Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Ulu Mau Village

What is known today as Aloha Festivals was created in 1946, as Aloha Week – a cultural celebration of Hawai’i’s music, dance and history intended to perpetuate our unique traditions.

A group of former Jaycees – known as the Jaycees Old-timers of Hawaiʻi – had the vision to create a public celebration to honor Hawai’i’s cosmopolitan heritage, yet created a celebration which has itself become a state-wide tradition. (Aloha Festivals)

The first Aloha Week was held during the fall as a modern-day makahiki, the ancient Hawaiian festival of music, dance, games and feasting. (By 1974, Aloha Week expanded to a month-long slate of activities, with events on six islands.) (Carroll)

A Hawaiian Village of thatched houses was constructed at the Diamond Head end of Ala Moana Park across from Waikiki Yacht Club for the Aloha Week celebration held in October 1947 (and several subsequent years.)

Then, around 1960, driving through Ala Moana Park, Herman and Malia Solomon noticed the cluster of thatched houses in a fenced enclosure. They learned from with the Parks Department that the place was only used during Aloha Week.

So, after some negotiation, they were able to lease the property with the idea of creating a “living” Hawaiian village where people could step back in time and get a glimpse of what life in Hawaiʻi was like 200 years ago – Ulu Mau Village was born.

Malia carefully chose the individuals that would become the “villagers”, people who were knowledgeable in various cultural aspects of ancient Hawaiian life and who possessed good speaking skills.

“All of us at Ulu Mau Village have a profound respect for our heritage, and we hope our village shall be the mirror to reflect this heritage to all of our people in Hawaii Nei and others who may also be interested.” (Solomon; kapahawaii)

Here, “old Hawaiʻi recreated right in the heart of bustling Honolulu, a ten-minute bus ride from Waikiki beach. At Ulu Mau Village in Ala Moana park a pili grass- thatched scattering of huts – complete to carp pond and carved Hawaiian images, stands in contrast to one of the world’s largest shopping centers across the boulevard.”

“For the admission price of $1.50 you can take a capsule course in Hawaiian culture – that will last about 90 minutes – but provide much insight into the bygone glories of Hawaii.”

“Ulu Mau means ‘ever growing’ and that is one of the first things a genial Hawaiian tutu, or grandmother, in flowered muumuu explains to you at the first hut you visit. She shows you taro growing ttro rool, then tells you how poi is made. Afterwards she pounds poi on the spot, passing out samples for everyone to try.”

“Next hut you step in displays colorful Hawaiian quilts on the walls. Here another muumuu-clad tutu starts with a brief lesson in Hawaiian. In front of her is a display of Hawaiian foliage, flowers, bananas, breadfruit and other plants. You learn the Hawaiian names of them all, as well as their many uses, both decorative and utilitarian.” (Independent Star, June 12, 1966)

Ulu Mau Village lasted at Ala Moana Park for about 10-years. Then, in 1969, “the village is relocated at Heʻeia (Ka Lae o Keʻalohi,) half an hour’s drive from Waikiki. Its neighbors are Kaneohe bay, an old Hawaiian fishpond, the coral reefs that poke out of the sea, and the Koʻolau mountains.”

“Often called the Williamsburg of Hawaii, Ulu Mau is a living exhibit of grass houses, inhabited by Hawaiians who work the ancient crafts, play the ancient games, and grow the traditional crops which fed and clothed the islanders two centuries before Capt. Cook dropped his anchor in an Hawaiian bay.”

“Like Williamsburg, Ulu Mau is at the opposite end of the wax-museum style of historical presentation. Its idea is to bring an ancient culture to life. The grounds that slope down to the sea are planted with sugar cane, banana trees, taro, ti leaves, breadfruit, and ginger.”

“Ti leaves are used to make skirts. Breadfruit was the plant that Capt. Bligh and the Bounty came to get and bring back to the West Indies, and taro gave the islanders their starchy staple.”

“The villagers of Ulu Mau also display the old Hawaiian games. Kōnane is a local brand of checkers played on flat rocks by the sea, a restful experience for those who would dissolve the tangle of a more complicated society.”

“Young visitors in Hawaii’s Ulu Mau Village sample the Hawaiian way of life as it was in the days before the white man arrived. The village is a living exhibit of grass houses inhabited by Hawaiians who work the ancient crafts, play the ancient games, and grow the traditional crops.” (Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1970)

Ulu Mau Village operated at Heʻeia for less than 10-years. When the land was proposed for urban development, the community reaction prompted the Legislature to purchase the property which was acquired as the Heʻeia State Park in 1977.

