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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76499 ***
+
+
+[Illustration: Statue of Kamehameha I, Honolulu.]
+
+
+
+
+  Hawaiian Idylls of
+  Love and Death
+
+  BY THE
+  REV. HERBERT H. GOWEN
+  F.R.G.S., M.R.S.A. (LOND.)
+  _Author of “The Paradise of the Pacific,” etc._
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  NEW YORK
+  COCHRANE PUBLISHING CO.
+  1908
+
+
+
+
+  Copyright, 1908, by
+  COCHRANE PUBLISHING CO.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+The following stories are concerned mainly with incidents bearing
+on the career of the first sovereign of the Hawaiian archipelago,
+Kamehameha I, worthily distinguished from his successors as “Kamehameha
+the Great,” who, born about the year 1736, achieved the unification of
+the group in 1795, and died in 1819, leaving behind him no one capable
+of following in his footsteps.
+
+A few words about this notable ruler of a kingdom now no more may not
+be amiss as introductory to the stories to follow.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Every visitor to Honolulu finds his way in course of time to
+the splendid square between the Iolani Palace and the Aliiolani
+Hale. At least, such were the names borne till recent years by
+the dwelling-place of the sovereign and the meeting-place of the
+legislators of Hawaii. But times are changed, and names have changed
+with them. Now more prosaic names have been adopted by more prosaic
+times.
+
+Changing times, however, can never take away the interest attaching to
+one prominent object in this square, just in front of the Legislative
+Buildings. For monarch and legislature, ay, and people, too, may pass
+away and only bring into greater relief the true greatness of the man
+whose statue here keeps sentry guard.
+
+It is the statue of the chief who made Hawaii a kingdom, and gave it
+such cohesion and such stability that as a kingdom it endured for just
+a century. Here stands Kamehameha I, “the lonely one,” as his name
+implies, represented by the artist as he might have appeared in life
+at the head of his army in those heroic days when the chiefs of Hawaii
+fought “like gods of war dispensing fate.”
+
+We see him here a man of gigantic mould, with furrowed and smileless
+countenance, as of one who seldom spoke save to command, and who
+commanded to be obeyed. Spear in hand, feather-helmet on head, and on
+his shoulders the famous feather cloak which took nine generations of
+kings to construct--we seem to see before us that “Mars armipotent,” of
+whom it might be said, as it was said of the Homeric hero:
+
+  “On him the war is bent, the darts are shed,
+   And all their falchions wave about his head:
+   Repulsed, he stands, nor from his stand retires,
+   But with repeated shouts his army fires.”
+
+The statue was modelled after a fine specimen of the Hawaiian race,
+named Kaopuiki, with whom the writer has several times crossed the
+channel from Maui to Lanai, but we have authority for the features in
+the portrait painted by M. Choris, the artist attached to Kotzebue’s
+expedition in 1816. This is the only authentic picture of Kamehameha in
+existence, and was painted when he was nearly eighty years old.
+
+Over a hundred and ten years ago, in the year of our era 1795,
+this man effected what, under the circumstances, seemed a task of
+insuperable difficulty--the union of the eight islands of the Hawaiian
+group under one government. What those difficulties were only those
+who have studied the matter will be able to appreciate. Here it will
+suffice to say that of his race there was none like him before, there
+has been none like him since. In all that shadowy time from the dawn of
+Hawaiian history to the establishment of intercourse with the western
+world, the time of heroes eight or nine feet high, who wielded spears
+ten yards long; heroes who fought with gods and received aid from gods,
+as the Greek warriors at Troy from Minerva and Apollo--heroes like
+Kiha of the magic conch, like Liloa and Umi and Lono, there was none
+who accomplished what Kamehameha did by the patient toil and dauntless
+courage of forty years.
+
+And in all the time since, in spite of that unexampled advance in
+civilization, which has made of Hawaii a land of telephones, electric
+light, public schools, universal suffrage and the rest, there has
+arisen no Hawaiian with one-tenth part of the manhood possessed and
+used, mainly for good, by this heroic savage.
+
+If the conquests of Kamehameha were inferior in extent to those of
+Alexander, it was because he had not Alexander’s scope. At any rate,
+he fought till he had no more worlds to conquer, and what he conquered
+he kept for himself and his family until the dynasty expired. Like
+Napoleon (and Kamehameha is often spoken of as the “Napoleon of the
+Pacific”), he had an unswerving faith in his destiny. Otherwise, he
+never could have overcome so completely the obstacles in his way.
