Kailua-Kona | Page 3 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 7, 2022 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hulihe‘e Palace

Hulihe‘e Palace is Kona’s only existing royal residence and one of three palaces in the United States. (The other two are ‘Iolani Palace and Queen Emma’s Summer Palace, both on O‘ahu.)

Hulihe‘e, built in 1838, was the residence of Governor John Adams Kuakini and a favorite retreat for Hawai‘i’s royal families.

The Palace was constructed by foreign seamen using lava rock, coral, koa and ōhi‘a timbers. Kuakini oversaw the construction of both Mokuaikaua Church and Hulihe‘e Palace and these landmarks once shared a similar architectural style with exposed stone.

After Kuakini’s death in 1844, the Palace passed to his adopted son, William Pitt Leleiohoku. Leleiohoku died a few months later, leaving Hulihe‘e to his wife, Princess Ruth Luka Ke‘elikōlani. It became a favorite retreat for members of the Hawaiian royal family.

Flanked to the north by Niumalu and to the south by Kiope Fish Pond, Hulihe‘e Palace was also the site of the observation of the Transit of Venus (when the planet Venus crosses between the Earth and the Sun) in 1874 by British astronomers, one of the most important astronomical observations of the 19^th century (helping to calculate the distance between the Sun and the Earth.)

When Princess Ruth passed away in 1883 leaving no surviving heirs, the property passed on to her cousin, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. Princess Bernice died the following year and the home was purchased by King David Kalākaua and Queen Kapi‘olani.

Extensive remodeling by King Kalākaua and Queen Kapi‘olani in 1884 transformed the original structure to suit the Victorian tastes of the late 19th century (with stucco and plaster, widened lanai, and much to the interior décor.)

Early description of Hulihe‘e Place (Hawai‘i Nei, by Mabel Clare Craft Deering – 1898:)

”There is a fine royal residence there, now the property of the dowager Queen Kapiolani. It is a big house with a wide hall and immense rooms. The kitchen and servants’ quarters are detached, and there is an open lanai a little way from the house where Kalakaua gave famous luaus and hulas, and where his celebrated red chairs were set in rows.”

“The house is marked by the tabu-sticks set up at the doors, sticks with white balls at the top, in imitation of the old days when balls of white kapa at the top of the sticks marked the residence of the king, within which common people could not go on pain of death.”

“Inside, the house is a marvel of polished woods. There is a table of satiny koa, the mahogany of the Pacific, the” royal tree,” fit to make you weep. This table stands in the center of the drawing-room, and around the walls are elaborate carved chairs, vases, and fine pottery from China and Japan. There are portraits of Kalakaua, Kapiolani, and Liliuokalani, as well as busts of royalty. At the windows are exquisite lambrequins of the finest kapa I saw on the islands, painted in patterns, and some of it extremely old.”

“The big dining-hall across the vestibule has a fine carved sideboard, and on it are a number of koa calabashes, polished, and marked inside with the crown and royal coat – of- arms, etched with a poker. These calabashes all have covers, and were designed for pink poi.”

In 1925, Hulihe‘e was purchased by the Territory of Hawai‘i to be operated as a museum by the Daughters of Hawai‘i. (My mother was a Daughter.)

Most of the furnishings were originally in the Palace during the Monarchy. Hulihe‘e Palace was placed on the National Register of Historic Sites in 1973.

Hulihe‘e Palace contains a fine collection of ancient Hawaiian artifacts, as well as ornate furnishings that illustrate the lifestyle of the Hawaiian nobility in the late 19th century. Intricately carved furniture, European crystal chandeliers and immense four-poster beds fill the rooms.

Hulihe‘e Palace reveals the Hawaiian nobility’s passion for western fashions and is a reminder of Kailua’s past as a favorite royal residence.

April 5, 2022 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kailua-Kona in 1819

The expedition sailed from Toulon on the 17th of September 1817 … “Finally, (they) arrived at Havre on the 15th, (November 1820) … The duration of the voyage was therefore three years and two months nearly”.

“The principal object of the expedition commanded by Captain Freycinet, was the investigation of the figure of the earth, and of the elements of terrestrial magnetism; several questions of meteorology had also been suggested by the Academy as worthy of attention.”

“Although geography certainly formed but a secondary object in the voyage, it was natural to anticipate that so many experienced and zealous officers, well provided with excellent instruments, would not circumnavigate the globe without making some valuable additions to the existing tables of latitude and longitude.” They came to the Islands in August 1819.

“On the 5th of April 1819, the Uranie sailed from Guam; she cast anchor at Owhyhee, the largest of the Sandwich Islands, on the 8th of August: on the 16th she touched at Mowhee; on the 26th at Woahoo; and on the 30th, finally quitted that Archipelago for Port Jackson”. (Arago)

“It was on the 6th of August that we discovered the island of Owhyhee: we were only a short distance from it; and the land, which we expected to see of a prodigious height, appeared to us as of very moderate elevation.”