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“Kidnap and Rape” – “Kidnap and Murder”

On the night of Saturday, September 12, 1931, Navy Lt. Tommie and Thalia Massie went with some of their friends to the Ala Wai Inn, a restaurant overlooking the drainage canal that marked the boundary of the Waikīkī resort area.

“The truth of what transpired on the night of September 12, 1931, at the Ala Wai Inn on the way to Waikīkī or on the Ala Moana Road (which paralleled the shore on the way to downtown Honolulu) will probably never be known.”  (Hunter)

Two dramatic criminal trials, one for rape and one for murder and both involving multiple defendants, called attention to race relations and politics.  No trials ever had a more significant effect on a state’s history than those that shocked and shook Hawaiʻi in 1931 and 1932.  (Linder)

They are:
Territory of Hawaiʻi v. Ben Ahakuelo, Horace Ida, Joseph Kahahawai, Henry Chang and David Takai; 1931 (Rape trial) (also known as the “Ala Moana trial;” the name of the street where the assault allegedly took place)
Territory of Hawaiʻi v. Grace Fortescue, Thomas Massie, Edward Lord and Deacon Jones; 1932 (Murder trial)

“That the wife of Lieutenant Thomas Massie, United States Navy, was beaten, was evident; that she was raped was not clearly shown; that the five Hawaiian youths indicted for rape were not guilty was probable; and that she had asked for trouble the evidence shows.”   (Hunter)

Back to the night of September 12 at Waikīkī … Thalia left her husband behind and walked out of the Ala Wai Inn, and when she returned home early the next morning … “Something terrible has happened.” (She claimed she had been abducted and raped by five young Hawaiian men.)

The case for the prosecution was shaky.  Neither Mrs Massie’s body or her clothes showed that she had been raped.  Likewise, after a thorough physical examination of their bodies and the clothes they were wearing that night when they were arrested, the defendants showed no sign that they had had sexual intercourse.

The jury stayed out from the afternoon of Wednesday, December 2, until the afternoon of Saturday, December 5.  It was a hung jury (seven for not guilty and five for guilty;) the judge declared a mistrial December 6, 1931.  It was the longest jury deliberation in Hawaiʻi’s history.  (Hannon) The defendants were released to await a second trial.

The aftermath of the Ala Moana trial reverberated throughout Honolulu and the mainland. The mistrial outraged Navy personnel, the business community and white citizens in Hawaiʻi and government officials throughout the US.  (Hannon)

Instead of sticking to the facts, the white press in Hawaiʻi and the mainland press played the race card, which only served to further anger whites. Numerous newspapers and magazines added to the misinformation, hysteria and racial atmosphere surrounding the situation in Hawaiʻi.

Time Magazine reported in an article titled ‘Lust in Paradise’ a few weeks after the mistrial:  “Honolulu, paradisaic melting pot of East & West, was tense with trouble last week. Yellow men’s lust for white women had broken bounds. … A tremor of apprehension ran through Hawaiʻi’s motley population…”  (Hannon)

Joseph Kahahawai had been released; while out on bail the defendant was required to report in court every morning about nine o’clock.

Fortescue (Thalia’s mother) had a plan … with help, she would pick up Kahahawai at the courthouse after he had reported in and take him to a cottage, about 2-miles away.  She wanted to get a confession.  She let Tommie in on the plan, as well as a couple Sailors.

Lieutenant Massie, Fortescue and two non-commissioned sailors, Albert ‘Deacon’ Jones and Edward Lord, collaborated on the scheme.   Fortescue faked a subpoena addressed to Kahahawai, commanding him to appear before the high sheriff of the island of Oʻahu.

January 8, 1932, Massie and Lord drove to the Judiciary Building in a rented Buick; Fortescue and Jones followed in Massie’s roadster. When Kahahawai came out of the courthouse, Jones waved the fake summons at him, pushed him into the Buick, and they drove off.

In the back of Mānoa Valley, they threatened Kahahawai if he did not admit to the rape.  The pistol they brought went off and Kahahawai later died with a gunshot through the chest.

The four were put on trial for murder.

