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December 29, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kūpikipikiʻō

An eruption from a vent southeast of Lēʻahi (Diamond Head) poured dense lava into the sea to build a headland. The Hawaiians called it Kūpikipikiʻō (rough (sea) or agitated (wind or storm)) because of its turbulent waters.

The waves attack the headland directly, but the shore on either side of it is protected by a reef. (MacDonald) The black lava that formed there prompted its modern name, Black Point.

When Kamehameha and his warriors made their attack in Oʻahu in 1795, they landed from Waikīkī to Maunalua – right in this area. More than 100-years later, around 1901, one of Black Point’s first houses was built by developer Fred Harrison. (Star-Bulletin)

In January 1905, President Teddy Roosevelt instructed Secretary of War William H. Taft to convene the National Coast Defense Board (Taft Board) “to consider and report upon the coast defenses of the United States and the insular possessions (including Hawai‘i.)”

Based on recommendation of the Secretary of War, on January 18, 1906, President Teddy Roosevelt signed Executive Order 395-A, setting aside public lands at Kūpikipikiʻo Point for military purposes.

“From Kūpikipikiʻo Point to Waipiʻo Peninsula the line of defense is to be strengthened with field fortifications, batteries and searchlights, and as soon as the money becomes available the dirt will begin to fly and the concrete to take form, under the supervision of the army engineers.” (Star-Bulletin, February 4, 1914)

Fort Ruger Military Reservation was established at Lēʻahi in 1906. The Reservation was named in honor of Major General Thomas H Ruger, who served from 1871 to 1876 as the superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

The fort included Battery Harlow (1910-1943); Battery Birkhimer (1916-1943); Battery Granger Adams (1935-1946); Battery Dodge (1915-1925); Battery Mills (1916-1925); Battery 407 (1944); Battery Hulings (1915-1925) and Battery Ruger (1937-1943.)

Battery Mills was built on a 3-acre tract in the Kūpikipikiʻo Point Reservation. Battery Mills was not technically part of Fort Ruger, but was administered by it. The battery was armed with two 5-inch Seacoast guns.

There was a reinforced magazine for munitions, a plotting room/command bunker and an underground power room which had a generator. Those guns were later eliminated from the Army’s inventory, so the Battery was decommissioned.

Battery Granger Adams (1933 and 1935) replaced Battery Mills and consisted of two 8-inch railway guns on either side of a protected powder and shell magazine, along with a Commander’s Station and power room (it was felt that there was still a need for a gun battery at that location – it was later decommissioned in 1946.)

The conclusion of World War II and the advent of nuclear and missile warfare made the coastal batteries obsolete. Thus, in December 1955 the majority of the land was turned over to the State of Hawai‘i.

Nearby Kaʻalāwai Beach lies at the base of Diamond Head’s eastern slope, between Kuilei Cliff Beach Park (“lei stringing”) to the west and Black Point to the east.

Kaʻalāwai (“the watery rock”) is a narrow, white-sand beach with a shallow reef offshore, which makes for generally poor swimming conditions. There are only a few scattered pockets of sand on the nearshore ocean bottom.

Freshwater bubbles up between the rocks of the reef. The beach is mainly used by surfers, who paddle out to the surf spot called Brown’s, which is located just behind the reef.

An old Beach Road fronted the Kaʻalāwai oceanfront properties. In 1959, owners of the abutting properties claimed the ownership of the old beach road; after a series of lawsuits, many of them obtained declaratory judgments which allowed them to buy the road right-of-way.

At the east end of the beach near Black Point is Shangri-La, a mansion turned museum, built by Doris Duke, the daughter of James Buchanan Duke, the founder of the American Tobacco Company, and her husband, James Cromwell, in 1937.

Upon her father’s death, Doris Duke received large bequests from her father’s will when she turned 21, 25, and 30; she was sometimes referred to as the “world’s richest girl.”

In the late 1930s, Doris Duke built her Honolulu home, Shangri La, on 5-acres overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Diamond Head. Shangri La incorporates architectural features from the Islamic world and houses Duke’s extensive collection of Islamic art, which she assembled for nearly 60 years.

Today, Shangri La is open for guided, small group tours and educational programs. In partnership with the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art – which owns and supports Shangri La – the Honolulu Museum of Art serves as the orientation center for Shangri La tours.

To get to Kaʻalāwai Beach and Cromwell’s Cove take Diamond Head Road east and turn right on Kulamanu Street and park curbside. The beach access is at the end of Kulamanu Place.

