The chiefs sent some men to go out in canoes and see this wonderful thing. They went close to the ship and saw iron on the outside of the ship. They were very glad when they saw the amount of iron. They had known iron before because of iron in sticks washed up on the land. Then there was little, but at this time they saw very much. They rejoiced and said, “There are many pieces of pahoa” (meaning iron). They called all iron pahoa—a tool for cutting, because there was once a sword among the old people of the Islands.
They went up on the ship and saw “a number [[103]]of men with white foreheads, shining eyes, skin wrinkled, square-cornered heads, indistinct words, and fire in their mouths.”
A chief and a priest tied the ends of their long malo-like sashes and held them up in their left hands. “They went before Kapena Kuke (Captain Cook), bent over, squatted down, and offered prayers, repeating words over and over; then took the hand of Kapena Kuke and knelt down; then rose up free from any tabu.”
Captain Cook gave the priest a knife. For this reason he named his daughter Kua-pahoa, after this knife. This was the first present of Captain Cook to a Hawaiian.
When they saw the burning of tobacco in the mouth of a man they thought he belonged to the volcano family. When they saw peculiar and large “cocoanuts” (probably melons) lying on the deck, they said, “This is the fruit of a sorceress, or mischief-maker of the ocean, who has been killed.” They saw the skin of a bullock hanging in the front part of the ship and said, “Another mischief-making sorceress has been killed. Perhaps these gods have come that all the evil kupuas [monsters] might be destroyed.”
These messengers returned and told the king and chiefs about the kind of men they had seen, what they were doing, their manner of speech, and the death of some of the monsters of the ocean. “We saw the fruit and the skin hanging on the altar. [[104]]There is plenty of iron on that temple and a large amount is lying on the deck.”
When the chiefs heard this report they said, “Truly this is the god Lono with his temple.”
The people thought that by the prayer of the priest all troubles of tabu had been lifted, so they asked the priest if there would be any trouble if they went on this place of the god. The priest assured them that his prayer had been without fault and there would be no death in all that belonged to the gods. There was no interruption of any kind during the prayer.
Hao was another name for “iron” and also hao meant “theft.”
A certain war-chief said, “I will go and hao that hao treasure, for my profession is to hao” (steal). The chiefs assented. Then he paddled out to the ship and went on board and took iron and went down. Some one shot him and killed him. His name was Kapu-puu (The Tabu Hill). The canoes returned and reported that the chief had been killed by a wai-ki (a rush of smoke like water in a blow-hole).