As an episode of this war the following legend has been preserved and may prove interesting: When the news of the invasion spread to Ewa and Waialua, eight famous warriors from these places, whose names the legend has retained, concerted an expedition on their own account to win distinction for their bravery and inflict what damage they [[289]]could on Kahekili’s forces. It was a chivalrous undertaking, a forlorn hope, and wholly unauthorized by Kahahana, but fully within the spirit of the time for personal valor, audacity, and total disregard of consequences. The names of those heroes were Pupuka,[7] Makaioulu, Puakea, Pinau, Kalaeone, Pahua, Kauhi, and Kapukoa. Starting direct from Apuakehau in Waikiki, where Kahekili’s army was encamped and organizing preparatory to a march inland to fight Kahahana, the eight Oahu warriors boldly charged a large contingent of several hundred men of the Maui troops collected at the heiau. In a twinkling they were surrounded by overwhelming numbers, and a fight commenced to which Hawaiian legends record no parallel. Using their long spears and javelins with marvellous skill and dexterity, and killing a prodigious number of their enemies, the eight champions broke through the circle of spears that surrounded them. But Makaioulu, though a good fighter was a bad runner, on account of his short bow-legs, and he was overtaken by Kauhikoakoa, a Maui chief. Makaioulu was soon tripped up, secured, and bound by Kauhikoakoa, who swinging the captive up on his own shoulders, started off with him for the camp to have him sacrificed as the first victim of the war. This affair took place on the bank of the Punaluu taro patch, near the coconut grove of Kuakuaaka. Makaioulu, thus hoisted on the back of his captor, caught sight of his friend Pupuka, and called out to him to throw his spear straight at the navel of his stomach. In hopes of shortening the present and prospective tortures of his friend, and knowing well what his fate would be if brought alive into the enemy’s camp, Pupuka did as he was bidden, and with an unerring aim. But Makaioulu, seeing the spear coming, threw himself with a violent effort on one side, and the spear went through the back of Kauhikoakoa. Seeing their leader fall, the Maui soldiers desisted from further pursuit, and the eight champions escaped.
In the beginning of 1783—some say it was in the month of January—Kahekili, dividing his forces in three columns, marched from Waikiki by Puowaina, Pauoa, and Kapena, and gave battle to Kahahana near the small stream of Kaheiki. Kahahana’s army was thoroughly routed, and he and his wife Kekuapoi-ula fled to the mountains. It is related that in this battle Kauwahine, the wife of Kahekili, fought valiantly at his side.
Oahu and Molokai now became the conquest of Kahekili, and savagely he used his victory.
For upwards of two years or more Kahahana and his wife and his friend Alapai[8] wandered over the mountains of Oahu, secretly aided, fed, and clothed by the country people, who commiserated the misfortunes of their late king. Finally, weary of such a life, and hearing that Kekuamanoha, the uterine brother of his wife Kekuapoi-ula, was residing at Waikele in Ewa, he sent her to negotiate with her brother for their safety. Dissembling his real intentions, Kekuamanoha received his sister kindly and spoke her fairly, but having found out the hiding-place of Kahahana, he sent messengers to [[290]]Kahekili at Waikiki informing him of the fact. Kahekili immediately returned preemptory orders to slay Kahahana and Alapai, and he sent a double canoe down to Ewa to bring their corpses up to Waikiki. This order was faithfully executed by Kekuamanoha; and it is said that the mournful chant which still exists in the Hawaiian anthology of a bygone age under the name of “Kahahana” was composed and chanted by his widow as the canoe was disappearing with her husband’s corpse down the Ewa lagoon on its way to Waikiki.
The cruel treachery practised on Kahahana and his sad fate, joined to the overbearing behaviour and rapacity of the invaders, created a revulsion of feeling in the Oahu chiefs, which culminated in a wide-spread conspiracy against Kahekili and the Maui chiefs who were distributed over the several districts of Oahu. Kahekili himself and a number of chiefs were at that time living at Kailua; Manonokauakapekulani, Kaiana, Namakeha, Nahiolea, Kalaniulumoku, and others, were quartered at Kaneohe and Heeia; Kalanikupule, Koalaukane, and Kekuamanoha were at Ewa, and Hueu was at Waialua.
The Oahu leaders of the conspiracy were Elani, the father of Kahahana, Pupuka and Makaioulu, above referred to, Konamanu, Kalakioonui, and a number of others. The plan was to kill the Maui chiefs on one and the same night in the different districts. Elani and his band were to kill the chiefs residing at Ewa; Makaioulu and Pupuka were to kill Kahekili and the chiefs at Kailua; Konamanu and Kalakioonui were to dispatch Hueu at Waialua. By some means the conspiracy became known to Kalanikupule, who hastened to inform his father, Kahekili, and the Maui chiefs at Kaneohe in time to defeat the object of the conspirators; but, through some cause now unknown, the messenger sent to advise Hueu, generally known as Kiko-Hueu, failed to arrive in time, and Hueu and all his retainers then living at Kaowakawaka, in Kawailoa, of the Waialua district, were killed. The conspiracy was known as the “Waipio Kimopo” (the Waipio assassination), having originated in Waipio, Ewa.
Fearfully did Kahekili avenge the death of Hueu on the revolted Oahu chiefs. Gathering his forces together, he overran the districts of Kona and Ewa, and a war of extermination ensued. Men, women, and children were killed without discrimination and without mercy. The streams of Makaho and Niuhelewai in Kona, and that of Hoaeae in Ewa, are said to have been literally choked with the corpses of the slain. The native Oahu aristocracy were almost entirely extirpated. It is related that one of the Maui chiefs, named Kalaikoa, caused the bones of the slain to be scraped and cleaned, and that the quantity collected was so great that he built a house for himself, the walls of which were laid up entirely of the skeletons of the slain. The skulls of Elani, Konamanu, and Kalakioonui adorned the portals of this horrible house. The house was called “Kauwalua,” and was situated at Lapakea in Moanalua, as one passes by the old upper road to Ewa. The site is still pointed out, but the bones have received burial.
The rebellion of the Oahu chiefs appears to have had its supporters even among the chiefs and followers of Kahekili. Kalaniulumoku, the son of Kamehamehanui and nephew of Kahekili, took the part of the Oahu chiefs, and was supported by Kaiana, [[291]]Namakeha, Nahiolea, and Kaneoneo,[9] the grandson of Peleioholani. Their struggle was unsuccessful, and only added to the long list of the illustrious slain. Kalaniulumoku was driven over the Pali of Olomana and killed; Kaneoneo was killed at Maunakapu, as one descends to Moanalua; Kaiana, Nahiolea, and Namakeha escaped to Kauai. A number of chiefesses of the highest rank—“Kapumoe”—were killed, mutilated, or otherwise severely afflicted. Kekelaokalani, the cousin of Kahahana’s mother and of Kahekili, made her escape to Kauai. As an instance of deep affection, of bitterness of feeling, and of supreme hope of return and revenge at some future day, it is said that she took with her when she fled some of the Oahu soil from Apuakehau, Kahaloa, Waialua, and Kupalaha at Waikiki, and deposited it at Hulaia, Kaulana, and Kane, on Kauai (pp. 217–227). [[292]]