Enraged and desperate, Paoa, the faithful and sturdy chief to whom Lohiau had confided the government of his kingdom, started at once for Hawaii with a small party of retainers, determined, even at the sacrifice of his life, to denounce the powers that had slain his royal friend.
Landing on the coast of Puna, he ascended to the crater of Kilauea, and, standing upon the brink of the seething lake of fire, denounced the cruelty of Pele and defied her power. He contemptuously threw to her offerings unfit for sacrifice, and stigmatized all the volcanic deities as evil spirits who had been driven with Kanaloa from the presence of Kane and the society of the gods.
Paoa expected to be destroyed at once, and recklessly courted and awaited death. The brothers and sisters of Pele, with their several agencies of destruction, were momentarily expecting an order from the goddess to consume the audacious mortal in his tracks. Never before had such words of reproach and defiance been uttered by human tongue, and they could not doubt that swift vengeance would be hurled upon the offender.
But Pele refused to harm the desperate champion of Lohiau, for circumstances had convinced her of the innocence of Hiiaka and the fidelity of the prince. Therefore, instead of punishing the brave Paoa, Pele and her relatives received him with friendship, gently chided him for his words of insult and defiance, and disarmed his anger by forgiving the offence.
Satisfied of the great wrong she had done her faithful sister, and longing for her presence again in the chambers of the crater, Pele restored Pauo-palae and Omeo to life, and, endowing the latter with supernatural powers, sent her down to the regions of the dead to induce Hiiaka to return to earth.
Descending through the opening made by Hiiaka, Omeo was stopped at the intervening spheres, owing to the aspects of mortality which she unconsciously retained, and encountered many difficulties in reaching the kingdom of Milu. Arriving there and making known the object of her visit, Omeo was neither assisted nor encouraged in her search for Hiiaka. Milu was not anxious to part with his distinguished guest, and attempted to deceive Omeo by intimating that Hiiaka had returned to earth and was then on a visit to some of the relatives of her family in Kahiki.
Omeo was about to return, disappointed, to earth, when she discovered Hiiaka as she was listlessly emerging from a thick grove of trees where she had spent the most of her time since her arrival there in quest of the soul of Lohiau. Their greeting was most friendly, and when Omeo informed her of what had occurred at the volcano since her departure, she consented to leave the land of death and rejoin her relatives at the crater.
The brothers and sisters of Hiiaka were overjoyed at her return, and Pele welcomed her with assurances of restored affection. Paoa was still there. He was at once recognized by Hiiaka, and the next day she descended from Kilauea and embarked with him for Kauai in search of the soul of Lohiau.
The canoe of Paoa had scarcely left the shores of Puna before a strange craft swept in from the ocean, and was beached at the spot from which Hiiaka and her companion had embarked less than half a day before. It was a huge cowrie shell, dazzling in the brilliancy of its colors, and capable of indefinite expansion. Its masts were of ivory, and its sails were mats of the whiteness of milk. Both seemed to be mere ornaments, however, since the shell moved quite as swiftly through the water without wind as with it.
The sole occupant of the little vessel was the god Kanemilohai. He was a relative of the Pele family, and came from Kahiki on a visit to the volcanic deities of Hawaii. Remaining two or three days with Pele, and learning all that had happened to the family since they left Kahiki, the god started for Kauai to extend a greeting to Hiiaka.