Hawaiian Traditions | Page 2 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 1, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Swastikas … to Waikiki Surf-Boards

Founded in 1908 by William Butte, Pacific Ready-cut Homes, later Pacific System Homes, made ’kit’ homes.

They were considered one of the largest mass producers of pre-cut houses in the US; over the course of about 30-years, they delivered approximately 40,000-homes.

In the 1920s, working class people aspired to the “good life” of home and auto ownership and Pacific System was there to provide the little California bungalow that they were dreaming of. (AntiqueHome)

When the Stock Market crashed in October of 1929, Butte’s son Meyers was at Stanford and training for the Olympics in wrestling. Sales of homes were slow; the economic crash forced Meyers to come home and get involved with the family business.

When Meyers came on board, he convinced the family that manufacturing surfboards would be a good way to diversify the business. He began to change a small part of the production of Pacific System to surfboards.

Pacific System was one of the first companies to produce commercial surfboards.

Back then, boards were made of single pieces of redwood – and weighed about 100-lbs.

The first Pacific System boards were like the rest at Waikiki Beach – finless, single-slab redwood planks.

Recognizing the solid planks were too heavy, they looked for other options.

To lighten the load, Pacific System started making laminated surfboards; the big break came when they found a water-proof glue that would hold the slabs of wood used in board construction together. (Gault-Williams)

The new, lighter boards were constructed from glued and doweled balsa and redwood strips. They were 10 to 12-feet in length, 20-inches wide and a few inches thick (and weighed closer to 50-lbs.)

At first, the company logo was a swastika on the deck; the boards became known as ‘Swastika’ models.

“The Swastika boards were droolers,” shaper Dale Velzy is quoted as saying. “Everybody had homemades or hand-me-downs, so people really wanted a Pacific System.” (Velzy; Gault-Williams)

Although most boards continued to be custom made by surfers themselves, for the period leading into World War II, Swastikas became the most widely-used production board. (Gaul-Williams)

With the rise of Nazi Germany later in the decade, in about 1938, the swastika name and logos were dropped and the boards became known as ‘Waikiki Surf-Boards.’ (Motil)

Pacific System employed a number of well-known surfers, including Pete Peterson and Lorrin ‘Whitey’ Harrison. (They were the first of the hardcore California surfers to surf Waikiki.) (SurfMuseum)

“All ‘Waikiki’ boards are precision built with modern up-to-date machinery for a life-time of service in the world’s largest home-building plant.”

“The woods are specially selected. The Balsa wood is hand-sorted from finest imported stocks, scientifically kilned, laminated and cabinet finished by expert craftsmen under the personal direction of a professional surf-board aqualist.” (Pacific System Ad)

According to Butte’s son, his father took “great pride in the fact that he had pioneered the making of light surfboards.”

Pacific System models were popular and demand grew; they were shipping 60-boards a month to Hawaiʻi. (Marcus)

Pacific System Homes, as a Butte family enterprise, soon changed; although Pacific System still sold ready-cut houses throughout the thirties, homebuilding did not really recover until after World War II. (Flynn; Gault-William)

Founder/father William Butte died in 1936; sons Meyers and Robert ran the business for a while, then sold the company in 1942 and enlisted in the military. (Flynn; Gault-Williams)

July 31, 2025 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kahalaopuna

Hanohano wale noʻoe
E ke anuenue o Mānoa
Ku kamahaʻo ʻo Kahalaopuna
Pua lei a ka ua me ka makani

Famous is the story of
The Rainbow Goddess of Mānoa
Kahalaopuna, the sacred one
Born of the wind and the rain
(Cabral, Boyd & Makuakane)

During the days of Kākuhihewa, ruling chief of O‘ahu from about 1640 to 1660, Kahaukani ((K) Mānoa wind) and Kaʻaukuahine ((W) Mānoa rain) were brother and sister twins.

When the children were grown up, their foster parents decided they should be united; they were married and Kahalaopuna was born to them – a uniting of the Mānoa wind and rain. She is deemed of semi-supernatural descent.

A house was built for her in a grove of sandalwood trees at Kahaiamano (some say the home was at Kahoiwai) on the way to Waiakeakua, where she lived with a few devoted servants. The house was embowered in vines and two poloulou (tabu staves) were kept standing beside the entrance (to indicate that they guarded from intrusion a person of high rank.)

