 CHAPTER XXI OF THE LEGENDS AND MISS OF Hawaii. THE PROPHESIES OF KIA ULU MOKU. THE CAREER OF KIA MOKU, THE PRINCE SLAIR AND KING MAKER. PART 1. The days had just begun to lengthen after the summer solstice of 1765, when a great grief fell upon the royal court of the island of Maui. Kama Kama Hehi, the king, had died very suddenly at Wai-Uku, which had been his favorite place of residence, and his brother and successor, Kahiki Eli, had removed his court to Lahaina. The bones of the king had been carefully secreted, the customary mourning excesses had been indulged in, and many new apportionments of lands had been made in accordance with the bequest of the deceased Maui, and the will of his successor. Kama Kama Hehi Hanui was an amiable sovereign, but his reign was not as successful as that of his father, Kia-hu Laiki. His right to the scepter had been contested by his brother, Kawahia, and he was secured in it only through the efforts of A'la Pa'i Nui, the king of Hawaii. Subsequently, Ka'alan Iopu, the successor of A'la Pa'i Nui, wrestled from him the district of Hana, and the celebrated fortress of Ka'auiki, and retained possession of both at the time of Kama Hama Hanui's death. The lands of the district might have been recaptured, perhaps, but the fortress commanding them was well nigh impregnable, and Hana remained a dependency of Hawaii. Kama I Hama Nui's political wife was his half-sister, Nama Hana, with whom he had two children, but as both of them died in their infancy, his brother, Ka'i Kili, succeeded him as Maui of the island by common consent. After the death of his brother, Ka'i Kili at once removed his court to Lahaina, where the customary period of mourning was concluded. It was while the members of the royal family were still in mourning at Lahaina that a distinguished stranger suddenly landed, with a number of personal attendants, and presented himself at court. His double canoe bore the ensign of an alley, and his garb and bearing showed him to be of the higher nobility. His age was perhaps thirty years, although he looked somewhat older. He was over six feet in height, and well proportioned. His face was handsome, and his hair and beard were closely cropped. He was clad in a marrow and short feather mantle, and around his head was bound a single fold of yellow kappa. By accord of hair was suspended from his neck a paloa or carved whale's tooth, and his left wrist was ornamented with a bracelet of curious shells. He was courageous, courtly, and in his best moods agreeable and captivating, and was a splendid representative of the rude chivalry of his time. As he stepped ashore and proceeded to the royal mansion, Wei was respectfully made for him, even as a stranger of distinguished bearing, and his name secured him admission at once to the presence of Kahi Kili, who welcomed him to Lahaina, and set apart ample accommodations for himself and lodgings for his attendants. Who was this stranger? He was no common chief, who would have thus presumed to present himself at the court of the Moi of Maui, and expect the courtesy of royal entertainment. Two generations before Lono Ihakapu, who had peacefully inherited the sovereignty of the western side of the island of Kauai, while the noted Ku'ali of Oahu retained possession of the remainder, paid a royal visit of state to the windward islands of the group. His blood was of the best in the archipelago, and his equipment and retinue were brilliant and imposing. He embarked with a number of large double canoes, the Royal Kahula being over eighty feet in length, and was attended by a company of skilled musicians and dancers. He also took with him his chief navigator, priest and astrologer, and a corpse of personal attendance in keeping with his rank. In turn he visited Oahu, Maui and Molokai, where he was entertained with distinguished honors, and then set sail for Hawaii, of which Kiwi was then king. Touching at Hilo he found that the royal court had been temporarily established in Kau, and thither he proceeded to pay his respect to Kiwi, and his beautiful but volatile wife and half-sister, Kalani Kawa Leilei We. He was becomingly received and entertained by the royal couple, and spent some weeks in the enjoyment of the festivities arranged for his amusement. The result was that the queen became enamored of the handsome Khoi and King, who was duly recognized at once as one of her husbands. From this union a son was born, who was named Kiwi Po Po. When the father returned to Kauai and there remained, this son grew to manhood, and by marriage with Koum Aiku, of the royal line of Maui, became the father of the three distinguished chiefs, who, with Kiwi Ailu, were the leading captains of Kamehameha in the conquest of the group at the close of the eighteenth century. One of these sons of Kiwu Po Po was Kiya Moku, the warwick of his time, the slayer and maker of kings. Kiya Moku's first effort in kingmaking occurred in 1754. On the death in that year of his uncle, Alapan Nui, and the succession of his cousin, Kiya Wea Pala, to the Hawaiian throne, he became dissatisfied with his allotment of lands, and raised the standard of revolt in Kikaha. Defeated, he fled in his canoes to Kau, where Kau Lani O Pu had for some years maintained himself in independence of Alapan Nui. Joining their forces, they marched northward, defeated and slew Kiya Wea Pala in Kona, and Kala Nui Pu, who was the grandson of Kiwi and had a valid claim to the sovereignty, was proclaimed Mui of Hawaii. It is probable that Kiya Moku's services were substantially rewarded by Kala Eo Pu, but in his early years he was turbulent and hot-tempered, and in 1765 he found a pre-tax for hurling defiance at the king and fortifying himself in the northern part of Kau Hala. Kala Lani O Pu, promptly placed himself at the head of an adequate force, took the fort by assault, and crushed the rebellion with a single blow. But Kiya Moku escaped over the Pali alone, reached the beach, secured a canoe and paddled out to sea. Night coming on and the skies being clouded, he lost his way and nearly perished through thirst and hunger, but he finally reached Lani, where he found friends and not long after sailed from Maui in a well-equipped double canoe and a respectable retinue of attendance. He landed at Lahaina, and the reader need not be told that the distinguished stranger who so suddenly presented himself at the court of Kala Ki Hili, as already mentioned, was Kiya Moku. The occupation of the district of Hanna by the king of Hawaii was a source of irritation to Kiya Hili, and he welcomed Kiya Moku not more as an enemy of Kala Lani O Pu than as a chief who might be useful to him in the war, which he then meditated for the recovery of the captured territory. But Kiya Moku was not content to sub-exist upon the favor of Kala Ki Hili. In his veins ran the blood of kings, but and his pride rebelled against a life of dependence, a wherever attractive it might be made for him. But he was without available lands or revenues, for his rebellion against Kala Ki O Pu had deprived him of both, notwithstanding