Kalalau | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 5, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hermit of Kalalau

“People may think I am a fool but I have found real happiness and, above all real peace of mind.” (Wheatley)

Bernard Gamaliel Wheatley was born the son of a shopkeeper in St Thomas, Virgin Islands, October 14, 1919, son of Osorio Solario Wheatley and Anna (Fleury) Wheatley. (Ancestry and Soboleski)

Wheatley received a medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., and held a medical post with the Army, from which he was discharged in 1946. Wheatley practiced medicine for a short time in Sweden. (TenBruggencate) Dr. John Eriksson, who was his superior, says: “He was a good surgeon and a nice man.” (Ebony)

“There is evidence to indicate that both in medical school and in later practice the doctor showed brilliance and an unusual capacity for work. He was also successful.” (Krauss)

Then, “‘He became,’ one of his friends say, ‘a religious fanatic.’ This transition was not accomplished without a mental upheaval. Dr. Wheatley disappeared three times. The last time he was found naked in a Stockholm park.”

“The doctor-turned-mystic is critical of his former colleagues. ‘Shooting people with penicillin,’ he says, ‘is no better way of curing disease than shooting hydrogen missiles is a means of curing war.’ His rejection of medicine, he says, was hastened by a heart attack he suffered in 1951 in Sweden.”

“‘I became struck,’ he continues, ‘with the similarity between psychosomatic medicine and the teachings of Christ – how closely hate and fear and anxiety are related to heart disease, high blood pressure, peptic ulcer, diabetes mellitus.’”

“‘Finally, I made up my mind to go directly to the cause of disease instead of treating the symptoms. In a moment of lucidity, I saw all the way to the fact that man could overcome death and could control his health by living a life of love.’” (Ebony)

“He was treated for a nervous breakdown. In 1953, he went to Paris, where his brother, a pianist, lives. He wandered around Europe for a while and then came to America.”

“He turned up unexpectedly at the homes of several of his classmates. They were shocked by his appearance and the sudden change in his personality. It was like meeting a completely different man, one doctor says. He walked from New York to California.”

“In Chicago, he was a guest in the home of the Reverend William J Faulkner, who was dean of chapel when Wheatley was a student at Fisk University. He told Faulkner that he wanted to found a center for the propagation of his philosophy. Faulkner replied in a lighthearted vein that Hollywood would be just the place for the center. Both men laughed.” (Ebony)

“A few months later, Wheatley turned up in Hawaii. He worked for a while as a dessert maker in a restaurant. He quit this job. ‘I found,’ he says, ‘that at the end of the day I had spent so much energy arguing with the waitresses that I had none left for creative thinking.’”

“When a man who knows Wheatley heard this explanation, he said; ‘That sounds typical of him. He was probably telling them what stupid, narrow lives they lead and they were telling him he was crazy. And probably, they were all right, in a way.’”

“Wheatley’s last job was at the Central YMCA in Honolulu. He was desk clerk. He quit this job because he didn’t think it was right to charge poor people for rooms.” (Ebony)

“[I]n April, 1957, Dr. Wheatley turned his back on the world and went into Kalalau Valley. ‘My guess,’ a friend of his says, ‘is that these experiences are what finally drove him out of the world and into Kalalau. To a man of his sensitivity, I should think an arrest and appearance in court with attendant publicity would be a sort of final stamp of social disapproval in his mind.’” (Ebony)

Wheatley became known as the Hermit of Kalalau.

“The Hermit of Kalalau is a lean but powerfully built man of 40 years, His jaw and upper lip are covered with short, curling black whiskers. He was barefoot and dressed in a pair of tan swimming trunks and a spotlessly clean T-shirt.”

“He spoke with excellent articulation and with great poise, searching for just the right word, as if he were giving a lecture out there on the trackless beach. … Then then the Hermit helped us carry our gear across the sunlit sand into his ‘guest cave,’ a small cavern beside the one in which he lives under a majestic black cliff.” (Krauss)

“In front of his cave, about 30 feet wide and 12 feet deep and eight feet high in the rear, were a series of neat, geometrical patterns ln the sand. Otherwise the sand was undisturbed.”

