Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Kihapū

Triton shell trumpets were used in Italy as long ago as 5150 BC. “Blowing shells” are called Shanka in India, Dung-dkar in Tibet, Quiquizoani in Mayan culture, Nagak in Korea, and Horagai in Japan. (Tarleton)

Conch is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized gastropods (sea snails).  The pū is a Hawaiian conch shell; most in Hawai‘i are from the Triton’s Trumpet and the Helmet Shell.  (Tarleton)

The Pū was used to accompany chants, to announce the beginning of a ceremony, and to communicate across the ocean between people in canoes and those on land.  The blowing of the Pū should always be accompanied by protocol.

When it’s blown, how many times and in which directions all have a complex set of meanings. Traditionally, the Pū was not blown at night; it was thought that doing so would be a call to spirits of the night and darkness. (Hoewa‘a)

We first learn of conch shell use in Hawai‘i in a February 1779 entry in Cook’s Journal.  Initially, Cook “had been received with honour and various rites which he had failed to understand as identifying his arrival as that predicted for Lono, a local deity.”

“Having then left Hawaii he was forced back by storm and a broken mast – a return which caused confusion among the Hawaiians as not conforming to their understanding of the situation.”

The Journal notes, “During the whole morning, we heard conchs blowing in different parts of the coast; large parties were seen marching over the hills …”

“… and, in short, appearances were so alarming, that we carried out a stream anchor, to enable us to haul the ship abreast of the town, in case of an attack; and stationed boats off the north point of the bay, to prevent a surprise from that quarter. …”

Pukui provides insight on a conch story that happened a few centuries prior, “In the days when Kiha was chief of Waipi‘o life in that valley was made miserable by the sounding of the menehune pū. Above the cliff-walled valley was [menehune] land ,where the little people lived their lives with small concern for the Hawaiians below.”

“Our night was day for them and it was then they blew upon their pū, or conch-shell trumpet. Down into the valley came the clear sound of the pū to be tossed back and forth by echoing cliffs till all Waipi’o was filled with sound. Dogs woke and barked, babies cried and there was little sleep to be had the whole night through.”

“Kiha, the chief, offered a reward to any man who would steal the pū and bring it to him. … [Kiha approached a dog owner and] A sudden thought came to Kiha.”

“‘Do you think,’ he asked the old man, ‘that your dog [Puapua] could get something for me? Each night the menehune blow their conch-shell trumpet. There is no sleep for me! No sleep for all Waipi‘o! Do you think your dog can get that pu?’”  The dog then went to retrieve the pū.

“It was a big yellow dog who loosened the conch-shell trumpet, got it firmly in his mouth and stole out of the village onto the trail. Then he ran! But, as he ran swiftly, the wind blew through the conch with a low whistling. That sound woke the menehune. Their pū! Their pū was gone!”

“[T]he big dog scrambled from the river and dropped the pū at Kiha’s feet. Eagerly the chief picked it up. He had it! No more sleepless nights!”

“Kiha kept the pū. With it he sent messages or summoned workers. From that time it bore his name – the Kihapū.” (Pukui)

Kalākaua has a somewhat different take on Kihapū; he noted, “Many legends are related of the manner in which Kiha became

possessed of this marvellous shell …”

“… but the most probable explanation is that it was brought from some one of the Samoan or Society Islands three or four centuries before, and had been retained in the reigning family of Hawaii as a charm against certain evils.”

“In the hands of the crafty Kiha, however, it developed new powers and became an object of awe in the royal household. Whatever may have been the beneficent or diabolic virtues of this shell-clarion of Kiha-of the Kiha-pu, as it is called”.

In Kalakaua’s version, Kiha-pū was stolen from Kiha and he asked a man to have his dog retrieve it; “In a marshy forest in the mountains back of Waipio a band of conjuring outlaws have lately found a retreat.”

“A magic shell of great power, stolen from me many years ago, is now in the possession of some one of them-probably of Ika, their chief.”  The dog retrieved it for Kiha.

“The overjoyed king raised and placed the trumpet to his lips, and with a swelling heart roused the people of Waipio with a blast such as they had not heard for more than eight years.” (Kalakaua) Kahipū is at the Bishop Museum.