his inalienable landed rights in South Kona, and he began to cast about for the means of raising himself again to the dignity of a landed chief. His eyes soon fell upon the calmly Nama Hanna, widow of Kamea Mea Hu-ini, to her belong the fair and fertile lands of Waihi, but she was the inheritance of Kaa Ki Ki Hili, whose purpose it was to accept her as a wife at the end of her period of mourning. This must have been known to Kiya Moku, who was thoroughly acquainted with royal customs of his time, yet he paid such court to the sorrowing dowager, and so sweetly mingled his protestations of love with her size of grief that she became his wife without consulting with the Moe. Kaa Ki Ki Hili was naturally enraged at the union, and was about to manifest his displeasure in a manner dangerous to Kiya Moku when Nama Hanna retired with her new husband to her estate at Waihi. Kaa Ki Ki Hili's first impulse was to follow and slay them both, but as Nama Hanna was popular with the nobility, and Kaa Ki Ki Hili had not been in power long enough to be quite sure of the fealty of the chiefs, he discreetly concluded to leave to the future the punishment of the offending couple. Taking up his residence at Waihi, Kiya Moku enlarged and beautiflied the grounds and buildings and established a petty court of princely etiquette and appointments. He was fond of display, and soon attracted to Waihi, many of the more accomplished young chiefs of the island. The mother and two of the brothers of Nama Hanna attached themselves to the household, and a number of Molokai chiefs, despoiled of their lands by the king of Oahu, became his retainers. He had carefully trained bands of musicians and dancers, and his entertainments were frequent and bountiful. In the midst of this semi-royal ghayati and splendor, Kaa Ki Ki Hili quietly crossed the mountains and temporarily established his court at Wailuku, but a few miles from Waihi. He had heard of Kiya Moku's royal style of living, and desired to learn from personal observation whether it was inspired by an innocent love of display, or designs more ambitious. As Kiya Moku had rebelled against two successive Hawaiian sovereigns, and boldly seized the widow of a king in the very household of a royal claimant and protector, Kaa Ki Ki Hili had reason to regard him with suspicion, and a weak stay at Wailuku, during which reserved courtesies had been exchanged between them, convinced him that Kiya Moku was a dangerous subject, but how was he to be dealt with? He had committed no act of treason, and an assault upon him would not be sustained by the chiefs. In this dilemma Kaa Ki Ki Hili resorted to strategy. He induced Kaa Haa Hana, a resolute warrior and subordinate, landholder of Wailuku, to embroil Kiya Moku in a difficulty with his own people. To this end Kaa Haa Hana complained, probably without cause, that he had been frequently neglected by his servants of Kiya Moku in the distribution of fish after fortune it catches, and urged his grievance with so good a showing of sincerity that many of his friends stood prepared to enspause his quarrel. This done he armed himself for battle, and the following night killed three of Kiya Moku's laborers. Being attacked in return he was at once supported by a party of warriors, secretly detailed for that purpose by Kaa Hili, and a general fight resulted, which lasted in a desultory way for three or four days. In the end however Kiya Moku and his party were overpowered and compelled to seek safety in flight. Kiya Moku and Nama Hana, with her mother and two brothers, and a considerable falling of chiefs and retainers, escaped over the Ika Mountains and embarked for Molokai. But Kaa Hili was not content with the escape of Kiya Moku from Maui. He resolved to destroy him, and soon after invaded Molokai with a large force. Kiya Moku and his allies met the invaders in war canoes as they approached the shore. A desperate sea fight followed, which was continued long into the night by torchlight. But Kiya Moku was again defeated, and with difficulty escaped to Hana with Nama Hana and her relatives. This placed Kiya Moku beyond the reach of Kaa Hili, for that district of Maui was still under Hawaiian control, but in escaping from one enemy he was compelled to throw himself under the mercy of another. He was hospitably received, however by Mahi Hili Lima, the governor of the district, and was so far forgiven by Kala Niopu as to be permitted to remain under the protection of the fortress of Kawawiki, where, for some time in the shaded valleys at the base of Haliakala, he found a respite new to his turbulent life. Part 2 In a secluded valley, within sight of the fortress of Kawawiki, with a few devoted friends and attendants, Kiya Moku and his family lived unmolested and almost unnoticed for several years. It was a season of peace between Hawaii and Maui, and Kiya Moku spent his days in dreaming of wars to come, and political changes that would place him again in a position more consistent with his rank. He made spears and battle axes, and laid them away. He constructed canoes and housed them near the neighboring beach. He loved his wife, who was content to share his exile, and when, in 1768, a daughter was born to him, Kiya Moku felt that the gods were smiling upon him once more, and took courage. It is said that the child was born with a yellow feather in her hand, a symbol of royalty, and she was named Ka-Humanu and tenderly cared for. In 1775, Kala and Iopu, king of Hawaii, suddenly appeared in the district of Hana, with a considerable force, and began to ravage the neighboring lands of Ka-Hu. Ka-Hi-Kili promptly met and repulsed him, however, and he returned to Hana and abandoned the campaign by re-embarking with his shattered army for Hawaii. Kiya Moku took no part in the brief struggle, and was disappointed that nothing decisive had been accomplished. The death of either of the two sovereigns engaged would have been to him a signal of deliverance, but he was not disheartened. He knew the war would soon be resumed on a grander scale, and found partial contentment in the hope that it would result in changes favorable to his fortunes. Exasperated at his defeat, Ka-Lani O'Pu spent nearly two years in preparing for a crushing invasion of Maui. In honor of his war-god Ka-Hi, he repaired and put in order to he use, and instructed his high priest, Hola A., to maintain continuous religious services, and exert his highest power to accomplish the defeat and death of Ka-Hi-Kili. He landed with six heavy divisions of warriors on the southern coast of Maui, but was defeated with great slaughter in the neighborhood of Wailuku, and compelled to sue for peace. With him were the two brothers Kiya Moku, Ka-Mi-Iomoku, and Ka-An-Awa, who attended the young prince Ki-O-Walu in his visit of conciliation to Ka-Hi-Kili after the battle. Ka-Lani-O-Pu, Ka-Hi-Kili, Ka-Pu, returned to Hawaii with what remained of his army, and the next year again invaded Maui, and for several months carried on a disultery warfare with Ka-Hi-Kili in the several districts of the island. He was assisted