“‘These are my paths,’ the Hermit explained. ‘May I ask you to use them? You see, there is great beauty in the land with the sun or moonlight upon it. Footprints destroy it. And I’ve found that, of all the requirements for survival, beauty is the most important.’” (Krauss)

“Then he took us on a tour of his valley. We started with his own cave. It reminded me very much of the cell of a monk. The immaculate sand floor is terraced in two levels. On the first terrace the Hermit has, on one side of the cave, his tiny fireplace, which is a grill set neatly upon four stones. He must use it only occasionally because there was only a trace of ash.”

“Above the fireplace, on the top terrace in a niche in the lava rock, the Hermit keeps his silverware and cooking utensils. He has about four spoons, as many forks and a few knives. Also three cups and saucers and as many jelly glasses.”

“Everything was neatly arranged on the rocks and on a wooden board. ‘I try to keep some degree or nicety and orderliness,’ the Hermit explained. “I always set my table (a wooden box) correctly with silverware at meals even though I’m having only taro. One can judge character by the way a man acts m the wilderness.’” (Kraus)

“Little by little I pieced together the strange story of survival that began in April, 1957. ‘I had seen the valley from the lookout in January of that year,’ the Hermit said, ‘and felt attracted to it. In April I hiked in for the first time.’”

“’Had you ever been on the trail?’ ‘No. All I had with me was a lunch. I didn’t even have matches. It took me two days to get into the valley. I lost the trail and had to hull my way through the lantana. My clothes were pretty badly torn.’”

“‘The first time I stayed for 23 days. Then I became constipated because of the guava seeds. The pain was pretty bad for about five days. Finally I flagged down a passing sampan and the crew took me to Lihue Hospital.’ Five weeks later the Hermit was back in his valley, armed with a mess kit this time, and a change of clothing.”

Why was he there … “What he is trying to do, he said, is live according to what he believes with no compromise. Apparently, the only place he has found this is possible ls in remote Kalalau Valley.”

“‘On the outside I constantly feel limitation around me,’ he said. ‘The instinctive reaction to a new situation is fear. There is so much that is negative in the world so many people to say, ‘That’s impossible.’ Here in the valley I feel no fear or limitation. That doesn’t mean I think I can fly. But I feel that l can always do what I have to do. Some wisdom must come from taking chances.”

“‘I’ve found,’ he said, ‘that very few people want to hear what I have to say. I can accomplish more by talking to the occasional person who is interested and understands. Try not to judge others. There is no way of knowing which of us will finally be most important in the scheme of things.’”

“When hippies came to Kalalau in the late-1960s with their hallucinogens and lifestyles at odds with his own, he finally left his once solitary home. A good friend of his said that he had dedicated his life to God, and Kalalau had been his test. By surviving there alone for so long, he had proven that God had taken care of him.” (Soboleski)

“I think a person should be improving all the time. Then, on a certain day, you know that you have achieved enough change in yourself to belong in another place on a certain day. That is what happened to me. … I have stayed at the YMCA several times. Other times I stay with friends.” (Kraus)

“’I’ve never really been a hermit I used to leave the valley fairly frequently when friends needed me. I often played tennis or bridge with them. I’m primarily a thinker. I came to the valley to evaluate things.’ … He says he is never going back to the practice of medicine.” (Knaefler)

“One of his chief criticisms of you and I is that we don’t DO the things we say we believe. … He puts little stock in philosophers because ‘they don’t act on their philosophies; they don’t participate in the universe.” (Krauss)

“Dr. Bernard Wheatiey died on Kauai at 72 on December 3, 1991, and his ashes were scattered in Kalalau Valley.” (Soboleski)

October 28, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Cattle in Kalalau

“In the Nāpali District, the ahupua‘a of Kalalau, Pohakuao, Honopu, Hanakapiai and one-half of Hanakoa were granted to the Government Land inventory (Buke Mahele, 1848).”