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Poll Tax

Capitation Taxes, or poll taxes, are levied on each person without reference to income or property. The US Constitution, in Article I, Section 9, forbids the federal government from levying a capitation or other direct tax “unless in Proportion to the Census of Enumeration” provided for in Section 2.

Section 9, however, in accord with colonial practices of placing taxes on the importation of convicts and slaves, permits a tax or duty to be imposed on persons entering the United States, ‘not exceeding ten dollars for each person.’  The poll-tax restriction does not apply to the states. (Encyclopedia-com)

Virginia, the earliest settlement (1607) levied the first known colonial tax – a poll (head) tax in 1619. The universal poll tax, New York being the only exception, applied to free men regardless of occupation or the amount of property holdings. (Howe and Reeb)

Capitation, major direct tax in France before the Revolution of 1789, was first established in 1695 as a wartime measure. Originally, the capitation was to be paid by every subject, the amount varying according to class.

For the purpose of the tax, French society was divided into 22 classes, ranging from members of the royal family who owed 2,000 livres (basic monetary unit of pre-Revolutionary France) to dayworkers who owed only one livre. (Britannica)

Begun in the 1890s as a legal way to keep African Americans from voting in southern states, poll taxes were essentially a voting fee. Eligible voters were required to pay their poll tax before they could cast a ballot.

A “grandfather clause” excused some poor whites from payment if they had an ancestor who voted before the Civil War, but there were no exemptions for African Americans. (Smithsonian National Museum of American History)

In the Islands, tax laws through the early 1840s illustrate a gradual transition to Western-style tax law, while initially allowing some familiar Hawaiian commodity payments in lieu of currency.

The first written Hawaiian tax law, dated December 27, 1826, allowed payment in specific goods or Spanish currency. The law required each able man in the Kingdom to pay their konohiki half a picul of good sandalwood, or four Spanish dollars, or another commodity worth that amount.

Each woman was directed to provide authorities with a mat six by twelve, or tapa of equal value, or one Spanish dollar.  (Woods)

In the Kingdom laws of 1842, “The prerogatives of the King are as follows: He is the sovereign of all the people and all the chiefs. The kingdom is his. He shall have the direction of the army and all the implements of war of the kingdom. “

“He also shall have the direction of the government property – the poll tax – the land tax – the three days monthly labor, though in conformity to the laws. He also shall retain his own private lands, and lands forfeited for the nonpayment of taxes shall revert to him. …”

“There shall be two forms of taxation in the Hawaiian Kingdom. The one a poll tax, to be paid in money, the other a land tax, to be paid in Swine; or these shall be the standard of taxation, though in failure of these articles other property will be received. The amount of poll tax shall be as follows.

  • For a man, one dollar.
  • For a woman, half a dollar.
  • For a Boy, one fourth of a dollar.
  • For a girl, one eighth of a dollar.”

“This is the ratio of taxation for adults and children above 14 years of age. But feeble old men and women shall not be taxed at all. In the back part of the islands where money is difficult to be obtained.”

“Arrow Root will be a suitable substitute. Thirty-three pounds of good arrow root will be taken for a dollar. Cotton also is another suitable article; sixteen pounds will be accounted equal to a dollar. Sugar is another suitable article; also nets.”

“If any individual do not obtain the money at the time when every man, is to pay his taxes, and if he do not obtain arrow root, nor sugar, nor nets, until the specified months for payment are passed, viz October, November and December …”

“… and if the last days of December have passed, then every man shall be fined the value of two dollars, (if his tax is not paid) and the same rates of increase shall be observed in relation to those whose taxes are less than that of a man.”

“The fine shall be paid in some property that can be sold for the value of two dollars, but not in property subject to immediate decay or death.”  (Constitution and Laws of the Hawaiian Islands, 1842)

Later, the poll tax swallowed up the formerly separate road and school taxes; it accounted for one-eighth of Hawaii’s revenues in 1902. It had fallen to be a mere nuisance tax, bringing in only 2 per cent, when it was abolished in 1943.  (Although called a poll tax, in the Islands it was never a qualification to participate in the election process.  (Tax Foundation of Hawai‘i))

In 1964 the Twenty-Fourth amendment prohibited the use of poll taxes for federal elections. Five states enforced payment of poll taxes for state elections until 1966, when the US Supreme Court declared them unconstitutional.  (Smithsonian National Museum of American History))

There is no Poll Tax – Vote.

