Had I the powers of a Walter Scott to give the reader a description of that remarkable assembly of Oahu notables that then and there convened for high national objects, I gladly would do so. I would describe the preliminary meeting of the District Chiefs, the (Ai-moku), with the High Priest (Kahuna-nui), presiding. I would tell of the dispatch of the High Priest’s messenger or herald, elele, around the island, convoking the chiefs and commoners to the projected assembly, a kind of Hawaiian “Fiery Cross,” speeding from feudal hall to lowliest hamlet; his functions, his privileges, his insignia of office, his formula of convocation. I would describe the meeting of those thus convened; the appearance of the chiefs dressed in their ahu-ula (feather cloaks), their mahiole (feather helmets), their niho palaoa (necklace of whale’s tooth and human hair), their kupee or pupu houka (bracelets of glittering precious shells); carrying their pololu (long spears), in their right hand, their pahoa (dagger of hardened wood), in their malo, or belt, and their newa or war-club looped up under their cloak. I would describe the sturdy makaainana, the commoners or freemen of the land, mustering behind their chiefs, armed with their ihe, javelins, and maa, slings. But abler hands, at some not far distant day, will doubtless weave a pleasant tale from those materials; and I proceed with the main story, from my work, “An Account of the Polynesian Race,” Vol. II, on pages as shown:
Kahahana, son of Elani, of the Ewa line of chiefs, was elected Moi of Oahu in place of Kumahana, son of Peleioholani and grandson of Kualii, who had been deposed by the Oahu chiefs as an incompetent, indolent, penurious and unlovable chief. This occurred about the year 1773 (pp. 65, 290, 154).
It is not improbable that the influence of Kahekili, King of Maui, was in Kahahana’s favor, for in the war between Hawaii and Maui wherein the invading forces of Kalaniopuu were all but annihilated in the battle of Waikapu commons, Kahahana and his Oahu troops were joined with Kahekili in the defence of Maui (p. 154).
In a subsequent attempt of Kalaniopuu to wrest honors from Kahekili, Kahahana is found an ally in the defence of Lahaina, accompanied by Keaulumoku, bard and prophet who, a few years later, composed his famous “Haui Ka Lani” chant foretelling the success and glory of Kamehameha I (p. 156).
Kaeo, King of Kauai, sent two messengers to acquaint Kahahana of Cook’s visit, [[285]]whereupon Kaopulupulu the high priest of Oahu said: “These people are foreigners; they are surely the people that will come and dwell in this land” (p. 169).
In 1779 Kahahana, the Oahu King, had but lately returned from Maui where he assisted Kahekili in his wars against Kalaniopuu of Hawaii. The rupture between Kahekili and Kahahana did not occur till afterward, in 1780–81 (pp. 197–8).
Kauhi, of Maui, landing at Waikiki on an expedition against Oahu, was met by the chiefs of Oahu, defeated and slain, his body exposed at the Apuakehau (Waikiki) heiau[1], and great indignities were committed with his bones. The memory of this great outrage instigated his descendant, Kahekili, to the fearful massacre of the Oahu chiefs, when, after the battle of Niuhelewai, he had defeated Kahahana and conquered the island (p. 208).
The death of Kahahana closed the autonomy of Oahu (p. 269).
In order to understand the political relations between Kahekili and Kahahana, the king of Oahu, and the causes of the war between them, it is necessary to go back to the year 1773, when Kumahana, the son of Peleioholani, was deposed by the chiefs and makaainana of Oahu. Though Kumahana had grown-up children at the time, yet the Oahu nobles passed them by in selecting a successor to the throne, and fixed their eyes on young Kahahana, the son of Elani, one of the powerful Ewa chiefs of the Maweke-Lakona line, and on his mother’s side closely related to Kahekili and the Maui royal family. Kahahana had from boyhood been brought up at the court of Kahekili, who looked upon his cousin’s child almost as a son of his own. What share, if any, indirectly, that Kahekili may have had in the election of Kahahana, is not known; but when the tidings arrived from Oahu announcing the result to Kahekili, he appears at first not to have been overmuch pleased with it. The Oahu chiefs had deputed Kekelaokalani, a high chiefess, a cousin to Kahahana’s mother and also to Kahekili, to proceed to Wailuku, Maui, and announce the election and solicit his approval. After some feigned or real demurrer, Kahekili consented to Kahahana going to Oahu, but refused to let his wife Kekuapoi-ula go with him, lest the Oahu chiefs should ill-treat her. Eventually, however, he consented, but demanded as a price of his consent that the land of Kualoa in Koolaupoko district should be ceded to him, and also the palaoa-pae (the whalebone and ivory) cast on the Oahu shores by the sea.
Hampered with these demands of the crafty Kahekili, Kahahana started with his wife and company for Oahu, and landed at Kahaloa in Waikiki. He was enthusiastically received, installed as Moi of Oahu, and great were the rejoicings on the occasion.