Kahalaopuna “was so beautiful that a rainbow followed her wherever she went.” “Her cheeks were so red and her face so bright that a glow emanated therefrom which shone through the thatch of her house when she was in.

A rosy light seemed to envelop the house, and bright rays seemed to play over it constantly. When she went to bathe in the spring below her house, the rays of light surrounded her like a halo.”

She was betrothed in childhood to Kauhi, a young chief of Kailua.

When she was grown to young womanhood, she was so exquisitely beautiful that the people of the valley would make visits to the outer puloulou at the sacred precinct of Luaʻalaea, the land adjoining Kahaiamano, just to get a glimpse of the beauty.

Two men, Kumauna and Keawaʻa, had never seen Kahalaopuna, but they fell in love with her from the stories told of her. They would weave and deck themselves lei of maile, ginger and ferns and go bathing at Waikīkī and boast of their conquest of the famous beauty.

When the surf was up, it would attract people from all parts of the island. Kauhi, the betrothed of Kahalaopuna, was one of these. The time set for his marriage to Kahalaopuna was drawing near, and as yet he had not seen her, when he heard the assertions of the two men.

“How strange indeed was the behavior of your intended wife, Kahalaopuna! She went dancing two nights now, and on each night had a separate lover.”

Kauhi eventually believed them and he went into a jealous rage, stating he would kill Kahalaopuna.

He took her to the back of the valley; Kauhi struck her across the temple with a heavy bunch of hala nuts. The blow killed the girl instantly, and Kauhi hastily dug a hole under the side of the rock and buried her; then he started down the valley toward Waikiki.

As soon as he was gone, a large pueo (owl – a god and a relative of Kahalaopuna) immediately started digging out the body and restored life back to Kahalaopuna.

Kauhi then took Kahalaopuna to the ridge between Mānoa Valley and Nuʻuanu and killed her again. The owl, again, scratched her out and revived her. This was repeated again and again at Nuʻuanu and then in Kalihi. Finally, at Pōhākea, on the ʻEwa slope of Mount Kaʻala, he killed her again; this time the owl was not able to free and revive her and the owl left.

There had been another witness to Kauhi’s cruelties, ʻElepaio, a little green bird (a cousin to Kahalaopuna.) As soon as this bird saw that the owl had deserted the body of Kahalaopuna, it flew straight to her parent, Kahaukani and Kauakuahine, and told them all that had happened.

There was disbelief that anyone in his senses, including Kauhi, could be guilty of such cruelty to such a lovely, innocent being, and one, too, belonging entirely to himself.

In the meantime, the spirit of Kahalaopuna discovered itself to a party who were passing by; and one of them, a young man, moved with compassion, went to the tree indicated by the spirit, and, removing the dirt and roots, found the body.

He wrapped it in his kihei (shoulder scarf), and then covered it entirely with maile, ferns and ginger, and carried it to his home at Mōʻiliʻili. There, he submitted the body to his elder brother, who called upon two spirit sisters of theirs, with whose aid they finally succeeded in restoring her to life. They kept her last resurrection secret.

Kauhi was caught and subjected to a test. He lost and he and the two false accusers are put to death. His spirit, however, enters a man-eating shark, which lurks along the coast until it catches the girl out sea-bathing and finally consumes her body so that resuscitation is impossible.

Kumauna and Keawaʻa were, through the power of their family gods, transformed into the mountain peaks on the eastern side of Mānoa Valley.

Just above Puʻu o Manoa (Rocky Hill at the top of Punahou School) is another hill known as Puʻu Pueo. This was where the Owl God, Pueo, resided.

Today, you can still find the spirit of Kahalaopuna (the Princess of Mānoa) in the ānuenue (rainbows) spanning Mānoa Valley. (Information here is from Nakuina, Beckwith, Fornander, Thrum, Westervelt and Kalākaua.)

