Hewahewa

January 29, 2026 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Kapihe’s Prophecy

“When Kamehameha I was ruler over only Hawaii Island, and not all of the islands were his, and while the eating kapu was still enforced, and while he was living in Kohala, Kona, Hawaii, it was there that a certain man lived named Kapihe (also called Kamaloihi) and his god was called Kaonohiokala.” (Hoku o ka Pakipika, March 20, 1862)

“This man named Kapihe went before Kamehameha I and before the alii of Kona, and he said …”

E hui ana na aina
E iho mai ana ko ka lani
E pii aku ana ko lalo nei
E iho mai ana ke Akua ilalo nei
E kamailio kamailio pu ana me kanaka
E pii mai ana o wekea dek iluna
E ohi aku ana o Milu ilalo
E noho pu ana ke Akua me kanaka

The lands shall be united
What is heaven’s shall descend
What is earth’s shall ascend
God shall descend
And converse with mankind
Wakea shall ascend up above
Milu shall descend below
God shall live with mankind
(Kapihe; Velasco)

Spoken about three years before Christian missionaries arrived in the Hawaiian Islands with bibles and scriptures, the prophecy of Kapihe seemed to foretell the abolishment of the kapu and transformation to Christianity and westernization.

“The chiefs and commoners were astounded at these shocking words spoken by Kapihe, and they called him crazy. This perhaps is the truth, for some of his predictions came true and others were denied.” (Hoku o ka Pakipika, March 20, 1862)

“(I)t might be thought that Kapihe’s was a riddle and the land would not literally join together … Perhaps his words were not his alone, but from God.”

“Maybe … it was of Kapihe, the prophet of Hawaii; God gave the words for his mouth to speak, and Kapihe spoke what God of the heavens gave to us. And the nations of man joined as one, from America, and the other inhabited lands, they are here together with us. And the souls of the righteous are the same up above.”

“The alii of whom Kapihe predicted was Kamehameha I, who was victorious over Maui and Oahu, and Kauai was left, and his grandchildren now rule over his Kingdom. This is the nature of Kapihe’s words. (Kauakoiawe, Hoku o ka Pakipika, March 20, 1862)

The last High Priest under the old religion, Hewahewa, served as kahuna for both Kamehameha I and Liholiho (Kamehameha II.)

“He could not have known that, although the missionaries set sail on October 23rd (1819,) one day before the Makahiki began, they would take six months to arrive. Therefore, it was quite prophetic that, when he saw the missionaries’ ship off in the distance, he announced ‘The new God is coming.’ One must wonder how Hewahewa knew that this was the ship.” (Kikawa)

There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in the Pioneer Company, led by Hiram Bingham.) The Prudential Committee of the ABCFM 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)

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by former Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

In 1820, the American missionaries arrived at Kailua (Kona) Hawai`i. Hewahewa expressed “much satisfaction in meeting with a brother priest from America”, the Reverend Hiram Bingham.

Hewahewa, the highest religious expert of the kingdom, participated in the first discussions between missionaries and chiefs. He welcomed the new god as a hopeful solution to the current problems of Hawaiians and understood the Christian message largely in traditional terms. He envisioned a Hawaiian Christian community led by the land’s own religious experts. (Charlot)

“Hewahewa … expressed most unexpectedly his gratification on meeting us … On our being introduced to (Liholiho,) he, with a smile, gave us the customary ‘Aloha.’”

“As ambassadors of the King of Heaven … we made to him the offer of the Gospel of eternal life, and proposed to teach him and his people the written, life-giving Word of the God of Heaven. … and asked permission to settle in his country, for the purpose of teaching the nation Christianity, literature and the arts.” (Bingham)

Within a few years, “a number of serious men putting off their heathen habits, and willing to be known as seekers of the great salvation, and as, in some sense, pledged to one another to abstain from immoralities and to follow the teachings of the Word of God, united in an association for prayer and improvement similar to that formed by the females a month earlier.” (Bingham)

Hewahewa became a devout Christian and composed a prayer which antedated the use of The Lord’s Prayer in Hawaiʻi. In part, it spoke of ‘Jehovah, a visitor from the skies’ thus putting a name to the god whom Kapihe, before him, had predicted as “god will be in the heavens”. (HMHOF)

The image shows Hiram Bingham preaching to Queen Kaʻahumanu and other Hawaiians at Waimea, Oʻahu, home of Hewahewa.