by the governor of Hana, and was able for some time to maintain a foothold in Hamakawa Loa and elsewhere. Kiya, Ka-Hi-Kili, Ka-Moku offered his services to neither side, but remained a quiet and almost unobserved spectator of the hostile movements, which at intervals convulsed the island, and sometimes swept past the very door of his exile home in Hana. The proper time for him to act had not yet arrived, and years of solitude had schooled him to patience. It was during this campaign that Captain Cook, the celebrated English explorer, arrived off the coast of Maui with the two vessels under his command, exhibiting faces that were new to the natives, and ships which seemed to be the ocean palaces of their gods. This was in November 1778. In January of that year, Cook had touched the group for the first time. He had landed at Kauai and Ni-Hau, and had now returned from the Arctic seas to winter among the Hawaiian islands. Abandoning the fruitless war, Ka-Lani O'Poo returned to Hawaii with his invading army. During the campaign of the year before, he had been assisted to the extent of a battalion of warriors by Kala Hana, King of O'Waku. Among the followers of the O'Hahen Moi at that time was a celebrated poet and prophet, Kealu Moku. He was a native of Naohaku in the Hamakawa District of Hawaii, and was distantly related to Kahi Kili, being a son of a cousin of Kikau Lake, and his father of Kahi Kili. From his youth he was dreamy and psychologic, and spent his time enroaming among the hills, watching the stars and listening to the music of the ocean. Some years before he had become attached to the court of Kaha Hana, and had followed that sovereign to Maui in 1777. He remained on the island after the return of Kaha Hana to O'Waku, and the year following, when Kala Lani O'Poo again invaded Maui, the poet was found among his household. Although but sixty-two years of age, in appearance, Kealu Moku was much older. His eyes were bright, but his form was bent, and his white hair and beard swept his shoulders, when he sang, all listened, and his wild utterances were treasured up and repeated as inspirations from the gods. He was known on all the islands of the group, and it was safe for him to travel anywhere. He had been a friend of Kealu Moku many years before on Hawaii, and when he learned, during the campaign of 1778, that the unfortunate chief was an exile in Hana, and had ceased to be accounted among the leaders of the time, he resolved to visit and console him. Without making his purpose known to anyone, Kealu Moku crossed the mountains, and the third day stood before his friend in Hana. Their greeting was affectionate, and after eating they sat down and wailed over Kealu Moku's misfortunes. Then Nama Hana came with stately grace to welcome the old poet, bringing with her Kaha Humanu, who was then a bright-eyed child of ten. He kissed the hand of Nama Hana, advising her to be of good cheer, and embracing the child and looking into her eyes, told her that his dreams that night should be of her, and so they were. For the next morning he solemnly sang in the shade of the palms that Kaha Humanu would be loved by a chief of Renon and become the wife of a king. And what of her father, inquired Kealu Moku, is he to rot with his spears in Hana? No, replied the poet promptly, the great work of Kealu Moku's life is still before him. He will become the slayer of princes and maker of kings. One have I already helped to royal honors, returned the chief doubtingly, and by his favor I am stifling here in Hana. Another and a greater is still to follow, in whose service Kealu Moku will die in peace, answered the poet. Who is the coming hero? inquired the chief. You will not mistake him when you meet, was the evasive reply. And when will that be? ventured Kealu Moku. No reply being made, the chief continued. Well, no matter when, I have learned to be patient. The predictions of the poet extended no farther, but his words cheered the heart of Kealu Moku, and when he left for Lahaina the next day, grateful eyes followed his footsteps far into the mountains. Returning to Hawaii after his unsuccessful campaign of 1778, Cala Neopu remained for a time in Kona, and after the death of Captain Cook in February 1779, removed his court to Kohala, taking with him the poet Kealu Moku, Kealu Moku. The next year, feeling his end approaching, for he was nearly 80 years of age, Cala Neopu set his kingdom in order by proclaiming his son, Kiwalao, as his successor, and naming his nephew, Kamea Mea, as the custodian of his war god. He then put down the rebellion of Imakea Kealoa in Kao, and after changing residences two or three times for his health, finally died at Kaleiki in January 1782. A few months before the death of Cala Neopu, Kahi Kili learned of the failing health of his old opponent, prepared for the recovery of the district of Hana, which had been for nearly 40 years under Hawaiian rule. Marching into the district and investing the fortress of Kaowiki, he finally reduced it by cutting off its water supply, and Eastern Maui again became a part of the dominions of the Moe of Maui. This occurred about the time of the death of Cala Neopu, but what became of Kia O Moku and his family, whose home for years had been among the hills of Hana? Learning of the meditated invasion of the district and unwilling to trust himself to the mercy of Kahi Kili, Kia O Moku fled with his family to the almost barren island of Kahulaui, where he lived in seclusion until the fall of Kaowiki and the death of Cala Neopu when he boldly returned to Hawaii, quietly settled on his old and inalienable estates at Kapa Lua in South Kona, and awaited the development of events, which he plainly perceived were rapidly and irresistibly tending toward widespread revolution and disorder. For more than fifteen years he had heard the clash of arms only at a distance, and he yearned for the shouts of battle and the music of marching columns. The mourning for Cala Neopu continued for many weeks, and rumors unsatisfactory to the Kona chiefs were afloat concerning the new Moai's proposed division of the lands subject to royal apportionment. Preparations for the burial of the bones of the deceased king were finally completed. In double canoes one of them bearing the corpse of his royal father, Kii Walao set sail with a large party of chiefs, warriors, and retainers for Hona Unau. There it was his purpose to deposit the remains in the neighboring burial place of Hali A Kauai, sacred to the ashes of Hawaiian kings, and then proceed with the redivision of such of the lands of the kingdom as were at his disposal. When off Hona Kua the second day, Kia Omoku came down from Kapa Lialua and boarded the fleet. His avowed purpose was to wail over the body of Cala Neopu. His return to Hawaii had become generally known, and Kia Walao regarded with a curiosity not a mixed with suspicion the warring and impetuous chief who had been first the friend and then the enemy of his father, and who had suddenly emerged at a critical moment full armed from the obscurity of years. What