“Portions of the lands that fell into the government inventory, were subsequently sold as Royal Patent Grants to individuals who applied for them. The grantees were generally long-time kama‘āina residents of the lands they sought.”

“As a result of the sale of lands from the government inventory, forty-five grants were sold to thirty-seven applicants for lands in the ahupua‘a of Hanalei and Wai‘oli, Halele‘a District; the division being forty-one parcels in Wai‘oli and four parcels in Hanalei.”

An archaeological Survey report states “during the second half of the 19th century, Kalalau Valley residents were a cooperative, community that had a ‘reciprocal, basically subsistence, fishing, farming orientation’ and traded with people in Hanalei, Waimea, and Ni‘ihau, for items such as coffee, matches, kerosene, and soap.”

“[R]esidents of Kalalau, like other residents of ancient Hawai‘i, moved seasonally from the shoreline to the mountains within their ahupua‘a.”

“The survey further reports that most of its residents left by the early 1900s and the valley was finally abandoned by human residents in 1919, except for visits by hunters, fishermen, and scientists.” (Intermediate Court of Appeals)

“Thirty grants were sold in the Nāpali District to twenty-seven applicants; the lands being situated in Kalalau and Honopu.” (Kumu Pono) “At one time the [Robinson] family controlled another 4,500 [acres] on the north shore, including Kalalau Valley.” (Island Breath)

“The Robinsons are a family originally from Scotland having large landholdings in Hā‘ena and considerable acreage of the west side of Kauai. The family purchased the entire island of Ni‘ihau in the mid-1800s. In Halele‘a, they ran cattle in Hā‘ena, Wainiha, Lumaha‘i, and Waipā, as well as in several valleys in the Nā Pali district.” (Carlos in Pacific Worlds)

“Robinson owned their land, so they were paniolo out there, they were working for Robinson. So, when you talked about all the cattle days and so forth and paniolo, they were all working for Robinson.” (Makaala in Pacific Worlds)

“For many years, before selling it to the State, Selwyn [Robinson, former manager of Niihau Ranch from 1917 to 1922 – he then managed Makaweli Ranch on Kauai for the next fifty years] owned Kalalau Valley on the Napali Coast, and ran cattle there.” (Paniolo Hall of Fame)

“A small branch of the [Makaweli] ranch is maintained on the Napali or northwest coast of Kauai where the Kalalau valley is used for pasturage”. “The Robinsons were grazing cattle in Kalalau, and would drive them along the trail between Hā‘ena and Kalalau.” (Maly)

“The Makaweli Ranch is controlled by the [Robinsons]. The land was originally purchased mostly from Hawaiian Chiefs and the Monarchy, although it also occupies some leased lands in the Waimea, Mokihana and Hanapepe sections.” (CTAHR, 1929)

“They raised pipi [cattle]. They would come with the whale boat from Ni‘ihau to Kalalau. … I think [they got there] by ship that they dragged them all the way, by the whale boat.” (Val Ako to Kepa Maly)

“Each summer [Selwyn] took the cowboys from Makaweli to camp in [Kalalau] valley and they would bring out the cattle along the narrow trail to Haena. In the early days, he also used to hunt wild cattle in the high mountains of Kauai.” (Paniolo Hall of Fame)

“They would walk along, the pipi would go out along a trail and graze in Kalalau … And then bring them out the same way … Until after a while, then they got those surplus landing crafts.” (Stanley Ho affirmations to Kepa Maly)

“[M]y dad used to always tell us, when had people in [Kalalau], ‘You take in what you get and you get Kalalau horses.’ So if you like send out something, you put ‘em on the Ha‘ena horse.”

“But if you went in, you gotta send something out, these people gotta send something out, they just put ‘em on the other horse, Ha‘ena horse, and let ‘em go, and he work his way out.”

