Early 20th-century transcription of Hawaiian oral tradition; published 1910 and 1916 · W. D. Westervelt, Legends of Maui -- A Demi-god of Polynesia (Australasian ed. of the 1910 Honolulu original) and Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (Mythology), Collected and Translated from the Hawaiian (1916) · Public domain (US; published 1910 and 1916) · uncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan
I
I.
MAUI'S HOME.
"Akalana was the man;
Hina-a-ke-ahi was the wife;
Maui First was born;
Then Maui-waena;
Maui Kiikii was born;
Then Maui of the malo."
— Queen Liliuokalani 's Family Chant.
BROTHERS, each bearing the name of
Maui, belong to Hawaiian legend. They ac-
complished little as a family, except on
special occasions when the youngest of the household
awakened his brothers by some unexpected trick which
drew them into unwonted action. The legends of
Hawaii, Tonga, Tahiti, New Zealand and the Hervey
group make this youngest Maui ''the discoverer of
fire" or "the ensnarer of the sun" or "the fisherman
who pulls up islands" or "the man endowed with
magic," or "Maui with spirit power." The legends
4 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
vary somewhat, of course, but not as much as might
be expected when the thousands of miles between vari-
ous groups of islands are taken into consideration.
Maui was one of the Polynesian demi-gods. His
parents belonged to the family of supernatural beings.
He himself was possessed of supernatural powers and
was supposed to make use of all manner of enchant-
ments. In New Zealand antiquity a Maui was said to
have assisted other gods in the creation of man.
Nevertheless Maui was very human. He lived in
thatched houses, had wives and children, and was
scolded by the women for not properly supporting his
household.
The time of his sojourn among men is very indefi-
nite. In Hawaiian genealogies Maui and his brothers
were placed among the descendants of Ulu and "the
sons of Kii," and Maui was one of the ancestors of
Kamehameha, the first king of the united Hawaiian
Islands. This would place him in the seventh or eighth
century of the Christian Era. But it is more probable
that Maui belongs to the mist-land of time. His mis-
chievous pranks with the various gods would make him
another Mercury living in any age from the creation
to the beginning of the Christian era.
The Hervey Island legends state that Maui's father
was "the supporter of the heavens" and his mother
"the guardian of the road to the invisible world."
In the Hawaiian chant, Akalana was the name of
MAUI'S HOME. 5
his father. In other groups this was the name by
which his mother was known. Kanaloa, the god, is
sometimes known as the father of Maui. In Hawaii
Hina was his mother. Elsewhere Ina, or Hina, was
the grandmother, from whom he secured fire.
The Hervey Island legends say that four mighty
ones lived in the old world from which their ancestors
came. This old world bore the name Ava-iki, which is
the same as Hawa-ii, or Hawaii. The four gods were
Mauike, Ra, Ru, and Bua-Taranga.
It is interesting to trace the connection of these four
names with Polynesian mythology. Mauike is the
same as the demi-god of New Zealand, Mafuike. On
other islands the name is spelled Mauika, Mafuika,
Mafuia, Mafuie, and Mahuika. Ra, the sun god of
Egypt, is the same as Ra in New Zealand and La
(sun) in Hawaii. Ru, the supporter of the heavens,
is probably the Ku of Hawaii, and the Tu of New
Zealand and other islands, one of the greatest of the
gods worshipped by the ancient Hawaiians. The fourth
mighty one from Ava-ika was a woman, Bua-taranga,
who guarded the path to the underworld. Talanga in
Samoa, and Akalana in Hawaii were the same as Ta-
ranga. Pua-kalana (the Kalana flower) would prob-
bly be the same in Hawaiian as Bua-taranga in the
language of the Society Islands.
Ru, the supporter of the heavens, married Bua-
taranga, the guardian of the lower world. Their one
C MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
child was Maui. The legends of Raro-Tonga state
that Maui's father and mother were the children of
Tangaroa (Kanaloa in Hawaiian), the great god wor-
shipped throughout Polynesia. There were three Maui
brothers and one sister, Ina-ika (Ina, the fish).
The New Zealand legends relate the incidents of the
babyhood of Maui.
Maui was prematurely born, and his mother, not
caring to be troubled with him, cut off a lock of her
hair, tied it around him and cast him into the sea. In
this way the name came to him, Maui-tikitiki, or
"Maui formed in the topknot." The waters bore him
safely. The jelly fish enwrapped and mothered him.
The god of the seas cared for and protected him. He
was carried to the god's house and hung up in the
roof that he might feel the warm air of the fire, and
be cherished into life. When he was old enough, he
came to his relations while they were all gathered in
the great House of Assembly, dancing and making
merry. Little Maui crept in and sat down behind his
brothers. Soon his mother called the children and
found a strange child, who proved that he was her
son, and was taken in as one of the family. Some of
the brothers were jealous, but the eldest addressed the
others as follows:
"Never mind; let him be our dear brother. In the
days of peace remember the proverb, 'When you are
on friendly terms, settle your disputes in a friendly
Rugged Lava of WailuRu River.
MAUI'S HOME. 7
way; when you are at war, you must redress your in-
juries by violence.' It is better for us, brothers, to be
kind to other people. These are the ways by which
men gain influence — by laboring for abundance of food
to feed others, by collecting property to give to others,
and by similar means by which you promote the good
of others."
Thus, according to the New Zealand story related
by Sir George Grey, Maui was received in his home.
Maui's home was placed by some of the Hawaiian
myths at Kauiki, a foothill of the great extinct crater
Haleakala, on the Island of Maui. It was here he
lived when the sky was raised to its present position.
Here was located the famous fort around which many
battles were fought during the years immediately pre-
ceding the coming of Captain Cook. This fort was held
by warriors of the Island of Hawaii a number of years.
It was from this home that Maui was supposed to have
journeyed when he climbed Mt. Haleakala to ensnare
the sun.
And yet most of the Hawaiian legends place Maui's
home by the rugged black lava beds of the Wailuku
river near Hilo on the island of Hawaii. Here he lived
when he found the way to make fire by rubbing sticks
together, and when he killed Kuna, the great eel, and
performed other feats of valor. He was supposed to
cultivate the land on the north side of the river. His
mother, usually known as Hina, had her home in a
8 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
lava cave under the beautiful Rainbow Falls, one of
the fine scenic attractions of Hilo. An ancient demi-
god, wishing to destroy this home, threw a great mass
of lava across the stream below the falls. The rising
water was fast filling the cave.
Hina called loudly to her powerful son Maui. He
came quickly and found that a large and strong ridge
of lava lay across the stream. One end rested against
a small hill. Maui struck the rock on the other side
of the hill and thus broke a new pathway for the river.
The water swiftly flowed away and the cave remained
as the home of the Maui family.
According to the King Kalakaua family legend, trans-
lated by Queen Liliuokalani, Maui and his brothers
also made this place their home. Here he aroused the
anger of two uncles, his mother's brothers, who were
called "Tall Post" and "Short Post," because they
guarded the entrance to a cave in which the Maui family
probably had its home.
"They fought hard with Maui, and were thrown,
and red water flowed freely from Maui's forehead. This
was the first shower by Maui." Perhaps some family
discipline followed this knocking down of door posts,
for it is said:
"They fetched the sacred Awa bush,
Then came the second shower by Maui;
The third shower was when the elbow of Awa was broken;
The fourth shower came with the sacred bamboo."
MAUI'S HOME. 9
Haul's mother, so says a New Zealand legend, had
her home in the under-world as well as with her chil-
dren. Maui determined to find the hidden dwelling
place. His mother would meet the children in the
evening and lie down to sleep with them and then
disappear with the first appearance of dawn. Maui
remained awake one night, and when all were asleep,
arose quietly and stopped up every crevice by which
a ray of light could enter. The morning came and the
sun mounted up — far up in the sky. At last his mother
leaped up and tore away the things which shut out
the light.
"Oh, dear; oh, dear! She saw the sun high in the
heavens; so she hurried away, crying at the thought
of having been so badly treated by her own children."
Maui watched her as she pulled up a tuft of grass
and disappeared in the earth, pulling the grass back
to its place.
Thus Maui found the path to the under-world. Soon
he transformed himself into a pigeon and flew down,
through the cave, until he saw a party of people under
a sacred tree, like those growing in the ancient first
Hawaii. He flew to the tree and threw down berries
upon the people. They threw back stones. At last
he permitted a stone from his father to strike him,
and he fell to the ground. "They ran to catch him,
but lo! the pigeon had turned into a man."
Then his father "took him to the water to be bap-
10 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
tized" (possibly a modern addition to the legend).
Prayers were offered and ceremonies passed through.
But the prayers were incomplete and Maui's father
knew that the gods would be angry and cause Maui's
death, and all because in the hurried baptism a part
of the prayers had been left unsaid. Then Maui re-
turned to the upper world and lived again with his
brothers.
Maui commenced his mischievous life early, for
Hervey Islanders say that one day the children were
playing a game dearly loved by Polynesians — hide-
and-seek. Here a sister enters into the game and
hides little Maui under a pile of dry sticks. His
brothers could not find him, and the sister told them
where to look. The sticks were carefully handled, but
the child could not be found. He had shrunk himself
so small that he was like an insect under some sticks
and leaves. Thus early he began to use enchant-
ments.
Maui's home, at the best, was only a sorry affair.
Gods and demi-gods lived in caves and small grass
houses. The thatch rapidly rotted and required con-
tinual renewal. In a very short time the heavy rains
beat through the decaying roof. The home was with-
out windows or doors, save as low openings in the
ends or sides allowed entrance to those willing to
crawl through. Off on one side would be the rude
shelter, in the shadow of which Hina pounded the
MAUI'S HOME. 11
bark of certain trees into wood pulp and then into
strips of thin, soft wood-paper, which bore the name
of "Kapa cloth." This cloth Hina prepared for the
clothing of Maui and his brothers. Kapa cloth was
often treated to a coat of coco-nut, or candle-nut oil,
making it somewhat waterproof and also more durable.
Here Maui lived on edible roots and fruits and raw
fish, knowing little about cooked food, for the art of
fire-making was not yet known. In later years Maui
was supposed to live on the eastern end of the island
Maui, and also in another home on the large island
Hawaii, on which he discovered how to make fire
by rubbing dry sticks together. Maui was the Poly-
nesian Mercury. As a little fellow he was endowed
with peculiar powers, permitting him to become in-
visible or to change his human form into that of an
animal. He was ready to take anything from any one
by craft or force. Nevertheless, like the thefts of Mer-
cury, his pranks usually benefited mankind.
It is a little curious that around the different homes
of Maui, there is so little record of temples and priests
and altars. He lived too far back for priestly customs.
His story is the rude, mythical survival of the days
when of church and civil government there was none
and worship of the gods was practically unknown, but
every man was a law unto himself, and also to the
other man, and quick retaliation followed any injury
received.
II
II
MAUI THE FISHERMAN.
"Oh the great fish hook of Maui!
Manai-i-ka-lani 'Made fast to the heavens' —
its name;
An earth-twisted cord ties the hook.
Engulfed from the lofty Kauiki.
Its bait the red billed Alae,
The bird made sacred to Hina.
It sinks far down to Hawaii,
Struggling and painfully dying.
Caught is the land under the water,
Floated up, up to the surface,
But Hina hid a wing of the bird
And broke the land under the water.
Below, was the bait snatched away
And eaten at once by the fishes,
The Ulua of the deep muddy places."
—Chant of Kualii, about A. D. 1700.
NE of Haul's homes was near Kauiki, a place
well known throughout the Hawaiian Islands
because of its strategic importance. For many
years it was the site of a fort around which fierce bat-
Leaping to Swim to Coral Reefs.
MAUI THE FISHERMAN. 13
ties were fought by the natives of the island Maui,
repelling the invasions of their neighbors from Ha-
waii.
Haleakala (the House of the Sun), the mountain
from which Maui the demi-god snared the sun, looks
down ten thousand feet upon the Kauiki headland.
Across the channel from Haleakala rises Mauna Kea,
" The White Mountain " — the snow-capped — which
almost all the year round rears its white head in
majesty among the clouds.
In the snowy breakers of the surf which washes the
beach below these mountains, are broken coral reefs
— the fishing grounds of the Hawaiians. Here near
Kauiki, according to some Hawaiian legends, Maui's
mother Hina had her grass house and made and dried
her kapa cloth. Even to the present day it is one of
the few places in the islands where the kapa is still
pounded into sheets from the bark of the hibiscus and
kindred trees.
Here is a small bay partially reef-protected, over
which year after year the moist clouds float and by
day and by night crown the waters with rainbows —
the legendary sign of the home of the deified ones.
Here when the tide is out the natives wade and swim,
as they have done for centuries, from coral block to
•coral block, shunning the deep resting places of their
dread enemy, the shark, sometimes esteemed divine.
Out on the edge of the outermost reef they seek the
14 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
shellfish which cling to the coral, or spear the large
fish which have been left in the beautiful little lakes
of the reef. Coral land is a region of the sea coast
abounding in miniature lakes and rugged valleys and
steep mountains. Clear waters with every motion of
the tide surge in and out through sheltered caves and
submarine tunnels, according to an ancient Hawaiian
song —
"Never quiet, never failing, never sleeping,
Never very noisy is the sea of the sacred caves."
Sea mosses of many hues are the forests which
drape the hillsides of coral land and reflect the colored
rays of light which pierce the ceaselessly moving
waves. Down in the beautiful little lakes, under over-
hanging coral cliffs, darting in and out through the
fringes of seaweed, the purple mullet and royal red
fish flash before the eyes of the fisherman. Sometimes
the many-tinted glorious fish of paradise reveal their
beauties, and then again a school of black and gold
citizens of the reef follow the tidal waves around
projecting crags and through the hidden tunnels
from lake to lake, while above the fisherman follows
spearing or snaring as best he can. Maui's brothers
were better fishermen than he. They sought the deep
sea beyond the reef and the larger fish. They made
hooks of bone or of mother of pearl, with a straight,
slender, sharp-pointed piece leaning backward at a
In the Sea of Sacred Caves.
MAUI THE FISHERMAN. 15
sharp angle. This was usually a consecrated bit of
bone or mother of pearl, and was supposed to have
peculiar power to hold fast any fish which had taken
the bait.
These bones were usually taken from the body of
some one who while living had been noted for great
power or high rank. This sharp piece was tightly
tied to the larger bone or shell, which formed the shank
of the hook. The sacred barb of Maui's hook was a
part of the magic bone he had secured from his ances-
tors in the under-world — the bone with which he struck
the sun while lassooing him and compelling him to
move more slowly through the heavens.
" Earth-twisted " — fibres of vines — twisted while
growing, was the cord used by Maui in tying the parts
of his magic hook together.
Long and strong were the fish lines made from the
olona fibre, holding the great fish caught from the
depths of the ocean. The fibres of the olona vine were
among the longest and strongest threads found in the
Hawaiian Islands.
Such a hook could easily be cast loose by the strug-
gling fish, if the least opportunity were given. There-
fore it was absolutely necessary to keep the line taut,
and pull strongly and steadily, to land the fish in the
canoe.
Maui did not use his magic hook for a long time.
He seemed to understand that it would not answer
16 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
ordinary needs. Possibly the idea of making the
supernatural hook did not occur to him until he had
exhausted his lower wit and magic upon his brothers.
It is said that Maui was not a very good fisherman.
Sometimes his end of the canoe contained fish which
his brothers had thought were on their hooks until
they were landed in the canoe.
Many times they laughed at him for his poor success,
and he retaliated with his mischievous tricks.
' ' E ! " he would cry, when one of his brothers began
to pull in, while the other brothers swiftly paddled
the canoe forward. ' ' E ! " See we both have caught
great fish at the same moment. Be careful now. Your
line is loose. Look out ! Look out ! ' '
All the time he would be pulling his own line in as
rapidly as possible. Onward rushed the canoe. Each
fisherman shouting to encourage the others. Soon the
lines by the tricky manipulation of Maui would be
•crossed. Then as the great fish was brought near the
side of the boat Maui the little, the mischievous one,
would slip his hook toward the head of the fish and
flip it over into the canoe — causing his brother's line
to slacken for a moment. Then his mournful cry
rang out: "Oh, my brother, your fish is gone. Why
•did you not pull more steadily? It was a fine fish,
and now it is down deep in the waters." Then Maui
held up his splendid catch (from his brother's hook)
and received somewhat suspicious congratulations.
MAUI THE FISHERMAN. 17
But what could they do? Maui was the smart one of
the family.
Their father and mother were both members of the
household of the gods. The father was "the sup-
porter of the heavens" and the mother was "the
guardian of the way to the invisible world," but piti-
fully small and very few were the gifts bestowed upon
their children. Maui's brothers knew nothing beyond
the average home life of the ordinary Hawaiian, and
Maui alone was endowed with the power to work
miracles. Nevertheless the student of Polynesian
legends learns that Maui is more widely known than
almost all the demi-gods of all nations as a discoverer
of benefits for his fellows, and these physical rather
than spiritual. After many fishing excursions Maui's
brothers seemed to have wit enough to understand his
tricks, and thenceforth they refused to take him in
their canoe when they paddled out to the deep-sea fish-
ing grounds. Then those who depended upon Maui
to supply their daily needs murmured against his poor
success. His mother scolded him and his brothers ridi-
culed him.
In some of the Polynesian legends it is said that his
wives and children complained because of his laziness
and at last goaded him into a new effort.
The ex-Queen Liliuokalani, in a translation of what
is called "the family chant," says that Maui's mother
sent him to his father for a hook with which to sup-
ply her need.
18 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
"Go hence to your father,
'Tis there you find line and hook.
This is the hook — 'Made fast to the heavens — '
' Manaia-ka-lani ' 'tis calle d.
When the hook catches land
It brings the old seas together.
Bring hither the large Alae,
The bird of Hina."
When Maui had obtained his hook, he tried to go
fishing with his brothers. He leaped on the end of
their canoe as they pushed out into deep water. They
were angry and cried out: "This boat is too small for
another, Maui." So they threw him off and made him
swim back to the beach. When they returned from
their day's work, they brought back only a shark.
Maui told them if he had been with them better fish
would have been upon their hooks — the Ulua, for in-
stance, or, possibly, the Pimoe — the king of fish. At
last they let him go far out outside the harbor of
Kipahula to a place opposite Ka Iwi o Pele, "The bone
of Pele," a peculiar piece of lava lying near the beach
at Hana on the eastern side of the island Maui. There
they fished, but only sharks were caught. The brothers
ridiculed Maui, saying: "W"here are the Ulua, and
where is Pimoe?"
Then Maui threw his magic hook into the sea, baited
with one of the Alae birds, sacred to his mother Hina.
He used the incantation, "When I let go my hook
with divine power, then I get the great Ulua."
MAUI THE FISHERMAN. 19
The bottom of the sea began to move. Great waves
arose, trying to carry the canoe away. The fish
pulled the canoe two days, drawing the line to its fullest
extent. When the slack began to come in the line,
because of the tired fish, Maui called for the brothers
to pull hard against the coming fish. Soon land rose
out of the water. Maui told them not to look back
or the fish would be lost. One brother did look back
— the line slacked, snapped, and broke, and the land lay
behind them in islands.
One of the Hawaiian legends also says that while
the brothers were paddling in full strength, Maui saw
a calabash floating in the water. He lifted it into the
canoe, and behold! his beautiful sister Hina of the
sea. The brothers looked, and the separated islands
lay behind them, free from the hook, while Cocoanut
Island — the dainty spot of beauty in Hilo harbor —
was drawn up — a little ledge of lava — in later years
the home of a cocoanut grove.
The better, the more complete, legend comes from
New Zealand, which makes Maui so mischievous that
his brothers refuse his companionship — and therefore,
thrown on his own resources, he studies how to make
a hook which shall catch something worth while. In
this legend Maui is represented as making his own
hook and then pleading with his brothers to let him
go with them once more. But they hardened their
hearts against him, and refused again and again.
20 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Maui possessed the power of changing himself into
different forms. At one time while playing with his
brothers he had concealed himself for them to find.
They heard his voice in a corner of the house — but
could not find him. Then under the mats on the floor,
but again they could not find him. There was only an
insect creeping on the floor. Suddenly they saw their
little brother where the insect had been. Then they
knew he had been tricky with them. So in these fishing
days he resolved to go back to his old ways and cheat
his brothers into carrying him with them to the great
fishing grounds.
Sir George Grey says that the New Zealand Maui
went out to the canoe and concealed himself as an
insect in the bottom of the boat so that when the early
morning light crept over the waters and his brothers
pushed the canoe into the surf they could not see him.
They rejoiced that Maui did not appear, and paddled
away over the waters.
They fished all day and all night and on the morn-
ing of the next day, out from among the fish in the
bottom of the boat came their troublesome brother.
They had caught many fine fish and were satisfied,
so thought to paddle homeward; but their younger
brother pleaded with them to go out, far out, to the
deeper seas and permit him to cast his hook. He said
he wanted larger and better fish than any they had
captured.
Spearing Fish.
MAUI THE FISHERMAN. 21
So they paddled to their outermost fishing grounds
— but this did not satisfy Maui —
"Farther out on the waters,
O! my brothers,
I seek the great fish of the sea."
It was evidently easier to work for him than to argue
with him — therefore far out in the sea they went. The
home land disappeared from view; they could see
only the outstretching waste of waters. Maui urged
them out still farther. Then he drew his magic hook
from under his malo or loin-cloth. The brothers won-
dered what he would do for bait. The New Zealand
legend says that he struck his nose a mighty blow until
the blood gushed forth. When this blood became clotted,
he fastened it upon his hook and let it down into the
deep sea.
Down it went to the very bottom and caught the
under world. It was a mighty fish — but the brothers
paddled with all their might and main and Maui pulled
in the line. It was hard rowing against the power
which held the hook down in the sea depths — but the
brothers became enthusiastic over Maui's large fish,
and were generous in their strenuous endeavors. Every
muscle was strained and every paddle held strongly
against the sea that not an inch should be lost. There
was no sudden leaping and darting to and fro, no
"give" to the line; no "tremble" as when a great fish
22 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
would shake itself in impotent wrath when held captive
by a hook. It was simply a struggle of tense muscle
against an immensely heavy dead weight. To the
brothers there came slowly the feeling that Maui was
in one of his strange moods and that something beyond
their former experiences with their tricky brother was
coming to pass.
At last one of the brothers glanced backward. With
a scream of intense terror he dropped his paddle. The
others also looked. Then each caught his paddle and
with frantic exertion tried to force their canoe onward.
Deep down in the heavy waters they pushed their
paddles. Out of the great seas the black, ragged head
of a large island was rising like a fish — it seemed to
be chasing them through the boiling surf. In a little
while the water became shallow around them, and their
canoe finally rested on a black beach.
Maui for some reason left his brothers, charging
them not to attempt to cut up this great fish. But
the unwise brothers thought they would fill the canoe
with part of this strange thing which they had caught.
They began to cut up the back and put huge slices
into their canoe. But the great fish — the island —
shook under the blows and with mighty earthquake
shocks tossed the boat of the brothers, and their canoe
was destroyed. As they were struggling in the waters,
the great fish devoured them. The island came up
more and more from the waters — but the deep gashes
MAUI THE FISHEKMAN. 23
made by Haul's brothers did not heal — they be-
came the mountains and valleys stretching from sea
to sea.
White of New Zealand says that Maui went down
into the underworld to meet his great ancestress, who
was one side dead and one side alive. From the dead
side he took the jaw bone, made a magic hook, and
went fishing. When he let the hook down into the
sea, he called:
"Take my bait. O Depths!
Confused you are. O Depths!
And coming upward."
Thus he pulled up Ao-tea-roa — one of the large
islands of New Zealand. On it were houses, with
people around them. Fires were burning. Maui
walked over the island, saw with wonder the strange
men and the mysterious fire. He took fire in his hands
and was burned. He leaped into the sea, dived deep,
came up with the other large island on his shoulders.
This island he set on fire and left it always burning.
It is said that the name for New Zealand given to
Captain Cook was Te ika o Maui, "The fish of Maui."
Some New Zealand natives say that he fished up the
island on which dwelt "Great Hina of the Night," who
finally destroyed Maui while he was seeking immor-
tality.
One legend says that Maui fished up apparently
24 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
from New Zealand the large island of the Tongas. He
used this chant:
"0 Tonga-nui!
Why art Thou
Sulkily biting, biting below f
Beneath the earth
The power is felt,
The foam is seen,
Coming.
O thou loved grandchild
Of Tangaroa-meha. "
This is an excellent poetical description of the great
fish delaying the quick hard bite. Then the island
comes to the surface and Maui, the beloved grandchild
of the Polynesian god Kanaloa, is praised.
It was part of one of the legends that Maui changed
himself into a bird and from the heavens let down a
line with which he drew up land, but the line broke,
leaving islands rather than a mainland. About two
hundred lesser gods went to the new islands in a large
canoe. The greater gods punished them by making
them mortal.
Turner, in his book on Samoa, says there were three
Mauis, all brothers. They went out fishing from
Rarotonga. One of the brothers begged the "goddess
of the deep rocks" to let his hooks catch land. Then
the island Manahiki was drawn up. A great wave
washed two of the Mauis away. The other Maui
MAUI THE FISHEKMAN. 25
found a great house in which eight hundred gods
lived. Here he made his home until a chief from
Rarotonga drove him away. He fled into the sky,
but as he leaped he separated the land into two
islands.
Other legends of Samoa say that Tangaroa, the great
god, rolled stones from heaven. One became the
island Savaii, the other became Upolu. A god is
sometimes represented as passing over the ocean with
a bag of sand. Wherever he dropped a little sand
islands sprang up.
Paton, the earnest and honored missionary of the
New Hebrides Islands, evidently did not know fthe
name Mauitikitiki, so he spells the name of the fisher-
man Ma-tshi-ktshi-ki, and gives the myth of the fish-
ing up of the various islands. The natives said that
Maui left footprints on the coral reefs of each island
where he stood straining and lifting in his endeavors
to pull up each other island. He threw his line around
a large island intending to draw it up and unite it
with the one on which he stood, but his line broke.
Then he became angry and divided into two parts
the island on which he stood. This same Maui is re-
corded by Mr. Paton as being in a flood which put
out one volcano — Maui seized another, sailed across
to a neighboring island and piled it upon the top of
the volcano there, so the fire was placed out of reach
of the flood.
26 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
In the Hervey Group of the Tahitian or Society
Islands the same story prevails and the natives point
out the place where the hook caught and a print was
made by the foot in the coral reef. But they add some
very mythical details. Maui's magic fish-hook is thrown
into the skies, where it continuously hangs, the curved
tail of the constellation which we call Scorpio. Then
one of the gods becoming angry with Maui seized him
and threw him also among the stars. There he stays
looking down upon his people. He has become a fixed
part of the scorpion itself.
The Hawaiian myths sometimes represent Maui as
trying to draw the islands together while fishing them
out of the sea. When they had pulled up the island
of Kauai they looked back and were frightened. They
evidently tried to rush away from the new monster
and thus broke the line. Maui tore a side out of the
small crater Kaula when trying to draw it to one of
the other islands. Three aumakuas, three fishes sup-
posed to be spirit-gods, guarded Kaula and defeated
his purpose. At Hawaii Cocoanut Island broke off
because Maui pulled too hard. Another place near
Hilo on the large island of Hawaii where the hook
was said to have caught is in the Wailuku river below
Rainbow Falls.
Maui went out from his home at Kauiki, fishing
with his brothers. After they had caught some fine
fish the brothers desired to return, but Maui persuaded
MAUI THE FISHERMAN. 27
them to go out farther. Then when they became tired
and determined to go back, he made the seas stretch
out and the shores recede until they could see no land.
Then drawing the magic hook, he baited it with the
Alae or sacred mud hen belonging to his Mother Hina.
Queen Liliuokalani 's family chant has the following
reference to this myth :
"Maui longed for fish for Hina-akeahi (Hina of the fire, his
mother),
Go hence to your father,
There you will find line and hook.
Manaiakalani is the hook.
Where the islands are caught,
The ancient seas are connected.
The great bird Alae is taken,
The sister bird,
Of that one of the hidden fire of Maui."
Maui evidently had no scruples against using any-
thing which would help him carry out his schemes.
He indiscriminately robbed his friends and the gods
alike.
Down in the deep sea sank the hook with its strug-
gling bait, until it was seized by "the land under the
water. ' '
But Hina the mother saw the struggle of her sacred
bird and hastened to the rescue. She caught a wing
of the bird, but could not pull the Alae from the
sacred hook. The wing was torn off. Then the fish
28 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
gathered around the bait and tore it in pieces. If the
bait could have been kept entire, then the land would
have come up in a continent rather than as an island.
Then the Hawaiian group would have been unbroken.
But the bait broke — and the islands came as frag-
ments from the under world.
Maui's hook and canoe are frequently mentioned in
the legends. The Hawaiians have a long rock in
the Wailuku river at Hilo which they call Maui's
canoe. Different names were given to Maui's canoe
by the Maoris of New Zealand. "Vine of Heaven,"
"Prepare for the North," "Land of the Receding Sea."
His fish hook bore the name "Plume of Beauty."
On the southern end of Hawke's Bay, New Zealand,
there is a curved ledge of rocks extending out from
the coast. This is still called by the Maoris "Maui's
fish-hook," as if the magic hook had been so firmly
caught in the jaws of the island that Maui could not
disentangle it, but had been compelled to cut it off
from his line.
There is a large stone on the sea coast of North
Kohala on the island of Hawaii which the Hawaiians
point out as the place where Maui's magic hook
caught the island and pulled it through the sea.
In the Tonga Islands, a place known as Hounga is
pointed out by the natives as the spot where the
magic hook caught in the rocks. The hook itself was
Here are the Canoes.
MAUI THE FISHERMAN. 29
said to have been in the possession of a chief -family
for many generations.
Another group of Hawaiian legends, very incom-
plete, probably referring to Maui, but ascribed to
other names, relates that a fisherman caught a large
block of coral. He took it to his priest. After sacri-
ficing, and consulting the gods, the priest advised the
fisherman to throw the coral back into the sea with
incantations. While so doing this block became Ha-
waii-loa. The fishing continued and blocks of coral
were caught and thrown back into the sea until all the
islands appeared. Hints of this legend cling to other
island groups as well as to the Hawaiian Islands.
Fornander credits a fisherman from foreign lands as
thus bringing forth the Hawaiian Islands from the
deep seas. The reference occurs in part of a chant
known as that of a friend of Paao — the priest who is
supposed to have come from Samoa to Hawaii in the
eleventh century. This priest calls for his com-
panions :
"Here are the canoes. Get aboard.
Come along, and dwell on Hawaii with the green back.
A land which was found in the ocean,
A land thrown up from the sea —
From the very depths of Kanaloa,
The white coral, in the watery caves,
That was caught on the hook of the fisherman."
The god Kanaloa is sometimes known as a ruler of
the under-world, whose land was caught by Maui's
30 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
hook and brought up in islands. Thus in the legends
the thought has been perpetuated that some one of
the ancestors of the Polynesians made voyages and
discovered islands.
In the time of Umi, King of Hawaii, there is the
following record of an immense bone fish-hook, which
was called the ' ' fish-hook of Maui : ' '
"In the night of Muku (the last night of the month),
a priest and his servants took a man, killed him, and
fastened his body to the hook, which bore the name
Manai-a-ka-lani, and dragged it to the heiau (temple)
as a ' fish, ' and placed it on the altar. ' '
This hook was kept until the time of Kamehameha
I. From time to time he tried to break it, and pulled
until he perspired.
Peapea, a brother of Kaahumanu, took the hook
and broke it. He was afraid that Kamehameha would
kill him. Kaahumanu, however, soothed the King,
and he passed the matter over. The broken bone was
probably thrown away.
III
III.
MAUI LIFTING THE SKY.
>nC AUI 'S home was for a long time enveloped by
j l\ darkness. The heavens had fallen down, or,
rather, had not been separated from the earth.
According to some legends, the skies pressed so closely
and so heavily upon the earth that when the plants
began to grow, all the leaves were necessarily flat.
According to other legends, the plants had to push up
the clouds a little, and thus caused the leaves to
flatten out into larger surface, so that they could bet-
ter drive the skies back and hold them in place. Thus
the leaves became flat at first, and have so remained
through all the days of mankind. The plants lifted the
sky inch by inch until men were able to crawl about
between the heavens and the earth, and thus pass
from place to place and visit one another.
After a long time, according to the Hawaiian
legends, a man, supposed to be Maui, came to a woman
and said: "Give me a drink from your gourd cala-
32 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
bash, and I will push the heavens higher." The
woman handed the gourd to him. When he had taken
a deep draught, he braced himself against the clouds
and lifted them to the height of the trees. Again he
hoisted the sky and carried it to the tops of the moun-
tains; then with great exertion he thrust it upwards
once more, and pressed it to the place it now occu-
pies. Nevertheless dark clouds many times hang low
along the eastern slope of Maui's great mountain —
Haleakala — and descend in heavy rains upon the hill
Kauwiki ; but they dare not stay, lest Maui the strong
come and hurl them so far away that they cannot
come back again.
A man who had been watching the process of lift-
ing the sky ridiculed Maui for attempting such a diffi-
cult task. When the clouds rested on the tops of the
mountains, Maui turned to punish his critic. The
man had fled to the other side of the island. Maui
rapidly pursued and finally caught him on the sea
coast, not many miles north of the town now known
as Lahaina. After a brief struggle the man was
changed, according to the story, into a great black
rock, which can be seen by any traveller who desires
to localize the legends of Hawaii.
> In Samoa Tiitii, the latter part of the full name of
Mauikiikii, is used as the name of the one who braced
his feet against the rocks and pushed the sky up. The
MAUI LIFTING THE SKY. 33
foot-prints, some six feet long, are said to be shown
by the natives.
Another Samoan story is almost like the Hawaiian
legend. The heavens had fallen, people crawled, but «
the leaves pushed up a little; but the sky was uneven.
Men tried to walk, but hit their heads, and in this con-
fined space it was very hot. A woman rewarded a
man who lifted the sky to its proper place by giving
him a drink of water from her cocoanut shell.
A number of small groups of islands in the Pacific
have legends of their skies being lifted, but they at-
tribute the labor to the great eels and serpents of
the sea.
One of the Ellice group, Niu Island, says that as
the serpent began to lift the sky the people clapped
their hands and shouted "Lift up!" "High!"
"Higher!" But the body of the serpent finally broke
into pieces which became islands, and the blood
sprinkled its drops on the sky and became stars.
One of the Samoan legends says that a plant called
daiga, which had one large umbrella-like leaf, pushed
up the sky and gave it its shape.
The Vatupu, or Tracey Islanders, said at one time
the sky and rocks were united. Then steam or clouds
of smoke rose from the rocks, and, pouring out in
volumes, forced the sky away from the earth. Man
appeared in these clouds of steam or smoke. Perspira-
tion burst forth as this man forced his way through
34 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
the heated atmosphere. From this perspiration woman
was formed. Then were born three sons, two of
whom pushed up the sky. One, in the north, pushed
as far as his arms would reach. The one in the south
was short and climbed a hill, pushing as he went up,
until the sky was in its proper place.
The Gilbert Islanders say the sky was pushed up
by men with long poles.
The ancient New Zealanders understood incanta-
tions by which they could draw up or discover. They
found a land where the sky and the earth were united.
They prayed over their stone axe and cut the sky and
land apart. "Hau-hau-tu" was the name of the great
stone axe by which the sinews of the great heaven
above were severed, and Rangi (sky) was separated
from Papa (earth).
The New Zealand Maoris were accustomed to say
that at first the sky rested close upon the earth and
therefore there was utter darkness for ages. Then
the six sons of heaven and earth, born during this
period of darkness, felt the need of light and discussed
the necessity of separating their parents — the sky from
the earth — and decided to attempt the work.
Kongo (Hawaiian god Lono) the "father of food
plants," attempted to lift the sky, but could not tear
it from the earth. Then Tangaroa (Kanaloa), the
"father of fish and reptiles," failed. Haumia Tiki-tiki
who was the "father of wild food plants," could
MAUI LIFTING THE SKY. 35
not raise the clouds. Then Tu (Hawaiian Ku), the
"father of fierce men," struggled in vain. But Tane
(Hawaiian Kane), the "father of giant forests,"
pushed and lifted until he thrust the sky far up above
him. Then they discovered their descendants — the
multitude of human beings who had been living on
the earth concealed and crushed by the clouds. After-
wards the last son, Tawhiri (father of storms), was
angry and waged war against his brothers. He hid
in the sheltered hollows of the great skies. There he
begot his vast brood of winds and storms with which
he finally drove all his brothers and their descendants
into hiding places on land and sea. The New Zea-
landers mention the names of the canoes in which
their ancestors fled from the old home Hawaiki.
Tu (father of fierce men) and his descendants, how-
ever, conquered wind and storm and have ever since
held supremacy.
The New Zealand legends also say that heaven and
earth have never lost their love for each other. "The
warm sighs of earth ever ascend from the wooded
mountains and valleys, and men call them mists. The
sky also lets fall frequent tears which men term dew
drops."
The Manihiki islanders say that Maui desired to
separate the sky from the earth. His father ( Ru, was
the supporter of the heavens. Maui persuaded him to
assist in lifting the burden. Maui went to the north
36 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
and crept into a place, where, lying prostrate under
the sky, he could brace himself against it and push
with great power. In the same way Ru went to the
south and braced himself against the southern skies.
Then they made the signal, and both pressed "with
their backs against the solid blue mass." It gave way
before the great strength of the father and son. Then
they lifted again, bracing themselves with hands and
knees against the earth. They crowded it and bent it
upward. They were able to stand with the sky resting
on their shoulders. They heaved against the bending
mass, and it receded rapidly. They quickly put the
palms of their hands under it; then the tips of their
fingers, and it retreated farther and farther. At last,
"drawing themselves out to gigantic proportions, they
pushed the entire heavens up to the very lofty position
which they have ever since occupied."
But Maui and Ru had not worked perfectly to-
gether; therefore the sky was twisted and its surface
was very irregular. They determined to smooth the
sky before they finished their task, so they took large
stone adzes and chipped off the rough protuberances
and ridges, until by and by the great arch was cut out
and smoothed off. They then took finer tools and
chipped and polished until the sky became the beau-
tifully finished blue dome which now bends around
the earth.
The Hervey Island myth, as related by "W. W. Gill,
MAUI LIFTING THE SKY. 37
states that Ru, the father of Maui, came from Avaiki
(Hawa-iki), the underworld or abode of the spirits
of the dead. He found men crowded down by the
sky, which was a mass of solid blue stone. He was
very sorry when he saw the condition of the inhabi-
tants of the earth, and planned to raise the sky a little.
So he planted stakes of different kinds of trees. These
were strong enough to hold the sky so far above the
earth 'that men could stand erect and walk about
without inconvenience." This was celebrated in one
of the Hervey Island songs:
"Force up the heavens,
O, Eu!
And let the space be clear."
For this helpful deed Ru received the name "The
supporter of the heavens." He was rather proud of
his achievement and was gratified because of the
praise received. So he came sometimes and looked at
the stakes and the beautiful blue sky resting on them.
Maui, the son, came along and ridiculed his father for
thinking so much of his work. Maui is not repre-
sented, in the legends, as possessing a great deal of
love and reverence for his relatives provided his af-
fection interfered with his mischief; so it was not at
all strange that he laughed at his father. Ru became
angry and said to Maui: "Who told youngsters to
talk? Take care of yourself, or I will hurl you out
of existence."
38 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Maui dared him to try it. Ru quickly seized him
and "threw him to a great height." But Maui changed
himself to a bird and sank back to earth unharmed.
Then he changed himself back into the form of a
man, and, making himself very large, ran and thrust
his head between the old man's legs. He pried and
lifted until Ru and the sky around him began to give.
Another lift and he hurled them both to such a height
that the sky could not come back.
Ru himself was entangled among the stars. His
head and shoulders stuck fast, and he could not free
himself. How he struggled, until the skies shook,
while Maui went away. Maui was proud of his
achievement in having moved the sky so far away.
In this self -rejoicing he quickly forgot his father.
Ru died after a time. "His body rotted away and
his bones, of vast proportions, came tumbling down
from time to time, and were shivered on the earth into
countless fragments. These shattered bones of Ru
are scattered over every hill and valley of one of the
islands, to the very edge of the sea."
Thus the natives of the Hervey Islands account for
the many pieces of porous lava and the small pieces
of pumice stone found occasionally in their islands.
The "bones" were very light and greatly resembled
fragments of real bone. If the fragments were large
enough they were sometimes taken and worshiped as
gods. One of these pieces, of extraordinary size, was
MAUI LIFTING THE SKY. 39
given to Mr. Gill when the natives were bringing in
a large collection of idols. "This one was known as
'The Light Stone,' and was worshiped as the god of
the wind and the waves. Upon occasions of a hurri-
cane, incantations and offerings of food would be
made to it."
Thus, according to different Polynesian legends,
Maui raised the sky and made the earth inhabitable
for his fellow-men.
IV
IV.
MAUI SNARING THE SUN.
"Maui became restless and fought the sun
With a noose that he laid.
And winter won the sun,
And summer was won by Maui. "
— Queen Liliuokalani 'B Family Chant.
HVERY unique legend is found among the
widely-scattered Polynesians. The story of
Maui's "Snaring the Sun" was told among
the Maoris of New Zealand, the Kanakas of the Her-
vey and Society Islands, and the ancient natives of
Hawaii. The Samoans tell the same story without
mentioning the name of Maui. They say that the
snare was cast by a child of the sun itself.
The Polynesian stories of the origin of the sun are
worthy of note before the legend of the change from
short to long days is given.
The Rarotongans, according to W. "W. Gill, tell
the story of the origin of the sun and moon. They
MAUI SNARING THE SUN. 41
say that Vatea (Wakea) and their ancestor Tongaiti
quarreled concerning a child — each claiming it as his
own. In the struggle the child was cut in two. Vatea
squeezed and rolled the part he secured into a ball
and threw it away, far up into the heavens, where it
became the sun. It shone brightly as it rolled along
the heavens, and sank down to Avaiki (Hawaiki), the
nether world. But the ball came back again and once
more rolled across the sky. Tonga-iti had let his half
of the child fall on the ground and lie there, until
made envious by the beautiful ball Vatea made.
At last he took the flesh which lay on the ground
and made it into a ball. As the sun sank he threw
his ball up into the darkness, and it rolled along the
heavens, but the blood had drained out of the flesh
while it lay upon the ground, therefore it could not
become so red and burning as the sun, and had not
life to move so swiftly. It was as white as a dead
body, because its blood was all gone; and it could not
make the darkness flee away as the sun had done.
Thus day and night and the sun and moon always
remain with the earth.
The legends of the Society Islands say that a demon
in the west became angry with the sun and in his
rage ate it up, causing night. In the same way a
demon from the east would devour the moon, but for
some reason these angry ones could not destroy their
captives and were compelled to open their mouths
42 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
and let the bright balls come forth once more. In
some places a sacrifice of some one of distinction was
needed to placate the wrath of the devourers and free
the balls of light in times of eclipse.
The moon, pale and dead in appearance, moved
slowly; while the sun, full of life and strength, moved
quickly. Thus days were very short and nights were
very long. Mankind suffered from the fierceness of
the heat of the sun and also from its prolonged ab-
sence. Day and night were alike a burden to men.