was the object of Kia Omoku's visit to the morning fleet? Was he anxious on the eve of stirring events to behold the face of the young king, remembering the words of Kia Omoku, you will know him when you meet, perhaps, but whatever may have been his original purpose in visiting the fleet when he left in keeping with the turbulent instincts of his life, his thoughts were aglow with projects of rebellion. Hastening to Kia Haha, where his brothers Kami Ia Moku and Kama Anahua with Kama Mayahia, Kii Kua Opio and other chiefs were in council, Kia Aomoku informed them that the destination of Kia Walao was Kailua, which place he would proceed to occupy after depositing the raw remains at Hona Ua Nao. This information he declared was given to him by one of Kia Walao's attendance, not doubting the truth of Kia Omoku's story and believing it to be the purpose of Kia Walao to occupy the entire district of Hona, which embraced lands not subject to royal disposal, the assembled chiefs moved with their followers and occupied quarters in the neighborhood of Hona Nao. Kia Moku now became a leading spirit in the events which rapidly followed. The funeral courtage landed at Hona Ua Nao. The remains of the dead king were ceremoniously entombed at Hali Akiwai and Kii Walao ascended a platform and two of the assembled chiefs proclaimed the will of his father. In the divisions of lands that followed the Hona chiefs were not consulted, nor does it appear that they were additionally provided for, and Kia Moku had little difficulty in persuading them that they had been treated with intended disrespect and hostility. In an interview with Kii Walao, Kamea Mea was coolly received and the disaffected chiefs began to prepare for battle. They selected Kamea Mea as their leader, and for some days there was a vigorous mustering of forces on both sides. An attack was finally made by the rebellious chiefs, and a battle of some magnitude ensued. Kia Moku was again in his element. His voice was heard above the din of battle, and his famished weapons drank their fill of blood. Entangled with his spear he fell upon the rocky ground. Several warriors rushed upon him. Two of them attacked him with daggers, while a third struck him in the back with the spear. Exclaiming, the spear has pierced the yellow-backed crab. Kii Walao, not far distant, witnessed the encounter, and called to the assailants of Kia Moku to secure his Paolola, or Ivory Neck, ornament. The attention of Kama Awa was attracted to the struggle, and he sprang with a few followers to the assistance of his brother, driving back his assailants. At that moment Kia Walao was struck in the temple with a stone, and fell stunned to the ground. Observing the circumstance, Kia Moku crawled to the fallen king, and, with a knife edged with shark's teeth, cut his throat. With the death of Kia Walao, the rout of his army became general. The victory made Kamea Mea master of the districts of Kona, Kohala, and Hamakua, while Kiyowa, the brother of Kia Walao, held possession of Kao and Puna, and Kia Wamiahihi declared himself independent of both on Hilo. Kia Moku's brilliant part in this first battle of the battles of the period for the sovereignty of Hawaii established him at once in the favor of Kamea Mea, and raised him high in the esteem of the distinguished chiefs whose valor ennobled the closing years of barbaric supremacy in the group. Part 3 War soon occurred between Kamea Mea and the independent chiefs of Hilo and Kao, but as no marked advantages to either side resulted, Kamea Mea established his court at Halao-la in Kohala and occupied himself in improving the condition of his people. During the campaign he had met with some reverses, but Kia Moku's faith in the final triumph of his great leader remained unshaken through every disaster. He thought he saw in him that captain greater than Kaolan Yopu of whom the poet dreamed in Hena and was soon after confirmed in the belief by the definite prophecy of Kiyolumo Moku. Restlessly roaming from place to place the old singer finally selected a temporary abode near Hala Lua shortly after the removal of the court of Kamea Mea to that village. There he was frequently visited by Kia Moku, sometimes accompanied by Ka-Humanu, who was budding into an attractive womanhood and sometimes by Nama Hana, who regarded him with irreverence due to one whose utterances seemed to be inspired by the gods. Since the death of Kaolan Yopu, the voice of Kia Ulu Moku had been silent. He mourned over the distracted condition of the island and sympathized with the people in their enforced warfare with each other. Vainly he had sought to penetrate the midst of desolation and disorder and catch a glimpse of what was beyond. No light had come to him through the clouds. To his prayers no answering voice had whispered in his dreams, but the curtain was raised for him at last, and the shades of the future trooped before him in awful pantomime. In a voice wild as the winds sleeping through the gorge of Nu Anu, he chanted the prophetic melee of Huwa Kalani. After describing the horrors of the civil war, then desolating the island, he concluded by predicting that Kamea Mea would triumph over his enemies and in the end be hailed as the greatest of Hawaiian conquerors. The chant created great enthusiasm among the followers of Kamea Mea. Kia Ulu Moku listened to it with rapt attention, and at its conclusion stooped over the old poet and said, I ask you a question in Hanna, which you did not answer then. Is it answered now? Kia Ulu Moku looked into the face of the chief for a moment as if to collect his thoughts and then dreamily replied, it is answered, such was my thought, returned the chief, I have some rare dainties from the sea, come and eat with me tonight, and I will ask to be caught the melee you have just chanted. Kia Ulu Moku made no reply, and Kia Moku walked slowly toward the palace, trying to remember the words of the poet which had so thrilled his listeners. What occurred between Kia Moku and the old poet during their repast that evening will never be known, but certain it is that henceforth Kia Moku never doubted the final success of Kamea Mea, and when in the summer of 1785 the latter retired discomfited from an invasion of Hilo, Kia Moku smiled as he said to his chief, thus far you have only skirmished with your enemies, you will win when your fight battles. In 1784 Kia Ulu Moku died, for months the old poet had lived alone in a hut near Kaua Hola. He avoided company and seldom spoke to anyone. Feeling his end approaching he one day announced that the evening following he would chant his last melee. Hundreds collected around his hut at the time appointed. They did not enter, but sat down, conversing in whispers and respectfully waited, an hour passed, and another, but the old singer did not make his appearance. Finally the mat which served as a door was drawn aside, and Kia Moku's white head and bent form were seen in the opening. Seating himself within view of all he began to chant a melee in tremendous tones. As he proceeded his voice became louder and