Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kuahewa

At about the same time of Christopher Columbus crossing the Atlantic to America, ʻUmi-a-Liloa (ʻUmi) from Waipiʻo, son of Liloa, defeated Kona chief Ehunuikaimalino and united the island of Hawai‘i. He then moved his Royal Center from Waipi‘o to Kona.

At about the time of ʻUmi, a significant new form of agriculture was developed in Kona; he is credited with starting it. Today, archaeologists call the unique method of farming in this area the “Kona Field System.”

The Kona Field System was planted in long, narrow fields that ran across the contours, along the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualalai. As rainfall increases rapidly as you go up the side of Hualalai, the long fields allowed farmers to plant different crops according to the rainfall gradients.

General zones within the area were: Kula (plain, open country, Coast–500 feet – sweet potato, wauke;) Kalu or Kaluʻulu (luxuriant, 500–1000 feet – breadfruit, wauke and sweet potato;) ʻApaʻa (dry zone, 1000–2500 feet – taro, sweet potato, sugarcane, ti and banana;) and ʻAmaʻu or ʻAmaʻumaʻu (upland/fern zone, 2000–3000 feet – banana and fern.) (Allen)

Fast forward 300-years … Kamehameha, who had resided on Oʻahu since 1804, moved to Kamakahonu in 1812 at what is now known as Kailua on Hawaiʻi Island. He built Ahuʻena Heiau on the foundation of an older heiau (the former probably dating back to ʻUmi and his father Liloa.) (Kirch)

According to John Papa ʻIʻi, in addition to Ahuʻena Heiau and other structures associated with his court at Kamakahonu, Kamehameha “…built another house, a hale nana mahinaʻai, on the seaward side of Keawe a Mahi’s residence from which to observe the farm lands.”

“Facing directly upland toward Kuahewa, this house was like an observation post, for the site he first been built up high with stones. It was located on the west side of Ahuʻena, a heiau that stood beside Kamakahonu, on a spot where canoes could be seen coming from South Kona and from the vicinity of Kailua in North Kona.” (Ahuʻena)

Kuahewa (huge, vast) was Kamehameha’s farm situated above Kailua, (probably between the ahupuaʻa of Lanihau and Keopu.)

“Kuahewa is a place from which one obtains an unobstructed view. All the surrounding country, extending down to the seashore, is visible when one looks from there. The cold, gentle breeze (Kehau) and the rain are its drawbacks.” (Toketa Journal)

“(W)e entered the bread fruit plantations whose spreading trees with beautiful foliage were scattered about (3-miles) from the shore along the side of the mountain as far as we could see on both sides.”

“Here the country began to assume a pleasant and fertile appearance through which we continued our ascent for about two miles further, surrounded by plantations of the esculent roots and vegetables of the country, industriously cultivated, till we came to the uppermost village consisting of a few scattered huts.” (Menzies, 1792)

Kamehameha himself worked as a farmer at Kuahewa and he enacted the law that anyone who took one taro or one stalk of sugarcane must plant one cutting of the same in its place. (Rechtman)

John Papa ʻIʻi, who as a boy of 12, was a member of the royal court when Kamehameha returned to Kona in 1812. This was at a time of famine according to ʻIʻi, and members of the king’s household were supervising the clearing of Kuahewa, “a huge farm” located in the ʻamaʻumaʻu fern belt above Kailua Bay.

ʻIʻi lived here for a while, helping in the work by cutting fern fronds and clearing underbrush by hand. Taro cuttings for planting at Kuahewa were brought from the uplands of ahupua’a of Puaʻa. (Kelly)

Kuahewa was “about five miles in the rear of Kailua village, and at an elevation of about fifteen hundred feet on the western side of the volcanic mountain, Hualalai, where they thought the temperature as favorable as that of Hilo.”

“We found it very rurally situated, near the native huts on one side, and the forest on the other, and in the midst of plantations of sugar cane, bananas, potatoes, squashes, and melons, and upland kalo, where vegetation was unusually luxuriant.”

