill. He took his bow and arrows and shot. Far, far the arrow sped and whizzed just back of the head of the woman. She was so startled that she stumbled and fell to the ground and the man passed by.
After a time the chief said to Ike-loa, the far-sighted, “How are they running now?”
The servant said, “The woman is again winning.”
The chief said to his rat-hunter, “Perhaps you have another arrow?” and again an arrow sped after the swift runners. It grazed the back of the woman and she fell. Mama-loa passed her, rushed to the spring, filled his calabash and started back. But the woman was very swift, and, quickly dipping her calabash, turned and soon passed the man. An arrow sped touching the head of the woman, and she fell forward, breaking the calabash and spilling the water; but she leaped up and saved a little water and hastened after the man who had sped past her.
“Ah, how she runs! She flies by the man as they are almost at the end of their race,” exclaimed Ike-loa.
Then the chief called to his bowman: “O Pana-pololei! Perhaps you have another arrow?” The bowman shot a blunt arrow, striking [[80]]the woman’s breast, and she fell, out of breath, losing all the water from her broken calabash.
The chief took the calabash from his man and poured water into a coconut-cup and gave to the chiefess to drink.
When the woman came the chiefess asked why she had failed. The woman replied: “I passed that man, but something struck me and I fell down. This came to me again and again, but I could not see anything. At last I fell and the calabash was broken and all the water lost, and this man won the race.”
Meanwhile Mama-loa was being ridiculed by the other servants of the chief. He asked: “Why do you laugh at me? Did you not see my victory?”
They laughed the more, and said: “Ka! If we had not aided you, you would have been defeated.” Then they told him how he had been watched by the far-sighted one and aided by the arrows of his friend.
The chiefess told the chief that she had one more test before the marriage could take place.
She said: “In this land there are two places, one very hot and one very cold. If you can send men to live in these two places we will marry.”
Then the chief said to Kanaka-make-anu, “You die in the cold, but perhaps you can go [[81]]to the very hot place for the chiefess.” And Kanaka-make-wela who suffered from heat he asked to go into the cold. The two servants said: “We go, but we will never return. These are our natural dwelling-places.”
There were no more riddles to solve, so the chief and chiefess married and lived royally in that beautiful land of the gods.
Feather Cloak
[[82]]
[1] From the Kuokoa of 1862, Hawaiian newspaper. [↑]
[2] The legends say that one of the homes of Wakea and Papa was the splendid country around Nuuanu Valley and Honolulu. [↑]
XII
THE GREAT DOG KU
Ku-ilio-loa
Ku, the dog-man, decided to come down from the clouds and visit mankind, so he assumed the form of a little dog and went around almost unnoticed.
Ku saw a group of three rainbows moving from place to place or resting for a long time above the home of a high chief. Sometimes the rainbows went up to the forests of ohia and kukui-trees on the mountain-side. Sometimes they rested over the deep pools made by the waterfalls of the swiftly descending mountain streams. Most frequently the beautiful colors were arched over a small grove of trees around a bathing-pool protected on two sides by steep ledges of rock over which diverging streams poured their cool waters which rose from the shadows and rippled away through the little valley toward the sea. On the remaining side of this sequestered nook was a sunny beach of black sand, back of which the trees opened their promise of refreshing shade.
KUKUI, OR CANDLE NUT, TREES
[[83]]
Here Na-pihe-nui, the daughter of the high chief, came daily with her company of maidens to bathe and sport in the water and then let the afternoon hours pass in rest and pleasant conversation.
One day while diving into the pool from a shelf on the rocky ledge one of the girls saw something moving on the shore. She called to her companions and with them hastened to the place where their clothes had been thrown down. Here they found a little white dog lying on the kapa mantle of the princess.
For a time they played with the little stranger and were very much delighted with his unusual intelligence. He gambolled around them in great delight, obeying the call of one after the other, but showing very marked preference for the princess. When the maidens returned home they took the little dog with them and cared for him.
The high chief, Polihale, was interested in the peculiar powers possessed by this strange dog. Perhaps he thought that it was under the control of some spirit. His suspicions were in some way aroused and the dog was watched. Soon the chief learned that this was a man of marvellous ability, who could appear as a dog or a man at his own pleasure. Then the chief called his retainers and ordered them to kill this dog. They gathered stones and clubs and tried to surround [[84]]it, but it dashed into the woods and made its escape. It was the great dog Ku, who had seen the three rainbows and followed them to the bathing-pool and then, having seen the princess, had determined to find an opportunity to carry her away as his wife. This premature discovery drove him away before he could accomplish his purpose.
Then Ku changed himself into a man of fine appearance and came boldly to the high chief’s home demanding the princess in marriage, but the chief, warned by the omens as studied by his soothsayers, refused.
Ku was in great anger and threatened to kill the chief’s people, and to destroy the protectors of the princess, but the high chief drove him away.
A dream came to the high chief, in which he saw the strange man coming as a great dog. The next morning as he looked toward the mountains he saw this same large dog stretching itself out of a cave on the mountain-side; so he knew that this dog with magical powers would be a very difficult enemy to overcome.
The chief soon learned that Ku was catching his people one by one and devouring them and decided to take final issue with his enemy.
Selecting a cave he hid all the women of his family in it, placing the princess in their care. They took provisions with them and prepared for a long siege. Water could be found in the cave [[85]]itself. Stones were placed before the opening so that the enemy would find it hard to enter.
Then the high chief and his followers waged war against Ku, the dog-man, but Ku was very strong and overthrew his pursuers when they closed in around him. Many times he killed some of the chief’s people and carried their bodies away to feast upon them. He was also very swift in his motion, rapidly passing from place to place. Sometimes he fell like a flash of lightning upon a group of his foes and then in an incredibly short time he would make an attack in a far distant place.