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It all happened in about a year …

A lot went on in other parts of the world:

February 17, 1818 – Henry ‘Ōpukaha‘ia died at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall CT

October 20, 1818 – the 49th parallel was established as the border between US & Canada

November 21, 1818 – Russia’s Czar Alexander I petitioned for a Jewish state in Palestine

December 24, 1818 – ‘Silent Night’ composed by Franz Joseph Gruber and first sung the next day (Austria)

December 25, 1818 – Handel’s Messiah, premiered in the US in Boston

January 2, 1819 – The Panic of 1819 began, the first major financial crisis in the US

January 25, 1819 – Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia

February 6, 1819 – Sir Stamford Raffles entered into a treaty with the deposed Sultan of the area which gave Britain authority over the island of Singapore in return for a pension and recognition of that Sultan’s status as legitimate ruler.  (The event which founded modern Singapore.)

February 15, 1819 – The US House of Representatives agrees to the Tallmadge Amendment barring slaves from the new state of Missouri (the opening vote that led to the Missouri Compromise)

February 22, 1819 – Spain cedes Florida to the US

March 2, 1819 – Arkansas Territory is created

May 22 – June 20, 1819 – The SS Savannah became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean (Savannah, Georgia to Liverpool, England

July 4, 1819 – Arkansas Territory is effective

August 6, 1819 – Norwich University is founded by Captain Alden Partridge in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.

August 7, 1819 – Battle of Boyacá: Simón Bolívar was victorious over the Royalist Army in Colombia. Colombia acquired its definitive independence from Spanish monarchy.

August 24, 1819 – Samuel Seymour sketches a Kansa lodge and war dance at the present location of Manhattan, Kansas, while part of Stephen Harriman Long’s exploring party. This work is now the oldest drawing known to be made in the state of Kansas.

October 23, 1819 – led by Hiram Bingham, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)  The Mission Prudential Committee in giving instructions to the pioneers of 1819 said:

“Your mission is a mission of mercy, and your work is to be wholly a labor of love. … Your views are not to be limited to a low, narrow scale, but you are to open your hearts wide, and set your marks high. You are to aim at nothing short of covering these islands with fruitful fields, and pleasant dwellings and schools and churches, and of Christian civilization.”  (The Friend)

December 14, 1819 – Alabama is admitted as the 22nd US state

A lot went on in the Islands:

To set a foundation, we are reminded that in 1782 Kamehameha I began a war of conquest, and, by 1795, with his superior use of modern weapons and western advisors, he subdued all other chiefdoms, with the exception of Kauai.  King Kamehameha I launched two invasion attempts on Kauai (1796 and 1804;) both failed.

In 1804, King Kamehameha I moved his capital from Lāhainā, Maui to Honolulu, O‘ahu.  In the face of the threat of a further invasion, in 1810, Kaumuali‘i decided to peacefully unite with Kamehameha and ceded Kauai and Ni‘ihau to Kamehameha and the Hawaiian Islands were unified under a single leader. The agreement with Kaumuali‘i marked the end of war and thoughts of war across the archipelago.  Later, Kamehameha returned to his home, Kamakahonu, in Kailua-Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi.

Here is some of what happened in Hawaiʻi in that fateful time:

September 11, 1818, Argentine corsair Hipólito (Hypolite) Bouchard (1783–1843,) signed and Kamehameha placed his mark on a Treaty of Commerce, Peace and Friendship with Hipólito Bouchard, that, reputedly, made Hawaiʻi the first country to recognize United Provinces of Rio de la Plata (Argentina) as an independent state.  In recognition of the reported ‘treaty’, there is a street in Buenos Aires, Argentina named Hawai (a bit misspelled.)

