“The king was over all the people; he was the supreme executive, so long, however, as he did right. His executive duties in the government were to gather the people together in time of war …”
“… to decide all important questions of state, and questions touching the life and death of the common people as well as of the chiefs and his comrades in arms. … It was his duty to consecrate the temples, to oversee the performance of religious rites in the temples (heiau)”. (Malo)
“In the majority of cases Hawaiian heiaus were either walled stone enclosures or open platform structures. They were mostly levelled and stone paved, many being of two to four terraces. All heiaus were without roof covering except as to the several small houses erected within their precincts.”
“In two instances, both of which were on the island of Oahu, at Waialua and at Honolulu, heiaus were described as having been of stick fence construction.”
“And there were also sacred places of more than local fame to which pilgrimages were made and sacrificial offerings placed on outcropping rocks on a level plain”. (Thrum)
“Umi is reported to have been a very religious king, according to the ideas of his time, for he enriched the priests, and is said to have built a number of Heiaus; though in the latter case tradition often assigns the first erection of a Heiau to a chief, when in reality he only rebuilt or repaired an ancient one on the same site.” (Fornander)
ʻUmi-a-Līloa (ʻUmi) from Waipiʻo, son of Līloa, defeated Kona chief Ehunuikaimalino and united the island of Hawai‘i. He then moved his Royal Center from Waipi‘o to Kona.
“Umi-a-Liloa was a devout king, and … (he) had two principal occupations which he undertook to do with his own hands: they are farming and fishing.”
“He built large taro patches in Waipio, and he tilled the soil in all places where he resided, and when in Kona that was his great occupation; he was noted as the husbandman king. … All the chiefs of his government were noted in cultivating the land and in fishing, and other important works which would make them independent.” (Fornander)
“It is presumed that Umi’s life passed tranquilly after his removal from Waipio; at least no wars, convulsions, or stirring events have been recorded.”
“In making his tours around the island, Umi erected several Heiaus, distinguished from the generality of Heiaus by the employment of hewn stones.” (Fornander)
“He employed workmen from all quarters to hew stones which were to serve, some say, to construct a sepulchral vault, or, according to others, a magnificent palace.” (Thrum)
“A number of hewn stones of this period – at least tradition, by calling them the Pōhaku Kalai a Umi (‘the hewn stones of Umi’), does so imply …”
“… were found scattered about the Kona coast of Hawaii, especially in the neighbourhood of Kailua, and, after the arrival of the missionaries (1820), furnished splendid material wherewith to build the first Christian church at Kailua.” (Fornander)
“(T)he stones were admirably cut. In our day the Calvanistic missionaries have employed them in building the great church at Kailua, without there being any necessity for cutting them anew.”
“It is natural to suppose that for cutting these hard and very large stones, they used tools different from those of Hawaiian origin.”
“Iron must have been known in the time of Umi, and its presence would be explained by wrecks of ships which the ocean currents might have drifted ashore.”
“It is certain that it was known long before the arrival of Captain Cook, as is also shown by a passage from an old romance: ‘O luna, o lalo, kai, o uka, o ka hao pae, ko ke lii’ (‘What is above, below the sea, the mountain, and the iron that drifts ashore, belong to the king.’)” (Thrum)
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