“The temperature was agreeable: the mercury in Farenheit ranged from 59° to 74°, the average for two months being 68°, or ten degrees lower than at Kailua, Lahaina, and Honolulu, at the same time.”

“The land breeze by night, and the sea breeze by day, were pleasant and refreshing. The latter brought to our ears the roar of many waters, as from the sea they dashed their surges upon the shores, from five to eight miles distant”. (Hiram Bingham, 1827 – Bingham’s distance estimate is probably over estimated.)

“This field was famous for its great extent and the fact of its being away in the uplands. Ten divisions of land were included in this field of Kuahewa. (Ualakaʻa was another famous field belonging to Kamehameha, so noted on account of its great size and bountiful production of potatoes. It was located up in Manoa, Oʻahu.) (Fornander)

Kuahewa passed to Kuakini. In his youth, Kuakini had been a close companion of Kamehameha, and after the return to Hawaiʻi Island, served the king as his representative in meeting foreign ships that came to Kona. He continued in that capacity for Liholiho.

In 1822, Kuakini undertook the clearing and replanting of Kuahewa, which apparently had been in fallow for some time. Under Kuakini’s supervision, in two days a company of some 40 men cleared eight ʻili sections of the farm for the planting of taro. (Barrere)

“We prepared to go to cultivate the field known as Kuahewa, a naturally fertilized field (Mahakea) formerly used by Kamehameha. Kuakini is undertaking to cultivate this field for the first time. They (Kuakini and his people) have long intended to cultivate this field, but have only now begun.”

“Hawaiʻi’s principle subject of discussion, day and night, is farming. The only salvation of the people is to continue farming, but to do the work half-way means death, as there is no other source of livelihood.”

“The people of Hawaiʻi are very strong, and cultivate the land industriously. Other countries dare not challenge Hawaiʻi in farming. Farming on the lava, (ʻaʻa) is persisted in. The subject most talked about by the people is farming.” (Toketa Journal)

The Thurston drawing, ‘View of the Country Back of Kailua,’ depicts what appears to be a large walled farm in either the upper portion of the ʻapaʻa, or in the lower ʻamaʻu zone. This may be the site of the Kuahewa gardens.

The site is unusually large compared with other gardens. It is unique in that it is walled, oriented laterally, and appears to contain two houses within its walls. In general, it seems to be a special place, which indeed Kuahewa was. (Kelly)

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Adventures of a University Lecturer

Hiram Bingham III was born in Honolulu, on November 19, 1875, to Hiram Bingham II, an early Protestant missionary to the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

He was the grandson of Hiram Bingham I, who in 1820 was the leader of the Pioneer Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi.

He attended Punahou School and ultimately earned degrees from Yale University, University of California-Berkeley and Harvard University.

In 1900 at the age of 25, Hiram III married Alfreda Mitchell, heiress of the Tiffany and Co fortune through her maternal grandfather Charles L Tiffany. With this financial stability he was able to focus on his future explorations.

He taught history and politics at Harvard and then was a lecturer and subsequently professor in South American history at Yale University.

In 1908, he served as delegate to the First Pan American Scientific Congress at Santiago, Chile. On his way home via Peru, a local prefect convinced him to visit the pre-Columbian city of Choquequirao.

Hiram III was not a trained archaeologist, but was thrilled by the prospect of unexplored cities. He returned to the Andes with the Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1911.

“The first day out from Cuzco saw us in Urubamba, the capital of a province, a modern town charmingly located a few miles below Yucay, which was famous for being the most highly prized winter resort of the Cuzco Incas.”

“Its ancient fortress, perched on a rocky eminence that commands a magnificent view up and down the valley, is still one of the most attractive ancient monuments in America.”