February 17, 2022 by Peter T Young 5 Comments

“Kailua Harbor, April 5, 1820. In the dawn of the day, as we passed near shore, several chiefs were spending their idle hours in gambling, we were favored with an interview with Hewahewa, the late High Priest. He received us kindly and on his introduction to Brother Bingham he expressed much satisfaction in meeting with a brother priest from America, still pleasantly claiming that distinction for himself.” (Loomis)

“He assures us that he will be our friend. Who could have expected that such would have been our first interview with the man whose influence we had been accustomed to dread more than any other in the islands; whom we had regarded and could now hardly help regarding as a deceiver of his fellow men. But he seemed much pleased in speaking of the destruction of the heiau and idols.”

“About five months ago the young king consulted him with respect to the expediency of breaking taboo and asked him to tell him frankly and plainly whether it would be good or bad, assuring him at the same time that he would be guided by his view. Hewahewa speedily replied, maikai it would be good, adding that he knew there is but one “Akoohah” (Akua) who is in heaven, and that their wooden gods could not save them nor do them any good.” (Loomis)

“Hewahewa, the high priest, had ceased to believe in the power of the ancient deities, and his highest chiefs, especially the state queen Kaahumanu, resolved to abolish the oppressive “kapu” system. The king, ʻIolani Liholiho, had been carefully trained in the traditions of his ancestors and it was not an easy matter to foresake the beliefs of his fathers. He was slow to yield to the sentiments of the chiefs.” (Honolulu Star-bulletin, February 1, 1915)

“The ancient system consisted in the many tabus, restrictions or prohibitions, by which the high chiefs contrived, to throw about their persons a kind of sacredness, and to instil into the minds of the people a superstitious awe and peculiar dread.”

“If the shadow of a common man fell on a chief, it was death; if he put on a kapa or a malo of a chief, it was death; if he went into the chief’s yard, it was death; if he wore the chief’s consecrated mat, it was death; if he went upon the house of the chief, it was death.”

“If a man stood on those occasions when he should prostrate himself, (such as) when the king’s bathing water… (was) carried along, it was death. If a man walked in the shade of the house of a chief with his head besmeared with clay, or with a wreath around it, or with his head wet… it was death.”

“There were many other offenses of the people which were made capital by the chiefs, who magnified and exalted themselves over their subjects.” (Dibble)

Shortly after the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) declared an end to the kapu system. In a dramatic and highly symbolic event, Kamehameha II ate and drank with women, thereby breaking the important eating kapu.

“When the ruling aliʻi of the realm renounced the old religion in 1819, with the collaboration of no less a person than Hewahewa, the high priest of the whole kingdom, the foundation upon which the validity of the kahuna had for so long rested crumbled and fell away.” (Kanahele)

“By the time Liholiho made his fateful decision, many others, including the high priest Hewahewa, whose position in the religious hierarchy could be compared to that of a pope, evidently had concluded that the old gods were not competent to meet the challenges that were being hurled at them by the cannons, gadgets and ideas of the modern world.” (Kanahele)

“(Hewahewa) publicly renounced idolatry and with his own hand set fire to the heiau. The king no more observed their superstitious taboos. Thus the heads of the civil and religious departments of the nation agreed in demolishing that forbidding and tottering taboo system”. (Loomis)

“I knew the wooden images of deities, carved by our own hands, could not supply our wants, but worshiped them because it was a custom of our fathers. My thoughts has always been, there is only one great God, dwelling in the heavens.” (Ohana Church) Hewahewa also prophesied that a new God was coming and he went to Kawaihae to wait for the new God, at the very spot were the missionaries first landed.

This changed the course of the civilization and ended the kapu system, and effectively weakened the belief in the power of the gods and the inevitability of divine punishment for those who opposed them.

The end of the kapu system by Liholiho (Kamehameha II) happened before the arrival of the missionaries; it made way for the transformation to Christianity and westernization.

“The tradition of the ships with white wings may have been the progenitor of the Hawaiians’ symbol for Lono during the Makahiki. … With so many ships with white sails coming to Hawaii at that time, how would he know which ship would bring the knowledge of the true God of Peace?”