The darkness was so great and lasted so long that
fruits would not ripen.
After Maui had succeeded in throwing the heavens
into their place, and fastening them so that they could
not fall, he learned that he had opened a way for the
sun-god to come up from the lower world and rapidly
run across the blue vault. This made two troubles
for men — the heat of the sun was very great and the
journey too quickly over. Maui planned to capture
the sun and punish him for thinking so little about
the welfare of mankind.
As Rev. A. 0. Forbes, a missionary among the Ha-
waiians, relates, Maui's mother was troubled very
much by the heedless haste of the sun. She had many
kapa-cloths to make, for this was the only kind of
clothing known in Hawaii, except sometimes a woven
mat or a long grass fringe worn as a skirt. This na-
tive cloth was made by pounding the fine bark of cer-
lao Mountain from the Sea.
MAUI SNARIlsG THE SUN. 43
tain trees with wooden mallets until the fibres were
beaten and ground into a wood pulp. Then she
pounded the pulp into thin sheets from which the
best sleeping mats and clothes could be fashioned.
These kapa cloths had to be thoroughly dried, but
the days were so short that by the time she had
spread out the kapa the sun had heedlessly rushed
across the sky and gone down into the under-world,
and all the cloth had to be gathered up again and
cared for until another day should come. There were
other troubles. "The food could not be prepared and
cooked in one day. Even an incantation to the gods
could not be chanted through ere they were overtaken
by darkness."
This was very discouraging and caused great suf-
fering, as well as much unnecessary trouble and labor.
Many complaints were made against the thoughtless
sun.
Maui pitied his mother and determined to make the
sun go slower that the days might be long enough to
satisfy the needs of men. Therefore, he went over to
the northwest of the island on which he lived. This
was Mt. lao, an extinct volcano, in which lies one of
the most beautiful and picturesque valleys of the
Hawaiian Islands. He climbed the ridges until he
could see the course of the sun as it passed over the
island. He saw that the sun came up the eastern
side of Mt. Haleakala. He crossed over the plain be-
44 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
tween the two mountains and climbed to the top of
Mt. Haleakala. There he watched the burning sun
as it came up from Koolau and passed directly over
the top of the mountain. The summit of Haleakala
is a great extinct crater twenty miles in circumfer-
ence, and nearly twenty-five hundred feet in depth.
There are two tremendous gaps or chasms in the
side of the crater wall, through which in days gone
by the massive bowl poured forth its flowing lava.
One of these was the Koolau, or eastern gap, in which
Maui probably planned to catch the sun.
Mt. Hale-a-ka-la of the Hawaiian Islands means
House-of-the-sun. "La," or "Ra," is the name of the
sun throughout parts of Polynesia. Ra was the sun-
god of ancient Egypt. Thus the antiquities of Poly-
nesia and Egypt touch each other, and today no man
knows the full reason thereof.
The Hawaiian legend says Maui was taunted by a
man who ridiculed the idea that he could snare the
sun, saying, "You will never catch the sun. You are
only an idle nobody."
Maui replied, "When I conquer my enemy and my
desire is attained, I will be your death. ' '
After studying the path of the sun, Maui returned
to his mother and told her that he would go and cut
off the legs of the sun so that he could not run so
fast.
His mother said: "Are you strong enough for this
MAUI SNARING THE SUN. 45
work?" He said, "Yes." Then she gave him fifteen
strands of well-twisted fiber and told him to go to his
grandmother, who lived in the great crater of Hale-
akala, for the rest of the things in his conflict with
the sun. She said: "You must climb the mountain
to the place where a large wiliwili tree is standing.
There you will find the place where the sun stops to
eat cooked bananas prepared by your grandmother.
Stay there until a rooster crows three times; then
watch your grandmother go out to make a fire and
put on food. You had better take her bananas. She
will look for them and find you and ask who you are.
Tell her you belong to Hina."
When she had taught him all these things, he went
up the mountain to Kaupo to the place Hina had di-
rected. There was a large wiliwili tree. Here he
waited for the rooster to crow. The name of that
rooster was Kalauhele-moa. When the rooster had
crowed three times, the grandmother came out with a
bunch of bananas to cook for the sun. She took off
the upper part of the bunch and laid it down. Maui
immediately snatched it away. In a moment she
turned to pick it up, but could not find it. She was
angry and cried out: "Where are the bananas of the
sun?" Then she took off another part of the bunch,
and Maui stole that. Thus he did until all the bunch
had been taken away. She was almost blind and
could not detect him by sight, so she sniffed all around
46 MAUT— A DEMI-GOD.
her until she detected the smell of a man. She asked:
"Who are you? To whom do you belong?" Maui
replied : ' ' I belong to Hina. " ' ' Why have you come ? ' '
Maui told her, "I have come to kill the sun. He goes
so fast that he never dries the kapa Hina has beaten
out."
The old woman gave a magic stone for a battle axe
and one more rope. She taught him how to catch the
sun, saying: "Make a place to hide here by this large
wiliwili tree. When the first leg of the sun comes up,
catch it with your first rope, and so on until you have
used all your ropes. Fasten them to the tree, then
take the stone axe to strike the body of the sun."
Maui dug a hole among the roots of the tree and
concealed himself. Soon the first ray of light — the
first leg of the sun — came up along the mountain side.
Maui threw his rope and caught it. One by one the
legs of the sun came over the edge of the crater's rim
and were caught. Only one long leg was still hang-
ing down the side of the mountain. It was hard for
the sun to move that leg. It shook and trembled and
tried hard to come up. At last it crept over the edge
and was caught by Maui with the rope given by his
grandmother.
When the sun saw that his sixteen long legs were
held fast in the ropes, he began to go back down the
mountain side into the sea. Then Maui tied the ropes
fast to the tree and pulled until the body of the sun
MAUI SNARING THE SUN. 47
came up again. Brave Maui caught his magic stone
club or axe, and began to strike and wound the sun,
until he cried : ' ' Give me my life. ' ' Maui said : " If you
live, you may be a traitor. Perhaps I had better kill
you." But the sun begged for life. After they had
conversed a while, they agreed that there should be
a regular motion in the journey of the sun. There
should be longer days, and yet half the time he might
go quickly as in the winter time, but the other half he
must move slowly as in summer. Thus men dwelling
on the earth should be blessed.
Another legend says that he made a lasso and climbed
to the summit of Mt. Haleakala. He made ready his
lasso, so that when the sun came up the mountain
side and rose above him he could cast the noose and
catch the sun, but he only snared one of the sun's
larger rays and broke it off. Again and again he threw
the lasso until he had broken off all the strong rays
of the sun.
Then he shouted exultantly, "Thou art my captive;
I will kill thee for going so swiftly. ' '
Then the sun said, "Let me live and thou shalt see
me go more slowly hereafter. Behold, hast thou not
broken off all my strong legs and left me only the weak
ones?"
So the agreement was made, and Maui permitted
the sun to pursue his course, and from that day he
went more slowly.
48 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Maui returned from his conflict with the sun and
sought for Moemoe, the man who had ridiculed him.
Maui chased this man around the island from one
side to the other until they had passed through La-
haina (one of the first mission stations in 1828). There
on the seashore near the large black rock of the legend
of Maui lifting the sky he found Moemoe. Then they
left the seashore and the contest raged up hill and
down until Maui slew the man and "changed the body
into a long rock, which is there to this day, by the side
of the road going past Black Rock."
Before the battle with the sun occurred Maui went
down into the underworld, according to the New Zea-
land tradition, and remained a long time with his rela-
tives. In some way he learned that there was an en-
chanted jawbone in the possession of some one of his
ancestors, so he waited and waited, hoping that at last
he might discover it.
After a time he noticed that presents of food were
being sent away to some person wfiom he had not met.
One day he asked the messengers, "Who is it you
are taking that present of food to?"
The people answered, "It is for Muri, your ances-
tress."
Then he asked for the food, saying, "I will carry it
to her myself."
But he took the food away and hid it. "And this
MAUI SNARING THE SUN. 49
he did for many days," and the presents failed to reach
the old woman.
By and by she suspected mischief, for it did not
seem as if her friends would neglect her so long a
time, so she thought she would catch the tricky one
and eat him. She depended upon her sense of smell
to detect the one who had troubled her. As Sir George
Grey tells the story: "When Maui came along the
path carrying the present of food, the old chief ess
sniffed and sniffed until she was sure that she smelt
some one coming. She was very much exasperated, and
her stomach began to distend itself that she might be
ready to devour this one when he came near.
Then she turned toward the south and sniffed and
not a scent of anything reached her. Then she turned
to the north, and to the east, but could not detect the
odor of a human being. She made one more trial and
turned toward the west. Ah! then came the scent of
a man to her plainly and she called out 'I know, from
the smell wafted to 'me by the breeze, that somebody
is close to me.' "
Maui made known his presence and the old woman
knew that he was a descendant of hers, and her stomach
began immediately to shrink and contract itself
again.
Then she asked, "Art thou Maui?"
He answered, "Even so," and told her that he
60 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
wanted "the jaw-bone by which great enchantments
could be wrought. ' '
Then Muri, the old chiefess, gave him the magic
bone and he returned to his brothers, who were still
living on the earth.
Then Maui said: "Let us now catch the sun in a
noose that we may compel him to move more slowly
in order that mankind may have long days to labor in
and procure subsistence for themselves."
They replied, "No man can approach it on account
of the fierceness of the heat."
According to the Society Island legend, his mother
advised him to have nothing to do with the sun, who
was a divine living creature, "in form like a man,
possessed of fearful energy," shaking his golden locks
both morning and evening in the eyes of men. Many
persons had tried to regulate the movements of the
sun, but had failed completely.
But Maui encouraged his mother and his brothers
by asking them to remember his power to protect him-
self by the use of enchantments.
The Hawaiian legend says that Maui himself gath-
ered cocoanut fibre in great quantity and manufac-
tured it into strong ropes. But the legends of other
islands say that he had the aid of his brothers, and
while working learned many useful lessons. While
winding and twisting they discovered how to make
square ropes and flat ropes as well as the ordinary
MAUI SNARING THE SUN. 51
round rope. In the Society Islands, it is said, Maui
and his brothers made six strong ropes of great length.
These he called aeiariki (royal nooses).
The New Zealand legend says that when Maui and
his brothers had finished making all the ropes required
they took provisions and other things needed and jour-
neyed toward the east to find the place where the sun
should rise. Maui carried with him the magic jaw-bone
which he had secured from Muri, his ancestress, in
the under-world.
They travelled all night and concealed themselves by
day so that the sun should not see them and become
too suspicious and watchful. In this way they jour-
neyed, until "at length they had gone very far to the
eastward and had come to the very edge of the place
out of which the sun rises. There they set to work
and built on each side a long, high wall of clay, with
huts of boughs of trees at each end to hide themselves
in."
Here they laid a large noose made from their ropes
and Maui concealed himself on one side of this place
along which the sun must come, while his brothers
hid on the other side.
Maui seized his magic enchanted jaw-bone as the
weapon with which to fight the sun, and ordered his
brothers to pull hard on the noose and not to be
frightened or moved to set the sun free.
"At last the sun came rising up out of his place like
62 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
a fire spreading far and wide over the mountains and
forests.
He rises up.
His head passes through the noose.
The ropes are pulled tight.
Then the monster began to struggle and roll him-
self about, while the snare jerked backwards and for-
wards as he struggled. Ah! was not he held fast in
the ropes of his enemies.
Then forth rushed that bold hero Maui with his
enchanted weapon. The sun screamed aloud and
roared. Maui struck him fiercely with many blows.
They held him for a long time. At last they let him
go, and then weak from wounds the sun crept very
slowly and feebly along his course."
In this way the days were made longer so that men
could perform their daily tasks and fruits and food
plants could have time to grow.
The legend of the Hervey group of islands says
that Maui made six snares and placed them at inter-
vals along the path over which the sun must pass.
The sun in the form of a man climbed up from Ava-
iki (Hawaiki). Maui pulled the first noose, but it
slipped down the rising sun until it caught and was
pulled tight around his feet.
Maui ran quickly to pull the ropes of the second
snare, but that also slipped down, down, until it was
tightened around the knees. Then Maui hastened to
Hale-a-Ka-la Crater, where the Sun was caught.
MAUI SNARING THE SUN. 53
the third snare, while the sun was trying to rush
along on his journey. The third snare caught around
the hips. The fourth snare fastened itself around the
waist. The fifth slipped under the arms, and yet the
sun sped along as if but little inconvenienced by
Maui's efforts.
Then Maui caught the last noose and threw it
around the neck of the sun, and fastened the rope to
a spur of rock. The sun struggled until nearly
strangled to death and then gave up, promising Maui
that he would go as slowly as was desired. Maui left
the snares fastened to the sun to keep him in con-
stant fear.
"These ropes may still be seen hanging from the
sun at dawn and stretching into the skies when he
descends into the ocean at night. By the assistance
of these ropes he is gently let down into Ava-iki in
the evening, and also raised up out of shadow-land in
the morning. ' '
Another legend from the Society Islands is related
by Mr. Gill:
Maui tried many snares before he could catch the
sun. The sun was the Hercules, or the Samson, of
the heavens. He broke the strong cords of cocoanut
fibre which Maui made and placed around the opening
by which the sun climbed out from the under-world.
Maui made stronger ropes, but still the sun broke
them every one.
54 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Then Maui thought of his sister's hair, the sister
Inaika, whom he cruelly treated in later years. Her
hair was long and beautiful. He cut off some of it
and made a strong rope. With this he lassoed or
rather snared the sun, and caught him around the
throat. The sun quickly promised to be more thought-
ful of the needs of men and go at a more reasonable
pace across the sky.
A story from the American Indians is told in Ha-
waii's Young People, which is very similar to the
Polynesian legends.
An Indian boy became very angry with the sun for
getting so warm and making his clothes shrink with
the heat. He told his sister to make a snare. The
girl took sinews from a large deer, but they shriveled
under the heat. She took her own long hair and made
snares, but they were burned in a moment. Then
she tried the fibres of various plants and was success-
ful. Her brother took the fibre cord and drew it
through his lips. It stretched and became a strong
red cord. He pulled and it became very long. He
went to the place of sunrise, fixed his snare, and
caught the sun. When the sun had been sufficiently
punished, the animals of the earth studied the problem
of setting the sun free. At last a mouse as large as a
mountain ran and gnawed the red cord. It broke and
the sun moved on, but the poor mouse had been
MAUI SNARING THE SUN. 55
burned and shriveled into the small mouse of the
present day.
A Samoan legend says that a woman living for a
time with the sun bore a child who had the name
" Child of the Sun." She wanted gifts for the child's
marriage, so she took a long vine, climbed a tree, made
the vine into a noose, lassoed the sun, and made him
give her a basket of blessings.
In Fiji, the natives tie the grasses growing on a
hilltop over which they are passing, when traveling
from place to place. They do this to make a snare to
catch the sun if he should try to go down before they
reach the end of their day's journey.
This legend is a misty memory of some time when
the Polynesian people .were in contact with the short
days of the extreme north or south. It is a very re-
markable exposition of a fact of nature perpetuated
many centuries in lands absolutely free from such
natural phenomena.
MAUI FINDING FIRE.
"Grant, oh grant me thy hidden fire,
O Banyan Tree.
Perform an incantation,
Utter a prayer
To the Banyan Tree.
Kindle a fire in the dust
Of the Banyan Tree."
— Translation of ancient Polynesian chant.
HMONG students of mythology certain charac-
ters in the legends of the various nations are
known as " culture heroes." Mankind has
from time to time learned exceedingly useful lessons
and has also usually ascribed the new knowledge to
some noted person in the national mythology. These
mythical benefactors who have brought these prac-
tical benefits to men are placed among the "hero-
gods." They have been teachers or "culture heroes"
to mankind.
MAUI FINDING FIRE. 57
Probably the fire finders of the different nations are
among the best remembered of all these benefactors.
This would naturally be the case, for no greater good
has touched man's physical life than the discovery of
methods of making fire.
Prometheus, the classical fire finder, is most widely
known in literature. But of all the helpful gods of
mythology, Maui, the mischievous Polynesian, is be-
yond question the hero of the largest number of na-
tions scattered over the widest extent of territory.
Prometheus belonged to Rome, but Maui belonged to
the length and breadth of the Pacific Ocean. Theft
or trickery, the use of deceit of some kind, is almost
inseparably connected with fire finding all over the
world. Prometheus stole fire from Jupiter and gave
it to men together with the genius to make use of it
in the arts and sciences. He found the rolling chariot
of the sun, secretly filled his hollow staff with fire,
carried it to earth, put a part in the breast of man to
create enthusiasm or animation, and saved the re-
mainder for the comfort of mankind to be used with
the artist skill of Minerva and Vulcan. In Brittany
the golden or fire-crested wren steals fire and is red-
marked while so doing. The animals of the North
American Indians are represented as stealing fire
sometimes from the cuttle fish and sometimes from
one another. Some swiftly-flying bird or fleet-footed
68 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
coyote would carry the stolen fire to the home of the
tribe.
The possession of fire meant to the ancients all
that wealth means to the family of today. It meant
the possession of comfort. The gods were naturally
determined to keep this wealth in their own hands.
For any one to make a sharp deal and cheat a god
of fire out of a part of this valuable property or to
make a courageous raid upon the fire guardian and
steal the treasure, was easily sufficient to make that
one a "culture hero." As a matter of fact a prehis-
toric family without fire would go to any length in
order to get it. The fire finders would naturally be
the hero-gods and stealing fire would be an exploit
rather than a crime.
It is worth noting that in many myths not only was
fire stolen, but birds marked by red or black spots
among their feathers were associated with the theft.
It would naturally be supposed that the Hawaiians
living in a volcanic country with ever-flowing foun-
tains of lava, would connect their fire myths with some
volcano when relating the story of the origin of fire.
But like the rest of the Polynesians, they found fire
in trees rather than in rivers of melted rock. They
must have brought their fire legends and fire customs
with them when they came to the islands of active
volcanoes.
Flint rocks as fire producers are not found in the
MAUI FINDING FIRE. 59
Hawaiian myths, nor in the stories from the island
groups related to the Hawaiians. Indians might see
the fleeing buffalo strike fire from the stones under
his hard hoofs. The Tartars might have a god to
teach them "the secret of the stone's edge and the
iron's hardness." The Peruvians could very easily
form a legend of their mythical father Guamansuri
finding a way to make fire after he had seen the sling
stones, thrown at his enemies, bring forth sparks of
fire from the rocks against which they struck. The
thunder and the lightning of later years were the
sparks and the crash of stones hurled among the cloud
mountains by the mighty gods.
In Australia the story is told of an old man and his
daughter who lived in great darkness. After a time
the father found the doorway of light through which
the sun passed on his journey. He opened the door
and a flood of sunshine covered the earth. His
daughter looked around her home and saw numbers
of serpents. She seized a staff and began to kill
them. She wielded it so vigorously that it became hot
in her hands. At last it broke, but the pieces rubbed
against each other and flashed into sparks and flames.
Thus it was learned that fire was buried in wood.
Flints were known in Europe and Asia and Amer-
ica, but the Polynesian looked to the banyan and kin-
dred trees for the hidden sparks of fire. The natives
of De Peyster's Island say that their ancestors learned
60 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
how to make fire by seeing smoke rise from crossed
branches rubbing together while trees were shaken
by fierce winds.
In studying the Maui myths of the Pacific it is
necessary to remember that Polynesians use "t" and
"k" without distinguishing them apart, and also as
in the Hawaiian Islands an apostrophe (') is often
used in place of "t" or "k". Therefore the Maui
Ki-i-k-i'i of Hawaii becomes the demi-god Tiki-tiki of
the Gilbert Islands — or the Ti'i-ti'i of Samoa or the
Tikitiki of New Zealand — or other islands of the great
ocean. We must also remember that in the Hawaiian
legends Kalana is Maui's father. This in other groups
becomes Talanga or Kalanga or Karanga. Kanaloa,
the great god of most of the different Polynesians, is
also sometimes called the Father of Maui. It is not
strange that some of the exploits usually ascribed to
Maui should be in some places transferred to his
father under one name or the other. On one or two
groups Mafuia, an ancestress of Maui, is mentioned
as finding the fire. The usual legend makes Maui the
one who takes fire away from Mafuia. The story of
fire finding in Polynesia sifts itself to Maui under one
of his widely-accepted names, or to his father or to
his ancestress — with but very few exceptions. This
fact is important as showing in a very marked man-
ner the race relationship of a vast number of the
islanders of the Pacific world. From the Marshall
MAUI FINDING FIRE. 61
Islands, in the west, to the Society Islands of the
east; from the Hawaiian Islands in the north to the
New Zealand group in the south, the footsteps of
Maui the fire finder can be traced.
The Hawaiian story of fire finding is one of the
least marvelous of all the legends. Hina, Maui's
mother, wanted fish. One morning early Maui saw
that the great storm waves of the sea had died down
and the fishing grounds could be easily reached. He
awakened his brothers and with them hastened to the
beach. This was at Kaupo on the island of Maui.
Out into the gray shadows of the dawn they paddled.
When they were far from shore they began to fish.
But Maui, looking landward, saw a fire on the moun-
tain side.
' ' Behold, ' ' he cried. ' ' There is a fire burning. Whose
can this fire be?"
"Whose, indeed?" his brothers replied.
"Let us hasten to the shore and cook our food,"
said one.
They decided that they had better catch some fish to
cook before they returned. Thus, in the morning, be-
fore the hot sun drove the fish deep down to the dark
recesses of the sea, they fished until a bountiful sup-
ply lay in the bottom of the canoe.
When they came to land, Maui leaped out and ran
up the mountain side to get the fire. For a long, long
time they had been without fire. The great volcano
62 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Haleakala above them had become extinct — and they
had lost the coals they had tried to keep alive. They
had eaten fruits and uncooked roots and the shell fish
broken from the reef — and sometimes the great raw
fish from the far-out ocean. But now they hoped to
gain living fire and cooked food.
But when Maui rushed up toward the cloudy pillar
of smoke he saw a family of birds scratching the fire
out. Their work was finished and they flew away just
as he reached the place.
Maui and his brothers watched for fire day after
day — but the birds, the curly-tailed Alae (or the mud-
hens) made no fire. Finally the brothers went fishing
once more — but when they looked toward the moun-
tain, again they saw flames and smoke. Thus it hap-
pened to them again and again.
Maui proposed to his brothers that they go fishing
leaving him to watch the birds. But the Alae counted
the fishermen and refused to build a fire for the hidden
one who was watching them. They said among them-
selves, "Three are in the boat and we know not where
the other one is, we will make no fire today."
So the experiment failed again and again. If one
or two remained or if all waited on the land there
would be no fire — but the dawn which saw the four
brothers in the boat, saw also the fire on the land.
Finally Maui rolled some kapa cloth together and
stuck it up in one end of the canoe so that it would
MAUI FINDING FIRE. 63
look like a man. He then concealed himself near the
haunt of the mud-hens, while his brothers went out
fishing. The birds counted the figures in the boat and
then started to build a heap of wood for the fire.
Maui was impatient — and just as the old Alae be-
gan to select sticks with which to make the flames
he leaped swiftly out and caught her and held her
prisoner. He forgot for a moment that he wanted the
secret of fire making. In his anger against the wise
bird his first impulse was to taunt her and then kill
her for hiding the secret of fire.
But the Alae cried out: "If you are the death of
me — my secret will perish also — and you cannot have
fire."
Maui then promised to spare her life if she would
tell him what to do.
Then came the contest of wits. The bird told the
demi-god to rub the stalks of water plants together.
He guarded the bird and tried the plants. Water in-
stead of fire ran out of the twisted stems. Then she
told him to rub reeds together — but they bent and
broke and could make no fire. He twisted her neck
until she was half dead — then she cried out: "I have
hidden the fire in a green stick."
Maui worked hard, but not a spark of fire appeared.
Again he caught his prisoner by the head and wrung
her neck, and she named a kind of dry wood. Maui
rubbed the sticks together, but they only became warm.
64 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
The neck twisting process was resumed — and repeated
again and again, until the mud-hen was almost dead
— and Maui had tried tree after tree. At last Maui
found fire. Then as the flames rose he said: "There
is one more thing to rub." He took a fire stick and
rubbed the top of the head of his prisoner until the
feathers fell off and the raw flesh appeared. Thus
the Hawaiian mud-hen and her descendants have ever
since had bald heads, and the Hawaiians have had the
secret of fire making.
Another Hawaiian legend places the scene of Maui's
contest with the mud-hens a little inland of the town
of Hilo on the Island of Hawaii. There are three
small extinct craters very near each other known as
The Halae Hills. One, the southern or Puna side of
the hills, is a place called Pohaku-nui. Here dwelt
two brother birds of the Alae family. They were gods.
One had the power of fire making. Here at Pohaku-
nui they were accustomed to kindle a fire and bake
their dearly loved food — baked bananas. Here Maui
planned to learn the secret of fire. The birds had
kindled the fire and the bananas were almost done,
when the elder Alae called to the younger: "Be quick,
here comes the swift son of Hina."
The birds scratched out the fire, caught the bananas
and fled. Maui told his mother he would follow them
until he learned the secret of fire. His mother en-
couraged him because he was very strong and very
MAUI FINDING FIRE. 65
swift. So he followed the birds from place to place
as they fled from him, finding new spots on which to
make their fires. At last they came to Waianae on
the island Oahu. There he saw a great fire and a
multitude of birds gathered around it, chattering
loudly and trying to hasten the baking of the bananas.
Their incantation was this: "Let us cook quick."
"Let us cook quick." "The swift child of Hina will
come. ' '
Maui's mother Hina had taught him how to know
the fire-maker. "If you go up to the fire, you will
find many birds. Only one is the guardian. This is
the small, young Alae. His name is Alae-iki: Only
this one knows how to make fire." So whenever
Maui came near to the fire-makers he always sought
for the little Alae. Sometimes he made mistakes and
sometimes almost captured the one he desired. At
Waianae he leaped suddenly among the birds. They
scattered the fire, and the younger bird tried
to snatch his banana from the coals and flee,
but Maui seized him and began to twist his
neck. The bird cried out, warning Maui not to
kill him or he would lose the secret of fire altogether.
Maui was told that the fire was made from a banana
stump. He saw the bananas roasting and thought
this was reasonable. So, according to directions, he
began to rub together pieces of the banana. The bird
hoped for an unguarded moment when he might es-
66 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
cape, but Maui was very watchful and was also very
angry when he found that rubbing only resulted in
squeezing out juice. Then he twisted the neck of the
bird and was told to rub the stem of the taro plant.
This also was so green that it only produced water.
Then he was so angry that he nearly rubbed the head
of the bird off — and the bird, fearing for its life, told
the truth and taught Maui how to find the wood in
which fire dwelt.
They learned to draw out the sparks secreted in dif-
ferent kinds of trees. The sweet sandalwood was one
of these fire trees. Its Hawaiian name is "Ili-ahi" —
the "ili" (bark) and "ahi" (fire), the bark in which
fire is concealed.
A legend of the Society Islands is somewhat similar.
Ina (Hina) promised to aid Maui in finding fire for
the islanders. She sent him into the under-world to
find Tangaroa (Kanaloa). This god Tangaroa held
fire in his possession — Maui was to know him by his
tattooed face. Down the dark path through the long
caves Maui trod swiftly until he found the god. Maui
asked him for fire to take up to men. The god gave
him a lighted stick and sent him away. But Maui
put the fire out and went back again after fire. This
he did several times, until the wearied giver decided
to teach the intruder the art of fire making. He called
a white duck to aid him. Then, taking two sticks of
dry wood, he gave the under one to the bird and
MAUI FINDING FIRE. 67
rapidly moved the upper stick across the under until
fire came. Maui seized the upper stick, after it had
been charred in the flame, and burned the head of the
bird back of each eye. Thus were made the black
spots which mark the head of the white duck. Then
arose a quarrel between Tangaroa and Maui — but
Maui struck down the god, and, thinking he had killed
him, carried away the art of making fire. His father
and mother made inquiries about their relative — Maui
hastened back to the fire fountain and made the spirit
return to the body — then, coming back to Ina, he bade
her good bye and carried the fire sticks to the upper-
world. The Hawaiians, and probably others among
the Polynesians, felt that any state of unconsciousness
was a form of death in which the spirit left the body,
but was called back by prayers and incantations.
Therefore, when Maui restored the god to conscious-
ness, he was supposed to have made the spirit released
by death return into the body and bring it back to
life.
In the Samoan legends as related by G. Turner, the
name Ti'iti'i is used. This is the same as the second
name found in Maui Ki'i-ki'i. The Samoan legend
of Ti'iti'i is almost identical with the New Zealand
fire myth of Maui, and is very similar to the story
coming from the Hervey Islands, from Savage
Island, and also from the Tokelau and other island
groups. The Samoan story says that the home of
08 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Mafuie the earthquake god was in the land of perpetual
fire. Haul's or Ti'iti'i's father Talanga (Kalana) was
also a resident of the under-world and a great friend of
the earthquake god.
Ti'iti'i watched his father as he left his home in the
upper-world. Talanga approached a perpendicular
wall of rock, said some prayer or incantation — and
passed through a door which immediately closed after
him. (This is a very near approach to the "open
sesame" of the Arabian Nights stories.)
Ti'iti'i went to the rock, but could not find the way
through. He determined to conceal himself the next
time so near that he could hear his father's words.
After some days he was able to catch all the words
uttered by his father as he knocked on the stone
door —
"O rock! divide.
I am Talanga,
I come to work
On my land
Given by Mafuie."
Ti'iti'i went to the perpendicular wall and imitating
his father's voice called for a rock to open. Down
through a cave he passed until he found his father
working in the under-world.
The astonished father, learning how his son came,
bade him keep very quiet and work lest he arouse the
MAUI FINDING FIRE. 69
anger of Mafuie. So for a time the boy labored obedi-
ently by his father's side.
In a little while the boy saw smoke and asked what
it was. The father told him that it was the smoke
from the fire of Mafuie, and explained what fire
would do.
The boy determined to get some fire — he went to
the place from which the smoke arose and there found
the god, and asked him for fire. Mafuie gave him fire
to carry to his father. The boy quickly had an oven
prepared and the fire placed in it to cook some of the
taro they had been cultivating. Just as everything
was ready an earthquake god came up and blew the
fire out and scattered the stones of the oven.
Then Ti'iti'i was angry and began to talk to Ma-
fuie. The god attacked the boy, intending to punish
him severely for daring to rebel against the destruc-
tion of the fire.
What a battle there was for a time in the under-
world! At last Ti'iti'i seized one of the arms of Ma-
fuie and broke it off. He caught the other arm and
began to twist and bend it.
Mafuie begged the boy to spare him. His right arm
was gone. How could he govern the earthquakes if
his left arm were torn off also? It was his duty to
hold Samoa level and not permit too many earth-
quakes. It would be hard to do that even with one
70 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
arm — but it would be impossible if both arms were
gone.
Ti'iti'i listened to the plea and demanded a reward
if he should spare the left arm. Mafuie offered Ti'iti'i
one hundred wives. The boy did not want them.
Then the god offered to teach him the secret of fire
finding to take to the upper-world.
The boy agreed to accept the fire secret, and thus
learned that the gods in making the earth had con-
cealed fire in various trees for men to discover in their
own good time, and that this fire could be brought out
by rubbing pieces of wood together.
The people of Samoa have not had much faith in
Mafuie 's plea that he needed his left arm in order to
keep Samoa level. They say that Mafuie has a long
stick or handle to the world under the islands — and
when he is angry or wishes to frighten them he moves
this handle and easily shakes the islands. When an
earthquake comes, they give thanks to Ti'iti'i for break-
ing off one arm — because if the god had two arms they
believe he would shake them unmercifully.
One legend of the Hervey Islands says that Maui and
his brothers had been living on uncooked food — but
learned that their mother sometimes had delicious food
which had been cooked. They learned also that fire
was needed in order to cook their food. Then Maui
wanted fire and watched his mother.
Maui's mother was the guardian of the way to the
MAUI FINDING FIRE. 71
invisible world. When she desired to pass from her
home to the other world, she would open a black rock
and pass inside. Thus she went to Hawaiki, the under-
world. Maui planned to follow her, but first studied
the forms of birds that he might assume the body of
the strongest and most enduring. After a time he
took the shape of a pigeon and, flying to the black
rock, passed through the door and flew down the long
dark passage-way.
After a time he found the god of fire living in a
bunch of banyan sticks. He changed himself into the
form of a man and demanded the secret of fire.
The fire-god agreed to give Maui fire if he would
permit himself to be tossed into the sky by the god's
strong arms.
Maui agreed on condition that he should have the
right to toss the fire-god afterwards.
The fire-god felt certain that there would be only
one exercise of strength — he felt that he had every-
thing in his own hands — so readily agreed to the toss-
ing contest. It was his intention to throw his opponent
so high that when he fell, if he ever did fall, there
would be no antagonist uncrushed.
He seized Maui in his strong arms and, swinging
him back and forth, flung him upward — but the mo-
ment Maui left his hands he changed himself into a
feather and floated softly to the ground.
Then the boy ran swiftly to the god and seized him
72 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
by the legs and lifted him up. Then he began to in-
crease in size and strength until he had lifted the fire
god very high. Suddenly he tossed the god upward
and caught him as he fell — again and again — until
the bruised and dizzy god cried enough, and agreed to
give the victor whatever he demanded.
Maui asked for the secret of fire producing. The
god taught him how to rub the dry sticks of certain
kinds of trees together, and, by friction, produce fire,
and especially how fire could be produced by rubbing
fire sticks in the fine dust of the banyan tree.
A Society Island legend says Maui borrowed a sa-
cred red pigeon, belonging to one of the gods, and,
changing himself into a dragon fly, rode this pigeon
through a black rock into Avaiki (Hawaiki), the fire-
land of the under-world. He found the god of fire,
Mau-ika, living in a house built from a banyan tree.
Mau-ika taught Maui the kinds of wood into which
when fire went out on the earth a fire goddess had
thrown sparks in order to preserve fire. Among these
were the "au" (Hawaiian hau), or "the lemon hibis-
cus"—the "argenta," the "fig" and the "banyan."
She taught him also how to make fire by swift motion
when rubbing the sticks of these trees. She also gave
him coals for his present need.
But Maui was viciously mischievous and set the
banyan house on fire, then mounted his pigeon and
fled toward the upper-world. But the flames hastened
MAUI FINDING FIRE. 73
after him and burst out through the rock doors into
the sunlit land above — as if it were a volcanic erup-
tion.
The Tokelau Islanders say that Talanga (Kalana)
known in other groups of islands as the father of
Maui, desired fire in order to secure warmth and cooked
food. He went down, down, very far down in the
caves of the earth. In the lower world he found Ma-
fuika — an old blind woman, who was the guardian of
fire. He told her he wanted fire to take back to men.
She refused either to give fire or to teach how to make
it. Talanga threatened to kill her, and finally per-
suaded her to teach how to make fire in any place he
might dwell — and the proper trees to use, the fire-
yielding trees. She also taught him how to cook food
— and also the kind of fish he should cook, and the
kinds which should be eaten raw. Thus mankind learn-
ed about food as well as fire.
The Savage Island legend adds the element of dan-
ger to Maui's mischievous theft of fire. The lad fol-
lowed his father one day and saw him pull up a bunch
of reeds and go down into the fire-land beneath. Maui
hastened down to see what his father was doing. Soon
he saw his opportunity to steal the secret of fire. Then
he caught some fire and started for the upper-
world.
His father caught a glimpse of the young thief and
tried to stop him.
74 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Maui ran up the passage through the black cave —
bushes and trees bordered his road.
The father hastened after his son and was almost
ready to lay hands upon him, when Maui set fire to
the bushes. The flames spread rapidly, catching the
underbrush and the trees on all sides and burst out in
the face of the pursuer. Destruction threatened the
under-world, but Maui sped along his way. Then he
saw that the fire was chasing him. Bush after bush
leaped into flame and hurled sparks and smoke and
burning air after him. Choked and smoke-surrounded,
he broke through the door of the cavern and found
the fresh air of the world. But the flames followed
him and swept out in great power upon the upper-
world a mighty volcanic eruption.
The New Zealand legends picture Maui as putting
out, in one night, all the fires of his people. This
was serious mischief, and Maui's mother decided that
he should go to the under-world and see his ancestress,
Mahuika, the guardian of fire, and get new fire to re-
pair the injury he had wrought. She warned him
against attempting to play tricks upon the inhabitants
of the lower regions.
Maui gladly hastened down the cave-path to the
house of Mahuika, and asked for fire for the upper-
world. In some way he pleased her so that she pulled
off a finger nail in which fire was burning and gave
it to him. As soon as he had gone back to a place
Hawaiian Vines and Bushes.
MAUI FINDING FIKE. 75
where there was water, he put the fire out and re-
turned to Mahuika, asking another gift, which he de-
stroyed. This he did for both hands and feet until
only one nail remained. Maui wanted this. Then
Mahuika became angry and threw the last finger nail
on the ground. Fire poured out and laid hold of
everything. Maui ran up the path to the upper-world, -
but the fire was swifter-footed. Then Maui changed
himself into an eagle and flew high up into the air,
but the fire and smoke still followed him. Then he
saw water and dashed into it, but it was too hot.
Around him the forests were blazing, the earth burn-
ing and the sea boiling. Maui, about to perish, called
on the gods for rain. Then floods of water fell and
the fire was checked. The great rain fell on Mahuika
and she fled, almost drowned. Her stores of fire were
destroyed, quenched by the storm. But in order to
save fire for the use of men, as she fled she threw
sparks into different kinds of trees where the rain could
not reach them, so that when fire was needed it might
be brought into the world again by rubbing together
the fire sticks.
The Chatham Islanders give the following incanta-
tion, which they said was used by Maui against the
fierce flood of fire which was pursuing him:
78 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
"To the roaring thunder;
To the great rain — the long rain;
To the drizzling rain — the small rain;
To the rain pattering on the leaves.
These are the storms — the storms
Cause them to fall;
To pour in torrents."
The legend of Savage Island places Maui in the
role of fire-maker. He has stolen fire in the under-
world. His father tries to catch him, but Maui sets
fire to the bushes by the path until a great conflagra-
tion is raging which pursues him to the upper-world.
Some legends make Maui the fire-teacher as well
as the fire-finder. He teaches men how to use hard-
wood sticks in the fine dry dust on the bark of cer-
tain trees, or how to use the fine fibre of the palm
tree to catch sparks.
In Tahiti the fire god lived in the "Hale — a-o-a," or
House of the Banyan. Sometimes human sacrifices were
placed upon the sacred branches of this tree of the
fire god.
In the Bowditch or Fakaofa Islands the goddess of
fire when conquered taught not only the method of
making fire by friction but also what fish were to be
cooked and what were to be eaten raw.
Thus some of the myths of Maui, the mischievous,
finding fire are told by the side of the inrolling surf,
MAUI FINDING FIRE. 77
while natives of many islands, around their poi bowls,
rest in the shade of the far-reaching boughs and
thick foliage of the banyan and other fire-producing
trees.
VI
VI.
MAUI THE SKILFUL.
HCCOKDING to the New Zealand legends there
were six Mauis — the Hawaiians counted four.
They were a band of brothers. The older five
were known as "the forgetful Mauis." The tricky and
quick-witted youngest member of the family was called
Maui te atamai — "Maui the skilful."
He was curiously accounted for in the New Zealand
under-world. When he went down through the long
cave to his ancestor's home to find fire, he was soon
talked about. "Perhaps this is the man about whom
so much is said in the upper- world. " His ancestress
from whom he obtained fire recognized him as the
man called "the deceitful Maui." Even his parents
told him once, "We know you are a tricky fellow —
more so than any other man." One of the New Zea-
land fire legends while recording his flight to the under-
world and his appearance as a bird, says: "The men
tried to spear him, and to catch him in nets. At last
MAUI THE SKILFUL. 79
they cried out, 'Maybe you are the man whose fame is
great in the upper- world. ' At once he leaped to the
ground and appeared in the form of a man."
He was not famous for inventions, but he was al-
ways ready to improve upon anything which was al-
ready in existence. He could take the sun in hand
and make it do better work. He could tie the moon
so that it had to swim back around the island to the
place in the ocean from which it might rise again, and
go slowly through the night.
His brothers invented a slender, straight and smooth
spear with which to kill birds. He saw the fluttering,
struggling birds twist themselves off the smooth point
and escape. He made a good light bird spear and put
notches in it and kept most of the birds stuck. His
brothers finally examined his spear and learned the rea-
son for its superiority. In the same way they learned
how to spear fish. They could strike and wound and
sometimes kill — but they could not with their smooth
spears draw the fish from the waters of the coral caves.
But Maui the youngest made barbs, so that the fish
could not easily shake themselves loose. The others
soon made their spears like his.
The brothers were said to have invented baskets in
which to trap eels, but many eels escaped. Maui im-
proved the basket by secretly making an inside parti-
tion as well as a cover, and the eels were securely
trapped. It took the brothers a long time to learn
80 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
the real difference between their baskets and his. One
of the family made a basket like his and caught many
eels. Then Maui became angry and chanted a curse
over him and bewildered him, then changed him into a
dog.
The Manahiki Islanders have the legend that Maui
made the moon, but could not get good light from it.
He tried experiments and found that the sun was quite
an improvement. The sun's example stimulated the
moon to shine brighter.
Once Maui became interested in tattooing and tried
to make a dog look better by placing dark lines around
the mouth. The legends say that one of the sacred
birds saw the pattern and then marked the sky with
the red lines sometimes seen at sunrise and sunset.
An Hawaiian legend says that Maui tattooed his arm
with a sacred name and thus that arm was strong
enough to hold the sun when he lassoed it. There is
a New Zealand legend in which Maui is made one of
three gods who first created man and then woman from
one of the man's ribs.
The Hawaiians dwelling in Hilo have many stories
of Maui. They say that his home was on the north-
ern bank of the Wailuku Eiver. He had a strong
staff made from an ohia tree (the native apple tree).
With this he punched holes through the lava, making
natural bridges and boiling pools, and new channels
for its sometimes obstructed waters, so that the people
MAUI THE SKILFUL. 81
could go up or down the river more easily. Near one
of the natural bridges is a figure of the moon carved
in the rocks, referred by some of the natives to Maui.
Maui is said to have taught his brothers the differ-
ent kinds of fish nets and the use of the strong fibre
of the olona, which was much better than cocoanut
threads.
The New Zealand stories relate the spear-throwing
contests of Maui and his brothers. As children, how-
ever, they were not allowed the use of wooden spears.
They took the stems of long, heavy reeds and threw
them at each other, but Maui's reeds were charmed
into stronger and harder fibre so that he broke his
mother's house and made her recognize him as one
of her children. He had been taken away as soon
as he was born by the gods to whom he was related.
When he found his way back home his mother paid
no attention to him. Thus by a spear thrust he won a
home.
The brothers all made fish hooks, but Maui the
youngest made two kinds of hooks — one like his
brothers' and one with a sharp barb. His brothers'
hooks were smooth so that it was difficult to keep
the fish from floundering and shaking themselves off,
but they noticed that the fish were held by Maui's
hook better than by theirs. Maui was not inclined to
devote himself to hard work, and lived on his brothers
as much as possible — but when driven out by his
82 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
wife or his mother he would catch more fish than the
other fishermen. They tried to examine his hooks,
but he always changed his hooks so that they could
not see any difference between his and theirs. At
such times they called him the mischievous one and
tried to leave him behind while they went fishing.