Waterfalls-back of Manoa-BM

Surfing-Waikiki

‘Rainbow_above_Taro_Patch_in_Manoa_Valley’_by_D._Howard_Hitchcock,_1910

Pueo

manoa-rainbow

Manoa_valley-BM

Manoa_Valley-Baldwin-(DAGS)-Reg1068-1882-Google_Earth-Kaohiwai noted

Manoa_Valley-1935

Manoa_Valley_from_Waikiki,_oil_on_canvas_by_Enoch_Wood_Perry_Jr.-1860s

Kahalaopuna – Manoa-Google Earth

Eastern Side of Manoa-Valley-from-Round-Top-Drive

Back of Manoa Valley

July 30, 2025 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Moʻikeha

Eia Hawai‘i, he moku, he kanaka
He kanaka Hawai‘i, e …
O Moʻikeha ka lani nana e noho
Noho kuʻu lani ia Hawai‘i – a …
Moʻikeha, the chief.

Behold Hawai‘i, an island, a man
A man is Hawaiʻi …
Moʻikeha is the chief who will live there
My chief shall dwell in Hawai‘i …
Moʻikeha, the chief.

By the time European explorers entered the Pacific in the 15th century almost all of the habitable islands had been settled for hundreds of years and oral traditions told of explorations, migrations and travels across this immense watery world.

Double-hulled canoes were seaworthy enough to make voyages of over 2,000-miles along the longest sea roads of Polynesia, like the one between Hawai‘i and Tahiti.

And though these canoes had less carrying capacity than the broad-beamed ships of the European explorers, the Polynesian canoes were faster: one of Captain Cook’s crew estimated a canoe could sail “three miles to our two.” (Kawaharada)

The motivations of the voyagers varied. Some left to explore the world or to seek adventure. Others departed to find new land or new resources because of growing populations or prolonged droughts and other ecological disasters in their homelands.

Within the sphere of known islands, others sailed to wage war or seek vengeance, to escape political persecution or unhappy love affairs, to find a wife or visit relatives, or to obtain prized objects, like red feathers, not available at home.

Whatever the motivation for voyaging, the challenge was always the same – the huge, trackless expanses of sun-heated saltwater capable of generating fierce winds and battering waves.

The challenge was met again and again by Pacific island voyagers, long before sailors in other parts of the world ventured beyond the coastlines of continents or inland seas and lakes. (PVS)

Born at Waipi‘o on the island of Hawai‘i, Moʻikeha sailed to Kahiki (Tahiti), the home of his grandfather Maweke, after a disastrous flood. (Cultural Surveys)

Moʻikeha was an aliʻi nui (high chief) from Moa‘ulanuiakea, Tahiti, where he lived with his wife Kapo. They had a child named Laʻamaikahiki.

Moʻikeha became infatuated with Luʻukia, but she created some domestic difficulties; Moʻikeha directed his foster-son Kamahualele to ready a double-hulled canoe to go to Hawaiʻi.

Moʻikeha planned to take his sisters, Makapuʻu and Makaʻaoa, his two younger brothers, Kumukahi and Haʻehaʻe, his priest Moʻokini, and his prominent men (na kanaka koikoi) – navigators (ho‘okele), favorite priests (kahuna punahele) and his lookouts (kiu nana,) who would spy out land.

Early one morning at dawn, at the rise of the navigation star (ka hoku ho‘okelewa‘a; possibly Sirius), Moʻikeha boarded his double-hulled canoe with his fellow voyagers (hoa holo), and left Tahiti.

After the canoe landed at Hilo, Kumukahi and Haʻehaʻe were charmed by the land and told Moʻikeha they wanted to remain there, so Moʻikeha let them off the canoe.

Soon after, Moʻikeha set sail from Hilo, passing along the north coast of Hawai‘i until he arrived at Kohala. Moʻokini and Kaluawilinau wanted to reside at Kohala, so Mōʻīkeha put them ashore there.

He sailed on to the east coast of Maui and landed at Hāna. Honua‘ula wanted to reside there, so he was allowed to remain behind. Moʻikeha sailed on.

Moʻikeha and his people continued on their journey. Arriving at O‘ahu, Mo‘ikeha’s sisters Makapu‘u and Makaaoa said: “We wish to reside here, where we can see the cloud drifts of Tahiti.” So Makapu‘u and Makaaoa were allowed to remain on O‘ahu.