“He could not have known that, although the missionaries set sail on October 23rd, one day before the Makahiki began, they would take six months to arrive. Therefore, it was quite prophetic that, when he saw the missionaries’ ship off in the distance, he announced ‘The new God is coming.’ One must wonder how Hewahewa knew that this was the ship.” (Kikawa)

“Hewahewa knew the prophesy given by Kalaikuahulu a generation before. This prophesy said that a communication would be made from heaven (the residence of Ke Akua Maoli, the God of the Hawaiians) by the real God. This communication would be entirely different from anything they had known. The prophecy also said that the kapus of the country would be overthrown.”

“Hewahewa also knew the prophesy of the prophet Kapihe, who announced near the end of Kamehameha’s conquests, ‘The islands will be united, the kapu of the gods will be brought low, and those of the earth (the common people) will be raised up.’ Kamehameha had already unified the islands, therefore, when the kapus were overthrown, Hewahewa knew a communication from God was imminent.” (Kikawa)

After the overthrow of the kapu system, Hewahewa retired to Kawaihae, to wait confidently for the coming of a “new and greater God.” (Kikawa)

“Hewahewa departed for Kailua Bay (formally Kaiakeakua—Seaside of God) ahead of the missionaries to await their arrival with the King. After Hewahewa’s departure, the missionaries’ ship entered Kawaihae. Hewahewa’s household told the Hawaiians accompanying the missionaries the astounding news that the kapus had been overthrown! The missionaries ship was then directed to Kailua Bay were the King was in residence.”

At Kailua, Hewahewa gave an even more astounding prophecy, he pointed to a rock on the shore and said to the new king, ‘O king, here the true God will come.’ When the missionaries arrived at Kailua, they landed their skiff on that very rock! This rock is commonly known as the ‘Plymouth Rock of Hawaiʻi.

In 1820, Hewahewa, the highest religious expert of the kingdom, participated in the first discussions between missionaries and chiefs. He welcomed the new god as a hopeful solution to the current problems of Hawaiians and understood the Christian message largely in traditional terms. He envisioned a Hawaiian Christian community led by the land’s own religious experts. (Charlot)

“Hewahewa … expressed most unexpectedly his gratification on meeting us … On our being introduced to (Liholiho,) he, with a smile, gave us the customary ‘Aloha.’”

Hewahewa later retired to Oʻahu and became one of the first members of the church established there. This church is located in Haleiwa and is called the Liliʻuokalani Protestant Church. (Kikawa) “He lived in the valley of Waimea, a faithful, consistent follower of the new light.” (The Friend, March 1, 1914)

The image shows Hewahewa and the destruction of the heiau. (Artwork done by Brook Kapukuniahi Parker.)

October 17, 2018 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Black Box

Ke, ku la ia, ku la.
Pilia, ku lalani, ku la.
O pouli la, poeleele la.
Opu kalakala, lau ia, e ku’ la.
He Akua nui, he Akua mana,
He Akua ola, he Akua mau
O’Iehova he Kamahele mai ka lani mai;
He Akua noho i ka iuiu,
O ka welelau o ka makani,
Iloko o ke ao kaa lelewa.
He ohu ku i ka honua,
He onohi ku i ka moana,
Ieku, ko makou Kalahala.

Arise, stand up, stand.
Fill up the ranks, stand in rows, stand.
Lest we be in darkness, in black night.
Ye thorny-hearted, assemble, a multitude, stand.
A great God, a mighty God,
A living God, an everlasting God,
Is Jehovah, a Visitor from the skies;
A God dwelling afar off, in the heights,
At the further end of the wind,
In the rolling cloud, floating in the air.
A light cloud resting on the earth,
A rainbow standing in the ocean,
Is Jesus, Our Redeemer.
(Portion of Hewahewa’s Prayer)

At the close of a Makahiki ceremony marking the time of Lono, the Hawaiian god of peace, agriculture, the weather and healing, a prophecy was given that Lono would return in a small black box and the people would not know him or recognize the language he spoke. (alohakeakua)

“I knew the wooden images of deities, carved by our own hands, could not supply our wants, but worshipped them because it was a custom of our fathers … My thought has always been, there is one only great God, dwelling in the heavens.” (Hewahewa; Thurston)

Hewahewa, the last high priest of the ancient regime in these islands, was a great favorite with the high chiefs and the royal family.