“And then the same thing you do: when you come home, you like send something, you take Kalalau horse, just put on, he go back home.” (Sampson in Pacific Worlds)

In 1974, the Division of State Parks acquired Kalalau Valley and established the valley as a wilderness park. (Intermediate Court of Appeals)

Here’s a view along a tight spot along the trail (about mile 7) … Crawler’s Ledge (where cattle once trod):

June 20, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nāpali

Kauai nui moku lehua pane‘e lua i ke kai
Great Kauai of the lehua groves which seem to move two-by-two to the shore (Maly)

Kauai is the oldest of the eight main Hawaiian islands, and the island consists of one main extinct shield volcano estimated to be about 5-million years old, as well as numerous younger lava flows (between 3.65-million years to 500,000-years old). The island is characterized by severe weathering. (DLNR)

Historically, it was divided into several districts and political units, which in ancient times were subject to various chiefs—sometimes independently, and at other times, in unity with the other districts. These early moku o loko, or districts included Nāpali, Haleleʻa, Koʻolau, Puna and Kona (Buke Mahele, 1848; May.)

Although Nāpali, on the northwestern portion of the Island, is remote and difficult to access, many may not realize that for about a thousand years, Hawaiians lived along the Nāpali coast, farming, fishing and worshiping. There are irrigation ditches, terraced fields, house platforms, heiau (temples and shrines) and graves.”

“The design of these places took into account the natural topography and environment, and as a result these ancient sites often blend into the landscape. … The aspects of the land that Hawaiians sought for their sites – level ground, ocean access and availability of fresh water (hold true today.)” (DLNR)

The Nāpali valleys were intensively cultivated and the larger valleys such as Kalalau were densely inhabited. Taro was raised in terraced loʻi along the streams and other crops such as bananas, sugar cane and sweet potato were grown above the loʻi.

Other plants including wauke and mamaki for bark cloth and kukui nuts for food and oil for light were grown in the gulches. There were overland trails connecting many of these valleys and these areas were also accessed via canoe. (Handy; Maly)

Land use records from 1856-1857 show that lands in Kalalau, Pohakuao and Honopu valleys were being used for the cultivation of kalo, olona and kula. In the late-1800s Hanakoa and Hanakāpīʻai were also used for coffee cultivation. Kalalau was abandoned in 1919 and then used for cattle grazing in the 1920 for a limited time. (DLNR)

“The mountains along the shore, for eight or ten miles, are very bold, some rising abruptly from the ocean, exhibiting the obvious effects of volcanic fires; some, a little back, appear like towering pyramids”. (Hiram Bingham, 1822)

“There is a tract of country on the west coast of the island, through which no road is practicable.” (Bowser, 1880; Maly) “For twenty miles along the northwestern coast of Kauai there extends a series of ridges, none less than 800-feet high, and many nearly 1,500-feet, terminating in a bluff that is unrivalled in majesty. Except for a very narrow, dangerous foot-path, with yawning abysses on each side, this bluff is impassable.” (The Tourist’s Guide, Whitney, 1895)

The trail was originally built around 1860 (portions were rebuilt in the 1930s) to foster transportation and commerce for the residents living in the remote valleys.

Local labor and dynamite were used to construct a trail wide enough to accommodate pack animals loaded with oranges, taro and coffee being grown in the valleys. Stone paving and retaining walls from that era still exist along the trail.

It traverses 5-valleys over 11-miles, from Hāʻena State Park to Kalalau Beach, where it is blocked by sheer, fluted cliffs (pali;) it drops to sea level at the beaches of Hanakāpīʻai and Kalalau. The first 2 miles of the trail, from Hāʻena State Park to Hanakāpīʻai Beach, make a popular day hike. (DLNR)

“Innumerable streams, forming wonderful cascades as they leap hundreds of feet in their tempestuous decent, pour over this bluff in the rainy season, and become mist before they reach the ocean. Beyond the raging surge, unbroken by any protecting reef, dashes against the precipitous walls of rock.”