Moʻikeha left O‘ahu and sailed to Kauai, landing at Wailua. The canoe was brought ashore and the travellers got off. Meanwhile the locals were gathering in a crowd to go surf-riding at Ka-makaiwa. Among them were the two daughters of the ali‘i nui of Kauai, Ho‘oipoikamalanai and Hinauʻu.

When the two sisters saw Moʻikeha, they immediately fell in love with him, and they decided to take him for their husband; Moʻikeha was also struck. Their father approved.

Kila, Moʻikeha’s favorite of three sons by the Kauai chiefess Ho‘oipoikamalanai, was born at Kapaʻa and was said to be the most handsome man on the island. It was Kila who was sent by his father back to Kahiki to slay his old enemies and retrieve a foster son, the high chief La‘amaikahiki.

Moʻikeha settled at Kapaʻa Kauai as ruling chief of the island. Upon his death, Kila, his son, became ruling chief of Kauai. (McGregor) After Moʻikeha’s death, his corpse was taken to the cliffs of Haʻena where it was deposited.

After returning to Tahiti, then sailing again to Hawaiʻi, Laʻamaikahiki set sail again, going up the Kona coast of Hawaiʻi Island. It was on this visit that Laʻamaikahiki introduced hula dancing, accompanied by the drum, to Hawaiʻi. (Bentley)

“To Kauai from far-off Kahiki came Laʻa to see his father Moʻikeha. With him came the first drum ever seen in these islands. La’amaikahiki landed at a small canoe landing called Ahukini, a little south of Hanamaulu bay and the present ahukini landing. His drum was taken to the heiau of Ka Lae o Ka Manu at Wailua.” (Hula Historical Perspectives)

Laʻamaikahiki lived on Kauai for a while. Then he moved to Kahikinui on Maui (the place was named for Laʻamaikahiki’s homeland, in honor of him.) As the place was too windy, however, Laʻamaikahiki left for the west coast of the island of Kahoʻolawe, where he lived until he finally returned to Tahiti.

Because Laʻamaikahiki lived on Kahoʻolawe and set sail for home from that island, the ocean to the west of Kahoʻolawe is called Kealaikahiki, “The Road to Tahiti.”

Laʻamaikahiki took his brother Kila and the bones of their father to Tahiti with him. The bones were to be deposited in the mountain of Kapaahu, Tahiti. Laʻamaikahiki and Kila also lived there until their death. Little more was heard about these two brothers. (Lots of information here is from PVS, Cultural Surveys and Fornander.)

Moikeha_the_Voyaging_King-(HerbKane)

July 28, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hale O Keawe

To help tell the story of Hale O Keawe, the following includes quotes from John Papa ʻĪʻi (who became an attendant of Kamehameha I and later a companion and personal attendant to Liholiho (later King Kamehameha II,)) William Ellis (missionary who circled the island of Hawaiʻi in 1823) and Hiram Bingham (missionary.)

“The Hale O Keawe in Honaunau was called Ka-iki-ʻAlealea (The little ʻAlealea,) and was a puʻuhonua. Kaikiholu and Pakaʻalana on Hawaii, Kakaʻe in ʻIao, Maui; Kūkaniloko in Wahiawa, Oʻahu; and Holoholoku in Wailua, Kauaʻi, were also places to which one who had killed could run swiftly and be saved.”

“The person whose writing this is often went about them, including the Hale O Keawe. He has seen this house (hale ʻaumakua iwi) where the bones were deposited, standing majestically on the left (or south) side of Akahipapa.”

“The house stood by the entrance of a wooden enclosure, with door facing inland towards the farming lands of South Kona.”

“The heir to the kingdom entered the Hale O Keawe during his journey around to the various luakini heiau of Kanoa in Hilo, Wahaʻula in Puna, and Punaluʻu in Kaʻū. The journey began in Kailua, thence to Kawaihae and from there on around the island to the Hale O Keawe.“

“The appearance of the house was good. Its posts and rafters were of kauila wood, and it was said that this kind of timber was found in the upland of Napu’u. It was well built, with crossed stems of dried ti leaves, for that was the kind of thatching used.”