Continuing on down the valley over a newly constructed government trail, we found ourselves in a wonderful cañon. So lofty are the peaks on either side that although the trail was frequently shadowed by dense tropical jungle, many of the mountains were capped with snow, and some of them had glaciers. There is no valley in South America that has such varied beauties and so many charms.” (Bingham; National Geographic)

“We camped a few rods away from the owner’s grass-thatched hut, and it was not long before he came to visit us and to inquire our business. He turned out to be an Indian rather better than the average, but overfond of ‘fire-water.’”

“His occupation consisted in selling grass and pasturage to passing travelers and in occasionally providing them with ardent spirits. He said that on top of the magnificent precipices nearby there were some ruins at a place called Machu Picchu”.

“He offered to show me the ruins, which he had once visited, if I would pay him well for his services. His idea of proper payment was 50 cents for his day’s labor. This did not seem unreasonable, although it was two and one-half times his usual day’s wage.” (Bingham; National Geographic)

On July 24, 1911, Hiram Bingham III rediscovered the ‘Lost City’ of Machu Picchu (which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley.)

“(W)e found ourselves in the midst of a tropical forest, beneath the shade of whose trees we could make out a maze of ancient walls, the ruins of buildings made of blocks of granite, some of which were beautifully fitted together in the most refined style of Inca architecture.”

“A few rods farther along we came to a little open space, on which were two splendid temples or palaces. The superior character of the stone work, the presence of these splendid edifices, and of what appeared to be an unusually large number of finely constructed stone dwellings, led me to believe that Machu Picchu might prove to be the largest and most important ruin discovered in South America since the days of the Spanish conquest.” (Bingham; National Geographic)

His book “Lost City of the Incas” became a bestseller upon its publication in 1948; he also wrote “Across South America” (an account of his journey from Buenos Aires to Lima, with notes on Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru.)

After his return to the United States, he attained the rank of Captain in the Connecticut National Guard.

He eventually became an aviator and organized the United States Schools of Military Aeronautics to provide ground school training for aviation cadets, as well as commanded an aviator school in France.

Hiram III was elected governor of Connecticut in 1924; he was also a US Senator.

‘Lost City of the Incas’ and Hiram III have been noted as a source of inspiration for the story and ‘Indiana Jones’ character.

Hiram Bingham I (reportedly a basis for James Michener’s Abner Hale character in ‘Hawaii’) is my great-great-great grandfather and Hiram III is my great-great uncle.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Wī

In ancient Hawai‘i, most of the makaʻāinana (‘common people’) were farmers, a few were fishermen. Tenants cultivated smaller crops for family consumption, to supply the needs of chiefs and provide tributes.

“The people had ample cultivable land in the moist upland from two to four miles inland at altitudes of one thousand to twenty-five hundred feet. … The soil is most fertile, being formed from the decay of recent lava flows.”

“There the natives found their chief means of subsistence, and, in good seasons, were sufficiently fed. In bad seasons there were droughts, and more or less of ‘wī,’ or famine.” (Bishop)

The food plants of Hawaiʻi can be divided into three groups: those known as staple foods (the principal starchy foods – kalo (taro,) ʻuala (sweet potato,) ʻulu (breadfruit,) etc;) those of less importance (to add nutrients and variety to the diet;) and those known as famine foods. (Krauss)

Food shortages and famines result from a variety of events: natural disasters, drought, or even the unrelated consequence of political or economic policy. We saw the latter in the Islands when sandalwood harvesting took people away from farming.

“The chiefs also were ordered to send out their men to cut sandalwood. Because the chiefs and commoners in large numbers went out cutting and carrying sandalwood, famine was experienced from Hawaii to Kauai. … The people were forced to eat herbs and fern trunks, because there was no food to be had. “

“When Kamehameha saw that the country was in the grip of a severe famine, he ordered the chiefs and commoners not to devote all their time to cutting sandalwood, and also proclaimed all sandalwood to be the property of the government. Kamehameha then turned and ordered the chiefs and the people under them to farm. (Kamakau; Kuykendall)

