Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kalauao

At the time of Cook’s arrival (1778,) the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

“At that time Kahekili was plotting for the downfall of Kahahana and the seizure of Oahu and Molokai, and the queen of Kauai was disposed to assist him in these enterprises.”  (Kalākaua)  Kamakahelei was married to Kāʻeokūlani (Kāʻeo – younger brother of Kahekili.)  Kamakahelei and Kāʻeo had a son Kaumualiʻi (born in 1778 at Holoholokū.)

Kahekili and his eldest son and heir-apparent, Kalanikūpule, conquered Kahahana, adding Oʻahu under his control.  And, 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.

The rich resources of the region, the shoreline fishponds, the numerous springs, and the fertile lands along the streams made ‘Ewa a prize for competing chiefs. Battles were fought for and on ‘Ewa lands, sometimes from competing O‘ahu chiefs, and sometimes by invading chiefs from other islands.  (Cultural Surveys)

At the death of Kahekili in 1793, Kāʻeo became ruling chief of Maui, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi.  Kalanikūpule was ruler of Oʻahu.  Homesick for his friends, Kāʻeo set out to return to Kauaʻi by way of Waialua and then to Waimea.  He learned of a conspiracy to kill him and by November, 1794, Kāʻeo and Kalanikūpule were ready to fight.  (Kamakau)

Kāʻeo was successful after some initial skirmishes.  On December 12, 1794, a great battle was fought in the area between Kalauao and ‘Aiea in ‘Ewa.  Kalanikūpule’s forces surrounded Kāʻeo.  (Cultural Surveys)

Kāʻeo with six of his men escaped into a ravine below ‘Aiea and might have disappeared there had not the red of his feather cloak been seen from the boats at sea and there shots drawn the attention of those on land. Hemmed in from above, he was killed fighting bravely.  (Kamakau)

This war, called Kukiʻiahu, was fought from November 16 to December 12, 1794 at Kalauao in ‘Ewa.  (Kamakau)  (It wasn’t long after that Kalanikūpule battled Kamehameha, again; and lost to Kamehameha at the Battle of Nuʻuanu.)

Kalauao Ahupua‘a (the multitude of clouds) extends from the East Loch of Pearl Harbor to the crest of the Koʻolau Range, generally following Kalauao Stream. Kalauao Spring is located near the Pearl Harbor coast.

The Kalauao Spring included two natural springs of percolating water.  In ancient times, the springs irrigated taro loʻi.  Later, the ancient taro lo‘i and ʻauwai (irrigation ditches) were modified and expanded to support rice cultivation.

In 1904, the area was described as, “On the morning of June 2nd, for instance, our destination was Aiea. At ten minutes past seven we boarded the first passenger train going towards Honolulu.”

“For a distance of eight miles the road skirts the shore and then turns landwards or mauka through rice and sugar plantations, Ewa Mill, Waipahu, Pearl City. …”

“Like all rice fields in Hawaii, this one is worked entirely by Chinamen, they alone being able to endure the conditions of location and climate necessary for the cultivation of this cereal.”

“On one side of the railroad track was the broad, muddy inland lake or bay of salt water, Pearl Harbor; on the other side were the terraced plots or fields, flooded to a depth of several inches with water and separated by narrow raised earthen ridges on which the careful Chinaman doubtless succeeded in walking, but which many times proved treacherous to our unsteady feet.”

“A rice plantation, laid out as it generally is on the low flats at the foot of a valley, where mountain streams empty into the sea, is an ideal collecting ground for certain kinds of algae.”  (Thrum 1904)

In 1928, Moriichi and Makiyo Sumida began farming assorted wetland produce on a two-acre plot of land at the springs.  Back then, the area of the springs contained many small farms growing similar produce — bananas, taro, rice, and watercress. Through the ensuing years, the Sumida property grew as they acquired neighboring leases and, by 1950, watercress became the sole crop.  (NPS)

A small waterfall along Kalauao Stream, named Kahuawai (or Kahuewai), was located along the coastal trail connecting Honolulu to Waiʻanae.  Kahuawai (water gourd container) was indicated to have been “a favorite resting place exclusively for chiefs”.  (Cultural Surveys)

Kahuawai was a noted bathing place since ancient times and was guarded so that any one did not bathe in it except the chiefs. Later it was used by all. Kākuhihewa’s daughters and the hero Kalelealuaka (their husband) bathed in this pool. Kāʻeokūlani, the chief of Kauaʻi also bathed here when he came to war here on Oʻahu.  (Cultural Surveys)

Loko Opu, a large fishpond (approximately 10.5-acres in size) located in Kalauao along the Pearl Harbor coast, is said to have been built by the chiefess Kalamanuʻia.  (Cultural Surveys)

During the Māhele, much of the lands in the ahupua‘a of ‘Ewa, as in other districts, were awarded to Ali‘i Nui (high chiefs), who were either the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of Kamehameha I.