A later building boom by the wealthy turned Black Point into one of the world’s most exclusive and expensive community.

December 28, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Female Soldier

Women often followed their husbands in the Continental Army. These women, known as camp followers, often tended to the domestic side of army organization, washing, cooking, mending clothes, and providing medical help when necessary.

Each woman had their own motivations for following the armies: most were the wives, daughters or mothers of male soldiers and wanted to stay close to their loved ones. Others did so in order to provide for themselves, looking for food and protection because they were no longer able to support themselves after their men left for war. (Battlefields)

Sometimes they were inadvertently flung into the battle. There are known cases of women who chose to actively join the armies as fighting soldiers. One of the most famous of these women was Deborah Sampson. (Battlefields)

The eldest of seven siblings, she was born on December 17, 1760, in Plympton, Massachusetts, Sampson grew up in poverty. Her father abandoned the family when Sampson was five.

She was sent to live with relatives until the age of ten, when they could no longer afford to care for her. She was then forced to become an indentured servant to the Thomas family in Middleborough, Massachusetts.

As an indentured servant, she was bound to serve the Thomas family until she came of age at eighteen. In exchange for serving them, she was given food, clothing, and shelter. Once she was free, she supported herself by teaching and weaving.

In the early-1780s, Sampson first tried to disguise herself in men’s clothing and enlist in the military. She was rebuffed. In his diary, Abner Weston (a corporal in the Massachusetts militia) describes how Sampson’s cross-dressing scandalized their town:

“Their hapend a uncommon affair at this time, for Deborah Samson of this town dress her self in men’s cloths and hired her self to Israel Wood to go into the three years Servis. But being found out returnd the hire and paid the Damages.”

Sampson’s motivations for attempting to take up arms remain unclear. Patriotism may have been a driving factor, but the promise of money may have also played a role; towns that were unable to fill their recruitment quotas during the waning years of the war offered bounties to entice volunteer soldiers. (Smithsonian)

At the age of twenty-one, Sampson disguised herself as a man named Robert Shurtliff and enlisted in the Continental Army under the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment.

“On the 14th September, 1818, the said Deborah made her declaration, under oath, that she served as a private soldier, under the name of “Robert Shurtleff,” in the war of the Revolution, upwards of two years, in manner following:”

“Enlisted in April, 1781, in a company commanded by Captain George Webb, in the Massachusetts regiment commanded by Colonel Shepherd, and afterwards by Colonel Henry Jackson;”

“That she served in Massachusetts and New York until November, 1783, when she was honorably discharged in writing; which discharge she had lost. She was at the capture of Cornwallis, was wounded at Tarrytown”. (Committee of Revolutionary Pensions Report)

To be inducted into the Light Infantry Troops, soldiers had to meet specific requirements. They needed a height of at least 5’5” and had to be physically able to keep a fast and steady marching pace.

They were referred to as “light” infantry because they traveled with fewer supplies and took part in small, risky missions and skirmishes.

She and the other new recruits then marched from Worcester, Massachusetts to West Point, New York. While at West Point, Sampson was chosen to serve as part of the Light Infantry Troops – the most active troops in the Hudson Valley from 1782 to 1783.

Sampson spent most of her time in the army in the Lower Hudson River Valley Region of New York, which was then known as Neutral Ground.

Neutral Ground spanned throughout what is today Westchester County in New York and was termed “neutral” because it sat, unclaimed, between British-held New York City and American-held Northern New York. Neutral Ground was a lawless land filled with both Patriot and Tory raiders who terrorized the local citizenry.

While serving in Neutral Ground, Sampson was part of many skirmishes against Loyalist raiders, typically referred to as “cowboys.”

During one of these skirmishes, she was shot in the shoulder. Unable to seek proper medical treatment without revealing her true gender, she allegedly left the bullet in her shoulder and continued her duty as a soldier. (Some suggest she extracted one piece of shrapnel from her leg by herself; another remained in her body for the rest of her life.)

Sampson served undetected until she fell unconscious with a high fever while on a mission in Philadelphia during the summer of 1783.

The attending physician, Dr. Barnabas Binney, discovered Sampson’s gender while treating her. He revealed her identity to General Paterson through a letter. Sampson was honorably discharged at West Point on October 25, 1783.