There were three approaches to the use of famine food; these included: the use of plants that were not usually eaten but, even if not deliberately planted, were provided at least rudimentary agricultural attention; the use of wild plants that were obtained from natural forest; and the setting aside of land for cultivation, but for use only under emergency conditions. (Campbell)

According to Hawaiian traditions, the ʻuala (sweet potato) was not only a primary staple food, it was also a food to deal with famine, as noted in the following ʻōlelo noʻeau:

He ʻuala ka ʻai hoʻola koke i ka wi
The sweet potato is the food that ends famine quickly

ʻUala is in the Morning Glory family and grows easy and it grows fast – within 4-5 months of planting (as opposed to nine to eighteen months for taro), ʻuala is cultivated for their enlarged primary roots called tubers (the primary food from the ʻuala,) while leaves can also be eaten.

Tubers were also used as bait for fishing; Vines were used to make an under cushion for lauhala mats in houses; and Fermented ʻuala “beer” (ʻuala ʻawaʻawa) brewed (but it is unclear if this is a pre-contact practice.) (Bishop Museum)

ʻUala, sweet potato, was a canoe crop (it was brought to Hawaiʻi by the Polynesians, who brought with them shoots, roots, cuttings and seeds of various plants for food, cordage, medicine, fabric, containers, all of life’s vital needs.)

Another food recognized, not only in the Islands but across the world, as an important staple, as well as famine food, is ʻulu (breadfruit.)

Tradition traces its origin to a time of famine when Kū, the god of building and war, buried himself in the earth near his home. He later turned into an ʻulu tree so that his wife and children would not starve. (Pukui)

“If a man plant ten breadfruit trees in his life, which he can do in about an hour, he would completely fulfil his duty to his own as well as future generations.” (Joseph Banks, 1769)

Banks had been on the Endeavour with Captain Cook on his first voyage to the South Pacific in 1768-1771. William Bligh was part of the Cook’s crew on its third voyage when it made contact with Hawaiʻi in 1778.

Bligh later captained the Bounty on a voyage to gather breadfruit trees from Tahiti and take them to Jamaica in the Caribbean. There, the trees would be planted to provide food for slaves.

Bligh didn’t make it back on the Bounty, his crew mutinied (April 28, 1789;) one reason for the mutiny was that the crew believed Bligh cared more about the breadfruit than them (he cut water rationing to the crew in favor of providing water for the breadfruit plants.)

ʻUlu (breadfruit) was another canoe crop – one of around 30 plants brought to the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians when they first arrived in Hawaiʻi.

“This tree, whose fruit is so useful, if not necessary, to the inhabitants of most of the islands of the South Seas, has been chiefly celebrated as a production of the Sandwich Islands; it is not confined to these alone, but is also found in all the countries bordering on the Pacific Ocean.” (Book of Trees, 1837)

The breadfruit is multipurpose, it may be eaten ripe as a fruit or under-ripe as a vegetable – it is roasted, baked, boiled, fried, pickled, fermented, frozen, mashed into a puree, and dried and ground into meal or flour.

Another famine food, but not part of the typical cultivated plants, was hāpuʻu (tree fern.) Another ʻōlelo noʻeau notes that when the hāpuʻu was eaten, it was a time of famine:

He hāpuʻu ka ʻai he ai make”
If the hāpuʻu is the food, it is the food of death

Other crop plants that also served as famine food was: maiʻa (banana,) kō (sugarcane,) ki (ti,) noni (Indian Mulberry) and others.

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Anthony Lee Ahlo

Anthony Lee Ahlo was born in 1876, in Honolulu (he was “Pake hapa-Hawaiʻi.”)  His father Lee Ahlo (April 23, 1841- July 3, 1906) was born in Chong Lok near Canton, China, and came to Hawaiʻi in 1865.

His mother Lahela Kauhi Kehuokalani (April 22, 1852 – December 16, 1911) is reported to be a descendent of Kamehameha.  (Anthony is also identified as Li Fang Ahlo and Lee Fong Ahlo, at various places and times.)