“The appearance inside and outside of the house was good to look at. The compact bundles of bones (pukuʻi iwi) that were deified (hoʻokuaʻia) were in a row there in the house, beginning with Keawe’s near the right side of the door by which one went in and out, and going to the spot opposite the door (kuʻono).”

“At the right front corner of the house where the unwrapped bones of those who had died in war, heaped up like firewood. In that pile of bones were the bones of Nahiolea, father of M Kekūanāoʻa. The person whose writing this is saw his own father remove his tapa shoulder covering and place it on a bundle among the other bundles of bones. He must have asked the caretaker about all of them and their names, and they were told to him. That was why he did so.”

“When the writer saw his father doing this he asked, ‘Have we a near kinsman in this house?’ His father assented. There are some people who have relatives in this house of ‘life’, but perhaps most of them are dead. The chiefs were descended from Hāloa and so were their retainers (kauwa kupono). The chiefs were born, such as Lono-i-ka-makahiki and Kama-lala-walu and so on down, and so were the retainers (i.e., the junior members of the family.)”

“After the chief ʻIolani (Liholiho) had finished his visit to the house, a pig was cooked and the gathering sat to worship (hoʻomana) the deified persons there. When that was done, the chief and those who went in with him ate together. After the eating was over, the kapu was removed. The travellers left the Hale O Keawe and sailed by canoe, landing at Kamakahonu in Kailua in the evening. There they met Kamehameha. That must have been in the year 1817.” (John Papa ʻĪʻi)

A few years later (1823,) William Ellis and others visited Honaunau and Hale O Keawe. Ellis documented this, noting, “Honaunau, we found, was formerly a place of considerable importance, having been the frequent residence of the kings of Hawaii, for several successive generations.”

“The monuments of the ancient idolatry, with which this place abounds, were, from some cause unknown to us, spared, amidst the general destruction of the idols, &c. that followed the abolition of the aitabu, in the summer of 1819.”

“The principal object, that attracted our attention, was the ‘hare o Keave’ (house of Keawe,) a sacred depository of the bones of departed kings and princes, probably erected as a depository for the bones of the king whose name it bears, and who reigned in Hawaii, about eight generations back.”

“It is a compact building, 24 feet by 16, constructed with the most durable timber, and thatched with ti leaves, standing on a bed of lava, which runs out a considerable distance into the sea. It is surrounded by a strong fence, or paling, leaving an area in the front and at each end, about twenty-four feet wide, paved with smooth fragments of lava laid down with considerable skill.”

“Several rudely carved male and female images of wood were placed on the outside of the enclosure; some on low pedestals, under the shade of an adjacent tree; others on high posts, on the jutting rocks that hung over the edge of the water.”

“A number stood on the fence at unequal distances all around; but the principal assemblage of these frightfull representatives of their former deities, was at the south-east end of the enclosed space, where, forming a semicircle, twelve of them stood in grim array, as if perpetual guardians of ‘the mighty dead’ reposing in the house adjoining.”

“A pile of stones was neatly laid up in the form of a crescent, about three feet wide, and two feet higher than the pavement, and in this pile the images were fixed. They stood on small pedestals three or four feet high, though some were placed on pillars eight or ten feet in height, and curiously carved.”

“The principal idol stood in the centre, the others on either hand, the most powerful being placed nearest to him. He was not so large as some of the others, but was distinguished by the variety and superior carving of his body, and especially of his head.”

“Once they had evidently been clothed, but now they appeared in the most indigent nakedness. A few tattered shreds round the neck of one that stood on the left hand side of the door, rotted by the rain, and bleached by the sun, were all that remained of numerous and gaudy habiliments, with which their votaries had formerly arrayed them.”

“A large pile of broken calabashes and cocoanut shells Jay in the centre, and a considerable heap of dried and partly rotten wreaths of flowers, branches of shrubs and hushes, and fragments of tapa, (the accumulated offerings of former days,) formed an unsightly mound immediately before each of the images.”

“The horrid stare of these idols, the tattered garments upon some of them, and the heaps of rotting offerings before them, seemed to us no improper emblems of the system they were designed to support; distinguished alike by its cruelty, folly, and wretchedness.”

“…we looked in and saw many large images, some of wood very much carved, others of red feathers, with widely distended mouths, large rows of sharks teeth, and glaring pearl-shell eyes.”