+
+For, although the uniting of eight small islands into one kingdom
+may appear to us a slight achievement, as a matter of fact, the task
+was anything but easy. Each of the islands had its traditions of
+pre-eminence, and the relations of island with island were marked by
+furious jealousy and hostility. Intercourse, for many generations, was
+almost suspended, except for purposes of war. Even a few years ago the
+natives of the windward and the leeward islands could be distinguished
+by their language--the Kauai and Oahu people using _t_ and _r_ in the
+Tahitian dialect, where the natives of Hawaii and Maui used _k_ and
+_l_. But the fusion commenced by Kamehameha has progressed so well that
+the ancient differences of language are nearly as much obliterated as
+the desire for separate and independent governments.
+
+The consolidation of the kingdoms had been attempted before by able
+soldiers and statesmen, but had failed. Even the wise and philanthropic
+Vancouver tried to dissuade Kamehameha from what he believed a Utopian
+scheme which must result disastrously. Nevertheless, the savage
+followed his stars and prevailed.
+
+The late king--Kalakaua--an unbiased witness, since he succeeded to the
+throne as the first of a new line, unconnected with and in a measure
+hostile to the dynasty of the Kamehamehas--thus passes judgment on his
+illustrious predecessor:
+
+“Kamehameha was a man of tremendous physical and intellectual
+strength. In any land, and in any age, he would have been a leader.
+The impress of his mind remains with his crude and vigorous laws, and
+wherever he stepped is seen an imperishable track. He was so strong of
+limb that ordinary men were but children in his grasp, and in council
+the wisest yielded to his judgment. He seems to have been born a man
+and to have had no boyhood. He was always sedate and thoughtful,
+and, from his earliest years, cared for no sport or pastime that was
+not manly. He had a harsh and rugged face, less given to smiles than
+frowns, but strongly marked with lines indicative of self-reliance
+and changeless purpose. He was barbarous, unforgiving and merciless
+to his enemies, but just, sagacious and considerate in dealing with
+his subjects. He was more feared than loved or respected; but his
+strength of arm and force of character well fitted him for the supreme
+chieftaincy of the group, and he accomplished what no one else could
+have done in his day.”
+
+This extract does no more than justice to Kamehameha’s powers of body
+and mind. Indeed it was his intellectual greatness which distinguished
+him so much from his contemporaries, and which forms his chief claim to
+the recognition of thoughtful men of all times and races.
+
+He is, in the first place, worthy to be put beside Fabius Maximus
+for his invincible pertinacity and patience. “_Unus homo cunctando
+restituit rem_,” was said of Hannibal’s great conqueror, and of the
+conqueror of Kalanikapule and _la haute noblesse_ of all Hawaii it
+might be said with truth that not less by waiting than by fighting
+did he make for himself a kingdom. There may have been something
+of the Hawaiian indifference to the flight of time in the patience
+which enabled Kamehameha to take defeat so easily and to retire so
+contentedly, like another Cincinnatus, to cultivate his patrimonial
+fields at Waipio, but there was also without doubt abundant faith in
+waiting for the fullness of time--a faith the very reverse of common in
+barbarous or semi-civilized communities.
+
+None knew, like Kamehameha, how to endure defeat so as to make it but
+a step to a deferred but more complete victory. Had he been a student
+of history he might well have adopted the words of Admiral Coligni,
+who said of himself: “In one respect I may claim superiority over
+Alexander, over Scipio, over Cæsar. They won great battles, it is true.
+I have lost four great battles; and yet I shew to the enemy a more
+formidable front than ever.”
+
+Nevertheless, Kamehameha knew when to strike and did strike hard. Like
+Napoleon, he could hurl all his force at a given point with marvellous
+celerity and precision, and, once having developed his plan, he
+suffered no obstacle to prevent its being carried into effect.
+
+In the third place, he had a singular power of knowing the right
+instruments to employ in his undertakings. Very many great men ruin
+the work they take in hand, either by undertaking too much personally,
+or else by employing inefficient and unsuitable instruments. In either
+case, the work fails to outlive the worker, even if he be not destined
+to see the ruin himself. It is sometimes said that such and such a
+successful ruler had the good fortune to be surrounded by such and
+such a brilliant galaxy of statesmen. The good fortune is in reality
+the good sense and insight which lead a ruler to select the fit
+instruments for his purpose.
+
+Kamehameha’s throne had for its pillars of support men who might very
+well have been his rivals, and among all the notable chiefs of the
+time none was discarded or neglected, save such men as Kaiana, whose
+fickleness made him more of a menace than a mainstay. As it was, few
+kings ever had an abler council--more conspicuous for courage in battle
+or for wisdom in the arts of government--than that which included men
+like Kalanimoku, _alias_ William Pitt, Kameeiamoku and Keeaumoku, and
+the Englishmen--Young and Davis.
