Categories

July 14, 2023 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Ke Awa Lau O Puʻuloa

During ancient times, various land divisions were used to divide and identify areas of control. Islands were divided into moku; moku were divided into ahupuaʻa. A common feature in each ahupuaʻa was water, typically in the form of a stream or spring.

The Island of O’ahu had six Moku: Kona, Koʻolaupoko, Koʻolauloa, Waialua, Waiʻanae and ʻEwa.

‘Ewa was divided into 12-ahupua‘a, consisting of (from east to west): Hālawa, ‘Aiea, Kalauao, Waimalu, Waiau, Waimano, Mānana, Waiʻawa, Waipi‘o, Waikele, Hōʻaeʻae and Honouliuli.

Some stories, when first recorded in the 19th- Century, refer to ʻEwa as the first area populated on Oʻahu by the immigrant Polynesians. ‘Ewa was at one time the political center for O‘ahu chiefs.

This was probably due to its abundant resources that supported the households of the chiefs, particularly the many fishponds around the lochs of Puʻuloa (“long hill,) better known today as Pearl Harbor. (Cultural Surveys)

Each had fisheries in the harbor, floodplains with irrigated kalo and fishponds, and interior (lower kula valley streams/gulches) and mountain forests. (Kirch)

Puʻuloa or Ke Awa Lau O Puʻuloa (the many harbored-sea of Puʻuloa) is situated here.

All water sources in each of the twelve ahupuaʻa of ʻEwa met in Puʻuloa. This was the only moku in all the islands where all waters from its ahupuaʻa did this.

Puʻuloa and Ke Awa Lau O Puʻuloa are just a couple of its traditional names. It was also known as Awawalei (“garland (lei) of harbors,”) Awalau (“harbor with many inlets”) and Huhui na ʻōpua i Awalau (The clouds met at Awalau.)

Today, we generally call this place Pearl Harbor. The name Pearl Harbor is one of the few English place names in Hawaiʻi that is a close translation of another of its traditional Hawaiian names, Wai Momi (“Pearl Water.”)

Some of the traditional themes associated with this area include connections with Kahiki (Tahiti,) the traditional homeland of Hawaiians.

Legend tells that Kanekuaʻana (a moʻo, or water lizard) came from Kahiki and brought with her the pipi, or pearl oyster. The harbor was teeming with pearl-producing oysters until the late-1800s. (The general belief is that runoff sedimentation eventually smothered the oyster habitat.)

The pipi was called the “iʻa hamau leo” or “fish with a silenced voice.” It was not the pipi that was silent but the people who gathered them (if they spoke, wind would ripple the water and the oysters would vanish.)

There are several versions of the chief Kahaʻi leaving from Kalaeloa (Barber’s Point) for a trip to Kahiki; on his return to the Hawaiian Islands, he brought back the first breadfruit and planted it at Puʻuloa.

Traditional accounts indicate several of the fishponds in the Puʻuloa area were believed to have been constructed by Kāne and Kanaloa. Directing the menehune, they made the pond Kapākule (aka Pākule,) which they stocked with all manner of fish. (Kumupono, Hoakalei)

“On the left side of [Kapākule] pond stood the stone called Hina, which represented a goddess of the sea by that name. Each time the sea ebbed, the rock became gradually visible, vanishing again under water at high tide. Ku, another stone on the right, was never seen above sea level. This stone represented Ku’ula, Red Ku, a god of fish and fishermen. (Pukui)

“[T]he harbor of Ewa, or Pearl River, [is] situated on the Island of Oahu, about 7 miles west of Honolulu. Pearl River is a fine sheet of deep water extending inland about 6 miles from its month …”

“Pearl River is not a true river; it partakes more of the character of an estuary. It is divided into three portions called ‘locks’ – the east lock, the middle lock, and the west lock, the three together affording some 30 miles of water front, with deep water in the channels.” (General JM Schofield and General BS Alexander, 1872)

Puʻuloa Salt Works (property of JI Dowsett) “are at the west side of the entrance to Pearl River, and the windmill is a prominent object in the landscape as we enter. It is also one of the guides in steeling vessels inward. On the eastern side and opposite to the Puʻuloa buildings, is the fishery, where are a number of buildings inhabited by Chinamen.” (Daily Bulletin, January 6, 1889)

Puʻuloa was originally an extensive, shallow embayment. Keaunui, the head of the powerful and celebrated ʻEwa chiefs, is attributed for having cut a navigable channel near the Puʻuloa saltworks, by which the great estuary, known as “Pearl River,” was for the first time rendered accessible to navigation.