They were, however, always ready to give him credit
for his improvements. They dealt generously with
him when they learned what he had really accom-
plished. When they caught him with his barbed hook
they forgot the past and called him "ke atamai" — the
skilful.
The idea that fish hooks made from the jawbones
of human beings were better than others, seemed to
have arisen at first from the angle formed in the lower
jawbone. Later these human fish hooks were con-
sidered sacred and therefore possessed of magic
powers. The greater sanctity and power belonged to
the bones which bore more especial relation to the
owner. Therefore Maui's "magic hook," with which
he fished up islands, was made from the jawbone of
his ancestress Mahuika. It is also said that in order
to have powerful hooks for every-day fishing he killed
two of his children. Their right eyes he threw up
into the sky to become stars. One became the morn-
ing and the other the evening star.
The idea that the death of any members of
the family must not stand in the way of obtaining
magical power, has prevailed throughout Polynesia.
MAUI THE SKILFUL. 83
From this angle in the jawbone Maui must have
conceived the idea of making a hook with a piece of
bone or shell which should be fastened to the large
bone at a very sharp angle, thus making a kind of
barb. Hooks like this have been made for ages among
the Polynesians.
Maui and his brothers went fishing for eels with
bait strung on the flexible rib of a cocoanut leaf. The
stupid brothers did not fasten the ends of the string.
Therefore the eels easily slipped the bait off and es-
caped. But Maui made the ends of his string fast,
and captured many eels.
The little things which others did not think about
were the foundation of Maui's fame. Upon these little
things he built his courage to snare the sun and seek
fire for mankind.
In a New Zealand legend, quoted by Edward Tre-
gear, Maui is called Maui-mata-waru, or "Maui with
eyes eight." This eight-eyed Maui would be allied to
the Hindoo deities who with their eight eyes face the
four quarters of the world — thus possessing both in-
sight into the affairs of men and foresight into the
future.
Fornander, the Hawaiian ethnologist, says: "In
Hawaiian mythology, Kamapuaa, the demi-god oppo-
nent of the goddess Pele, is described as having eight
eyes and eight feet; and in the legends Maka-walu,
84 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
'eight-eyed,' is a frequent epithet of gods and chiefs."
He notes this coincidence with the appearance of some
of the principal Hindoo deities as having some bearing
upon the origin of the Polynesians. It may be that a
comparative study of the legends of other islands of
the Pacific by some student will open up other new
and important facts.
In Tahiti, on the island Raiatea, a high priest or
prophet lived in the long, long ago. He was known
as Maui the prophet of Tahiti. He was probably not
Maui the demi-god. Nevertheless he was represented
as possessing very strange prophetical powers.
According to the historian Ellis, who previous to
1830 spent eight years in the Society and Hawaiian
Islands, this prophet Maui clearly prophesied the
coming of an outriggerless canoe from some foreign
land. An outrigger is a log which so balances a
canoe that it can ride safely through the treacherous
surf.
The chiefs and prophets charged him with stating
the impossible.
He took his wooden calabash and placed it in a pool
of water as an illustration of the way such a boat
should float.
Then with the floating bowl before him he uttered
the second prophecy, that boats without line to tie the
sails to the masts, or the masts to the ships, should
also come to Tahiti.
Hawaiian Bathing Pool.
MAUI THE SKILFUL. 85
When English ships under Captain Wallis and Cap-
tain Cook, in the latter part of the eighteenth century,
visited these islands, the natives cried out, "0 the
canoes of Maui — the outriggerless canoes."
Passenger steamships, and the men-of-war from the
great nations, have taught the Tahitians that boats with-
out sails and masts can cross the great ocean, and again
they have recurred to the words of the prophet Maui,
and have exclaimed, "0 the boats without sails and
masts." This rather remarkable prophecy could easily
have occurred to Maui as he saw a wooden calabash
floating over rough waters.
Maui's improvement upon nature's plan in regard
to certain birds is also given in the legends as a proof
of his supernatural powers.
White relates the story as follows: "Maui re-
quested some birds to go and fetch water for him. The
first one would not obey, so he threw it into the water.
He requested another bird to go — and it refused, so
he threw it into the fire, and its feathers were burnt.
But the next bird obeyed, but could not carry the
water, and he rewarded it by making the feathers of
the fore part of its head white. Then he asked an-
other bird to go, and it filled its ears with water and
brought it to Maui, who drank, and then pulled the
bird's legs and made them long in payment for its
act of kindness."
Diffenbach says: "Maui, the Adam of New Zealand,
86 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
left the cat's cradle to the New Zealanders as an in
heritance." The name "Whai" was given to the game.
It exhibited the various steps of creation according
to Maori mythology. Every change in the cradle shows
some act in creation. Its various stages were called
"houses." Diffenbach says again: "In this game of
Maui they are great proficients. It is a game like that
called cat's cradle in Europe. It is intimately con-
nected with their ancient traditions and in the differ-
ent figures which the cord is made to assume whilst
held on both hands, the outline of their different varie-
ties of houses, canoes or figures of men and women
are imagined to be represented." One writer connects
this game with witchcraft, and says it was brought
from the under-world. Some parts of the puzzle show
the adventures of Maui, especially his attempt to win
immortality for men.
In New Zealand it was said Maui found a large, fine-
grained stone block, broke it in pieces, and from the
fragments learned how to fashion stone implements.
White also tells the New Zealand legend of Maui and
the winds.
"Maui caught and held all the winds save the west
wind. He put each wind into a cave, so that it might
not blow. He sought in vain for the west wind, but
could not find from whence it came. If he had found
the cave in which it stayed he would have closed the
entrance to that cave with rocks. When the west
MAUI THE SKILFUL. 87
wind blows lightly it is because Maui has got near to
it, and has nearly caught it, and it has gone into its
home, the cave, to escape him. When the winds of
the south, east, and north blow furiously it is because
the rocks have been removed by the stupid people
who could not learn the lessons taught by Maui. At
other times Maui allows these winds to blow in hur-
ricanes to punish that people, and also that he may
ride on these furious winds in search of the west
wind."
In the Hawaiian legends Maui is represented as
greatly interested in making and flying kites. His
favorite place for the sport was by the boiling pools
of the Wailuku river near Hilo. He had the winds
under his control and would call for them to push his
kites in the direction he wished. His incantation call-
ing up the winds is given in this Maui proverb —
"Strong wind come,
Soft wind come."
White in his "Ancient History of the Maoris," re-
lates some of Maui's experiences with the people whom
he found on the islands brought up from the under-
world. On one island he found a sand house with eight
hundred gods living in it. Apparently Maui discovered
islands with inhabitants, and was reported to have
fished them up out of the depths of the ocean. Fishing
88 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
was sailing over the ocean until distant lands were
drawn near or "fished up."
Maui walked over the islands and found men living
on them and fires burning near their homes. He evi-
dently did not know much about fire, for he took it in
his hands. He was badly burned and rushed into the
sea. Down he dived under the cooling waters and came
up with one of the New Zealand islands on his shoul-
ders. But his hands were still burning, so wherever he
held the island it was set on fire.
These fires are still burning in the secret recesses
of the volcanoes, and sometimes burst out in flowing
lava. Then Maui paid attention to the people whom
he had fished up. He tried to teach them, but they
did not learn as he thought they should. He quickly
became angry and said, "It is a waste of light for the
sun to shine on such stupid people." So he tried to
hold his hands between them and the sun, but the rays
of the sun were too many and too strong; therefore,
he could not shut them out. Then he tried the moon
and managed to make it dark a part of the time each
month. In this way he made a little trouble for the
stupid people.
There are other hints in the legends concerning
Maui's desire to be revenged upon any one who in-
curred his displeasure. It was said that Maui for a
time lived in the heavens above the earth. Here he
MAUI THE SKILFUL. 8»
had a foster brother Maru. The two were cultivating
the fields. Maru sent a snowstorm over Maui's field.
(It would seem as if this might be a Polynesian mem-
ory of a cold land where their ancestors knew the
cold winter, or a lesson learned from the snow-caps
of high mountains.) At any rate, the snow blighted
Maui's crops. Maui retaliated by praying for rain
to destroy Maru's fields. But Maru managed to save
a part of his crops. Other legends make Maui the
aggressor. At the last, however, Maui became very
angry. The foster parents tried to soothe the two men
by saying, "Live in peace with each other and do not
destroy each other's food." But Maui was implacable
and lay in wait for his foster brother, who was in the
habit of carrying fruit and grass as an offering to
the gods of a temple situated on the summit of a hill.
Here Maui killed Maru and then went away to the
earth.
This legend is told by three or four different tribes
of New Zealand and is very similar to the Hebrew
story of Cain and Abel. At this late day it is difficult
to say definitely whether or not it owes its origin to
the early touch of Christianity upon New Zealand when
white men first began to live with the natives. It is
somewhat similar to stories found in the Tonga Islands
and also in the Hawaiian group, where a son of the
first gods, or rather of the first men, kills a brother.
In each case there is the shadow of the Biblical idea. It
90 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
seems safe to infer that such legends are not entirely
drawn from contact with Christian civilization. The
natives claim that these stories are very ancient, and
that their fathers knew them before the white men
sailed on the Pacific.
VII
VII.
MAUI AND TUNA.
WHEN Maui returned from the voyages in which
he discovered or "fished up" from the ocean
depths new islands, he gave deep thought to
the things he had found. As the islands appeared to
come out of the water he saw they were inhabited.
There were houses and stages for drying and preserv-
ing food. He was greeted by barking dogs. Fires
were burning, food cooking and people working. He
evidently had gone so far away from home that a
strange people was found. The legend which speaks
of the death of his brothers, "eaten" by the great
fish drawn up from the floor of the sea, may very
easily mean that the new people killed and ate the
brothers.
Maui apparently learned some new lessons, for on
his return he quickly established a home of his own,
and determined to live after the fashion of the families
in the new islands.
Maui sought Hina-a-te-lepo, ''daughter of the
92 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
swamp," and secured her as his wife. The New Zea-
land tribes tell legends which vary in different locali-
ties about this woman Hina. She sometimes bore the
name Rau-kura — "The red plume."
She cared for his thatched house as any other Poly-
nesian woman was in the habit of doing. She at-
tempted the hurried task of cooking his food before
he snared the sun and gave her sufficient daylight for
her labors.
They lived near the bank of a river from which Hina
was in the habit of bringing water for the household
needs.
One day she went down to the stream with her cala-
bash. She was entwined with wreaths of leaves and
flowers, as was the custom among Polynesian women.
While she was standing on the bank, Tuna-roa, "the
long eel," saw her. He swam up to the bank and
suddenly struck her and knocked her into the water
and covered her with slime from the blow given by
his tail.
Hina escaped and returned to her home, saying
nothing to Maui about the trouble. But the next day,
while getting water, she was again overthrown and
befouled by the slime of Tuna-roa.
Then Hina became angry and reported the trouble
to Maui.
Maui decided to punish the long eel and started out
to find his hiding place. Some of the New Zealand
MAUI AND TUNA. 93
legends as collected by White, state that Tuna-roa was
a very smooth-skinned chief, who lived on the opposite
bank of the stream, and, seeing Hina, had insulted
her.
When Mam saw this chief, he caught two pieces of
wood over which he was accustomed to slide his canoe
into the sea. These he carried to the stream and laid
them from bank to bank as a bridge over which he might
entice Tuna-roa to cross.
Maui took his stone axe, Ma-Tori-Tori, "the
severer," and concealed himself near the bank of the
river.
When "the long eel" had crossed the stream, Maui
rushed out and killed him with a mighty blow of the
stone axe, cutting the head from the body.
Other legends say that Maui found Tuna-roa living
as an eel in a deep water hole, in a swamp on the sea-
coast of Tata-a, part of the island Ao-tea-roa. Other
stories located Tuna-roa in the river near Maui's
home.
Maui saw that he could not get at his enemy with-
out letting off the water which protected him.
Therefore into the forest went Maui, and with sa-
cred ceremonies, selected trees from the wood of which
he prepared tools and weapons.
Meanwhile, in addition to the insult given to Hina,
Tuna-roa had caught and devoured two of Maui's
94 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
children, which made Maui more determined to kill
him.
Maui made the narrow spade (named by the Maoris
of New Zealand the "ko," and by the Hawaiians
"o-o") and the sharp spears, with which to pierce
either the earth or his enemy. These spears and
spades were consecrated to the work of preparing a
ditch by which to draw off the water protecting "the
long eel."
The work of trench-making was accomplished with
many incantations and prayers. The ditch was named
"The sacred digging," and was tabooed to all other
purposes except that of catching Tuna-roa.
Across this ditch Maui stretched a strong net, and
then began a new series of chants and ceremonies to
bring down an abundance of rain. Soon the flood
came and the overflowing waters rushed down the sa-
cred ditch. The walls of the deep pool gave way and
"the long eel" was carried down the trench into the
waiting net. Then there was commotion. Tuna-roa
was struggling for freedom.
Maui saw him and hastened to grasp his stone axe,
"the severer." Hurrying to the net, he struck Tuna-
roa a terrible blow, and cut off the head. With a few
more blows, he cut the body in pieces. The head and
tail were carried out into the sea. The head became
fish and the tail became the great conger-eel. Other
parts of the body became sea monsters. But some parts
MAUI AND TUNA. 95
which fell in fresh water became the common eels. From
the hairs of the head came certain vines and creepers
among the plants.
After the death of Tuna-roa the offspring of Maui
were in no danger of being killed and soon multiplied
into a large family.
Another New Zealand legend related by White says
that Maui built a sliding place of logs, over which
Tuna-roa must pass when coming from the river.
Maui also made a screen behind which he could se-
crete himself while watching for Tuna-roa.
He commanded Hina to come down to the river and
wait on the bank to attract Tuna-roa. Soon the long
eel was seen in the water swimming near to Hina.
Hina went to a place back of the logs which Maui had
laid down.
Tuna-roa came towards her, and began to slide down
the skids.
Maui sprang out from his hiding place and killed
Tuna-roa with his axe, and cut him in pieces.
The tail became the conger-eel. Parts of his body
became fresh-water eels. Some of the blood fell upon
birds and always after marked them with red spots.
Some of the blood was thrown into certain trees, mak-
ing this wood always red. The muscles became vines
and creepers.
From this time the children of Maui caught and ate
the eels of both salt and fresh water. Eel traps were
96 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
made, and Maui taught the people the proper chants
or incantations to use when catching eels.
This legend of Maui and the long eel was found by
White in a number of forms among the different tribes
of New Zealand, but does not seem to have had cur-
rency in many other island groups.
In Turner's "Samoa" a legend is related which was
probably derived from the Maui stories and yet differs
in its romantic results. The Samoans say that among
their ancient ones dwelt a woman named Sina. Sina
among the Polynesians is the same as Hina — the "h"
is softened into "s". She captured a small eel and
kept it as a pet. It grew large and strong and finally
attacked and bit her. She fled, but the eel followed her
everywhere. Her father came to her assistance and
raised high mountains between the eel and herself.
But the eel passed over the barrier and pursued her.
Her mother raised a new series of mountains. But
again the eel surmounted the difficulties and attempt-
ed to seize Sina. She broke away from him and ran
on and on. Finally she wearily passed through a vil-
lage. The people asked her to stay and eat with them,
but she said they could only help her by delivering
her from the pursuing eel. The inhabitants of that
village were afraid of the eel and refused to fight for
her. So she ran on to another place. Here the chief
offered her a drink of water and promised to kill the
eel for her. He prepared awa, a stupefying drink, and
A Coconut Grove in Kona.
MAUI AND TUNA. 97
put poison in it. When the eel came along the chief
asked him to drink. He took the awa and prepared
to follow Sina. When he came to the place where she
was the pains of death had already seized him. While
dying he begged her to bury his head by her home.
This she did, and in time a plant new to the islands
sprang up. It became a tree, and finally produced a
cocoanut, whose two eyes could continually look into
the face of Sina.
Tuna, in the legends of Fiji, was a demon of the
sea. He lived in a deep sea cave, into which he some-
times shut himself behind closed doors of coral. When
he was hungry, he swam through the ocean shadows,
always watching the restless surface. When a canoe
passed above him, he would throw himself swiftly
through the waters, upset the canoe, and seize some
of the boatmen and devour them. He was greatly
feared by all the fishermen of the Fijian coasts.
Roko — a mo-o or dragon god — in his journey among
the islands, stopped at a village by the sea and asked
for a canoe and boatmen. The people said: "We
have nothing but a very old canoe out there by the
water." He went to it and found it in a very bad con-
dition. He put it in the water, and decided that he
could use it. Then he asked two men to go with him
and paddle, but they refused because of fear, and ex-
plained this fear by telling the story of the water
demon, who continually sought the destruction of this
98 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
canoe, and also their own death. Roko encouraged
them to take him to wage battle with Tuna, telling
them he would destroy the monster. They paddled
until they were directly over Tuna's cave. Roko told
them to go off to one side and wait and watch, saying:
"I am going down to see this Tuna. If you see red
blood boil up through the water, you may be sure that
Tuna has been killed. If the blood is black, then you
will know that he has the victory and I am dead."
Roko leaped into the water and went down — down
to the door of the cave. The coral doors were closed.
He grasped them in his strong hands and tore them
open, breaking them in pieces. Inside he found cave
after cave of coral, and broke his way through until
at last he awoke Tuna. The angry demon cried: "Who
is that?" Roko answered: "It is I, Roko, alone. "Who
are you?"
Tuna aroused himself and demanded Roko's busi-
ness and who guided him to that place. Roko replied:
"No one has guided me. I go from place to place,
thinking that there is no one else in the world."
Tuna shook himself angrily. "Do you think I am
nothing? This day is your last."
Roko replied: "Perhaps so. If the sky falls, I shall
die."
Tuna leaped upon Roko and bit him. Then came
the mighty battle of the coral caves. Roko broke
Tuna into several pieces — and the red blood poured
MAUI AND TUNA. 99
in boiling bubbles upward through the clear ocean
waters, and the boatmen cried: "The blood is red —
the blood is red — Tuna is dead by the hand of Roko."
Roko lived for a time in Fiji, where his descendants
still find their home. The people use this chant to aid
them in difficulties:
"My load is a red one.
It points in front to Kawa (Roko's home).
Behind, it points to Dolomo — (a village on another island)."
In the Hawaiian legends, Hina was Maui's mother
rather than his wife, and Kuna (Tuna) was a mo-o, a
dragon or gigantic lizard possessing miraculous
powers.
Hina's home was in the large cave under the beau-
tiful Rainbow Falls near the city of Hilo. Above the
falls the bed of the river is along the channel of an
ancient lava flow. Sometimes the water pours in a
torrent over the rugged lava, sometimes it passes
through underground passages as well as along the
black river bed, and sometimes it thrusts itself into
boiling pools.
Maui lived on the northern side of the river, but a
chief named Kuna-moo — a dragon — lived in the boil-
ing pools. He attacked Hina and threw a dam across
the river below Rainbow Falls, intending to drown
Hina in her cave. The great ledge of rock filled the
river bed high up the bank on the Hilo side of the
100 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
river. Hina called on Maui for aid. Maui came
quickly and with mighty blows cut out a new channel
for the river — the path it follows to this day. The
waters sank and Hina remained unharmed in her
cave.
The place where Kuna dwelt was called Wai-kuna
— the Kuna water. The river in which Hina and
Kuna dwelt bears the name Wailuku — "the destruc-
tive water." Maui went above Kuna's home and
poured hot water into the river. This part of the
myth could e.asily have arisen from a lava outburst on
the side of the volcano above the river. The hot water
swept in a flood over Kuna's home. Kuna jumped
from the boiling pools over a series of small falls near
his home into the river below. Here the hot water
again scalded him and in pain he leaped from the
river to the bank, where Maui killed him by beating
him with a club. His body was washed down the
river over the falls under which Hina dwelt, into the
ocean.
The story of Kuna or Tuna is a legend with a founda-
tion in the enmity between two chiefs of the long ago,
and also in a desire to explain the origin of the family
of eels and the invention of nets and traps.
Wailuku River -the Boiling Pots.
VIII
VIII.
MAUI AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW.
"Stories of Main's Brother-in-Law, " and of
"Maui seeking Immortality," are not found in
Hawaiian mythology. We depend upon Sir
George Grey and John White for the New Zealand
myths in which both of these legends occur.
Maui's sister Hina-uri married Ira-waru, who was
willing to work with his skilful brother-in-law. They
hunted in the forests and speared birds. They fished
and farmed together. They passed through many ex-
periences similar to those Maui's own brothers had
suffered before the brother-in-law took their place as
Maui's companion. They made spears together — but
Maui made notched barbs for his spear ends — and
slipped them off when Ira-waru came near. So for a
long time the proceeds of bird hunting fell to Maui.
But after a time the brother-in-law learned the secret
as the brothers had before, and Maui was looked up to
by his fellow hunter as the skilful one. Sometimes
102 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Ira-waru was able to see at once Haul's plan and adopt
it. He discovered Maui's method of making the punga
or eel baskets for catching eels.
The two hunters went to the forest to find a cer-
tain creeping vine with which to weave their eel
snares. Ira-waru made a basket with a hole, by which
the eels could enter, but they could turn around and
go out the same way. So he very seldom caught an
eel. But Maui made his basket with a long funnel-
shaped door, by which the eels could easily slide into
the snare but could scarcely escape. He made a door
in the side which he fastened tight until he wished to
pour the eels out.
Ira-waru immediately made a basket like Maui.
Then Maui became angry and uttered incantations
over Ira-waru. The man dropped on the ground and
became a dog. Maui returned home and met his
sister, who charged him with sorcery concerning her
husband.
Maui did not deny the exercise of his power, but
taught his sister a chant and sent her out to the level
country. There she uttered her chant and a strange
dog with long hair came to her, barking and leaping
around her. Then she knew what Maui had done.
"Thus Ira-waru became the first of the long-haired
dogs whose flesh has been tabooed to women."
The Tahu and Hau tribes of New Zealand tell a
different story. They say that Maui went to visit
MAUI AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW. 103
Ira-waru. Together they set out on a journey. After
a time they rested by the wayside and became sleepy.
Maui asked Ira-waru to cleanse his head. This gave
him the restful, soothing touch which aided sleep.
Then Maui proposed that Ira-waru sleep. Taking the
head in his hands, Maui put his brother-in-law to
sleep. Then by incantations he made the sleep very
deep and prolonged. Meanwhile he pulled the ears
and arms and limbs until they were properly length-
ened. He drew out the under jaw until it had the
form of a dog's mouth. He stretched the end of the
backbone into a tail, and then wakened Ira-waru and
drove him back when he tried to follow the path to
the settlement.
Hina-uri went out and called her husband. He
came to her, leaping and barking. She decided that
this was her husband, and in her agony reproached Maui
and wandered away.
The Rua-nui story-tellers of New Zealand say that
Maui's anger was aroused against Ira-waru because
he ate all the bait when they went fishing, and they
could catch no fish after paddling out to the fishing
grounds. When they came to land, Maui told Ira-waru
to lie down in the sand as a roller over which to
drag the canoe up the beach. When he was lying
helpless under the canoe, Maui changed him into a
*•
The Arawa legends make the cause of Maui's anger
104 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
the success of Ira-waru while fishing. Ira-waru had
many fish while Maui had captured but few. The
story is told thus: "Ira-waru hooked a fish and in
pulling it in his line became entangled with that of
Maui. Maui felt the jerking and began to pull in his
line. Soon they pulled their lines close up to the
canoe, one to the bow, the other to the stern, where
each was sitting. Maui said: 'Let me pull the lines
to me, as the fish is on my hook.' His brother-in-law
said: 'Not so; the fish is on mine.' But Maui said:
'Let me pull my line in.' Ira-waru did so and saw
that the fish was on his hook. Then he said: 'Untwist
your lines and let mine go, that I may pull the fish in.'
Maui said: 'I will do so, but let me have time.' He
took the fish off Ira-waru's hook and saw that there
was a barb on the hook. He said to Ira-waru: 'Per-
haps we ought to return to land.' When they were
dragging the canoe on shore, Maui said to Ira-waru:
'Get between the canoe and outrigger and drag.' Ira-
waru did so and Maui leaped on the outrigger and
weighed it heavily down and crushed Ira-waru pros-
trate on the beach. Maui trod on him and pulled his
backbone long like a tail and changed him into a dog."
Maui is said to have tattooed the muzzle of the dog
with a beautiful pattern which the birds (kahui-tara,
a flock of tern) used in marking the sky. From this
also came the red glow which sometimes flushes the
face of man.
MAUI AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW. 105
Another Arawa version of the legend was that Maui
and Ira- warn were journeying together. Ira-waru was
gluttonous and ate the best food. At last Maui deter-
mined to punish his companion. By incantation he
lengthened the way until Ira-waru became faint and
weary. Maui had provided himself with a little food
and therefore was enabled to endure the long way.
While Ira-waru slept Maui trod on his backbone and
lengthened it and changed the arms and limbs into
the legs of a dog. When Hina-uri saw the state of her
husband she went into the thatched house by which
Ira-waru had so often stood watching the hollow log
in which she dried the fish and preserved the birds
speared in the mountains. She bound her girdle and
kiekie-leaf apron around her and went down to the sea
to drown herself, that her body might be eaten by the
monsters of the sea. When she came to the shell-
covered beach, she sat down and sang her death song —
"I weep, I call to the steep billows of the sea
And to him, the great, the ocean god;
To monsters, all now hidden,
To come and bury me,
Who now am wrapped in mourning.
Let the waves wear their mourning, too,
And sleep as sleeps the dead. ' '
— Ancient Maui Chant of New Zealand.
Then Hina-uri threw herself into the sea and was
borne on the waves many moons, at last drifting to
106 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
shore, to be found by two fishermen. They carried
the body off to the fire and warmed it back to life.
They brushed off the sea moss and sea weeds and
rubbed her until she awoke.
Soon they told their chief, Tini-rau, what a beautiful
woman they had found in the sea. He came and took
her away to make her one of his wives. But the other
wives were jealous and drove Hina-uri away from the
chief's houses.
Another New Zealand legend says that Hina came
to the sea and called for a little fish to aid her in
going away from the island. It tried to carry her, but
was too weak. Hina struck it with her open hand.
It had striped sides forever after. She tried a larger
fish, but fell off before they had gone far from shore.
Her blow gave this fish its beautiful blue spots. Another
received black spots. Another she stamped her foot
upon, making it flat. At last a shark carried her far
away. She was very thirsty, and broke a cocoanut
on the shark's head, making a bump, which has been
handed down for generations. The shark carried her
to the home of the two who rescued her and gave her
new strength.
Meanwhile Rupe or Maui-mua, a brother of Hina-
uri and Maui, grieved for his sister. He sought for
her throughout the land and then launched his canoe
upon the blue waters surrounding Ao-tea-roa (The
Great White Cloud; the ancient native New Zealand)
Outside were other Worlds."
MAUI AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW. 107
and searched the coasts. He only learned that his
sister had, as the natives said, "leaped into the waters
and been carried away into the heavens."
Rupe's heart filled with the desire to find and pro-
tect the frenzied sister who had probably taken a canoe
and floated away, out of the horizon, seen from New
Zealand coasts, into new horizons. During the Viking
age of the Pacific, when many chiefs sailed long dis-
tances, visiting the most remote islands of Polynesia,
they frequently spoke of breaking through from the
home land into new heavens — or of climbing up the
path of the sun on the waters into a new heaven. This
was their poetical way of passing from horizon to hori-
zon. The horizon around their particular island sur-
rounded their complete world. Outside, somewhere,
were other worlds and other heavens. Rupe's voyage
was an idyll of the Pacific. It was one more story to be
added to the prose poems of consecrated travel. It
was a brother feeling through the mysteries of unknown
lands for a sister, as dear to him as an Evangeline has
been to other men.
From the mist-land of the Polynesian race comes
this story of the trickery of Maui the learned, and the
faithfulness of his older brother Maui-mua — or Rupe —
one of the "five forgetful Mauis." Rupe hoisted mat-
sails over his canoe and thus made the winds serve
him. He paddled the canoe onward through the hours
when calms rested on glassy waves.
108 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Thus he passed out of sight of Ao-tea-roa, away
from his brothers, and out of the reach of all tricks
and incantations of Maui, the mischievous. He sailed
until a new island rose out of the sea to greet him.
Here in a "new heaven" he found friends to care for
him and prepare him for his longer journey. His
restless anxiety for his sister urged him onward until
days lengthened into months and months into years.
He passed from the horizons of newly-discovered
islands, into the horizons of circling skies around
islands of which he had never heard before. Some-
times he found relatives, but more frequently his wel-
come came from those who could trace no historical
touch in their genealogies.
Here and there, apparently, he found traces of a
woman whose description answered that of his sister
Hina-uri. At last he looked through the heavens upon
a new world, and saw his sister in great trouble.
According to some legends the jealous wives of the
great chief, Tini-rau, attack Hina, who was known
among them as Hina-te-ngaru-moana, "Hina, the
daughter of the ocean." Tini-rau and Hina lived
away from the village of the chief until their little boy
was born. "When they needed food, the chief said,
"Let us go to my settlement and we shall have food
provided. ' '
But Hina chanted:
MAUI AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW. 109
"Let it down, let it down,
Descend, oh! descend — "
and sufficient food fell before them. After a time their
frail clothing wore out, and the cold chilled them, then
Hina again uttered the incantation and clothing was
provided for their need.
But the jealous wives, two in number, finally heard
where Hina and the chief were living, and started to
see them.
Tini-rau said to Hina, "Here come my other wives —
be careful how you act before them."
She replied, "If they come in anger it will be evil."
She armed herself with an obsidian or volcanic-glass
knife, and waited their coming.
They tried to throw enchantments around her to
kill her. Then one of them made a blow at her with
a weapon, but she turned it aside and killed her enemy
with the obsidian knife.
Then the other wife made an attack, and again the
obsidian knife brought death. She ripped open the
stomachs of the jealous ones and showed the chief fish
lines and sinkers and other property which they had
eaten in the past and which Tini-rau had never been
able to trace.
Another legend says that the two women came to
kill Hina when they heard of the birth of her boy.
For a time she was greatly terrified. Then she saw
110 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
that they were coming from different directions. She
attacked the nearest one with a stone and killed her.
The body burst open, and was seen to be full of green
stone. Then she killed the second wife in the same
way, and found more green stones. "Thus, according
to the legends, originated the greenstone" from which
the choicest and most valuable stone tools have since
been made. For a time the chief and Hina lived hap-
pily together. Then he began to neglect her and abuse
her, until she cried aloud for her brother —
"O Kupe! come down.
Take me and my child. ' '
Eupe assumed the form of a bird and flew down to
this world in which he had found his sister. He
chanted as he came down —
"It is Eupe, yes Eupe,
The elder brother;
And I am here."
He folded the mother and her boy under his wings
and flew away with them. Sir George Grey relates
a legend in which Maui-mua or Eupe is recorded as
having carried his sister and her child to one of the
new lands, found in his long voyage, where dwelt an
aged relative, of chief rank, with his retairers.
Some legends say that Tini-rau tried to catch Eupe,
MAUI— A DEMI-GOD. Ill
who was compelled to drop the child in order to es-
cape with the mother. Tini-rau caught the child and
carefully cared for him until he grew to be a strong
young lad.
Then he wanted to find his mother and bring her
back to his father. How this was done, how Rupe
took his sister back to the old chief, and how civil
wars arose are not all these told in the legends of the
Maoris. Thus the tricks of Maui the mischievous
brought trouble for a time, but were finally over-
shadowed by happy homes in neighboring lands for
his suffering sister and her descendants.
IX
IX.
MAUI'S KITE FLYING.
Climb up, climb up,
To the highest surface of heaven,
To all the sides of heaven.
Climb then to thy ancestor,
The sacred bird in the sky,
To thy ancestor Eehua
In the heavens.
— New Zealand kite incantation.
MAUI the demi-god was sometimes the Hercules
of Polynesia. His exploits were fully as mar-
velous as those of the hero of classic mythology.
He snared the sun. He pulled up islands from the
ocean depths. He lifted the sky into its present position
and smoothed its arched surface with his stone adze.
These stories belong to all Polynesia.
There are numerous less important local myths, some
of them peculiar to New Zealand, some to the Society
Islands and some to the Hawaiian group.
One of the old native Hawaiians says that in the
long, long ago the birds were flying around the homes
of the ancient people. The flutter of their wings could
be heard and the leaves and branches moved when the
motion of the wings ceased and the wanderers through
the air found resting places. Then came sweet music
from the trees and the people marvelled. Only one
of all mankind could see the winged warblers. Maui,
MAUI'S KITE FLYING. 113
the demi-god, had clear vision. The swift-flying wings
covered with red or gold he saw. The throats tinted
many colors and reflecting the sunlight with diamond
sparks of varied hues he watched while they trembled
with the melody of sweet bird songs. All others heard
but did not see. They were blind and yet had open
vision.
Sometimes the iiwi (a small red bird) fluttered in
the air and uttered its shrill, happy song, and Maui
saw and heard. But the bird at that time was without
color in the eyes of the ancient people and only the
clear voice was heard, while no speck of bird life flecked
the clear sky overhead.
At one time a god from one of the other islands came
to visit Maui. Each boasted of and described the
beauties and merits of his island. While they were
conversing, Maui called for his friends the birds. They
gathered around the house and fluttered among the
leaves of the surrounding trees. Soon their sweet voices
filled the air on all sides. All the people wondered
and worshiped, thinking they heard the fairy or mene-
hune people. It was said that Maui had painted the
bodies of his invisible songsters and for a long time
had kept the delight of their flashing colors to himself.
But when the visitor had rejoiced in the mysterious
harmonies, Maui decided to take away whatever veil
shut out the sight of these things beautiful, that his
bird friends might be known and honoured ever after.
114 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
So he made the birds reveal themselves perched in the
trees or flying in the air. The clear eyes of the god
first recognized the new revelation, then all the people
became dumb before the sweet singers adorned in all
their brilliant tropical plumage.
The beautiful red birds, iiwi and akakani, and the
birds of glorious yellow feathers, the oo and the mamo,
were a joy to both eye and ear and found high places
in Hawaiian legend and story, and all gave their most
beautiful feathers for the cloaks and helmets of the
chiefs.
The Maoris of New Zealand say that Maui could at
will change himself into a bird and with his feathered
friends find a home in leafy shelters. In bird form he
visited the gods of the under-world. His capricious
soul was sensitive to the touch of all that mysterious
life of nature.
With the birds as companions and the winds as his
servants Maui must soon have turned his inventive
mind to kite making.
The Hawaiian myths are perhaps the only ones of
the Pacific Ocean which give to any of the gods the
pleasure and excitement of kite flying. Maui, after
repeated experiments, made a large kite for himself.
It was much larger than any house of his time or
generation. He twisted a long line from the strong
fibers of the native plant known as the olona. He
endowed both kite and string with marvelous powers
The Home of the Winds, Hilo Coast.
MAUI'S KITE FLYING. 115
and launched the kite up toward the clouds. It rose
very slowly. The winds were not lifting it into the
sky.
Maui remembered that an old priest lived in Waipio
valley, the largest and finest valley of the large island,
Hawaii, on which he made his home.
This priest had a covered calabash in which he com-
pelled the winds to hide when he did not wish them
to play on land and sea. The priest's name was Ka-
leiioku, and his calabash was known as ipu-makani-
a ka maumau, "the calabash of the perpetual winds."
Maui called for the priest who had charge of the winds
to open his calabash and let them come up to Hilo and
blow along the Wailuku river. The natives say that
the place where Maui stood was marked by the pressure
of his feet in the lava rocks of the river bank as he
braced himself to hold the kite against the increasing
force of the winds which pushed it towards the sky.
Then the enthusiasm of kite flying filled his youthful
soul and he cried aloud, screaming his challenge along
the coast of the sea toward Waipio —
"O winds, winds of Waipio,
In the calabash of Kaleiioku.
Come from the ipu-makani,
O wind, the wind of Hilo,
Come quickly, come with power."
116 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Then the priest lifted the cover of the calabash of
the winds and let the strong winds of Hilo escape.
Along the sea coast they rushed until as they entered
Hilo Bay they heard the voice of Maui calling —
"O winds, winds of Hilo,
Hasten and come to me."
With a tumultuous rush the strong winds turned
toward the mountains. They forced their way along
the gorges and palisades of the Wailuku river. They
leaped into the heavens, making a fierce attack upon
the monster which Maui had sent into the sky. The
kite struggled as it was pushed upward by the hands
of the fierce winds, but Maui rejoiced. His heart was
uplifted by the joy of the conflict in which his strength
to hold was pitted against the power of the winds to
tear away. And again he shouted toward the sea —
"O winds, the winds of Hilo,
Come to the mountains, come."
The winds which had been stirring up storms on
the face of the waters came inland. They dashed
against Maui. They climbed the heights of the skies
until they fell with full violence against their mighty
foe hanging in the heavens.
The kite had been made of the strongest kapa (paper
cloth) which Maui's mother could prepare. It was
MAUI'S KITE FLYING. 117
not torn, although it was bent backward to its utmost
limit. Then the strain came on the strong cord of
olona fibre. The line was stretched and strained as
the kite was pushed back. Then Maui called again and
again for stronger winds to come. The cord was drawn
out until the kite was far above the mountains. At
last it broke and the kite was tossed over the craters of
the volcanoes to the land of the district of Ka-u on the
other side of the island.
Then Maui was angry and hastily leaped over the
mountains, which are nearly fourteen thousand feet
in altitude. In a half dozen strides he had crossed the
fifty or sixty miles from his home to the place where
the kite lay. He could pass over many miles with a
single step. His name was Maui-Mama, "Maui the
Swift." When Maui returned with his kite he was
more careful in calling the winds to aid him in his
sport.
The people watched their wise neighbor and soon
learned that the kite would be a great blessing to them.
When it was soaring in the sky there was always dry
and pleasant weather. It was a day for great rejoic-
ing. They could spread out their kapa cloth to dry as
long as the kite was in the sky. They could carry
out their necessary work without fear of the rain.
Therefore when any one saw the kite beginning to
float along the mountain side he would call out joy-
fully, "E ! Maui's kite is in the heavens." Maui would
118 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
send his kite into the blue sky and then tie the line
to the great black stones in the bed of the Wailuku
river.
Maui soon learned the power of his kite when blown
upon by a fierce wind. With his accustomed skill he
planned to make use of his strong servant, and there-
fore took the kite with him on his journeys to the
other islands, using it to aid in making swift voyages.
With the wind in the right direction, the kite could
pull his double canoe very easily and quickly to its
destination.
Time passed, and even the demi-god died. The fish
hook with which he drew the Hawaiian Islands up
from the depths of the sea was allowed to lie on the
lava by the Wailuku river until it became a part of
the stone. The double canoe was carried far inland
and then permitted to petrify by the river side. The
two stones which represent the double canoe now bear
the name " Waa-Kauhi, ' ' and the kite has fallen from
the sky far up on the mountain side, where it still rests,
a flat plot of rich land between Mauna Kea and Mauna
Loa.
X
X.
THE OAHU LEGENDS OF MAUL
SEVERAL Maui legends have been located on the
island of Oahu. They were given by Mr. Kaaia
to Mr. T. G. Thrum, the publisher of what is well
known in the Hawaiian Islands as "Thrum's Annual."
He has kindly furnished them for added interest to the
present volume. The legends have a distinctly local
flavor confined entirely to Oahu. It has seemed best
to reserve them for a chapter by themselves although
they are chiefly variations of stories already told.
MAUI AND THE TWO GODS.
This history of Maui and his grandmother Hina be-
gins with their arrival from foreign lands. They dwelt
in Kane-ana (Kane's cave), Waianae, Oahu. This is an
"ana," or cave, at Puu-o-hulu. Hina had wonderful
skill in making all kinds of tapa according to the custom
of the women of ancient Hawaii.
Maui went to the Koolau side and rested at Kaha-luu,
120 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
a diving place in Koolaupoko. In that place there is a
noted hill called Ma-eli-eli. This is the story of that
hill. Maui threw up a pile of dirt and concealed rub-
bish under it. The two gods, Kane and Kanaloa, came
along and asked Maui what he was doing. He said,
' ' What you see. You two dig on that side to the foot of
the pali, (precipice) and I will go down at Kaha-luu.
If you two dig through first, you may kill me. If I
get through first I will kill you." They agreed, and
began to dig and throw up the dirt. Then Maui dug
three times and tossed up some of the hills of that place.
Kane and Kanaloa saw that Maui was digging very
fast, so they put forth very great strength and threw
the dirt into a hill. Meanwhile Maui ran away to the
other side of the island. Thus by the aid of the gods
the hill Ma-eli-eli was thrown up and received its name
"eli," meaning "dig." "Ma-eli-eli" meant "the place
of digging."
HOW THEY FOUND FIRE.
It was said that Maui and Hina had no fire. They
were often cold and had no cooked food. Maui saw
flames rising in a distant place and ran to see how
they were made. When he came to that place the fire
was out and some birds flew away. One of them was
Ka-Alae-huapi, "the stingy Alae" — a small duck, the
Hawaiian mud hen. Maui watched again and saw fire.
Bay, of Waipio Valley.
THE OAHU LEGENDS OF MAUL 121
When he went up the birds saw him coming and scat-
tered the fire, carrying the ashes into the water; but
he leaped and caught the little Alae. "Ah!" he said,
"I will kill you, because you do not let me have fire."
The bird replied, ' ' If you kill me you cannot find fire. ' '
Maui said, "Where is fire?" The Alae said, "Go up
on the high land where beautiful plants with large
leaves are standing; rub their branches." Maui set
the bird free and went inland from Halawa and found
dry land taro. He began to rub the stalks, but only
juice came out like water. He had no red fire. He
was very angry and said, "If that lying Alae is caught
again by me I will be its death."
After a while he saw the fire burning and ran swiftly.
The birds saw him and cried, "The cooking is over.
Here comes the swift grandchild of Hina." They
scattered the fire; threw the ashes away and flew into
the water. But again Maui caught the Alae and began
to kill it, saying: "you gave me a plant full of water
from which to get fire." The bird said, "If I die
you can never find fire. I will give you the secret
of fire. Take a branch of that dry tree and rub."
Maui held the bird fast in one hand while he rubbed
with the other until smoke and fire came out. Then
he took the fire stick and rubbed the head of the bird,
making a place where red and white feathers have
grown ever since.
122 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
He returned to Hina and taught her how to make
fire, using the two fire sticks and how to twist coco-
nut fibre to catch the fire when it had been kindled in
wood. But the Alae was not forgotten. It was called
huapi, "stingy," because it selfishly kept the know-
ledge of fire making to itself.
MAUI CATCHING THE SUN.
Maui watched Hina making tapa. The wet tapa
was spread on a long tapa board, and Hina began at
one end to pound it into shape; pounding from one
end to another. He noticed that sunset came by the
time she had pounded to the middle of the board. The
sun hurried so fast that she could only begin her work
before the day was past.