After the war ended, Sampson returned to Massachusetts and married a farmer, Benjamin Gannett, in 1784. They had three children and adopted a fourth. In 1792, she successfully petitioned the Massachusetts State Legislature for back pay for her service in the army and was awarded 34£.

In 1797, she petitioned Congress, claiming disability for the shoulder wound she received during the war. Her petition ultimately failed.

However, starting in March 1802, Sampson began a lecture tour of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York. She was the first woman in America to do so.

On her journey, she spoke in Boston, Providence, Holden, Worcester, Brookfield, Springfield, Northampton, Albany, Schenectady, Ballston, and New York City.

After the lecture tour, Sampson petitioned Congress again. This time, her petition succeeded. On March 11, 1805, she was placed on the pension list for disabled veterans. She continued campaigning Congress for the entirety of the money she was due until she was denied the remainder of her pay on March 31, 1820.

Deborah Sampson Gannett died in Sharon, Massachusetts on April 29, 1827, at the age of sixty-six. She is one of the earliest examples of a woman serving in the United States Military. Her headstone in Sharon honors this accomplishment, referring to her as “The Female Soldier.” (Mount Vernon)

Click the following link to a general summary about Deborah Sampson:

Click to access Deborah-Sampson-The-Female-Soldier.pdf

December 27, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Suiter Field

In 1779, Captain Cook explored the North Kohala area and noted: “The country, as far as the eye could reach, seemed fruitful and well inhabited … (3 to 4-miles inland, plantations of taro and potatoes and wauke are) neatly set out in rows.”

“The walls that separate them are made of the loose burnt stone, which are got in clearing the ground; and being entirely concealed by sugar-canes planted close on each side, make the most beautiful fences that can be conceived …” (Cook Journal)

Fast forward 150-years to a property in this area within two traditional Hawaiian ahupuaʻa (land divisions.) The eastern half of the property is located within the ahupuaʻa of Kealahewa (wrong way) and the western half is located within the ahupuaʻa of Opihipau (opihi (limpets) all gone.) The property was used by the Hawi Mill and Plantation Company in its sugar operations.

Later, on June 25, 1927, an Executive Order set aside nearly 38-acres of the property for an airplane landing field for the US Air Service to be under the management and control of the War Department.

The airfield is about three miles northwest of the town of Hawi on the northern tip of the coast of the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. In 1933, the Army named it Suiter Field, in honor of 1st Lieutenant Wilbur C Suiter who was killed in action serving in 135th Aero Squadron.

Suiter was posthumously issued the Distinguished Service Cross and Silver Star Citation for extraordinary heroism in action. He and his observer (Guy E Morse) fearlessly volunteered for the perilous mission of locating the enemy’s advance unit in the rear of the Hindenburg line.

Disregarding the hail of machine gun fire and bursting anti-aircraft shell, they invaded the enemy territory at a low altitude and accomplished his mission, securing information of the greatest importance.

They at once returned to the lines and undertook another reconnaissance mission, from which they failed to return. (Morse Field, the military’s air field that was once at South Point was named after 2nd Lieutenant Guy E Morse.)

Suiter Field was first licensed in 1928. It was also alternatively referred to as Upolu Point Military Reservation, Upolu Landing Field, Upolu Airplane Landing Field and Upolu Airport.

In the early days of aviation in Hawaiʻi, the US Signal Corps maintained a communication station at Suiter Field. Inter-Island Airways (later known as Hawaiian Air,) which began passenger service in 1929, used the field as an emergency stop on its route to Hilo, as well as to provide air service to the district of Kohala.

On June 26, 1929, Governor’s Executive Order No. 363 added 57-acres to Upolu Airplane Landing Field to be under the control and management of the War Department. Shortly thereafter, December 16, 1929, the Territorial Aeronautics Commission sought to have the property returned to the Territory for the Upolu aeroplane landing field.

In January 1930, the War Department granted the Territory concurrent use of the Army landing field for official and commercial aviation use. Within 7-months later, about 97-percent of the land was restored to the Territory. A couple of months later, about 95 acres were dedicated to establish the Upolu Airport under control of the Territory.

Upolu field was grass on a sandy soil and partially graded. The Army maintained a barracks and radio station at the field on Federal property. The Upolu Point Airport consisted of one large runway in the shape of an hour glass 3,500 feet long.

Before the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, a contract had been let and work was ready to start on the new airport – the war stopped that.

During World War II, the Navy occupied Upolu Airport establishing a weather and communication station there. The facility was used as an auxiliary field to the Naval Air Station, Hilo, for field-carrier-landing practice and other training of carrier pilots.