“An island which recalled so many unpleasant recollections, necessarily excited our attention; and every one fixed his eye on it. On a sudden, the thick clouds separating, which covered its regularly formed sides and enormous base; Mowna Kah stood, majestically before us ….”

“Karakakooa harbour is spacious and safe; the high mountains which protect it from the winds which blow most generally, namely, Cape Kovvrovva to the north, and Cape – to the south, prevent the sea from ever being very rough. The beach is good, and some buildings, and two considerably projecting piers, offer a secure shelter for shipping.”

“Kayerooa is the largest, most important, and most populous town of Owhyhee … The town of Kayerooa is of considerable extent; but the houses, or rather the huts, are at such distances from each other …”

“… particularly on the descent of the hill, as not to be at all connected with the part in the plain, in which there are some small beaten paths, which may pass as tolerable representations of streets and alleys.”

“There are some houses built of stone, cemented with mortar; the others are made of thin deals, with mats or leaves of palm-trees, closely tied together and made impenetrable to wind and rain.”

“The roofs are in general covered with sea-weed, which makes them wonderfully strong; while they are also very durable, owing to a few beams closely fitted and fastened with cords of the plantain tree.”

“The huts of Owhyhee appear to me the best that we have seen since we have been in these semi-barbarous regions. Almost the whole of them have only one apartment, ornamented with mats, calebashes, and some country cloths.”

“In that room fathers, mothers, boys, girls, and sometimes even hogs and dogs, all sleep together pele-mele: there the mothers offer their daughters to strangers; there the children learn, almost as soon as they are born, what they ought scarcely to know when they are grown up …”

“Two or three buildings, as seen from the roads (anchorage), have a good appearance, and make one rather regret that they are, as it were, solitary in the midst of ruins.”

“The most considerable is a storehouse distinguished by its white front from the other huts; it belongs to the King, who uses it as a sort of repository, without venturing to confide his treasures to its keeping; these he buries in cellars.”

“The second edifice is a morai, situated at the end of a jetty, projecting into the sea; the third is a house belonging to one of the principal chiefs of Riouriou, who had address enough, when he quitted the town, to get it consecrated (tabooed) in order to protect it from intruders and thieves.”

“I was given to understand, that whoever should endeavour to enter it, would be instantly put to death, and that the owner of the house was a very cruel and powerful man. The northern part of the town may perhaps consist of a hundred huts, most of which are only about three or four feet high, and six long ….”

“On reaching the shore, there is a large dock-yard directly opposite, in which a vessel was building, of forty tons burden. Near it are some sheds, which shelter from the rain and wind a prodigious number of canoes, both single and double, remarkably handsome and well finished.”

“They are made by means of an instrument called in this country toe, which may be compared to a carpenter’s adze, though much smaller, and fit to be used by one hand.”

“Our cabinet-makers do not polish the most costly furniture better; and without planes or any of the tools employed by our workmen, those of Owhyhee are capable of competing with the best artisans of Europe.”

“The inside of the bottom of their boats, as far as the thwarts, is painted black, and polished till it becomes very bright, by means of a yellow flower which is found all over the island.”

“The largest canoe was a single one, seventy-two feet long, and three in its greatest breadth. The threads with which the planks were sewed o=together and with which the other parts of the canoes and their outriggers were connected, were twisted and fastened with wonderful skill.”

“After visiting a great number of the houses of Kayerooa, where these people, whose existence is so monotonous and so peaceful, repose from their indolent toils, I directed my steps towards the Governor’s hut, as he had asked me to visit him.”

“It is small, but very clean, and tolerably well furnished; containing rather a handsome bed, two wicker chairs, some Indian cushions, and a great number of mats. …”

“The town of Kayerooa is situated at the foot of a high mountain which protects the anchorage from the North and North-West winds. From this mountain, particularly from the nearest declivity, the inhabitants derive the greater part of their subsistence.”

“It is really melancholy to see the extensive plain which surrounds it on both sides, uncultivated and despised. I cannot conceive how a people so characteristically idle and indifferent can neglect so fertile a spot, which would at once enrich and save them great fatigue and suffering …”

“… a few days’ labour would provide them subsistence for several months; and two years’ perseverance would secure to them for ever those valuable gifts, of which, on the summit of mountains, a violent storm or some other catastrophe may so easily deprive them. …”

“Our botanist, whose zeal augments with the difficulty and fatigue he encounters, has walked over the best part of the heights above the town.”