The high chief became desperate and offered sacrifices to his gods and secured charms from his priests. Incantations and prayers were prepared against Ku.
At last a terrific battle was fought and Ku was overpowered and beaten to the ground. Still he fought fiercely, but the hard wooden spears pierced him and the heavy clubs broke his bones, until he lay a crushed and bleeding mass at the feet of his conquerors. Then they cut his body in two pieces, throwing one piece to one side and the other to a place some distance away. Then the power of the priests was invoked and the two parts of the body of Ku-ilio-loa became two great stones which have been objects of veneration among the Hawaiians for many years. [[86]]
Ku stretches his form along the mountains and sometimes reveals himself as the great dog among the myriad shapes which the changing clouds are ever assuming. Sometimes he is seen in the clouds of Oahu, and then again his form is in the skies of other islands.
Note: The Hawaiian legends frequently unite animal and human forms and characteristics in one individual, like the centaurs of Roman mythology. In some cases the man always carries with him a part of the animal shape. The legends of shark-men place the shark mouth between the shoulders of the man, and he is compelled to always wear a cloak to conceal his deformity.
Usually, however, the legends give to the human being the power to change at will into the peculiar animal form with which he has affinity without carrying with him any marks of his previous shape. In the Pele legends a chief appears as a beautiful bird and later as a handsome man, and marries the chiefess. When the hog-man Kamapuaa, however, courts Pele he is compelled to hide his pig-like deformities under a covering of kapa cloth.
The legend of the great dog Ku is somewhat reversed from the usual order. Ku, the dog, was given the power to change himself into a man [[87]]and return into his animal form whenever he wished.
The legend is unique in that it unites a beautiful nature-myth with a history-myth of ferocious cannibalism.
Ku-ilio-loa is a magic dog who could be large or small at will. He roamed over the mountains and could be seen at night stretching himself from one peak to another or from the mountain height above his home in a cave below. This is evidently a nature-myth. The clouds on the mountains are ever multiform. Sometimes the dim mist in the moonlight rears its dog-shaped head over the sloping hills and stretches its shadowy length up to the faintly outlined peaks above; and sometimes the small cloud, like a dog at rest, lies quietly in the skies above the mountain forest. It was a beautiful outgrowth of Hawaiian imagination.
The same nature-myth has been applied to the cloud forms of lower Manoa Valley, a suburb of Honolulu. This cloud-myth was known as the story of Poki, the wonder-dog. He was often seen at night especially by those who had stood on the sacred bell rock of Kamoiliili. This rock rang with a sweet, strong tone when struck sharply. It had the power of giving clear vision to the one who stood on it and absorbed its mysterious qualities. The visitor must stand on the [[88]]rock and utter his wish to see Poki. Then would his eyes be opened and the wonder-dog of the mountains of Oahu would reveal himself stretched along the mountains and silvered by the moonlight. Some of the later Hawaiians say that this wonder-dog of Oahu is the spirit of the chief Boki, who with his wife Liliha owned the lower part of the valley of Manoa. Boki in the early days of missionary labor in the Hawaiian Islands became desirous of seeing the world and adding to his riches; therefore he fitted out two ships for foreign trade and sailed away. The ship in which Chief Boki sailed was never heard from. Hence arose the saying, “We will do this or that when Boki comes back.”
But some of the people changed the thought of the old legend and claimed that his spirit returned and now reveals himself as the dog watching over his loved valley. Magic powers were given to Poki—so that he could stretch himself along the mountains, his hind feet on the mountain ridge and his head in the valley below. He could also extend himself to Nuuanu Valley and sometimes spread his body over all the island. Probably the only real connection of Chief Boki with the wonder-dog Poki is the similarity of names. But the chief has been almost forgotten. Even the wonder-dog is known only by the story-tellers, while the night clouds, sometimes darkened by [[89]]falling rain, sometimes enriched by the halo of lunar rainbows, and sometimes glorified by the silver moonlight, continue to stretch from peak to peak along the mountains and watch over all the various forms of life in the valleys below.
Ku-ilio-loa, the great dog Ku, was destined to have another series of legends grow up about his memory besides those suggested by the adoring imaginations of nature lovers.
It is difficult to analyze the influences which brought the beautiful nature-myth down to the degradation of the sensuous life of a brute. Perhaps the simplest thought is the best, and the problem is solved by supposing that a chief by the name of Ku became imbued with cannibalistic desires and when driven away from his fellow-men made his home among the almost inaccessible peaks where cloud-myth and cannibal-legend could very easily be interwoven with each other as the memory of his horrible cannibal life became dimly connected with the mysterious cloud-forms among which he died.
[[90]]
XIII
THE CANNIBAL DOG-MAN
Note: The Menehunes were the fairies of Hawaii. The goblins and gnomes of valley or woodland were called the eepa people, while monsters having the power of appearing in different kinds of bodies were called kupuas. These usually had cruel and vindictive characters and were ready to destroy and devour any persons they could catch. There were, however, many kupuas of kindly spirit who gave watchful care to the members of their own families.
The Menehunes were temple-builders, makers of great fish-ponds and even highways. They made canoes, built houses, and did many of the pleasant things fairies are always doing. Their good works are to be found to this day on all the different islands of the Hawaiian group.
Ka-hanai-a-ke-akua (The-adopted-child-of-the-gods) was the chief whose followers fought with the dragon-god, Kuna, for a canoe in Nuuanu Valley. He was a friend of the fairies—the Menehune people. When he had grown into young manhood and was going to have a temple of his own, with his [[91]]own gods to worship, the Menehunes heard about the plan for the walls and altars and determined to build that temple for the chief.