The most notorious trial in the history of Hawaiʻi began on April 4, 1932 and was titled Territory of Hawaiʻi vs. Grace Fortescue, et al., Crim. No. 11891. The trial would be presided over by forty-two year old Judge Charles “Skinner” Davis.  (Honnon)

Noted criminal trial lawyer, Clarence Darrow, was hired by the defense.  The defense argued the killing was justified under the “unwritten law” – a defense usually used by a husband who kills a man immediately after catching him having relations with his wife or raping her.  (Hannon)

The courtroom was jammed with anxious listeners, day after day, many waiting outside all night so they would be sure to get in when the case opened in the morning. The Honolulu papers carried a full stenographic report of the case, and the daily press on the mainland gave almost as full an account.

The main interest of the trial was the testimony of Lieutenant Massie and that of his wife; each of these witnesses was on the stand for two days.   No others who were at the cottage testified.

Massie told the jury of his emotions when the man had ravished his wife sat there in front of him, how it called all the anxiety and trouble he and his wife had through for two or three months, and that he proposed to have the matter settled now.  (Darrow)

Darrow gave his closing argument on Wednesday, April 27, 1932. The last major courtroom argument of his career, it was heard live on radio stations across the country. Anxious to hear Darrow speak, many people waited in line the night before and some places in line were bought and sold.  (Hannon)

The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter, leniency recommended.

The guilty verdicts inflamed the already caustic political atmosphere. Mainland politicians saw it as continued miscarriage of justice in the whole sordid case. They were already angry that Hawaiʻi’s justice system had failed to convict in the Thalia Massie case.  The White House was flooded with telegrams protesting the verdict and asking President Hoover to issue immediate pardons. (Hannon)

All four were sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Amid a storm of protest, the Governor of Hawaiʻi, Lawrence Judd, immediately commuted their sentences to one hour in the sheriff’s office.

Thalia and Tommie, along with Mrs. Fortescue, left Hawaiʻi at once and returned to the mainland. (The couple found no peace; they were divorced soon after the trial.)

A couple of years later, Thalia in an unsuccessful attempt at suicide, slashed her wrists during a transatlantic cruise. Tommie left the Navy, took a second wife, and established a career in business. Thalia married a second time, and on July 2, 1963, she died in West Palm Beach from an overdose of barbiturates.  (Riccio)

The surviving four Hawaiians defendants in the Thalia Massie rape case (the Ala Moana trial) were never retried.

“Many times I have been asked why I went to Honolulu. I was not sure then, and am not sure now. I had never been to that part of the Pacific … But the more I thought of those islands in the Pacific that I had so long wanted to see, and the more I investigated the strange and puzzling case, the more I felt that I had better go.”  (Clarence Darrow)

“The old man (Darrow) came down to the Islands believing his personal presence and his known tolerance and understanding of human suffering would help smooth over any racial problems that might exist. When he left the Islands two months later the racial issues were more deeply graven than ever.”  (Theon Wight, Rape in Paradise)  (Lots of information here from Darrow and Hannon.)

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New ‘Road’ into the Ala Wai

In the early-1900s, Lucius Pinkham, then President of the Territorial Board of Health and later Governor, developed the idea of constructing a drainage canal to drain the wetlands, which he considered “unsanitary.”  This called for the construction of a canal to reclaim the marshland.

The Waikīkī Reclamation District was identified as the approximate 800-acres from King and McCully Streets to Kapahulu Street, near Campbell Avenue down to Kapiʻolani Park and Kalākaua Avenue on the makai side (1921-1928.)  The dredge material not only filled in the makai Waikīkī wetlands, but it was also used to fill in the McKinley High School site.

During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape would be transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in the draining and filling in of the remaining ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.

By 1924, the dredging of the Ala Wai Canal and filling of the wetlands stopped the flows of the Pi‘inaio, ‘Āpuakēhau and Kuekaunahi streams running from the Makiki, Mānoa, and Pālolo valleys to and through Waikīkī.

With construction of the Ala Wai Canal, 625-acres of wetland were drained and filled and runoff was diverted away from Waikīkī beach.  The completion of the Ala Wai Canal not only gave impetus to the development of Waikīkī as Hawai‘i’s primary visitor destination, but also expanded the district’s potential for residential use.

Then, in 1956, Hawaiian Electric installed cables across the Ala Wai Canal to provide Waikīkī with additional electric power capacity. (HECO)

As part of the installation process, “A ‘road’ nearly spanning the Ala Wai has appeared almost overnight, surprising thousands of passers-by who are accustomed to seeing the canal as an unbroken ribbon of water from Kapahulu to the sea.”