He foresaw the coming of the missionaries and instructed his awa-chewer to run in front of the house, near the shore where the royal family were living, and call out, “E ka lani e, ina aku ke akua a pae mai.” O King, the god will soon land yonder, pointing, as he spoke.

A few days later, April 4, 1820, the Pioneer Company of missionaries arrived at that very spot aboard the brig Thaddeus, bringing with them the new god.

In commemoration of this incident the spot received the name, “Kai-o-ke-akua,” the sea of the god, by which name it has ever since been called (it is now more commonly called Kailua.)

During the next few days the missionaries had audience with royalty and earnestly presented the claims of their god for the worship of the people.

Their pleading made such an impression on the high chiefess, Kapiʻolani nui, that she told Hewahewa that the god had really landed, and expressed her willingness to accept the new religion.

This led Hewahewa, the chief religious leader of the kingdom, to prepare his prayer as a welcome to the new god who had so recently arrived. (Emerson)

Reportedly, the missionaries carried a ‘black box’ (a box or baggage holding the Bible.)

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Black Box

195th Anniversary – Reenactment of Landing – Hewahewa with Black Box (left of Liholiho)

August 30, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Luali‘iloa Pond

Nāpō‘opo‘o and Ka‘awaloa represent the two major settlements along the northern and southern sides of Kealakekua Bay with continuity in occupation from the pre-contact period, around 1600 and earlier, into the 20th Century.

At the time of Cook’s arrival in 1779, high chief Kalani‘ōpu‘u had his chiefly residence at Ka‘awaloa while the priests associated with this chiefly complex had their residences across the bay at Kekua (Nāpō‘opo‘o). Kamehameha I was also residing at Nāpō‘opo‘o in 1779.

The priestly compound at Nāpō‘opo‘o consists of Hikiau Heiau, Helehelekalani Heiau, the Great Wall, the brackish pond to the north of Hikiau Heiau, and the housesites of the priests, including Hewahewa, high priest to Kamehameha I.

Hikiau Heiau was the state-level religious center for this chiefly complex at Kealakekua Bay. The Great Wall marks the mauka (eastern) boundary of this priestly compound. The annual tour of the island associated with the Makahiki season began and ended at Hikiau Heiau. (DLNR)

“During the time when Kalaniʻōpuʻu was in the process of building the Hikiau Heiau, he asked Hewahewa to build him a fish pond. Hewahewa gathered certain men of the ali‘i clan than had his fish pond build.”

“Hewahewa lived across the pond. This pond was filled with fish for only the ali‘i to eat. (The name of the ‘old fishpond’ is Li‘iloa and/or Luali‘iloa.)

“‘Ala rocks (dense waterworn volcanic stones) were gathered from across the bay and was used to cover the bottom of the pond. Every rock was set in place and fitted a certain way until it was completed.” (‘Aunty Mona’ Kapapapkeali‘ioka‘alokai Kapule-Kahele, Maly; DLNR)

“West (north) of the morai (heiau) was the residence of the priest that conducted the ceremony. It consisted of a circle of large cocoanut and other trees that stood upon the margin of a pond of water in the center of which was a bathing place.”

“Upon the north (east) side of the pond were a row of houses standing among the trees and were most delightfully situated. These houses extended almost to the morai, nearest which was that of the priest who was the lord of this beautiful recess.”

“Between the houses and the pond were a number of grass plots intersected by several square holes with water in them which were private baths. On the east (south) side under the wall of the morai was a thick arbour of low spreading trees …”

“… and a number of ill carved images interspersed throughout, to this retreat we were all conducted, and Capt Cook was placed by one of those images which was hund round with old pieces of their cloths and some viands.” (Ledyard – Cook’s crewman)

Vancouver arrived at Kealakekua in 1793 and also noted the priest’s settlement around Hikiau Heiau and the pond. He recorded 200 houses along the 0.5-mile of beach at Nāpō‘opo‘o, as well as, the residence of Kamehameha I located behind the pond.

But by 1814, Kamehameha’s residence was reported as empty and “uncommonly filthy”. Four years later, in 1818, Capt. Golovnin of the Russian ship Kamchatka visited Kekua and “near the pond we saw the ruins of the former houses of the King surrounded by tall shady trees”. (Golovnin; DLNR)

The missionaries arrived at Kealakekua Bay in 1824 and established a mission at Ka‘awaloa Flat. Because of the heat, the missionaries moved the mission upslope to Kuapehu in 1827. However, many of the Hawaiians continued to live along the coast and Rev. Forbes decided to move the mission station to Nāpō‘opo‘o in 1838 and constructed the first Kahikolu Church in 1840.