Half of the ahupua‘a of Kalauao was awarded to Laura Konia (either granddaughter or grandniece of Kamehameha I;) the other half of Kalauao Ahupua‘a was awarded to John Meek, an important merchant in the sandalwood trade.

Today, the Pearl Country Club covers much of the lower section of Kalauao.   Pearlridge Shopping Center is on the lowest side of Kalauao (Pearlridge Uptown was opened in 1972, with an expansion in 1976 to include Pearlridge Downtown.)  Pearlridge surrounds the evidence of the water resources of old, Kalauao Spring that benefits the Sumida watercress farm.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kekūhaupiʻo

By the time of Cook’s arrival, Kamehameha had become a superb warrior who already carried the scars of a number of political and physical encounters. The young warrior Kamehameha was described as a tall, strong and physically fearless man who “moved in an aura of violence.” (NPS)

Physical attributes helped him get there, so did the assistance and training he received from Kekūhaupiʻo.  Let’s look a little into his trainer.  But first, let’s see how the trainer was trained.

Kohapiolani, father of Kekūhaupiʻo, was a warrior chief who had been involved in some battles in earlier times.  He is said to have been born at Keʻei close to Nāpoʻopoʻo. His mother was also from Keʻei and here he grew up in the days of his youth.

His father began to instruct Kekūhaupiʻo in the warlike arts, such as spear hurling, boxing and wrestling; as well, he trained him to run swiftly, for the father said: “One who is learning the warlike arts of the land does well to accustom himself to swift running whereas, by speed, the fleeing enemy can be pursued from the battlefield and caught. I am training you now, but when you become big, you will be taught by experts.”

After the passage of several anahulu (ten day periods) in practice, Kekūhaupiʻo had become quite adept and then his father said: “My son, fighting a battle consists not only in hurling a spear, but a most valuable thing in this warlike profession of our ancestors is the knowledge of how to dodge the spears that will be thrust at you—this knowledge makes a famous warrior.”

His father quickly saw that Kekūhaupiʻo had advanced in his training and determined it was time to seek some teachers in the art of war, including the spear and also the wooden staff, as well as lua, the bone-breaking arts of wrestling.

Laʻamea, his lua instructor noted, “This young aliʻi will become a famous warrior in the future and will become a fighter on the side of some famous aliʻi of the land. He will become one who seeks land for some of our aliʻi ʻai moku. If he exhibits such competence at this young age, his future competence is established and not only with the weapons in his hand, but combined with his genuine strength. This one’s status is as a moa lawai one who is sufficiently adept to prevail in future battles.”

After training under Laʻamea, Kekūhaupiʻo was under the instruction of Koaia, a certain man of Kapalilua very famous for bone-breaking wrestling.

When Koaia realized he had taught his student all he knew, having spent some months together with him and having been drawn to him by his agreeable nature, he said to him:


“‘Auhea ʻoe, e kuʻu aliʻi haumana, in my teaching of the various methods of our ancestors’ lua fighting, all that remains is the ʻailolo ceremony to confirm you an adept; however, unlike others I have taught to overcome a man, you shall also become adept in fighting that terrifying fish of the wide ocean which people fear …”

“… then you shall become a niuhi shark (tiger shark) on the battlefields of the future. Do you dare to become an adept by (overcoming) this terrifying fish of the ocean and eating the eye of the niuhi shark for your ‘ailolo ceremony?”

Preparing himself to battle the shark, Koaia advised, “E Kekūhaupiʻo ē, don’t hasten to leap into the fight with your opponent, but let us play with him.”

“This is something good for you to learn: in the future when you fight an opponent, don’t hasten to leap forward, but first study his nature to enable you to learn his weakness, then it will be easy for you to secure him by one of the methods you have learned. However, prepare yourself and look well at the place where you can kill him. I only ask of you that you act fearlessly.”