He went to the hill Hele-a-ka-la, which means
"journey of the sun." He thought he would catch the
sun and make it move slowly. He went up the hill
and waited. When the sun began to rise, Maui made
himself long, stretching up toward the sky. Soon the
shining legs of the sun came up the hillside. He saw
Maui and began to run swiftly, but Maui reached out
and caught one of the legs, saying: "0 sun, I will
kill you. You are a mischief maker. You make
trouble for Hina by going so fast." Then he broke
the shining leg of the sun. The sufferer said, "I will
change my way and go slowly — six months slow and
THE OAHU LEGENDS OF MAUI. 123
six months faster. ' ' Thus arose the saying, ' ' Long shall
be the daily journey of the sun and he shall give light
for all the people's toil." Hina learned that she could
pound until she was tired while the farmers could
plant and take care of their fields. Thus also this
hill received its name Hele-a-ka-la. This is one of the
hills of Waianae near the precipice of the hill Puu-o-
hulu.
UNITING THE ISLANDS.
Maui suggested to Hina that he had better try to
draw the islands together, uniting them in one land.
Hina told Maui to go and see Alae-nui-a-Hina, who
would tell him what to do. The Alae told him they
must go to Ponaha-ke-one (a fishing place outside of
Pearl Harbor) and find Ka-uniho-kahi, "the one
toothed," who held the land under the sea.
Maui went back to Hina. She told him to ask his
brothers to go fishing with him. They consented and
pushed out into the sea. Soon Maui saw a bailing
dish floating by the canoe and picked it up. It was
named Hina-a-ke-ka, "Hina who fell off." They pad-
dled to Ponaha-ke-one. When they stopped they saw
a beautiful young woman in the boat. Then they
anchored and again looked in the boat, but the young
woman was gone. They saw the bailing dish and threw
it into the sea.
124 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Maui-nma threw his hook and caught a large fish,
which was seen to be a shark as they drew it to the
surface. At once they cut the line. So also Maui-
hope and Maui-waena. At last Maui threw his hook
Manai-i-ka-lani into the sea. It went down, down into
the depths. Maui cried, " Hina-a-ke-ka has my hook
in her hand. By her it will be made fast." Hina
went down with the hook until she met Ka-uniho-kahi.
She asked him to open his mouth, then threw the hook
far inside and made it fast. Then she pulled the line
so that Maui should know that the fish was caught.
Maui fastened the line to the outrigger of the canoe
and asked his brothers to paddle with all diligence,
and not look back. Long, long, they paddled and were
very tired. Then Maui took a paddle and dipped
deep into the sea. The boat moved more swiftly
through the sea. The brothers looked back and cried,
"There is plenty of land behind us." The charm
was broken. The hook came out of "the one toothed,"
and the raised islands sank back into their place. The
natives say, "The islands are now united to America.
Perhaps Maui has been at work."
MAUI AND PEA-PEA THE EIGHT-EYED.
Maui had been fishing and had caught a great fish
upon which he was feasting. He looked inland and
saw his wife, Kumu-lama, seized and carried away by
fe1- ,
..: •••'
The le-ie Vine.
THE OAHU LEGENDS OF MAUI. 125
Pea-pea-maka-walu, "Pea-pea the eight-eyed." This is
a legend derived from the myths of many islands in
which Lupe or Rupe (pigeon) changed himself into
a bird and flew after his sister Hina who had been
carried on the back of a shark to distant islands. Some-
times as a man and sometimes as a bird he prosecuted
his search until Hina was found.
Maui pursued Pea-pea, but could not catch him. He
carried Maui's wife over the sea to a far away island.
Maui was greatly troubled but his grandmother sent
him inland to find an old man who would tell him
what to do. Maui went inland and looking down to-
ward Waipahu saw this man Ku-olo-kele. He was
hump-backed. Maui threw a large stone and hit the
''hill on the back" knocked it off and made the back
straight. The old man lifted up the stone and threw
it to Waipahu, where it lies to this day. Then he and
Maui talked together. He told Maui to go and catch
birds and gather ti leaves and fibres of the ie-ie vine,
and fill his house. These things Maui secured and
brought to him. He told Maui to go home and return
after three days.
Ku-olo-kele took the ti leaves and the ie-ie threads
and made the body of a great bird which he covered
with bird feathers. He fastened all together with the
ie-ie. This was done in the first day. The second day
he placed food inside and tried his bird and it flew
126 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
all right. "Thus," as the Hawaiians say, "the first
flying ship was made in the time of Maui." This
is a modern version of Rupe changing himself into a
bird.
On the third day Maui came and saw the wonderful
bird body thoroughly prepared for his journey. Maui
went inside. Ku-olo-kele said, "When you reach that
land, look for a village. If the people are not there
look to the beach. If there are many people, your
wife and Pea-pea the eight-eyed will be there. Do not
go near, but fly out over the sea. The people will
say, '0, the strange bird;' but Pea-pea will say,
'This is my bird. It is tabu.' You can then come
to the people."
Maui pulled the ie-ie ropes fastened to the wings
and made them move. Thus he flew away into the
sky. Two days was his journey before he came to
that strange island, Moana-liha-i-ka-wao-kele. It was
a beautiful land. He flew inland to a village, but
there were no people ; according to the ancient chant :
"The houses of Lima-loa stand,
But there are no people;
They are at Mana. "
The people were by the sea. Maui flew over them.
He saw his wife, but he passed on flying out over the
sea, skimming like a sea bird down to the water and
THE OAHU LEGENDS OF MAUL 127
rising gracefully up to the sky. Pea-pea called out,
"This is my bird. It is tabu." Maui heard and came
to the beach. He was caught and placed in a tabu
box. The servants carried him up to the village and
put him in the chief's sleeping house, when Pea-pea
and his people returned to their homes.
In the night Pea-pea and Maui's wife lay down to
sleep. Maui watched Pea-pea, hoping that he would
soon sleep. Then he would kill him. Maui waited.
One eye was closed, seven eyes were opened. Then
four eyes closed, leaving three. The night was almost
past and dawn was near. Then Maui called to Hina
with his spirit voice, "0 Hina, keep it dark." Hina
made the gray dawn dark in the three eyes and two
closed in sleep. The last eye was weary, and it also
slept. Then Maui went out of the bird body and cut
off the head of Pea-pea and put it inside the bird. He
broke the roof of the house until a large opening was
made. He took his wife, Kumu-lama, and flew away
to the island of Oahu. The winds blew hard against
the flying bird. Rain fell in torrents around it, but
those inside had no trouble.
"Thus Maui returned with his wife to his home in
Oahu. The story is pau (finished)."
XI
XI.
MAUI SEEKING IMMORTALITY.
"Where, where are now the houses
Where all the twinkling stars were made?
The houses called 'The Sparkling Flash of Night,'
And 'The Sparkling Flash of Day';
The house of Rangi (heaven) from whence were brought
The multitude of stars, now sparkling in the sky
To give thee light, O man, upon thy voyage through life!"
— Ancient Maori lament for the dead.
story of Maui seeking immortality for the
human race is one of the finest myths in the
world. For pure imagination and pathos it is
difficult to find any tale from Grecian or Latin litera-
ture to compare with it. In Greek and Roman fables
gods suffered for other gods, and yet none were sur-
rounded with such absolutely mythical experiences as
those through which the demi-god Maui of the Pa-
cific Ocean passed when he entered the gates of death
with the hope of winning immortality for mankind.
The really remarkable groups of legends which cluster
MAUI SEEKING IMMORTALITY. 129
around Maui is well concluded by the story of his
unselfish and heroic battle with death.
The different islands of the Pacific have their Hades,
or abode of dead. It is, with very few exceptions,
down in the interior of the earth. Sometimes the
tunnels left by currents of melted lava are the pas-
sages into the home of departed spirits. In Samoa
there are two circular holes among the rocks at the
west end of the island Savaii. These are the en-
trances to the under-world for chiefs and people. The
spirits of those who die on the other islands leap into
the sea and swim around the land from island to
island until they reach Savaii. Then they plunge
down into their heaven or their hades.
The Tongans had a spirit island for the home of
the dead. They said that some natives once sailed far
away in a canoe and found this island. It was cov-
ered with all manner of beautiful fruits, among which
rare birds sported. They landed, but the trees were
shadows. They grasped but could not hold them.
The fruits and the birds were shadows. The men ate,
but swallowed nothing substantial. It was shadow-
land. They walked through all the delights their
eyes looked upon, but found no substance. They re-
turned home, but ever seemed to listen to spirits
calling them back to the island. In a short time all
the voyagers were dead.
There is no escape from death. The natives of New
130 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Zealand say: "Man may have descendants, but the
daughter of the night strangles his offspring"; and
again: "Men make heroes, but death carries them
away. ' '
There are very few legends among the Polynesians
concerning the death of Maui. And these are usually
fragmentary, except among the Maoris of New Zea-
land.
The Hawaiian legend of the death of Maui is to
the effect that he offended some of the greater gods
living in Waipio valley on the Island of Hawaii. Ka-
naloa, one of the four greatest gods of Hawaii, seized
him and dashed him against the rocks. His blood
burst from the body and colored the earth red in the
upper part of the valley. The Hawaiians in another
legend say that Maui was chasing a boy and girl in
Honolii gulch, Hawaii. The girl climbed a bread-
fruit tree. Maui changed himself into an eel and
stretched himself along the side of the trunk of the
tree. The tree stretched itself upward and Maui failed
to reach the girl. A priest came along and struck the
eel and killed it, and so Maui died. This is evidently
a changed form of the legend of Maui and the long
eel. Another Hawaiian fragment approaches very near
to the beautiful New Zealand myth. The Hawaiians
said that Maui attempted to tear a mountain apart.
He wrenched a great hole in the side. Then the ele-
paio bird sang and the charm was broken. The cleft
MAUI SEEKING IMMORTALITY. 131
in the mountain could not be enlarged. If the story
could be completed it would not be strange if the
death of Maui came with this failure to open the
path through the mountain.
The Hervey Islanders say that after Maui fished up
the islands his hook was thrown into the heavens and
became the curved tail of the constellation of stars
which we know as "The Scorpion." Then the people
became angry with Maui and threw him up into the
sky and his body is still thought to be hanging among
the stars of the scorpion.
The Samoans, according to Turner, say that Maui
went fishing and tried to catch the land under the
seas and pull it to the surface. Finally an island ap-
peared, but the people living on it were angry with
Maui and drove him away into the heavens.
As he leaped from the island it separated into two
parts. Thus the Samoans account for the origin of
two of their islands and also for the passing away of
Maui from the earth.
The natives of New Zealand have many myths
concerning the death of Maui. Each tribe tells the
story with such variations as would be expected when
the fact is noted that these tribes have preserved their
individuality through many generations. The sub-
stance of the myth, however, is the same.
In Maui's last days he longed for the victory over
death. His innate love of life led him to face the
132 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
possibility of escaping and overcoming the relentless
enemy of mankind and thus bestow the boon of death-
lessness upon his fellow-men. He had been success-
ful over and over again in his contests with both gods
and men. When man was created, he stood erect,
but, according to an Hawaiian myth, had jointless
arms and limbs. A web of skin connected and fastened
tightly the arms to the body and the legs to each
other. "Maui was angry at this motionless statue and
took him and broke his legs at ankle, knee and hip
and then, tearing them and the arms from the body,
destroyed the web. Then he broke the arms at the
elbow and shoulder. Then man could move from
place to place, but he had neither fingers nor toes."
Here comes the most ancient Polynesian statement of
the theory of evolution: "Hunger impelled man to
seek his food in the mountains, where his toes were
cut out by the brambles in climbing, and his fingers
were also formed by the sharp splinters of the bamboo
while searching with his arms for food in the ground."
It was not strange that Maui should feel self-con-
fident when considering the struggle for immortality
as a gift to be bestowed upon mankind. And yet his
father warned him that his time of failure would
surely come.
White, who has collected many of the myths and
legends of New Zealand, states that after Maui had
ill-treated Mahu-ika, his grandmother, the goddess
MAUI SEEKING IMMORTALITY. 133
and guardian of fire in the under-world, his father
and mother tried to teach him to do differently. But
he refused to listen. Then the father said:
"You heard our instructions, but please yourself
and persist for life or death."
Maui replied: "What do I care? Do you think I
shall cease? Bather I will persist forever and ever."
Then his father said: "There is one so powerful
that no tricks can be of any avail."
Maui asked: "By what shall I be overcome?" The
answer was that one of his ancestors, Hine-nui-te-po
(Great Hine of the night), the guardian of life, would
overcome him.
When Maui fished islands out of the deep seas, it
was said that Hine made her home on the outer edge
of one of the outermost islands. There the glow of
the setting sun lighted the thatch of her house and
covered it with glorious colors. There Great Hine
herself stood flashing and sparkling on the edge of
the horizon.
Maui, in these last days of his life, looked toward
the west and said: "Let us investigate this matter
and learn whether life or death shall follow."
The father replied: "There is evil hanging over
you. When I chanted the invocation of your child-
hood, when you were made sacred and guarded by
charms, I forgot a part of the ceremony. And for
this you are to die."
134 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Then Maui said, "Will this be by Hina-nui-te-po ?
What is she like?"
The father said that the flashing eyes they could
see in the distance were dark as greenstone, the teeth
were as sharp as volcanic glass, her mouth was large
like a fish, and her hair was floating in the air like
sea-weed.
One of the legends of New Zealand says that Maui
and his brothers went toward the west, to the edge
of the horizon, where they saw the goddess of the
night. Light was flashing from her body. Here they
found a great pit — the home of night. Maui entered
the pit — telling his brothers not to laugh. He passed
through and turning about started to return. The
brothers laughed and the walls of night closed in
around him and held him till he died.
The longer legend tells how Maui after his conver-
sation with his father, remembered his conflict with
the moon. He had tied her so that she could not es-
cape, but was compelled to bathe in the waters of life
and return night after night lest men should be in
darkness when evening came.
Maui said to the goddess of the moon: "Let death
be short. As the moon dies and returns with new
strength, so let men die and revive again."
But she replied: "Let death be very long, that man
may sigh and sorrow. When man dies, let him go
MAUI SEEKING IMMORTALITY. 135
into darkness, become like earth, that those he leaves
behind may weep and wail and mourn. ' '
Maui did not lay aside his purpose, but, according
to the New Zealand story, "did not wish men to die,
but to live forever. Death appeared degrading and
an insult to the dignity of man. Man ought to die
like the moon, which dips in the life-giving waters of
Kane and is renewed again, or like the sun, which
daily sinks into the pit of night and with renewed
strength rises in the morning."
Maui sought the home of Hina-nui-te-po — the
guardian of life. He heard her order her attendants
to watch for any one approaching and capture all
who came walking upright as a man. He crept past
the attendants on hands and feet, found the place of
life, stole some of the food of the goddess and re-
turned home. He showed the food to his brothers
and persuaded them to go with him into the darkness
of the night of death. On the way he changed them
into the form of birds. In the evening they came to
the house of the goddess on the island long before
fished up from the seas.
Maui warned the birds to refrain from making any
noise while he made the supreme effort of his life.
He was about to enter upon his struggle for immor-
tality. He said to the birds: "If I go into the stom-
ach of this woman, do not laugh until I have gone
136 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
through her, and come out again at her mouth; then
you can laugh at me."
His friends said: "You will be killed." Maui re-
plied: "If you laugh at me when I have only en-
tered her stomach I shall be killed, but if I have passed
through her and come out of her mouth I shall escape
and Hine-nui-te-po will die."
His friends called out to him: "Go then. The de-
cision is with you."
Hina was sleeping soundly. The flashes of light-
ning had all ceased. The sunlight had almost passed
away and the house lay in quiet gloom. Maui came
near to the sleeping goddess. Her large, fish-like
mouth was open wide. He put off his clothing and
prepared to pass through the ordeal of going to the
hidden source of life, to tear it out of the body of its
guardian and carry it back with him to mankind. He
stood in all the glory of savage manhood. His body
was splendidly marked by the tattoo-bones, and now
well oiled shone and sparkled in the last rays of the
setting sun.
He leaped through the mouth of the enchanted one
and entered her stomach, weapon in hand, to take out
her heart, the vital principle which he knew had its
home somewhere within her being. He found im-
mortality on the other side of death. He turned to
MAUI SEEKING IMMORTALITY. 137
come back again into life when suddenly a little bird
(the Pata-tai) laughed in a clear, shrill tone, and
Great Hina, through whose mouth Maui was passing,
awoke. Her sharp, obsidian teeth closed with a snap
upon Maui, cutting his body in the centre. Thus
Maui entered the gates of death, but was unable to
return, and death has ever since been victor over re-
bellious men. The natives have the saying :
"If Maui had not died, he could have restored to
life all who had gone before him, and thus succeeded
in destroying death."
Maui's brothers took the dismembered body and
buried it in a cave called Te-ana-i-hana, "The cave
dug out," possibly a prepared burial place.
Maui's wife made war upon the spirits, the gods,
and killed as many as she could to avenge her hus-
band's death. One of the old native poets of New
Zealand, in chanting the story to Mr. White, said:
"But though Maui was killed, his offspring survived.
Some of these are at Hawa-i-i-ki and some at Aotea-
roa (New Zealand), but the greater part of them re-
mained at Hawa-iki. This history was handed down
by the generations of our ancestors of ancient times, and
we continue to rehearse it to our children, with our in-
cantations and genealogies, and all other matters relat-
ing to our race."
MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Sir George Grey, in his "Polynesian Mythology,"
says : —
"According to the tradition of the Maori this was
the cause of the introduction of death into the world —
Hine-nui-te-po being the goddess of death ; if Maui had
passed safely through her then no human beings would
have died but death itself would have been destroyed.
The Maoris say, 'We have the saying, " The Water-wag-
tail laughing at Maui Tiki-tiki-tiki-o-Taranga, made
Hine-nui-te-po squeeze him to death," and we have this
proverb, "Men make heirs, but death carries them
away."'"
"But death is nothing new,
Death is, and has been ever since old Maui died.
Then Pata-tai laughed loud
And woke the goblin-god,
Who severed him in two, and shut him in,
So dusk of eve came on."
— Maori death chant, New Zealand.
XII
XII.
HINA OF HILO.
+ff^ INA is not an uncommon name in Hawaiian
| genealogies. It is usually accompanied by
some adjective which explains or identifies the
person to whom the name is given. In Hawaii the
name Hina is feminine. This is also true throughout
all Polynesia except in a few cases where Hina is
reckoned as a man with supernatural attributes. Even
in these cases it is apparent that the legend has been
changed from its original form as it has been carried
to small islands by comparatively ignorant people
when moving away from their former homes.
Hina is a Polynesian goddess whose story is very
interesting — one worthy of study when comparing
the legends of the island groups of the Pacific. The
Hina of Hilo is the same as the goddess of that name
most widely known throughout Polynesia — and yet
her legends are located by the ancient Hawaiians in
Hilo, as if that place were her only home. The
140 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
legends are so old that the Hawaiians have forgotten
their origin in other lands. The stories were brought
with the immigrants who settled on the Hilo coast.
Thus the stories found their final location with the
families who brought them. There are three Ha-
waiian Hinas practically distinct from each other, al-
though a supernatural element is connected with each
one. Hina who was stolen from Hawaii by a chief
of the Island of Molokai was an historical character,
although surrounded by mythical stories. Another
Hina, who was the wife of Kuula, the fish god, was
pre-eminently a local deity, having no real connection
with the legends of the other islands of the Pacific, al-
though sometimes the stories told concerning her
have not been kept entirely distinct from the legends
of the Hina of Hilo.
The Hilo Hina was the true legendary character
closely connected with all Polynesia. The stories
about her are of value not simply as legends, but as
traditions closely uniting the Hawaiian Islands with
the island groups thousands of miles distant. The
"Wailuku river, which flows through the town of Hilo,
has its own peculiar and weird beauty. For miles it
is a series of waterfalls and rapids. It follows the
course of an ancient lava flow, sometimes forcing its
way under bridges of lava, thus forming what are
called boiling pots, and sometimes pouring in mas-
sive sheets over the edges of precipices which never
HINA OF HILO. 141
disintegrate. By the side of this river Hina's son
Maui had his lands. In the very bed of the river, in
a cave under one of the largest falls, Hina made her
own home, concealed from the world by the silver
veil of falling water and lulled to sleep by the con-
tinual roar of the flood falling into the deep pool be-
low. By the side of this river, the legends say, she
pounded her tapa and prepared her food. Here were
the small, graceful mamake and the coarser wauke
trees, from which the bark was stripped with which
she made tapa cloth. Branches were cut or broken
from these and other trees whose bark was fit for the
purpose. These branches were well soaked until the
bark was removed easily. Then the outer bark was
scraped off, leaving only the pliable inner bark. The
days were very short and there was no time for rest
while making tapa cloth. Therefore, as soon as the
morning light reddened the clouds, Hina would take
her calabash filled with water to pour upon the bark,
and her little bundle of round clubs (the hohoa) and
her four-sided mallets (the i-e-kuku) and hasten to
the sacred spot where, with chants and incantations,
the tapa was made.
The bark was well soaked in the water all the days
of the process of tapa making. Hina took small bun-
dles of the wet inner bark and laid them on the kua
or heavy tapa board, pounding them together into a
pulpy mass with her round clubs. Then using the
142 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
four-sided mallets, she beat this pulp into thin sheets.
Beautiful tapa, soft as silk, was made by adding pulpy
mass to pulpy mass and beating it day after day until
the fibres were lost and a sheet of close-woven bark
cloth was formed. Although Hina was a goddess and
had a family possessing miraculous power, it never
entered the mind of the Hawaiian legend tellers to
endoAV her with ease in producing wonderful results.'
The legends of the Southern Pacific Islands show
more imagination. They say that Ina (Hina) was
such a wonderful artist in making beautiful tapas that
she was placed in the skies, where she beat out glist-
ening fine tapas, the white and glorious clouds. When
she stretches these cloud sheets out to dry, she
places stones along the edges, so that the fierce winds
of the heavens shall not blow them away. When she
throws these stones aside, the skies reverberate with
thunder. When she rolls her cloud sheets of tapa to-
gether, the folds glisten with flashes of light and light-
ning leaps from sheet to sheet.
The Hina of Hilo was grieved as she toiled be-
cause after she had pounded the sheets out so thin
that they were ready to be dried, she found it almost
impossible to secure the necessary aid of the sun in
the drying process. She would rise as soon as she
could see and hasten to spread out the tapa made the
day before. But the sun always hurried so fast that
the sheets could not dry. He leaped from the ocean
HINA OF HILO. 143
waters in the earth, rushed across the heavens and
plunged into the dark waters again on the other side
of the island before she could even turn her tapas so
that they might dry evenly. This legend of very
short days is strange because of its place not only
among the myths of Hawaii but also because it be-
longs to practically all the tropical islands of the
Pacific Ocean. In Tahiti the legends said that the
sun rushed across the sky very rapidly. The days
were too short for fruits to ripen or for work to be
finished. In Samoa the "mats" made by Sina had no
time to dry. The ancestors of the Polynesians some-
time somewhere must have been in the region of short
days and long nights. Hina found that her incanta-
tions had no influence with the sun. She could not
prevail upon him to go slower and give her more time
for the completion of her task. Then she called on
her powerful son, Maui-ki-i-ki-i, for aid.
Some of the legends of the Island Maui say that
Hina dwelt by the sea coast of that island near the
high hill Kauwiki at the foot of the great mountain
Haleakala, House of the Sun, and that there, facing
the southern skies under the most favorable condi-
tions for making tapa, she found the days too short
for the tapa to dry. At the present time the Hawaiians
point out a long, narrow stone not far from the surf
and almost below the caves in which the great queen
Kaahumanu spent the earliest days of her childhood.
144 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
This stone is said to be the kua or tapa board on
which Hina pounded the bark for her cloth. Other
legends of that same island locate Hina's home on
the northeast coast near Pohakuloa.
The Hilo legends, however, do not deem it neces-
sary that Hina and Maui should have their home
across the wide channel which divides the Island Ha-
waii from the Island Maui in order to wage war suc-
cessfully with the inconsiderate sun. Hina remained
in her home by the Wailuku river, sometimes resting
in her cave under Rainbow Falls, and sometimes work-
ing on the river bank, trusting her powerful son Maui
to make the swiftly-passing lord of day go more
slowly.
Maui possessed many supernatural powers. He could
assume the form of birds or insects. He could call on
the winds to do his will, or he could, if he wished,
traverse miles with a single stride. It is interesting
to note that the Hilo legends differ as to the way in
which Ma-ui the man passed over to Mau-i the island.
One legend says that he crossed the channel, miles wide,
with a single step. Another says that he launched his
canoe and with a breath the god of the winds placed
him on the opposite coast, while another story says
that Maui assumed the form of a white chicken, which
flew over the waters to Haleakala. Here he took ropes
made from the fibre of trees and vines and lassoed the
sun while it climbed the side of the mountain and
HINA OF HILO. 145
entered the great crater which hollows out the sum-
mit. The sun came through a large gap in the east-
ern side of the crater, rushing along as rapidly as
possible. Then Maui threw his lassos one after the
other over the sun's legs (the rays of light), holding
him fast and breaking off some of them. With a
magic club Maui struck the face of the sun again and
again. At last, wounded and weary, and also limp-
ing on its broken legs, the sun promised Maui to go
slowly forevermore.
"La" among the Polynesians, like the word "Ra"
among the Egyptians, means "sun" or "day" or "sun-
god" — and the mountain where the son of Hina won
his victory over the monster of the heavens has long
borne the name Hale-a-ka-la, or House of the Sun.
Hina of Hilo soon realised the wonderful deed which
Maui had done. She spread out her fine tapas with
songs of joy and cheerily performed the task which
filled the hours of the day. The comfort of sunshine
and cooling winds came with great power into Hina's
life, bringing to her renewed joy and beauty.
XIII
XIII.
HINA AND THE WAILUKU RIVER.
are two rivers of rushing, tumbling rapids
and waterfalls in the Hawaiian Islands, both
bearing the name of Wailuku. One is on the
Island of Maui, flowing out of a deep gorge in the
side of the extinct volcano lao. Yosemite-like precipices
surround this majestically- walled crater. The name
lao means ' ' asking for clouds. ' ' The head of the crater-
valley is almost always covered with great masses of
heavy rain clouds. Out of the crater the massed waters
rush in a swift-flowing stream of only four or five miles,
emptying into Kahului harbor. The other Wailuku
river is on the Island of Hawaii. The snows melt on
the summits of the two great mountains, Mauna Kea
and Mauna Loa. The water seeps through the porous
lava from the eastern slope of Mauna Loa and the
southern slope of Mauna Kea, meeting where the lava
flows of centuries from each mountain have piled up
against each other. Through the fragments of these
Rainbow Falls (Hina's Home).
HINA AND THE WAILUKU RIVER. 147
volcanic battles the waters creep down the mountain
side toward the sea.
At one place, a number of miles above the city of
Hilo, the waters were heard gurgling and splashing
far below the surface. Water was needed for the
sugar plantations, which modern energy has estab-
lished all along the eastern coast of the large island.
A tunnel was cut into the lava, the underground
stream was tapped — and an abundant supply of water
secured and sluiced down to the large plantations
below. The head waters of the "Wailuku river gath-
ered from the melting snow of the mountains found
these channels, which centred at last in the bed of
a very ancient and very interesting lava flow. Some-
times breaking forth in a large, turbulent flood, the
stream forces its way over and around the huge blocks
of lava which mark the course of the eruption of long
ago. Sometimes it courses in a tunnel left by the
flowing lava and comes up from below in a series of
boiling pools. Then again it falls in majestic sheets
over high walls of worn precipices. Several large
falls and some very picturesque smaller cascades in-
terspersed with rapids and natural bridges give to.
this river a beauty peculiarly its own. The most
weird of all the rough places through which the Wai-
luku river flows is that known as the basin of Rain-
bow Falls near Hilo. Here Hina, the moon goddess
of the Polynesians, lived in a great open cave, over
148 MAUI— A DEMI-GOK.
which the falls hung their misty, rainbow-tinted veil.
Her son Maui, the mighty demi-god of Polynesia, sup-
posed by some writers to be the sun-god of the Poly-
nesians, had extensive lands along the northern bank
of the river. Here among his cultivated fields he had
his home, from which he went forth to accomplish
the wonders attributed to him in the legends of the
Hawaiians.
Below the cave in which Hina dwelt the river fought
its way through a narrow gorge and then, in a series
of many small falls, descended to the little bay, where
its waters mingled with the surf of the salt sea. Far
above the cave, in the bed of the river, dwelt Kuna.
The district through which that portion of the river
runs bears to this day the name "Wai-kuna" or
"Kuna's river." When the writer was talking with
the natives concerning this part of the old legend, they
said "Kuna is not a Hawaiian word. It means some-
thing like a snake or a dragon, something we do not
have in these islands." This, they thought, made the
connection with the Hina legend valueless until they
were shown that Tuna (or kuna) was the New Zealand
name of a reptile which attacked Hina and struck her
with his tail like a crocodile, for which Maui killed him.
When this was understood, the Hawaiians were greatly
interested to give the remainder of this legend and
compare it with the New Zealand story. In New
Zealand there are several statements concerning Tuna's
HINA AND THE WAILUKU RIVER. 149
dwelling place. He is sometimes represented as com-
ing from a pool to attack Hina and sometimes from
a distant stream, and sometimes from the river by
which Hina dwelt. The Hawaiians told of the annoy-
ances which Hina endured from Kuna while he lived
above her home in the Wailuku. He would stop up
the river and fill it with dirt as when the freshets
brought down the debris of the storms from the moun-
tain sides. He would throw logs and rolling stones
into the stream that they might be carried over the
falls and drive Hina from her cave. He had sought
Hina in many ways and had been repulsed again and
again until at last hatred took the place of all more
kindly feelings and he determined to destroy the divine
chiefess.
Hina was frequently left with but little protection,
and yet from her home in the cave feared nothing that
Kuna could do. Precipices guarded the cave on either
side, and any approach of an enemy through the fall-
ing water could be easily thwarted. So her chants
rang out through the river valley even while floods
swirled around her, and Kuna's missiles were falling
over the rocky bed of the stream toward her. Kuna
became very angry and, uttering great curses and
calling upon all his magic forces to aid him, caught a
great stone and at night hurled it into the gorge of
the river below Hina's home, filling the river bed from
bank to bank. "Ah, Hina! Now is the danger, for
150 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
the river rises. The water cannot flow away. Awake!
Awake!"
Hina is not aware of this evil which is so near. The
water rises and rises, higher and higher. "Auwe!
Auwe ! Alas, alas, Hina must perish ! ' ' The water
entered the opening of the cave and began to creep
along the floor. Hina cannot fly, except into the very
arms of her great enemy, who is waiting to destroy her.
Then Hina called for Maui. Again and again her voice
went out from the cave. It pierced through the storms
and the clouds which attended Kuna's attack upon her.
It swept along the side of the great mountain. It
crossed the channel between the islands of Hawaii and
Maui. Its anguish smote the side of the great moun-
tain Haleakala, where Maui had been throwing his
lassoes around the sun and compelling him to go more
slowly. When Maui heard Hina's cry for help echoing
from cliff to cliff and through the ravines, he leaped at
once to rush to her assistance.
Some say that Hina, the goddess, had a cloud ser-
vant, the "ao-opua," the "warning cloud," which rose
swiftly above the falls when Hina cried for aid and
then, assuming a peculiar shape, stood high above the
hills that Maui might see it. Down the mountain he
leaped to his magic canoe. Pushing it into the sea
with two mighty strokes of his paddle he crossed the
sea to the mouth of the "Wailuku river. Here even to
the present day lies a long double rock, surrounded
"t&Nfc
Wailuku River (the Home of Kuna).
HINA AND THE WAILUKU RIVER. 151
by the waters of the bay, which the natives call Ka
waa o Maui, "The canoe of Maui." It represents to
Hawaiian thought the magic canoe with which Maui
always sailed over the ocean more swiftly than any
winds could carry him. Leaving his canoe, Maui seized
the magic club with which he had conquered the sun
after lassoing him, and rushed along the dry bed of
the river to the place of danger. Swinging the club
swiftly around his head, he struck the dam holding back
the water of the rapidly-rising river.
"Ah! Nothing can withstand the magic club. The
bank around one end of the dam gives way. The im-
prisoned waters leap into the new channel. Safe is Hina
the goddess."
Kuna heard the crash of the club against the stones
of the river bank and fled up the river to his home in
the hidden caves by the pools in the river bed. Maui
rushed up the river to punish Kuna-mo-o for the trouble
he had caused Hina. When he came to the place where
the dragon was hidden under deep waters, he took his
magic spear and thrust it through the dirt and lava
rocks along one side of the river, making a long hole,
through which the waters rushed, revealing Kuna-mo-o 's
hiding place. This place of the spear thrust is known
among the Hawaiians as Ka puka a Maui, "the door
made by Maui." It is also known as "The natural
bridge of the Wailuku river."
Kuna-mo-o fled to his different hiding places, but
152 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Maui broke up the river bed and drove the dragon
out from every one, following him from place to place
as he fled down the river. Apparently this is a legend-
ary account of earthquakes. At last Kuna-mo-o found
what seemed to be a safe hiding place in a series of deep
pools, but Maui poured a lava flow into the river. He
threw red-hot burning stones into the water until the
pools were boiling and the steam was rising in clouds.
Kuna uttered incantation after incantation, but the
water scalded and burned him. Dragon as he was, his
hard, tough skin was of no avail. The pain was becom-
ing unbearable. With cries to his gods he leaped from
the pools and fled down the river. The waters of the
pools are no longer scalding, but they have never lost
the tumbling, tossing, foaming, boiling swirl which Maui
gave to them when he threw into them the red-hot stones
with which he hoped to destroy Kuna, and they are
known to-day as "The Boiling Pots."
Some versions of the legend say that Maui poured
boiling water in the river and sent it in swift pursuit
of Kuna, driving him from point to point and scalding
his life out of him. Others say that Maui chased the
dragon, striking him again and again with his conse-
crated weapons, following Kuna down from falls to
falls until he came to the place where Hina dwelt.
Then, feeling that there was little use in flight, Kuna
battled with Maui. His struggles were of no avail.
HINA AND THE WAILUKU RIVER. 153
He was forced over the falls into the stream below.
Hina and her women encouraged Maui by their
chants and strengthened him by the most powerful
incantations with which they were acquainted. Great
was their joy when they beheld Kuna's ponderous
body hurled over the falls. Eagerly they watched the
dragon as the swift waters swept him against the dam
with which he had hoped to destroy Hina; and when
the whirling waves caught him and dashed him
through the new channel made by Maui's magic club,
they rejoiced and sang the praise of the mighty war-
rior who had saved them. Maui had rushed along the
bank of the river with tremendous strides overtaking
the dragon as he was rolled over and over among the
small waterfalls near the mouth of the river. Here
Maui again attacked Kuna, at last beating the life out
of his body. "Moo-Kuna" was the name given by
the Hawaiians to the dragon. "Moo" means anything
in lizard shape, but Kuna was unlike any lizard known
in the Hawaiian Islands. Moo Kuna is the name some-
times given to a long black stone lying like an island
in the waters between the small falls of the river. As
one who calls attention to this legendary black stone
says: "As if he were not dead enough already, every
big freshet in the stream beats him and pounds him
and drowns him over and over as he would have
drowned Hina." A New Zealand legend relates a con-
flict of incantations, somewhat like the filling in of the
154 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
Wailuku river by Kuna, and the cleaving of a new
channel by Maui with the different use of means. In
New Zealand the river is closed by the use of powerful
incantations and charms and re-opened by the use of
those more powerful.
In the Hervey Islands, Tuna, the god of eels, loved
Ina (Hina) and finally died for her, giving his head
to be buried. From this head sprang two cocoanut
trees, bearing fruit marked with Tuna's eyes and
mouth.
In Samoa the battle was between an owl and a serpent.
The owl conquered by calling in the aid of a
friend.
This story of Hina apparently goes far back in the
traditions of Polynesians, even to their ancient home
in Hawaiki, from which it was taken by one branch
of the family to New Zealand and by another to the
Hawaiian Islands and other groups in the Pacific Ocean.
The dragon may even be a remembrance of the days
when the Polynesians were supposed to dwell by the
banks of the River Ganges in India, when crocodiles
were dangerous enemies and heroes saved families from
their destructive depredations.
XIV
XIV.
GHOSTS OF THE HILO HILLS.
legends about Hina and her famous son Maui
and her less widely known daughters are com-
mon property among the natives of the beau-
tiful little city of Hilo. One of these legends of more
than ordinary interest finds its location in the three
small hills back of Hilo toward the mountains.
These hills are small craters connected with some
ancient lava flow of unusual violence. The eruption
must have started far up on the slopes of Mauna Loa.
As it sped down toward the sea it met some obstruc-
tion which, although overwhelmed, checked the flow
and caused a great mass of cinders and ashes to be
thrown out until a large hill with a hollow crater was
built up, covering many acres of ground.
Soon the lava found another vent and then another
obstruction and a second and then a third hill were
formed nearer the sea. These hills or extinct craters
bear the names Halai, Opeapea and Puu Honu. They
156 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
are not far from the Wailuku river, famous for its
picturesque waterfalls and also for the legends which
are told along its banks. Here Maui had his lands
overlooking the steep bluffs. Here in a cave under
the Rainbow Falls was the home of Hina, the mother
of Maui, according to the Hawaiian stories. Other
parts of the Pacific sometimes make Hina Maui's wife,
and sometimes a goddess from whom he descended.
In the South Sea legends Hina was thought to have
married the moon. Her home was in the skies, where
she wove beautiful tapa cloths (the clouds), which were
bright and glistening, so that when she rolled them up
flashes of light (cloud lightning) could be seen on the
earth. She laid heavy stones on the corners of these
tapas, but sometimes the stones rolled off and made
the thunder. Hina of the Rainbow Falls was a famous
tapa maker whose tapa was the cause of Maui's conflict
with the sun.
Hina had several daughters, four of whose names
are given: Hina Ke Ahi, Hina Ke Kai, Hina Mahuia,
and Hina Kuluua. Each name marked the peculiar
"mana" or divine gift which Hina, the mother, had
bestowed upon her daughters.
Hina Ke Ahi meant the Hina who had control of
fire. This name is sometimes given to Hina the mother.
Hina Ke Kai was the daughter who had power
over the sea. She was said to have been in a
canoe with her brother Maui when he fished up Co-
GHOSTS OF THE HILO HILLS. 157
coanut Island, his line breaking before he could pull
it up to the mainland and make it fast. Hina Kuluua
was the mistress over the forces of rain. The winds
and the storms were supposed to obey her will. Hina
Mahuia is peculiarly a name connected with the legends
of the other island groups of the Pacific. Mahuia or
Mafuie was a god or goddess of fire all through Poly-
nesia.
The legend of the Hilo hills pertains especially to
Hina Ke Ahi and Hina Kuluua. Hina the mother
gave the hill Halai to Hina Ke Ahi and the hill Puu
Honu to Hina Kuluua for their families and depen-
dents.
The hills were of rich soil and there was much rain.
Therefore, for a long time, the two daughters had
plenty of food for themselves and their people, but
at last the days were like fire and the sky had no rain
in it. The taro planted on the hillsides died. The
bananas and sugar cane and sweet potatoes withered
and the fruit on the trees was blasted. The people
were faint because of hunger, and the shadow of death
was over the land. Hina Ke Ahi pitied her suffering
friends and determined to provide food for them.
Slowly her people labored at her command. Over they
went to the banks of the river course, which was only
the bed of an ancient lava stream, over which no water
was flowing ; the famished laborers toiled, gathering and
carrying back whatever wood they could find, then up
158 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
the mountain side to the great koa and ohia forests,
gathering their burdens of fuel according to the wishes
of their chiefess.
Their sorcerers planted charms along the way and
uttered incantations to ward off the danger of failure.
The priests offered sacrifices and prayers for the safe
and successful return of the burden-bearers. After
many days the great quantity of wood desired by the
goddess was piled up by the side of the Halai Hill.
Then came the days of digging out the hill and mak-
ing a great imu or cooking oven and preparing it with
stones and wood. Large quantities of wood were thrown
into the place. Stones best fitted for retaining heat
were gathered and the fires kindled. When the stones
were hot, Hina Ke Ahi directed the people to arrange
the imu in its proper order for cooking the materials
for a great feast. A place was made for sweet potatoes,
another for taro, another for pigs and another for dogs.
All the form of preparing the food for cooking was
passed through, but no real food was laid on the stones.
Then Hina told them to make a place in the imu for
a human sacrifice. Probably out of every imu of the
long ago a small part of the food was offered to the gods,
and there may have been a special place in the imu
for that part of the food to be cooked. At any rate
Hina had this oven so built that the people understood
that a remarkable sacrifice would be offered in it to the
GHOSTS OF THE HILO HILLS. 159
gods, who for some reason had sent the famine upon
the people.
Human sacrifices were frequently offered by the
Hawaiians even after the days of the coming of Captain
Cook. A dead body was supposed to be acceptable
to the gods when a chief's house was built, when a
chief's canoe was to be made or when temple walls
were to be erected or victories celebrated. The bodies
of the people belonged to the will of the chief. There-
fore it was in quiet despair that the workmen obeyed
Hina Ke Ahi and prepared the place for sacrifice. It
might mean their own holocaust as an offering to the
gods. At last Hina Ke Ahi bade the laborers cease
their work and stand by the side of the oven ready
to cover it with the dirt which had been thrown out
and piled up by the side. The people stood by, not
knowing upon whom the blow might fall.
But Hina Ke Ahi was "Hina the kind," and although
she stood before them robed in royal majesty and power,
still her face was full of pity and love. Her voice melted
the hearts of her retainers as she bade them carefully
follow her directions.
"0 my people. Where are you? Will you obey and
do as I command? This imu is my imu. I shall lie
down on its bed of burning stones. I shall sleep under
its cover. But deeply cover me or I may perish.
Quickly throw the dirt over my body. Fear not the
160 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
fire. Watch for three days. A woman will stand by
the imu. Obey her will."
Hina Ke Ahi was very beautiful, and her eyes flashed
light like fire as she stepped into the great pit and lay
down on the burning stones. A great smoke arose
and gathered over the imu. The men toiled rapidly,
placing the imu mats over their chiefess and throwing
the dirt back into the oven until it was all thoroughly
covered and the smoke was quenched.
Then they waited for the strange, mysterious thing
which must follow the sacrifice of this divine chiefess.
Halai hill trembled and earthquakes shook the land
round about. The great heat of the fire in the imu
withered the little life which was still left from the
famine. Meanwhile Hina Ke Ahi was carrying out
her plan for securing aid for her people. She could
not be injured by the heat for she was a goddess of
fire. The waves of heat raged around her as she sank
down through the stones of the imu into the under-
ground paths which belonged to the spirit world. The
legend says that Hina made her appearance in the form
of a gushing stream of water which would always
supply the want of her adherents. The second day
passed. Hina was still journeying underground, but
this time she came to the surface as a pool named Moe
Waa (canoe sleep) much nearer the sea. The third
day came and Hina caused a great spring of sweet
water to burst forth from the sea shore in the very
GHOSTS OF THE HILO HILLS. 181
path of the ocean surf. This received the name Auau-
wai. Here Hina washed away all traces of her journey
through the depths. This was the last of the series
of earthquakes and the appearance of new water
springs. The people waited, feeling that some more
wonderful event must follow the remarkable experiences
of the three days. Soon a woman stood by the imu,
who commanded the laborers to dig away the dirt and
remove the mats. When this was done, the hungry
people found a very great abundance of food, enough
to supply their want until the food plants should have
time to ripen and the days of the famine should be
over.