As soon as the night shadows had fallen over the mountains back of Honolulu the Menehunes were called together by their luna, or leader. The stones necessary for the heiau (temple) walls were pointed out. Flat-sided stones were selected for raised places and altars, smooth stones were called for from the seashore to be laid down as the temple floor. Bamboo and ohia sticks were to be brought with which to build platforms for sacrifices, such as the bodies of human victims. All parts of the temple building[1] even to the thatched houses for the priests and chiefs were portioned among the little people.
In one night the work was finished, a feast was eaten, and the Menehunes had scattered in the shadows of the forest thickets.
Kahanai took possession of his temple and dedicated it with the tabu service and ceremonies. This meant that a tabu of silence or a tabu forbidding work of any kind would be announced, and all the people of the district or place in which the temple was located would obey that tabu until the dedication ceremonies were all over and [[92]]the words “Noa, ua noa” were used, meaning that the tabu was over and everything could be freely done as before.
The name given to this temple was Ka-he-iki.
In this temple the chief placed his friend and guardian, Kahilona, who had cared for him from his babyhood, as his priest and teacher. Kahilona was the priest of this temple. Kahilona prepared this chant for the temple building.
“Gone is the little house,
The little house,
Gone is the large house,
The large house,
Gone is the short house,
The short house,
Gone is the little house,
From Maiuu to Maaa-e.
Let this be commenced.
Build, with the soft beat of the drum,
With the murmur of the voice of the gods,
With the low whine of the dog,
With the low grunt of the pig,
And the soft whispers of men.
Here am I, Kahilona,
The teacher of prayer,
Proclaimed by Kahilona.”
A kupua who was a dog-man overthrew the government of Kahanai and became the ruling power between Nuuanu Valley and the sea. His own house and heiau were at Lihue,—a place [[93]]toward the Waianae Mountains. This kupua never attacked or injured any members of the family of the very high chief or king of the island Oahu, but he was a cannibal, and many of the people were killed and eaten by him. He could appear at will either as a man or a dog.
His name was Kaupe. After he had eaten some of the people of Oahu he went over the water to eat the men of Maui, and then went on to Hawaii, where he captured the son of one of the high chiefs and carried him back to Oahu, putting him in the temple at Lihue to keep him there until the time came for a human sacrifice. Then the boy was to be killed and laid on a platform before the gods.
The father of that boy left Hawaii to follow him to Oahu, thinking there might be some way of saving his son. If he failed he could at least die with him. When the father came to Oahu he very quietly landed and looked for some one to give him aid. After a time he met Kahilona, the caretaker of the temple of the Menehunes, and told him all his trouble.
The priest taught the father the proper incantations by which he could get his boy away from the magic power of Kaupe, and save both himself and his boy. Then he also taught the father a prayer which he was to use if Kaupe should learn of their escape and pursue them. [[94]]
At night he approached the temple at Lihue repeating the chant which Kahilona had taught him. He watched for the signs which the priest had told him would indicate the place where the boy was kept, and followed them carefully. He continually repeated his chant until he came inside the walls and found the dog asleep guarding the boy. The father slipped in, cautiously aroused the boy, and unfastened the cords which bound him. Then they quietly passed the dog, guarded by the incantation:
“O Ku! O Lono! O Ka-ne! O Kanaloa!
Save us two. Save us two.”
Thus they passed out of the temple and fled toward the temple Ka-he-iki.
While they were running a great noise was heard far behind them. The dog had been awakened, and had discovered the escape of his prisoner. Then rushing like a whirlwind around the temple he found the direction in which they had fled. This was the path naturally taken by those leaving Oahu to escape to Hawaii. The great dog only waiting to learn the course taken, pursued them on the wings of the wind.
MOANALUA NEAR HONOLULU
The two chiefs fled, but saw that it was impossible to outrun the dog. Then the father uttered the prayer which the priest had said [[95]]would save them if Kaupe followed. They ran with increased strength and swiftness, but the dog would soon be upon them. Again the father repeated the prayer:
“O Ku! O Lono! O Ka-ne! O Kanaloa!
By the power of the gods,
By the strength of this prayer,
Save us two. Save us two.”
Then they found a great stone at Moanalua under which they were able to hide.
The dog had only one thought, which was that the father and son would return to Hawaii as speedily as possible aided by their gods, so he rushed to the beach, leaped into the air and flew to Hawaii.
The chiefs went to the temple Ka-he-iki, and were gladly welcomed by the priest, Kahilona, who taught them the prayers by which they could overcome and destroy the dog-man.
After they were fully instructed they returned to their home on Hawaii and waged war against their enemy. They obeyed the directions of the priest and finally killed Kaupe.
But the ghost of Kaupe was not killed. He returned as a ghost-god to the highest part of Nuuanu Valley, where in his shadow body he can sometimes be seen in the clouds which gather around the mountain-tops or come down [[96]]the valley. Sometimes his cloud-form is that of a large dog, and sometimes he is very small, but there his ghost rests and watches over the lands which at one time he filled with terror.
Kahilona, the priest of the temple Ka-he-iki, became the ancestor of one of the greatest of the priestly clans of the islands—the Mo-o-kahuna (the priests of the dragon) class of Oahu, noted for their ability to read the signs of sky and sea and land.
Grass Hut
[[97]]
[1] This heiau (temple) was on the road to Pauoa Valley, now Pacific Heights. [↑]
XIV
THE CANOE OF THE DRAGON
Koa-trees, out of which the finest and most enduring calabashes of the old Hawaiians were made, grew near the ocean’s sandy shore, but the koa-trees from which canoes were carved and burned were, according to some wise plan of Providence, placed on rough precipitous mountain-sides or on the ridges above.