The Upolu Point Military Reservation included facilities for naval purposes and for the operation and maintenance of military airplanes and airships. These facilities included a 150-foot-wide by 4,000-foot long surfaced runway, an aircraft parking area, a catapult deck, administration buildings, personnel quarters and a bunch of support buildings.

A simulated deck of an aircraft carrier was installed and air-group pilots completed their training by qualifying in day and night deck landings before going aboard the carriers for combat duty. From July 1944 to May 1947 the facility was used exclusively for naval and other military purposes.

Upolu Airport was returned to the Territory after the war, and air service was provided by scheduled and non-scheduled operators. Buildings formerly occupied by the Navy were rehabilitated for use as a terminal and for other purposes.

It was used for a time by Inter-Island Airways, Ltd. for small Sikorsky amphibians, but could not be used for large aircraft. A 1946 Master Plan for Upolu included a 4,000 foot by 150 foot runway. By 1948, the paved runway was 4,000 feet in length and Upolu was the only airport in that part of the island which met the requirements for scheduled airline operation.

Hawaiian Airlines was the principal user of the airport and made one stop a day en route from Honolulu to Hilo, and one stop en route from Hilo to Honolulu.

A new Master Plan was completed in March 1999. The airfield included a single runway (7-25), taxiway and an aircraft parking apron. Runway 7-25 was 3,800 feet long and 75 feet wide and aligned in an east-northeast to west-southwest direction.

There has been no scheduled commuter service at the airport since 1986. There are no cargo facilities at Upolu Airport, no control tower, and no aircraft rescue and firefighting facilities (nor fuel storage facility.) There are only infrequent aircraft at Upolu Airport; airport management is under the Kona International Airport manager. (Lots of info here from hawaii-gov.)

December 26, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Surfing – Hawaiʻi’s Gift to the World of Sports

It is not clear where and when surfing began, there is no doubt that over the centuries the ancient sport of “heʻe nalu” (wave sliding) was perfected, if not invented, by the kings and queens of Hawai’i, long before the 15th century AD.

“Surf-riding was one of the most exciting and noble sports known to the Hawaiians, practiced equally by king, chief and commoner. It is still to some extent engaged in, though not as formerly, when it was not uncommon for a whole community, including both sexes, and all ages, to sport and frolic in the ocean the livelong day.” (Malo)

By 1779, riding waves lying down or standing on long, hardwood surfboards was an integral part of Hawaiian culture. Surfboard riding was as layered into the society, religion and myth of the islands as baseball is to the modern United States.

Chiefs demonstrated their mastery by their skill in the surf and commoners made themselves famous (and infamous) by the way they handled themselves in the ocean.

When Captain Cook arrived in Hawai’i, surfing was deeply rooted in many centuries of Hawaiian legend and culture. Place names had been bestowed because of legendary surfing incidents. The kahuna intoned special chants to christen new surfboards, to bring the surf up and to give courage to the men and women who challenged the big waves.

Hawaiian society was distinctly stratified into royal and common classes, and these taboos extended into the surf zone. There were reefs and beaches where the chiefs surfed and reefs and beaches where the commoners surfed.

Lieutenant James King, commander of the Discovery, 1779, recorded in the ship’s log the first written description of Hawaiian surfing by a European: “But a diversion the most common is upon the Water, where there is a very great Sea, and surf breaking on the Shore.”

“The Men sometimes 20 or 30 go without the Swell of the Surf, & lay themselves flat upon an oval piece of plan about their Size and breadth, they keep their legs close on top of it, & their Arms are us’d to guide the plank, thye wait the time of the greatest Swell that sets on Shore …”

“… & altogether push forward with their Arms to keep on its top, it sends them in with a most astonishing Velocity, & the great art is to guide the plan so as always to keep it in a proper direction on the top of the Swell, & as it alters its direct.”