The joy of the people was great when they knew
that their chiefess had escaped death and would still
dwell among them in comfort. Many were the songs
sung and stories told about the great famine and the
success of the goddess of fire.
The second sister, Hina Kuluua, the goddess of rain,
was always very jealous of her beautiful sister Hina
Ke Ahi, and many times sent rain to put out fires which
her sister tried to kindle. Hina Ke Ahi could not stand
the rain and so fled with her people to a home by the
seaside.
Hina Kuluua (or Hina Kuliua as she was some-
times known among the Hawaiians) could control rain
and storms, but for some reason failed to provide a
food supply for her people, and the famine wrought
162 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
havoc among them. She thought of the stories told
and songs sung about her sister and wished for the
same honor for herself. She commanded her people
to make a great imu for her in the hill Puu Honu.
She knew that a strange power belonged to her and
yet, blinded by jealousy, forgot that rain and fire could
not work together. She planned to furnish a great
supply of food for her people in the same way in which
her sister had worked.
The oven was dug. Stones and wood were collected
and the same ghostly array of potatoes, taro, pig and
dog prepared as had been done before by her sister.
The kahunas or priests knew that Hina Kuluua was
going out of her province in trying to do as her sister
had done, but there was no use in attempting to change
her plans. Jealousy is self-willed and obstinate and
no amount of reasoning from her dependents could
have any influence over her.
The ordinary incantations were observed, and Hina
Kuluua gave the same directions as those her sister
had given. The imu was to be well heated. The make-
believe food was to be put in and a place left for her
body. It was the goddess of rain making ready to lie
down on a bed prepared for the goddess of fire. When
all was ready, she lay down on the heated stones and
the oven mats were thrown over her and the ghostly
provisions. Then the covering of dirt was thrown back
upon the mats and heated stones, filling the pit which
On Lava Beds.
GHOSTS OF THE HILo HILLS. 163
had been dug. The goddess of rain was left to prepare
a feast for her people as the goddess of fire had done
for her followers.
Some of the legends have introduced the demi-god
Maui into this story. The natives say that Maui came
to "burn" or "cook the rain" and that he made the
oven very hot, but that the goddess of rain escaped
and hung over the hill in the form of a cloud. At least
this is what the people saw — not a cloud of smoke over
the imu, but a rain cloud. They waited and watched
for such evidences of underground labor as attended
the passage of Hina Ke Ahi through the earth from
the hill to the sea, but the only strange appearance
was the dark rain cloud. They waited three days and
looked for their chiefess to come in the form of a woman.
They waited another day and still another and no signs
or wonders were manifest. Meanwhile Maui, changing
himself into a white bird, flew up into the sky to catch
the ghost of the goddess of rain which had escaped from
the burning oven. Having caught this spirit, he rolled
it in some kapa cloth which he kept for food to be placed
in an oven and carried it to a place in the forest on
the mountain side where again the attempt was made
to "burn the rain," but a great drop escaped and
sped upward into the sky. Again Maui caught the
ghost of the goddess and carried it to a pali or precipice
below the great volcano Kilauea, where he again tried
to destroy it in the heat of a great lava oven, but this
164 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
time the spirit escaped and found a safe refuge among
kukui trees on the mountain side, from which she some-
times rises in clouds which the natives say are the sure
sign of rain.
"Whether this Maui legend has any real connection
with the two Hinas and the famine we do not surely
know. The legend ordinarily told among the Ha-
waiians says that after five days had passed the re-
tainers decided on their own responsibility to open
the imu. No woman had appeared to give them direc-
tions. Nothing but a mysterious rain cloud over the
hill. In doubt and fear, the dirt was thrown off and
the mats removed. Nothing was found but the ashes
of Hina Kuluua. There was no food for her followers
and the goddess had lost all power of appearing as a
chief ess. Her bitter and thoughtless jealousy brought
destruction upon herself and her people. The ghosts
of Hina Ke Ahi and Hina Kuluua sometimes draw
near to the old hills in the form of the fire of flowing
lava or clouds of rain while the old men and women
tell the story of the Hinas, the sisters of Maui, who
were laid upon the burning stones of the imus of a
famine.
XV
XV.
HINA, THE WOMAN IN THE MOON.
Wailuku river has by its banks far up the
mountain side some of the most ancient of the
various interesting picture rocks of the Ha-
waiian Islands. The origin of the Hawaiian picture
writing is a problem still unsolved, but the picture
rocks of the Wailuku river are called "na kii o Maui,"
"the Maui pictures." Their antiquity is beyond ques-
tion.
The most prominent figure cut in these rocks is that
of the crescent moon. The Hawaiian legends do not
attempt any direct explanation of the meaning of this
picture writing. The traditions of the Polynesians both
concerning Hina and Maui look to Hina as the moon
goddess of their ancestors, and in some measure the
Hawaiian stories confirm the traditions of the other
island groups of the Pacific.
Fornander, in his history of the Polynesian race,
gives the Hawaiian story of Hina's ascent to the
166 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
moon, but applies it to a Hina the wife of a chief
called Aikanaka rather than to the Hina of Hilo, the
wife of Akalana, the father of Maui. However, For-
nander evidently found some difficulty in determining
the status of the one to whom he refers the legend,
for he calls her "the mysterious wife of Aikanaka."
In some of the Hawaiian legends Hina, the mother
of Maui, lived on the southeast coast of the Island
Maui at the foot of a hill famous in Hawaiian story
as Kauiki. Fornander says that this "mysterious
wife" of Aikanaka bore her children Puna and Huna,
the latter a noted sea-rover among the Polynesians,
at the foot of this hill Kauiki. It can very easily be
supposed that a legend of the Hina connected with
the derni-god Maui might be given during the course
of centuries to the other Hina, the mother of Huna.
The application of the legend would make no differ-
ence to anyone were it not for the fact that the story
of Hina and her ascent to the moon has been handed
down in different forms among the traditions of
Samoa, New Zealand, Tonga, Hervey Islands, Fate
Islands, Nauru and other Pacific island groups. The
Polynesian name of the moon, Mahina or Masina, is
derived from Hina, the goddess mother of Maui. It
is even possible to trace the name back to "Sin," the
moon god of the Assyrians.
The moon goddess of Ponape was Ina-maram. (Ha-
waiian Hina-malamalama), "Hina giving light."
HINA, THE WOMAN IN THE MOON. 167
In the Paumotan Islands an eclipse of the sun is
called Higa-higa-hana (Hina-hina-hana), "The act
(hana) of Hina — the moon."
In New Zealand moonless nights were called "Dark
Hina."
In Tahiti it is said there was war among the gods.
They cursed the stars. Hina saved them, although they
lost a little light. Then they cursed the sea, but Hina
preserved the tides. They cursed the rivers, but Hina
saved the springs — the moving waters inland, like the
tides in the ocean.
The Hawaiians say that Hina and her maidens
pounded out the softest, finest kapa cloth on the long,
thick kapa board at the foot of Kauiki. Incessantly
the restless sea dashed its spray over the picturesque
groups of splintered lava rocks which form the Kauiki
headland. Here above the reach of the surf still lies
the long, black stone into which the legends say Hina's
kapa board was changed. Here Hina took the leaves
of the hala tree and, after the manner of the Hawaiian
women of the ages past, braided mats for the household
to sleep upon, and from the nuts of the kukui trees
fashioned the torches which were burned around the
homes of those of high chief rank.
At last she became weary of her work among mor-
tals. Her family had become more and more trouble-
some. It was said that her sons were unruly and her
husband lazy and shiftless. She looked into the heavens
108 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
and determined to flee up the pathway of her rainbow
through the clouds.
The Sun was very bright and Hina said, "I will go
to the Sun." So she left her home very early in the
morning and climbed up, higher, higher, until the heat
of the rays of the sun beat strongly upon her and weak-
ened her so that she could scarcely crawl along her
beautiful path. Up a little higher and the clouds no
longer gave her even the least shadow. The heat from
the sun was so great that she began to feel the fire
shriveling and torturing her. Quickly she slipped
down into the storms around her rainbow and then
back to earth. As the day passed her strength came
back, and when the full moon rose through the shadows
of the night she said, "I will climb to the moon and
there find rest."
But when Hina began to go upward her husband
saw her and called to her: "Do not go into the
heavens." She answered him: "My mind is fixed; I
will go to my new husband, the moon." And she
climbed up higher and higher. Her husband ran to-
ward her. She was almost out of reach, but he leaped
and caught her foot. This did not deter Hina from
her purpose. She shook off her husband, but as he fell
he broke her leg so that the lower part came off in his
hands. Hina went up through the stars, crying out
the strongest incantations she could use. The powers
of the night aided her. The mysterious hands of dark-
HINA, THE WOMAN IN THE MOON. 169
ness lifted her, until she stood at the door of the moon.
She had packed her calabash with her most priceless
possessions and had carried it with her even when
injured by her cruel husband. With her calabash she
limped into the moon and found her abiding home.
When the moon is full, the Hawaiians of the long ago,
aye and even to-day, look into the quiet silvery light
and see the goddess in her celestial home, her calabash
by her side.
The natives call her now Lono-moku, "the crippled
Lono." From this watch tower in the heavens she
pointed out to Kahai, one of her descendants, the way
to rise up into the skies. The ancient chant thus de-
scribes his ascent :
"The rainbow is the path of Kahai.
Kahai rose. Kahai bestirred himself.
Kahai passed on the floating cloud of Kane.
Perplexed were the eyes of Alihi.
Kahai passed on on the glancing light.
The glancing light on men and canoea.
Above was Hanaiakamalama. " (Hina).
Thus under the care of his ancestress Hina, Kahai,
the great sea-rover, made his ascent in quest of adven-
tures among the immortals.
In the Tongan Islands the legends say that Hina
remains in the moon watching over the "fire- walkers"
as their great protecting goddess.
170 MAUI— A DEMI-GOD.
The Hervey Island traditions say that the Moon
(Mararaa) had often seen Hina and admired her, and
at last had come down and caught her up to live with
himself. The moonlight in its glory is called Inamotea,
"the brightness of Ina."
The story as told on Atiu Island (one of the So-
ciety group) is that Hina took her human husband
with her to the moon, where they dwelt happily for a
time, but as he grew old she prepared a rainbow, down
which he descended to the earth to die, leaving Hina
forevermore as "the woman in the moon." The Savage
Islanders worshipped the spirits of their ancestors, say-
ing that many of them went up to the land of Sina,
the always bright land in the skies. To the natives
of Niue Island, Hina has been the goddess ruling over
all tapa making. They say that her home is "Motu a
Hina," "the island of Hina," the home of the dead
in the skies.
The Samoans said that the Moon received Hina and
a child, and also her tapa board and mallet and ma-
terial for the manufacture of tapa cloth. Therefore,
when the moon is shining in full splendor, they shade
their eyes and look for the goddess and the tools with
which she fashions the tapa clouds in the heavens.
The New Zealand legend says that the woman went
after water in the night. As she passed down the
path to the spring the bright light of the full moon
made the way easy for her quick footsteps, but when
MAUI— A DEMI-GOD. 171
she had filled her calabash and started homeward,
suddenly the bright light was hidden by a passing
cloud and she stumbled against a stone in the path
and fell to the ground, spilling the water she was car-
rying. Then she became very angry and cursed the
moon heartily. Then the moon became angry and
swiftly swept down upon her from the skies, grasp-
ing her and lifting her up. In her terrible fight she
caught a small tree with one hand and her calabash
with the other. But oh! the strong moon pulled her
up with the tree and the calabash and there in the
full moon they can all be traced when the nights are
clear.
Pleasant or Nauru Island, in which a missionary
from Central Union Church, Honolulu, is laboring,
tells the story of Gigu, a beautiful young woman, who
has many of the experiences of Hina. She opened the
eyes of the Mother of the Moon as Hina, in some of
the Polynesian legends, is represented to have opened
the eyes of one of the great goddesses, and in reward
is married to Maraman, the Moon, with whom she
lives ever after, and in whose embrace she can always
be seen when the moon is full. Gigu is Hina under
another and more guttural form of speech. Maraman
is the same as Malama, one of the Polynesian names
for the moon.
PART I
LEGENDS
16
AI-LAAU, THE FOREST EATER
[EN Pele came to the island Hawaii,
seeking a permanent home, she
found another god of fire already
in possession of the territory. Ai-
laau was known and feared by all the people.
At means the '*one who eats or devours."
Laau means "tree" or a "forest." Ai-laau was,
therefore, the fire-god devouring forests. Time
and again he laid the districts of South Hawaii
desolate by the lava he poured out from his
fire-pits.
He was the god of the insatiable appetite, the
continual eater of trees, whose path through
forests was covered with black smoke fragrant
with burning wood, and sometimes burdened
with the smell of human flesh charred into
cinders in the lava flow.
Ai-laau seemed to be destructive and was so
named by the people, but his fires were a part
of the forces of creation. He built up the
islands for future life. The process of creation
demanded volcanic activity. The flowing lava
made land. The lava disintegrating made earth
deposits and soil. Upon this land storms fell
and through it multitudes of streams found
their way to the sea. Flowing rivers came from
the cloud-capped mountains. Fruitful fields
and savage homes made this miniature world-
building complete.
Ai-laau still poured out his fire. It spread over
the fertile fields, and the natives feared him as
the destroyer giving no thought to the final good.
He lived, the legends say, for a long time in a
very ancient part of Kilauea, on the large island
of Hawaii, now separated by a narrow ledge
from the great crater and called Kilauea-iki
(Little Kilauea). This seems to be the first
and greatest of a number of craters extending in
a line from the great lake of fire in EJilauea to
the seacoast many miles away. They are called
**The Pit Craters" because they are not hills of
lava, but a series of simken pits going deep down
into the earth, some of them still having blow-
holes of sputtering steam and smoke.
After a time, Ai-laau left these pit craters
and went into the great crater and was said
to be living there when Pele came to the sea-
shore far below.
In one of the Pele stories is the following
AI-LAAU, THE FOREST EATER 3
literal translation of the account of her taking
Kilauea:
"When Pele came to the island Hawaii, she
first stopped at a place called Ke-ahi-a-laka in
the district of Puna. From this place she began
her inland journey toward the mountains. As
she passed on her way there grew withm her an
intense desire to go at once and see Ai-laau, the
god to whom Kilauea belonged, and find a rest-
ing-place with him as the end of her journey.
She came up, but Ai-laau was not in his house.
Of a truth he had made himself thoroughly lost.
He had vanished because he knew that this
one coming toward him was Pele. He had
seen her toiling down by the sea at Ke-ahi-a-laka.
Trembling dread and heavy fear overpowered
him. He ran away and was entirely lost.
When Pele came to that pit she laid out the
plan for her abiding home, beginning at once to
dig up the foundations. She dug day ,and
night and found that this place fulfilled all her
desires. Therefore, she fastened herself tight
to Hawaii for all time."
These are the words in which the legend dis-
poses of this ancient god of volcanic fires. He
disappears from Hawaiian thought and Pele from
a foreign land finds a satisfactory crater in which
her spirit power can always dig up everlastingly
17
HOW PELE CAME TO HAWAII
simplest, most beautiful legend does
I not mention the land from which Pele
started. In this legend her father \
Moe-moea*au-lii, the chief who dreamed
of trouble. Her mother was Haumea, or Papa,
who personified mother earth. Moemoea appar-
ently is not mentioned in any other of the
legends. Haumoa is frequently named as the
mother of Pele, as well as the heroine of many
legendary experiences.
Pele's story is that of wander-lust. She was
living in a happy home in the presence of her
parents, and yet for a long time she was "stirred
by thoughts of far-away lands." At last she
asked her father to send her away. This meant
that he must provide a sea-going canoe with
mat sails, sufficiently large to carry a number of
persons and food for many days.
"What will you do with your little egg sister?"
asked her father.
Pele caught the egg, wrapped it in her skirt to
keep it warm near her body,and said that it should
always be with her. Evidently in a very short
HOW PELE CAME TO HAWAII S
time the egg was changed into a beautiful little
girl who bore the name Hii-aka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele
(Hiiaka-in-the-bosom-
of-Pele), the youngest
one of the Pele family.
After the care of the
helpless one had been
provided for, Pele was
sent to her oldest brother, Ka-moho-alii, the
king of dragons, or, as he was later known
in Hawaiian mythology, "the god of sharks."
He was a sea-god and would provide the great
canoe for the journey. While he was getting
all things ready, he asked Pele where she
was going. She replied, "I am going to Bola-
bola; to Kuai-he-lani; to Kane-huna-moku;
then to Moku-mana-mana; then to see a queen,
Kaoahi her name and Niihau her island." Ap-
parently her journey would be first to Bola-bola
in the Society Islands, then among the mysterious
ancestral islands, and then to the northwest until
she found Niihau, the most northerly of the
Hawaiian group.
The god of sharks prepared his large canoe
and put it in the care of some of their relatives,
ELane-pu-a-hio-hio (Kane-the-whirlwind), Ke-
au-miki (The-strong-current), and Ke-au-ka
(Moving-seas).
Pele was carried from land to land by these
wise boatmen until at last she landed on the
island Niihau. Then she sent back the boat to
her brother, the shark-god. It is said that after
a time he brought all the brothers and sisters to
Hawaii.
Pele was welcomed and entertained. Soon
she went over to Kauai, the large, beautiful gar-
den island of the Hawaiian group. There is a
story of her appearance as a dream maiden before
the king of Kauai, whose name was Lohiau, whom
she married, but with whom she could not stay
until she had found a place where she could build
a permanent home for herself and all who be-
longed to her.
She had a magic digging tool, Pa-oa. When
she struck this down into the earth it made a fire-
pit. It was with this Pa-oa that she was to
build a home for herself and Lohiau. She dug
along the lowlands of Kauai, but water drowned
the fires she kindled, so she went from island to
island but could only dig along the beach near
the sea. All her fire-pits were so near the water
that they burst out in great explosions of steam
and sand, and quickly died, until at last she
found Kilauea on the large island of Hawaii.
There she built a mighty enduring palace of fire,
but her dream marriage was at an end. The
little sister Hiiaka, after many adventures, mar-
ried Lohiau and lived on Kauai.
HOW PELE CAME TO HAWAII 7
Another story says that Pele was the daughter
of Kane-hoa-lani and Hina. The oldest and
most authoritative legends say that Kane-hoa-
lani was her brother and that Hina was the crea-
tor of a flood or great tidal wave which drove
Pele from place to place over the ocean. This
story says that Pele had a husband, Wahioloa,
who ran away from her with a sister named
Pele - kumu - ka - lani, and that Pele searched
the islands of the great ocean as she fol-
lowed them, but never found them. At last
Pele came to Hawaii and escaped the flood
by finding a home in Kilauea. In this story
she was said to have a son Menehune and
a daughter Laka. There is very little founda-
tion for this legend. Wahioloa was a chief, well
known in the legends, of a famous family of New
Zealand and other South Sea islands. Laka was
his son, who cut down trees by day which were
set up again at night by the fairies. The Mene-
hunes were the fairy folk of Hawaii. The story
of Pele*s search for a husband has been widely
accepted by foreigners but not by the early
Hawaiian writers.
The most authoritative story of the coming of
Pele to Hawaii was published in the Hoku-o-ka-
Pakipika {Star of the Pacific) , in the story of
Aukele-nui-aiku, in 186 1, and in another Hawai-
ian paper, Ke Ktwkoa, in 1864, and again in 1865.
Again and again ihe legends give Ku-waha-ilo as
the father and Haumea as the mother of the Pele
family. Hina is sometimes said to be Ku-waha-
ilo'a sister in these legends. She quarrelled with
him because he devoured all the people. The
Hawaiians as a nation, even in their traditions,
have never been cannibals, although their leg-
ends give many individual instances of canni-
balism. The Pele stories say that "Ku-waha-
ilo was a cannibal," and "Haumea was a pati
[precipice or a prominent jMirt of the earth]."
The Hawaiians, it is safe to say, had no idea
of reading nature- thoughts into these expressions,
thus making them "nature-myths." They prob-
ably did not understand that Ku-waha-ilo might
mean destructive earth forces, and Haumea
might mean the earth itself from whom Pele, the
goddess of fire, and Na-maka-o-ka-hai, the god-
dess of the sea, were bom. It is, however, inter-
esting to note that this is the fact in the legends,
and that it was in a conflict between the two sis-
ters that Na-maka-o-ka-hai drove Pele to the
Hawaiian Islands.
A greater sorcerer married Na-maka-o-ka-hai.
After a time he saw Pele and her beautiful young
sister Hiiaka. He took lliem secretly to be his
wives. This sorcerer was Au-ke!e-nui-a-iku.
A-u might mean "to swim," and kele "togUde,"
or "slip smoothly along." The name then might
HOW PELE CAME TO HAWAII 9
mean " the great smoothly swimming son of Iku."
He could fly through the heavens, swim through
the seas, or run swiftly over the earth. By magic
power he conquered enemies, visited strange
lands, found the fountain of the water of life,
sprinkled that water over his dead brothers,
brought them back to life, and did many marvel-
lous deeds. But he could not deliver Pele and
Hiiaka from the wrath of their sister. High
tides and floods from the seas destroyed Pele's
home and lands. Then the elder brother of Pele
— ^Ka-moho-alii, the shark-god — called for all the
family to aid Pele. Na-maka-o-ka-hai fought
the whole family and defeated them. She broke
down their houses and drove them into the ocean.
There Ka-moho-alii provided them with the great
boat Honua-i-a-kea (The great spread-out world)
and carried them away to distant islands.
Na-maka-o-ka-hai went to the highest of all
the mythical lands of the ancestors, Nuu-mea-
lani (The raised dais of heaven). There she could
look over all the seas from Ka-la-kee-nui-a-Kane
to Kauai, i.e., from a legendary land in the south
to the most northerly part of the Hawaiian Isl-
ands. Pele carried her Paoa, a magic spade.
Wherever they landed she struck the earth, thus
opening a crater in which volcanic fires burned.
As the smoke rose to the clouds, the angry watch-
ing one rushed from Nuu-mea-lani and tried to
slay the family. Again and again they escaped.
Farther and farther from the home land were
they driven until they struck far out into the
ocean.
Na-maka-o-ka-hai went back- to her lookout
mountain. After a long time she saw the smoke
of earth-fires far away on the island Kauai. Pele
had struck her Paoa into the earth, dug a deep
pit, and thrown up a large hill known to this day
as the Puu-o-Pele (The hill of Pele). It seemed
as if an abiding-place bad been found.
But the sister came and fought Pele. There is
no long account of the battle. Pele was broken
and smashed and left for dead. She was not
dead, but she left Kauai and went to Oahu to a
place near Honolulu, to Moanalua, a beautiful
suburb. There she dug a fire-pit. The earth, or
rather the eruption of lava, was forced up into
a hill which later bore the name Ke-alia-manu
(The-bird-white-like-a-salt-bed or The-white-
bird). The crater which she dug filled up with
salt water and was named Ke-alia-paa-kai (The-
white-bed-of-salt, or Salt Lake).
Pele was not able to strike her Paoa down into
a mountain side and dig deep for the foundations
of her home. She could find fire only in the low-
lands near the seashore. The best place on Oahu
was just back of Leahi, the ancient Hawaiian
name for Diamond Head. Here she threw up a
HOW PELE CAME TO HAWAII ii
great quantity of fire-rock, but at last her fires
were drowned by the water she struck below.
Thus she passed along the coast of each island,
the family watching and aiding until they came
to the great volcano Haleakala.* There Pele
dug with her Paoa, and a great quantity of lava
was thrown out of her fire-pit.
Na-maka-o-ka-hai saw enduring clouds day
after day rising with the colors of the dark dense
smoke of the underworld, and knew that her
sister was still living.
Pele had gained strength and confidence, there-
fore she entered alone into a conflict unto death.
The battle was fought by the two sisters hand
to hand. The conflict lasted for a long time
along the western slope of the mountain Hale-a-
ka-la. Na-maka-o-ka-hai tore the body of Pele
and broke her lava bones into great pieces which
lie to this day along the seacoast of the district
called Kahiki-nui. The masses of broken lava
are called Na-iwi-o-Pele (The bones of Pele).
Pele was thought to be dead and was sorely
mourned by the remaining brothers and sisters.
Na-maka-o-ka-hai went off toward Nuu-mea-
lani rejoicing in the destruction of her hated
enemy. By and by she looked back over the wide
seas. The high mountains of the island Hawaii,
* Hale-a-ka-la must be classed as an active volcano from evidences ot
prehistoric fires although long extinct, but the author gives these stories
in another book, "L^enda of Maui."
snow covered, lay in the distance. But over the
side of the mountain known as Mauna Loa she
saw the uhane, the spirit form of Pele in clouds
of volcanic smoke tinged red from the flames of
raging fire-pits below.
She passed on to Nuu-mea-lani, knowing that
she could never again overcome the spirit of
Pele, the goddess of fire.
The Pele family crossed the channel between
the islands and went to the mountain side, for
they also had seen the spirit form of Pele. They
served their goddess sister, caring for her fires
and pouring out the destructive rivers of lava at
her conmiands.
As time passed they became a part of the in-
numerable multitude of au-makuas, or ghost-
gods, of the Pit of Pele, worshipped especially by
those whose Uves were filled with burning anger
against their fellow-men.
The acceptable offerings to Pele were fruits,
flowers, garlands (or leis), pigs (especially the small
black pig of tender flesh and delicate flavor),
chickens, fish, and men. When a family sent a
part of the dead body of one of the household, it
was with the prayer that the spirit might become
an au-makua, and especially an unihipili au-
makua. This meant a ghost-god, powerful
enough to aid the worshipper to pray other people
to death.
HOW PELE CAME TO HAWAII 13
Pele is said to have become impatient at times
with her brothers and sisters. Then she would
destroy their pleasure resorts in the valleys. She
would send a flood of lava in her anger and bum
everything up.
Earthquakes came when Pele stamped the
floor of the fire-pit in anger.
Flames thrusting themselves through cracks in
a breaking lava crust were the fire-spears of
Pele's household of au-makuas or ghost-gods.
Pele's voice was explosive when angry. There-
fore it was called "pu." When the natives first
heard guns fired they said that the voice of the
gim was "pu." It was like the explosions of gas
in volcanic eruptions, and it seemed as if the for-
eigners had persuaded Pele to assist them in any
I
18
PELE AND THE OWh GHOST-GOD
DDI
man\- years after Pele's angry
Na-maka-o-ta-hai had driven
rom the island Kauat and
the land had many dwellers
therein, a quarrel arose between two of the
highest chiefs uf the island. They were named
Koa and Kau. It did not become an open
conflict immediately, but Koa was filled with
such deep hatred that he was ready to employ
any means to destroy his enemy.
There was a mighty Kupua, or dragon of the
Pii family, at that time on Kauai. These
dragons had come, according to the legends, to
the Hawaiian Islands from the far-away lands
of Kuai-he-lani, as attendants on the first young
chief Kahanai-a-ke-Akua (The-boy-brought-up-
by-the-gods). These dragons had the mana, or
magic power of appearing as men or as dragons
according to their desire.
This dragon was named Pii-ka-lalau, or Pii,
PELE AND THE OWL GHOST-<X)D 15
the one dwelling at Ka-lalau. He was supposed
to be semi-divine. His home was on the crest
of an ahnost inaccessible precipice up which
he would rush with incredible speed. Koa, the
angry chief, came to this precipice and called
Pii to come to him. There they plotted the
death of Kau, the enemy. Assuming the ap-
pearance of a splendidly formed young man,
Pii went down among the natives with Koa to
watch for an opportunity to seize Kau.
After a time Kau was lured to go at night to
a house far from his own home. As he entered
the door he received a heavy blow which smashed
the bones of one shoulder and laid him prostrate.
A great giant leaped out, thrusting an enormous
spear at him. Kau was one of the most skilful
of all chiefs in what was known as ** spear prac-
tice." He avoided the thrusts and leaped to
his feet. He had a wooden dagger as his only
weapon, but could not get near enough to the
giant to use it.
Just as he was becoming too weary to move,
his wife, who had followed him, hurled rocks,
striking the giant's face, then seizing her husband
fled with him homeward.
There followed a great battle in which Pii
attacked all the warriors belonging to the
wounded chief. The legends say that **this
giant was twelve feet high, he had eyes as large
as a man's fist, and an immense mouth full of
tusks like those of a wild hog. His legs were
as large as trees, and his weight was such that
wherever he stepped there were great holes in
the ground."
The warriors fled as this mighty giant charged
upon them. Suddenly they stopped and rushed
back. Their chief's wife had caught an ikoi,
a heavy piece of wood fastened to a long, stout
cord. This she hurled so that it twisted around
him and bound his arms to his sides. Stones
and spears beat upon him, but he broke the
coco-fibre cords of the ikoi and again drove the
warriors before him, trying to gam the house
where the woimded chief Kau was lying.
There was an old prophetess who had rushed
to the side of her master when he was brought to
his home. She was one of the worshippers of
Pele, the fire-goddess of the island Hawaii.
Powerful were her prayers and incantations.
Soon out of the clear sky above the conflict
appeared Pele hurling a fierce bolt of lightning
at the giant. It struck the ground at his feet,
almost overthrowing him. A second flash of
Ughtning blinded and stunned him.
It was a curious element of old Hawaiian
belief, but they did believe that demi-gods
and supernatural beings had au-makuas, or
ghost-gods, the spirits of their ancestors, to whom
PELE AND THE OWL GHOST-GOD 17
they prayed and offered sacrifice as if they were
common people and needed ghost-gods to take
care of them.
Pii, smitten by this new danger, called for
Pueo, his most mighty ghost-god. Pele's fire-
darts were falling upon him and he was near
death. Then came Pueo flying down from the
steep places of the mountain. Pueo was a
great owl in which dwelt one of the most power-
ful of Pii's ancestors.
Pueo hovered over the head of Pii facing Pele.
Whenever Pele hurled her fiery darts, the owl
swiftly thrust his head from side to side, catching
them in his beak, and with a shake of the head
tossing them off to the ground.
Then came the warriors in a great body
around the giant and his ghost-god. Thickly
flew their spears and darts. Great clouds of
stones were hurled, and both Pii and his owl-god
were grievously wounded. Pele's flashes of
lightning were coming with great rapidity.
The giant called to his au-makua to fly to
the mountains, and then, suddenly changing
himself into his dragon form, he dashed up the
precipice toward his home.
The warriors were so surprised at the wonder-
ful change that they forgot to fight, and only
realized that this dragon was their enemy when
they saw him far out of the reach of their best
i8
weapons. They could see that dragon leaping
from stone to stone, and swiftly gUding up the
steep precipice. He escaped to his home in
the mountain recesses and nevermore troubled
the chief by the sea. His employer was killed
in a later battle. Pele returned to her home
in the volcano Kilauea.
IV
19
THE HILLS OF PELE
Na Puu o Pele
[^^■HROUGH the fleeting hours of Tuesday,
IrSM January eighth, in the year nineteen
^^H hundred and seven, earthquakes were
BBSI felt all over the island of Hawaii.
Soon after midnight as the stars of the new
day Wednesday, January ninth, looked down
on the melting snows of Mauna Loa, a glorious
fire-light broke out on the southern slope. This
light filled the sky above the mountain and
was visible from all parts of the island.
The Hawaiians said "Pele has come again."
For some hours great floods of lava poured forth
with extraordinary activity, quickly covering a
vast area of land on the side of the mountain
about four thousand feet below the summit
crater. Then as the brilliant light of the sun
took the place of the glow of volcanic fires,
clouds of eruptive gases and smoke marked
the course of the lava in its flow down the
mountain side. Moreover, for nearly two days
the lava found an underground channel from
which it burst forth at times with explosions ]
attended by earthquakes which sliook
western coast of the island. PuSs of smoke
by day and pillars of fire by night marked the
course of this underground channel. Thus for
nearly three days the country throbbed with
excitement because of the uncertainty attending
the continued action of the lava flow. Then
came Friday evening and a sky flooded with an
ocean of fire. The lava burst from the side of
the mountain about half-way between the summit
and the sea in magnilicent tossing waves, a
river hundreds of feet across, dashing over old [
lava flows, burning the ferns and trees of the I
forest which had grown on lava a hundred
years and more of age. Down it forced its
way, sometimes cooling in great stone masses,
crunching and crushing against each other, some-
times a rough mass of cinders resting upon a
moving bed of fire and sometimes a swiftly i
moving Uquid stream pushing from under a cool- I
ing surface and continually pressing downward |
toward the sea.
Meanwhile, as this lava flow was making its ,
descent, another branch broke away westward,
A Uttie hiU of lava frozen ages before into a
massive breastwork of black stone standing i
the front of this flow of 1907 divided it so that
this western branch took its own way to the ocean
THE HILLS OF PELE 21
beach. Thus this mighty force of melted rock
from the underworld hurled its vast mass down
the mountain, piling itself over all life in its
path and leaving only towering heaps of desola-
tion, to cover the earth. Between these two
branches of the lava river lay stretched a tract
of ancient lava several miles wide, desolate
and dreary save for small clumps of trees and
patches of ferns and grass.
At the end of this uncovered old lava two
symmetrical mounds rise from the rugged
splintered rocks. These are marked on the
maps of the large island as '*Na Puu o Pele''
(The hills of Pele).
In the simmier of 1905 two friends journeyed
across the desolate country which has been made
more desolate by the eruption of 1907. Wearied
by the hours passed in travelling over lava
sharp as broken glass these friends found a
grass-covered resting-place and there waited for
their fatigue to pass away. In a httle while
some Hawaiians drew near.
"Aloha oukou [Friendship to you]!" was the
greeting to them.
"Aloha olua [Friendship to you also]!" was
the reply.
"This place is deserted by almost all life.
Surely one cannot expect it to add any story to
Hawaiian mythology."
"Ay, there is a story which belongs to the
two hills of Pele down by the sea."
That summer day, on the lava of long a
long ago that its date is not recorded, we heard
the story of the chiefs of Kahuku and the fiery |
and voluptuous goddess of the volcanic forces of J
the Hawaiian Islands.
Kahuku, the land now under past and present I
lava flows, was at one time luxuriant and beauti-
ful. The sugar-cane and taro beds were bordered
by flowers and shaded by long-branching trees.
Villages here and there marked the population I
which supported the chiefs of Kahuku.
Two of the young chiefs were splendid speci-
mens of savage manhood. They both excelled ]
in the sports and athletic feats which were the
chief occupation of those days. Wherever a
hillside was covered with grass and the ground ,
properly sloping, holua races were carried >
Very narrow sleds (holua) with long runners
were used in these races.
Maidens and young men vied with each )
other in mad rushes over the holua courses.
Usually the body was thrown headlong on the
sled as it was pushed over the brink of the little
hill at the beginning of the slide. Sometimes
the more courageous riders would rest on 1
and knees while only the very skilful dared s
upright during the swift descent.
it on hands ^H
dared stand ^H
THE HILLS OF PELE 23
Pele, the goddess of fire, loved this sport and
often appeared as a beautiful and athletic
princess. She carried her sled with her to
Kahuku to the holua hillside, and easily sur-
passed all the women in grace and daring.
Soon the two handsome young chiefs saw her
and challenged her to race with them. For
hours they sported together, the chiefs led
captive by the charms of the goddess.
Jealous of each other, they strove to win
Pele each to his own home. Thus the days
passed by, filled with sports and pleasures.
At last the yoimg men became suspicious of
their companion, her love was so fitful and
capricious, sometimes burning with a raging fire
toward her friends and sometimes filled with
hot anger on very slight provocation.
At last a warning came that this beautiful
stranger might be the goddess Pele from the
other side of the island; that her home was
in Halemaiunau (The continuing house) of the
volcano Kilauea; her attendants the always
leaping flames; the caves filled with rolling
waves of fire her dwelling-rooms; that she carried
the control of the fires of the underworld with her
wherever she went.
The young chiefs talked together concerning
their ejcperiences and then began to draw away
from their dangerous visitor.
But Pele made it difficult for them to escafiefl
from her presence. She continually called thentf
to race with her.
At last the grass began to die. The soill
became warm, and the heat intense. Slight!
earthquakes made themselves felt. The tides
were more snappy as they cast their surf wave^
along the beach.
The chiefs became afraid. Pele saw it and I
was overcome with anger. Her appearance I
changed. Her hair floated out in tangled masses, i
touched by the breath of hot winds. Her arms 1
and limbs shone as if enwrapped with fire. .]
Her eyes blazed hke lightning, and her breath J
poured forth in volumes of smoke. In great J
terror the chiefs rushed toward the sea.
Pele struck the ground heavily with her feet..]
Again and again she stamped in wrath. Earth-
quakes swept the lands of Kahidiu. Then the |
awful fiery flood broke from the underworld,
and swept down over Kabuku. On the crest of
the falling torrent of fire rode Pele, flashing the
fires of her anger in great explosions above the
flood.
The chiefs tried to flee toward the north, buti
Pele hurled the fiercest torrents beyond them t
turn them back. Then they fled toward thel
south, but Pele again forced them back upon 1
their own lands.
DECKED WITH LEIS OF PLUMAHIA
THE HILLS OF PELE 25.
Then they hurried down to the beach, hoping
to catch one of their canoes and escape on the
ocean. Quickly these young men leaped on.
Swiftly came the fiery flood behind them. Pele
was urging the imderworld forces to their ut-
most speed. Shrieking like fierce, whistling
winds, tearing her hair and throwing it away in
bunches, Pele sped after the chiefs. The floods
of lava, obeying the commands of the goddess,
spread out over all the land of the chiefs so that
from the moimtain to the sea thie luxuriant
lands became desolate.
Nearer and nearer to the sea came the swift
runners. It seemed as if they had foimd the
way of escape, for the surf waves waited eagerly
to welcome them, and a canoe lay near the beach.
But Pele leaped from the flowing lava and
threw her burning arms around the nearest one
of her former lovers. In a moment the lifeless
body was thrown to one side. The lava piled
itself up around it, while at the command of
Pele a new gush of lava rose up like a fresh
crater and swallowed up all that was left.
The other chief was petrified by fear and
horror. In a moment Pele seized him and called
for another outburst of lava, which rose up
rapidly aroimd them. In a few minutes the
Hills of Pele were built.
Thus the lovers of Pele died and thus their
tombs were made. For many years, even from
ancient times, they have marked the destruction
of the beautiful lands of Kahuku.
Later lava flows have turned aside to spare
the monuments of the chiefs with whom Pele
played for a time, and the two hills of Pele are
20
PELE AND THE CHIEFS OF PUNA
Ea
KUUU-KAJIT
very quickly angered. Her passions
were as turbulent as the lake of fire in
her crater home. Her love burned, but
her anger devoured. She was not safe,
Kumu-kahi was a chief who pleased Pele.
According lo the legends he was tali, well built,
and handsome, and a great lover of the ancient
games. Apparently he had known Pele only as
a beautiful young chiefess; for one day, when he
was playing with the people, an old woman with
fiery eyes came to him demanding a share in the
sports. He ridiculed her. She was very per-
sistent. He treated her with contempt. In a
moment her anger flashed out in a great fountain
of volcanic fire. She chased the chief to the sea,
caught Viim on the beach, heaped up a great
mound of brolcen lava over him, and poured her
lava flood around him and heyond him far out
into the ocean.
Thus the traditions say Cape Kumu-kahi, the .
southeast point of the island Hawaii, was formed.
Here kings, chiefs, and priests have come for ages
to build great piles of lava rock with many cere-
monies. The natives call these "funeral mounds"
and name them after the builders, although the
persons themselves were seldom placed under-
neath in burial.
When Hawaiians, who had been ill, recovered,
they frequently vowed to make a "journey of
health," This meant that they came to the
place now known as Hilo Bay. There they
bathed by the beautiful little Coconut Island,
fished up by the demi-god Maui. There they
swam around a stone known as Moku-ola (The-
island-of-life). Then they walked along the sea-
shore day after day until they were below the
volcano of KJlauea. They went up to the pit of
Pele, offered sacrifices, and then followed an
overland path back to Hilo. It was an ill omen
if for any reason they went back by the same
path. They must make the "journey of health"
with the face forward. Hopoe (The dancing
stone), Kapobo (The green lake), and ICumu-kahi
PELE AND THE CHIEFS OF PUNA 29
were among the places which must be •visited.
They all have their Pele legends.
On the shortest path from Kimiu-kahi to Ki-
lauea is a great field of many acres of lava stumps.
These, according to the best theories, were made
by immense floods of lava pouring down upon
large forests of living trees. Lava always cools
rapidly on the surface, therefore, as the lava
spread out through the forest, very soon there
was a great floor of hot black stone pierced by
a multitude of trees. Some of these burned very
slowly. The flowing lava would easily push itself
up through the small opening around a burning
tree and would keep on pushing and building up
a higher and higher cone of lava as the tree burned
away, imtil the tree was destroyed. These cones
rise sometimes ten to fifteen feet above the lava
floor. They frequently have well-preserved
masses of charcoal as their core. This is nature's
method of making lava stumps. This field of
hundreds of lava stimips has a different origin
according to the legends.
Papa-lau-ahi
Papa-lau-ahi (The-fire-leaf-smothered-out) was
a chief who at one time ruled the district of Puna.
He excelled in the sports of the people. It was
his great deUght to gather all the famiUes to-
gether ^d have feasts and games. He chal-
lenged the neighboring chiefs to personal con-
tests of many kinds and almost always was the
victor.
One day the chiefs were sporting on the hill-
sides around a plain where a multitude of people
could see and applaud. Pele heard a great noise
of shouting and clapping hands and desired to see
the sport. In the form of a beautiful woman she
suddenly appeared on the crest of one of the hills
down which Papa-lau-ahi had been coastmg.
Borrowing a sled from one of the chiefs she pre-
pared to race with him. He was the more skil-
ful and soon proved to her that she was beaten.
Then followed taunts and angry words and the
sudden absolute loss of all self-control on the part
of Pele. She stamped on the ground and floods
of lava broke out, destroying many of the chiefs
as they fled in every direction.
The watching people, overcome with wonder
and fear, were turned into a multitude of pillars *
of lava, never changing, never moving through
all the ages.
Papa-lau-ahi fled from his antagonist, but she
rode on her fiery surf waves, urging them on
faster and faster until she swept him up in the
flames of fire, destroying him and all his posses-
sions.
* These are the lava stumps easily visited by any lover of the curious
who journeys to Kilauea.
PELE AND THE CHIEFS OF PUNA 31
Ke-lh-kuku
Another chief was the one who was called in
Hawaiian legends, Ke-lii-kuku (The-Puna-chief-
who-boasted). He was proud of Puna, cele-
brated as it was in song and legend.
"Beautiful Puna!
Clear and beautiful,
Like a mat spread out.
Shining like sunshine
Edged by the forest of Malio." — Ancient Chant,
Ke-lii-kuku visited the island Oahu. He al-
ways boasted that nothing could be compared
with Puna and its sweet - scented trees and
vines.
He met a prophet of Pele, Kane-a-ka-lau,
whose home was on the island Kauai. The
prophet asked Ke-lii-kuku about his home land.
The chief was glad of an opportunity to boast.
According to the "Tales of a Venerable Savage"
the chief said: "I am Ke-lii-kuku of Puna. My
country is charming. Abundance is found there.