The fierce winds of the mountains and the habit of bracing themselves against difficulties made the koa-trees cross-grained and slow in growth. The koa was the best tree of the Hawaiian Islands for the curled, twisted, and hard-grained wood needed in canoes which were beaten by overwhelming surf waves, rolled over sandy beaches, or smashed against coral or lava reefs.
From the time the canoe was cut in the mountains and was dragged and rolled over lava beds or sent crashing down steep mountain-sides to the time it lay worn out and conquered by the decay of old age it was always ready to meet the roughest kind of life into which its maker and owner could force it to go. [[98]]
The calabash used in the plains and in the mountains came from a tree grown in beautiful lines by the sea. The canoe came from the hard mountain-koa far from its final workshop. There were gods, sacrifices, ceremonies, priests and even birds in the rites and superstitions of the canoe-makers. Kupulupulu was the god of the koa forest. Any wanderer in the woods was in the domain of that god. It was supposed that every rustling footstep was heard by most acute ears, and every motion of the hand was watched by the sharpest eyes. Dread of the unseen and unheard made every forest rover tremble until he had made some proper offering and uttered some effective incantation.
The ceremony and the wages of the priest who went up the mountain to select a koa-tree for canoe-cutting were like this: First he found a fine-appearing tree which he thought would make the kind of canoe desired. Then he took out his fire-sticks and rubbed rapidly until he had sparks of fire in the wood-dust of his lower stick. He caught the fire and made a burning oven (imu), heated some stones, cooked a black pig and a chicken, and prepared food for a feast, and then prayed:
“O Kupulupulu—the god!
Here is the pig,
Here is the chicken,
Here is food. [[99]]
O Kupulupulu!
O Kulana wao!
O Ku-ohia laka!
O Ku waha ilo!
Here is food for the gods.”
The aumakuas, or spirits of ancestors, were supposed to join with the gods of the prayer in partaking of the shadow of the feast, leaving the substance for the canoe-makers.
After the offering and prayer the priests ate and then lay down to sleep until the next day. In the morning after another feast they began to cut the tree.
David Malo, in his “Hawaiian Antiquities,” said that the priest took his stone axe and called upon the female deities of the canoe-cutters thus:
“O Lea and Ka-pua-o-alakai!
Listen now to the axe.
This is the axe which is to cut the tree for the canoe.”
Another account says that when the canoe priest began to cut the tree and also as long as they were chopping it down they were talking to the gods thus:
“O Ku Akua! O Paapaaina!
Take care while the tree is falling,
Do not break our boat,
Do not let the tree smash and crack.”
[[100]]
When the tree began to tremble and its leaves and branches rustle, a tabu of silence was enjoined upon the workmen, that the tree itself might be the only one heard by the watching gods.
When the tree had fallen a careful watch was made for Lea, the wife of Moku-halii, the chief god of the canoe-carvers—those who hollowed out the canoe.
It was supposed that Lea had a double body—sometimes she was a human being and sometimes she appeared as a bird.
Her bird body was that of the Elepaio, a little bird covered with speckled feathers, red and black on the wings, the woodpecker of the Hawaiians.
“When she calls she gives her name ‘E-le-pai-o, E-le-pai-o, E-le-pai-o!’ very sweetly.”
If she calls while the tree is being cut down and then flies gently down to the fallen tree and runs up and down from end to end, and does not touch the tree, nor bend the head over, striking the wood, then that tree is sound and good for a canoe.
But if the goddess strikes the tree here and there it is rotten and of no use, and is left lying on the ground.
David Malo, as translated by Dr. Emerson, says:
“When the tree had fallen the head priest [[101]]mounted the trunk, axe in hand, and called out in a loud voice, ‘Smite with the axe, and hollow the canoe! Give me my malo!’
The priest’s wife would hand him a white ceremonial malo with which he girded himself—then walked along the tree a few steps and called out in a loud voice, ‘Strike with the axe, and hollow it! Grant us a canoe!’
Then he struck a blow on the tree with the axe. This was repeated until he reached the point where the head of the tree was to be cut off. Here he wreathed the tree with the ieie vine, repeated a prayer, commanded silence, and cut off the top of the tree.
This done, the priest declared the ceremony performed and the tabu lifted.
Then the priests took their stone adzes, hollowed out the canoe on the inside, and shaped it on the outside until in its rough shape it was ready to be dragged by the people down to the beach and finished and polished for its work in the sea.”
Ka-hanai-a-ke-Akua was a chief residing near Kou. He lived in the time when gods and men mingled freely with each other and every tabu chief was more or less of a god because of his high birth.
His priests went up Nuuanu Valley to a place on the side where forests covered a small valley [[102]]running into the side hills of the larger and more open valley. Great koa-trees fit for canoe-making were found in this forest. However, this part of the valley belonged to the eepa people—the deformed or ill-shaped gnomes of woodland or plain. Sometimes they seemed to be crippled and warped in mind as well as in body. They could be kind and helpful, but they were often vindictive and quarrelsome. There were also ferocious mo-o, or dragon-gods, watching for prey. Travellers were destroyed by them. They sometimes appeared as human beings, but were always ready to become mo-os.
One of these gods came down to the place where the priests were cutting the koa canoe for the high chief. He watched the ceremonies and listened to the incantations while the tree was being cut down. He tried to throw obstacles in the way of the men who were steadily breaking chips from the tree-trunk. He directed the force of the wind sweeping down the valley against them. He sent black clouds burdened with heavy driving rain. He made discouraging omens and sent signs of failure, but the priests persevered.
At last the tree fell and was accepted. It was speedily trimmed of its branches, cut roughly to the required shape and partly hollowed out. Then coconut ropes and vines were fastened [[103]]around it, and the people began to pull it down the valley to the harbor of Kou.
