“In 1804 when Kamehameha was on his way from Hawaiʻi to invade Kauai he halted at Oahu with an army of eight thousand men at Oʻahu.”
“The yellow fever broke out among the troops, and in the course of a few days swept away more than two thirds of them. During the plague, the king repaired to the great marae (heiau) at Wytiti, to conciliate the god, whom he supposed to be angry.”
“The priests recommended a ten days’ tabu, the sacrifice of three human victims, four hundred hogs, as many cocoa-nuts, and an equal number of branches of plantains.”
“Three men, who had been guilty of the enormous turpitude of eating cocoanuts with the old queen, were accordingly seized and led to the marae.”
“But there being yet three days before the offerings could be duly presented, the eyes of the victims were scooped out, the bones of their arms and legs were broken, and they were then deposited in a house, to await the coup de grace on the day of sacrifice.”
“While these maimed and miserable creatures were in the height of their suffering, some persons, moved by curiosity, visited them in prison, and found them neither raving nor desponding, but sullenly singing the national huru (anthem) – dull as the drone of a bagpipe, and hardly more variable – as though they were insensible of the past, and indifferent to the future.”
“When the slaughtering time arrived, one of them was placed under the legs of the idol, and the other two were laid, with the hogs and fruit, upon the altar-frame. They were then beaten with clubs upon the shoulders till they died of the blows.”
“This was told us by an eye-witness of the murderous spectacle. And thus men kill one another, and think that they do God service.” (Journal of Tyerman And Bennet, 1832)
But that wasn’t the last …
“Kaʻahumanu was a woman of the chiefly stature and of celebrated beauty … her husband (Kamehameha) cherished her exceedingly. He had the indelicacy to frame and publish an especial law declaring death against the man who should approach her, and yet no penalty against herself.”
“And in 1809, after thirty-four years of marriage, and when she must have been nearing fifty … Kanihonui, was found to be her lover, and paid the penalty of life”. (Stevenson)
Kanihonui was a handsome 19-year old. Reportedly, Kaʻahumanu had seduced the boy while she was intoxicated; in addition, the boy was the son of Kamehameha’s half-sister – and, Kamehameha and Kaʻahumanu raised him.
Kanihonui was put to death at Papaʻenaʻena Heiau on Leʻahi (Diamond Head) for committing adultery with Kaʻahumanu.
“After the death of Kanihonui the mind of Kaʻahumanu dwelt thereon; she could not readily dismiss the thought. This event was preceded by the death of Keʻeaumoku, the father of this chiefess, by the plague; therefore she was sent to a disconcerting place, but to no purpose.” (Thrum)
“She sought to recover from her anger but was unable to do so; and she considered … taking the kingdom from the king by force and giving it to the young chief, Liholiho.”
“Before she laid her plans for the war, a holiday for the purpose of surfing at Kapua in Waikiki was proclaimed, because the surf was rolling fine then.”
“It was where one could look up directly to the heiau on Leʻahi, where the remains of Kanihonui were, all prepared in the customary manner of that time.”
“It was said that only Kaleiheana, who was a Luluka, watched over the corpse from the time of death until it was decomposed.”
“The chiefess had heard something about her lover’s remains being there, and perhaps that was why the proclamation was made.”
“On the appointed day, chiefs, chiefesses, prominent people, and the young chief Liholiho went to Kapua. When all had assembled there, the king gathered his men together in readiness for trouble.”
“He sent a messenger, Kinopu, after Kaahumanu’s followers to find out what they were planning. It is said that three things were done at Kapua: surfing, lamenting, and more surfing; and it is said that they had intoxicants with them.”
“Thus they whiled away the time until evening.” (John Papa Ii)
“And thus it was the young prince was before them and the chiefs at the time when Kalanimōku asked him, whilst the chiefs were assembled together: ‘What think you? Let us take the government from your father, and you be the king, and your father be put to death?’”
“When the child heard these words he bent forward and thought deeply of the question’s meaning. Straightening himself up and looking at the assembly, he replied: ‘I do not want my father put to death.’”
“By this answer all the chiefs who were gathered together at that time were greatly gratified.” (Kuokoa, August 4, 1869; Thrum)
George W. Bates, in 1854, describes a heiau at the foot of Leʻahi (believed to be Papaʻenaʻena) as: “Just beyond Waikiki stand the remains of an ancient heiau, or pagan temple. It is a huge structure, nearly quadrangular, and is composed merely of a heavy wall of loose lava stones, resembling the sort of inclosure commonly called a ‘cattlepen.’”
“This heiau was placed at the very foot of Diamond crater, and can be seen at some distance from the sea. Its dimensions externally are 130 by 70 feet. The walls I found to be from six to eight feet high, eight feet thick at the base, and four at the top.”
“On climbing the broken wall near the ocean, and by carefully looking over the interior, I discovered the remains of three altars located at the western extremity, and closely resembling parallelograms. I searched for the remains of human victims once immolated on these altars, but found none; for they had returned to their primitive dust, or been carried away by curious visitors.”
Later (at about 1856,) Queen Emma ordered her workers to take rocks from Papaʻenaʻena heiau to build a stone wall around her property at Waikīkī.
“After the death of Kanihonui at Waikiki … Kamehameha … moved to Honolulu from Waikiki.” (Laʻanui, Kumu Hawaiʻi, 1839; Thrum)