His father worked for seven years as a cook for Mr Lewers of Lewers & Cooke. He and Lahela were married June 22, 1872. In 1873, he started a small grocery at the corner of Maunakea and King Streets, in 1876 it moved to corner of Nuʻuanu and Chaplain Lane; he later expanded into rice planting/processing and general merchandising.  (Krauss)

“(The mill) belonged to a man by the name of Lee Ahlo … (it) was near the Waikalua River, and there was a ditch and flume higher up the river that brought water from the river to the rice mill to make the water wheel go around, and that is where the rice mill got its power to clean the rice. The mill hulled the rice and it came out white. When it was still in the hull we called it paddy rice.”

“The river was near the rice mill and sometimes ulua and other large fish came up the river, following the water at high tide. They came into the ditches leading into the rice fields. Workmen netted them.”  (Ching, History of Kāneʻohe)

His father died a very prominent merchant and had many friends. His estate was valued at $50,000 (about $1,500,000, today;) the inventory list includes $17,500 real property in Honolulu, $17,500 in Kāneʻohe, $3,000 in Waialua, $2,000 in personal property in Honolulu and $10,000 in Kāneʻohe.  (Krauss)

Anthony Lee Ahlo graduated from Oʻahu College (Punahou) in 1897.  He then was admitted at Trinity Hall, Cambridge University in 1898 and earned his BA in 1901 and MA 1911.

In 1901, Anthony married Gladys Fitzgerald.  A reception, with over five hundred guests, being all the prominent society people of the city, was given by Mr. and Mrs. Lee Ahlo, in honor of their son and his young English wife, at their magnificent new residence off Liliha street, it “was a most brilliant and delightful affair.”  (Honolulu Republican, October 20, 1901)  Young Ahlo and his bride moved to Shanghai, China.

An article in the Maui news noted, “The Chinese government by imperial edict has requested Chinese residing in foreign countries to interest themselves in the matter of developing the mineral resources of China, and has pledged itself to grant the necessary rights, privileges and protection to those who desire to invest.”

It further noted, “China Waking Up. Mr. Anthony L Ahlo, an intelligent young Chinese, and by the way, a graduate of Cambridge, England is on Maui this week, and while here, is submitting an Investment for the purpose of developing the vast coal, copper and tin mines of the Chong Lock District in the province of Kwangtung (his father’s home town”.)

“Mr. Ahlo will proceed to China and secure the desired concessions. There is no question but what Chong Lock is a rich mineral district, and with the energy, ability and integrity of Mr. Ahlo back of the enterprise, there is no question but what the enterprise will prove successful and lay the foundation for vast fortunes for its promoters.”  (Maui News, June 20, 1903)

Anthony was well-connected with the revolutionary movement that was underway in China.  From 1894 to 1911, Sun Yat Sen traveled around the globe advocating revolution and soliciting funds for the cause. At first, he concentrated on China, but his continued need for money forced him elsewhere. Southeast Asia, Japan, Hawaii, Canada, the United States, and Europe all became familiar during his endless quest.  (Damon)

However, movement by Chinese to and through the US was restricted.  Sun needed a certificate to enter the United States at a time when the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 would have otherwise blocked him.  Although born in China, to allow movement through the States, Sun sought a birth certificate from Hawaiʻi.

Ahlo provided sworn testimony supporting Sun Yat Sen’s ʻEwa birthplace (signed by A. Ahlo on March 22, 1904.)  In part, he swore, “I have lived in Hawaii for 41 years. Have known Dr Sen a Chinese person, and knew his parents – since about 1870.  I owned a rice plantation at Waipahu at that time and went there after to give it my attention.  The father and mother of Dr Sen lived at Wamano and I often stopped at their house – sometimes overnight.”

On March 14, 1904, while residing in Kula, Maui, Sun Yat-sen obtained a Certificate of Hawaiian Birth, issued by the Territory of Hawaiʻi, stating that “he was born in the Hawaiian Islands on the 24th day of November, A.D. 1870.”