“(T)he tourist can see all that has been described from Wednesday morning until Saturday evening, when the steamer returns to Honolulu. If, however, he has time and the inclination to remain another week, there are many points of interest that can tempt him to make a longer stay, sights and scenes that can never be forgotten…” (The Tourist’s Guide, Whitney, 1895)

“Here, about mid-way of what the natives call the Parre (Pali,) we landed, where is an acre or two of sterile ground, bounded on one side by the ocean, and environed on the other by a stupendous rock, nearly perpendicular, forming at its base a semicircular curve, which meets the ocean at each end. In the middle of the curve, a stupendous rock rises to the height, I should say, of about 1,500-feet.” (Bingham)

“Like Kalalau they had a trail from the table land above over the top of Kamaile and zigzagging down through the cliffs some 3,000-feet to the valley below but even this trail was difficult. At one place you have to jump a crevice only three feet wide but it goes down straight like a chimney and if you slipped you would only fall 800 feet to the rocks below. They call it the Puhi.” (Knudsen, late-19th-century)

“(At) Nuʻalolo Kai the fishermen built and kept their canoes and the beach must have been lined with them for the landing is most always safe as the channel is narrow and a big reef to the north protecting it.” (Knudsen)

“During the Māhele, the King granted lands to the Kingdom (Government), the revenue of which was to support government functions. In the Nāpali District, the ahupuaʻa of Kalalau, Pohakuao, Honopu, Hanakāpīʻai and one-half of Hanakoa were granted to the Government Land inventory.”

“Portions of the lands that fell into the government inventory were subsequently sold as Royal Patent Grants to individuals who applied for them. The grantees were generally long-time kamaʻāina residents of the lands they sought… Thirty grants were sold in the Nāpali District to twenty-seven applicants; the lands being situated in Kalalau and Honopu.” (Hawaiian Government, 1887; Maly)

The upper region of the area was put into Territorial Forest Reserve (Nā Pali – Kona Forest Reserve) for protection in 1907. Even before that time, the concern for native forest prompted cattle eradication activities in this area during 1882 and 1890.

For most backpackers in good condition, hiking the 11-miles will take a full day. Camping permits for the Kalalau Trail are only issued for Kalalau Valley however the permits allow for 1-night camping (each way) at Hanakoa. Hanakoa and Kalalau, are the only two authorized areas for camping along the Kalalau trail.

Hanakoa is roughly 6 miles from the trailhead. Hikers are encouraged to stop/camp at Hanakoa if they possess a permit for Kalalau and need a break or anticipate bad weather. A stopover at Hanakoa, counts as one night, and therefore reduces the total number of nights permitted at Kalalau.

DLNR State Parks does not offer stand alone “hiking permits.” In order to hike from Haena State Park to Hanakāpī‘ai Beach or Hanakāpī‘ai Falls visitors need to purchase Parking and Entry Reservations for Hā‘ena SP. Make parking and entry reservations at www.gohaena.com.

In order to hike past Hanakāpī‘ai Beach along the Kalalalau Trail a valid camping permit for Napali Coast State Wilderness Park is required whether or not you choose to camp.

Other than hiking the coast, the only way to legally access shore areas in Nāpali Coast State Wilderness Park is by boat. Personal or rented kayaks and guided kayak tours may land at two permitted areas, and motorized raft tours take passengers on shore at Nu’alolo Kai. These zodiac tours enjoy a scenic view of the coast, with snorkeling, lunch and guided tour through an archaeological complex.

One of the nicest ways to see Nāpali Coast is by paddling down the coast. This activity is permitted only during the summer months, between May 15 and September 7. Unpredictable sea conditions make it potentially unsafe during the remainder of the year. The most popular way to travel by kayak is to start from the Ha’ena (eastern) end of the coast and pull out at Polihale Beach, on the western end of the coast. This takes advantage of the prevailing currents and trade winds

Day use landings are allowed at Miloliʻi during the summer (May 15 through Labor Day) without a permit. No other boat landings are permitted within the park. Kayak landings are prohibited at all other beaches in the park, including Hanakāpīʻai, Honopu and Nuʻalolo Kai. (This only summarizes some of DLNR’s rules; review and know the rules before you go.)

November 3, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Nu‘alolo Kai

Located on the northwest coast of Kauai, the Nā Pali contains some of the Pacific Islands most spectacular wilderness area.