Puʻuloa was regarded as the home of the shark goddess Kaʻahupahau and her brother Kahiʻuka in Hawaiian legends. They were said to live in a cave at the entrance to Puʻuloa and guarded the waters against man-eating sharks.

“There is ample evidence that the lonely scenes, upon which we now gaze with wondering curiosity, were once thickly peopled; and at that period the gospel had not reached Pearl River. Among the objects of their heathen worship was the shark, whoso numbers at Pearl River in those days were very abundant.” (Daily Bulletin, January 6, 1889)

Moku‘ume‘ume (meaning “island of strife”) is a small island located in Pearl Harbor on the Island of Oʻahu. It is entirely surrounded by water deep enough to accommodate deep draft ocean-going vessels. We now call it Ford Island.

The first known foreigner to enter the channel of the Pearl Harbor area, Captain George Vancouver, started to explore the area, but stopped when he realized that the entrance was not deep enough for large ships to pass through.

“If the water upon the bar should be deepened, which I doubt not can be effected, it would afford the best and most capacious harbor in the Pacific.” (Commodore Charles Wilkes, 1840)

In the nineteenth century, the peninsula between Middle Loch and East Loch (part of the Mānana ahupuaʻa) had numerous fishponds, some rice fields, pasture land at the tip, and oyster beds offshore.

As a means of solidifying a site in the central Pacific, the US negotiated an amendment to the Treaty of Reciprocity in 1887. King Kalākaua in his speech before the opening session of the 1887 Hawaiian Legislature stated (November 3, 1887:)

“I take great pleasure in informing you that the Treaty of Reciprocity with the United States of America has been definitely extended for seven years upon the same terms as those in the original treaty …”

“… with the addition of a clause granting to national vessels of the United States the exclusive privilege of entering Pearl River Harbor and establishing there a coaling and repair station.”

“This has been done after mature deliberation and the interchange between my Government and that of the United States of an interpretation of the said clause …”

“… whereby it is agreed and understood that it does not cede any territory or part with or impair any right of sovereignty or jurisdiction on the part of the Hawaiian Kingdom and that such privilege is coterminous with the treaty.”

“I regard this as one of the most important events of my reign, and I sincerely believe that it will re-establish the commercial progress and prosperity which began with the Reciprocity Treaty.” (Kalākaua)

In 1890 some of the Mānana lands became the first planned subdivision outside of urban Honolulu (Pearl City, named in a contest and developed by Benjamin F Dillingham as a way to increase passenger traffic on his Oahu Railway and Land Company (OR&L) trains.)

July 12, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

David Malo

David Malo, one of the early native Hawaiian scholars, was the son of Aoao and his wife Heone, and was born in Keauhou, North Kona Hawai‘i; his father had been soldier in the army of Kamehameha I.

The exact year of his birth is not known, but it was about 1793, around the time of Vancouver’s second visit to the islands.

During his early life Malo was connected with the high chief Kuakini (Governor Adams,) who was a brother of Queen Ka‘ahumanu.

In 1823, Malo moved to Lāhainā, Maui where he learned to read and write. Malo soon converted to Christianity and was given the baptismal name of David.

In 1831, he entered Lahainaluna High School (at about the age of 38;) the school opened with twenty-five students, under the leadership of Reverend Lorrin Andrews – he graduated in the class of 1835.

From about 1835, he started writing notes on the Hawaiian religion and cultural history, along with other members of the school and instructor Sheldon Dibble.

Malo came to be regarded as the great authority and repository of Hawaiian lore and was in great demand as a story-teller of the old-time traditions, mele, and genealogies, and as a master in arrangements of the hula.

The law which first established a national school system was the “Statute for the Regulation of Schools” which was enacted on October 15, 1840, and was reenacted, with some important amendments, on May 21, 1841.

Malo was appointed as the general school agent for Maui; he was then voted to be in charge of all the general school agents, therefore becoming the first superintendent of schools of the Hawaiian kingdom (where he served at least until the middle of 1845.

He was described as “tall and of spare frame, active, energetic, a good man of business, eloquent of speech, independent in his utterances.”

“He was of a type of mind inclined to be jealous and quick to resent any seeming slight in the way of disparagement or injustice that might be shown to his people or nation, and was one who held tenaciously to the doctrine of national integrity and independence.”