every word was breathlessly listened to. He spoke of the coming conquest of the group by Kamehameha whom he designated as the son of Kahi Kili and also as the lone one. He also predicted the early extinction of the Kamehameha dynasty, the domination of the white race, the destruction of the temples, and finally the gradual death of the Hawaiian people. Feeling his chant the old seer raised his hands as if to bless his listeners and fell back dead. A great wail went up from the people, and they tenderly bore the body of the dead poet to the Hiyu where it was accorded the burial rites of a prophet. Much of the last prophecy of Kia Lum Moku was preserved and repeated, and by conversing with the many who listened to it, Kia Lum Moku managed to secure a satisfactory version of the final song of the dying poet. From the first of Kamehameha's battles, Kia Lum Moku had not doubted the triumph of that chief over all adversaries in the end, and eerily grasped at every circumstance calculated to strengthen the conviction. So believing his way seemed to be clear. But what of Kahumanu, whose promised lover was to be a chief of renown, and whose husband was to be a king? She was an attractive maiden of seventeen, and a few months after the death of Kielu Lum Moku, and while Kamehameha was engaged in peaceful pursuits at Hala Lua, her father suddenly brought her to court, fresh, sparkling, and graceful, and related to the raw lines of Maui and Hawaii, she attracted the immediate attention of Kamehameha, and he disposed of the claims of her many suitors at once by making her his wife. There was little in the appearance of the great chief to please the eye of a girl of seventeen. His features were rugged and irregular, and he held in contempt the courtly graces which imparted a charm to the intercourse with each other of the nobility of the time. He was already the husband of two recognized wives, but Kahumanu was ambitious, and with admiration but no affection for him she consented to be his wife. Kya Omoku was now persistent in inspiring Kamehameha with the thought of becoming the master of the group. He recited to him the prophetic chants of Kielu Moku, and brought to him the favoring auguries of the Kahalas. An unsuccessful attempt to recover the district of Hanna in 1786 was followed in 1790 by another invasion of Maui when Kamehameha completely subjugated the island, and then turned his attention to Kyoa, the independent chief of Kau, who had slain the chief of Kielu and assumed the sovereignty of the southern districts of Hawaii. The war with Kyoa continued for more than a year, and every effort of Kamehameha to crush this last of his rivals on Hawaii was successfully resisted. For nine years Kyoa had maintained himself against the power of Kamehameha, and still remained master of Kau and the most of Puna. Treachery was finally resorted to, and Kyoa fell. The old temple of Pu Kohalo had been partially rebuilt, and a noted seer had predicted that its completion would give to Kamehameha the undisputed sovereignty of Hawaii. The temple was hastily finished, and Kyoa was invited to a conference with his opponent at Kawahi with the view he was led to believe of peacefully settling their differences. Learing the shore of the place of meeting, where he saw in exchange greetings with Kamehameha, he was about to land when Kiyamuku met him in a canoe, and treacherously assassinated him, and his body was taken to the newly completed temple and sacrificed to the war god of his betrayer. Kyoa was a brave noble and magnanimous chief, and the apologists of Kamehameha have not succeeded in relieving him from the odium of Kiyamuku's cowardly act. He was the half-brother of Kiyawala, and his death left Kamehameha the master of Hawaii. Truly, as predicted by the seer, had Kiyamuku become the slayer of princes and the maker of kings, but his work was not yet completed. Kamehameha was the sovereign of Hawaii, but the conquest of the group was still before him. Every circumstance, however, conspired in his favor. Kahikili, the warlike king of Maui and conqueror of O'ahu, died in 1794, and a rupture had occurred between his successor and Ka'i'o, the Maui, the Mui of Kauai. Everything being in readiness, early in 1795, Kamehameha invaded O'ahu with the mighty army, defeated and subsequently captured and sacrificed to his war god, King Kali Kan'i Puli, and shortly after received the submission of the Mui of Kauai, thus becoming the acknowledged master of, and, for the first time in their history, consolidating under one government the several islands of the Hawaiian group. The prophecies of Kiyomuku have all been fulfilled. Kiyomuku, the slayer of princes and maker of kings, died peacefully as governor of the Windward Islands in 1804. Kahahumanu became the wife of a king, and died as chief counselor of the islands in 1832. The temples of the Hawaiian gods were destroyed immediately after the death of Kamehameha in 1819, but a tenth of the number of natives found on the islands at the close of the last century are now left to sing of the achievements of their ancestors, who first made their home in the group when the Roman Empire was falling to pieces under the assaults of the northern barbarism. CHAPTER XXI CHAPTER NUMBER 22 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Linda Marie Nielsen, Vancouver, BC. The Legends and Mists of Hawaii by King David Kalakua. The Cannibals of Hali Manu. A popular legend of the seventeenth century. One. Although barbarous to the extent to which a brave, warm-hearted and hospitable people were capable of becoming, every social, political, and religious circumstance preserved by tradition, tends to show that at no period of their history did the Polynesian proper or the Hawaiian branch of the race at least practice cannibalism. In their migrations from the southern coast of Asia to their final homes in the Pacific, stopping as they did at various groups of islands in their voluntary or compulsory journeys, the Polynesians must have been brought in contact with cannibal tribes, but no example ever persuaded them into the habit of eating human flesh or of regarding the appetite for it with a feeling other than that of aversion and disgust. In offering a human sacrifice, it was customary for the officiating priest to remove the left eye of the victim after the lifeless body had been deposited upon the altar and present it to the chief, who made a semblance of eating it. Even as learned and conscientious and inquirer as Judge Foranander had suggested that the custom was possibly the relic of a cannibal propensity existing among the Polynesian people far back in the past, the assumption is quite as reasonable that the right was either a simple exhibition of bravado or the expression of a desire on the part of the chief to thereby more strictly identify himself with the offering in the eyes of the gods. Several traditions have come down the centuries referring to the existence of cannibal tribes or bands at one time or another in the Hawaiian archipelago, particularly on the islands of Oahu and