When the time was right, on hearing his teacher’s order, Kekūhaupiʻo dove straight to the shark’s side giving it no time to turn.  All that was seen by the people on board was the strong flick of the shark’s tail when it received the thrust behind its gills.

Kekūhaupiʻo withdrew his spear and thrust again near the first thrust and the shark was weakened near to death – it only thrashed and Kekūhaupiʻo clung to its side and killed it.

Eventually, Kekūhaupiʻo went to live and serve as a warrior with the aliʻi ʻai moku of Kaʻū (Kalaniʻōpuʻu) and in his presence demonstrated his proficiency in the arts of battle.

There were constant battle-practice exercises and it was noted that Kekūhaupiʻo overcame his opponents and his fame spread as far as Maui, O‘ahu, and even to the sun-snatching island to the leeward (ka ‘āina kāʻili lā o lalo ē – a poetic reference to Kauai.)

Then, Kamehameha came onto the scene.  When Kalaniʻōpuʻu reigned over Hawai‘i, Kamehameha returned to his uncle’s court and lived together with Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s own son, the young Kīwalaʻō.

Kalaniʻōpuʻu instructed Kekūhaupiʻo to teach Kamehameha the ancient martial arts of the land.  Kekūhaupiʻo was determined to give all his knowledge to his chiefly pupil, and he indeed did so.  This brought about the firm bond between Kekūhaupiʻo and the young Kamehameha.

Kamehameha became the most skillful of all the chiefs in the use of the spear. Captain George Vancouver later wrote that he once saw six spears hurled at Kamehameha all at the same time.  Kamehameha caught three with one hand as they flew at him. Two he broke by hitting them with a spear in his other hand. One he dodged.  (Williams)

Kekūhaupiʻo is arguably the one man most closely connected to Kamehameha I during Kamehameha’s formative years, while he developed his skills as a warrior, and through the early period of Kamehameha’s conquests.

A short while after this, Kalaniʻōpuʻu raised an expedition to Maui. Part of Maui, specifically the district of Hāna and the famous fortification of Kaʻuiki, had previously been held by those of Hawai‘i. Kekūhaupiʻo and Kamehameha were taken along on this war expedition by Kalaniʻōpuʻu, king of Hawai‘i.

While Kalaniʻōpuʻu was at Hāna he sent his warriors to plunder the Kaupō people. Kahekili was king of Maui in those days, and when he heard of the deeds of King Kalaniʻōpuʻu of Hawai‘i in slaughtering the Kaupō people and the taking of land, he raised a great army led by his very famous general named Kāneʻōlaelae. When Kahekili’s warriors met those of Kalaniʻōpuʻu at Kaupō, a very strong battle developed between the two sides.

This battle showed the fearlessness of Kekūhaupiʻo. It was said that when the battle started Kekūhaupiʻo moved amongst Kahekili’s warriors, and it was said of him: “The man raised up is broken in the strong hands of Kekūhaupiʻo.” However, while he was fighting fearlessly he was surrounded by the Maui warriors, and they combined in their multitudes so that Kekūhaupiʻo was in dire trouble.

When Kamehameha saw that his teacher was in trouble, he leapt into the heat of the battle attempting to rescue his teacher. By Kamehameha’s action, Kekūhaupiʻo escaped with his life.

Outnumbered and overpowered, the Hawai‘i warriors fled but many were slaughtered by the Maui people at that battle at Kaupō which was named the Battle of Kalaeokaʻīlio (it happened in 1775.)

This is the first battle of the rising warrior Kamehameha, and during the fighting, the young aliʻi chief showed fearlessness and bravery by coming to the rescue of his war instructor Kekūhaupiʻo.

Kekūhaupiʻo first served as Kamehameha’s instructor in the skills of combat before becoming his stalwart bodyguard, fearless warrior and trusted advisor.

Much of this summary is from a newspaper serial originally published in Ka Hoku o Hawaiʻi, written in Hawaiian by Reverend Stephen L Desha, translated by Frances N Frazier and produced into a book with assistance from DLNR by Kamehameha Schools.  The image shows Kamehameha as a young warrior (Herb Kane.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nehu

The Hawaiʻi aku fishery (skipjack tuna) originally supplied only the local market for fresh and dried tuna.  Then, the Hawaiian Tuna Packers, Ltd. cannery was established (in 1916,) enabling the fishery to expand beyond a relatively small fresh and dried market.