“He assures us, that vegetation was very powerful there, and that it would be very easy to conduct into the plain, by means of shallow canals, the waters which fertilize these summits, and are entirely lost to the inhabitants, whose means of subsistence are entirely derived from the lands which adjoin the sea. …”

“We left Owhyhee on the 15th of August, at four in the morning, with a very light breeze, which, however, freshened up during the morning.”

Ahuena_heiau_1816

February 17, 2022 by Peter T Young 5 Comments

Hewahewa

“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.’”

“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)

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.)

December 29, 2021 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Transit of Venus

Interest in the heavens goes back far into the ancient fabric of Polynesian culture. Many of the early Polynesian gods derived from or dwelt in the heavens, and many of the legendary exploits took place among the heavenly bodies.

Early Polynesians, who trusted their navigational instincts and skills to the nighttime stars above, currents, winds and waves, sailed thousands of miles over open ocean across the Pacific to Hawai‘i.

They had names for their star guides: Ka Maka – the point of the fishhook in the constellation Scorpius; Makali‘i – the Little Eyes within the Pleiades; Hoku‘ula – The Red Star in the constellation Taurus; and Hokupa‘a – the North Star (fixed star,) as well as others.

After the Polynesians came, in 1778, the Europeans, under the command of Captain James Cook, arrived. He brought with him spyglasses, clocks, sextants, charts, foreign ideas and techniques – new tools of navigation.

A new awareness of the skies was reborn under the scientific patronage of King David Kalākaua, (Kalākaua reigned over the Kingdom of Hawai‘i from 1874 to 1891.)

Kalākaua had a great interest in science and he saw it as a way to foster Hawai‘i’s prestige, internationally.

The opportunity to demonstrate this interest and support for astronomy was made available with the astronomical phenomenon called the “Transit of Venus,” which was visible in Hawai‘i in 1874.

The King allowed the British Royal Society’s expedition a suitable piece of open land for their viewing area; it was not far from Honolulu’s waterfront in a district called Apua (mauka of today’s Waterfront Plaza.)

They built a wooden fence enclosure and soon a well-equipped nineteenth-century astronomical observatory took shape, including a transit instrument, a photoheliograph, a number of telescopes and several temporary structures including wooden observatories.

Subsequently, auxiliary stations – though not so elaborate as the main station in Honolulu – were established in two other island locations: one at Kailua-Kona and the other at Waimea, Kauai.

In addition, Hawai‘i was not the only site to observe the transit; under the British program, observations were also made in Egypt, Island of Rodriquez, Kerguelen Island and New Zealand. (Other countries also conducted Transit observations.)

On Dec. 8, 1874, the transit was observed by the British scientists; however, the observation at Kailua-Kona was marred by clouds. But the Honolulu and Waimea sites were considered perfect throughout the event, which lasted a little over half a day.

After the Transit of Venus observations, Kalākaua showed continued interest in astronomy, and in a letter to Captain RS Floyd on November 22, 1880, he expressed a desire to see an observatory established in Hawai‘i. He later visited Lick Observatory in San Jose.

It was not long after this that a telescope was purchased from England in 1883 and set up at Punahou School.

In 1884, the five-inch refractor was installed in a dome constructed above Pauahi Hall on the school’s campus (the first permanent telescope in Hawai‘i.)

In 1956, this telescope was installed in Punahou’s newly completed MacNeil Observatory and Science Center. (Unfortunately, it is not known where that telescope is today.

Why was the Transit of Venus important?

Although Copernicus had, by the 16th century, put the known planets in their correct order, their absolute distances remained unknown. Astronomers still needed a celestial yardstick of “Astronomical Units” with which to measure distances among the planets and to link the planets to the stars beyond.

The mission of the British expedition was to observe a rare transit of Venus across the Sun for the purpose of better determining the value of the Astronomical Unit – that is, the Earth-to-Sun distance – and from it, the absolute scale of the solar system.

The orbits of Mercury and Venus lie inside Earth’s orbit, so they are the only planets which can pass between Earth and Sun to produce a transit (a transit is the passage of a planet across the Sun’s bright disk.) Transits are very rare astronomical events; in the case of Venus, there are on average two transits every one and a quarter centuries.

Ironically, on December 8, 1874 the big day, the king was absent, being in Washington to promote Hawaiian interests in a new trade agreement with the United States.

When American astronomer Simon Newcomb combined the 18th century data with those from the 1874/1882 Venus transits, he derived an Earth-sun distance of 149.59 +/- 0.31 million kilometers (about 93-million miles), very close to the results found with modern space technology in the 20th century.