As they started to drag the log over rough lava ridges outcropping along the valley-side they found their first effort checked. The log did not move down into the valley. Rather, it seemed to go up the hillside. The god caught one end and pulled back. Another mighty effort was put forth and the canoe and the god slipped over the stones and partly down the hillside. But the dragon-god braced himself again and made the canoe very heavy. He could not hold it fast and it came down to the men. It was very difficult to drag it through the forest of the valley-side or the thickets of the valley, so the men pulled it down into the rough, rocky bed of the little stream known as Nuuanu. It was thought that the flowing water would help the men and the slippery stones would hinder the god.
Down they went pulling against each other. The god seemed to feel that the struggle under such conditions was hopeless, so he let go of the canoe and turned to the flowing water.
Beautiful waterfalls and cascades abound all along the course of this mountain stream. It is fed by springs and feathery waterfalls which throw the rainfall from the tops of the mountains far down into the valley.
The god hastened along this water course, [[104]]stopped up the springs, and turned aside the tributary streams, leaving the bed of the river dry. Then he went down once more, caught the canoe, and pulled back. It was weary, discouraging work, and the chief’s people became very tired of their struggle. The night fell when they were still some distance from the sea.
THE GNARLÈD KOA
They had come to a place known as Ka-ho-o-kane.[1] In this place there were sharp turns, steep banks and great stones. Here the dragon-god fought most earnestly and wedged the log fast in the rocks.
The task had become so difficult and it was so dark that the high chief allowed his priests to call the people away, leaving the log in the place where the last struggle was made. It was a gift to the mo-o, the dragon, and was known as “The canoe of the dragon-god.” It is said that it lies there still, changed into a stone, stuck fast among the other huge stones among which the water from the mountains finds its way laughing at the defeat of the canoe-makers.
Pahu
[[105]]
[1] This place is in the heart of modern Honolulu back of the old Kaumakapili church site. [↑]
XV
THE WONDERFUL SHELL
Near Niolapa, on the eastern side of Nuuanu Valley, is the stone where Kapuni rested when he came after the shell known as the Kiha-pu. Kapuni was a child of Kauhola, who was said to have been a chief, who was born, was walking and had grown up, had become a father, a grandfather, and had died, all in one day. Kapuni was born in Waipio Valley, and was placed in the temple Pakaaluna and was made a god.
Two gods came from Puna. They were Kaakau and Kaohuwalu. They waited above Hakalaoa looking down into Waipio. There they saw Kapuni leaping. He touched a branch of a kukui-tree and fell down. He leaped again and touched the short top branches of the kukui and fell down.
Kaakau said to Kaohuwalu, “Suppose we get Kapuni to go with us as our travelling companion, one with us, in fierce storms, or in the cold heavy dews of night.”
Kaohuwalu assented, and they arose and went down. They called to Kapuni, asking him to [[106]]leap up. He tried again and again and always fell back.
Kaakau caught him as he fell and cut off part of his body because he was too heavy, then he could fly to the sky and return again.
Kaakau asked him how he was succeeding. He replied, “Very well indeed; I am swift in flight.” Then Kaakau said, “Will you go with us on a journey?” Kapuni said, “Yes.”
They went away to the lands of Kahiki and returned to Kauai. From there they heard the wonderful voice of a shell sounding from the temple Waolani in Nuuanu Valley.
Kapuni said, “What is that thing which makes such a sound?”
Kaakau said, “That is a shell which belongs to the eepas [gnomes], the people of Waolani, Oahu.”
“I want that shell very much,” said Kapuni. Kaakau told him that the task would be very difficult and dangerous, for the shell was guarded by watchmen from hill to hill, from the sea to the summit of the valley, and along all the pathways to the neighboring villages.
The gods, however, crossed the channel to Oahu, and rested at night above Kahakea. Here was a temple above Waolani. It was upon a hill. In it was a noted drum. The name of that temple was Pakaaluna. Kapuni told his friends to stay [[107]]there waiting for him. If he did not return before the red dust of the dawn was in the sky they would know he was dead. If he returned he would have the shell.
Then he approached the prison enclosure outside the temple. Here he waited by a rock for all the watchmen on the high places around the temple to fall asleep. When the stars arose in the heavens above Nuuanu and all were sound asleep he entered the temple and took the shell. He flew away and found his companions.
They made a great jump and leaped to Kalaau Point. As they flew over the water to Molokai the shell touched the top of a wave and sang with a clear voice.
The god of Waolani Temple heard the shell singing, looked, and found that it had been stolen. He rushed from the temple, flew over the Nuuanu precipice and out into the channel from which he had heard the sound.
Kapuni hid among the waves, the shell ceased its song. The god of Waolani went back and forth over the water, but could find nothing.
After the god gave up the search Kapuni went on to Molokai and then to Maui and Hawaii. As it flew across the channel between Maui and Hawaii the shell struck a high wave and broke off a corner. [[108]]
When they were on the hills of Hawaii they found the temple built at Hainoa. There the gods of Hawaii were gathered together.
Kiha was high chief of Hawaii at that time, and had been dwelling in Waipio Valley, cultivating his plant, planting awa, and building a temple for his gods.
When that temple was finished and the tabu of silence lifted from all the surrounding country he went to Kawaihae and built another temple, establishing another altar for his gods. He placed the usual tabu upon all the land around Kawaihae.
But the tabu was broken by the sound of that shell blown by the gods of the Hainoa Temple. He was very much troubled, but the gods were too strong for him. At last help came to him from Puapualenalena (The yellow flower), a dog belonging to a master who had left his home in Niihau some time before.