“We also saw several bundles of .human bones, cleaned, carefully tied up, and placed in different parts of the house, together with some rich shawls and other valuable articles, probably worn by those, to whom the bones belonged, as the wearing apparel, and other personal property of the chiefs, is generally buried with them.”

“Adjoining the Hare O Keave, to the southward, we found a pahu tabu (sacred inclosure) of considerable extent; and were informed by our guide, that it was one of the pohonuas of Hawaii, of which we had so often heard the chiefs and others speak. There are only two on the island, the one, which we were then examining, and another at Waipiʻo, on the north-east part of the island, in the district of Kohala.”

ʻThe zeal of Kaʻahumanu led her as early as 1829 to visit the Hale O Keawe at Honaunau, a cemetery associated with dark superstitions, and surrounded with horrid wooden images of former generations. The regent visited the place not to mingle her adorations with her early contemporaries and predecessors to the relics of departed mortals, but for the purpose of removing the bones of twenty-four deified kings and princes of the Hawaiian race….” (Bingham)

“… when she saw it ought to be done, she determined it should be done: and in company with Mr. Ruggles and Kapiolani, she went to the sacred deposit, and caused the bones to be placed in large coffins and entombed in a cave in the precipice at the head of Kealakekua Bay.” (Bingham)

Hale O Keawe is part of the Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park, originally established in 1955 as City of Refuge National Historical Park (renamed on November 10, 1978.)

Hale O Keawe was Depository of the Kings of Hawaii, at Honaunau

Sketch of Hale-o-Keawe by Dampier, 1825

Seawalls at the east end of Hale o Keawe-1921

Robert_C._Barnfield_-_watercolor_painting_of_Hale_o_Keawe-1886

Puuhonua_O_Honaunau-Smith

Puuhonua_O_Honaunau-Kekahuna-SP 201979-map

Puuhonua_O_Honaunau-Hale_O_Keawe-lower_left

Image removed from Hale-o-Keawe and later presented to the Bishop Museum

Hale-O-Keawe

Hale-o-Keawe-(hawaiireporter)

Hale_O-Keawe-(NPS)

Hale_O_Keawe_Platform_and_Vicinity

Hale_o_keawe

Hale O Keawe-Ellis-1823

Hale o Keawe platform after the 1960s restoration-(NPS)

Andrew Bloxam’s drawings of the exterior appearance and interior arrangement of Hale-o-Keawe

July 24, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Declaration of War

It starts with the delivery of a simple package … two ʻulu maika stones wrapped in kapa.

This was an announcement of war between two aliʻi. It was an offer, and a threat.

The kilo (reader of omens) and the kuhikuhipuʻuone (seer, soothsayer) were familiar with the thought behind those white and black stones, and they also understood the ki-leaf knots which were made.

The white stone signified peace and not war, showing the clean thought of the person who sent it, and it might be reciprocated by the return of that stone without a wrapping.

The black stone was a symbol of war between the one who sent it and the one to whom it was sent. (Desha)

The recipient was asked to make a choice.

If the recipient aliʻi sought peace, he returned the white stone. That would show his good intentions and that he was asking that they dwell in affection without starting a war between them.

If he agreed to war between himself and the aliʻi who had sent those stones, then he would take the black stone and wrap it in black kapa, and return it to the aliʻi who had sent the stones.

This action would announce war between them, the stone symbolizing the black thought between them. This would lead to preparations for war.

Kamehameha used this in his conquest of the Islands.

On receipt by Keawemauhili, he chose the white stone and sent it back to Kamehameha showing his good will toward him.

The messenger to Keawemauhili returned with that stone and appeared before Kamehameha and his court. Kamehameha opened up the kapa bundle and saw the white stone within and he turned and said to his chiefs:

“My makua kane (uncle) of Hilo does not desire to oppose me, and it would not be well for our side to go to war with him. It would be a cause for the god to favor him and desert us, as there is no wrongdoing on that side, and we alone desire to make war.”

However, Keʻeaumoku, his uncle and war-seeking advisor said while he returned the white stone, it was deficient. He said Kamehameha should have also asked for the sweet tasting ‘anae (mullet) and the fat awa (milkfish) of Hilo. Kamehameha sent his messenger with that request.