“But Hawaiian Electric Co. assured the public yesterday that the ‘road’ would stay there only as long as to bury a 44,000-volt cable needed to bring more electricity to an expanding Waikiki.”

“The ‘road’ will support cranes which will dig a trench 23 feet deep and four feet wide under the Ala Wai. Then the cable will be laid across the canal, down Kaiolu St. and ino the Waikiki sub station.”

“Erling V Schoenberg, Hawaiian Electric’s superintendent for the job, said the Ala Wai ‘road’ was the cheapest way of getting the digging equipment into the area.”  (Advertiser, Sep 11, 1956)

“Clam shell cranes will begin digging a ditch in the floor of the Ala Wai from a causeway today or tomorrow, according to Erling V Schoenberg, Hawaiian Electric Company underground superintendent.”

“The dirt and rock causeway was been built four-fifths of the way across the canal from the Iolani School area to Kaiolu Street. A 50-foot passage was left on the makai side for boats.”

“The cranes will dig a trench 23 feet deep and four feet wide under the Ala Wai in which a 44,0000-volt cable will be buried.  When this is accomplished, the causeway will be removed.”  (Star Bulletin, September 11, 1956)

“As electricity use increased, the original cables were replaced in 1990 with higher capacity cables …. In 2002-03, when the Canal was last dredged, it was determined the cables were at risk of damage from dredging.”

“Hawaiian Electric, DLNR and the dredging contractor developed an interim solution to dredge around the cables. The current cable relocation project will be a permanent solution to not interfere with future dredging operations.” (HECO)

Then, “The State Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) plans to dredge the Ala Wai Canal for flood control and increased recreational use starting in 2019, pending approval of permits. Hawaiian Electric currently has 46 kilovolt (kV) electrical cables buried under the canal that must be removed for efficient dredging.”

“Hawaiian Electric plans to install new 46kv cables about 40 feet below the canal using horizontal directional drilling. Once new cables are in service, the old cables will be removed. Hawaiian Electric plans to install new 46kv cables about 40 feet below the canal using horizontal directional drilling.”

“To minimize disruption from conventional trenching in the city streets, Hawaiian Electric will use horizontal directional drilling to install the new cables.”:

“As with any major construction, however, some short-term impacts are unavoidable. Hawaiian Electric will make every effort to limit closed traffic lanes, noise and dust.”  (HECO)

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Levee

Starting about 500 years ago, early Hawaiians used the Kawainui wetland as a fishpond and to grow taro. Dryland crops around the wetland at the time of the Great Mahele included sweet potatoes, gourds, wauke (paper mulberry for making kapa), ‘awa (kava), pia (arrowroot for starch), bananas and sugar cane. (Drigot)

Rice was cultivated from the 1850s to the 1920s and then ranching and grazing became the predominant uses. (Ramsar Wetlands Information Sheet)

In the Māhele, Queen Kalama, Kamehameha III’s wife, received land within the area in and around Kawai Nui.  The land ownership changes which occurred to Queen Kalama’s ownership of the ‘ili of Kawai Nui mirrored the land use changes in general both in the region and in the islands as a whole.

Then, this area encompassing much of the Kailua ahupua‘a, was inherited by her stepfather and uncle. He promptly sold it in 1871 to a haole, Charles Coffin Harris, an American lawyer, who had by that time consolidated claim to the ahupua‘a of Kāne‘ohe as well as that of Kailua.

One of his children, Nannie Roberta Harris, became sole heir to the Harris estate, including the Kailua ahupua‘a at that time. She owned the Kailua ahupua‘a until 1917 when she and her husband sold nearly all of their interest in both Kailua and Kāne‘ohe to

Harold KL Castle. (Drigot)

When I was a kid, we referred to this area as the “swamp” – many of the old maps referred to it as such.  Auto parts shops lined the road at its edge; the dump was nearby.