Puapualenalena was seeking his master, and found him on the uplands of Hawaii.
The dog excelled in his skill as a thief, stealing pigs, chickens, tapa cloth, all kinds of property for his master.
The master told that dog to get the tabu awa roots of the king, which were growing on the hillsides of Waipio Valley.
When that place was stripped, he sent the dog [[109]]to the precipices of Waimanu, and he took nearly all that was there.
Then the king commanded his people to watch the awa fields and catch the one who was stealing his growing awa.
They began their watch. When the night was almost over and the dawn was touching the sky they found the thief. These men followed the thief and caught his master in a cave, all wrinkled from drinking much awa.
They took the master and the dog to the king Kiha as prisoners, and the king planned to have them steal that shell which troubled him. If they failed they should be put to death. This was the sentence of the king upon his prisoners.
The master talked with his dog, and told him all the word of the king. They planned to pay for the theft of the awa, but not by the death of their bodies.
The dog went out to win the shell from the gods under cover of the night, when the darkness was great and all kinds of shell voices were mingling with other voices of the woodland and wilderness.
Then came the softly resonant voice of that shell blown by the gods. According to an ancient chant, “The song of Kiha-pu calls Kauai,” meaning the song is listened to from far distant Kauai. [[110]]
The dog ran swiftly while the sound of the shell was great, and hid in a corner of a stone wall of the heiau. He waited and waited a long time. The dawn was almost at hand. Then the watchers fell into deep sleep.
The dog crept softly inside, seized the shell and slipped it away from its place, then leaped over six walls of the heiau, but touched the seventh and outside wall. Then the shell sang out loud and clear.
The gods were aroused. They followed, but the dog leaped into a pool of water and concealed himself and the shell while the gods dashed by. They searched the road toward Waipio, then rushed toward the Kona district.
The dog flew from the pond down the precipice of Waipio Valley and laid the shell at the feet of Kiha, the king of Hawaii.
The dog and his master were given a high place in the affections of the king.
The shell was renowned for its wonderful sound, and could call the warriors of the king from any distance when the king caused it to be blown. It was known as Kiha’s shell, the Kiha-pu.
This shell was carefully preserved by the chiefs of Hawaii from that ancient time. Generation after generation it was cared for. In the time of Kamehameha III. it was kept in his [[111]]palace. It was among the treasures of King Kalakaua, and now has its resting-place in the hands of ex-Queen Liliuokalani in Honolulu.
When Kapuni died, his bones, worshipped as one of the gods, were kept at Kaawaloa until the tabu and the temples were overthrown.
[[112]]
XVI
THE GHOST DANCE ON PUNCHBOWL
Ka Hula O Na Aumakua
Punchbowl lies back of Honolulu. It is an extinct volcano. Inside the crater rim is a basin whose sides are grass-covered, with groups of trees here and there. The little houses and small gardens of squatters show that there is no longer any fear of subterranean activity. A large part of the city of Honolulu is built on what were once the brown, desolate sides of the volcano sloping down to the sea.
Punchbowl is one of the last attempts of the goddess of fire to retain her hold on the island of Oahu. The great ridge of mountains which forms the backbone of the island is a gigantic remnant of volcanic action, but the craters out of which this vast mass of lava was poured died centuries before the foothill craters threw out the last black sand of Punchbowl or uplifted the coral and the white sea sand and shells of Leahi Diamond Head.
In the indefinite long ago, Kakei was the moi, or high ruling chief, of Oahu. He was enterprising [[113]]and brave. He not only perfected himself in the use of the spear, the war-club and the sling-stone, but he rallied around him the restless young chiefs of the districts which acknowledged his supremacy. His court was filled with men who gave and received blows, who won and lost in the many games, who were penniless to-day and rich to-morrow, and yet took all that came as a matter of course. Kakei called these younger chiefs together and told them to return to their districts for a time and make preparations for a voyage and a battle. They must see that many new canoes were made and the best of the old ones repaired and repolished. They must select the bravest and best of their retainers and have them well armed and well provisioned. He hinted that it might be a long journey, therefore they had better provide strong mat sails for all the canoes. It might be many days, therefore the provisions should be such as would last. At once the young men with great joy hastened to their homes to obey the will of their chief.
It was impossible to keep the people from talking about the expedition. Excitement predominated. The shrill voices of the women shouted the news from valley to valley. The hum of unwonted industry was heard over all the island. Imagination was keenly intent to discover the point threatened by the proposed [[114]]excursion. Night after night the people discussed the various enemies of their king, and his prospects for successful battle with them, or they talked of the enlargement of his kingdom by the acquisition of Molokai or the increase of riches by a foray along the coasts of Hawaii. They prophesied great victories and much spoil. Months passed by and all the preparations were complete. A splendid body of warriors were gathered around their high chief. The large flotilla of canoes was launched, the sails set, and the colored pennants placed at the end of each mast. The young chiefs were brilliant in their bright yellow and red war capes and hideous with the war masks which many of them proudly wore as they leaped into their canoes and shouted “Aloha” to the friends whom they were leaving.
As soon as the boats had left the shore the chief turned to the north rather than to the south, as all had been led to believe would be the course. Sails and paddles were both used freely. The winds of the seas and the strong arms of the oarsmen vied with each other in hastening the fleet toward the island of Kauai. Night crept over the waters, but the bright stars were unclouded and the path over the waters was as straight by night as it had been by day.
The morning star was shining and the dawn was painting the clear sky with wonderful tints [[115]]of pearl when Kakei and his army of warriors, already on the land, raised their war-cry and assaulted the people of the village of Waimea.