April of 1819, Don Francisco de Paula Marin was summoned to Kailua-Kona the Big Island of Hawai‘i to assist Kamehameha, who had become ill.  Although he had no formal medical training, Marin had some basic medical knowledge, but was not able to improve the condition of Kamehameha.

May 8, 1819, King Kamehameha I died.

“Kamehameha was a planner, so he talked to brothers Hoapili and Hoʻolulu about where his iwi (bones) should be hidden,” noting Kamehameha wanted his bones protected from desecration not only from rival chiefs, but from westerners who were sailing into the islands and sacking sacred sites. (Maiʻoho)

Their father, High Chief Kameʻeiamoku, was one of the “royal twins” who helped Kamehameha I come to power – the twins are on the Islands’ coat of arms – Kameʻeiamoku is on the right (bearing a kahili,) his brother, Kamanawa is on the left, holding a spear.

September 19, 1819, Edmond Gardner, captain of the New Bedford whaler Balaena (also called Balena,) and Elisha Folger, captain of the Nantucket whaler Equator, became the first American whalers to visit the Hawaiian Islands

November 1819, Kamehameha I, his son, Liholiho (King Kamehameha II) declared an end to the kapu system.   “An extraordinary event marked the period of Liholiho’s rule, in the breaking down of the ancient tabus (kapu), the doing away with the power of the kahunas to declare tabus and to offer sacrifices, and the abolition of the tabu which forbade eating with women (ʻai noa, or free eating.)”  (Kamakau)

“The custom of the tabu upon free eating was kept up because in old days it was believed that the ruler who did not proclaim the tabu had not long to rule…. The tabu eating was a fixed law for chiefs and commoners, not because they would die by eating tabu things, but in order to keep a distinction between things permissible to all people and those dedicated to the gods”. (Kamakau)

Kekuaokalani, Liholiho’s cousin, opposed the abolition of the kapu system and assumed the responsibility of leading those who opposed its abolition.  Kekuaokalani (who was given Kūkaʻilimoku (the war god) before his death) demanded that Liholiho withdraw his edict on abolition of the kapu system.  (If the kapu fell, the war god would lose its potency.)  (Daws)

The two powerful cousins engaged at the final Hawaiian battle of Kuamoʻo; Liholiho’s forces defeated Kekuaokalani.

December 1819, just seven months after the death of Kamehameha I, the allies of his two opposing heirs met in battle on the jagged lava fields south of Keauhou Bay.  Kekuaokalani (wanting restoration of the kapu) marched up the Kona Coast from Kaʻawaloa and met the warriors under Liholiho (Kamehameha II) at Kuamo‘o, just south of Keauhou.  Liholiho’s forces won.

April 4, 1820 (after 164-days at sea) the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona with the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.)

At the time,

“This village (Honolulu,) which contains about two hundred houses, is situated upon a level plain extending some distance back from the bay part of which forms the harbour, to the foot of the high hills which abound throughout the Island. The little straw-huts clusters of them in the midst of cocoanut groves, look like bee-hives, and the inhabitants swarming about them like bees.”

“In passing through the midst, in our way to the open plain, it was very pleasant to hear their friendly salutation, Alloah (Aloha,) some saying, e-ho-ah, (where going?) We answered, mar-oo, up yonder. Then, as usual, they were pleased that we could num-me-num-me Owhyhee (talk Hawaiian.)”  (Sybil Bingham)

“Passing through the irregular village of some thousands of inhabitants, whose grass thatched habitations were mostly small and mean, while some were more spacious, we walked about a mile northwardly to the opening of the valley of Pauoa, then turning south-easterly, ascended to the top of Punchbowl Hill an extinguished crater, whose base bounds the north-east part of the village or town.”  (Hiram Bingham)

“Below us (below Punchbowl,) on the south and west, spread the plain of Honolulu, having its fish-pond and salt making pools along the sea-shore, the village and fort between us and the harbor, and the valley stretching a few miles north into the interior, which presented its scattered habitation and numerous beds of kalo (taro) in it various stages of growth, with its large green leaves, beautifully embossed on the silvery water, in which it flourishes.”  (Hiram Bingham)