After being ordained to the Christian ministry, he settled down in the seaside village of Kalepolepo on East Maui where he remained until his death in October 1853.

His book, Hawaiian antiquities (Moolelo Hawaii – 1898,) addressed the genealogies, traditions and beliefs of the people of Hawai‘i.

In the “Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition,” Admiral Wilkes (1840,) commenting on books about Hawai‘i, said, “(s)ome of them are by native authors. Of these I cannot pass at least one without naming him.”

“This is David Malo, who is highly esteemed by all who know him, and who lends the missionaries his aid, in mind as well as example, in ameliorating the condition of his people and checking licentiousness.”

“At the same time he sets an example of industry, by farming with his own hands, and manufactures from his own sugar cane an excellent molasses.”

In the introduction to his book, the trustees of Bishop Museum acknowledge they “are rendering an important service to all Polynesian scholars.”

They also suggest the book “form(s) a valuable contribution not only to Hawaiian archaeology, but also to Polynesian ethnology in general.”

July 11, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Menehune

“[T]he plausible historical explanation is that the Menehune were the first-wave Polynesians from the Marquesas and they became part of a cultural memory retained and retold in oral stories after they fled in the face of the Tahitian arrival.” (Martins; WorldHistory)

“Menehune tales made a sudden appearance in the Hawaiian newspapers and journals in 1861. Prior to this, the earliest Hawaiian scholars and missionaries made no reference to forest people who were mysterious construction workers.”

“An extensive early history was written by the Reverend Hiram Bingham (1789-1869), an American missionary who arrived in 1820 and spent more than two decades in the islands. Bingham collected oral histories and tales about Hawaiian deities, but there was no mention of the Menehune.”

“The British missionary William Ellis (1794-1872) was aware of the ‘manahune’ of Tahiti – a term that referred to the lowest of the three Tahitian social classes, including unskilled labourers and servants.”

“After a tour of the Hawaiian islands and missionary interventions in political and cultural institutions, Ellis produced his famed four-volume work, Polynesian Researches, in 1831. Given his encyclopaedic knowledge of the South Pacific region, it is curious that Ellis made no mention of the Menehune of Hawaii and any possible link to the manahune of Tahiti.”

“Similarly, Hawaiian historian David Malo (c. 1793-1853), in his work Hawaiian Antiquities, first published in 1838, refers to the Mu (mischievous sprites) but not the Menehune.”

“What has come to be known as the Menehune Ditch was first mentioned in March 1861 in the Hawaiian language newspaper Ka Hae Hawaii. The construction of Kīkīaola, a historic 24-foot high irrigation channel or auwai in Waimea, Kauai (now called the Menehune Ditch), was attributed to the Menehune, who built it in one night, and it predates the c. 1000 CE Tahitian migrations to Hawaii.”

“It was discovered by Europeans in the 1700s and was described by George Vancouver in 1792. It is considered an engineering marvel due to the 120 cleanly cut dressed basalt blocks, which would have required precision tools and techniques for cutting, that line about 200 feet of the ditch, carrying water to irrigate ponds for growing taro.”

“It also differs from typical Hawaiian rock wall constructions, even though the Hawaiians were fully skilled in stonemasonry.”

“However, there are numerous examples of the use of innovative stone-cutting by early Hawaiians. Fornander points to Umi’s heiau (temple). Umi-a-Liloa (r. 1470-1525) was the high chief of the largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago (Hawaii Island), and his heiau is an elaborate example of cut-and-dressed stone masonry.”

“The Alekoko Fishpond, also known as the Menehune Fishpond, is a 102-acre pond located along a bend of the Hule‘ia River on the island of Kauai. … The inland pond was constructed with a 2,700-foot long stone and earthen wall around 600 years ago, although 1,000 years has also been put forward.”

“As with Kīkīaola, the wall is a unique mud and rock structure that differs from most known Hawaiian pond walls, which are usually made from large basalt boulders. For parts of the wall, workers would have needed to work underwater.”

“The Hawaiian language newspaper, Ka Hae Hawaii, in October 1861, attributed the overnight build of the fishpond to the magical Menehune rather than acknowledging that the Hawaiians themselves were capable of impressive engineering feats.”

“[A]rchaeologists have not found a single piece of evidence pointing towards a diminutive race of people in Hawaii pre-dating the Polynesians.”