+
+Kamehameha, too, lived long enough after he had crushed out all
+opposition to his rule to show that he understood the art of
+consolidating as well as that of establishing a monarchy. For
+twenty-five years he governed Hawaii with steadily increasing skill
+and enlightenment, piloting the new kingdom through every kind of
+embroilment with the nations represented in the realm.
+
+Like William the Conqueror, he purposed to govern with good laws what
+he had won with a cruel sword, and, if he was overstern to repress,
+he undoubtedly spared the country much misery which a weaker or more
+lenient policy might have entailed.
+
+Finally, looking at Kamehameha as a man, rather than as a ruler,
+we need not deny him the title of “Great.” He could be loved as
+well as feared. He was scrupulously just, even when it came to the
+condemnation of his own past actions, and perhaps greater than any
+victory over the rival chiefs was the victory he won over himself when
+he broke free from the trammels the “fire-water” of the foreigner were
+fast making for him, and bade his countrymen imitate him and be free.
+
+Enough has been suggested in these introductory remarks to make
+clear that not only to the antiquary, searching amid the ruins of a
+perishing people for some faded remnants of romance; not only to the
+historian, seeking here and there in the archives of nations to glean
+illustrations of some great historical generalization; not only to the
+lover of the story of war and adventure; but, above all, to the student
+of men as men the memory of the first monarch of Hawaii ought to be of
+sufficient interest not to pass into oblivion.
+
+For heroism is of no one age, and of no one race. It commands the
+sympathy and respect of all, and it is the writer’s hope that these
+simple sketches may show, in the story of the first Kamehameha, that
+touch of Nature which makes the whole world kin, that quality of
+manhood which obliterates the distinction between white and black,
+between East and West, between the man of yesterday and the man of
+to-day.
+
+  “For East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
+   Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
+   But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
+   When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the
+     ends of the earth.”
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                         PAGE
+
+     I--THE POISON GODDESS OF MOLOKAI      11
+
+    II--THE STORY OF THE KIHA-PU           19
+
+   III--THE SPLINTERED PADDLE              27
+
+    IV--THE SLANDERED PRIEST OF OAHU       34
+
+     V--KEALA                              43
+
+    VI--PELE DECLARES FOR KAMEHAMEHA       51
+
+   VII--THE CITY OF REFUGE                 59
+
+  VIII--SWEET LEILEHUA                     67
+
+    IX--THE SPOUTING CAVE OF LANAI         78
+
+     X--LONO’S LAST MARTYR                 89
+
+    XI--KEOUA, A STORY OF KALAWAO         101
+
+
+
+
+Hawaiian Idylls of Love and Death
+
+
+
+
+I
+
+THE POISON GODDESS OF MOLOKAI
+
+
+Kaneakama was as handsome a young fellow as you could have found on the
+eight islands; neither unknown to war nor unskilled in divination and
+the learning of the priests. But he had one vice--he was an inveterate
+gambler.
+
+And here he sat in his grass hut on the slopes of the Olukui, feeling
+as miserable as any wretch of to-day who had squandered his patrimony
+at Monte Carlo, for he had been playing _maika_ the whole day long and
+luck had been against him at every throw. The devil, he thought, must
+have been in the smooth black stones; throw as he might, they would not
+go straight. Yes, they were certainly bewitched. And now he had nothing
+to call his own but one little pig--everything was lost.
+
+Why did he not stake the pig? you ask. Ah! Kaneakama had asked himself
+that question many a time that evening, but had each time repelled the
+very thought as a temptation. For he had dedicated this pig to his
+Aumakua, or tutelary divinity, and with all his faults he was too
+pious to break his vows to the gods.
+
+So, although happy thus far in the possession of a good conscience,
+he nursed his grief until the kind divinities sent their messenger,
+sleep--welcome to all men everywhere.
+
+And, as Kaneakama slept, he had a wonderful vision. The song of a bird
+broke upon his ear, then the sweet sounds transformed themselves into
+an aura of radial light and in the light he beheld the loveliest form
+he had ever seen.
+
+It was that of a young girl, but Kaneakama’s first impression was
+that it was some glorious bird, for he wanted to get up and throw a
+mat across the door lest she should fly away. Her black hair fell in
+a great shadow behind her like a pair of wings; no chief arrayed for
+battle had feather cloak so rich in orange and scarlet as that which
+clung to her perfect form from throat to shapely knee. Her eyes, too,
+even in the bright aura which encircled her, shone like stars in the
+night.