In the 1850s, the government leased land behind the pond and restored the stone prison originally built by Kapi‘olani in the 1830s. Deputy Sheriff Preston Cummings leased the pond and the adjacent land to support the prison population in the late 1850s.

In the mid 1860s, Mr. Logan purchased the ahupua‘a and developed a sugar plantation while the makai lands and 5 coconut trees were leased by S. Kekumano, the jailer. Pineapple and sugarcane were planted and cultivated by the prisoners. The prison was used until around 1875.

By 1875, the ahupua‘a had been bought and sold a number of times. J.D. Paris, Jr. was the owner of the ahupua‘a, leasing the flat around the bay, the pali, and coconut trees to H. Haili, grandson of konohiki Nunole. Jailer Kekumano still held the pond lease, even though the prison was seldom used by this time.

An 1883 map by George Jackson recorded both ocean depths and land features. Jackson’s map shows the pond and Hikiau Heiau as the prominent features of Nāpō‘opo‘o.

There are 3 houses and numerous coconut trees around the pond (Photo 8). The map also shows the wall defining the southern and eastern boundaries of the subject parcel adjacent to the heiau.

In 1881, H.N. Greenwell purchased the land from Paris and began cattle ranching in the area. H. Haili retained the lease on the flat land around the bay, the pali, and the pond. Evidently, Greenwell had an interest in the pond as “they had kept it stocked with fish and used it”.

However, as a result of cattle overrunning the pond and spoiling it for raising fish, Haili paid a reduced rent for the pond (Haili 1892: 69). In 1892, the lawyer for the Greenwells wrote that the pond was valued as a watering hole. (DLNR)

“(A) Japanese couple had come here. They built a house on the north side of the fishpond. This pond was than neglected. This Japanese family cleaned It up and raised shrimps in it.”

“They kept the pond clean. Shrimps were many were many. I remember the Japanese women going from house to house with her bucket of shrimp to sell. For ten cents you got a bowl full of shrimps. My tutu use to dry them and only eaten when there were no fish in the house.” (‘Aunty Mona’ Kapapapkeali‘ioka‘alokai Kapule-Kahele, Maly; Louis)

The Greenwells gave the pond the name Kalua‘opae and that name became a part of the collective memory of the community. (Louis)

“Soma years ago, some people wanted to dredge that pond but instead the heavy equipment got stuck in the sand and mud that they had to get another machine to pull the other out. What is the mystery, nobody knows. Only the people of the past knows what and how it was built.”

“Perhaps it is better that way for people to see or for those who remember seeing the fishes there.” (‘Aunty Mona’ Kapapapkeali‘ioka‘alokai Kapule-Kahele, Maly; Louis)

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Napoopoo Pond-Lualiiloa Pond-DLNR

Napoopoo Pond-Lualiiloa Pond-Old Prison in Background-DLNR

Napoopoo Pond-Lualiiloa Pond-HMCS-1906

Napoopoo Pond-Lualiiloa Pond-1890s-DLNR

Napoopoo Pond-Lualiiloa Pond-McFarlen’s Hse in Background-1920-DLNR

Lualiiloa Pond – Kealakekua-Napoopoo-Jackson-Reg1324-1883 (portion)

Lualiiloa Pond – Kealakekua-Jackson-Reg1324-1883 (portion)

Napoopoo-Stoke’s Map-early-1900s-DLNR

Kealakekua Bay-Henry Roberts with Cook expedition-1779-portion

August 14, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kahuna to Christian

“Kamehameha had already unified the islands, therefore, when the kapus were overthrown, Hewahewa knew a communication from God was imminent.” (Kikawa)

After the overthrow of the kapu system, Hewahewa retired to Kawaihae, to wait confidently for the coming of a “new and greater God.” (Kikawa)

“He received us kindly and on his introduction to Brother Bingham he expressed much satisfaction in meeting with a brother priest from America, still pleasantly claiming that distinction for himself.”

“He assures us that he will be our friend.”

“Who could have expected that such would have been our first interview with the man whose influence we had been accustomed to dread more than any other in the islands; whom we had regarded and could now hardly help regarding as a deceiver of his fellow men. But he seemed much pleased in speaking of the destruction of the heiau and idols.”