This near-surface schooling tuna is widely distributed across the Pacific Ocean.  Historically, the pole-and-line, live bait fishery for aku boats was the largest commercial fishery in Hawaiʻi. Annual pole-and-line landings of skipjack tuna exceeded 5.5 million lb from 1937 to 1973.

The new and expanding market for canned product allowed the fishery to grow; from 1937 until the early 1980s most of the skipjack tuna landed in Hawaiʻi was canned.  From the beginning, Hawaiian Tuna Packers label was Coral Tuna or Coral Hawaiian Brand Tuna.

Aku was historically the most important single commercial fish species in terms of landed weight and value in Hawai‘i, as well as throughout much of the central and western Pacific. (DBEDT)

About ninety percent of the output was shipped to the mainland; the remaining ten percent was sold in Hawaiʻi. (The cans for packing the tuna are furnished by the Dole Company.)

The Japanese technique of catching tuna with pole-and-line and live bait resembled the aku fishing method traditionally used by Hawaiians.  The pole-and-line vessels mainly targeted aku.

They generally fished within a few miles of the main Hawaiian Islands, because few vessels carried ice and the catch needed to be landed within four to five hours from the time of capture.

Most of the aku catch in Hawai‘i is landed by commercial pole-and-line fishermen who induce aku to bite on feathered hooks by chumming with live bait. The live bait the aku boats used was nehu (a small anchovy).

Aku fishermen need millions of nehu. (Hollier)  Nehu spawn all year long and spawning peaks in summer although this peak may shift to late winter and early spring.  Nehu eggs are planktonic, and incubation is about 24 hours.  Very few nehu live longer than one year. (NMFS)

Kāne‘ohe Bay, located on the Windward side of O‘ahu, served as the leading baiting ground in Hawai‘i, producing, according to statistics compiled by the Territorial Division of Fish and Game, approximately 60 per cent of the total commercial catch. (Hiatt, 1951)

The aku boat went into Kāne‘ohe Bay about sundown and anchored in the bay outside the mouth of the Kahaluu River near the old Libby’s pineapple wharf. The boat was usually anchored fore and aft, with the bow facing the mountains.

“We waited for the tide to drop and that was when the nehu came downstream into the bay. That’s when you catch them with nets. The best time was when the tide started going out around sundown or shortly after sundown.”

“We’d fill the tanks with nehu and then take the boat farther out and anchor near the reef where the waves would keep the water in the bait tanks moving constantly in and out, circulating, so the nehu were kept alive.”

“Daytime scooping was different. You worked with a surround net. I’d stay on board and the rest of the crew would go out with the motorboat and the nets and catch the nehu here and there with surround nets.”


“Then they would bring the nehu back to the boat in the motorboat and we’d scoop them into the tanks with buckets. If we didn’t have enough nehu … we would anchor in the bay that evening and drop submarine lights that night around the boat. The lights attracted the nehu? [Yo Kondo, April, 1976]

Aku fishermen spend 3-5 days catching bait for few hours fishing. (Honolulu Record)  A specialized bait well in amidships allowed them to carry live nehu, as well as provide ballast for stability.

When the crew spotted a flock of seabirds – the telltale sign of a school of aku – they would chum the waters with nehu, causing a feeding frenzy. (Hana Hou)

The important thing is to have enough nehu so that with plenty of bait in the water, the tuna can be kept around the fishing boat. (Honolulu Record)

Fisherman dipped lines with a single barbless (and baitless) hook into the water. Within seconds an aku would take the hook, and with a combination of physical strength and good timing, the fisherman would jerk it up, flick it over his shoulder and onto the deck, and drop his line back into the water. (Hana Hou)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kalalea Heiau

Ka Lae is the site of one of the earliest Hawaiian settlements, and it has one of the longest archaeological records on the islands (included in the complex is the earliest recorded occupation site.)  (NPS)  Ka Lae (Lit., the point, commonly called South Point) on the Island of Hawaiʻi is the southernmost point in the fifty states.

Kaʻū is poetically known as “Kaʻū kua makani” (Kaʻū with windy back.) (Soehren)  An offshore stone at South Point is called Pokakuokeau (stone of the current) referring to the meeting of the different ocean currents that come together here.  (k12-hi-us)

Nā kai haele lua o Kalae, ʻO Kāwili lāua ʻo Halaʻea
The two sea currents of Kalae – Kāwili and Halaʻea

The Halaʻea current (named after a chief,) comes from the east to Kalae and sweeps out to sea. The Kāwili (Hit-and-twist) comes from the west and flows out alongside the Halaʻea. Woe betide anyone caught between.  (Keala Pono)

Here at the point is a heiau, Kalalea Heiau, located in the ahupuaʻa of Kamāʻoa.  In 1906, Stokes, in describing the heiau, said, “This heiau was … 43 by 35 ft., with platforms outside … adjoining its western wall ….”  The heiau complex has a small terraced platform paved with ʻiliʻili (small, smooth pebbles.) When Stokes visited the heiau, an informant told him that the heiau was Kamehameha’s and was very sacred.