Catching war-club and spear the chief of Waimea rushed out of his house, raising his war-cry. His men, half-awake, confused and dazed by the sudden attack, attempted to aid him in resisting the invaders. The battle was short and decisive. In a very little while many people were killed. The thatched houses were set on fire and a great destruction wrought.
Kakei had ordered his warriors to seize the canoes and the women and children and whatever plunder in calabashes, mats, kapa cloth, stone implements and feather cloaks could be had, and gather all together on the beach.
The captured canoes and their own great fleet were filled and the return safely made to Oahu. Kakei and his warriors sailed around the island to Honolulu Harbor. There the beach was covered with the new riches and the captive women and children. The king ordered a great feast to be prepared on the slopes of Punchbowl. Fish in abundance were caught, pigs and chickens were slaughtered, many ovens with red-hot stones were made ready, and huge calabashes of awa prepared.
Kakei and his victorious warriors gathered around the poi-bowl, while the hula-girls danced most joyously before them. [[116]]
Suddenly the earth shook under them, the poi-bowls rocked as if tossed on the waters of the sea, the feast which had been spread before them moved from place to place as if made of things of life. The rocky cliffs of Punchbowl began to separate and come crashing down the hillside in great masses. The people fled in every direction, leaving a part of their number crushed under the falling stones.
Then came another mighty earthquake. The side of Punchbowl opened and a flood of lava poured out, mixed with clouds of steam and foul gases. Down over the place where the feast was spread on the luau mats poured the fire. The feast became the food of the fire-goddess. Then a wonderful thing appeared above the flowing lava, in the midst of the clouds hovering over the crater. A number of the aumakua of Kauai were seen in a solemn and stately dance. Back and forth they moved to the rhythm of steady peals of erupting gases. The clouds swayed to and fro, while the ghosts moved back and forth among them. The spirits of the ancestors had come to protect the women and children of the households whose friendly deities they were. It was the ceremonial, sacred dance of the spirits, to be followed by swift punishment of those who had brought such great injury to Kauai. [[117]]
But while the ghosts continued their awful dance, the terrified king and his warriors hastily prepared a propitiation. The captured women and children were called to the beach. All the plunder brought from Waimea was hastily collected and placed in the hands of the captives. The kahunas, the priests of the king, were sent to the slope above Punchbowl Hill to cry out to the aumakuas that all the reparation possible would be made at once.
The warriors placed the captives and their goods in canoes, and started back to Kauai. As the canoes passed out of sight the earthquakes ceased. No longer was there the thunder of imprisoned gases leaping to liberty. The fires died away, and the flood of lava cooled. The aumakuas had accepted the offered repentance of the king and his warriors.
It is said that the fire never again returned to that crater or to the island of Oahu.
Note: Curious and weird tales are told concerning these two small, picturesque volcanoes of the city which in tropical luxuriance is one of the most beautiful spots in the Pacific Ocean. Near the foot of Diamond Head, and not far from the caves which burrow its sides, was the heiau (temple) which was one of the last to be glutted with human sacrifices. Its altars were [[118]]loaded with bodies of dead men when Kamehameha brought his warriors from Hawaii and Maui and with much bloodshed conquered Oahu and unified the Islands under one government. On the brow of Diamond Head, fronting the sea, are the remains of a small fish-god temple within the walls of which the less cruel offerings were made to Kuula to gain his favor in securing food from the sea. Battles were fought and noted deeds of daring done both east and west of this prominent crater.
The summit of Punchbowl is crowned with a bold, frowning pile of perpendicular rocks. On the top of this pile peculiar human sacrifices are said to have been offered from time to time.
The natives whisper a story that one of the last kings of the Kamehameha family, in a drunken fit, so seriously injured his son that ultimately death resulted. The crazed father planned an expiation. The word was quietly passed that no one was to move far away from his home that night. There was an air of mystery around the city. What happened was never accurately known, but a fire burned on the high rock, and the smoke fell around it that night. It was hinted that a drunken sailor might easily have disappeared while staggering through the dark shadows, and be but little missed.
But back in the olden time there was laid the [[119]]foundation for a legend which in these later days becomes a good folk-lore tale. Many of the Hawaiians of to-day believe in the continual presence of the aumakuas, the spirits of the dead. In time past the aumakuas were a powerful reality. An ancestor, a father or a grandfather, a makua, died. Sometimes he went to Po, the under-world, or to Milu, the shadow-land, or to Lani, the Hawaiian heaven, and sometimes he remained to be a torment or a blessing to his past friends.
In Samoa, Turner says that the aumakuas were supposed to come back from the under-world and enter into the bodies of those they wished to trouble. They might find a home in the stomach or heart or bowels, but wherever they found an abiding-place the spirit produced disease and death. If a man was dying, his neighbors desired to be on good terms with him and did all they could to make him comfortable.
This is very much like the power of praying to death among the Hawaiians. The spirit of some dead person was supposed to be the real destructive agent in putting to death the one prayed against. The aumakua (the ancestor spirit) was more powerful than any living human force.
In Tahiti the oro-matuas (aumakuas) were very malignant, cruel and relentless in punishing those who incurred their displeasure. In all the different [[120]]groups of islands, however, the ghosts were supposed to belong to particular families and to exert their mysterious power in caring for these households. Many Hawaiian families have stories which are still firmly believed, of special favors granted to individuals in time of danger. A school-boy in Hilo told the writer how his grandfather was saved when his canoe upset, and how he was safely brought to the land by the shark into which the family aumakua had entered. The story is told of a man captured in battle, tied up in green ti leaves ready to be put into the pit full of red-hot stones, and then set free by the owl in which the protector of his family was dwelling. “People sometimes gave the bodies of their relatives to sharks in order that their spirits might enter into the sharks, or threw them into the crater of Kilauea, that the spirits might join the company of volcanic deities and afterward befriend the family.”