Rich sandy plains are there, where everything
grows wonderfully."
The prophet ridiculed him, saying: ** Return
to your beautiful country. You will find it deso-
late. Pele has made it a heap of ruins. The
trees have descended from the mountains to the
sea. The ohia * and puhala ] are on the shore.
The houses of your people are burned. Your |
land is unproductive. You have no people.
You cannot live in your country any more."
The chief was angry and yet was frightened, so I
he totd the prophet that he would go back to his <
own land and see if that word were true or false.
If false, he would return and kill the prophet
for speaking in contempt of his beautiful land.
Swiftly the oarsmen and the mat sails took the
chief back to his island. As he came around the
eastern side of Hawaii he landed and climbed to
the highest point from which he could have a
glimpse of his loved Puna. There in the dis-
tance it lay under heavy clouds of smoke cov-
ering all the land. When the winds lifted the
clouds, rolling them away, he saw that all his
fertile plain was black with lava, still burning
and pouring out constantly volumes of dense j
smoke. The remnants of forests were also cov-
ered with clouds of smoke through which darted
the flashing flames which climbed to the toj)s of
the tallest trees.
Pele had heard the boasting chief and had
shown that no land around her pit of fire was .
secure against her wiU.
Ke-hi-kuku caught a long vine, hurled it oi
a tree, and hung himself.
*01iiihs or Poihi "Syiygium. Ohia-lchui-^Metiwdcroa polyr
PELE AND THE CHIEFS OF PUNA
Ka-pa-pala
Another chief by the name of Ka-pa-pala heard
of Pele. He went to the edge of
the crater and there found a group
of beautiful women. He was wel-
comed by Pele, They delighted in
each other. Many were the games
and contests. The chief was so fre-
quently the victor that at last he
boasted that he could ride his surf-
board on the waves of her lake of
fire. She was angry at the thought '
that he dared to desecrate her
sacred home. He defied her, caught
his surf-board, threw it on a wave
as it struck the encircling wall,
then leaped on his board and
launched out on the fire-waves.
It is said that, to show his con-
tempt for the power of Pele, he
even stood on his head and was
carried safely for a time on the crest of the red
rolling surf.
Pele became very angry as she saw him fleeing
from her over the lake of fire, so she called to her
fire-servants, the au-makuas, or ghost-gods, of the
crater, and they hurled other fire-waves across
the lake against the one the chief was riding.
These twisted and turned that wave. They
broke its crest. The chief and his surf-board
were tossed up in a whirlpool of fire. Then he
lost.
22
PELE'S TREE
tree which abounds in Puna, the
region of the volcanic home of the
goddess Pele. It has a continual
growth of delicately shaded leaves. The young
leaf, pink tinted,
comes as the old
leaf shading into i
gray falls from the \
tree. Flowers which
are like beautiful
red fringed balls
are always found
glorifying the vari-
colored foliage.
Here honey-loving
birds and bees find
their best feeding-
places.
The ohia forests grow abundantly and rapidly
on lava even recently thrown out by the eruptions
from Pele's lake of fire. The ohia roots seem
to find food and drink, where the numerous
cracks of a lava field open in every direction,
and vie with the tree ferns in making life take
the place of the desolation caused by the vol-
canic floods.
About half way between the city of Hilo and
the volcano Kilauea, there stood for many,
many years an old ohia tree. It was so old
that it had become legendary and was known
as "Ka laau o Pele" (The tree of Pele). When-
ever a native came near this tree, he began to
search for certain leaves or fruits which he could
lay beneath the tree as an offering before he dared
to try to pass beyond. These sacrifices were
supposed to appease the wrath of the goddess
and assure the traveller safe passage through
Pele*s dominions.
VII
23
PELE AND KAHA-WALI
OR a long, long time the Hawaiians
have had the proverb "Never abuse
an old woman; she might be Pele."
This saying was applied to several
legends, but it belonged especially to the story
of her punishment of Kaha-wali. Kaha-wali
was a chief bom and brought up on the island
Kauai. This island was one of the first on
which volcanic fires were extinct. It became
*'The Garden Island." It was the most lux-
uriant in vegetation. Its hillsides were covered
with grass which afforded the very best faciUties
for sUdmg down hill.
Hee-nalu meant "surf-riding," Heeholua meant
"sled-riding," or sUding down grassy hillsides.
The sleds were usually made of hard, dark
kauila* wood. Runners made from this wood
became very smooth and highly polished. They
were seven, twelve, or even eighteen feet long.
They were turned up a little at the front end,
where they were two to four inches apart.
They were fastened together with a number of
* Columbrina oppositifolia.
crosspieces almost the full length of the runners.
At the rear end the runners were about
six inches apart. There were long side-
pieces almost the fuH length of the sled.
Sometimes a narrow piece of matting
was fastened over the whole length of
the sledj although usually only a small
piece was provided for the chest to rest
upon. The person using the sled grasped
the right-hand side stick with his right
hand, then, running swiftly to the brow
of the hill, caught the stick of the left
side and, throwing himself on the sled,
hurled it over the edge and down the
hill, sometimes sliding one hundred to
two hundred yards or more. The sled
was so narrow and the difficulty of stay-
ing on it so great, that it became one
of the most interesting contests in which
chiefs and people delighted. Much prac-
tice was necessary before the rider could
maintain his or her balance, guide the
sled, and gain a velocity which would
carry them far beyond any competitor.
Sometimes when the holua track was
worn close down to the earth, grass,
rushes, and even leaves, were carefully
strewn over the ground to make easy
ghding for the polished runners.
I
I
PELE AND KAHA-WAU 39
Kaha-wali excelled all the Kauai chiefs in
this sport, so he determined to test his skill
on the other islands. He had heard of a beauti-
ful young chiefess on the distant island Hawaii
who was a wonderful holua rider. His first
great contest should be with Pele. He prepared
for a long journey, and a stay of many months
or even years. Some authorities have placed
the time of this visit to Hawaii as about the year
1350-
Kaha-wali filled his canoes with choice sleds,
mats, cloaks, calabashes, spears, in fact, all the
property needed for use during the visit he had
in mind. He took his wife, Kanaka-wahine, his
two children, his sister Koai, his younger brother,
and Ahua, one of the young chiefs who was his
aikane (intimate friend), and also his necessary
retainers and their baggage, and among the
most cherished of all, his favorite pig, Aloi-puaa.
This pig was so important that its name has been
made prominent in all the Kaha-wali legends.
They journeyed from island to island. Evi-
dently his father, 0-lono-hai-laau, and others of
the family came as far as the island Oahu and
there remained.
Kaha-waU passed on to Hawaii and landed
at Kapoho in the district of Puna. Apparently
the chiefs of this part of the island made Kaha-
wali welcome, for he built houses for himself and
his retainers and settled down as if he belonged
to the country.
The visitors from Kauai entered heartily into
the sports of the people and after a time climbed
some lava hilh and began holua races. These
hills were composed of lava, which easily turned
into rich soil when subdued by alternate rain
and sunshine. Grass and ferns soon clothed
them with abundant verdure.. Holua courses
were laid out, and the chiefs had splendid sport.
Crowds came to watch and applaud. Musicians,
dancers, wrestlers, and boxers added to the in-
terest.
Kaha-wali and Ahua were frequently racing
with each other. Alter each race there were
dancing and games among the people. One
day while racing Kaha-wali stuck his spear,
which was peculiarly broad and long, into the
ground at the end of the race course, then
climbed the hill which bore the name Ka-hale-o-
ka-mahina (The-house-of-the-moon). Ellis, who
wrote the story of the missionary tour of 1823,
said that the race course was pointed out to
him as Ka-holua-ana-o-Kaha-vari (The-sliding-
place-of-Kaha-vari). He thus describes the hill:
"It was a black frowning crater about one
hundred feet high, with a deep gap in the rim
on the eastern side from which the course of a
current of lava could be distinctly traced."
PELE AND KAHA-WALI 41
A woman of ordinary appearance came to the
hilltop as Kaha-waU and Ahua prepared for a
race. She said: **I wish to ride. Let me take
your holua." The chief repUed: **What does
an old woman like you want with a holua?
You do not belong to my family, that I should
let you take mine." Then she turned to Ahua
and asked for his holua. He kindly gave it to
her. Together the chief and the woman dashed
to the brow of the hiU, threw themselves on
their holuas and went headlong down the steep
course. The woman soon lost her balance.
The holua rolled over and hurled her some
distance down the hill. She challenged the
chief to another start, and when they were on
the hilltop asked him for his papa-holua. She
knew that a high chief's property was very sacred
and could not be used by those without rank.
Kaha-wali thought this was a conunon native
and roughly refused her request, saying: **Are
you my wife [i.e., my equal in rank], that you
should have my holua?" Then he ran swiftly,
started his holua, and sped toward the bottom
of the hill.
Anger flashed in the face of the woman, for
she had been spurned and deserted. Her eyes
were red like hot coals of fire. She stamped on
the ground. The hill opened beneath her and
a flood of lava burst forth and began to pour
down into the valley, following and devastating
the holua course, and spreading out over the
whole plain.
Assuming her supernatural form as the goddess
of fire, Pele rode down the hill on her own papa-
holua on the foremost wave of the river of fire.
She was no longer the common native, but was
the beautiful young chiefess in her fire-body,
eyes flaming and hair floating back in clouds of
smoke. There she stood leaning forward to
catch her antagonist, and urging her fire-waves
to the swiftest possible action. Explosions of
bursting lava resounded like thunder all around
her. Kaha-wali leaped from his holua as it
came to the foot of the hill, threw off his kihei
(cloak), caught his spear, and, calling Ahua to
foUow, ran toward the sea.
The valley quickly filled with lava, the people
were speedily swallowed up. Kaha-wali rushed
past his home. Ellis says: "He saw his mother
who hved at Ku-ldi, saluted her by touching
noses, and said, ' Aloha ino oe eia ihonei paha oe
e make ai, ke ai manei Pele' [Compassion rest on
you. Close here perhaps is your death. Pele
comes devouring].
"Then he met his wife. The fire-torrent was
near at hand. She said: ' Stay with me here,
and let us die together.' He said: 'No, I go!
Igo!'"
PELE AND KAHA-WALI 43
So he left his wife and his children. Then he
met his pet hog, Aloi-puaa, and stopped for a
moment to salute it by rubbing noses. The hog
was caught by Pele in a few moments and
changed into a great black stone in the heart
of the channel and left, as the centre of the
river of fire flowed on to destroy the two fleeing
chiefs. — Rocks scattered along the banks of
this old channel are pointed out as the individ-
uals and the remnants of houses destroyed by
Pele.
The chiefs came to a deep chasm in the earth.
They could not leap over it. Kaha-wali crossed
on his spear and pulled his friend over after him.
On the beach he found a canoe left by his younger
brother who had just landed and hastened
inland to try to save his family. Kaha-wali and
Ahua leaped into the boat and pushed out into
the ocean.
Pele soon stood on the beach hurUng red-hot.
rocks at him which the natives say can still be
seen lying on the bottom of the sea. Thus
did Kaha-wali learn that he must not abuse
an old woman, for she might be Pele.
— The story often ends with the statement that
Kaha-wali joined his father on the island Oahu
and there remained. Other legends say he went
to Kauai and there gathered a company of the
most powerful priests to return to Hawaii for 1
the destruction of Pele and her volcanic fires.
Six of these priests, according to Mrs. Rufus 1
Lyman, who owned the land of this adventure 1
and whose descendants still hold the same, came j
to Hawaii with the defeated Kaha-wali. ';
were Hale-mau-mau, Ka-au-ea, Uwe-kahuna, Ka-
ua-nohu-nohu, Ka-lani-ua-ula, and Ka-pu-e-uli.
They took their positions near Kilauea and 1
chaUenged Pele, crying out: "Where is that I
strange and wonderful woman? " Ka-au-ea {The I
fiery current) and Uwe-kahuna (priest weeping) [
and Hale-mau-mau (House of ferns) were J
kahunas, or priests of wonderful power. They ]
were the only ones who left their names to I
localities in the neighborhood of Kilauea.
Hale-mau-mau had his house of ferns for a I
long time upon a precipice, back of the present I
Volcano House. From there the name has I
been changed both in meaning and location to I
the lava pit, the pit of Pele, in the living lake of I
fire, where it is called Hale-mau-mau (the-
enduring-house). Ka-au-ea was the name given J
to a precipice in the walls of the crater. Uwe- i
kahuna was a high hill on the northwestern I
side of the crater, overlooking the fire-pit and 1
the region around Kilauea. These priests who
were also of the rank of chiefs were all killed by
Pele except Kaha-wali, who escaped to Oahu? —
VIII
mantles in the mythology of the Hawai-
ians. They were all queens of beauty,
full of wit and wisdom, lovers of advent-
ure, and enemies of Pele. They were the god-
desses of the snow-covered mountains. They
embodied the mythical ideas of spirits carrying
on eternal warfare between heat and cold, fire
and frost, burning lava and stony ice. They
ruled the mountains north of Kilauea and dwelt
in the cloud-capped summits. They clothed
themselves against the bitter cold with snow-
mantles. They all had the power of laying
aside the white garment and taking in its place
clothes made from the golden sunshine. Their
stories are nature-myths derived from the power
of snow and cold to check volcanic action and
sometimes clothe the mountain tops and upper
slopes with white, which melted as the maidens
came down closer to the sea through lands made
fertile by flowing streams and blessed sunshine.
It is easy to see how the story arose of Pele
and Poliahu, the snow-goddess of Mauna Kea,
but it is not easy to understand the different
forms which, the legend takes while the legends
concerning the other three maidens of the white
mantle are very obscure indeed.
Lilinoe was sometimes known as the goddess
of the mountain Haleakala. In her hands lay
the power to hold in check the eruptions which
might break forth through the old cinder cones
in the floor of the great crater. She was the
goddess of dead fires and desolation. She some-
times clothed the long summit of the mountain
with a glorious garment of snow several miles in
length. Some legends give her a place as the
wife of the great-flood survivor, Nana-Nuu, re-
corded by Fornander as having a cave-dwelling
on the slope of Mauna Kea. Therefore she is
also known as one of the goddesses of Mauna
Kea.
Waiau was another snow-maiden of Mauna
Kea, whose record in the legends has been almost
entirely forgotten. There is a beautiful lake
glistening in one of the crater-cones on the sum-
mit of the mountain. This was sometimes called
"The Bottomless Lake," and was supposed to go
down deep into the heart of the mountain. It
is really forty feet in its greatest depth — deep
enough for the bath of the goddess. The name
Wai-au means water of sufficient depth to bathe.
Somewhere, buried in the memory of some old
PELE AND THE SNOW-GODDESS
S7
L Hawaiian, is a legend worth exhuming, probably
connecting Waiau, the maiden, with Waiau, the
I lake.
Kahoujjokane was possibly the goddess of the
mountain Hualalai, controlling the snows which
after long intervals fall on its desolate summits.
At present but Uttle more than the name is known
about this maiden of the snow-garment.
Pohahu, the best-known among the maidens of
the mountains, loved the eastern cliSs of the
great Island Hawaii, — the precipices which rise
from the raging surf which beats against the coast
known now as the Hamakua district. Here she
sported among mortals, meeting the chiefs in
their many and curious games of chance and skill.
Sometimes she wore a mantle of pure white kapa
[ and rested on the ledge of rock overhanging the
j torrents of water which in various places fell into
I the sea.
There is a legend of Kauai woven into the
fairy-tale of the maiden of the mist — Laieikawai
^and in this story Pohahu for a short time visits
Kauai as the bride of one of the high chiefs who
bore the name Aiwohikupua. The story of the
I betrothal and marriage suggests the cold of the
snow-mantle and shows the inconstancy of human
hearts.
Aiwohikupua, passing near the cliffs of Hama-
kua, saw a beautiful woman resting on the rocks
above the sea. She beckoned with most grace-
ful gestures for him to approach the beach. Her
white mantle lay on the rocks beside her. He
landed and proposed marriage, but she made a
betrothal with him by the exchange of the cloaks
which they were wearing. Aiwohikupua went
away to Kauai, but he soon returned dad in the
white cloak and wearing a beautiful helmet of
red feathers. A large retinue of canoes attended
him, filled with musicians and singers and hla
intimate companions. The three mountains be-
longing to the snow-goddesses were clothed with
snow almost down to the seashore.
Poliahu and the three other maidens of the
white robe came down to meet the guests from
Kauai. Cold winds swayed their garments as
they drew near to the sea. The blood of the
people of Kauai chilled in their veins. Then the
maidens threw off their white mantles and called
for the sunshine. The snow went back to the
mountain tops, and the maidens, in the beauty
of their golden sun-garments, gave hearty greet-
ing to their friends. After the days of the
marriage festival Pofiahu and her chief went to
Kauai.
A queen of the island Maui had also a prom-
ise given by Aiwohikupua. In her anger she
hastened to Kauai and in the midst of the
Kauai festivities revealed herself and charged the
I
PELE AND THE SNOW-GODDESS
chief with his perfidy. Pohahu turned against
her husband and forsook him.
The chief's friends made reconciliation be-
tween the Maui chiefess and Aiwohikupua, but
when the day of marriage came the chiefess
found herself surrounded by an invisible atmos-
phere of awful cold. This grew more and more
intense as she sought aid from the chief.
At last he called to her: "This cold is the
snow mantle of PoUahu. Flee to the place of
fire!" But down by the fire the sun-mantle be-
longing to Poliahu was thrown around her and
she cried out, "He wela e, he wela!" ("The
heat! Oh, the heat!'') Then the chief an-
swered, "This heat is the anger of Pohahu."
So the Maui chiefess hastened away from Kauai
to her own home.
Then Poliahu and her friends of the white
mantle threw their cold-wave over the chief and
his friends and, whiie they shivered and were
chilled almost to the verge of death, appeared
before all the people standing in their shining
robes of snow, ghttering in the glory of the sun;
then, casting once more then- cold breath upon
the multitude, disappeared forever from Kauai,
returning to their own home on the great moun-
tains of the southern islands.
It may have been before or after this strange
legendary courtship that the snow-maiden met
Pele, the maiden of volcanic fires. Pele loved
the holua-coasting — the race of sleds, long and
narrow, down sloping, grassy hillsides. She usu-
ally appeared as a woman of wonderfully beau-
tiful countenance and form — a stranger imknown
to any of the different companies entering into
the sport. The chiefs of the different districts
of the various islands had their favorite meeting-
places for any sport in which they desired to
engage.
There were sheltered places where gam-
bling reigned, or open glades where boxing and
spear-throwing could best be practised, or
coasts where the splendid siu*f made riding the
waves on surf -boards a scene of intoxicating de-
light. There were hillsides where sled-riders
had opportunity for the exercise of every atom
of skill and strength.
Poliahu and her friends had come down Maima
Kea to a sloping hillside south of Hamakua.
Suddenly in their midst appeared a stranger of
surpassing beauty. Pohahu welcomed her and
the races were continued. Some of the l^end-
tellers think that Pele was angered by the superi-
ority, real or fancied, of Pohahu. The groimd
began to grow warm and Pohahu knew her enemy.
Pele threw off all disguise and called for the
forces of fire to burst open the doors of the sub-
terranean caverns of Maima Kea. Up toward
AZO. ECUADOR, I
I
PELE AND THE SNOW-GODDESS 6 1
the mountain she marshalled her fire-fountains.
Pohahu fled toward the summit. The snow-
mantle was seized by the outbursting lava and
began lo burn up. Poliahu grasped the robe,
dragging it away and carrying it with her. Soon
she regained strength and threw the mantle over
the mountain.
There were earthquakes upon earthquakes,
shaking the great island from sea to sea. The
mountains trembled while the tossing waves of
the conflict between fire and snow passed through
and over them. Great rock precipices staggered
and fell down the sides of the mountains. Clouds
gathered over the mountain summit at the call
of the snow-goddess. Each cloud was gray with
frozen moisture and the snows fell deep and fast
on the mountain. Farther and farther down
the sides the snow-mantle unfolded until it
dropped on the very fountains of fire. The lava
chilled and hardened and choked the flowing,
burning rivers.
Pele's servants became her enemies. The
lava, becoming stone, filled up the holes out of
which the red melted mass was trying to force
itself. Checked and chilled, the lava streams
were beaten back into the depths of Mauna Loa
and Kilauea. The fire-rivers, already rushing
to the sea, were narrowed and driven downward
'SO rapidly that they leaped out from the land,
becoming immediately the prey of the remorse-
less ocean.
Thus the ragged mass of Laupahoe-hoe was
formed, and the great ledge of the arch of
Onomea, and the diSerent sharp and torn lavas
in the edge of the sea which mark the various
eruptions of centuries past.
Poliahu in legendary battles has met Pele many
times. She has kept the upper part of the moun-
tain desolate under her mantle of snow and ice,
but down toward the sea most fertile and luxu-
riant valleys and hillside slopes attest the gifts of
the goddess to the beauty of the island and the
welfare of men.
Out of Mauna Loa, Pele has stepped forth
again and again, and has hurled eruptions of
mighty force and great extent against the maiden
of the snow-mantle, but the natives say that in
this battle Pele has been and always will be de-
feated. Pele's kingdom has been limited to the
southern hali of the island Hawaii, while the"
snow-maidens rule the territory to the north.
27
GENEALOGY OF THE PELE FAMILY
ERE were gods, goddesses, and ghost-
II gods in the Pele family. Almost all
I had their home in volcanic fires and
connected with ail the various
natural fire phenomena such as earthquakes,
eruptions, smoke clouds, thunder, and lightning.
Pele was the supreme ruler of the household.
She had a number of brothers and sisters.
There were also many au-makuas, or ancestor
ghost-gods, who were supposed to have been
sent into the family by incantations and sacri-
fices. Sometimes when death came among the
Hawaiians, a part of the body of the dead person
would be thrown into the living volcano, Kilauea,
with all ceremony. It was supposed that the
spirit also went into the flame, findbg there its
permanent dwelling-place. This spirit became a
Pele-au-makua.
1 Pele's brother, Ka-moho-alii, and her older
I sister, Na-maka-o-ka-hai, however, belonged to
the powers of the sea. Ka-moho-alii, whose
name was sometimes given as K.a-moo-alii, was
king of the sharks. He was a favorite of the
LEGES DS OF VOLCANOES
fire-goddess Pde. Na-malca-o-ka-hai, a sea-
({oddess, as a result oi familv trotible, becajne
Pele's most bitter enemy, fighting her with
floods of water, according to the legends.
Thus the original household represented the
i eternal enemies, fire and water. One set of
legmds says that Kane-hoa-lani was the father
and Hina-alii was the mother. Kane was one
of the four great gods of Polynesia, — Ku, Kane,
Lono, and Kanaloa,
Kanehoa-lani might be interpreted as "Kane,
the divine companion or friend." A better
rendering is "Kane, the divine fire-maker."
In most of the legends and genealogies he is
given a place among Pele's brothers.
There were many Hinas. The great Hina
was a goddess whose stories frequently placed
her in close relation to the moon.
—It seems far-fetched to give Hina a place in
the Pele family. The name was evidently
brought to the Hawaiian Islands from the South
Seas and in process of time was graited into the
Pele myth. —
Another set of legends published in the earliest
newspapers, printed in the Hawaiian language,
say that Ku-waha-ilo and Haumea were the
parents. Ku was the fiercest and most power-
ful of the four chief gods. Haumea had another
name, Papa. She was the earth. This parent-
GENEALOGY OF THE PELE FAMILY 65
age was carried out in the most diverse as well as
the most ancient of the legends and seems
to be worthy of acceptance. Ku-waha-ilo is
in some legends called Ku-aha-ilo. In both
cases the name means "Ku with the wormy
mouth," or "Ku, the man-eater " (The cannibal),
whose act made him ferocious and inhuman in
the eyes of the Hawaiians.
Pele has long been the fire-goddess of the
Hawaiians. Her home was in the great fire-pit
of the volcano of Kilauea on the island of Hawaii,
and all the eruptions of lava have borne her
name wherever they may have appeared. Thus
the word "Pele" has been used with three dis-
tinct definitions by the o!d Hawaiians. Pele, the
fire-goddess; Pele, a volcano or a fire-pit in any
land; and Pele, an eruption of lava.
King Kalakaua was very much interested in
explaining the origin of some of the great Ha-
waiian myths and legends. He did not make
any statement about the parents of the legendary
family, but said that the Pele family was driven
from Samoa in the eleventh century, finding a
home in the southwestern part of the island
Hawaii near the volcano Kilauea. There they
lived until an eruption surrounded and over-
tyhelmed them in Uving fire. After a time the
native imagination, which always credited
ghost-gods, placed this family among the most
powerful au-makuas and gave them a home in
the heart of the crater. From this beginning,
he thought, grew the stories of the Pele family.
The trouble with Kalakaua's version is that
it does not take into account the relation of Pele
to various parts of Polynesia,
The early inhabitants of the region around
Hilo in the southwestern part of the island
Hawaii, near Kilauea, brought many names
and legends from far-away Polynesian lands to
Hawaii. Hilo (formerly called Hiro), meaning to
"twist" or "turn," was derived from Whiro, a
great Polynesian traveller and sea-robber. The
stories of Maui and Puna came from other lands,
so also came some of the myths of Pele.
Fornander, in "The Polynesian Race," says:
"In Hawaiian, Pele is the fire-goddess who dwells
in volcanoes. In Samoan, Fee is a personage
with nearly similar functions. In Tahitian,
Pere is a volcano."
These varieties of the name Pele, Fornander
carries back also to the pre-Malay dialects of
the Indian Archipelago, where pelah means
"hot," belem to "burn." Then he goes back
still farther to the Celtic Bel or Belen {the sun
god), the Spartan Bela (the sun), and the Baby-
lonian god Be!. It might be worth while for
some student of the Atlantic Coast or Europe to
find the derivation of the name Pele as apphed
GENEALOGY OF THE PELE FAMILY 67
to the explosive volcano of Martinique, and
note its apparent connection with the Pacific
languages.
In Raratonga is found a legend which ap-
proaches the Hawaiian stories more neariy than
any other from foreign sources. There the
great goddess of fire was named Mahuike, who
was known throughout Polynesia as the divine
guardian of fire. It was from her that Maui
the demi-god was represented by many legends
as procuring fire for mankind. Her daughter,
also a fire-goddess, was Pere, a name identical
with the Hawaiian Pele, the letters / and r
being interchangeable. This Pere became angry
and blew off the top of the island Fakarava.
Earthquakes and explosions terrified the people.
Mahuike tried to make Pere quiet down, and
finally drove her away. Pere leaped into the
sea and fled to Va-ihi (Hawaii).
A somewhat similar story comes in from
Samoa. Mahuike, the god of fire in Samoa,
drove his daughter away. This daughter passed
under the ocean from Samoa to Nuuhiwa.
After establishing a volcano there, the spirit of
unrest came upon her and she again passed imder
the sea to the Hawaiian Islands, where she
determined to stay forever.
In Samoa one of the fire-gods, according to
some authorities, was Fe-e, a name almost the
same as Pele, yet nearly all the Samoan legends
describe Fe-e as a cuttlefish possessing divine
power, and at enmity with fire.
Hon. S. Percy Smith, who was for a long time
Minister of Native Affairs in New Zealand and
now is President of the Polynesian Society for
Legendary and Historical Research, writes that
the full name for Pele among the New Zealand
Maoris is " Para-whenua-raea, which through
well-known letter changes is identical with the
full Hawaiian name Pele-honua-mea,"
From several continued Pele stories in news-
papers in the native language, about 1865, the
following sketch of the Pele family is compiled:
The god Ku, under the name Ku-waha-ilo,
was the father. Haumea was the mother. Her
father was a man-eater. Her mother was a
precipice (i.e., belonged to the earth). Others
say Ku-waha-iio had neither father nor mother,
but dwelt in the far-off heavens. (This prob-
ably meant that he lived beyond the most dis-
tant boundary of the horizon.)
Two daughters were born. The first, Na-
maka-o-ka-hai, was born from the breasts of
Haumea. Pele was born from the thighs.
After this the brothers and sisters were given
life by Haumea. Ka-moho-alii, the shark-god,
was born from the top of the head. He was
the elder brother, the caretaker of the family,
GENEALOGY OF THE PELE FAMILY 69
always self-denyiag aod ready to answer any
call from his relatives. Kane-hekili, Kane who
had the thunder, was bom from the mouth,
Kauwila-nui, who ruled the lightning, came from
the flashing eyes of Haumea. Thus the family
came from the arms, from the wrists, the palms
of the hands, the fingers, the various joints,
and even from the toes. A modern reader
would think that Haumea as Mother Earth
threw out her children in the natural outburst
of earth forces, but it is extremely doubtful if
the old Hawaiians had any such idea. Yet the
expression that Haumea was a precipice might
imply a misty feeling in that direction.
The youngest of the family, Hiiaka-in-the-
bosom-of-Pele, was born an egg. After she had
been carefully warmed and nourished by Pele,
she became a beautiful child. When she grew
into womanhood she was the bravest, the most
powerful, except Pele, and the most gentle and
lovable of all the sisters.
The names of the members of the household
of fire are worth noting as reveahng the Hawaiian
recognition of the different forces of nature.
Some said there were forty sisters. One list
gives only four. They were almost all called
"The Hiiakas." Etlis in 1823 said the name
meant "cloud holder." Fomander says it means
"twilight bearer." Hii conveys the idea of
lifting on the hip and arm so as to make carrying
easy. Aka means usually "shadow," and pict-
ures the long shadows of the clouds across the
sky as evening comes. There is really no twi-
light worth mentioning in the Hawaiian Islands
and Hiiaka would be better interpreted as
"lifting simset shadows," or holding up the
smoke clouds while their shadows fall over the
fires of the crater, conveying the idea of fire-
light shining up under smoke clouds as they
rise from the lake of fire.
The Hiiakas were "shadow bearers." There
were eight well-known sisters:
Hiiaka - kapu - ena - ena (Hiiaka-of-the-buming-tabu),
known also as Hiiaka-pua-ena-ena (Hiiaka-of-the-buming-
flower) and also as Hiiaka-pu-ena-ena (Hiiaka-of-the-
buming-hills).
Hiiaka-wawahi-lani (Hiiaka-breaking-the-heavens-for-
the-heavy-rain-to-f all) .
Hiiaka-noho-lani (Hiiaka-dwelling-in-the-skies).
Hiiaka-makole-wawahi-waa (Hiiaka-the-fire-eyed-canoe-
breaker).
Hiiaka-kaa-lawa-maka (Hiiaka - with - quick - glancing-
eyes).
Hiiaka-ka-lei-ia (Hiiaka-encircled-by-garlands-of-smoke-
douds).
Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele (Hiiaka-in-the-bosom-of-Pele) ,
who was kno^vn also as the young Hiiaka.
Some of the legends say that Kapo was one
of Pele's sisters. Kapo was a vile, murderous
GENEALOGY OF THE PELE FAMILY 71
poison-goddess connected with the idea of "pray-
ing to death,"*and in the better legends is dropped
out of the Pele family. There were eleven well-
known brothers:
Ka-moho-alii (The-dragon-or-shark-king) .
Kane-hekili (Kane-the-thunderer).
Kane-pohaku-kaa (Kane-rolling-stones, or The-earth-
quake-maker).
Kane-hoa-lani (Kane-the-divine-fire-maker) .
Kane-huli-honua (Kane-tuming-the-earth-upside-down-
in-eruptions-and-earthquakes) .
Kane-kauwila-nui (Kane-who-ruled-the-great-lightning) .
Kane-huli-koa (Kane-who-broke-coral-reef s) .
Ka-poha-i-kahi ola (Explosion-in-the-place-of-life, i.e.,
fountains of bursting gas in the living fire).
Ke-ua-a-ke-po (The-rain-in-the-night, or The-rain-of-
fire-more-visible-at-night) .
Ke-o-ahi-kama-kaua (The-fire-thrusting-child-of-war) .
Lono-makua (Lono-the-father-who-had-charge-of-the-
crater-and-its-fire) .
The Thunderer and the Child-of-War were
said to be hunchbacks. According to the dif-
ferent legends Pele had four husbands, each of
whom Uved with her for a time. Two of these
were with her in the ancient homes of the Ha-
waiians, Kuai-he-lani f and Hapakuela. These
husbands were Aukele-nm-a-iku and Wahieloa.
Two husbands came to her while she dwelt in
Kilauea, her palace of fire in the Hawaiian
Islands. One was the rough Kama-puaa, the
other was Lohiau, the handsome king of Kauai.
* Pule anaoa. f See " Home of the Ancestors," Part U.,
of Puna. On a certain day there was
a fine, clear atmosphere and Pele saw
' the splendid surf with its white crests
and proposed to her sisters to go down for bath-
ing and surf-riding.
Pele, as the high chiefess of the family, first
entered the water and swam far out, then re-
turned, standing on the brink of the curling
wave, for the very crest was her surf-board
which she rode with great skill. Sometimes
her brother, Kamohoalii, the great shark-god, in
the form of a shark would be her surf -board.
Again and again she went out to the deep pit
of the waves, her sisters causing the country
inland to resound with their acclamation, for
she rode as one born of the sea.
At last she came to the beach and, telling tJie
sisters that the tabu on swimming was lifted,
and they could enter upon their sport, went in-
land with her youngest sister, Hiiaka, to watch
while she slept. They went to a house thatched
with ti* leaves, a house buLt for the goddess.
■Cordj-lmetHTninjilis.
PELE-S LONG SLEEP
There Pele lay down, saying to her sister
, Hiiaka.:
"I will sleep, giving up to the shadows of the
falling evening — dropping into the very depths of
slumber. Very hard will be this sleep. I am
jealous of it. Therefore it is tabu. This is my
command to you, O my little one. Wait you
without arousing me nine days and eight nights.
Then call me and chant the 'Hulihia'" (a chant
supposed to bring life back and revive the
body).
Then Pele added: "Perhaps this sleep will
be my journey to meet a man — our husband. If
I shall meet my lover in my dreams the sleep
will be of great value. I will sleep."
Hiiaka moved softly about the head of her
sister Pele, swaying a kahili fringed and beautiful.
The perfume of the hala,* the fragrance of Keaau,
clung to the walls of the house. From that time
Puna has been famous as the land fragrant with
perfume of the leaves and flowers of the hala
tree.
Whenever Pefe slept she lost the appearance
which she usually assumed, of a beautiful and
glorious young woman, surpassing all the other
women in the islands. Sleep brought out the
aged hag that she really was. Always when
any worshipper saw the group of sisters and
Pde asle^ in thdr midst they saw a weaiy
old woman lying in the fiie-bed in the great
crater.
While Pde was sk^Mng her spuit heard the
sound of a hula-drum skilful^ played, aooom-
panied by a chant sung by a wonderful voice.
The sfurit of Pde arose frcMn her body and listened
to that voice. She thou^t it was the hula^ of
Laka, who was the goddess of the dance. Then
she dearly heard male vxMces, strong and tender,
and a great joy awc^e within her, and she listaied
toward the east, but the hula was not there.
Then westward, and there were the ridi tones
of the beaten drum and the diant. Pde's
spirit cried: "Hie vcmre of love comes on the
wind. I will go and meet iL'*
Pele then forsoc^ Keaau and wmt to Hilo,
but the drum was not there. She pa^ed from
place to place, led by the call of the drum and
dance, following it along the palis (pcecqikes)
and over the deep ravines, throu^ forest shadows
and along rocky beaches until she came to the
upper end of Hawaii There she heard the call
coming across the sea frcxn the island MauL
Her spirit crossed the channd and listened again,
^rbe voices of the dance w&e louder and dearer
and more t>eautiful.
She passad on from island to island untfl she
oimt to Kauai, and there the drum-beat and the
• See ApfMadb. "HiriL"
PELE'S LONG SLEEP 75
song of the dance did not die away or change, so
she knew she had found the lover desired in her
dream.
Pele's spirit now put on the body of strong,
healthful youth. Nor was there any blemish
in her beauty and symmetry from head to foot.
She was anointed with all the fragrant oils of
Puna. Her dress was the splendid garland of
the red lehua flower and maile* leaf and the fern
from the dwelling-places of the gods. The ten-
der vines of the deep woods veiled this queen of
the crater. In glorious yoimg womanhood she
went to the halau. The dark body of a great
mist enveloped her.
The dnmi and the voice had led her to Haena,
Kauai, to the house of Lohiau, the high-born
chief of that island. The house for dancing was
long and was beautifully draped with mats of
all kinds. It was full of chiefs engaged in the
sports of that time. The common people were
gathered outside the house of the chief.
The multitude saw a glorious yoimg woman
step out of the mist. Then they raised a great
shout, praising her with strong voices. It seemed
as if the queen of simrise had summoned the
beauty of the morning to rest upon her. The
countenance of Pele was like the clearest and
gentlest moonlight. The people made a vacant
*AIyxia olivceformis.
space for the passage of this wonderful stranger,
casting themselves on the ground before her.
An ancient chant says:
"0 the passing of that beautiful woman.
Silent are the voices on the plain.
No medley of the birds is in the forest;
There is quiet, resting in peace."
Pele entered the long house, passed by the '
place of the drums, and seated herself on a rest-
ing-place of soft royal mats.
The chiefs were astonished, and after a long '
time asked her if she came from the far-oS sunrise i
of foreign lands, I
Pele replied, smiling, "Ka! I belong to
Kauai."
Lohiau, the high chief, said: "O stranger, child
of a journey, you speak in riddles. I know Kauai
from harbor to clustered hills, and my eyes have
never seen any woman like you."
"Ka!" saidPele, " the place where you did not
stop, there I was."
But Lohiau refused her thought, and asked her
to tell truly whence she had come. At last Pele
acknowledged that she had come from Puna,
Hawaii,^ — "the place beloved by the suru-ise at
Haehae."
The chiefs urged her to join them in a feast,
but she refused, saying she had recently eaten J
PELE'S LONG SLEEP
I and was satisfied, but she "was hungry for the
I hula — the voices and the drum."
Then Lohiau told her that her welcome was all
that he could give. "For me is the island, inland,
seaward, and ail around Kauai. Tlus is your
place. The home you have in Puna you will
think you see again in Kauai. The name of my
I house for you is Ha-laau-ola [Tree of Life]."
Pele replied: "The name of your house is
beautiful. My home in Puna is Mauli-ola [Long
I Life]. I will accept tbis house of yours."
Lohiau watched her while he partook of the
feast with his chiefs, and she was resting on the
I couch of mats. He was thinking of her marvel-
\ lous, restful beauty, as given in the ancient chant
\ known as "Lei Mauna Loa."
■'Lei of Manna Loa, beautiful lo look upon.
The inounta.m honored by the winds.
Known by the peaceful motion.
Calm becomes the whirl tvind.
Beautiful is the sun upon the plain.
Dark-leaved the trees in the midst of the hot si
Heat rising from the face of the moist lava.
The sunrise mist lying on the grass,
Free from the care of the strong wind.
The bird returns lo rest ul Palaau.
He who owns the right to sleep is at Palaau.
I am alive for your love —
For you indeed."
Then Lohiau proposed to his chiefs that he
should take this beautiful chiefess from Kauai as
his queen, and his thought seemed good to all.
Turning to Pele, he offered himself as her hus-
band and was accepted.
Then Lohiau arose and ordered the sports to
cease while they all slept. Pele and Lohiau were
married and dwelt together several days, accord-
ing to the custom of the ancient time.
After this time had passed Lohiau planned
another great feast and a day for the hula-dance
and the many sports of the people. When they
came together, beautiful were the dances and
sweet the voices of Lohiau and his aikane (closest
friend).
Three of the women of Kauai who were known
as "the guardians of Haena" had come into
the halau and taken their places near Lohiau.
The people greeted their coming with great ap-
plause, for they were very beautiful and were
also possessed of supernatural power. Their
beauty was like that of Pele save for the paleness
of their skins, which had come from their power
to appear in different forms, according to their
pleasure. They were female mo-o, or dragons.
Their himian beauty was enhanced by their gar-
ments of ferns and leaves and flowers.
Pele had told Lohiau of their coming and had
charged him in these words: "Remember, you
PELE'S LONG SLEEP 79
have been set apart for me. Remember, and
know our companionship. Therefore I place
upon you my law, *Ke kai okia' [Cut oflF by the
sea] are you — separated from all for me."
Lohiau looked on these beautiful women. The
chief of the women, Kilinoe, was the most inter-
esting. She refused to eat while others partook
of a feast before the dancing should begin, and
sat watching carefully with large, bright, shining
eyes the face of Lohiau, using magic power to
make him pay attention to her charms. Pele
did not wish these women to know her, so placed
a shadow between them and her so that they
looked upon her as through a mist.
— Some legends say that Pele danced the Hula
of the Winds of Kauai, calling their names imtil
strong winds blew and storms of rain beat upon
the house in which the chiefs were assembled,
driving the common people to" their homes. —
There the chiefs took their hula-dnuns and sat
down preparing to play for the dancers. Then
up rose Kilinoe, and, taking ferns and flowers
from her skirts, made fragrant wreaths where-
with to crown Lohiau and his fellow hula-drum-
mers, expecting the chief to see her beauty and
take her for his companion. But the law of
Pele was upon him and he called to her for a chant
before the dance should commence.
Pele threw aside her shadow garments and
8o L£GE\DS OF VOLCANOES
came out dothed in her beautiful pa-u (skirt) I
and fragrant with the j>erfiimes of Puna. She!
said, "It is not for me to give an olioli mele [a
chant] for your native dance, but 1 will call the
guardian n-inds of your islands Xiihau and Kauai,
Lohiau! and they will answer my call."
Then she called for the gods who came to
Hawaii; the gods of her old home now known
through all Polynesia; the great gods Lono and
his brothers, coming in ihe %(-inds of heav^i.
Then she called on all the noted winds of the
island Niihau, stating the directions from which
i1k>' came, the ptsnts of land struck when they
toudied the island and thdr gentleness or wrath,
their weakness or power, and their helpfulness or
destnictivaiess.
For a kmg lime she chanted, calling wind after
n-ind,and while she sang, soft breezes blew around
and through the house; then came stronger
winds whistling through the trees outside. As
the vwoc of the singer rose or fell so also danced
the winds in strict harmony. While she sang,
the pe<^le outside the house cried out. " The sea
grows rough and white, the waves are tossed by-
strong winds and clouds are flying, the winds are
gathejing the douds and twisting the beaveais."
But <aie of the dragon-women sitting near
Ldiiau said: "The noise >-ou think is frran the
sea or rustling through the leaxies of the trees b
I
PELE'S LONG SLEEP 8 1
only the sound of the people talking outside the
great building. Their murmur is like the voice
of the wind."
Then Pele chanted for the return of the winds
to Niihau and its small islands and the day was
at peace as the voice of the singer softened
toward the end of the chant. Hushed were the
people and wondering were the eyes turned upon
Pele by the chiefs who were seated in the great
halau. Pele leaned on her couch of soft mats
and rested.
Very angry was Kilinoe, the dragon-woman.
Full of fire were her eyes and dark was her face
with hot blood, but she only said: "You have
seen Niihau. Perhaps also you know the winds
of Kauai." By giving this challenge she thought
she would overthrow the power of Pele over
Lohiau. She did not know who Pele was, but
supposed she was one of the women of high rank
native to Kauai.