Observation_Huts_in_Honolulu-(copyright-RoyalObservatoryGreenwich)-1874

Testing_in_advance_of_the_Transit-Honolulu-(copyright-RoyalObservatoryGreenwich)-1874

George-Forbes-leader_of_Transit_of_Venus-Honolulu-University-of-Strathclyde-1874

Leader_of_Transit_of_Venus-Honolulu-at_telescope-1874

Transit of Venus-Honolulu-(IfA-Hawaii-edu)

Transit of Venus-Honolulu-Honolulu-Apua-Map-1874

Transit of Venus-Waimea-Kauai-Map-1874

Kauai-Transit_of_Venus_Monument-1874-(thegardenisland-com)

Transit of Venus Plaque-Hulihee_Palace

Transit of Venus Survey Marker-Hulihee_Palace-(KonaSkies)

Transit of Venus-Location-at-Hulihee_Palace-(KonaSkies)

December 12, 2021 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaiakeakua

Royal Centers were where the aliʻi resided.

The Royal Centers were selected for their abundance of resources and recreation opportunities, with good surfing and canoe-landing sites being favored.

The Hawaiian court was mobile within the districts the aliʻi controlled. A Chief’s attendants might consist of as many as 700 to 1000-followers, made of kahuna and political advisors; servants which included craftsmen, guards, stewards; relatives and others. (NPS)

Aliʻi often moved between several residences throughout the year. There was no regular schedule for movement between Royal Centers. In part, periodic moves served to ensure that district chiefs did not remain isolated, or unsupervised long enough to gather support for a revolt. (NPS)

For centuries, Kaiakeakua (also spelled Kaiakekua) was a favored place for royalty.

“Perhaps … because it was a place celebrated for the constant appearance of fishes. Sometimes kule, fish that burrow in the sand … for there is sand (at) Kaiakekua …” (John Papa ʻIʻi)

“This sandy stretch, called Kaiakekua was a canoe landing, with some houses mauka of it. … Its fresh water came up from the pāhoehoe and mixed with the water of the sea.”

“It was a gathering place for those who went swimming and a place where the surf rolled in and dashed on land when it was rough. … just makai was a patch of sand facing north, where canoes landed”. (John Papa ʻIʻi)

“There were chiefs and families of chiefs …(and) … The sands of Kaiakeakua were worn down like a dromedary’s (camel’s) back by the many feet of chiefs and chiefesses tramping over them, and … could be seen at night the sparkle of lights reflected in the sea like diamonds, from the homes of the chiefs…. The number of chiefs and lesser chiefs reached into the thousands”. (Kamakau)

At about the same time of Christopher Columbus crossing the Atlantic to America (he was looking for an alternate trade route to the East Indies,) ʻUmi-a-Līloa (ʻUmi) moved his Royal Center there.

ʻUmi was famous for his battle with the gods. His wife Piʻikea, had supernatural grandmothers, who were Hapuʻu and Kalaihauola, and who desired to have a grandchild that they might take to Oʻahu to bring up, because the mother of Piʻikea, Laieloheloheikawai, belonged to Oahu.

Laieloheloheikawai sent the supernatural grandmothers to Hawaiʻi to obtain one of Piʻikea’s children. When they arrived in Hawaiʻi ʻUmi refused to permit a child to be taken. ʻUmi offered to fight the deities at the sandy plains.

However, human beings battle with their hands, clubs and stones, but the gods without hands, and when the battle was fought the gods were victorious over the battle of men. The place is called Kaiakeakua – sea of the god – to this day. (Fornander)

Lonoikamakahiki ca. 1640-1660 was tested at Kaiakeakua by Kanaloakuaʻana. “I want to be positive of your great skill, hence I have brought you here for that test and to satisfy myself that you are indeed a master.”

“There were about thirty spearmen to throw at the same time. After the men were ready and the spears thrown it was seen that Lonoikamakahiki was not hit by a single one of them.” The test was continued from 30 spears to 80 spears, and Lonoikamakahiki was not hit. (Fornander)

Some early writers called this place “Kayakakoua.” Joseph Paul Gaimard, zoologist on a French scientific expedition commanded by Louis de Freycinet during the years 1817-20, speaks of Kayakakoua.

“It is located on the beach and appears to consist of about four hundred houses, if you can apply this term to the smallest of huts which are not more than two or three feet high.”

“There are no streets and the habitations are scattered without any order. In addition there are three buildings for storing powder and a large storeroom built of stone covered with lime.”

“The dock yards, storehouses and the principal nautical workshops of the king are also located there. At each end of the town stands a morai (heiau) a simple elevation surrounded by a stake fence and filled with gigantic wooden idols.”

Oh, the name Kaiakeakua has gone out of use … today we simply call this place Kailua (in Kona on the Island of Hawaiʻi.) The remnant of the once sandy beach of Kaiakeakua sits adjacent to the Kailua Pier – it’s where the Ironman Triathlon World Championship starts each year.