There was a string of former Hawaiian fishing villages in the seven main valleys on the Nā Pali Coast of Kauai. These remote communities relied on harvesting the fish from the sea, and growing taro in the fertile soil of the valley floors.

One of these is Nu‘alolo Kai, it’s located in a protected inlet along the Nā Pali Coast. You can’t get there by land, you must arrive by boat.

And, you need a permit from DLNR to do so.

“Here, about mid-way of what the natives call the Parre, we landed, where is an acre or two of sterile ground, bounded on one side by the ocean, and environed on the other by a stupendous rock, nearly perpendicular …”

“… forming at its base a semicircular curve, which meets the ocean at each end. In the middle of the curve, a stupendous rock rises to the height, I should say, of about 1500 feet.” (Bingham)

“Like Kalalau they had a trail from the table land above over the top of Kamaile and zigzagging down through the cliffs some 3000 feet to the valley below but even this trail was difficult. At one place you have to jump a crevice only three feet wide …”

“… but it goes down straight like a chimney and if you slipped you would only fall 800 feet to the rocks below. They call it the Puhi.” (Knudsen, late-19th-century)

“Here, the natives sometimes exhibit their fire works (ʻŌahi) in the night (from “the fire Parre”,) as they did a few nights since, when the kings lodged there.”

“Along a winding, difficult ascent, which commences by a rude ladder hanging over the sea, they climb to the very summit, and throw off firebrands, or torches, ingeniously constructed, which sail off a great distance, and fall in the ocean below.” (Bingham)

“The two most famous ʻōahi places on Kauai were Kamaile peak, rising 2500 feet over Nuuololo [Nu‘alolo] landing on the Na Pali Coast, and the high cliffs that tower over the wet caves at Haena.” (Knudsen)

“Here in Nuʻalolo Kai the fishermen built and kept their canoes and the beach must have been lined with them for the landing is most always safe as the channel is narrow and a big reef to the north protecting it.” (Knudsen)

Bishop Museum archaeological investigations, starting in 1958, noted buried structure floors and artifacts, including fishhooks and coral files, were found as deep as 6 feet below the surface.

Radiocarbon dates later showed that people first began to live at the site between AD 1300 and 1500. The presence of historic artifacts, such as glass beads and metal jewelry, told archaeologists that the site was still inhabited even after Europeans arrived in the Hawaiian Islands.

About 100 people, mostly commoners, lived in Nuʻalolo Kai. They farmed terraced taro fields, collected shellfish, and gathered coral from the fringing reef to shape their bone and shell fishhooks. Reef fish included rudderfish, unicorn tang and parrotfish.

Raw and cooked urchins were popular, and urchin gonads were used as a condiment with fish, poi (cooked taro), and sweet potato. (National Geographic)

“Their method of taking the fish from the sea is remarkable. Diving down, they place a vegetable poison among the stones at the bottom, which being greedily eaten by the fish, immediately produces on them an intoxicating effect.”

“The natives then dive or swim after them, and catch them in their hands, or, sitting in canoes, or standing near the shore, take them easily in scoop nets.” (Bingham)

Ceremonies were celebrated with ʻawa, a ritual drink also known as kava, while hula dancers chanted and pulsed to the beat of the drums. Young men hurled firebrands from the cliff of Kamaile.

Even King Kamehameha II made a trip to the island to witness the ceremonies. It’s still unclear why the site was abandoned, but Hawaiians permanently left Nuʻalolo Kai in 1919 for more populated parts of the island, including Hanalei and Waimea. (National Geographic)

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Photo taken from the Pali above the western end of Nu’alolo Kai, circa 1900-(Carpenter)

Nualolo_Kai-Bishop Museum Excavations within K-2, Site 196-(Carpenter)-1958

Nualolo_Kai-Bishop Museum Excavations within K-3 & K-4, Site 196-(Carpenter)-1958