Pele again chanted, calling tor the guardian
winds of the island Kauai:
"O Kauai, great island of the I*hua,
Island moving in the ocean,
Island nioviTig from Tahiti,
Let the winds rattle Che branches to V
Let them point to the eye of the sun.
There is the wind of Kane at sunset—
The hard night-wind for Kauai-"
Si
Then she called for kite-flying winds when the
birds sport in the heavens and the surf lies quiet
on incoming waves, and then she sang of the
winds kolonahe, softly blowing; and the winds
hunahuna, breaking into fragments; and the
winds which carry the mist, the sprinkJing
shower, the falling rain and the severe stonn;
the winds which touch the mountain-tops, and
those which creep along the edge of the preci-
pices, holding on by their lingers, and those which
dash over the plains and along the sea-beach,
blowing the waves into mist.
Then she chanted how the caves in the seacoast
were opened and the guardians of the winds lifted
their calabashes and let loose evil winds, angry
and destructive, to sweep over the homes of
the people and tear in pieces their fruit-trees and
houses. Then Pele's voice rang out while she
made known the character of the beautiful
dragon-women, the guardians of the caves of
Haena, calling them the mocking winds of
The people did not understand, but the dragon-
women knew that Pele only needed to point them
out as they sat near Lohiau, to have all the chiefs
cry out against them in scorn. Out of the house
they rushed, fleeing back to their home in the
caves.
When Pele ceased chanting, winds without
PELE'S LONG SLEEP 83
number began to come near, scraping over the
land. The surf on the reef was roaring. The
white sand of the beach rose up. Thimder fol-
lowed the rolling, rumbling tongue of branching
lightning. Mist crept over the precipices. Rim-
ning water poured down the face of the cliffs.
Red water and white water fled seaward, and the
stormy heart of the ocean rose in tumbled heaps.
The people rushed to their homes. The chiefs
hastened from the house of pleasure. The feast
and the day of dancing were broken up. Lohiau
said to Pele: "How great indeed have been your
true words telling the evil of this day. Here
have come the winds and destructive storms of
Haena. Truly this land has had evil to-day."
When Pele had laid herself down on the soft
mats of Puna for her long sleep she had charged
her little sister, who had been carried in her
bosom, to wake her if she had not returned to
life before nine days were past.
The days were almost through to the last
moment when Lohiau lamented the evil which his
land had felt. Then as the winds died away and
the last strong gust journeyed out toward the
sea Pele heard Hiiaka's voice calling from the
island Hawaii in the magic chant Pele had told
her to use to call her back to life.
Hearing this arousing call, she bowed her
head and wept. After a time she said to Lohiau:
LBeS3nS OF WiMCAJOeS
"^It B WOL §CT DK^ to irHLHIl &CXC OH piuibUlC
^ini. I vBBet LctiiiiL bccsosc of tfe^ oIL of
^ ^
aistcri Your ant b to obey nnr £sir^ wicidk is
■pan joa. Cafan w2l take tte pbce of ^e
starm, ^e wmds wffl be qniec the sea wiB
dsb pcaocMhr^ <"ag»'arflp^ nrffi Bmnmir on die
moantani acks^aiid sweet &]weES will be amoi^
the leaves. I wiD send ht fittle aster, tiien
come qoickhr to nnr kome in Puna.**
Hoaka knew that Retime had come when she
most arofse her goddess sstcr from that deq>
sle^. So she commenced the incantatioQ whidi
Peie UAd her to use. It would call the wander-
tag spint back to its home, no matter where
it mig^t have gone. This incantation was known
as ''Htdihia keaa" C'The cmrrent is turning'')-
This was a call carried by the ^Hrit-powar of
the one who attered it into far-away places
to the very po^on for whom it was intoided.
The closing lines of the incantation wore a per-
sonal appeal to Pele to awake.
«
E Pele e! The mUky way (the i*a) turns.
E Pele el The night changes.
E Pele el The red glow is on the island.
E Pele el The red dawn breaks.
E Pele el Shadows are cast by the sunlight.
E Pele el The sound of roaring is in your crater.
E Pele c! The uhi-uha is in your crater [this means
the sound of wash of lava is in the crater].
E Pele el Awake, arise, return."
PELE'S LONG SLEEP 85
The spirit of Pele heard the wind, Naue, pass-
ing down to the sea and soon came the call of
Hiiaka over the waters. Then she bowed
down her head and wept.
When Lohiau saw the tears pouring down the
face of his wife he asked why in this time of glad-
ness she wept.
For a long lime she did not reply. Then she
spoke of the winds with which she had danced
that night^the guardians of Niihau and Kauai, a
people listening lo her call, under the ruler of all
the winds, the great Lono, dwelling on the waters.
Then she said: " You are my husband and I am
your wife, but the call has come and I cannot
remain with you. I will return to my land — to
the fragrant blossoms of the hala, but I will
send one of my younger sisters to come after
you. Before I forsook my land for Kauai I
put a charge upon my young sister to call me
before nine days and nights had passed. Now I
hear Ihis call and I must not abide by the great
longing of your thought."
Then the queen of fire ceased speaking and be-
gan to be lost to Lohiau, who was marvelling
greatly at the fading away of his loved oner As
Pele disappeared peace came to him and all the
land of Kauai was filled with calm and rest.
Pele's spirit passed at once to the body lying
in the house thatched with ti* leaves in Puna.
86 LEGES DS OF TOLCJUmSS
Soon she arose and told ^DfidLa to caA die sisters
from the sea and they voald go inlaiid.
Then they gathered around the house in which
Peie had slqyt. Peie UM than they unst dance
the hula of the lifted tabu, and asked them, one
after the other, to dance, bat they all refused untfl
she came to Hiiaka, wiio had guarded her during
her long sleq>. Hiiaka dedred to go down to the
beach and bathe with a frioid, Hopoe, wfafle the
others went inland*
Peie said, ^^You cannot go unless you first
dance for the lifted tabu."
Hiiaka arose and danced gloriously before the
htda god and chanted while she danced —
''Puna dances in the wind.
The forest of Keaau is shaken.
Haena moves quietly.
There is motion on the beach of Nanahuki.
The hula-lea danced by the wife,
Dancing with the sea of Nanahuki.
Perhaps this is a dance of love,
For the friend loved in the sleep."
Peie rejoiced over the skill of her younger sister
and was surprised by the chanted reference to
the experiences at Haena. She granted permis-
sion to Hiiaka to remain by the sea with her friend
Hopoe, bathing and surf-riding until a messenger
should be sent to call her home to Kilauea.
29
nOPOE, THE DANCING STONE
HOPOE, THE DANCING STONE
Softly moving in the quiet breeze
Rocking by the side of the sea."
— Ancient Hopoe Chant.
IN the southeastern seacoast of the
island Hawaii, near a hamlet called
Ktaau, is a large stone which was
1 formerly so balanced that it could be
easily moved. One of the severe earthquake
shocks of the last century overthrew the stone and
it now lies a great black mass of lava rock near
the seashore.
This stone in the long ago was called by the
natives Hopoe, because Hopoe, the graceful
dancer of Puna who taught Hiiaka, the youngest
sister of Pele, how to dance, was changed into this
rock. The story of the jealousy and anger of
Pele, which resulted in overwhelming Hopoe in a
flood of lava and placing her in the form of a
balanced rock to dance by the sea to the music
of the eternally moving stwf, is a story which
must be kept on record for the lovers of Hawaiian
folklore.
Pele had come from the islands of the south
seas and had found the Hawaiian Islands as
they are at the present day. After visiting all
the other islands she settled in Puna, on the
large island Hawaii. There she had her long
sleep in which she went to the island Kauai
and found her lover Lohiau, whom she promised
to send for that he might come to her home in the
volcano Kilauea.
Pele called her sisters one by one and told them I
to go to Kauai, but they feared the uncertainty I
of Pele's jealousy and wrath and refused to go.
At last she called for Hiiaka, but she was down
by the seashore with her friend Hopoe. There |
in a beautiful garden spot grew the fine food plants
of the old Hawaiians. There were ohias * (apples)
and the brilliant red, feathery blossoms of the |
lehua trees, and there grew the hala, from which
sweet-scented skirts and mats were woven.
Hopoe was very graceful and knew all the
dances of the ancient people. Hour after hour I
she taught Hiiaka the oldest hulas (dances)
known among the Hawaiians until Hiiaka ex-
celled in all beautiful motions of the human i
form. Hopoe taught Hiiaka how to make
leis (wreaths) from the most fragrant and splen-
did flowers. Together they went out into the
white-capped waves bathing and swimming
■Ohk d— Jnrabtna Malacrebsk. Ohi& Ha -Sr^ygiuni SamlwkaMe.
HOPOE, THE DANCING STONE
and seeking the fish of the coral caves. Thus
they learned to have great love for each other.
The girl from the south seas promised to care for
the Hawaiian girl whose home was in the midst
of volcanic fires, and the Hawaiian gave pledge
to aid and serve as best she could.
Together they were making life happy when
Pele caUed for Hiiaka. Out from the fumes of
the crater, echoing from hill to hill through
Puna, rustling the leaves of the forest trees,
that insistent voice came to the younger sisler.
Hiialca, by her magic power quickly passed
from the seashore to the volcano. Some of the
native legends say that Pele had slept near the
seashore where she had commenced to build a
volcanic home for herself and her sisters, and
that while longing for the coming of her lover
Lohiau she had dug feverishly, throwing up hills
and digging some of the many pit craters which
are famous in the district of Puna.
At last she determined to visit Ailaau, the god
residing in Kilauea, but he had fled from her and
she had taken his place and found a home in the
earthquake-shaken pit of molten lava, leaping
fire, and overwhelming sulphur smoke. Here she
felt that her burning love could wait no longer
and she must send for Lohiau.
To her came Hiiaka fresh from the clear waters
f' of the sea and covered with leis made by her
friend Hopoe. For a few minutes she stood be-
fore her sisters. Then untwisting the wreaths
one by one she danced until all the household
seemed to be overcome by her grace and glad-
ness. She sent the influence of her good-will deep
into the hearts of her sisters.
Pele alone looked on with scowling dissatisfied
face. As soon as she could she said to Hiiaka:
"Go far away; go to Kauai; get a husband for
us, and bring him to Hawaii. Do not marry
him. Do not even embrace him. He is tabu
to you. Go forty days only — no longer for going
or coming back."
Hiiaka looked upon the imperious goddess of
fire and said: "That is right. I go after your
husband but I lay my charge upon you: You
must take care of my lehua forest and not permit
it to be injured. You may eat all other places
of ours, but you must not touch my own lehua
grove, my delight. You wilt be waiting here.
Anger will arise in you. You wUl destroy inland ;
you will destroy toward the sea; but you must
not touch my friend — my Hopoe. You will
eat Puna with your biu-ning wrath, but you must
not go near Hopoe. This is my covenant with
you, O Pele."
Pele replied: "This is right; I will care for
your forest and your friend. Go you tor our
husband." As Pele had charged Hiiaka so had
HOPOE, THE DANCING STONE 91
Hiiaka laid her commandment on Pele. Hiiaka,
like the other sisters, knew how uncertain Pele
was in all her moods and how suddenly and
unexpectedly her wrath would bring destruction
upon anything appearing to oppose her. There-
fore she laid upon Pele the responsibility of
caring for and protecting Hopoe. This was
ceremonial oath-taking between the two.
Hiiaka rose to prepare for the journey, but
Pele's impatience at every moment's delay was
so great that she forced Hiiaka away without
food or extra clothing. Hiiaka slowly went forth
catching only a magic pa-u, or skirt, which had
the death-dealing power of flashing lightning.
As she climbed the walls of the crater she
looked down on her sisters and chanted:
"The traveller is ready to go for the loved one,
The husband of the dream.
I stand, I journey while you remain,
O women with bowed heads.
Oh my lehua forest — inland at Kaliu,
The longing traveller journeys many days
For the lover of the sweet dreams,
For Lohiau ipo." — Ancient Hiiaka Chant.
When Pele heard this chant from the forgiving
love of. her little sister she relented somewhat
and gave Hiiaka a portion of her divine power
with which to wage battle against the demons
and dragons and sorcerers innumerable whom
she would meet In her journey, and also sent
Pauopalae, the woman of supernatural power,
who cared for the fems of all kinds around the
volcano, to be her companion.
As Hiiaka went up to the highlands above the
volcano she looked down over Puna. Smoke
fn'UTi the volcano fell toward the sea, making
dark the forest along the path to Keaau, where
Ho|v>e dwelt. Hiiaka, with a heavy heart, weot
on her journey, fearing that this smoke might
be prophetic of the wrath of the goddess of
lire visited at the suggestion of some sudden
jealousy or suspicion upon Hopoe and her house-
hold.
Whal (he Han'aitans call mana, or supernatural
power able to manifest itself in many wa>^, had
cvimc upon Hiiaka. She found this power grow-
ing wilhin her as she overcame obstacle after
obstacle in the prepress of her journey. Thus
Hiiaka from time to time as she passed mtr
the mountains of the diffennt islands was
able to kiok badL over the dear)>- lo\-ed land
of Punk.
At last she saw (he smoke, which had dooded
the fon^ts akwg the w«y to the home of her
friend, grow darker and bbcket and then change
tutu the i.vange hues of outbttaking fiie. She
M\ lMr*» uitfaithfulne5$ and dsuited:
HOPOE, THE DANCING STONE 93
" Yellow grows the smoke of Ka-lua (the crater)
Turning heavily toward the sea.
Turning against my aikane (bosom friend),
Coming near to my loved one,
Rising up — straight up
And going down from the pit."
After many days had passed and she had found
Lohiau she had another vision of Puna and saw
a great eruption of lava making desolate the
land. There had been many hindrances to the
progress of Hiiaka and she had been slow. The
waiting and impatient goddess of fire became
angry with her messenger and hurled lava from
the pit crater down into the forests which she
had promised to protect. Hiiaka chanted:
"The smoke bends over Kaliu.
I thought my lehuas were tabu.
The birds of fire are eating them up.
They are picking my lehuas
Until they are gone."
Then from that far-off island of Kauai she
looked over her burning forest toward the sea
and again chanted:
"O my friend of the steep ridges above Keaau,
My friend who made garlands
Of the lehua blossoms of Kaliu,
Hopoe is driven away to the sea —
The sea of Lanahiku."
Fiercer and more devouring were the lava
floods buried out over the forest so loved by
Hiiaka. Heavier were the earthquake shocks
shaking all the countrj' around the volcano.
Tben Hiiaka bowed her head and said :
"Puna is shaldng ia the wind,
Shaking is the hala grove oi Keaau.
Tumbling are Haena and Hopoe,
Moving is the land — iiio\'iDg is the sea,"
Thus by her spirit-power she looked back to
Hawaii and saw Funa devastated and the land
covered by the destructive floods of lava sent out
by Pele.
Hopoe was the last object of Pele's anger at
her younger sister, but there was no escape.
The slow torrent of lava surrounded the beach
where Hopoe waited death. She placed the
garlands Hiiaka had loved over her head and
shoulders. She wore the finest skirt she had
woven from lauhala leaves. She looked out over
the death-dealing seas into which she could not
flee, and then began the dance of death.
There Pele's fires caught her but did not
devour her. The angry goddess of fire took away
her human life and gave her goblin power. Pele
changed Hopoe into a great block of lava and
balanced it on the seashore. Thus Hopoe was
able to dance when the winds blew or the earth
HOPOE, THE DANCING STONE 95
shook or some human hand touched her and
disturbed her delicate poise. It is said that for
centuries she has been the dancing stone of
Puna.
Hiiaka fulfiUed her mission patiently and
faithfully, bringing Lohiau even from a grave in
which he had been placed back to life and at
last presenting him before Pele although all
along the return journey she was filled with
bitterness because of the injustice of Pele in
30
HIIAKA'S BATTLE WITH DEMONS
IIIAKA, the youngest sister of Pele, the
goddess of fire, is the central figure of
many a beautiful Hawaiian myth. She
was sent on a wearisome journey over all
the islands to find Lohiau, the lover of Pele.
Out of the fire-pit of the volcano, Kilauea,
she climbed. Through a multitude of cracks
and holes, out of which poured fumes of foul
gasea, she threaded her way until she stood on
the highest plateau of lava the volcano had been
able to build.
Pele was impatient and angry at the slow
progress of Hiiaka and at first ordered her to
hasten alone on her journey, but as she saw her
patiently climbing along the rough way, she
relented and gave to her supernatural power to
aid in overcoming great difficulties and a magic,
skirt which had the power of lightning in its folds.
But she saw that this was not enough, so she
called on the divine guardians of plants to come
with garments and bear a burden of skirts with '
which to drape Hiiaka on her journey. At last j
HIIAKA-S BATTLE WITH DEMONS
the goddess of ferns, Pau-o-palae, came with a
skirt of ferns which pleased Pele. It was thrown
r over Hiiaka, the most beautiful drapery which
could be provided.
Pau-o-palae was clothed with a network of
most delicate ferns. She was noted because of
her magic power over all the ferns of the forest,
and for her skill m using the most graceful
fronds for clothing and garlands,
Pele ordered Pau-o-palae to go with Hiiaka
as her kahu, or guardian servant. She was very
beautiful in her fern skirt and garland, but
Hiiaka was of higher birth and nobler form and
was more royal in her beauty than her follower,
the goddess of ferns. It was a queen of highest
legendary honor with one of her most worthy
attendants setting forth on a strange quest
through lands abounding in dangers and ad-
ventures.
Everywhere in ancient Hawaii were eepas,
kupuas, and mo-os. Eepas were the deformed
inhabitants of the Hawaiian gnomeland. They
were twisted and defective in mind and body.
They were the deceitful, treacherous fairies,
hving in the most beautiful places of the forest
or glen, often appearing as human beings but
always having some defect in some part of the
body. Kupuas were gnomes or elves of super-
natural power, able to appear in some nature-
fonn as weU as like a human being. Mo-os were
the dragons of Hawaiian legends. They came
to the Hawaiian Islands only as the legendary
memories of the crocodiles and great snakes of
the lands from which the first Hawaiian natives |
emigrated. i
Throughout Polynesia the mo-o, or moko, re- i
mained for centuries in the minds of the natives
of different island groups as their most dreadfid
enemy, living in deep pools and sluggish streams.
Hiiaka's first test of patient endurance came in
a battle with the kupuas of a forest lying between
the volcano and the ocean.
The land of the island Hawaii slopes down from
the raging fire-pit, mile after mile, through dense
tropical forests and shining lava beds, until it
enfolds, in black lava shores, the ceaselessly
moving waters of the bay of Hilo. In this forest
dwelt Pana-ewa, a reptile-man. He was very
strong and could be animal or man as he desired,
and could make the change in a moment. He
watched the paths through the forest, hoping
to catch strangers, robbing them and sometimes
devouring them. Some he permitted to pass,
but for others he made much trouble, bringing
fog and rain and wind until the road was lost
to them.
HIIAKA'S BATTLE WITH DEMONS 99
He ruled all the evil forces of the forest
above Hilo. Every wicked sprite who twisted
vines to make men stumble over precipices
or fall into deep lava caves was his servant.
Every demon wind, every foul fiend dwelling in
dangerous branches of falling trees, every wicked
gnome whirling clouds of dust or fog and wrap-
ping them around a traveller, in fact every Uving
thing which could in any way injure a traveller
was his loyal subject. He was the kupua chief
of the vicious sprites and cruel elves of the forest
above Hilo. Those who knew about Pana-ewa
brought offerings of awa* to drink, taro and red
fish to eat, tapa for mats, and malos, or girdles.
Then the way was free from trouble.
There were two bird-brothers of Pana-ewa;
very little birds, swift as a flash of lightning, giv-
ing notice of any one coming through the forest
of Pana-ewa.
Hiiaka, entering the forest, threw aside her
fern robes, revealing her beautiful form. Two
birds flew around her and before her. One called
to the other, "This is one of the women of ka
lua (the pit).'* The other answered, "She is not
as strong as Pana-ewa; let us tell our brother."
Hiiaka heard the birds and laughed; then she
chanted, and her voice rang through all the forest:
* Piper methysticum.
"Pana-ena is a great lehua island;
A forest □( ohJas inland-
Fallen are the red flowers of the lehua,*
Spoiled are the red apples of the ohia,*
Bald is the head of Pana-ewa;
Smoke is over the land;
The fire is huming."
— Translated from a Hiiaka Chant.
Hiiaka hoped to make Pana-ewa angry by '
reminding him of seasons of destruction by lava
eruptions, which left bald lava spots in the midst
of the upland forest.
Pana-ewa, roused by his bird watchmen and
stirred by the taunt of Hiiaka, said: "This is I
Hiiaka, who shall be killed by me. I will swallow J
her. There is no road for her to pass."
The old Hawaiians said that Pana-ewa had
many bodies. He attacked Hiiaka in his fog
body, Kino-ohu, and threw around her his twist- I
ing fog-arms, chilhng her and choking her and I
blinding her. He wrapped her in the severe cold J
mantle of heavy mists.
Hiiaka told her friend to hold fast to her girdlC'l
while she led the way, sweeping aside the fog I
with her magic skirt. Then Pana-ewa took his 1
body called the bitter rain, ua-awa, the cold \
freezing rain which pinches and shrivels the skin.
•One ohlii Iref ia iUpposEd lo bear nppl«, another flowera only, the I
HIIAKA'S BATTLE WITH DEMONS lOl
He called also for the strong winds to bend down
trees and smite his enemy, and lie in tangled
masses in her path. So the way was hard.
Hiiaka swiftly swept her lightning skirt up
against the beating rain and drove it back.
Again and again she struck against the fierce
storm and against the destructive winds. Some-
times she was beaten back, sometimes her arms
were so weary that she could scarcely move her
skirt, but she hurled it over and over against
the storm imtil she drove it deeper into the forest
and gained a Uttle time for rest and renewal of
strength.
On she went into the tangled woods and the
gods of the forest rose up against her. They
tangled her feet with vines. They struck her
with branches of trees. The forest birds in mul-
titudes screamed aroimd her, dashed against her,
tried to pick out her eyes and confuse her every
effort. The god and his followers brought all their
power and enchantments against Hiiaka. Hiiaka
made an incantation against these enemies:
"Night is at Pana-ewa and bitter is the storm;
The branches of the trees are bent down;
Rattling are the flowers and leaves of the lehua;
Angrily growls the god Pana-ewa,
Stirred up inside by his wrath.
Oh, Pana-ewa!
I give you hurt,
Behold, I give the hard blows of battle."
She told her friend to stay far back m the places 1
already conquered, while she fought with a bam-
boo knife in one hand and her hghtning skirt in i
the other. Harsh noises were on every hand.
From each side she was beaten and sometimes
almost crushed under the weight of her opponents.
Many she cut down with her bamboo knife and
many she struck with her lightning skirt. The
two little birds flew over the battlefield and saw
Hiiaka nearly dead from wounds and v
and their own gods of the forest lying as if
They caUed to Pana-ewa:
"Our gods are tired frum fighting,
They sleep and rest."
Pana-ewa came and looked at them. He saw j
that they were dead without showing deep injury, 1
and wondered how they had been killed. The ]
birds said, "We saw her skirt moving against the
gods, up and down, back and forth."
Again the hosts of that forest gathered around
the young chiefess. Again she struggled bitterly
against the multitude of foes, but she was very, I
very tired and her arms sometimes refused to 1
lift her knife and skirt. The discouraged woman J
felt that the battle was going against her, so she J
called for Pele, the goddess of fire.
Pele heard the noise of the conflict and the 1
voice of her sister. She called for a body of her 1
nilAKA'S BATTLE WITH DEMONS 103
own servants to go down and fight the powerful
kupua.
The Hawaiian legends give the name Ho-ai-ku
to these reinforcements. This means "standing
for food" or "devourers." Lightning storms
were hurled against Pana-ewa, flashing and cut-
ting and eating all the gods of the forest.
Hiiaka in her weariness sank down among the
foes she had slain.
The two little birds saw her fall and called to
Pana-ewa to go and take the one he had said he
would "swallow." He rushed to the place where
she lay. She saw him coming and wearily arose
I to give battle once more.
A great thunderstorm swept down on Pana-
ewa. As he had fought Hiiaka with the cold
forest winds, so Pele fought him with the storms
from the pit of fire. Lightning drove him down
through the forest. A mighty rain filled the
valleys with red water. The kupuas were swept
down the river beds and out into the ocean,
where Pana-ewa and the remnant of his foLow-
ers were devoured by sharks.
The Ho-ai-ku, as the legends say, went down
I and swallowed Pana-ewa, eating him up. Thus
i the land above Hilo became a safe place for the
I name Pana-ewa.
a
31
HOW HIIAKA FOUND WAHINE-OMAO
HE story of the journey of the youngest
sister of Pele, the goddess of volcanic
fires, when seeking a husband for her
oldest sister, has a simple and yet ex-
ceedingly human element in the incidents which
cluster around the finding of a faithful fol-
lower and friend. It is a story of two girls
attracted to each other by lovable qualities.
Uiiaka was a goddess with an attendant from
the old Hawaiian fairyland — the Guardian of
Ferns. Then there was added the human
helper, Wahine-omao, or "the light-colored
woman."
While Hiiaka was joumejang through the
lower part of the forest which she had freed
from demons, the Guardian of Ferns said: "I
hear the grunting of a pig, but cannot tell
whether it is before us or on one side. Where
is it — from the sea or inland?"
Hiiaka said: "This is a pig from the sea. It
HOW HIIAKA FOUND WAHINE-OMAO 105
is the Humuhumu-nukunuku-a-puaa. It is the
grunting, angular pigfish. There is also a pig
from the land. There are two pigs. They are
before us. They belong to a woman and are
for a gift — a sacrifice to the sister goddess who
is over us two. This is Wahine-omao."
They walked on through the restful shadows
of the forest and soon met a beautiful woman
carrying a little black pig and a striped, angular
fish. Hiunuhumu means "grunting." Nuku-
nuku means "cornered." Puaa means "pig."
The Humuhumu-nukunuku-a-puaa was a fish
with a sharp-pointed back, grunting like a pig.
It was the fish into which the fabled demi-god
Kamapuaa changed himself when fleeing from
the destructive fires of Pele.
Hiiaka greeted the stranger, "Love to you,
Wahine-omao."
The woman replied: "It is strange that you
two have my name while your eyes are imknown
to me. What are your names and where do you
go?''
The sister of Pele concealed their names. "I
am Ku and Ka is the name of my friend. A
troublesome journey is before us beyond the
waters of Hilo and the kupuas [demons] dwelling
there and along the hard paths over the cliffs
of the seacoast even to the steady blowing winds
of Kohala."
io6
The newcomer looked longingly into the eyes
of the young chiefess and said: "I have a great
desire for that troublesome Journey, but this I
pig is a sacrifice for the goddess of the crater.
Shall I throw away the pig and go with you?"
Hiiaka told her to hurry on, saying: "If your ]
purpose is strong to go with us, take your [
sacrifice pig to the woman of the pit. Then ]
come quickly after us. You will find us. While ]
you go say continually, 'O Ku! O Ka! O Ku! ,
O Ka!' When you arrive at the pit throw the I
pig down into the fire and return quickly,
saying, '0 Ku! O Ka!' until you find us."
The woman said: "I will surely remember |
your words, but you are so beautiful and have I
such power that I think you are Pele. Take J
my pig now and end my trouble." Then she |
started to throw herself and her offerings <
the ground before Hiiaka.
Hiiaka forbade this and explained that the ]
offering must be taken as had been vowed.
Then the woman took her sacred gifts and. J
went up through the woods to the crater, saying 1
over and over, "0 Ku! O Ka!" all the time I
realizing that new activity and life were coming |
to her and that she was moving as swiftly i
the wind. In a little while she stood on the high ]
point above the crater called Koiea— the place I
where birds rested. Before her lay a great J
HOW HIIAKA FOUND WAHINE-OMAO 107
circular plain, black-walled, full of burning
lava leaping up in wonderful fire-dances and
boiling violently around a group of beautiful
women. She called to Pele:
"E Pe\e e! Here is my sacrifice — a pig.
E Pele e! Here is my gift — a pig.
Here is a pig for you,
O goddess of the burning stones.
Life for me. Life for you.
The flowers of fire wave gently.
Here is your pig." — Amama,
The woman threw the pig and the fish over
the edge into the mystic fires beneath and leaned
over, looking down into the deadliness of the
fire and smoke which received the sacrifice.
Flaming hands leaped up, caught the gifts and
drew them down imder the red surface. But
in a moment there was a rush upward of a
fountain of lava and hurled up with it she saw
the body of the little black pig tossing in the
changing jets of fire.
Down it went agam into the whirlmg, groaning
fires of the underworld. Then she knew that
the sacrifice had been accepted and that she was
free from her vow of service to Pele. Every
tabu upon her free action had been removed
and she was free — ^f ree to do according to her own
wish. Then she saw one of the women of the
pit slowly changing into an old woman lying on
a mat of fire apart from the others. It was
Pele who was always growing more and more
jealous and angry with Hiiaka.
Pele called from the pit of fire, '*0 woman!
have you seen two travellers?"
When she learned that they had been seen
gomg on their journey she charged her new wor-
shipper to go with Hiiaka and always spy upon
her movements.
Wahine-omao became angry and cried out:
** When I came here I thought you were beautiful
with the glory of fire resting on you. Your
sisters are beautiful, but you are a harsh old
woman. Your eyes are red. Your eyebrows
and hair are burned. You are the woman with
scorched •eyelids." Then she ran from the
crater, saying, * * Ku ! Ka ! " Her feet seemed
to be placed on a swift-moving cloud and in a
few moments she was dropped by the side of
Hiiaka.
The three women, Hiiaka, the powerful, Pau-
o-palae, the fairy of the ferns, and Wahine-omao,
the brave and beautiful young woman of the forest,
went on toward Hilo. They came to a grove of
ohia, or native apple, trees, and the new friend
begged them to rest for a little while in this place,
for it was her father's home.
Hiiaka hesitated, saying: **I am afraid that
you would entangle me, O friend! Some one
HOW HIIAKA FOUND WAHINE-OMAO 109
is waiting below whom I must see. Our journey
cannot end."
'*0h," said the woman, '*I intend not to stay.
Stepping sideways was my thought to see my
family dwelling in this house — then journey on."
They turned aside through the red-fruited tall
ohia trees to a resting-place called Papa-lau-ahi,
or the fireleaf of lava spread out flat like a board.
This has always been a resting-place for travellers
coming across the island to Hilo Bay. There
they greeted friends and rested, but Hiiaka
thought lovingly of another friend, Hopoe, far
dearer to her than any one else. Tears rolled
down her cheeks.
Wahine-omao said, '*Why do you weep,
friend?" The reply came: "Because of my
friend who lives over by that sea far below us.
The smoke of the fire-anger of our sister-lord
is falling over toward my friend Hopoe."
Wahine-omao said: "One of our people truly
lives over there. We know and love her well, but
her name is Nana-huki. The name is given
because when looking at you her eyes are like
a cord pulling you to her."
"Yes," said Hiiaka, "that is her name, but
for me she had the sweet-scented hala wreaths
and the beautiful wreaths of the red blossoms of
the lehua and baskets of the most delicious treas-
ures of the sea. So my name for her is Hopoe."
The name Hopoe maymean "one encircled,"
as with leis, or wreaths, or as with loving anns, or
possibly it might convey the idea of one set
apart in a special class or company. Both
thoughts might well he included in the deep love
of the young goddess for a human friend.
The time came for the three women to hasten
on their way. The final alohas were said. The
friends ruhhed noses in the old Hawaiian way
and went down to Hilo.
Hiiaka looked again from the upland over to
the distant seacoast and wailed:
"My journey opens to Kauai.
Loving is my thought for my aikane,
My bosom friend^ —
Hopoe — my sweet-scented hala.
Far will we go;
Broad is the land;
Perhaps Kauai Is the end."
Thus Hiiaka sent her loving thoughts over for-
est and rugged lava plains to her dearest friend
even while she opened her heart to another friend
who served her with the utmost faithfulness and
32
miAKA CATCHING A GHOST
HIIAKA CATCHING A GHOST
H r^ dess of ferns, and their new friend Wa-
IBJI hine-omao, were hastening through the
'■ ' forests above the bay of Hilo. They
came near a native house. Two girls were lying
on a mat near the doorway. The girls saw the
strangers and with hearts full of hospitality cried:
"O women strangers, stop at our house and eat.
Here are dried fish and the kilu-ai [a-litlle-cala-
bash-ful!-of-poi, the native food]." It was all
the food the girls had, but they offered it gladly.
Hiiaka said: "One of us will stop and eat.
Two of us will pass on. We are not hungry."
The truth was that Wahine-omao of the light
skin needed food like any one not possessing
semi -divine powers.
So Wahine-omao stopped and ate. She saw
that the girls were kupilikia {stirred-up-with-
anxiety) and asked them why they were troubled.
"Our father," ihey said, "went to the sea to
fish in the night and has not returned. We fear
that he is in trouble."
Hiiaka heard the words and looked toward the
sea. She saw the spirit of that man coming
up from the beach with an ipu-holoholona
(a-calabash-for-carrying fish-lines, etc.) in his
She charged the girls to hsten carefully while
she told them about their father, saying: "You
must not let tears fall or wailing tones come into
your voices. Your father has been drowned in
the sea during the dark night. The canoe filled
with water. The swift-beating waters drove
your father on to the reef of coral and there his
body lies. The spirit was retummg home, but
now sees strangers and is turning aside. I will
go and chase that spirit from place to place until
it goes back to the place where it left its house-
the body supposed to be dead. Let no one eat I
until my work is done."
Hiiaka looked again toward the sea. The
spirit was wandering aimlessly from place to place
with its calabash thrown over its shoulder. It
was afraid to come near the strangers and yet
did not want to go back to the body. Hiiaka.
hastened after the ghost and drove it toward the
house where the girls were living. She checked
it as it turned to either side and tried to dash away
into the forest. She pushed it into the door and
called the girls in. They saw the ghost as if it
were the natural body. They wept and began to
beseech Hiiaka to bring him back to life.
HIIAKA CATCHING A GHOST
She told them she would try, but they must
remember to keep the bundle of tears inside the
eyes. She told them that the spirit must take
her to the body and they must wait until the
rainbow colors of a divine chief came over their
house. Then they would kjiow that their father
was alive. But if a heavy rain should fall they
would know he
strain their crie
As Hiiaka ros
leaped and
saw the ghost
; not alive and need not re-
I
s to pass out of the door the ghost
Hiiaka rushed out and
1 to the sea. She leaped after
it and followed it to a great stone lying at the
foot of a steep precipice. There the heana
(dead body) was lying. It was badly torn by the
rough coral and the face had been bitten by eels.
Around it lay the broken pieces of ihe shattered
canoe. Hiiaka washed the body in the sea and
then turned to look for the ghost, but it was run-
ning away as if carried by a whirlwind.
Hiiaka thrust out her "strong hand of Kilauea."
This meant her power as one of the divine family
living in the fire of the volcano. She thrust forth
this power and turned the spirit back to the place
where the body was lying. She drove the ghost
to the side of the body and ordered it to enter,
but the ghost thought that it would be a brighter
and happier life if it could be free among the blos-
soming trees and fragrant ferns of the forest, so
tried again to slip an'ay from the house in which
it had lived.
Hiiaka slapped the ghost back against the body
and told it lo go in at the bottom of a foot. She
slapped the feet again and again, but it was very
hard to push the ghost inside. 1 1 tried to come
out as fast as Hiiaka pushed it in. Then Hiiaka
uttered an incantation, while she struck the feet
and limbs. The incantation was a call for the
gift of life from her friends of the volcano.
"0 the top of Kilauea!
O Ihe five ledges o[ the pitl
The taboo fire of the woman.
When the heavens shake,
When the earth craeka open [earthquakes],
Man is thrown down,
Lying on (he ground.
The lightning of Kane [a great gorl) wakes up.
Kane of the night, going fajt.
My sleep is broken up.
E ala el Wake upl
The heaven wakes up.
The earth inland is awake.
The sea is awake.
Awake you.
Here am V—Amama {The prayer is done).
By the time this chant was ended Hiiaka had
forced the ghost up to the hips. There was a
hard struggle — the ghost trying to go back and
yet yielding to the slapping and going further and
further into the body.
HIIAKA CATCHING A GHOST 115
Then Hiiaka put forth her hand and took fresh
water, pouring it over the body, chanting again:
"I make you grow, O Kane!
Hiiaka is the prophet.
This work is hers.
She makes the growth.
Here is the water of life.
£ ala e! Awake! Arise!
Let life return.
The taboo [of death] is over.
It is lifted,
It has flown away." — Amnma.
— ^These were ancient chants for the restoration
of life. —
All this time she was slapping and pounding
the spirit into the body. It had gone up as far
as the chest. Then she took more fresh water
and poured it over the eyes, dashing it into the
face. The ghost leaped up to the mouth and
eyes — choking noises were made — the eyes opened
faintly and closed again, but the ghost was en-
tirely in the body. Slowly life returned. The
lips opened and breath came back.
The healing power of Hiiaka restored the places
wounded by coral rocks and bitten by eels. Then
she asked him how he had been overcome. He
told her he had been fishing when a great
kupua came in the form of a mighty wave falling
upon the boat, filling it full of water.
The fisherman said that he had tried to bail
the water out of his canoe, when it was huried
down into the coral caves, and he knew nothing
more imtil the warm sun shone in his face and
his eyes opened. Hiiaka told him to stand up,
and putting out her strong hand lifted him to his
feet.
He stood shaking and trembling, trying to
move his feet. Little by Uttle the power of life
came back and he walked slowly to his house.
Hiiaka called for the glory of a divine chief to
shine around them. Among the ancient Ha-
waiians it was beUeved that the eyes of prophets
could tell the very family to which a high chief
belonged by the color or peculiar appearance of
the Hght around the individual even when a long
distance away. Thus the watching anxious girls
and the friends of Hiiaka knew that the ghost
had gone back into the body and the fisherman
had been brought back to Ufe.
33
HIIAKA AND THE SEACOAST KUPUAS
I
[UPUAS were legendary monsters which
could change themselves mto human
beings at will. They were said to have
come from far-ofT lands with the early
settlers. They had descendants who lived along
the seacoast or in out-of-the-way places inland.
They were always ready to destroy and often
devour any strangers passing near them. Fre-
quently they were sharks which had a shark
mouth although appearing like men. This
mouth was between the shoulders and was
concealed by a cape thrown carefully over the
back. As human beings they would mingle with
their fellows and go out in the sea, bathing and
surf-riding, hut when they went into the water
they would dive under, assume their shark form,
and catch some one of the bathers. They would
cany the body to some under-water cave, where
it could be devoured. All other sea monsters
were given human qualities — some were helpful
to men and some were destructive.
Fabled monsters Uved on land. Some of these
were gigantic lizards, probably the legendary
memory of the crocodiles of their ancient home
in India. Some were the great clouds floating
in the heavens. Peculiar rocks, trees, precipices,
waterfalls, birds, indeed everything with or
without life, might be given human and super-
natural power and called kupuas. After a time
various objects began to have worshippers who
became priests supposed <o be endowed with
the qualities of the objects worshipped. These,
in the later days, have been considered sorcerers
or witches, receiving the name kupuas.
Makaukiu
Hiiaka, the sister of Pele, the goddess of
volcanoes, by her magic power was able to find
and destroy many of these mysterious monsters.
She had two companions as she journeyed along
the eastern coast of the island Hawaii. Their
way was frequently very wearisome as they
climbed down steep precipices into valleys and
gulches and then had to climb up on the other
side.
In one valley beautiful clear sea-water invited
the girls to bathe. Two of them threw aside
their tapa clothes and ran down to the beach.
Hiiaka bade them wait, telling thcra this was the
home of Makaukiu, a very ferocious monster.
But the girls thought they could see any evil
HIIAKA AND THE SEACOAST KUFUAS 1 19
one, if living in that pure, clear water, so they
laughed at their friend and went to the edge of
the water. Hiiaka took some fragrant ti-leaves,
made a little bundle and threw it into the sea.
The girls made ready to leap and swim, when
suddenly Makaukiu appeared just below the
surface, catching and shaking the leaves.
The girls fled inland to higher ground, but
Hiiaka stood at the edge of the sea. The sea
monster tried to catch her in his great mouth.
He lashed the water into foam, trying to strike
her with his tail. He tried to wash her into
the sea by pushing great, whirling waves against
her, but Hiiaka struck him with the mighty
forces of lightning and fire which she had in her
magic skirt. Soon he was dead and his body
floated on the water until the tide swept it out
to sink in the deep sea. The place where this
monster was slain was given his name and is still
called "The Swimming-Hole of Makaukiu."
Mahiki
The Hawaiians say that the desire for battle
was burning in the heart of Hiiaka and she
longed to kill Mahiki, who lived near Waipio
Valley — one of the most beautiful of all the valleys
of the Hawaiian Islands. Mahiki was a whirl-
wind. When he saw the girls coming he fled
inland, hiding himself in a cloud of dust. When-
ever the girls came toward Him he fled swiftly
to a new place. They could not catch and
destroy him.
As they were following the whirlwind they
heard some one calling. They stopped and found
two persons without bones-^the bodies were
flesh, soft and yielding, yet of human form.
Hiiaka had pity on (hem, so she took the ribs of a
long leaf and pushed them into the soft bodies,
where they became bones. Then the two could
stand. After a time they could use their new
bones in their legs and walk.
PiLI AND NOHO
Hiiaka remembered that there were two
dragons in the river Wailuku, a river of swift
cascades and beautiful waterfalls near Hilo, so
she turned back filled with the wish to destroy
them and free the people from that danger.
At the place where the people crossed the river
were two things which looked like large, flat
logs tossing in the water. Any person wishing
to cross the river would lay fish, sweet potatoes,
and other kinds of food on the logs. When these
things disappeared the logs would act sometimes
as a bridge and sometimes as a boat, taking those
who had given presents across the river. These
HIIAKA AND THE SEACOAST KUFUAS 12 1
logs were the great tongues of the dragons
Pili-a-moo and Noho-a-moo, i.e., the dragon Pili
and the dragon Noho.
Hiiaka and her two companions came to the
river side. The travellers called for an open way
across.
One dragon said to the other, "Here comes one
of our family."
The other said : " What of that? She can cross
if she pays. If she does not give our price, she
shall not go over in this place."
Hiiaka ordered the dragons to prepare her
way, but they refused. Then she taimted them
as slaves, ordering them to bring vegetable food
and fish. The dragons became angry and
thrashed the water into whirlpools, trying to
catch the travellers and pull them into the
river. The people from far and near gathered
to the place of this strange conflict.
A chief laughed at Hiiaka, saying, "These are
dragon-gods, and yet you dispute with them!"
Hiiaka said, **Yes, they are dragon-gods, but
when I attack them they will die."
The chief offered to make any bet desired that
she could not injure the dragons.
Hiiaka said, **I have no property, but I
wager my body, my life, against your property
that the dragons die."
Then began a great conflict along the banks
and in the swift waters. Hiiaka struck the drag-
ons with her magic skirt in which was concealed
the divine power of lightning. They tried to
escape, but Hiiaka struck again and again and
killed them, changing the bodies into blocks
of stone. Then she called the chief, saying, "I
have made the way safe for your people and you;
I give back your property and the land of the
dragons."