Keawemauhili immediately commanded the konohiki of his fishpond to fetch some fish for the ali‘i Kamehameha, saying: “Fetch four fat ‘anae and also four fat awa, and wrap them in seaweed to keep them alive until they arrive before my keiki Kamehameha.” Keawemauhili also sent back a bundle with two stones wrapped in ki leaves, both white coral.

The later death of Kanekoa at the hands of Keoua led Kamehameha to make war plans, Keawemauhili of Hilo and Keoua of Kaʻu joined forces – Kamehameha attacked Keawemauhili.

A later declaration of war was sent to Kahekili.

In the spring of 1790, Kamehameha invaded the island of Maui. One of the bloodiest battles of Kamehameha’s time was fought and won by him at ʻIao Valley. So many men were killed in this battle that their bodies filled the river, which gave the name of the battle Kepaniwai (the damning of waters.)

After the battle, Kamehameha was on the island of Molokai; he sent a messenger to Kahekili, the King of Maui and Kauai, carrying to symbolic stones, one white and the other black.

“This stone, the white one, is a symbol of farming, of fishing, of the feeding of mankind, and is a stone of rule of government also. This black stone is a stone of war.”

Kahekili paused for a while, then turned again and questioned the messenger: “Ea, does Kamehameha say by these stones that he desires to sail to O‘ahu to make war?” “Yes,” the messenger replied.

If the King returned the white stone, it was equivalent to giving Kamehameha their kingdom without battle; but if the black stone came back, he would prepare for war. Kahekili answered that when his body should be covered with the black tapa (when he was dead,) then Kamehameha could take possession of the Kingdom without battle.

This was acceptable for the time being. Kamehameha waited. Kahekili died in 1794.

“The appropriate time has now come to fulfill that thought of our uncle in giving the land. I am blameless in taking that land because it was previously conveyed to me because of those words of bequest by our uncle.” (Kamehameha; Desha)

In 1795 Kamehameha sailed from his home island of Hawaiʻi with an army of thousands of warriors, including a handful of non-Hawaiian foreigners to battle Kalanikūpule (Kahekili’s son.).

The war apparently ends with some of Kalanikūpule’s warriors pushed/jumping off the Pali. When the Pali Highway was being built, excavators counted approximately 800-skulls, believed to be the remains of the warriors who were defeated by Kamehameha.

Finally, Kamehameha’s messenger delivered to Kaumuali‘i of Kauai a black stone, which was a really beautiful ʻulu maika, and some small black ʻulu maika. Those excellent large and small stones were marked with cord (kahamaha ia). Besides these excellent large and small stones, a white maika stone wrapped in kï leaves.

The large and small black maika stones were as though Kamehameha was saying to Kaumuali‘i through these stones: “Perhaps by strength Kauai might be gotten or perhaps not.” That was the nature of those black maika stones—they were words of war.

The white maika stone wrapped in ki leaves was a denial of war, showing the white thought in Kaumuali‘i’s heart, that he did not desire war.

The fine-meshed net expressed the thought that the other islands of Hawai‘i were bound under Kamehameha, in other words, Hawai‘i, Maui, Lānai, Kahoʻolawe, Molokai, and O‘ahu. If the discussion went well, then Kauai and Ni‘ihau would be included in the fine-meshed net.

Kaumuali‘i kept the black stones which had been sent him and returned the white maika stone wrapped in kī leaves to the messenger. It was wrapped in the fine-meshed net, and also a section of bamboo was given the messenger.

Kauai’s opposing factions (Kaumuali‘i versus Keawe) were extremely vulnerable as they had been weakened by fighting each other (Keawe died and Kaumuali‘i was, ultimately, ruler of Kauai and Ni‘ihau.) Kamehameha’s two attempts at invading Kauai were foiled (by storm and sickness.)

The island was never conquered; in the face of the threat of a further invasion, in 1810, at Pākākā on Oʻahu, negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i and Kamehameha I took place and Kaumualiʻi yielded to Kamehameha. The agreement marked the end of war and thoughts of war across the islands.

The image shows Kamehameha as a young warrior. (Herb Kane) (Lots of information here from Desha.)

Young_King_Kamehameha-(HerbKane)