+
+Kaneakama gazed he knew not how long, and when he came to himself he
+was only conscious of having received a command from the goddess (for
+such indeed was his adorable visitant) to take his dedicated pig and
+stake it as he had done the rest. You see, the gods and goddesses of
+ancient Hawaii had rather backward ideas regarding the morality of
+gambling.
+
+However, Kaneakama is not to be blamed for this. He did as his divinity
+had told him, and now if the ill-luck of his former experience had been
+surprising, still more so was the turn of fortune which seemed to pour
+riches into his lap. He went home from that day’s _maika_-playing a
+rich man, but, remembering the source of his wealth, he determined to
+dedicate one-half of it to the service of the goddess, and to build a
+temple where she might dwell and receive his worship.
+
+This he did, and no sooner was the temple so far completed that it only
+lacked its central idol, than once more the vision of the Aumakua broke
+in upon his sleep.
+
+This time there was no doubt about the voice. It was as sweet to hear
+as the vision was to see.
+
+“Go to the king, O Kaneakama,” it said; “tell him that the _akua_ wish
+to dwell in the temple made by man in the shadow of his court. Power
+shall be his if he will shelter them. Let him send warriors with their
+axes and knives to the top of Maunaloa. Out of the wood let them hew me
+an image, and this shall be my shrine in the _heiau_ you have built,
+and you, O Kaneakama, shall be my high-priest, worshipper and lover of
+Kalaipahoa, terrible to mortals.”
+
+When Kaneakama awoke he hastened to obey the command, and the king was
+pleased to hear of the honours in store. Three hundred men were chosen;
+and these, carrying, besides their weapons, great folds of _kapa_ (for
+the venom of the poison goddess was a thing to be dreaded), set out on
+their march. Kaneakama, commissioned by the king, went before them as a
+guide to the spot designated in his sleep.
+
+As they marched they recalled all they had heard of the poison
+goddess--how she had come from an unknown land to Molokai and had made
+her home on Maunaloa. There, so it was said, the earth was burnt
+and blackened, and the birds fell dead as they flew over it. It was,
+moreover, the dwelling-place of Laamaomao, the god of the winds, and
+at any moment a strong spirit of the air might break loose from the
+calabash of the god and hurl the intruders afar into the Paiolo Channel.
+
+So they journeyed on with teeth chattering and hearts cold within them.
+They climbed upwards along the torrent-bed over boulders for two hours
+or more; then they came to the forest belt where the silver leaves of
+the _kukui_ seemed to shiver with sympathetic fear; then they came to
+the black lava slopes, where they had to look carefully to their steps.
+
+At last they heard a rumbling like that of the winds of Laamaomao
+wrestling in his calabash, and suddenly before them lay the vast
+extinct crater, half hidden in the mist.
+
+Their way lay downwards, the mist parting to receive them, until they
+saw in front of them a great black blot, such as a fire would make in
+some weird forest which shrivels and blackens but will not burn. The
+only whiteness was the whiteness of the bones strewn around, and the
+only greenness came from one tree in the centre, which rose erect and
+plumy in this wilderness of death. Some said they beheld a scarlet and
+yellow bird perched in its branches, but many doubted, as they saw
+strong-winged birds fly right up to the rim of the circle and fall dead
+as though pierced by an arrow.
+
+It was true, then, this story of the poison goddess; it was true that
+her touch was death. One hundred men went straightway back to the
+king, afraid. But Kaneakama stayed the fear of the others and commanded
+them to do their work.
+
+Twenty men took their axes and went forward to hew down the tree,
+but, alas! they fell dead before they had advanced twenty yards. Five
+times did Kaneakama send fresh detachments forward, moving slowly in a
+circle, and five times did they perish as beneath a blast of death. So
+five circles of dead men lay round about the tree.
+
+Then Kaneakama commanded half the remaining hundred to take _kapa_ and
+wrap themselves in it, making of it masks and shields, and they went
+forward till they reached the tree. Then they hewed at it, each man
+dying with the blow he struck, till, with a noise that awoke echoes in
+Maunaloa, the great tree fell crashing through the shrivelled trunks
+around it. Then the remaining band, still shielding themselves as
+best they could with the _kapa_, took their _pahoas_ and cut away the
+branches, working feverishly, for men fainted and fell apace, till at
+last a rough shape was ready to be carried back to the _heiau_.
+
+It was a rough and ugly idol, with widely distended mouth (to be filled
+presently with hideous rows of shark’s teeth), extended arms, hands
+and fingers, but Kaneakama looked beyond the art of the craftsman,
+and, wrapping the image in fold upon fold of _kapa_, he with his few
+remaining men wended his way down the mountainside, through the long
+valley to the seashore.