“Given the lack of evidence, the plausible historical explanation is that the Menehune were the first-wave Polynesians from the Marquesas and they became part of a cultural memory retained and retold in oral stories after they fled in the face of the Tahitian arrival.” (Martins)

“The name of Menehune probably reached the Hawaiian Islands from central Polynesia, where it is known, with dialectical variations, in the Society, Cook, and Tuamotuan Archipelagoes.”

“Hawaiians reserve the term Menehune for bands of supernatural, night-working artisans of very small height who specialize in stonework and live a simple life in the mountainous interiors of the islands, especially of Kauai.”

“William Hyde Rice describes the Menehune as ‘A race of mythical dwarfs from two to three feet in height, who were possessed of great strength; a race of pygmies who were squat, tremendously strong, powerfully built, and very ugly of face. They were credited with the building of many temples, roads, and other structures.’”

“‘Trades among them were well-systematized, every Menehune being restricted to his own particular craft in which he was a master. It was believed that they would work only one night on a construction and if unable to complete the work, it was left undone.’”

“Menehune were real people who, with the passage of time, have been folklorized by later arrivals in the land, or that they are supernatural beings to whom the deeds of real people were ascribed after the history of the deeds had been forgotten. “

“[I]n many parts of Polynesia and in the adjoining island areas of Micronesia and Melanesia are myths, traditions, and beliefs about little people who are reminiscent of the Menehune although called by other names.”

“[T]he words used to express the numbers of Kauai Menehune were lau (400), mano (4,000), kini (40,000) and lehu (400,000), their total number being melehuka (millions).”

“Once when all the Menehune of Kauai assembled they numbered more than 500,600, not counting the children under 17. The occasion of this great gathering was to prepare for their exodus from the Hawaiian Islands at the order of the king of the Menehune who was worried because so many of his men were marrying Hawaiian women and he wanted to keep the race pure.”

“In their heyday, then, before the exodus, the Menehune were extremely prolific in contrast to the present population, and Kauai was densely populated.”

“The Menehune are playful, love jokes, and have many different kinds of games. On Kauai, before the exodus, they used to carry stones from the mountains to their bathing places, throw them into the sea, and dive after them. They also liked to dive into the sea from cliffs.”

“One of the divisions organized for the exodus from Kauai was made up of musicians, fun-makers, storytellers, and minstrels to entertain the king. Musicians used bamboo nose flutes, ti-leaf trumpets, mouth harps, and hollow log drums.”

“During the exodus, when two chiefesses, Hanakapiai and Hanakeao, died, the former in childbirth and the latter in an accident, the king ordered 60 days of mourning. These were concluded with feasting and games.”

“Among the many sports were top spinning; dart throwing, using a spear-throwing device; hiding a pebble; boxing; wrestling, both standing up and lying down; tug of war; foot racing; sled racing by both men and women down grassy slopes; and ‘a game resembling discus throwing.’”

“Apparently, however, not all the Menehune left at the time of the exodus. [Some] hid in the forests in order to remain with their Hawaiian families.”

“[I]n the reign of Kaumualii, the last independent ruler of Kauai, a census was taken of the population of Wainiha Valley in which 65 of the 2,000 people counted by the king’s agent were Menehune. All 65 lived in a community named Laau (Forest) in the depths of the valley forests.”

“In general, the Menehune are kind and helpful to other people, especially to their descendants. They work for others when asked, or even when not asked.”

“If the Menehune are offended by anyone, they turn the offender to stone. According to Rice, they regard thievery with contempt and mete out death to the culprits by transforming them into stone.”

“Menehune fear daylight and avoid being seen, and they work only at night. Every job must be finished by dawn, or it is left. There is a saying, ‘In one night, and by dawn it is finished.’”

“Only four incomplete jobs are known: a Kauai heiau [left unfinished because an owl and a dog were regarded as evil omens], a Kauai fishpond, the transporting of Kakae’s canoe to the ocean, and a watercourse on Hawaii [the latter were left unfinished because daylight came before the work was done].”

“Much of their work appears to be done for nothing, from the goodness of their hearts.”

“It is as stoneworkers that the Menehune excel. They have built heiaus, watercourses, fishponds, causeways, rock piles, and stone canoes; rearranged boulders; dug caves; and made many forest roads and trails.”

“The Kauai dam and watercourse, the so-called “Menehune Ditch”, job of fitted and dressed stone work and engineering which involved turning the course of Waimea River and directing the water around a corner of a mountain”.