A May 26, 1908 article in the Chinese Public Opinion, an English paper of Peking, noted, “We are pleased to note the appointment of Mr. AL Ahlo to a position as justice in the Supreme Court in Peking. This gentleman is one of the new generation and was educated at the University of Cambridge, England where he passed his degree with honors.”

“He has been for some time acting as legal adviser to the High Court of Justice and has been doing good work in this department. It is a noteworthy fact that he is the returned student who has been appointed to a position of any importance in the Judiciary of China.” (Hawaiian Gazette, June 26, 1908)

In a speech he noted, “The world has become accustomed to seeing China plodding contentedly in rough conservatism and has not noted the size of reawakened China. Everywhere in the empire there are abundant evidences of material progress, and educational, industrial and scientific institutions tell the tale of life and activity.”

“The old-time superstitions and customs which stood in the path of its development are now being rudely brushed aside, and today behold China, a nation throbbing with the thrill of a new era, an era of advancement in the cause of humanity!”   (Congress of American Prison Association, 1910)

The revolutionary movement in China grew stronger and stronger. Revolution members staged many armed uprisings, culminating in the October 10, 1911 Wuhan (Wuchang) Uprising which succeeded in overthrowing the Manchu dynasty and established the Republic of China.

That date is now celebrated annually as the Republic of China’s national day, also known as the “Double Ten Day”. On December 29, 1911, Sun Yat-Sen was elected president and on January 1, 1912, he was officially inaugurated.  After Sun’s death in March 1925, Chiang Kai-shek became the leader of the Kuomintang (KMT.)

The Republic of China governed mainland China; during the Chinese Civil War, the communists captured Beijing and later Nanjing. The communist party led People’s Republic of China was proclaimed on October 1, 1949.

Ahlo’s provided further support and participation in the new China did not end there.  Ahlo drafted the constitution of the Chinese republic which was submitted to the national assembly.  It follows partially the federal law of America and part of that of France. It provides for a national assembly to consist of two houses, called the council of the people and the council of the provinces.  (San Francisco Call, May 19, 1912)

In the early-1920s he was Chinese consul in Samoa and then Borneo, before being a secretary of foreign affairs at Peking, and then subsequently an assistant commissioner of foreign affairs in Canton.

“Dr. Ahlo’s 12-months sojourn in Samoa has enabled him to study the Pacific. He sees it as the meeting ground of England, Japan, and America, all striving to gain supremacy.”

“The enormous trade possibilities of this romantic region, with peoples of diverse races, numbering 800,000,000, waiting to be exploited as factors in trade and ideas, call the colonizers and traders of the Great Powers, and right through the Pacific the fight for this supremacy is going quietly on.”

“Tariffs and other things are playing their part, but the suspicions and antagonisms engendered by this competition are reflected in the naval importance given to the Pacific. It is now talked of as the scene of the next great war.”

“’The spending of millions on armaments will inevitably result in bankruptcy,’ said the doctor, and, on account of the enormous cost.”  (The Advocate, Tasmania, August 4, 1921)  The image shows Lee Fong Aholo.

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Women Warriors

“The famous battles of conquest were fought by that Great Lonely One (Kamehameha I) and his war instructor (Kekūhaupi‘o)”. Of note is the Battle of Nuʻuanu.

“(C)hiefesses accompanied their husbands on this war expedition, as well as the young male and female aliʻi. Most of these chiefesses who went with their husbands were adept at shooting a musket …”

“Four ships joined Kamehameha’s expedition. They were well armed and filled with his various armies which, perhaps by the counting of this time, numbered eight thousand warriors.”

“There were sixty-five ali‘i in the chiefly corps who were in command over the various armies. The ali‘i wahine who accompanied Kamehameha on this expedition and the young male and female ali‘i numbered two hundred or more. It is said that the total count of those on this expedition came to 8,624.”