Kawainui is the largest remaining wetland in Hawai‘i, encompassing approximately 830 acres of land in Kailua, Oahu. It provides important habitat for waterbirds and migratory bird species.  (Kawai Nui Marsh Master Plan, 1994; Army Corps)

When it rained hard, there were flood issues … “Damage to private dwellings, farms and property in Kailua was caused today by flood waters backing up from the swamp land in the Coconut Grove area. Residents said water was more than three feet deep in some places and was rising.” (Star Bulletin, Mary 13, 1940)

Flooding was not the only local concern … “We want to eliminate the mosquito problem and we want to reclaim the area, if possible.” (Castle; Drigot)

As late as 1956, the Kaneohe Ranch had installed a vertical pump and began pumping with such energy that, four months later, the water table of the Marsh had dropped “almost four feet and made the once forbidding marsh a lush grazing land”. (Drigot)

A stream runs through Oneawa ‘ili to the sea, providing a natural drainage for the Kawainui marsh. The Oneawa Canal (Kawainui Canal, former approximate location of Kawainui Stream) was constructed in the 1950s to provide flood control and stability for real estate development.  (Dye)

The Oneawa Canal connects Kawainui Marsh to Kailua Bay, is 9,470 feet long, and is located at the northeast corner of Kawainui Marsh. The upper streams and surface water stored in the marsh are freshwater, while the salinity of water within Oneawa Canal is brackish and tidally influenced. (Army Corps)

“Even though the Oneawa Channel (Kawainui Canal) was constructed in 1950 to prevent the major flooding of the Kailua residential area situated on the edge of the marsh, five subsequent severe floods occured in 1951, 1956, 1958, 1961 and 1963.” (Drigot)

“In 1964, after a two year intense battle for development rights to the central portion of Kawainui Marsh, Centex-Trousdale Construction Co. surrendered its claim and the City of Honolulu emerged victorious in its seven-year battle to acquire 749 acres of the Marsh for flood control and park purposes when, with federal assistance, they purchased the Centex-Trousdale properties”. (Drigot)

Then, they built a levee … “Construction of the original Kawai Nui Marsh Flood Control Project was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1950 and was completed in August 1966 by the Corps. Project features included … a 6,850-foot-long earthen levee with a maximum crest elevation of 9.5 feet; a 50-foot-long stub groin and 50-foot-long revetment at the outlet of Oneawa Channel”.  (Army Corps)

Over the years, vegetation within the marsh created a dense mat that affected the hydraulics of the marsh causing the project to be overtopped during the January 1988 storm.

“From December 31, 1987 through January 1, 1988, severe flooding of the Coconut Grove community occurred when the water level in the marsh exceeded the crest of the existing levee. Following this storm event, an emergency ditch was excavated alongside the levee to increase outflow from the marsh.” (Army Corps)

The floodwall has a maximum height of four feet and is 6,300 feet long extending from Kailua Road on the south to the Oneawa outlet channel on the north. The levee fills 1.8 acres of wetland fringe and provides a higher level of flood damage reduction to a larger part of Coconut Grove, which has more than 2,000 structures. (Army Corps)

By then, the Kawainui wetland reference had changed from “swamp” to “marsh.”  More recently, Kawainui Marsh was recognized as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance in 2005 for its historical, biological, and cultural significance. (DLNR)

Ramsar is the name of the city in Iran where the Ramsar Convention, or the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, was signed in 1971 and came into force in 1975.

Ramsar is not an acronym, and the convention is also known as “Ramsar”. The convention’s goals are to stop the loss of wetlands worldwide and to conserve the remaining wetlands through management and use.  (Ramsar Convention of Wetlands)

Sacred to Hawaiians, Kawainui Marsh, the largest remaining emergent wetland in Hawaii and Hawai‘i’s largest ancient freshwater fishpond, is located in what was once the center of a caldera of the Ko‘olau shield volcano.

The marsh provides primary habitat for four of Hawai‘i’s endemic and endangered waterbirds (Hawaiian Duck, koloa; Hawaiian Coot (‘alae ke‘oke‘o); Hawaiian Moorhen (‘alae ‘ula) and Hawaiian Stilt (kukuluae‘o (abbreviated as ae‘o)) and contains archaeological and cultural resources, including ancient walled taro lo‘i where fish were also cultivated. (Ramsar)

In addition, the levee has become a pathway that people within the surrounding community use for walking, running and biking.  Other recreation includes bird and wildlife watching.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Eight of Oʻahu

At the time of Captain Cook’s arrival (1778-1779), the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four chiefdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and (4) Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Kalaniʻōpuʻu was born about 1729; he died in April 1782.  His brother was Keōua and his son was Kiwalaʻō; he was the grandfather of Keōpūolani.  When Keōua, the father of Kamehameha, died, he commended his son to the care of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who received him, and treated him as his own child. (Dibble)

“(W)hen Captain Cook first landed on Hawaiʻi he found the (chief) of that island absent on another warlike expedition to Maui, intent upon avenging his defeat of two years before, when his famous brigade of eight hundred nobles was hewn in pieces.”  (Kalākaua)

Kahekili was born at Hāliʻimaile, Maui, the son of the high chief Kekaulike.  In 1765, Kahekili inherited all of Maui Nui and O‘ahu and was appointed successor to his brother Kamehamehanui’s chiefdom (not to be confused with Hawai‘i Island’s Kamehameha I.)