Ten years later another informant told Stokes the following: “(This is the) history of the heiau of Kalalea at Kalae, and of Kūʻula, Wahinehele and ʻAiʻai. Kūʻula (a male) married Wahine (a female) and they had a son ʻAiʻai.”

“They left Kahiki and came to these islands, settling on Kauaʻi. ʻAiʻai left his parents on Kauai and went on a sightseeing tour to the islands of Oʻahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaii.”

“When he reached Kalae, he looked around and saw that it was a fine country, and a nice place to live in and well supplied with fish. He returned to Kauai and brought his parents back with him, and they all lived at Kalae.  While his parents were living at Kalae, ʻAiʻai set out for Kahiki and brought back many people, — kilokilo (seers,) kuhikuhipuuone (architects who made plans in the sand) and ai puʻupuʻu (stewards).”

“He also brought back many different kinds of food, such as breadfruit, bananas, awa, cocoanuts, sugar cane, sweet potatoes, kalo, papaya, hapuʻu and pala (both edible ferns) and other foods in great quantity.”

“And when ʻAiʻai saw that the food and the men were ready, he gave commands to all the Menehune and the erection of the heiau went on until the walls were completed.”

“It was named Kalalea, which name still stands today.”  Today, people reference Kalalea as a fishing heiau. There were stones that represent the fishing gods Kūʻula and ʻAiʻai.

On the main platform is a stone called Kumaiea (female), but also attributed to Kāne, and on the smaller platform just mauka is another upright stone called kanemakua (male), associated with the god Kanaloa.

Standing twelve feet to the north of the heiau are two more stones, the northerly one called ʻAiʻai, the son or Kūʻula.  Within the heiau, beside the mauka wall, is a rock called Kūʻula, the god of fishermen.  (k12-hi-us)

In 1953 Emory obtained the following information from Mary Kawena Pukui: “One must not wear red on the beaches at Kalae where Kalalea Heiau is located. Women never went inside the heiau. The kūʻula of this heiau is a shark. It is a heiau hoʻoulu (to increase) opelu (mackerel), malolo (flying fish), and ahi (tuna).”

Directly seaward of Kalalea Heiau is a rough ledge of lava, with low cliffs dropping into the ocean.  About eighty holes (like cleats) are carved into the lava to moor canoes (either for positioning over fishing grounds or to tie-up to shore.)  (Kirch)  While many have suggested the heiau is fishing related, it appears to also have links to navigation.

Immediately behind the heiau is a modern navigational beacon.  First proposed in 1883, a lens-lantern supported by a 34-foot wooden mast was ready for display on March 5, 1906.  Its light, visible for nine miles, was produced by incandescent oil vapor.

After several modifications and improvements, the present 32-foot concrete pole was built in 1972. The automated, battery powered light is charged by solar panels.

In at least the 1940s and early-1950s, the military had a landing facility, Morse Field, in this area.  There was limited infrastructure; the planes landed/took off on the grassy runway.

At a lecture at Hawaiian Mission Houses, I heard another series of stories related to Kalalea Heiau, told by John Laimana (a descendent of the area, whose family has direct association with the heiau;) while similar to much of the other explanations, he expands upon the navigational aspects of the heiau to Kahiki (Tahiti) and Rapanui (Easter Island.)

John says the heiau is actually the smaller of the structures there, makai of the larger, stonewalled rectangle (the larger he says is a fishers’ shelter.)  More importantly, he notes that the heiau structure aligns east and west – and one wall aligns with magnetic north.

Equally more important, he looks beyond the heiau structure and also looks at the larger surrounding perimeter wall structure.  Careful review of that shows the two walls are in precise, straight alignment.

OK, here’s another overlooked feature … extending the alignment of the walls, thousands of miles across the ocean lead you to Maupiti (in French Polynesia, near Tahiti) and Rapanui (Easter Island, Chile.)