Kauai, and harrowing stories of their exploits are a part of the folklore of the group. But in every instance the man-eaters are spoken of as foreigners who came from a land unknown, maintained local footholds for a brief seasons in mountain fastness, and in the end were either exterminated or driven from the islands by the people for their barbarous practices. It is difficult to fix, even approximately, the period of the earlier of these occurrences as they are mentioned in connection with ruling chiefs whose names do not appear in the chronological mailies surviving the destruction of the ancient priesthood. Instead of being foreigners, it is not improbable that the cannibals refer to in some of the traditions were the remnants of a race of savages found on one or more of the islands of the group when the first of the Polynesians landed there. This, it may be presumed, was somewhere near the middle of the fifth century of the Christian era. It has generally been assumed by native historians that the ancestors of the Hawaiian people found the entire group inhabited at the time of their arrival there. The bird, the lizard, and the mouse, with an insect life confined to a few varieties were the sole occupants of that ocean paradise. With its beautiful streams, its inviting hills, its sandal forests, its cocoa, and ohia grows, its flowering plains, its smiling valleys of everlasting green. But the interval between the fifth century and the eleventh, between the first and second periods of Polynesian arrival, is a broad blank in the legendary annals of Hawaii, and the absence of any record of this circumstance cannot be satisfactory accepted as evidence that, on arriving at the group from the southern islands, the Polynesians of the fifth century did not find it sparsely occupied by an inferior and less capable people whom they either affiliated with or destroyed. In some of the Mali's vague references are made to such people, and ruins of temples are still pointed out as the work of the Manei Huns, a half-mythical race or tribe, either from whom the Hawaiians descended or with whom they were in some manner connected in the rumble past. To whatever period, however, many of these stories of cannibalism may refer. Circumstances tend to show that the legends connected with the man-eaters of Hali Manu are based upon events of comparatively recent centuries. The natives who still relate fragments of these legends to those whom curiosity prompts to visit the cannibal's retreat near the northern coast of Oahu generally refer the adventures described to the early part or middle of the eighteenth century, and a half-caste of intelligence-informed writer that his grandfather had personal knowledge of the cannibal band. Although the sharpness of the details preserved indicates that their beginning could not have been very many generations back, the occupation of Hali Manu by Aikana Ka and his savage followers could have occurred scarcely later than the latter part of the seventeenth century, probably during the reign of Ku Li or his immediate successor, somewhere between the year 1660 and 1695. At that time, Oahu was governed by a number of practically independent chiefs, whose nominal head was the governing Al-Yunui of the line of Kaku-Hu-Hua, of whom Ku Li was the great-grandson. It will therefore be assumed that it was near the close of the seventeenth century that Kalo Ali Kahana Ka with two or three hundred followers, including women and children, landed at Wai-a-Lua on the northern coast of Oahu, and temporarily established himself on the seashore not far from that place. Ten years before, more or less, he had arrived with a considerable party at Kauai from one of the southern islands, which one tradition does not mention. The strangers came in double canoes, and as they were in a starving condition, it was thought that they had been blown thither by adverse winds while journeying to some other islands. They were horribly received and cared for by the people of Kauai, and for their support were given lands near the foot of the mountains back of Waimea. In complexion they were somewhat darker than the Kauaians, but otherwise did not differ greatly from them, either in dress, manners, modes of living or appearance. They knew how to weave mats, construct houses of timber and thatch, make spears and knives, and hollow out canoes of all dimensions. They were familiar with the coconut and its uses, and required no instruction in the cultivation of Kalo or taro. They were expert fishermen, and handled their weapons with dexterity. Their language, however, was entirely different from that of the Kauaians, but they soon acquired a knowledge of the latter, and in a short time could scarcely be distinguished from the natives of the island. Although known as Kalo Aikana Ka by the natives, the real name of the chief of the strangers was Kokoa, the name of this principal lieutenant or advisor, which was given as kaiu kiwi by tradition was lotu or lotua. Kokoa was of chiefly proportions, and his muscular limbs were tattooed with rude representations of birds, sharks, and other fishes. His features were rather of the powan caste, but his hair was straight, and the expression of his face was not unpleasant. The appearance of lotu, on the contrary, was savage and forbidding. His strength was prodigious, and he made but little disguise of his lawless instincts. The wife of Kokoa had died during the passage to Kauai, leaving with him a daughter of marriageable age named Paolua, tradition says she was very beautiful, and wore necklaces and anklets of pearls. Her eyes were bright, her teeth were white, and the ends of her braided hair touched her brown ankles as she walked. Lotu was married, but without children. He did not like them, and more than one, it is said, had been taken from the breast of Kahoa and strangled. The strangers brought with them two or three gods, and made others after their arrival. They knew nothing of the gods of the Kauaians, and preferred to worship their own. To this the natives did not object, but in the course of time they discovered that their taboo customs, even the most sacred, were not observed by the strangers. Their women were permitted to eat coconuts, bananas, and all kinds of flesh and fish, including the varieties of which native females were not allowed to partake. Fearing the wrath of the gods, the chief of the district visited Kokoa, and requested him to put a stop to these pernicious practices among his people. He promised to do so, and for a time they ceased, but the offender soon fell back into their old habit of indiscriminate eating, and again the chief visited Kokoa prepared to put his previous request in the form of an order. The order was given, but not with the emphasis designed by the chief in making the visit, for he then met Paola for the first time, and found it difficult to speak harshly to the father of such a daughter. In fact before he left the chief thought it well to leave the matter open for further explanation, and the next day returned to make it, and to ask