+
+There was great rejoicing at the court when Kalaipahoa, for so the
+goddess hewn out with daggers was named, was placed in her shrine, and
+the temple dedicated with many victims; but all the rejoicing was
+faint and hollow as compared with the joy of the man who was at once
+the high-priest and lover of the goddess.
+
+When he ministered before the shrine he saw not the rough and hideous
+idol, but the celestial beauty of the birdlike maiden who had visited
+him in the night visions. If she was terrible to others, she was always
+smiling and beneficent to him.
+
+Yet, though he faithfully performed his duties at the _heiau_, carrying
+and presenting the offerings, interpreting the wishes of the goddess
+to the king, performing all the accustomed rites and observing all the
+prescribed tabus, he was not yet satisfied. It grew more and more hard
+to nourish himself on visions of the past. He recalled how that Pele,
+the volcano goddess, had had a mortal lover and had come down on earth
+to dwell. Why should not Kalaipahoa give him at least a sign? From
+pitying those who had died in the mountain, he began to envy them.
+
+O man of little faith! The sign came. He dreamed and seemed in his
+dreams in Paliuli, the Elysian land, land of the blue mountain and the
+water of life, and, as soon as his eyes could bear the light, he saw
+Kalaipahoa in all her radiance, and around her stood the men who had
+perished at the shaping of the idol. They bore her calabashes, waved
+her _kahilis_, and stood about her as her soldiers and her slaves. But
+after one swift glance around him, Kaneakama saw only Kalaipahoa, and
+she, so he believed, saw only him.
+
+“O Kalaipahoa,” he cried, “why am I worse off than the serfs who died
+in Maunaloa? They stand in thy presence and see thy face, while I toil
+in thy service and have no reward!”
+
+Kalaipahoa’s face lightened with a smile.
+
+“Foolish mortal!” she cried, “did you not see that my court is
+incomplete, wanting its greatest? The great chiefs have their
+‘companions in death,’ but you have your household gone before you.
+However, you shall have your reward to-night.”
+
+Then she bade him bring the _puhenehene_ board and play.
+
+He played; but, alas! such was his confusion that he lost every game,
+and such his preoccupation that he was not even sorry to find himself
+once again a pauper. At last he had nothing left to lose, and knew not
+what to do.
+
+“Stake yourself!” cried a sweet voice.
+
+No sooner said than done. Once more the stones were thrown. Once more
+Kaneakama lost. And the vision vanished, the goddess with a smile still
+upon her face.
+
+“Ah, well!” said Kaneakama, “I am the lover of the goddess; I will die.
+Let me prepare an offering for her; I will place bananas in her hands
+and will share her feast. It may be she will bid me come sit at her
+feet.”
+
+He prepared his offering, and dared to take of the food presented to
+the goddess. The banana he ate must have received from the hands of
+the goddess the gift of death, for when the temple slaves came next
+morning to the _heiau_, there, before the shrine of wickerwork, lay the
+lover of the goddess--dead, and, by the look of his eyes, he had died
+neither unwillingly nor afraid.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was this image of Kalaipahoa that Kamehameha long begged in vain
+from Kahekili. It came to him after the death of the savage old Maui
+chief and he kept it always near him. It was a useful idol to him, for
+a single chip placed in the food of an obnoxious person would send
+him to the shades in less than twenty-four hours. Kamehameha, by his
+will, had the image divided among some of his chiefs, but the good
+Queen Kaahumanu collected all the chips she could lay her hands on, and
+burned them.
+
+It is said, however, one or two fragments are still in existence.
+Perhaps the visitor to Honolulu may find them in the Kamehameha museum,
+but let us hope their virulent properties may never be put to the test.
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE STORY OF THE KIHA-PU
+
+  “Of this small horn one feeble blast
+   Would fearful odds against thee cast.”
+
+                             --“_The Lady of the Lake._”
+
+
+The minstrels of the olden world were wont to sing of the marvels of
+Olifant, the magic horn of Roland, which that glorious paladin had won
+in battle from the giant Jatmund. All nature trembled at its blast, the
+fowls of the air fell dead, the trees shivered and the hearts of the
+Saracens failed them for fear, even though the sound came from thirty
+miles away.
