CHARACTERS.
- Kanipahu, king of Hawaii.
- Kalapana, son of Kanipahu.
- Kamaiole, a usurper of the throne, chief of Kau.
- Iola, sister of Kamaiole.
- Makea, daughter of Iola.
- Waikuku, a military chief, abductor of Iola.
- Nanoa, a chief in the royal household.
THE ROYAL HUNCHBACK.
THE LEGEND OF KANIPAHU, THE GRANDSON OF PILI.
I.
About the period of A.D. 1160 Kanipahu was the nominal sovereign of the island of Hawaii. He was the grandson of Pili, who near the close of the previous century came from Samoa, at the solicitation of the high-priest Paao, to assume the moiship left vacant by the death of Kapawa, whose grandfather was probably the first of the southern chiefs who came to the Hawaiian group during the important migratory movements of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.
Although the sovereignty of the entire island was claimed by the Pili family, disturbances were frequent in the time of Kanipahu, and a few of the native chiefs of the old stock of Nanaula, which held sway in the group for nearly six centuries, refused to yield allegiance to the new dynasty. To strengthen his power and placate the native chiefs and people, Kanipahu took to wife Hualani, the fifth in descent from Maweke, of the Nanaula line, and subsequently Alaikaua, who was probably of the same native strain.