“The soil is of the best kind, producing cocoanuts, bananas, and plantains, bread fruit, papia, ohia, oranges, lemons, limes, grapes, tamarinds, sweet potatoes, taro, yams, watermelons, muskmelons, cucumbers and pineapples, and I doubt not would yield fine grain of any kind.”  (Ruggles, The Friend)

“We were sheltered in three native-built houses, kindly offered us by Messrs. Winship, Lewis and Navarro, somewhat scattered in the midst of an irregular village or town of thatched huts, of 3,000 or 4,000 inhabitants.”  (Hiram Bingham)  “(O)ur little cottage built chiefly of poles, dried grass and mats, being so peculiarly exposed to fire, beside being sufficiently filled with three couples and things for immediate use, consisting only of one room with a little partition and one door.”  (Sybil Bingham)

“In addition to their homes, the missionaries had grass meeting places, and later, churches.  One of the first was on the same site as the present Kawaiahaʻo Church.  On April 28, 1820, the Protestant missionaries held a church service for chiefs, the general population, ship’s officers and sailors in the larger room in Reverend Hiram Bingham’s house.  This room was used as a school room during the weekdays and on Sunday the room was Honolulu’s first church auditorium.”  (Damon)

The image shows Liholiho eating with women (Mark Twain-Roughing It.) 

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Lili‘uokalani Educational Society

“‘Lili‘uokalani Educational Society’ is the name of an association of Hawaiian ladies. Its founder and president is Princess Liliuokalani, the Crown Princess of Hawaiʻi nei. Its other officers are a secretary, a treasurer, and five directresses.”

“None but native Hawaiians, with aboriginal blood in their veins, are admitted to active membership. Others may become honorary members.”

“An entrance fee of fifty cents and a monthly subscription of twenty-five cents are the conditions of membership. Honorary members are admitted on the same terms.” (Daily Bulletin, August 4, 1886)

“(T)he intention of which was to interest the Hawaiian ladies in the proper training of young girls of their own race whose parents would be unable to give them advantages by which they would be prepared for the duties of life.”

“As no such association had ever existed, although there had been frequent cases of private benevolence, it seemed a good time to interest those who had the means in this important work.” (Liliʻuokalani)

“It is the intention to gather up destitute orphans, place them in boarding schools, and furnish them with a plain English education. In the case of girls, they are also to be instructed in needle work and household duties.” (Daily Bulletin, August 4, 1886)

“Therefore I called a meeting, notifying all whom I thought would be likely to attend. The response was very gratifying, and on the appointed afternoon a goodly number of our best ladies assembled in the Kawaiahaʻo church.”

“The meeting was opened with prayer; after which I arose, made a short address, and explained to the audience my purpose in requesting attention to the moral and intellectual needs of those of our sex who were just beginning life.”

“These remarks seemed to meet the approval of all present; but yet, in looking around, it was evident to me that the society would be more prosperous in two divisions, as there were those in attendance who could not work well together.”

“My sister, the Princess Likelike, was of our number; so I suggested that she should be the head or president of one division, and I would take the other. … Both branches then began their work, which went on with results that at one time appeared to be most encouraging.” (Liliuokalani)

Through the Lili‘uokalani Education Society, Liliʻuokalani sponsored many girls in the community in their attendance at the Kawaiahaʻo Seminary.

Queen Lili‘uokalani was not just a benefactor, but was active in school leadership, working collaboratively on many issues, including discipline.

Particularly when the Lili‘uokalani Education Society was paying the tuition, the queen took an active interest in the girls’ progress. (Bonura)

“But my sister did not live a year after this movement had begun, and on her death circumstances operated to impair the efficiency of the society.”

“However, her branch of it came under my personal direction; and the object for which I had called the meeting was never forgotten, nor was the education of the young girls of Hawaiian birth neglected either by myself or by those I had interested in its importance, until the changed conditions of January, 1893, obliged me to live in retirement. (Liliʻuokalani)

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Kawaiahaʻo_Female_Seminary-MissionHouses-400

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Kahekili

Born at Haliʻimaile, Maui, Kahekilinui‘ahumanu (Kahekili) was the son of the high chief Kekaulike-kalani-ku‘i-hono-i-ka-moku (Kekaulike) and high chiefess Keku‘iapoiwanui-a-kalaninui-kaulele-ia-iwi.