“Hewahewa speedily replied, maikai it would be good, adding that he knew there is but one “Akoohah” (Akua) who is in heaven, and that their wooden gods could not save them nor do them any good.”

“He publicly renounced idolatry and with his own hand set fire to the heiau. The king no more observed their superstitious taboos.”

“Thus the heads of the civil and religious departments of the nation agreed in demolishing that forbidding and tottering taboo system which had been founded in ignorance, cemented with blood, and supported for ages by the basest of human passion.”

“They had, indeed, heard of the Christian’s God, but gave little evidence that they understood His laws, or loved His character, or feared His Holy Name. Whether they conceived him as worthy of their homage or not, they were convinced of the vanity of idols and the folly of idol worship.” (Extracts from a journal supposed to have been written By Mr Loomis; Gulick)

“Hewahewa … expressed most unexpectedly his gratification on meeting us … On our being introduced to (Liholiho,) he, with a smile, gave us the customary ‘Aloha.’”

“In the days of Kamehameha I, Hewahewa was the highest priest in the land. A direct descendant of Pā‘ao, the priest who came from Tahiti and established the kapu system in Hawaiʻi, he performed his religious duties at the famous Puʻukoholā heiau at Kawaihae, a heiau built by Kamehameha I for the worship of the war god, Kukaʻilimoku.”

“But in the days between Kamehameha’s wars of conquest and the time of the Conqueror’s death in May, 1919, Hewahewa developed doubts about Hawaiʻi’s pagan system and the gods – Kane, Ku, Lono, and Kanaloa – who ruled over it.”

“He observed foreign traders who ignored or even scoffed at the sacred kapus yet suffered no ill. As the death of Kamehameha approached, he heard the great king forbid the human sacrifices that many loyal followers thought would save his life, saying that the men should be spared to serve the next generation.”

“Thus it was not strange that when Liholiho (Kamehameha II) asked Hewahewa’s advice about breaking the eating-kapu, the priest in a few words indicated that he would not oppose such a move.”

“Well aware of the young king’s intentions in November 1819, when a feast was prepared at Kailua, Kona, Hewahewa had his torch ready; and as soon as Liholiho sat down with the aliʻi women and began to eat, the priest went to a nearby heiau and set fire to its contents, destroying everything but the stone platform.”

“These flames spread – if not literally, at least figuratively – the change had been defeated in battle at Kuamoʻo, Hewahewa retired to Kawaihae to await confidently the coming of a new and greater god.”

“In about five months occurred the event he expected. At the end of March, 1820, a foreign ship brought visitors who could tell Hawaiʻi about the One Great God, who ruled the universe.”

“Apparently Hewahewa did not meet the newcomers until they reached Kailua, Kona, but he doubtless heard that they had called at the presence of the prime minister at Kawaihae, and that Kalanimoku had taken his whole household on board the foreign brig to sail to Kailua, where the king was.”

“Hewahewa hastened southward overland and told those at the king’s court, ‘The new god is coming. He is going to land right here.’”

“And, sure enough, on the morning of April 4, two of the missionaries came ashore, seeking permission from Liholiho to settle in Hawaiʻi and teach about their God. At the first opportunity Hewahewa went out to the Thaddeus to welcome the missionaries. (Loomis; Kawaiaha‘o)

Hewahewa is noted as saying, “I knew the wooden images of deities, carved by our own hands, could not supply our wants, but worshiped them because it was a custom of our fathers. My thoughts have always been, there is only one great God, dwelling in the heavens.” (Ohana Church)

On July 27 1830, Hewahewa wrote a letter to Levi Chamberlain, the superintendent of secular affairs for the mission and a missionary teacher. At the time of this letter, Hewahewa had converted to Christianity and was living in Lahaina, Maui.

“Greetings to you, Mr. Chamberlain, and Mrs. Chamberlain, This is my short message to you. I again testify to you about the grace God bestows upon me as I go on.”

“I walk in fear and awe of God for the wrongs of my heart, for he is the one who knows me. The love of the son of God is true indeed. It is of my own volition that I tell this to you. Regards to all the church members there.” (Hewahewa to Chamberlain, July 27, 1830; Ali‘i Letters Collection, Mission Houses)

Click HERE for a link to the original letter, its transcription, translation and annotation.

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