Hiiaka and her friends turned north again
and hastened to Waipio Valley to catch Mahiki—
the demon of the whirlwind. He ran down to
meet her and threw dust all over them, then
iied inland to the mountains. Hiiaka chanted:
"I am above Waipio,
My eyes look sharply down.
I have gone along tbe patii
By the sea. of Makaukiu,
Full flawing like the surf.
I have seen Mahiki,
I have seen that he is evil,
Evil, very evil indeed."
Moo- LAD
Then Hiiaka thought of Moo-lau, who was
the great dragon-god of the district Kohala.
He had a great multitude of lesser gods as his
servants.
HIIAKA AND THE SEACOAST KUPUAS 123
Hiiaka clearly and sweetly called for the
dragon-gods to prepare a way for her and also
to bring gifts for herself and her companions.
Moo-lau answered, *' You have no path through
my lands unless you have great strength or can
pay the price."
Then began one of the great legendary battles
of ancient Hawaiian folk-lore. Hiiaka, throwing
aside her flower-wreaths and common clothes,
took her Ughtning pa-u (skirt) and attacked
Moo-lau. He fought her in his dragon form.
He breathed fierce winds against her. He struck
her with his swift-moving tail. He tried to
catch her between his powerful jaws. He coiled
and twisted and swiftly whirled about, trying
to knock her down, but she beat him with her
powerful hands in which dwelt some of the
divine power of volcanoes. She struck his great
body with her magic skirt in which dwelt the
power of the Ughtning. Each pitted super-
natural powers against the other. Each struck
with magic force and each threw* out magic
strength to ward off d^dly blows. They became
tired, very tired, and, turning away from each
other, sought rest. Again they fought and
again rested.
Hiiaka chanted an incantation, or call for
help:
"Moo-la.u has a dart
Of the wood of the uhi-uhi;*
A god 13 Moo-lau,
Moo-lau is a god!"
This was a spirit-call going out from Hiiaka.
It broke through the clouds hanging on the
sides of the mountains. It pierced the long,
long way to the crater of Kilauea. It roused
the followers of the fire-goddess. A host of
destructive forces, swift as Ughtning, left the
pit of fire to aid Hiiaka.
Meanwhile Moo-lau had sent his people to
spy out the condition of Hiiaka. Then he called
for all the reptile gods of his district to help him.
He rallied all the gnomes and evil powers he
could order to come to his aid and make a mighty i
attack.
When the battle seemed to be going against
her, suddenly the Ho-ai-ku men and the Ho-ai-ka
women, the destructive gnomes from the crater,
broke in a storm upon Moo-lau and his demons.
Oh, how the little people from the pit devoured
and destroyed the dragon army! The slaughter
of the reptile horde was quickly accomplished
and Hiiaka soon saw the body of her enemy the ,
dragon-god trampled underfoot.
When the god Mahiki saw that Moo-lau was
slain and his army defeated he raised a great
HIIAKA AND THE SEACOAST KUPUAS 125
cloud of dust and fled far off around the western
side of the island. The whirlwind was one of
the earth-monsters which even the sister of the
goddess of volcanoes could not destroy.
Many were the evil demi-gods who tried to
hinder Hiiaka in her journey along the east
coast of the island Hawaii. Sharks fought her
from the seas. The gnomes and dragons of
valley and forest tried to destroy her. Even
birds of evil omen came into the fight against
her, but she conquered and killed until the land
was freed from its enemies and the people of the
districts along the sea could journey in compara-
tive safety.
Pau-o-palae, the goddess of ferns, met the chief
of this land which had been freed from the
power of the dragon. She saw him swimming
in the sea and, forgetting her companions, leaped
in to sport with him. They at once decided to
be married. Then she turned aside to his new
on after Lohiau.
B
34
LOHIAU
n HE story of Hiiaka's journey over
i seas which surround the Hawaiian
Islands, and through dangers and per-
plexities, cannot be fully told in the
limits of these short stories. There are several
versions, so only the substance of all can be given.
On each island she slew dragons which had
come from the ancient traditional home of the
Polynesians, India. She destroyed many evil-
minded gnomes and elves; fought the au-makuas
and the demi-gods of land and sea; found the
body of Lohiau put away in a cave and watched
over by the dragon-women who had been de-
feated by Pele when in her long sleep she chanted
LoniAu 127
the songs of the Winds of Kauai. She slew the
guardians of the cave, carried the body to a
house where she used powerful chants for res-
toration. She captured the wandermg ghost of
Lohiau and compelled it again to take up its
home in the body, and then with Lohiau and
Wahine-omao made the long journey to her
home in the volcano. From the island of Hawaii
to the island Kauai, and along the return jour-
ney Hiiaka's path was marked with experiences
beneficial to the people whom she passed. This
must all be left untold except the story of Lohiau's
restoration to life and the conflict with Pele.
As Hiiaka and her friend came near the island
Kauai, Hiiaka told Wahine-omao that Lohiau
was dead and that she saw the spirit standing by
the opening of a cave out on the pali of Haena.
Then she chanted to Lohiau:
"The lehua is being covered by the sand,
A little red flower remains on the plain,
The body is hidden in the stones,
The flower is lying in Ihe path.
Very useful is lie water of Eaimu."
Thus she told the ghost that she would give new
life even as dew on a thirsty flower. They landed
and met Lohiau's sisters and friends.
Hiiaka asked about the death of Lohiau, and
one sister said, "Hisbreathleft himand the body
iz8 LEGENDS OF VOLCA^fOES
became yellow." Hiiaka said: "There was no
real reason for death, but the two women dragons
took his spirit and held it captive. I will try
to bring him back. Great is the magic power and
strength of the two dragons and I am not a man,
and may not win the victory. I will have some-
thing to eat, and then will go. You must es-
tablish a tabu for twenty days, and there must
be quiet. No one can go to the mountains, nor-a
into the sea. You must have a house made t
ti • leaves for the dead body and make it veiyB
tight on all sides."
The next day they made the house,
commanded that a door be made toward I
east. Then Hiiaka said, "Let us open the doc
of the house." When this was done, Hiiaki^
said: "To-morrow let the tabu be establishes
on land and sea. To-morrow we com
work."
She made arrangements to go to the cave .
the precipice at dawn. Rain came down
floods and a strong wind swept the face of thft]
precipice. A fog clung fast to the hills. TheJ
water rushed in torrents to the sea. It was aaj
evil journey to Lohiau.
At sunrise they went on through the storm.fl
Hiiaka uttered this incantation:
!
^H
r
LOHIAU 129
''Our halas greet the inland precipice,
In the front of the calling hill.
Let it call,
You are calling to me.
Here is the great hill outside.
It is cold,
Cold for us."
The dragons shouted for them to stay down,
or they would destroy them on the rocks. But
the small spirit voice of Lohiau called for Hiiaka
to come and get him.
Hiiaka chanted to Lohiau, telling him they
would save him. As they went up, stones in
showers fell around and upon them. One large
stone struck Hiiaka in the breast, and she fell off
the pali. Then they began to get up and sticks
of all kinds fell upon them again, forcing Hiiaka
over the precipice.
The dragons leaped down on Hiiaka, trying to
catch her in their mouths and strike her with their
tails. Hiiaka struck them with her magic skirt,
and their bodies were broken.
The spirits of the dragons went into other
bodies and leaped upon Hiiaka roaring, and bit-
ing and tearing her body. She swung her skirt
up against the dragons, and burned their bodies
to ashes. The dragons again took new bodies
for the last and most bitter battle.
Hiiaka told Wahine-omao to cover her body
with leaves and sticks near the pali and in event
of her death to return with the tidings to Hawaii.
One dragon caught Hiiaka and bent her over.
The other leaped upon Hiiaka, catching her
around the neck and arm. One tried to pull
off the pa-u and tear it to pieces.
Pau-o-palae saw the danger. From her home
on the island Hawaii, she saw the dragons
shaking Hiiaka. Then she sent her power and
took many kinds of trees and struck the drag-
ons. The roots twisted around the dragons,
entangling their feet and tails, and scratching
eyes and faces.
The dragons tried to shake off the branches
and roots — the leaf bodies of the wilderness,
and one let go the pa-u of Hiiaka, and the other
let go the neck. Pau-o-palae called all the wind
bodies of the forest and sent them to aid Hiiaka,
the forces of the forest, and the wind spirits.
At lasi Hiiaka turned to say farewell to
Wahine-omao because the next fight with the
dragons in their new bodies might prove fatal.
The dragons were now stronger than before.
They leaped upon her, one on each side. The
strong winds blew and the storm poured upon
her, while the dragons struck her to beat her
down. But all kinds of ferns were leaping up
LOHIAU 131
rapidly around the place where the dragons re-
newed the fight. The ferns twisted and twined
around the legs and bodies of the dragons.
Hiiaka shook her magic skirt and struck them
again and again, and the bodies of these dragons
were broken in pieces. Then the wind ceased,
the storm passed away, and the sky became
clear. But it was almost evening and darkness
was falling fast.
The natives have for many years claimed that
Hiiaka found the time too short to climb the
precipice, catch the ghost of Lohiau and carry
it and the body down to the house prepared for
her work, therefore she uttered this incantation:
"O gods! Come to Kauai, your land.
O pearl-eyed warrior (an idol) of Halawal
O Kona! guardian of our flesh!
O the great gods of Hiiaka!
Come, ascend, descend,
Let the sun stop over the river of Hea.
Stand thou still, O sun!"
The sun waited and its light rested on the
precipice and pierced the deep shadows of the
cave in which the body lay while Hiiaka sought
■
Lohiau.
Hiiaka heard the spirit voice saying, "Mov-
ing, moving, you will find me in a small coconut
calabash fastened in tight." Hiiaka followed
the spirit voice snd soon saw a coconut closed
up with feathers. Over the coconut a little
rainbow was resting. She caught the coconut
and went back to the body of Lohiau, It
had become very dark in the cave, but she
did not care, this was as nothing to her. She
took the bundle of the body of Lohiau and
said: "We have the body and the spirit, we
are ready now to go down to our house."
Then she called the spirits of the many kinds
of ferns of Pau-o-palae to take the body down.
The fern servants of Pau-o-palae carried the
bundle of the body down to the house.
Hiiaka said to her friend: "You ask how the
spirit can be restored into the body. It is hard
and mysterious and a work of the gods. We
must gather all kinds of ferns and maile and
lehua and flowers from the mountains. We must
take wai-lua {flowing water) and wai-lani (rain)
and put them into new calabashes to use in
washing the body. Then pray. If my prayer
is not broken [interrupted or a mistake made],
he will be alive. If the prayer is broken four
times, hfe will not return."
The servants of Pau-o-palae, the goddess
of ferns, brought all manner of sweet-scented
ferns, flowers, and leaves to make a bed for
the body of Lohiau, and to place around the
inside of the house as fragrant paths by which
LOHIAU 133
the gods could come to aid the restoration to
life.
There were many prayers, sometimes to one
class of gods and sometimes to another. The
following prayer was offered to the au-makuas,
or ghost-gods, residing in cloud-land and reveal-
ing themselves in different cloud forms:
"Dark is the prayer rising up to Kanaloa,
Rising up to the ancient home Kealohilani.
Look at the kupuas above sunset!
Who are the kupuas above?
The black dog of the heavens,
The yellow dog of Ku in the small cloud,
Ku is in the long cloud,
Ku is in the short cloud,
Ku is in the cloud of red spots in the sky.
Listen to the people of the mountains.
The friends of the forest,
The voices of the heavens.
The water of life runs, life is coming.
Open with trembling, to let the spirit in,
A noise rumbling.
The sound of Ku.
The lover sent for is coming.
I, Hiiaka, am coming.
The lover of my sister Pde,
The sister of life.
Is coming to life again.
Live, Live."
After each one of the prayers and incantations
the body was washed in the kind of water needed
for each special ceremony. Thus days passed
by; some legends say ten days, some say a full
month. At last the body was ready for the in-
coming of the spirit.
The coconut shell in which the spirit had
been kept was held against the body, the feet and
limbs were slapped, and the body rubbed by
Wahine-omao while Hiiaka continued her neces-
sary incantations until the restoration to life
was complete.
Many, many days had passed since the fiery
and impetuous Pele had sent her youngest sister
after the lover Lohlau. In her restlessness Pele
had torn up the land in all directions around the
pit of fire with violent earthquakes. She, had
poured her wrath in burning floods of lava over
all the southern part of the island. She had
broken her most solemn promise to Hiiaka.
Whenever she became impatient at the delay
of the coming of Lohiau, she would fling her
scorching smoke and foul gas over Hiiaka 's
beautiful forests — and sometimes would smite
the land with an overflow of burning lava.
Sometimes she would look down over that part
of Puna where Hopoe dwelt and hurl spurts of
lava toward her home. At last she had yielded
to her jealous rage and destroyed Hopoe and
her home and then burned the loved spots of
restful beauty belonging to Hiiaka.
I
I
WBIAU 135
Hiiaka had seen Pele's action as she had looked
back from time to time on her journey to Kauai.
Even while she was bringmg Loliiau back to life,
her love for her own home revealed to her the
fires kindled by Pele, and she chanted many
songs of complaint against her imfailhful sister.
Hiiaka loyally fulfilled her oath until she
stood with Lohiau on one of the high banks over-
looking Ka-lua-Pele, the pit of Pele in the volcano
Kilauea. Down below in the awful majesty
of fire were the sisters,
Wahine-omao went down to them as a messen-
ger from Hiiaka. One of the legends says that
Pele killed her; another says that she was re-
pulsed and driven away; others say that Pele
refused to listen to any report of the Journey to
Kauai and hurled Wahine-omao senseless into a
hole near the lire-pit, and raved against Hiiaka
for the long time required in bringing Lohiau.
Hiiaka at last broke out in fierce rebellion
against Pele. On the hill where they stood were
some of the lehua trees with their brilliant red
blossoms. She plucked the flowers, made wreaths,
and going close to Lohiau hung them around his
neck.
All through the long journey to the crater
Lohiau had been gaining a full appreciation of
the bravery, the unselfishness, and the whoUy
lovable character of Hiiaka. He had proposed
frequently that they be husband and wife. Now,
as they stood on the brink of the crater with all
the proof of Pele's oath-breaking around them
Hiiaka gave way entirely. She chanted while
she fastened the flowers tightly around him and
while her arms were pla3dng around his neck:
"Hiiaka is the wife.
Caught in the embrace with the flowers.
The slender thread is fast.
Around him the leis from the land of the lehuas are
fastened.
I am the wife — ^The clouds are blown down
Hiding the sea at Hilo."
Lohiau had no longer any renmant of affec-
tion for Pele. Hiiaka had fulfilled her vow and
Pele had broken all her promises. Lohiau and
Hiiaka were now husband and wife. Pele had
lost forever her husband of the long sleep.
Pele was uncontrollable in her jealous rage.
One of the legends says that even while Lohiau
and Hiiaka were embracing each other Pele
ran up the hill and threw her arms around his
feet and black lava congealed over them. Then
she caught his knees and then his body. Lava
followed every clasp of the arms of Pele, until
at last his whole body was engulfed in a lava
flow. His spirit leaped from the body into some
clumps of trees and ferns not far away.
Another legend says that Pele sent her brother
WHIAU 137
Lono-makua, with his helpers, to kindle erup-
tions around Lohiau and Hiiaka. This could
not harm Hiiaka, for she was at home in the
worst violence of volcanic flames, but it meant
death to Lohiau.
Lono-makua kindled flres all around Lohiau,
but for a long time refrained from attacking him.
Hiiaka could not see the pit as clearly as
Lohiau, so she asked if Pele's fires were coming.
He chanted:
^^Hot is this mountain of the priest.
Rain is weeping on the awa.
I look over the rim of the crater.
Roughly tossing is the lava below.
Coming up to the forest —
Attacking the trees —
Clouds of smoke from the crater."
The lava came up, surrounding them. Toss-
ing fountains of lava bespattered them. Wher-
ever any spot of his body was touched Lohiau
became stone. He uttered incantations and
used all his powers as a sorcerer-chief. The lava
found it difficult to overwhelm him. Pele sent
increased floods of burning rock upon him.
Lohiau's body was all turned to stone. His spirit
fled from the pit to the cool places of a forest on a
higher part of the surrounding mountains.
Hiiaka was crazed by the death of Lohiau.
She had fought against the eruption; now she
I 59 IBEEfBS or VOiCASOES
nviBeafywii
tvopoi tlK pit for the
caled WakiBr-oBM> fsam. ker prisnn amd listened
to the stonr of SBnka's tuAbAnts^ Qngpiied
amd hd of scK-bbmCy siie told Wmhine-omao
hew to restofc iBppiness tokerfaieiML
Walmie-Qniao vent to HniJa and softty
rhanffd by the side of the cnzr one wbo was
breaking jsp the pit. She told the stoiy of the
joomey after Lohian and the possiUIity of seek-
ing the wandering ^KKt.
ffiiaka tamed from the pit and sought Lohiau.
Many were the adventures in ^lost-land. At
last the ^K)st was found. Lohiau's body was
freed from the crust of lava and healed and the
ghost put back in its former home. A second
time Hiiaka had given life to Lohiau.
Hiiaka and Lohiau went to. Kauai, where, as
chief and chiefess, they lived happily until real
death came to Lohiau.
Then Hiiaka returned to her place in the Pele
family. It was said that Wahine-omao became
canic fire.
THE ANNIHILATION OF KEOUA'S ARMY 139
xvm
THE ANNffllLATION OF KEOUA'S ARMY
LMOST exactly thirty-four years be-
fore Kapiolani defied the worship of the
fire-goddess Pele, Keoua, a high chief,
lost a large part of his army near the
volcano Kilauea. This was in November, 1790.
Ka-lani-opuu had been king over the island
Hawaii. When he died in 1782, he left the king-
dom to his son Kiwalao, giving the second place
to his nephew Kamehameha.
War soon arose between the cousins. Kame-
hameha defeated and killed the young king.
Kiwalao's half-brother Keoua escaped to his
district Ka-u, on the southwestern side of the
island. His uncle Keawe-mau-hili escaped to
his district Hilo on the southeastern side.
For some years the three factions practically
let each other alone, although there was desultory
fighting. Then the high chief of Hilo accepted
Kamehameha as his king and sent his sons
to aid Kamehameha in conquering the island
Maui.
^ Keoua was angry with his uncle Keawe-mau-
hili. He attacked Hilo, killed his uncle and
ravaged Kamehameha's lands along the north-l
eastern side of the island.
Kamehameha quickly returned from Maui J
and made an immediate attack on his enemyj"
who had taken possession of a fertile highlandJ
plain caUed Waimea. From this method oil
forcing unexpected battle came the HawaiianJ
saying, "The spear seeks Waimea like the wind."
Keoua was defeated and driven through forests
along the eastern side of Mauna Kea {The white
mountain) to Hilo. Then Kamehameha sent
warriors around the western side of the island to J
attack Keoua'a home district. MeanwhOe, after:!
a sea fight in which he defeated the chiefs of the J
islands Maui and Oahu, he set his people to build- 1
ii^ a great temple chiefly for his war-god Ka-ili. 1
This was the last noted temple built on all the I
islands.
Keoua heard of the attack on his home, there-|
fore he gave the fish-ponds and fertQe lands c
Hilo to some of his chiefs and hastened to cross!
the island with his army by way of a path near I
the volcano Kilauea. He divided his warriors!
into three parlies, taking charge of the first in
person. They passed the crater at a time of great
volcanic activity. A native writer, probably
Kamakau, in the native newspaper Kuokoa,
1S67, describes the destruction of the central part I
of this army by an awful explosion from Kilaut
THE ANNIHILATION OF KEOUA'S ARMY 141
He said: "Thus was it done. Sand, ashes, and
stones grew up from the pit into a very high
column of fire, standing straight up. The
mountains of Mauna Kea and Maima Loa were
below it. The people even from Ka-wai-hae
[a seaport on the opposite side of the mountains]
saw this wonderful colimm with fire glowing and
blazing to its very top. When this colimm be-
came great it blew all to pieces into sand and
ashes and great stones, which for some days
continued to fall around the sides of Kilauea.
Men, women, and children were killed. Mona,
one of the army, who saw all this but who escaped,
said that one of the chiefesses was ill and some
hundreds of the army had delayed their journey
to guard her and so escaped this death."
Dibble, the first among the missionaries to
prepare a history of the islands, gave the follow-
ing description of the event:
"Keoua's path led by the great volcano of
Kilauea. There they encamped. In the night
a terrific eruption took place, throwing out flame,
cinders, and even heavy stones to a great dis-
tance and accompanied from above with intense
Ughtning and heavy thunder. In the morning
Keoua and his companions were afraid to proceed
and spent the day in trying to appease the
goddess of the volcano, whom they supposed they
had offended the day before by rolling stones
into the crater. But on the second night and
on the third night also there were similar erup-
tions. On the third day they ventured to
proceed on their way, but had not advanced
far before a more terrible and destructive erup-
tion than any before took place; an account of
which, taken from the lips of those who were
part of the company and present in the scene,
may not be an unwelcome digression.
'The army of Keoua set out on their way in
three different companies. The company in
advance had not proceeded far before the ground
began to shake and rock beneath their feet and
it became quite Impossible to stand. Soon a dense
cloud of darkness was seen to rise out of the crater,
and almost at (he same instant the electrical
effect upon the air was so great that the thunder
began to roar in the heavens and the ligh tnin g
to ffash. It continued to ascend and spread
abroad until the whole region was enveloped
and the light of day was entirely excluded.
The darkness was the more terrific, being made
visible by an awful glare from streams of red
and blue light variously combined that issued
from the pit below, and being ht up at intervab
by the intense flashes of lightning from above.
Soon followed an immense volume of sand and
dnders which were thrown in high heaven and
came down in a destructive shower for many
THE ANNIHILATION OF KEOUA'S ARMY 143
miles around. Some few persons of the forward
company were burned to death by the sand and
cinders and others were seriously injured. All
experienced a suffocating sensation upon the
lungs and hastened on with all possible speed.
*The rear body, which was nearest the vol-
cano at the time of the eruption, seemed to suffer
the least injury, and after the earthquake and
shower of sand had passed over, hastened for-
ward to escape the dangers which threatened
them, and rejoicing in mutual congratulations
that they had been preserved in the midst of
such immment peril.
*But what was their surprise and consterna-
tion when, on coming up with their comrades
of the centre party, they discovered them
all to have become corpses. Some were lying
down, and others sitting upright clasping with
dying grasp their wives and children and join-
ing noses (their form of expressing affection)
as in the act of taking a final leave. So much
like life they looked that they at first supposed
them merely at rest, and it was not until they
had come up to them and handled them that they
could detect their mistake. Of the whole party,
including women and children, not one of them
survived to relate the catastrophe that had be-
fallen their comrades. The only living being
they found was a solitary hog, in company with
«■£ of Ac faMBts wUck bMlbea so saddenly
buiXt itf fiie. In those petikws oiannstaDCCs,
tint Hiviwug pntT (fid not even star to bewail
tfaeir fate, bat, Ir av Mi g tbeir deceased cxmi-
panioDS as they famai tfacm, honied on and
onftook the coaqnny m advance at die place
of tbor encampnient.'
"Keoua and his foDovreis. of wbcsn the car-
ratw of this scene were a part, retreated in the
direction they had come. On their return, they
found their deceased friends as they had left
them, entire and exhibiting no other marks of
decay than a sunlien hollowness in their eyes; the
rest of their bodies was in a state of entire
preservation. They were never buried, and
their bones lay bleaching in the sun and rain
for many years."
A blast of sulphurous gas, a shower of heated
embers, or a volume of heated steam would
sufficiently account for this sudden death.
Some of the narrators who saw the corpses affirm
that, though in no place deeply burnt, yet they
were thoroughly scorched."
Keoua's prophets ascribed this blow from the
gods to their high chief's dislike of Hilo and
gift to sub-chiefs of the fish-ponds, which were
considered the favorite food-producers for offer-
ings to Hiiaka, the youngest member of the
Pde family.
THE ANNIHILATION OF KEOVA'S ARM¥ 145
Eamehameha's prophets said that this erup-
tion was the favor of the gods on his temple
building.
The people said it was proof that Pele had
taken Kamehameha under her especial protec-
and make him the chief ruler.
DESTOCCTIOK OF KA3(EQA11£HA'S
FI5H-PONIW
B^^B)l'^'T HTALALAI b oo the w^stom
I I kl ^^ <^ ^^ ■^^^ ^nnu. It has
I I MM htai ■■■wmmtI bs u extinct vol-
MsAb cam btgasc tew agns of ndcanic
fife appear at pfcsaU; bnt in the year i8ot there
was a. ray viaient auiHiuu from the fo9t <rf the
nKxmtain, and the cqiectatian of future action
b so slnx^ that sdentists classif>' Hualalai as
"active."
Ellis, writing in 1824, sa>'s: "This eruption of
1801 poured ON-er se^^eral villages, destroyed a
number of plantations and exten^ve fish-ponds,
filled up a deep bay twenty miles in length, and
fonned the present coast. An Englishman who
saw the eruption has frcquenUy loid us that he
was astonished at the irresistible impetuosity of
the torrent. Stone walls, trees, and houses all
gave way before it. Even large masses or rocks
of ancient lava, when surrounded by the fiery
slrcam, soon split bto small fragments and fall-
ing into the burning mass appeared to melt
again while borne by it down the mountain side.
KAMEHAMEHA'S FISH PONDS 147
Numerous offerings were presented and many
hogs were thrown alive into the stream to ap-
pease the anger of the gods, by whom they sup-
posed it was directed, and to stay its devastating
course. All seemed unavailing until one day
King Kamehameha went to the flowing lava,
attended by a large retinue of chiefs and priests,
and as the most valuable offering he could make,
cut off part of his own hair which was always
considered sacred and threw it into the torrent.
In a day or two the lava ceased to flow. The
gods, it was thought, were satisfied. The people
attributed this escape to the influence of Kame-
hameha with the deities of the volcanoes."
There are several very interesting "blowholes"
in this lava. When the lava struck the waves,
the surface and sides were hardened, but the red
molten mass inside rolled on into the sea. Thus
many sea-caves were formed, in to which waves beat
violently with every incoming tide. K the shore
end of a cave broke open, a fine outlet was made
for the torrents which were hurled up through
the opening in splendid fountains of spray.
The account in the Kuokoa, a newspaper pub-
lished in the native language, in 1867, adds to
the story of the foreigner the element of super-
stition, and is practically as follows:
Pele began to eat Hue-hue, a noted breadfruit *
* Native ulu ^Aitocarpus indsa.
forest owned by Kamehameha. Slie was jeal
OU3 of him and angry because he was stingy h
his offerings of breadfruit from the tabu grovi
of Hue-hue. This was the place where the erup
tion broke out.
After she had destroyed the breadfruit grove
she went in her river of fire down to the sea
shore to take Kamehameha's fish-ponds. Sb
greatly desired the awa fish with the mullet u
the fish-pond at Kiholo, and she wanted the aki
or honita in the fish-pond at Ka-ele-hulu-hulu
She became a roaring flood, widely spread oul
hungry for the fish.
Kamehameha was very much ashamed fo
the evil which had come upon the land and th
destruction of his fish-ponds. Villages Iiad beei
overwhelmed. Several coconut * groves hai
been destroyed, and lava land was built out inti
the sea.
There were no priests who could stop this a-;
eruption by their priestly skill. Their power
were dulled in the presence of Pele. The;
offered pigs and fruits of all kinds, throwii^
them into the fire. They uttered all their know:
incantations and prayers. They called to th
au-makuas {ancestor ghost-gods), but withou
avail.
Kamehameha sent for Ka-maka-o-ke-aku
KAMEHAMEHA'S FISH PONDS 149
(The-eye-of-the-god), one of the prophets of Pele,
and said: "You are a prophet of Pele. I have
sent for you because I am much distressed by
the destruction of the land and the ponds by
the sea. How can I quiet the anger of Pele?"
The prophet bowed his head for a time, then,
looking up, said, "The anger of the god will
cease when you offer sacrifice to her."
The king said, " Perhaps you will take the sacri-
fice."
The prophet said: "From the old time even
until now there has been no prophet or priest
of the mo-o or dragon clan who has done this
thing. It would not please the goddess. The
high chief of the troubled land, with a prophet
or priest, is the only one who can make peace.
He must take his own offering to the fire as to an
altar in a temple. Then the anger of the goddess
will be satisfied and the trouble ended."
E^mehameha said: "I am afraid of Pele.
Perhaps I shall be killed."
The prophet repUed, "You shall not die."
The king prepared offerings and sacrifices for
Pele and, as a royal priest, went to the place
where the lava was still pouring in floods out of
its new-bom crater.
Kaahumanu, the queen, and many other high
chiefs and chiefesses thought they would go and
die with him if Pele should persist in punishing
him. One of the high chiefesses, Ululani, had
last a child some time before. Tliis child after
death was given to Pele with sacrifices and cere-
monies which would make it one of the ghost-gods
a^nnected with the Pele family.
A prophet told Kaahumanu: "The Pele who is
in the front of this outburst of fire is not strange
to us. It is the child of Ululani."
Kaahumanu took Ululani with her to the side
of the laN-a flow.
There thev saw the lava like a river of fire
flowing toward the west, going straight down to
the sea with leaping flames and uplifting foun-
tains of smoke. There was a very strong flash-
ing light breaking out at the front of the descend-
ing laN'a.
Ululani asked, "Who is that very strange fire
in front of Pele? " The fire was active as if it had
life in itself.
The prophet replied: "That is the child among
the au-makuas. That is jrour first-bom."
Then came great winds and a mighty storm.
Houses were overturned and trees blown down.
Kamehameha and the prophet went up to the
side of the lava and placed offerings and
sacrifices in the flowing fire. They prayed to
Pele, but the fire burned on. Klamehameha
then cut some of the hair from his head and threw
it in the fire as his last offering, thus giving him-
KAMBRAMEBA'S FISH-PONDS 151
self to the god of fire. Then they came away
and soon the fire went out.
It should be remembered that in recent years,
when a lava flow came down on the city of Hilo,
threatening its destruction, Princess Ruth, one
of the last of the Kamehameha family, went from
Honolulu to Hilo and up to the river of lava with
the feeling that a Kamehameha who was under
the especial protection of Pele could intercede
for the welfare of the people. It is certain that
she came at a very opportune time, for the erup-
XX
35
tAPIOLANI AXD PELE
HE story of the hi^ dades Kapiobm I
I aad ber oonikt iritb Fdc, the goddess I
I of Kflaota, in December, 1824, s be- I
I tone. It befaogs, however, to the voi- '
csnoet of the Hawatian Islands, aod is mote
imponaDl than aoy myth.
KapioUni was the daughter of Kicatre-inau-hili,
who WM the high chief of the district of Hilo.
He was the unde of Kiwalao, the >'ouiig king of
the island Hawaii, who was killed by Kameha-
meha's warriors when Eamehameha became VJng
of that island.
Kapiolani as a little child was in the camp with
her father at (he lime of the battle. She was in
danger of death, but some men carried her over
KAPIOLANI AND PELE 153
the mountains through a multitude of diflSculties
back to Hilo. She became a tall, portly woman,
with keen black eyes and an engaging counte-
nance, a queen in appearance when with other
chiefs or chiefesses. She was not a queen, nor
was she even a princess, although by blood
relationship she belonged to the royal family.
She was the wife of Na-ihe, who was the high chief
of the district of Kona on the western side of the
island Hawaii.
Na-ihe (The spears) was said to be the national
orator or best speaker on government affairs
among the chiefs. Kapiolani (The-bending-arch-
of-heaven) was very intelligent, quick-witted,
and fearless. They were both so influential
that they were choseh by the great Kamehameha
as members of his council of chiefs and were re-
tained by his son Liholiho, or Kamehameha II.
When the missionaries of the American Board
from Boston arrived, April 4, 1820, at Kailua
Bay on the western coast of Hawaii, they landed
in territory nominally controlled by Na-ihe and
Kapiolani, although at that particular time the
yoimg king, Liholiho, and his coiurt were in
Kona^ and were the real rulers.
However, when the missionaries had reduced
the language to writing and had begun to print
leaflets for spelling and reading, in 1822, Na-ihe
and Kapiolani were among the first chiefs to
welcome instruction and accept Christianity as
far as they could understand it.
In 1823 a delegation of missionaries went around
the island Hawaii. They visited the volcano
Kilauea and wrote the first really good descrip-
tion of the crater and its activity. The natives
were astonished to see the perfect safety of the
missionaries, although the worship and tabus
of Pele were absolutely ignored. Ohelo* berries
and strawberries growing on the brink of the
crater were freely eaten and the lake of fire ex-
plored without even a thought of fear of the god-
dess.
In the course of their journey the missionaries
met a priestess of Pele. The priestess, assuming
a haughty air, said: "I am Pele, I shall never die.
Those who follow me, if part of their bones are
taken to Kilauea, will Uve in the bright fire
there." A missionary said, "Are you Pele?"
She said, "Yes, I am Pele," then proceeded to
state her powers. A chief of low rank who had
been a royal messenger vmder Kamehameha,
and who was making the journey with the mis-
sionaries, interrupted the woman, sajdngL "Then
it is true, you are Pele, and have destroyed the
land, killed the people, and have spoiled the
fishing-grovmds. If I were the king I would throw
you into the sea." The priestess was quick-
* Vacciniuin pendulifonnia — ^var. retictilatum.
KAPIOLANI AND PELE 155
witted and said that truly she had done some
harm, but the rum of the foreigners was far more
destructive.
All this prepared the way for Kapiolani to
attempt to break down the worship of the fire-
goddess. It must be remembered that Kapiolani
had been under the influence of thoughtful civi-
lization only about three years when she decided
that she would attack the idolatry which, of all
idol worship, was the most firmly entrenched
in the hearts of her people because it was foimded
on the mysterious forces of nature. She ac-
cepted implicitly the word of the missionaries,
that their God was the one god of nature. There-
fore she had rejected the fijre-goddess with all the
other deities formerly worshipped in Hawaii.
She was, however, practically alone in her deter-
mination to strike a blow against the worship of
Pele.
Priests of Pele were numerous on the island
Hawaii. Women were among those of highest
rank in that priesthood. Many of the per-
sonal followers of Kapiolani were worshippers.
Even Na-ihe, her husband, had not been able to
free himself from superstitious fears. When
Kapiolani said that she was going to prove the
falsity of the worship of Pde, there was a storm
of heartfelt opposition. The priests and wor-
shippers of Pele honestly believed that divine
punishment would fall on her. Those who were 1
Christians were afraid that some awfu] explosion 1
might overwhelm the company, as a large body I
of warriors had been destroyed thirty-four years I
before.
Na-ihe, still strongly under the influence of |
superstition, urged her not to go. All this ]
opposition arose from her warm friends. When 1
her determination was seen to be immovable,
some of the priests of Pele became bitterly
angry and in their rage prophesied most awful
results.
When Kapiolani left her home in Kona her I
people, with great wailing, again attempted to I
persuade her to stay with them. The grief, [
stimulated by fear of things supernatural, was 1
uncontrollable. The people followed their chief-
ess some distance with prayers and tears.
For more than a hundred miles she journeyed,
usually walking, sometimes having a smooth I
path, but again having to cross miles of the j
roughest, most rugged and sharp-edged lava I
on the island Hawaii. At last the party came to 1
the vicinity of the volcano. This was not by the |
present road, but along the smoother, better 1
way, used for centuries on the south side of the ]
crater toward the ocean.
Toward the close of the day they crossed I
steaming cracks and chasms and drew nearer ]
KAPIOLANI AND PELE 157
to the foul-smelling, gaseous clouds of smoke
which blew toward them from the great crater.
Here a priestess of Pele of the highest rank came
to meet the party and turn them away from the
dominions of the fire-goddess unless they would
offer appropriate sacrifices. She knew Kapio-
lani*s purpose, and determined to frustrate it.
Formerly there had been a temple near the
brink of the crater on the southeast side. This,
according to Ellis, bore the name Oala-laua.
He says, "It was a temple of Pele, of which
Ka-maka-a-ke-akua (The-eye-of-God), a distin-
guished soothsayer who died in the reign of
Kamehameha, was many years priest." The
temple was apparently deserted at the time of the
overthrow of the tabu in 18 19, and the priests had
gone to the lower and better cultivated lands of
Puna, where they had their headquarters.
However, they still worshipped Pele and sacri-
ficed to her.
This priestess who faced Kapiolani was very
haughty and bold. She forbade her to approach
any nearer to the volcano on pain of death at
the hands of the furious goddess Pele.
"Who are you?" asked Kapiolani.
"I am one in whom the God dwells."
"If God dwells in you, then you are wise and
can teach me. Come and sit down."
The priestess had seen printed pages or heard
about them, so she drew out a piece of kapa, i
paper made from the bark of trees,* and sayingfl
that this was a letter from Pele began to read (tfJ
rather mumble an awful curse.
The people with Kapiolani were hushed into a ^
terrified silence, but she listened quietly until the
priestess, carried beyond her depth, read a con-
fused mass of jumbled words, and unintelligible
noises, which she called "The dialect of the an-
cient Pele."
Then Kapiolani took her spelling-book, and a
little book of a few printed hymns, and said: i
"You have pretended to deliver a message fromfl
your god, but we have not understood it. Now X
will read you a message which you can undc
Stand, for I, too, have a letter." Then she i
clearly the Bibhcal sentences printed in
spelling-book and some of the hymns,
priestess was silenced.
Meanwhile, the missionaries at Hilo, a hundi
and fifty miles from Kona, heard that Kapiola
had started on this strenuous undertaking,
felt that some one of the Christian teachers shoul
be with her. Mr. Kuggles had been withotd
shoes for several months and could not go. Mr^ j
Goodrich, the other missionary stationed
Hilo, was almost as badly off, but was more ao
KAPIOLANI AND PELE 159
customed to travelling barefoot. So he went
up through the tangled masses of sharp-edged
lava, grass, strong-leaved ferns, and thick woods
to meet the chiefess as she came to the crater.
Kapiolani passed the priestess, went on to the
crater, met Mr. Goodrich, and was much affected
by the effort he had made to aid her in her attempt
to break down the worship of Pele. It was now
evening, and a hut was built to shelter her imtil
the next day came, when she could have the op-
portunity of descending into the crater.
Mr. Richards, a missionary, later wrote as fol-
lows: "Along the way to the volcano she was
accosted by multitudes and entreated not to
proceed. She answered, 'If I am destroyed,
then you may all beUeve in Pele, but if I am not,
you must all turn to the true writings.'"
The great crater at that time had a black
ledge or shelf, below which the active lakes and
fountains of fire, in many places, broke through
and kept turbulent a continually changing mass
over five miles in circumference. Here in the
large cones built up by leaping lava, the natives
said, were the homes of the family of Pele. Here
the deities amused themselves in games. The
roaring of the furnaces and crackling of flames
was the music of drums beaten for the accom-
paniment of the household dances. The red
flaming surge was the surf wherein they played.
As the morning light brought a wonderful
view of the Lua Pele (The-pit-of-Pele) with
its great masses of steam and smoke rising
from the inmiense field of volcanic activity
below, and as the rush of mighty waves of lava
broke again and again against the black ledge
with a roar exceeding that of a storm-driven
surf beating upon rocky shores, and as fierce
explosions of gases bursting from the imder-
world in a continual cannonade, deafened the
ears of the company, Kapiolani prepared to
go down to defy Pele.
This must have been one of the few grand
scenes of history. There was the strong, brave
convert to Christianity standing above the
open lake of fire, the red glowing lava rolling
in waves below, with rough blocks of hardened
lava on every side, the locks (Pele's hair) of the
fire-goddess, torn out and whirUng around in
the air, the timid fearful faces of the people and
their attitude of terror and anxiety showing the
half-hope that the tabu might be broken and
the half-dread lest the evil spirit might breathe
fire upon them and destroy them at once.
Mr. Richards says: "A man whose duty
it was to feed Pele, by throwing berries and the
like into the volcano, entreated her to go no
farther. *And what,' said she, 'will be the
harm?' The man replied, *You will die by
KAPIOLANI AND PELE i6i
Pele.' Kapiolani answered, *I shall not die
by your god. That fire was kindled by my
God.' The man was silent and she went on-
ward, descending several hundred feet, and
there joined in a prayer to Jehovah. She also
ate the berries consecrated to Pele, and threw
stones into the volcano."
Bingham in his "Sandwich Islands" says:
"Then with the terrific bellowing and whizzing
of the volcanic gases they mingled their voices
in a solemn hymn of praise to the true God, and
at the instance of the chiefess, Alapai, one of
Kapiolani's attendants, led them in prayer."
The party returned to the brink of the crater,
and journeyed down to Hilo.
Alexander in the "History of the Hawaiian
People" says, "This has justly been called
one of the greatest acts of moral courage ever
performed."
Richards states that the leader of Kapiolani^s
party said to him: "All the people of the dis-
trict saw that she was not injured and have
pronounced Pele to be powerless."
The influence of Kapiolani against this most
influential form of idolatrous worship was felt
throughout the whole nation.
In 1836, twelve years later. Rev. Titus Coan
wrote about the coming of many natives into
a Christian Hfe. He says: "In 1836, twelve
l63 LECEXBS OF rtOCASiXS
ytais after the visit at Kapintmi, among these
oonvcrts ms the Higli Pnest of the vtJcano.
He was more than six feet taO, and was oS Wty
bearing. He had been an idahtc, a drunkard,
an adulterer, a robber, and a munleiB'. THs
sister was aton hat^ty and stubborn. She,
too, was tall and majestic in her bearing. At
length she yielded and with her brother became
a docile member of the church. "
But it was Lord Tennystxi who set down for
posterity the heroic deed of the great queen in
the following beautiful poem:
KAPIOLANI AND PELE 163
KAPIOLANI.
I.
When from the terrors of Nature a people have
fashioned and worship a Spirit of Evil
Blest be the Voice of the Teacher who calls to
them,
"Set yourselves freel"
n.
Noble the Saxon who hiu-led at his Idol a valorous
weapon in olden England!
Great, and greater, and greatest of women, island
heroine Kapiolani
Clomb the mountain, and flung the berries and
dared the Goddess, and freed the people
Of Hawa-i-eel
m.
A people believing that Peeli the Goddess would
wallow in fiery riot and revel
On Rilauea,
Dance in a fountain of flame with her devils or
shake with her thunders and shatter her
island,
RoUing her anger
Thro' blasted valley and flowing forest in blood-red
cataracts down to the sea!
l64 IBEETUS OF fOiJCAWOBS
IT.
Over the monntaia
Floats, wiD the gloij of Kuwnhm be mingled with
cither oo Haw
V.
What said her Priesthood?
"Woe to this idand if ever a woman should handle
or gather the berries oi Peeld!
Accursed were she!
And woe to this island if ever a woman should
dimb to the dwelling of Pedd the Goddess!
Accursed were she!"
VI.
One from the Sunrise
Dawned on His people and slowly before him
Vanished shadow-like
Gods and Goddesses,
None but the terrible Peeld remaining as Kapiolani
Ascended her mountain,
Baffled her priesthood,
Broke the Taboo,
Dipt to the crater,
Called on the Power adored by the Christian and
crying, "I dare her, let Peelft avenge herself!"
Into the flame>bilK)W8 dashed the berries, and drove
the demon from Hawa-i-ce.
PART n