“(T)here were a total of sixteen haole on this expedition. Most of them were fugitives from ships, and included those foreigners who had taken the ships from Kalanikūpule and given them to Kamehameha.”

“Kalanikūpule’s armies were in the upland above Honolulu, and Kamehameha’s forces were on the seaward side. Kamehameha’s men were well supplied with muskets and cannons”

“Kalanikūpule’s men were also supplied with these foreign weapons, however, not as well because they had lost those foreign weapons on board Captain Brown’s ships which the foreigners had taken at that time Kalanikūpule had first thought of attacking Kamehameha.” …

“In the beginning of this battle, the female aliʻi on Kamehameha’s side used their muskets, firing their bullets amongst the warriors on Kalanikūpule’s side.”

“Those on Kamehameha’s side were better skilled with the muskets, and perhaps these warriors furnished with the foreign weapons were electrified (ho‘ouwila ‘ia paha) by seeing the fearlessness of these aliʻi wahine.”

“As Kalanikūpule’s warriors were moving in a group, it was extremely easy for those aliʻi wahine to shoot at them. This battle, which was not hand-to-hand, was in the morning. Because so many deaths were inflicted on Kalanikūpule’s warriors, terror began to grow in many of them.”

“While Kamehameha was standing proudly at the Nuʻuanu Gap, he was surrounded by the various aliʻi wahine who had assisted in his victory. They held their muskets which they had been taught to use by Kaʻiana, yet here at the hands of these chiefly pupils, death on the battlefield had been meted out to him.”

“It can be declared that Hawai‘i did not lack for fearless-hearted chiefesses, and it is appropriate that we proudly preserve the memory of their support of Kamehameha in those victorious battles.” (Desha)

A woman warrior of note was Manono; she fought side-by-side with her husband, Kekuaokalani, in the battle following the fall of the kapu, initiated by Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani, and supported by Liholiho, son of Kamehameha I (he rose to be King Kamehameha II following the death of his father.)

“No characters in Hawaiian history stand forth with a sadder prominence, or add a richer tint to the vanishing chivalry of the race, than Kekuaokalani and his courageous and devoted wife, Manono, the last defenders in arms of the Hawaiian gods.” (Kalākaua)

“Kekuaokalani is referred to by tradition as one of the most imposing chiefs of his day. He was more than six and a half feet in height, perfect in form, handsome in feature and noble in bearing. Brave, sagacious and magnetic, he possessed the requirements of a successful military leader”. (Kalākaua)

Kekuaokalani, having earlier received a wound, fainted and fell and, unable to stand, “sat on a fragment of lava, and twice loaded and fired a musket on the advancing party. He now received a ball in his left breast, and, immediately covering his face with his feathered cloak”. (Ellis)

“In the midst of these scenes of blood the eye rests with relief upon numerous episodes of love, friendship and self-sacrifice touching with a softening color the ruddy canvas of the past.” (Kalākaua)

“Manono, during the day, fought by his side, with steady and dauntless courage.” (Ellis)

“He finally fell with a musket-ball through his heart. With a wild scream of despair Manono sprang to his assistance”. (Kalākaua)

“But the words had scarcely escaped from her lips, when she received a ball in the left temple – fell upon the lifeless body of her husband, and expired.” (Ellis)

“Thus died the last great defenders of the Hawaiian gods. They died as nobly as they had lived, and were buried together where they fell on the field of Kuamoʻo.” (Kalākaua)

“It is painful to contemplate the death of Kekuaokalani, of Manono a wife who seems to have been unusually affectionate, and of the many friends and adherents who fought with acknowledged steadfastness and courage and fell on the field of battle.” (Dibble)

“Manono is said to have been an interesting woman, and she certainly gave evidence of attachment and affection. … Not even the horrors of savage fight could prevent her from following the fortune and sharing the dangers of her husband.” (Dibble) (Artwork of Manono and Kekuaokalani is by Brook Parker.)

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