Kalola (Kahekili’s sister and daughter of chief Kekaulike’s second wife) played an integral part in Kahekili’s reign over Maui Nui and O’ahu. Kalola, too, was a very high born ali’i.

In 1765, Kahekili inherited all of Maui Nui and O‘ahu and was appointed successor to his brother Kamehamehanui’s kingdom (not to be confused with Hawai‘i Island’s Kamehameha I.)

The power, however, that he received through this inheritance did not satisfy his desire to gain political influence through his own accomplishments. Therefore, Kahekili chose to prove himself through warfare.

He was a formidable competitor and demanded his warriors follow his lead, which they did.  And, with each success, Kahekili’s power increased.

Kahekili first proved himself a formidable adversary by defeating the Hawaiʻi army led by Kalani‘ōpu‘u in 1775. Kalani‘ōpu‘u promised revenge and, in 1776, he again went to battle against Kahekili. Unfortunately, Kalaniʻōpuʻu was not aware of the alliance between Kahekili and Kahahana, an ali‘i of O‘ahu.

This alliance greatly outnumbered Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s army. Therefore, Kahekili and Kahahana’s army defeated Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s army as they entered the sand hills of Wailuku. This battle became known as Ahulau-ka-piʻipiʻi-i-kakanilua.

In a desperate act to save what was left, Kalani‘ōpu‘u requested that his wife, Kalola, plead for peace from her brother Kahekili.

However, knowing that Kahekili would not look upon her with favor, Kalola suggested their son, Kiwalaʻō be sent instead.  Kahekili’s welcomed Kiwalaʻō and sealed his acceptance of peace.

For a time, after the great sand hills battle in Wailuku, peace and tranquility returned. Kahekili took his leadership seriously; he was faithful to his people, made changes, established rules and took active interest in the welfare of his people and lands.

During times of peace and celebration, when tournaments that required great strength, stamina and ability were held, Kahekili continued to amass great respect with his victories. Such victories assisted in further cementing his position as the son of the divine ruling family of Maui.

Later, Kahekili and his eldest son and heir-apparent, Kalanikūpule, were carrying on war and conquered Kahahana, adding Oʻahu under his control.

Through subsequent inter-island conquest, the marriage of his brother to the Queen of Kauaʻi, and appointment of his son to alternately govern Maui, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe and Oʻahu during his periodic absences, by 1783, Kahekili dominated all the Hawaiian Islands, except for Hawaiʻi.

In the late-1780s into 1790, Kamehameha conquered the Island of Hawai‘i and was pursuing conquest of Maui and eventually sought to conquer the rest of the archipelago.

In 1790, Kamehameha travelled to Maui.  Hearing this, Kahekili sent Kalanikūpule back to Maui with a number of chiefs (Kahekili remained on O‘ahu to maintain order there.)

Kahekili’s rule stretched for almost thirty years. He became known for his extreme measures whether it was making sure his people were obeying the kapu and the gods, or by destroying his enemies.

He ruled on Maui before he fell ill and returned to Waikīkī, until his death in 1793 at the age of eighty-seven.  As with all ali‘i, Kahekili’s bones were carried away and hidden – thought to be in North Kohala.

Kahekili’s son, Kalanikūpule, inherited his kingdom.  Kamehameha faced Kalanikūpule in the famous battle “Kepaniwai” (the damming of the waters) in ‘Iao Valley (which Kamehameha decisively won.)

Maui Island was conquered by Kamehameha and Maui’s fighting force was destroyed – Kalanikūpule and other chiefs escaped and made their way to O‘ahu (Kalanikūpule was later defeated by Kamehameha at the Battle of Nuʻuanu in 1795.)

(Lots of good information here is from “Kahekilinuiʻahumanu – Kahekili Study Guide” (Kauahea Inc and Maui Arts & Cultural Center.)) Image of Kahekili is by Brook Parker.

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