Kokoa as well, to give him the beautiful Paola for a wife. Father and daughter both consented, and within a few days Paola accompanied the chief home as his wife. There at least it was expected that Paola would respect the taboos she had violated before her coming, and the chief appointed a woman to instruct her thoroughly in the regulations applicable to her change condition. She promised everything, but secretly complied with no requirement. The chief implored her to obey the mandates of the gods, and sought to screen her acts from the eyes of others, but her misdemeanors became so flagrant that they at last came to the knowledge of the high priest, and her life was demanded. Her husband would have returned Paola to her father, but the priest declared that her offenses had been so wanton and persistent that the gods would be satisfied with nothing short of her death, and she was therefore strangled and thrown into the sea. Learning of the death of his daughter, Kokoa in his rage slew a near kinsman of the chief and made a feast of his body to the great delight of his followers. They were cannibals, but the fact was not known to their neighbors, as they had thus far restrained their appetites for human flesh, and avoided all mention to others of their propensity for such food. Their relish for, however, was revived by the feasts provided by the wrath of Kokoa, and they were not sorry to leave the lands they had been for some time cultivating back of Waimea, and find a home in the neighboring mountains where they could indulge their savage tastes without restraint. Locating in a secluded valley in the mountains of Haupu, Kokoa, and his people remained there for several years, they cultivated taro and other vegetables, and for their meat depended upon such natives as they were able to capture in out-of-the-way places and dragged to their ovens. Suspected of cannibalism, they were finally detected in the act of roasting a victim. Great indignation and excitement followed this discovery, and the chief of the district called for warriors to assist him in exterminating the man-eaters. But Kokoa did not wait for a hostile visit. His spies informed him of what was occurring in the valleys below, and he hastily dropped down to the opposite coast, seized a number of canoes at night, and with his followers immediately set sail for Oahu. The party first landed at Kawai-Oa, but a Kauayan on a visit to that place recognized one of their canoes as the property of his brother, and was about to appeal to the local chief when they suddenly re-embarked and coasted around the island to Waialua, where they found a convenient landing and concluded to remain. Two. We now come to the final exploits of Kokoa and his clan in Oahu. It is probable that they did not remain long in the immediate neighborhood of Waialua, where the people were numerous and unoccupied lands were scarce. Sending their scouts into the mountains in search of a safe and uninhabited retreat, one of the exceptional advantages was found in the range east of Waialua, some eight or ten miles from the coast, and thither they removed. The spot selected has since been known as Hali Manu. Before that time it was probably without any particular name. It is a crescent shaped plateau of two or three hundred acres, completely surrounded by deep and almost precipitous ravines, with the exception of a narrow isthmus, scarcely wide enough for a carriageway, connecting it with a broad area of timberless table land stretching downward toward the sea. Nature could scarcely have devised a place better fitted for defense, and Kokoa resolved to permanently locate there. Near the middle of the plateau he erected a temple with stone walls two hundred feet by sixty and twenty feet in height. This structure was also designated as a citadel to be used in emergencies. About fifty paces from the temple was the Hali of the chief, a stone building of the dimensions of perhaps fifty feet by forty. It was divided into three rooms by wicker partitions, and roof was stoked poles and thatch. Between this building and the temple was a large excavated oven, with a capacity for roasting four or five human bodies at the same time, and a few paces to the westward was the great carving platter of Kokoa. This was a slightly basin shaped stone rising, a foot or more above the surface, and having a super place of perhaps six by four feet. A little hewing here and there transformed it into a convenient carving table, from which hundreds of human bodies were apportioned to his followers by Kokoa, who reserved for himself the hearts and livers, as delicacies to which his rank entitled him. The lines of the buildings described may still be traced among the tall grass, and the oily-appearing surface of the carving table, known as Kalo's Ippukai, bears testimony to this day to the use made of it by the cannibals of Hali Manu. The platter is now almost level with the surface of the ground, and its rim has been chipped down by relic hunters, but time and the spoiltions of the curious have not materially changed its shape. Having provided the plateau with these conveniences and the huts necessary to accommodate his people, Kokoa next put the place in a condition for defense by cutting the tops of the exposed slopes leading to it into perpendicular declivities and directing a strong building covering the width and almost entire length of the narrow backbone connecting it with the plain below. There was then no means of reaching the plateau except by a path zigzagging down the upper side to the timbered cultures below, or by the trail passing directly through the building occupying the apex of the islamists. Of this entrance low to the savage lieutenant of Kokoa was made the custodian, and there he sat in all weather, watching for passers, the most of whom, if acceptable, he found a pretext for slaying and sending to the great oven of his companions. His almost sleepless watchfulness was due less to a disposition to serve others than to his merciless instincts, which found gratification in blood-butting and torture. Tradition says there was a hideous humor in the manner in which he dealt with many of his victims. In allowing them to pass, he inquired the objects of their visits, either to the plateau or the cultures below. They informed him, perhaps, that they were in quest of halla leaves, of poles for huts, of wood for surfboards, of small trees for spears, or of flints for cutting implements, as the case may have been. When they returned he examined the burdens closely, and if ought was found beyond the thing of which they were specifically in search, even though so trifling an object as a walking staff, or a twig or flower gathered by the way, he denounced them as thieves and liars, and slew them on the spot. In this manner many hundreds of people were slain and eaten, but as no one ever returned to tell the story of what was transpiring at Hali Mandu, the cannibals remained for some time undisturbed, but if their real character was not known, their isolation and strange conduct gradually gained