“The surf-riders, having reached the belt of water outside of the surf, the region where the rollers began to make head, awaited the incoming of a wave, in preparation for which they got their boards under way by paddling with their hands until such time as the swelling wave began to lift and urge them forward.” (Malo)

“(T)hey resorted to the favorite amusement of all classes – sporting on the surf, in which they distinguish themselves from most other nations. In this exercise, they generally avail themselves of the surf-board, an instrument manufactured by themselves for the purpose.” (Bingham)

“The inhabitants of these islands, both male and female, are distinguished by their fondness for the water, their powers of diving and swimming, and the dexterity and ease with which they manage themselves, their surf-boards and canoes, in that element.” (Bingham)

Missionary Amos Cooke, who arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1837 – and was later appointed by King Kamehameha III to teach the young royalty in the Chief’s Childrens’ School – surfed himself (with his sons) and enjoyed going to the beach in the afternoon. “After dinner Auhea went with me, & the boys to bathe in the sea, & I tried riding on the surf. To day I have felt quite lame from it.” (Cooke)

Mark Twain sailed to the Hawaiian Islands and tried surfing, describing his 1866 experience in his book Roughing It. “I tried surf-bathing once, subsequently, but made a failure of it. I got the board placed right, and at the right moment, too; but missed the connection myself.—The board struck the shore in three quarters of a second, without any cargo, and I struck the bottom about the same time, with a couple of barrels of water in me.”

Duke Kahanamoku is credited as the ‘Father of Modern Surfing’ and through his many travels, Duke introduced surfing to the rest of the world and was regarded as the father of international surfing. On one trip to Australia in 1914-15, Kahanamoku demonstrated surfing and made such an impression that the Australians erected a statue of him. (Nendel)

Duke was named after his father, who was named Duke after the Duke of Edinburgh who visited Hawaii in 1869 – in 1920, Duke took Prince Edward surfing at Waikīkī.

Today, surfing is thought of as a lifestyle in Hawaiʻi, it is part of the local culture. As an island state, the shore is the beginning of our relationship with the ocean – not the edge of the state line. Surfing expands our horizon, refreshes, rejuvenates and gives hope. It has helped people find harmony in one’s self and the vast ocean. (Hawaiʻi Quarter Design)

As former Hawai’i State governor, George Ariyoshi, stated, “Those of us fortunate to live in Hawai’i are extremely proud of our state and its many contributions to the world. Surfing certainly is one of those contributions.”

“It is a sport enjoyed by men, women and children in nearly every country bordering an ocean. Surfing was born in Hawai’i and truly has become Hawaiʻi’s gift to the world of sports.”

Missionary Hiram Bingham, noted (rather poetically,) “On a calm and bright summer’s day, the wide ocean and foaming surf … the green tufts of elegant fronds on the tall cocoanut trunks, nodding and waving, like graceful plumes, in the refreshing breeze …”

“… the natives … riding more rapidly and proudly on their surf-boards, on the front of foaming surges … give life and interest to the scenery.”

December 23, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Luahinewai

“Kekaha wai ‘ole na Kona” (“waterless Kekaha of the Kona district”) speaks of Kekaha, the portion of North Kona extending north of Kailua Bay from Honokōhau to ʻAnaehoʻomalu. It is described as “a dry, sun-baked land.”

Here is Kīholo, situated within the ahupuaʻa of Puʻuwaʻawaʻa. Kīholo (lit. the Fishhook) refers to the legend which describes how in 1859 the goddess Pele, hungry for the ‘awa and mullet, or ʻanae, which grew there in the great fishpond constructed by Kamehameha I, sent down a destructive lava flow, grasping at the fish she desired. (DLNR)

This place name may have been selected as a word descriptive of the coastline along that part of the island where the east-west coast meets the north-south coast and forms a bend similar to the angle between the point and the shank of a large fishhook. There is no confirmation for this theory, except for our knowledge that Hawaiian place names have a strong tendency to be descriptive. (Kelly)

While only a handful of houses are here today, in ancient times, there was a fishing village with many more that called Kīholo home.

Here, too, is Luahinewai, an anchialine pond/pool – (these are shoreline pools without surface connection to the sea, having waters of varying salinity and showing tidal rhythms (Brock.)) Luahinewai (old lady’s water) is said to refer to a water-formed supernatural moʻo (lizard) that lived there.

Of Luahinewai, JWHI Kihe writes (in Ka Hoku o Hawaiʻi; Maly:) “There is a large pond near Kīholo and Laemanō; it is a famous bathing place of the chiefs of ancient times. The water there is cold, and causes the skin to tingle. Because it is so cold, it is like ice water.”

“It is said that there is an opening in this pond by which an old woman (luahine) enters. And there below the pond, are said to be laid out the bones of the chiefs of ancient times.”