“There is a saying … ‘Happy is the man whose work is his hobby. The Menehune must be happy, as they love their work. They carry rocks from the seashore to the mountain sides to build heiaus or watercourses as part of their daily, or rather nightly, work …”

“… and they spend their leisure hours carrying rocks from the mountains to the seashore, so that they can either dive off the

rocks or throw them into the water and dive after them.”

“Although the Menehune prefer to live in deep forests in remote valleys and on mountainsides, evidences of their work are scattered widely, especially on Kauai and Oahu with which they are very closely connected.” (Luomana) (All here is from Luomana and Martins)

July 10, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

David Manuia

Abner Paki “appears in the genealogy of the Chiefs of this Nation, from ancient times, and he is a high Chief of this land descended from Haloa, that being the one father of the children living in this world, and the father of our people.”

“Part of his genealogy is taken from the High Chiefs of the land, and he is part of Kamehameha’s, and he is part of Kiwalao’s, and he is a hereditary chief of a single line from ancient times; and he was a father who rescued from trouble his people of this nation from Hawaii to Kauai.” (Nupepa Kuakoa, Elele E, 6/16/1855, p. 20

He was “the last of the family of old high chiefs. … His father’s name was Kalanihelemaiiluna, and his mother’s Kahooheiheipahu. He was born [at Kainalu] on the island Molokai, in the year ‘Ualakaa,’ [“that being when Kamehameha was farming at Ualakaa” [Round Top above Manoa Valley], Nupepa Kuakoa, Ka Elele E, Buke 10, Aoao 20. Iune 16, 1855].

“He was an intimate friend of the King [Kamehameha III], and was a person of considerable weight and importance in the affairs of the nation. He held during his life, some high offices of trust and honor; being at different times, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, acting Governor, Privy Councillor, member of the House of Nobles, and Chamberlain to the King.”

“The most prominent feature in his character was firmness; where he took a stand, he was immovable. On the death of Kamehameha III, he prophesied that he should survive his Royal master but a few months, though he was in usual health at the time.”

Kamehameha III died December 15, 1854; Paki died June 13, 1855. Paki’s “wife Konia, (also a high chief,) who survived him two years, she dying in 1857.” (Bennett, 1871)

Paki and Konia were the parents of Bernice Pauahi Paki Pākī (born December 19, 1831). “Paki and Kona must have been a striking contrast. Pali was 6 feet 4 inched in height. He had massive arms and legs, a handsome body and the lithness of a good athlete. Konia was short, had a quick, intelligent face ad was frankly fat. She was noted for her sweet disposition.”

“Kalani [princess] Pauahi, the little high chiefess, did not remain long with her mother Konia. She was adopted Hawaiian style by the High Chiefess Kīna‘u. … Kīna‘u … had three sons – Moses, Lot and Alexander Liholiho. She yearned for a daughter, so she took the child of Konia out of her own mother’s arms and reared her for 8 years.” (Clarice Taylor)

High Chief Caesar Kapaʻakea and his wife High Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole had several children, including future King David Kalakaua (born (November 16, 1836)) and Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha (future Queen Lili‘uokalani) (born September 2, 1838).

As was the custom, Liliʻu was hānai (adopted) to the Pākīs, who reared her with their birth daughter, Pauahi. The Pauahi and Lili‘u developed a close, loving relationship.

As Lili‘uokalani noted, “When I was taken from my own parents and adopted by Paki and Konia, or about two months thereafter, a child was born to Kīna‘u. That little babe was the Princess Victoria [born November 1, 1838], two of whose brothers became sovereigns of the Hawaiian people [Kamehameha IV and V].”

“While the infant was at its mother’s breast, Kīna‘u always preferred to take me into her arms to nurse, and would hand her own child to the woman attendant who was there for that purpose.”

“I knew no other father or mother than my foster-parents, no other sister than Bernice. I used to climb up on the knees of Paki, put my arms around his neck, kiss him, and he caressed me as a father would his child …”

“… while on the contrary, when I met my own parents, it was with perhaps more of interest, yet always with the demeanor I would have shown to any strangers who noticed me.”

“My own father and mother had other children, ten in all, the most of them being adopted into other chiefs’ families; and although I knew that these were my own brothers and sisters, yet we met throughout my younger life as though we had not known our common parentage. This was, and indeed is, in accordance with Hawaiian customs.” (Lili‘uokalani)

But there seems to be another child associated with Paki.

A portion of the program for the Dedication of Paki Hall at Kamehameha School for Boys (1960) noted, “While a young man living in Kohala, Paki married Ka-iwi and to them was born David Manuia.”