Kahahana was high-born and royally-connected. His father was Elani, one of the highest nobles in the ʻEwa district on Oʻahu, a descendant of the ancient lords of Līhuʻe. His mother was a sister of Peleioholani, Chief of Oʻahu, and a cousin of Kahekili, Chief of Maui.  (Fornander)

Kahahana had from boyhood been brought up at the court of Kahekili, who looked upon his cousin’s child almost as a son of his own.  (Fornander)

Kamakahelei was the “queen of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, and her husband was a younger brother to Kahekili, while she was related to the royal family of Hawaiʻi.”

“Thus, it will be seen, the reigning families of the several islands of the group were all related to each other, as well by marriage as by blood. So had it been for many generations. But their wars with each other were none the less vindictive because of their kinship, or attended with less of barbarity in their hours of triumph.”  (Kalākaua)

At the time of Cook’s arrival, “Kahekili was plotting for the downfall of Kahahana and the seizure of Oʻahu and Molokai, and the queen of Kauaʻi was disposed to assist him in these enterprises. “  (Kalākaua)

At about that time, in 1779, Kahahana had assisted Kahekili in his wars against Kalaiopuʻu of Hawaiʻi. The rupture between Kahekili and Kahahana did not occur till afterward, in 1780-81.  (Fornander)

In the early part of 1783, Kahahana was in the upper part of Nuʻuanu valley, when the news came of Kahekili’s landing at Waikīkī, and hastily summoning his warriors, he prepared as best he could to meet so sudden an emergency.  (Fornander)

In this company there were eight famous warriors, who seemed to think themselves invulnerable: Pupuka, Makaʻioulu, Puakea, Pinau, Kalaeone, Pahua, Kauhi and Kapukoa.

They had often faced danger, and returned chanting victory.

The night shadows were falling around the camp when these eight men, one by one, crept away from the other chiefs. Word had been passed from one to the other and a secret expedition partially outlined. Therefore each man was laden with his spear, club and javelins.  (Westervelt)

With the coming of morning light they found themselves not far from the old temple, which had been used for ages for most solemn royal ceremonies, a part of which was often the sacrifice of human beings, and here, aided by their gods, they thought to inflict such injuries upon the Maui men as would make their names remembered in the Maui households.

While Kahekili and his Maui army were camped near the heiau at ʻApuakehau, they were suddenly attacked by the eight of Oʻahu.

Without authorization from Kahahana, into these hundreds the eight boldly charged.

The conflict was hand to hand, and in that respect was favorable to the eight men well-skilled in the use of spear and javelin. Side by side, striking and smiting all before them, the little band forced its way into the heart of the body of its foes.

Wave upon wave of men from Maui beat against the eight, but each time the wave was shattered and scattered and destroyed. Large numbers were killed while the eight still fought side by side apparently uninjured.

It has been said that this was a fight “to which Hawaiian legends record no parallel.” Eight men attacked an army and for some time were victorious in their onslaught.  (Westervelt)

Surrounded, they were able to escape at Kawehewehe, killing dozens of their adversaries.

Only one of the eight lived to perpetuate his name among the families of Oʻahu.  Pupuka became the ancestor of noted chiefs of high rank. The others were probably all killed in the destructive battles which soon followed.  (Westervelt)

Kahahana’s army was later routed, and he and his wife fled to the mountains.  For nearly two years or more they wandered over the mountains, secretly aided, fed and clothed by his supporters.  He was finally betrayed and killed by his wife’s brother.  (Kanahele)

Kahekili conquered Oʻahu and finally received the body of Kahahana, which was taken to the temple at Waikīkī and offered in sacrifice. After this annihilation of the Oʻahu army, no hint is given of the other members of the band of the famous eight.  (Westervelt)

Kahekili and his eldest son and heir-apparent, Kalanikūpule, conquered Kahahana, adding Oʻahu under his control.   (Kahekili’s son, Kalanikūpule, inherited his chiefdom; Oʻahu was later lost to Kamehameha in the Battle of Nuʻuanu (1795.))  The image shows the Oʻahu Eight, drawn by Brook Kapukuniahi Parker.

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