+
+The counterpart of this famous horn is, we believe, still to be seen
+among the relics of the old savage world of Hawaii preserved in the
+museum at Honolulu. Let the visitor not fail to ask for a sight of
+the Kiha-pu, the famous war trumpet or magic conch of Kiha. It is a
+huge nautilus-shell of a species exceedingly rare in the island group,
+adorned (one can scarcely say beautified) with the inlaid teeth of
+conquered chieftains whose death-cry was once drowned by that strident
+blast. Whenever the trumpet is blown, such at least is the popular
+belief, the groans and cries of these old warriors are heard on the
+wind. Far back in the generations of old, in the twelfth century of
+our era, this wonder-working shell was brought from the distant isles
+of Samoa, but its historical career in Hawaii does not commence till
+the reign of the mighty warrior Kiha, who ruled the land for forty
+years midway in the fifteenth century.
+
+Since then in what innumerable battles has it played its part!
+Kamehameha prized it as he prized Kalaipahoa, the poison goddess;
+Kaili, the war god, or even as he prized the fire-vomiting guns of the
+white men. The unique qualities of the Kiha-pu caused its possession to
+be eagerly coveted by the rival chiefs. When blown with skill, it had
+power over the gods and over the legions of genii. Were the canoes at
+sea and the rowers lacking food, one blast of the Kiha-pu would summon
+Ukanipu, the shark god, to drive the flying fish so that they might
+fall into the open boats. Were it necessary to replenish the water
+calabashes, then the trumpet could call upon Kuluiau, the goddess of
+rain, and the oarsmen would have scarce time to arrange the vessels
+ere the rain came down from the clouds in torrents. Was it wind that
+was wanted, lo! in answer to the prayer of the Kiha-pu, Laamaomao,
+the god of wind, would open his swelling calabashes towards the sea,
+and the breezes would rush forth. Thus useful in peace, it was a
+hundredfold useful in war. The king could send forth at will strident
+voices such as startled the ears of the enemy with challenge to battle
+and premonition of defeat. He could make the magic conch utter clarion
+notes such as would summon the forces of the spirit world to his aid
+and rally his people from the most hopeless fight. The sound was like
+the sound of breakers against the rocky shores of Hawaii.
+
+To-day, alas! though the horn may still be blown, no deity responds to
+its despairing wail. When, during the native insurrection of 1889, the
+shell conches sounded out shrilly upon the air, many of those present
+thought of the Kiha-pu and its traditional magic. But Lono came not
+from his age-long sleep, and all things conspired to show that the
+potency of the trumpet of Kiha was no more.
+
+Here is a tale founded on the old meles, of the times when the famous
+conch was in the hands of the king who gave it its name.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Kiha was desirous of a new feather cloak to mark his dignity among
+the _alii_. He would summon to his presence the feather hunters to
+go forth into the forest to snare the _mame_ and the _oo_, that from
+their brilliant feathers of scarlet and yellow he might weave his royal
+mantle. To bring them to the royal enclosure he bethought himself of
+the Kiha-pu and dispatched its trusted guardian, whose name was Hoilo,
+to bring it forthwith from the _heiau_ or temple. In a little while
+Hoilo came back with rueful countenance and announced that the treasure
+had disappeared. In its place was an ugly, carved black stone.
+
+The king, as may be imagined, was terribly wroth, but waxing wise with
+cunning he concealed from everybody his loss, even announcing to Hoilo
+that the shell was in a place known to himself. But, as soon as he
+dared, he hastened to the _heiau_ and there made a confidant of the
+high-priest, with whom he consulted as to the fate of the Kiha-pu.
+After the due sacrifices, there came a response from the oracle. A
+voice from the wicker shrine announced that the conch had been stolen
+by a band of marauders, half human and half demon, who had for some
+time been prowling about the neighborhood. The king was in despair,
+but presently a gleam of hope was vouchsafed by the tidings that the
+lost treasure should be recovered by the king on the day when Kiha
+ate of the first fruit of the cocoanut tree to be planted by himself
+at the next fullness of the moon. In answer to the question as to who
+should be the instrument of the restoration, only the mysterious reply
+was given that it would be a being without hands and wearing neither a
+_malo_ nor mantle.
+
+It was with a very heavy heart that Kiha returned to his palace,
+knowing that his trumpet was in the hands of the demi-demon band, but
+nevertheless he dissembled his grief, kept his secret manfully, planted
+his cocoanut and watered the soil daily with his own hand.
+
+In the meanwhile the demons departed with their spoil northwards to
+Kauai, where after many adventures they arrived and settled themselves
+down in the mountains at the back of Waimea.