“Manuia’s granddaughter, Laika, was the mother of Jonah Kumalae, known to kamaainas as the editor of the Hawaiian newspaper Ke Alakai o Hawaii.”

“Mr. Kumalae’s grandson, Richard Among, who was graduated from The School for Boys in the class of 1951, is the only known descendant of High Chief Paki to have attended The Kamehameha Schools. [Richard Awong was in attendance and was introduced at the dedication event.]”

“Richard and other progeny of Paki living in Honolulu observe the tradition of chiefly modesty, and few people are aware of their illustrious ancestry.”

“After the death of his wife in Kohala, Paki married Laura Kana-holo Konia, granddaughter of Kamehameha the Great and daughter of the Conqueror’s first-born son, Ka-o-lei-o-ku.”

“Bernice Pauahi, daughter of Paki and Konia and beloved benefactress of The Kamehameha Schools, was a chiefess of the highest rank.” (Program narrative at dedication of Paki Hall at Kamehameha School for Boys, Nov 4, 1960)

However, if you do the math, Paki was “the last of the family of old high chiefs. … He was born on the island Molokai, in the year ‘Ualakaa’ [“that being when Kamehameha was farming at Ualakaa”, Nupepa Kuakoa, Ka Elele E, Buke 10, Aoao 20. Iune 16, 1855].” (Bennett, 1871)

Kamehameha was farming sweet potatoes at Ualakaa between 1808 and 1812 0 so Paki would have been born sometime in that range.

The challenge is Clarice Taylor says David Manuia “was born in 1810 at Puakawau, North Kohala”. This reference is likely from an obituary statement in the newspaper by Mrs LK Keliaa, the daughter of Manuia, who gave that birth year.

Keliaa stated, “He was born in Piiakawau, North Kohala, Hawaii, in AD 1810, born to Paki k. and Kaiwi w., five of them, three males, two females, but he was taken away by the his children died and only one was left alive, until he found this M.H. 1889, and at 2 o’clock in the morning on Friday the 11th of this month, his life was called by the Almighty, and he took it away.”

“In M. H. 1836. He entered the Lahainaluna College, and for several years, he graduated with the approval of his teachers, and returned to his native land, and after a while, he found public offices from the government, that is, Teacher, Headmaster, Tax Officer, Police Officer, Judge, and a Marriage License Officer.”

“His job, however, continued as the school principal, until he left Hawaii in March 1870 for Honolulu, Oahu, where he stayed until his death.”

“He is married to a woman, and they have one child, DM. Puna Manuia, and the woman died, and a long time later, he remarried the woman, they lived and had one more child and in AD 1853, the second woman died, and He remained celibate until he passed away.”

“D. Manuia is one of the oldest brothers of the Kohala, and was also a church leader of that place until he moved to Oahu, and in that Christian position he lived, and he is also one of the strong support of the works of the Lord in Kawaiahao which is being held by the father Rev HH Parker, and it was nothing to him for long periods under the works of the Lord.”

“He was 79 years old in this world … was a kind man, and he was a welcomer to the guests who visited his home, until his death.” (Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Bishop Museum Archives)

So, it is a mystery how Paki (apparently born in the year ‘Ualakaa’, 1808-1812) could be the father of Manuia (apparently born 1810), but there are definitive statements made by Kamehameha Schools, Clarice Taylor and the obituary that he is.

July 9, 2023 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Do Hawaiian Traditions Have Biblical Connections?

Rev. Charles McEwen Hyde wrote a piece in Hawaiian Folk Tales (Thrum) on Legends Resembling Old Testament History; all here is from that.

Creation

In the first volume of Judge Fornander’s elaborate work on “The Polynesian Race” he has given some old Hawaiian legends which closely resemble the Old Testament history. Take, for instance, the Hawaiian account of the Creation.

The Kane, Ku, and Lono: or, Sunlight, Substance, and Sound, – these constituted a triad named Ku-Kaua-Kahi, or the Fundamental Supreme Unity. In worship the reverence due was expressed by such epithets as Hi-ka-po-loa, Oi-e, Most Excellent, etc.

These gods existed from eternity, from and before chaos, or, as the Hawaiian term expressed it, ‘mai ka po mai’ (from the time of night, darkness, chaos).

By an act of their will these gods dissipated or broke into pieces the existing, surrounding, all-containing po, night, or chaos. By this act light entered into space.