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XVII
THE BIRD-MAN OF NUUANU VALLEY
Namaka was a noted man of the time of Kalaniopuu. He was born on Kauai, but journeyed forth to find some one whom he would like to call his lord. He was skilled in managing land (Kalai-aina), an orator (Kakaolelo), and could recite genealogies (Kaauhau). He excelled in spear-throwing (lonomakaihe), boxing or breaking the back of his opponent (lua), leaping or flying (lele) and astronomy (kilo). All this he had learned on Kauai.
Sailing from Kauai he landed on Oahu. In Nuuanu Valley he met Pakuanui, a very skilful man, a fine orator and boxer. He was the father of Ka-ele-o-waipio, a noted man of the time of [[122]]Kamehameha, the maker of a chant for the missionaries at Kailua.
Toward the upper end of Nuuanu Valley, in a place Ka-hau-komo, where spreading hau[1] trees cluster on both sides of the road, Namaka and Pakuanui had a contest. They prepared themselves for boxing and wrestling, and then faced each other to show their skill and agility.
This man from Kauai appeared like a rainbow bending over the hau-trees, arched in the red rain, or in the mist cloud over the Pali, as he circled around Pakuanui. He was like the ragged clouds of Lanihuli, or the wind rushing along the top of the Pali. His hands were like the rain striking the leaves of the bushes of Malailua. He was so swift and strong that he could catch Pakuanui in any part of his body.
The man of Oahu could not hold Namaka. That Kauai man was as slippery as an eel, and as hard to hold as certain kinds of smooth, slimy fish, always escaping the hands of Pakuanui. But he could strike any place. The hill of the forehead he struck, the ridge of the nose also. There was no place he could not touch. He rushed like a whirlwind around the man. However, he did not try to kill Pakuanui. He wished only to display his skill.
THE MISTY FALLS
Pakuanui was very much ashamed and angry because he could not do anything with Namaka, [[123]]and planned to kill him when they should reach the Pali (precipice of Nuuanu Valley), to which they were going after the boxing contest.
When they came to Kapili at the top of the Pali, a very narrow place, Pakuanui said to Namaka, “You may go before me.”
Namaka passed by on the outside and Pakuanui gave him a kick, knocking him over the Pali, expecting him to be dashed to pieces on the rocks at the foot of the precipice.
But Namaka flew away from the edge of the Pali. The people who were watching said: “He went off. He flew off from the Pali like an Io bird, leaping into the air of Lanihuli, spreading out his arms like wings. When the strong wind twisted and whirled, Namaka was lifted like a kite by the wind, and hung among the kukui branches below a little waterfall which is on the western side of the precipice where a rivulet starts on its way to the ocean.” Then he leaped to the ground and went away to Maui. At Pohakuloa, on Maui, Namaka leaped down some precipices, showing his strength and skill.
When Namaka came to Hawaii, Kalaniopuu was king. He liked him very much and hoped to have him as his lord.
Note: The older natives sometimes recall this wonderful flight of the man from Kauai who was skilful in leaping and flying from the edge of precipices. [[124]]
However, another man from Kauai was a favorite with the king. He knew Namaka, and was afraid that he might be supplanted when the king should learn about Namaka’s wonderful powers, so he gave no welcome to Namaka, but turned him away.
Namaka went to Waimea and found Hinai, the high chief of that place, a near relative to Kalaniopuu. He told Hinai what he could do, and was made a favorite of the high chief.
He taught Hinai how to be very skilful in all his arts, and especially in leaping from precipices. He hoped that Hinai’s skill would be noised abroad, and the king would hear and wish to have the teacher come to live with him.
Hinai became very proficient, and even wonderful, in standing on the edge of high precipices and leaping down unhurt. These places have been pointed out to the young people by their parents.
When the favorite of Kalaniopuu heard that there was a very skilful man from Kauai stopping with the high chief of Waimea, he told the king that an enemy from Kauai was in Waimea.
The king listened to this man and then he charged Namaka with trying to make his relative Hinai so skilful in leaping down high places that he could always escape any attempt to injure him.
The favorite said: “This man, Namaka, can [[125]]fly over mountains and streams and precipices and plains and not be killed. He is a rebel against your kingdom.”
Kalaniopuu commanded some men to go and kill this stranger from Kauai, telling them to begin war upon Hinai if he opposed their attempt to take the stranger.
Namaka had prepared himself for escape by digging in the ground and making a pit under his house, with a tunnel and an opening some distance away.
The warriors from Kalaniopuu surrounded the house, thinking he was inside. They consulted about the best method of killing him, and decided to burn him up. They set fire to the house and destroyed it and went away, believing this stranger had been burned to death.
Namaka easily escaped from Hawaii and crossed over to Maui, where he remained some time, but he found no one whom he wished to take as his lord. Then he went to Oahu, and at last returned to his home on Kauai.
There prophesying about the chiefs of Hawaii, whom he had considered superior to those on Maui and Oahu, but not equal to the royal family of Kauai, he spoke thus: “There is no ruling chief in Hawaii who can step his foot on the tabu sand of Kahamaluihi [Kauai]. There is no war canoe or divine chief who can come [[126]]to Kauai unless a treaty has been made between the two ruling chiefs.”
The natives call this a prophecy of the skilled chief who could fly from Nuuanu Pali, and think it was fulfilled because Kamehameha never conquered Kauai, but secured it by concession from its king.
Note: History repeats itself the world over. Recently the bird-men visited Hawaii and gave exhibitions of flying in aëroplanes. According to old Hawaiian traditions, however, there were bird-men in Hawaii before the white man came, as the foregoing translation from one of the old legends illustrates.
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