+
+Here Ika, the leader of the band, who took care to retain the personal
+control of the Kiha-pu, had the misfortune to provoke, by some unusual
+piece of tyranny, a quarrel with one of his comrades, and this latter,
+bent upon revenge, determined to repeat the theft, for his own personal
+ends, of the magic trumpet. Not willing to run the risk of being
+its possessor, however, he contented himself with robbing it of its
+miraculous powers. He found out that this could be effected by placing
+a cross mark upon its rim, accompanying the operation with incantations
+and prayers to Lono. So, while Ika lay, made drunk with _awa_, the
+Kiha-pu was stolen, marked with the tabu sign by the priest at Waiolani
+and returned again to its place. The next day Ika arose, hung the horn
+by its cord of human hair around his neck and sallied proudly forth,
+as he had been wont, to exhibit its wonderful powers, and extort the
+admiration of his followers. But, alas! when he raised the conch to his
+mouth and blew, even though he blew with the full force of his lungs,
+there came back nothing but a comparatively feeble, natural hollow
+sound.
+
+Ika was sadly mortified at his humiliation in the sight of men, and
+still more so when, after further and fruitless experiments, he had to
+confess that the virtue of the ill-gotten trophy had departed.
+
+He came to the conclusion that supernatural powers had been invoked
+against him, and in search of further light paid a visit to an aged
+seer at Waialua to enquire whether the voice of the Kiha-pu would be
+ever restored. To his great joy the answer was returned: “Yes, once
+more among the hills of Hawaii the Kiha-pu shall speak to the ears
+of gods and men.” More than this, the prophet, after the manner of
+oracles, refused to tell.
+
+Thereupon Ika decided to return at once with his companions to Hawaii,
+and in a few days they had crossed the channels, beheld once more the
+snows of the very district from which they had so suddenly decamped
+eight years before.
+
+Now it happened that on this very day King Kiha, who, to the amazement
+of his people, had been apparently spending eight years in the
+cultivation of a single palm, went out to his tree and was delighted
+to find that three cocoanuts had attained their maturity and were
+ready for his eating. In accordance with the ritual prescribed by the
+priests, these were now solemnly eaten, and at the very moment the
+feast was consummated came the news that the band of demoniac marauders
+had reoccupied the marshy wood behind the mountains of Waipio.
+
+The tidings had scarcely reached the expectant chief when, lo! there
+was a tumult at the palace gate and, advancing a few steps, Kiha beheld
+the royal guard bringing into his presence the strangest looking old
+man he had ever seen. His hands were tied behind his back for more
+security, but at his heels followed an object still stranger to the
+eye. It was a dog, a big, ill-shapen beast of no earthly breed. It had
+blue bristles, its ears were human and the eyes were small and fiery,
+like those of a demon, one burning with a greenish light, and the other
+white.
+
+The charge against the man was that of stealing _awa_, and it was
+represented that the dog, in this business, was his accomplice and a
+marvellously cunning brute. Across the mind of the king, however, there
+flashed the prediction of the oracle, which he had kept hoarded up in
+his mind. Surely, here, in this dog, was a being without hands and
+wearing neither _malo_ nor mantle. Was not this the instrument of the
+gods, sent to his aid?
+
+Without a moment’s delay he had the two, the man and the dog, sent to
+the _heiau_ at Pakaalani, and thence he sent forth the dog to hunt
+through the mountains the wonder-working conch, and recover it from the
+hands of the thief.
+
+There could be no doubt that the strange hound understood his mission,
+for he leaped through the open door, hurried to the mountains, and,
+after a long hunt, at length seized and bore away in his teeth the
+object of Kiha’s eight years’ quest. As, however, he was returning down
+the mountains, for one moment he dropped his spoil, and then there
+rang out upon the air a sound terrible to hear. For in the fall a tiny
+piece of the Kiha-pu, the very piece upon which was scratched the tabu
+cross of Lono, was broken off, and, liberated from silence, the old
+voice sounded forth as in the years gone by, startling the unaccustomed
+echoes of the mountains.
+
+The robbers heard and, discovering their loss, started in pursuit. The
+king heard, too, and found it hard to possess his soul in patience
+till the dog’s return. Presently the door of the temple burst open and
+in rushed the green-eyed dog with the Kiha-pu in his mouth. The weird
+brute dropped it at the king’s feet, and then immediately fell dead.
+His companion, the _awa_-stealer, was inconsolable for his loss, but
+Kiha awarded to him a royally generous compensation, and then placing
+the horn to his lips blew such a blast as the mountains of Hawaii had
+not heard for many a year. The troops rushed together at the potent
+summons, and, led at once into the mountains, fell upon the demon band.