Nualolo_Kai-Bishop Museum Excavations within K-3, Site 196-(Carpenter)-1958

Nualolo_Kai-Bishop_Museum-archaeological_investigation-1958-k3-ii-008_ppt

Nualolo_Kai-Bishop_Museum-archaeological_investigation-1958-k3-i-012_ppt

Nualolo_Kai-Bishop_Museum-archaeological_investigation-1958-k3-i-013_ppt

Nualolo_Kai-Bishop_Museum-archaeological_investigation-1958-k3-iii-009_ppt

Na_Pali_Coast_Ohana-Native Hawaiian plant restoration nursery-(Wichman)

Nu'alolo Kai cliff house platforms-(Wichman)

Nualolo_Kai_restored hālau wa‘a (canoe shed)

Nualolo_Kai-Bishop_Museum-archaeological_investigation-View of the inlet at Nu'alolo Kai-1958

Nualolo_Kai-Cliff_house_Sites-(Carpenter-BishopMuseum)-1930

'Oahi'-Fireworks from 'the fire Parre'-(Carpenter)

Nualolo_Kai-Archaeological_Maps-(Carpenter)

August 21, 2015 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Until Death Should Us Part

Within the seconds, the minutes, and the hours,
Within your loneliness and sorrow,
Within the flowers, the leaves and everything,
Within you and without, I am with you.

He stood before the officer of the government and said, “I first ask whether my wife will be allowed to go with me, the one I swore before Almighty God to care for, to become one blood with me, from whom only death could part me?”

Denied, he replied, “the cord of my love for her is to be cut, and I am commanded to break my sacred promise before God and live alone in a strange land”.

“The consecrated law of marriage has come to us, and we swore by the holy book to live together in the time of food and of famine, in sickness and in health … until death should part us, and now, the power of the government wants to break the law of man and of God and make the oath before Almighty God as nothing.” (Koʻolau)

He was born in 1862; his name, Kaluaikoʻolau, may be translated as ‘the grave at Koʻolau,’ a commemorative name and, as fate would have it, prophetic. (Frazier) He was a cowboy from Kekaha, Kauai.

He was reared with care and vigilance, and his growth was unrestricted. And when he reached the age he was entered by his parents, in 1868, in the school of Father George Rowell at Waimea, Kauai.

In a very little while at the school he displayed understanding and enthusiasm for his lessons, and his energy and alertness was unfailing. He also was willing and active in the tasks given him by the parents, showing his love and attention to their voices.

In these days of his growth there was planted in his heart the reverence for the word of God, and the beauty of the sacred lessons was wound in his conscience. Therefore, with the growth of Koʻolau’s body, these spiritual qualities grew also.

Thus he sought the learning of the school until he was grown and he was physically ready for work, between sixteen and seventeen years of age, and he spoke to his parents of setting aside school and going to work, and his request was granted by his parents with serenity.

He became the foreman of the cowboys, under Mr. Francis Gay (Palani Ke.) He was also placed in this position over the length and the breadth of Mr. Valdemar Knudsen’s (Kanuka) lands at Kekaha. He divided his duties as Head of the Cowboys between his two employers.

In 1881, at the age of 19, he married Piʻilani (age 17.) A year later, they had a son, Kaleimanu.

In 1889, Koʻolau noticed a little rash on his cheeks – he thought it was because of his work out in the sun. It would later disappear and reappear.

“In a couple of years the disease developed quite noticeably, and in 1891 and 1892 when the gathering of the lepers started, he was in a bad state, and Mr Stolz, the deputy sheriff, told him to go to Doctor Campbell and be examined.” (The Garden Island, December 19, 1916)

Koʻolau and his young son Kaleimanu contracted leprosy; the Hawaiian government’s way of coping with the problem was to attempt to strictly segregate leprosy patients from the rest of the world at Kalawao (Kalaupapa,) on the Island of Molokai.

In the early years of the settlement, those who contracted leprosy were allowed to be accompanied by helpers, or kokua, usually a family member, but this practice caused problems. In 1893, Koʻolau, agreed at first to go to Molokai if Piʻilani, his wife, could accompany him.