“This pond is about five fathoms deep at its deepest point near the center of the pond. That too, is where the water is coldest. And if you should dive in and pass this area, you will find the cold water and not be able to stay there long. You will quickly retreat and wrap yourself up with a cloth.”

“The one who dives into it at its deepest point, will also see that his/her skin will turn red like the red coral. There are also pebbles at the bottoms of this pond, and it is a good thing, as you will not strike your foot upon any rocks.”

“The chiefs and fearless warriors of ancient times have passed from this side of the dark waters of death, and the bathing pool of Luahine Wai remains with its beauty, playing in the ocean mist and the gentle blowing of the breezes. This generation too, shall pass, and the next generation that follows, but Luahinewai shall remain as was found in the beginning.”

Luahinewai was a famous rest stop during canoe voyages along the coast. (Ulukau) “… the ship sailed, pausing at Luahinewai to bathe and visit with that strange water in the lava. After an enjoyable stop at the water with the pretty pebbles, they again sailed.” (ʻĪʻi)

In 1790, Kamehameha I and his chiefs were living at Kawaihae. Following advice of a priest from Kaua‘i, Kamehameha undertook the reconstruction of the heiau Pu‘u Koholā, to dedicate it as a house for his god Kūkaʻilimoku. During this time, “thousands of people were encamped on the neighboring hillsides.”

According to Kamakau, Kamehameha “… summoned his counselors and younger brothers, chiefs of the family and chiefs of the guard, all the chiefs, lesser chiefs, and commoners of the whole district. Not one was allowed to be absent except for the women, because it was tabu to offer a woman upon the altar; a man alone could furnish such a sacrifice.”

“The building of the heiau of Pu‘u Koholā was, as in ancient times, directed by an expert—not in oratory, genealogy, or the prophetic art, but by a member of the class called hulihonua who knew the configuration of the earth (called kuhikuhi pu‘uone.)”

“Their knowledge was like that of the navigator who knows the latitude and longitude of each land, where the rocks are, the deep places, and the shallow, where it is cold and where warm, and can tell without mistake the degrees, east or west, north or south. Such knowledge, taught on Kauai, one could apply anywhere in the world; so Kapoukahi had instructed Ha‘alo‘u (a chiefess relative of Kamehameha’s) to the letter.”

“As soon as the heiau was completed, just before it was declared free, Kamehameha’s two counselors, Keaweaheulu and Kamanawa (who resided at Kīholo,) were sent to fetch Keōua, ruling chief of the eastern end of the island of Hawaiʻi”

“Keōua was living in Kaʻū mauka in Kahuku with his chiefs and warriors of his guard. Keaweaheulu and his companion landed at Ka‘iliki‘i and began the ascent to Kahehawahawa … Close to the extreme edge of the tabu enclosure of Keōua’s place the two … messengers rolled along in the dirt until they came to the place where Keōua was sitting, when they grasped his feet and wept.”

“We have come to fetch you, the son of our lord’s older brother, and to take you with us to Kona to meet your younger cousin, and you two to be our chiefs and we to be your uncles. So then let war cease between you.”

Keōua agreed to accompany his uncles. Some of the party traveled by foot overland, while Keōua and some of his trusted counselors and guards traveled with the messengers by canoe.

“They left Kailua and went as far as Luahinewai at Kekaha, where they landed the canoes. Keōua went to bathe, and after bathing he cut off the end of his penis (ʻomuʻo), an act which believers in sorcery call “the death of Uli,” and which was a certain sign that he knew he was about to die.

(“The death of Uli” refers to death caused by the vengeance of the sorcerer, since Uli is the goddess worshipped by Sorcerers. The part cut off is used for the purpose of sorcery so that those who do a man to death may themselves be discovered and punished.) (DLNR)

They kept on their course until near Mailekini, when Keʻeaumoku and some others carrying spears, muskets, and other weapons broke through the formation of the fleet, surrounding the canoes of Keōua, separating them from those of Keaweaheulu and his followers and calling to Kamanawa to paddle ahead.

Keōua rose and called to Kamehameha, “Here I am!” Kamehameha called back, “Stand up and come forward that we may greet each other.”

Keōua rose again, intending to spring ashore, when Keʻeaumoku thrust a spear at him, which Keōua dodged, snatched, and thrust back at Keʻeaumoku, who snatched it away. Keōua and all those who were with him on the canoe were killed… By the death of Keōua, Kuʻahuʻula and his placing in the heiau of Pu‘u Kohola the whole island of Hawaii became Kamehameha’s.”