for them the reputation of being an evil-minded and dangerous community, and visitors became so scarce at length that Lotu found it necessary to drop down into the valleys occasionally in search of victims. Nor were these expeditions, which demanded great caution, always successful, and when they failed, Lotu sometimes secretly killed and sent to the oven, one of his own people, with faces mutilated beyond recognition. Among these were all of his own relatives, and two of the three brothers of his wife. To escape the fate of the others, the surviving brother, whose name was Napopo, fled to Kauai. In physical strength, Napopo was scarcely less formidable than Lotu, but he was young in years and lacked both skill and confidence in his powers. To supply these deficiencies and prepare himself for a successful encounter with Lotu, which he resolved to undertake in revenge for the death of his brothers, he sought the most expert wrestlers and boxers on Kauai, and learned from them the secrets of their prowess. He trained himself in running, swimming, leaping, climbing, and lifting and casting great rocks, until his muscles became like hard wood, and his equal in strength and agility could, with difficulty, be found on all the island. And he skilled himself also in the use of arms. He learned to catch and parry flying spears, and hold them with incredible force and precision. From this thing he could throw a stone larger than a coconut, and the battle ax he readily wielded with one hand few men were able to swing with two. Having thus accomplished himself, and still distrustful of his powers, he made the offer of a canoe nine paces in length to anyone who, in a trial, should prove to be his master, either in feats of strength or the handling of warlike weapons. Many contested for the prize, but Napopo found a superior in no one. During the contest, a strong man with large jaws and a thick neck came forward and challenged Napopo to compete with him in lifting heavy burdens with the teeth. The bystanders were amused at the proposal, and Napopo was compelled by their remarks and laughter to accept it, although he regarded it as frivolous. Fastening around his middle, a girdle of cords, he cast himself on the ground and said to the man, Now, with your teeth, lift me to the level of your breast. Stooping and seizing the girdle in his teeth, the man with great effort lifted Napopo to the height demanded. The other was then girded in the same manner. He seemed to be confident of victory and said to Napopo as he threw himself at his feet, You will do well if you raise me to the level of your knees. Napopo made no reply, but bent and gathered the girdle well between his teeth and raised the body to the height of his loins. Higher, exclaimed the man, thinking the strength of his antagonist was even then taxed to its utmost. My body is scarcely free from the ground. He had scarcely uttered these words before Napopo rose erect and with a quick motion threw him completely over his head. Bruised and half-stunned by the fall, the man struggled to his feet, and with a look of wonder at Napopo hurriedly left the place to escape the jeers of the shouting witnesses of his defeat. Now confident of his strength and satisfied with his skill, Napopo returned to Oahu in the canoe, which so many had failed to win. Landing at Wailua he, by some means, learned that his sister Kaholakua, the wife of Lotu, had been killed by her husband. Arming himself with a spear and knife of shark's teeth, Napopo proceeded to Hali Manu. Arriving at the house, barring the entrance to the stronghold, he was met at the door by Lotu. Their recognition was cold. The eyes of Lotu gleamed with satisfaction. No longer intimidated as in the past, Napopo paid back the luck with a bearing of defiance. Leave your spear and enter, said Lotu curtly. Napopo leaned his spear against the house and stepped within, observing, as he did so, that Lotu, in his movements, kept within reach of an axe and javelin lying near the door. Where is Kaholakua? inquired Napopo. There, replied Lotu, solemnly, pointing toward a curtain of mats stretched across a corner of the room. Without a word Napopo stepped to the curtain and drew it aside. He expected to find his sister dead, if at all, but she was still living, although lying insensible from the wounds which seemed to be mortal. With a heart swelling with rage and anguish, he closed the curtain and returned to the door. He could not trust himself to speak, and therefore silently stepped without, in the hope that Lotu would leave his weapons and follow him. To this end he stood for a few minutes near the entrance, as if overwhelmed with grief, when Lotu cautiously approached the door. Advancing a step farther, Napopo suddenly turned and seized him, before he could reach his weapons, and a desperate bare-handed struggle followed. Both were giants, and the conflict was ferocious and deadly. From one side to the other of the narrow islamists they battled, biting, tearing, pulling, breaking, with no decided advantage to either, but the endurance of Napopo was greater than that of his older antagonist, and in the end he was able to inflict injury without receiving dangerous punishment in return. Both of them were covered with blood, and their marrows had been rent away in the struggle, leaving them perfectly nude. When Napopo had in a measure overpowered his mighty adversary, he found it difficult to kill him with his naked hands. He could tear and disfigure his flesh, but was unable to strangle him or break his spine. He therefore resolved to drag him to the verge of the precipice, and hurl him over it into the rocky abyss below. Struggling and fighting, the edge of the gulf was reached, when Lotu suddenly fastened his arms around his antagonist, and with a howl of desperation plunged over the brink. Dropping downward to the destruction together, Lotu's head was caught in the fork of a tree near the bottom of the declivity and torn from the body, and Napopo, clasped in the embrace of the lifeless but rigid trunk, fell dead and mangled among the rocks of the ravine, still farther down. Recovering her consciousness during the battle, Kaholikoha dragged herself from the house just in time to witness the descent of the desperate combatants over the precipice. Approaching the verge, she uttered a feeble wail of anguish, and plunged headlong down the declivity. Her mangle remains lodging within a few paces of those of her husband and brother. The conclusion of these tragical scenes was observed by a party from the plateau above. One tradition says by Kaholikoha himself. However, this may be the cannibal chief concluded that Hali Manu was no longer a desirable retreat, and a few days after crossed the mountains to Wai Ani with his remaining followers. And soon after set sail with them for other lands, what became of the party is not known, but with their departure ends the latest and most vivid of the several legends of cannibalism in the Hawaiian archipelago. End of chapter twenty-two, recording by Linda M. Nielsen, Vancouver, B.C.