The authorities denied this. Koʻolau refused to be parted from his wife. Vowing he would never be taken alive, the husband with wife and young son took refuge in the isolated Kalalau Valley, descending into it by an ancient and most difficult trail.

Government forces pursued them. Koʻolau shot a policeman who had been pursuing them (Louis Stolz (known familiarly by the name of Lui), the Deputy High Sheriff of Waimea.)

“On June 30th the districts of Waimea and Hanalei, which included the village of Kalalau, were placed under martial law and an armed force of police and military, under the command of Deputy Marshal Larsen, was sent to Kalalau to effect the capture of the desperado.”

“It was the intention to secure the murderer alive, if possible, and establish the majesty of the law without further bloodshed. … but Koʻolau sent defiance and a statement that he would never be taken alive.” (Polynesian, July 13, 1893)

The Provisional Government determined to send an army of 35-men, under Capt W Larsen to Kalalau to carry out the orders of the Government; ultimately, 15-soldiers landed and set up ‘Camp Dole.’ All lepers were directed to be taken prisoner within 24-hours. If the lepers failed to obey after the time given them they were to be taken dead or alive. (Frazier)

Hidden in the valley, “We listened quietly to the noise and understood that the soldiers were climbing up to our place where we sat. It was not far, but we could not be seen or see because of the vegetation. Then we were again startled by the firing of guns and the bullets began to strike … but no one harmed us.” (Piʻilani)

Koʻolau shot back, killing three soldiers, P Johnson, JMB McCabe and Hirschberg (Hursberg.)

The firing continued without rest for four full days.

On Friday morning, July 13, the steamship Iwalani arrived from the battle site at Kalalau. The leper Koolau and his wife and son had not been found. Perhaps another search will be made for his hiding place, or perhaps he fell from the cliff. His hiding place had been blanketed by gunfire. There was no sign of refuge, only a very small flat place at the edge of the cliff, protected in front by steep drops and ʻōhia trees. (Frazier)

They fled. “After this we began to wander, never staying anywhere more than one, two, or three days in one place, when we would leave and move on. … During this time of living in loneliness and inaction, for a long time afterwards, my husband would not allow us to show ourselves.”

“It was three years and five or more months of wandering life in the wild valleys and rows of steep cliffs, in the midst of an awesome loneliness. We set aside love of parents and family, cast away our fears and sighs, and I sacrificed my life for my husband and child, so beloved to me.” (Piʻilani)

“During this time of living as a threesome, we were well and we had sufficient to eat and drink.” Then, tragedy struck; “our beloved child began to show the spread of the disease upon his body, and he became very weak in his limbs.”

“(O)ne day, he gestured to me and when I went to his side, he put his arms around my neck and rubbed his cheek against mine, and I saw that his lashes were wet with tears, and he whispered; ‘Where is Papa? I am going to sleep.’”

“We attempted to speak with him, calling him, but his ears were done hearing, his eyes gently closed, his last breath flew away, and he was asleep in the Lord, his Saviour in the beyond.” (Piʻilani)

Then it was Koʻolau’s time. “My cheeks were often wet with tears, seeing the body and the features of my husband quietly ebbing away, without being able to help and save him although I tried, with every means available to me.”

“When the sun began to spread its warming rays over the land that morning, and the palis and ridges of that beloved valley were spread out, Koʻolau slept quietly in death.” (Piʻilani)

“I wandered alone in the cloaking darkness, with the rustling murmurs of the little stones of the stream and the sweet murmuring land shells of the ti-plants, and when the dawn came and the clouds of night crept softly behind the high peaks and the light of the sun flashed forth, I had arrived at a place close to the kamaʻāinas’ homes.” She hid for nearly a month before revealing herself.

In 1906 in Honolulu, Kahikina Kelekona (John GM Sheldon) published a book in the Hawaiian language (later translated by Frances N Frazier) to be preserved in ink and disseminated to the many people of the true story of Kaluaikoʻolau, the one boasted of as “The Fierce Brave One of the Kalalau Cliffs who Glides along the Peak of Kamaile whence the Fire was Flung.” It was the basis of this summary.

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