They then created the heavens, three in number, as a place to dwell in; and the earth to be their footstool, he keehina honua a Kane. Next they created the sun, moon, stars, and a host of angels, or spirits – i kini akua – to minister to them.

Last of all they created man as the model, or in the likeness of Kane. The body of the first man was made of red earth – lepo ula, or alaea – and the spittle of the gods – wai nao.

His head was made of a whitish clay – palolo – which was brought from the four ends of the world by Lono.

When the earth-image of Kane was ready, the three gods breathed into its nose, and called on it to rise, and it became a living being.

Afterwards the first woman was created from one of the ribs – lalo puhaka – of the man while asleep, and these two were the progenitors of all mankind.

They are called in the chants and in various legends by a large number of different names; but the most common for the man was Kumuhonua, and for the woman Keolakuhonua [or Lalahonua].

Spirits – The Inferno

According to those legends of Kumuhonua and Wela-ahi-lani, “at the time when the gods created the stars, they also created a multitude of angels, or spirits (i kini akua), who were not created like men, but made from the spittle of the gods (i kuhaia), to be their servants or messengers.”

“These spirits, or a number of them, disobeyed and revolted, because they were denied the awa; which means that they were not permitted to be worshipped, awa being a sacrificial offering and sign of worship.”

“These evil spirits did not prevail, however, but were conquered by Kane, and thrust down into uttermost darkness (ilalo loa i ka po).”

“The chief of these spirits was called by some Kanaloa, by others Milu, the ruler of Po; Akua ino; Kupu ino, the evil spirit. Other legends, however, state that the veritable and primordial lord of the Hawaiian inferno was called Manua.”

“The inferno itself bore a number of names, such as Po-pau-ole, Po-kua-kini, Po-kini-kini, Po-papa-ia-owa, Po-ia-milu. Milu, according to those other legends, was a chief of superior wickedness on earth who was thrust down into Po, but who was really both inferior and posterior to Manua.”

“This inferno, this Po, with many names, one of which remarkably enough was Ke-po-lua-ahi, the pit of fire, was not an entirely dark place. There was light of some kind and there was fire.”

First Man

The legends further tell us that when Kane, Ku, and Lono were creating the first man from the earth, Kanaloa was present, and in imitation of Kane, attempted to make another man out of the earth. When his clay model was ready, he called to it to become alive, but no life came to it.

Then Kanaloa became very angry, and said to Kane, ‘I will take your man, and he shall die,’ and so it happened. Hence the first man got his other name Kumu-uli, which means a fallen chief, he ’lii kahuli. . . .

The introduction and worship of Kanaloa, as one of the great gods in the Hawaiian group, can be traced back only to the time of the immigration from the southern groups.

In the more ancient chants he is never mentioned in conjunction with Kane, Ku, and Lono, and even in later Hawaiian mythology he never took precedence of Kane. The Hawaiian legend states that the oldest son of Kumuhonua, the first man, was called Laka, and that the next was called Ahu, and that Laka was a bad man; he killed his brother Ahu.

There are these different Hawaiian genealogies, going back with more or less agreement among themselves to the first created man. The genealogy of Kumuhonua gives thirteen generations inclusive to Nuu, or Kahinalii, or the line of Laka, the oldest son of Kumuhonua. (The line of Seth from Adam to Noah counts ten generations.)

The second genealogy, called that of Kumu-uli, was of greatest authority among the highest chiefs down to the latest times, and it was taboo to teach it to the common people. This genealogy counts fourteen generations from Huli-houna, the first man, to Nuu, or Nana-nuu, but inclusive, on the line of Laka.

The third genealogy, which, properly speaking, is that of Paao, the high priest who came with Pili from Tahiti, about twenty-five generations ago, and was a reformer of the Hawaiian priesthood, and among whose descendants it has been preserved, counts only twelve generations from Kumuhonua to Nuu, on the line of Kapili, youngest son of Kumuhonua.

Forbidden Fruit

Of the primeval home, the original ancestral seat of mankind, Hawaiian traditions speak in highest praise. “It had a number of names of various meanings, though the most generally occurring, and said to be the oldest, was Kalana-i-hau-ola (Kalana with the life-giving dew).”

It was situated in a large country, or continent, variously called in the legends Kahiki-honua-kele, Kahiki-ku, Kapa-kapa-ua-a-Kane, Molo-lani. Among other names for the primary homestead, or paradise, are Pali-uli (the blue mountain), Aina-i-ka-kaupo-o-Kane (the land in the heart of Kane), Aina-wai-akua-a-Kane (the land of the divine water of Kane).