In Hawaiian, Panana means compass, especially a mariner’s compass.  Panana are also referred to “sighting walls.”  The alignment of the walls (within the heiau and the perimeter walls,) may have been used for navigational purposes.

Oh, one more thing … Kaʻū is an ancient name with similar derivations in Samoa (Taʻū) and Mortlock (Marqueen) Islands (Takuu; an atoll at Papua New Guinea.)  (Pukui)  (This heiau may have links across the extent of the South Pacific.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hale O Kapuni

Hawaiian oral tradition and early local informants suggest a heiau (temple,) Hale O Kapuni, existed underwater just offshore in Pelekane Bay near Kawaihae – below the Puʻu Koholā Heiau (“Hill of the Whale”) and Mailekini Heiau (below Puʻu Koholā Heiau halfway down the hill.)

Kamehameha I is said to have used this heiau, and sharks were fed here. Rocks from here may have been used to build Pu‘u-koholā heiau. (Lit., house of Kapuni (a high priest of the chief Keawe.))  (Maly)

Due to tidal actions, sediment that accumulated from runoff from the uplands and nearby construction of the Kawaihae Harbor, this submerged heiau has never been located or documented through underwater archaeology – however, folklore suggests it existed and was dedicated to the shark gods.

Theophilus Davies arrived off Kawaihae in 1859, passing in the water beneath a “sacred enclosure” about twenty yards square and formed by a massive stone fence five feet high (probably Mailekini Heiau).

A large stone formed its altar, he said, and here the bleeding victims were placed before the gods until they became offensive, when they were carried to a heap of stones in the ocean (a little to seaward of our boat) and devoured by the sharks, the supposed deities. (NPS)

The presence of Hale-o-Kapuni is well known to local inhabitants: “When the tide was real low, big boulders use [sic] to come out, and it’s all build [sic] up of big boulders see, so you know it’s man made.”

“And around the side area is all deep and it’s anywhere’s [sic] from low water mark 5 feet. About 8, 9 feet when high water mark. … It was built under water purposely…. “  (Doi, NPS)

An informant pointed out to Marion Kelly the location of the heiau structure, now covered by silt washed off the coral stockpile area nearby.

Anthropologist Lloyd Soehren stated that, as children, older residents of the area remembered seeing the heiau rising about two feet above the water.

One person remembered a channel leading into a larger area within the temple where the bodies were placed for the sharks.  (NPS)

Per Pukui, ʻaumākua are family or personal gods, deified ancestors who might assume the shape of the animal, plant or other feature they represent.

Here, at Hale O Kapuni, it is believed that the heiau was dedicated to sharks.  “The shark was perhaps the most universally worshipped of all the aumakuas, and, strange to say, was regarded as peculiarly the friend and protector of all his faithful worshippers.”  (Emerson)

“Each several locality along the coast of the islands had its special patron shark, whose name, history, place of abode, and appearance, were well known to all frequenters of that coast. Each of these sharks, too, had its kahu [keeper,] who was responsible for its care and worship”.  (Emerson)

“Some of the chiefs under Kamehameha, such as Alapaʻi-malo-iki and Ka-uhi-wawae-ono, were murdering chiefs who did not keep the law against killing men, but went out with their men to catch people for shark bait.”  (Kamakau)

Pōhaku o Alapaʻi ku palupalu mano, “the rock of the chief named Alapaʻi of the one who puts the human shark bait out,” originally stood in the shade of a large kiawe tree on the shore below Mailekini Heiau.  (NPS)

One early account said that King Kamehameha sat there while his staff compiled the tally of the latest fishing expeditions, and that somewhere near the stone might have been the spot of Keōua’s death.

Apple states that although referred to as Kamehameha’s Chair, the rock is by local tradition more closely associated with one of Kamehameha’s staff chiefs named Alapaʻi Kupalupalu Mano who liked to use human flesh for shark bait and watched from this point as sharks entered Hale-o-Kapuni to devour the food offerings put out for them.  (NPS)

Apple notes that catching sharks was a sport indulged in by high chiefs and conjectured that perhaps the animals were conditioned to rotten flesh in the offshore temple so that they could be enticed with it into the deeper water and easily noosed.

Today, this area is known to be frequented by sharks.  In the early morning hours, you can usually see the sharks plying the waters just offshore, near where the heiau is believed to be located.

Click here for a link to a video on sharks in and around the area identified as where Hale O Kapuni in Pelekane Bay is located (Pacific Islands National Parks:)

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