The tradition says of Pali-uli, that it was a sacred, tabooed land; that a man must be righteous to attain it; if faulty or sinful he will not get there; if he looks behind he will not get there; if he prefers his family he will not enter Pali-uli.

Among other adornments of the Polynesian Paradise, the Kalana-i-hau-ola, there grew the Ulu kapu a Kane, the breadfruit tabooed for Kane, and the ohia hemolele, the sacred apple-tree.

The priests of the olden time are said to have held that the tabooed fruits of these trees were in some manner connected with the trouble and death of Kumuhonua and Lalahonua, the first man and the first woman.

Hence in the ancient chants he is called Kane-laa-uli, Kumu-uli, Kulu-ipo, the fallen chief, he who fell on account of the tree, or names of similar import.

Flood

In the Hawaiian group there are several legends of the Flood. One legend relates that in the time of Nuu, or Nana-nuu (also pronounced lana, that is, floating), the flood, Kaiakahinalii, came upon the earth, and destroyed all living beings …

… that Nuu, by command of his god, built a large vessel with a house on top of it, which was called and is referred to in chants as ‘He waa halau o ka Moku,’ the royal vessel, in which he and his family, consisting of his wife, Lilinoe, his three sons and their wives, were saved.

When the flood subsided, Kane, Ku, and Lono entered the waa halau of Nuu, and told him to go out. He did so, and found himself on the top of Mauna Kea (the highest mountain on the island of Hawaii).

He called a cave there after the name of his wife, and the cave remains there to this day – as the legend says in testimony of the fact.

Other versions of the legend say that Nuu landed and dwelt in Kahiki-honua-kele, a large and extensive country.” . . . “Nuu left the vessel in the evening of the day and took with him a pig, cocoanuts, and awa as an offering to the god Kane.

As he looked up he saw the moon in the sky. He thought it was the god, saying to himself, ‘You are Kane, no doubt, though you have transformed yourself to my sight.’ So he worshipped the moon, and offered his offerings.

Then Kane descended on the rainbow and spoke reprovingly to Nuu, but on account of the mistake Nuu escaped punishment, having asked pardon of Kane. . . . Nuu’s three sons were Nalu-akea, Nalu-hoo-hua, and Nalu-mana-mana.

He left his native home and moved a long way off until he reached a land called Honua-ilalo, ‘the southern country.’ Hence he got the name Lalo-kona, and his wife was called Honua-po-ilalo.

Then Lua-nuu and his son, Kupulu-pulu-a-Nuu, and his servant, Pili-lua-nuu, started off in their boat to the eastward. In remembrance of this event the Hawaiians called the back of Kualoa Koo-lau; Oahu (after one of Lua-nuu’s names), Kane-hoa-lani; and the smaller hills in front of it were named Kupu-pulu and Pili-lua-nuu.

Lua-nuu is the tenth descendant from Nuu by both the oldest and the youngest of Nuu’s sons. This oldest son is represented to have been the progenitor of the Kanaka-maoli, the people living on the mainland of Kane (Aina kumupuaa a Kane): the youngest was the progenitor of the white people (ka poe keokeo maoli).

This Lua-nuu (like Abraham, the tenth from Noah, also like Abraham), through his grandson, Kini-lau-a-mano, became the ancestor of the twelve children of the latter, and the original founder of the Menehune people, from whom this legend makes the Polynesian family descend.

Hypotheses on Plausibility

“Two hypotheses,” says Fornander, “may with some plausibility be suggested to account for this remarkable resemblance of folk-lore.”

“One is, that during the time of the Spanish galleon trade, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, between the Spanish Main and Manila, some shipwrecked people, Spaniards and Portuguese, had obtained sufficient influence to introduce these scraps of Bible history into the legendary lore of this people.”

“The other hypothesis is, that at some remote period either a body of the scattered Israelites had arrived at these islands direct, or in Malaysia, before the exodus of ‘the Polynesian family,’ and thus imparted a knowledge of their doctrines, of the early life of their ancestors, and of some of their peculiar customs …”

“… and that having been absorbed by the people among whom they found a refuge, this is all that remains to attest their presence – intellectual tombstones over a lost and forgotten race, yet sufficient after twenty-six centuries of silence to solve in some measure the ethnic puzzle of the lost tribes of Israel.”