+
+In a few hours the whole gang was exterminated, with the exception
+of Ika and two or three of his comrades, who were reserved for the
+sacrifices at the _heiau_, to be offered on the rededication of the
+Kiha-pu.
+
+After this, Kiha took more care of his famous trumpet and regarded it
+as one of the chief talismans by which the authority of the throne was
+supported, but the _awa_-stealer, though having no further need of
+recourse to his old trade, deemed his new fortune no true compensation
+for the loss of his old friend, the green-eyed dog.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE SPLINTERED PADDLE
+
+
+In the year 1784 there was raging on the island of Hawaii the conflict
+known as “_Kaua awa_,” or “the bitter war,” a name very accurately
+descriptive of its exasperating and unmerciful character. There were in
+those days two kinds of wars in Hawaii, viz., wars of courtesy, when
+the arrangements for the contest were made with the most punctilious
+regard for the etiquette of Hawaiian chivalry, when the object of the
+invasion was considerately notified, and the place of landing and of
+battle carefully chosen, and, in the second place, wars of devastation,
+when everything was done to harass a foeman without respect to his
+feelings.
+
+The “bitter war,” however, outran even this latter in the envenomed
+nature of the hostility aroused between the contending chiefs. These
+were, on the one side, Keoua and Keawemauhili, high chiefs who had
+lately shared the defeat of the ill-fated Kiwaloa in the battle of
+Mokuohai, and, on the other side, Kamehameha, whose future destiny had
+already been revealed to men like Keeaumoku, “the king-maker” of Hawaii.
+
+These three waged a kind of triangular contest for the sovereignty
+of the island and brought to the struggle animosities which had been
+intensified by the events following the death of Kalaniopuu and his
+son.
+
+For the moment, however, there was a lull in the campaign. Kamehameha
+had retired foiled, with his fleet, upon Laupahoehoe. Keawemauhili had
+just lost the help of the mercenaries from Maui, and Keoua was busy
+collecting his forces. In fact some parts of the country were enjoying
+the unwonted feeling of peace, and remained undisturbed by the arrival
+of the fleet-footed _lunapais_ to gather together the tribesmen for the
+war.
+
+Such was the case along the Puna coast, near the extreme southeastern
+point of the island, not far from the ever-burning abode of Pele in
+Kilauea. A traveler, dropping down near the village of Kapoho one
+morning in the early summer, would have thought the scene an ideal
+picture of peace. The purple mountains in the background seemed still
+asleep under the morning shadows which hung among the groves of _kukui_
+and _kou_; the surf on the white reef was lazily playing with the
+branching coral; and the blue-green water of the Pacific slumbered
+under the long, level rays of the awaking sun. Yet, early as it was, a
+hundred dusky fisher folk of the Puna coast were plying their business,
+not with the fierce energy of western workers who rise early to wage
+war with the hours, but with the happy languor of those who have no
+quarrel with Time, and know that the whole day is before them, one long
+free leisure, in which they can lazily catch and prepare and enjoy the
+bounty of the sea.
+
+They have taken out in the canoes an immense rope of banana leaves,
+fully half a mile in length, and are spreading it in a circle upon the
+shining waters. When spread out it is a veritable magic ring. Glancing
+down into the waters beneath, you may perceive hundreds of strange
+creatures of the deep, blue, green, scarlet and yellow, with queer
+beaks and fins, darting hither and thither, but never daring--poor,
+silly fishes, like some inhabitants of the upper air--to cross the
+black shadow which hangs so threateningly over them. And, after a
+while, the fishermen enter with the canoes and, poising their spears,
+strike where and when they choose, till the boats begin to sink deeper
+in the sea with the weight of their finny spoil.
+
+Such was the aspect of things on the Puna coast a moment before it was
+suddenly changed by a very unwelcome apparition. Sweeping around the
+headland of Kumukahi, there bore down upon the peaceful fishermen, from
+the direction of Laupahoehoe, the war canoe of a chief, one inspired,
+doubtless, with no amicable intentions. It was painted red from stem to
+stern and bore a pennon at the masthead. The sturdy rowers wore short
+cloaks of yellow feathers which gleamed in the sunlight. Now, a visit
+of a chief was at no time a very welcome event to the fishermen, as it
+meant the confiscation of their spoil to supply the necessity of a by
+no means scanty following. Sometimes they felt inclined to follow the
+example of the men of Kau and respond to the demands of the chief for
+fish by hurling enough into the canoes to sink them and their occupants
+to the bottom of the sea. In this case, however, there was evidently
+more to be feared than confiscation. And as, when some hungry shark
+enters the lagoon where all the children are bathing and surf-swimming,
+there rises the dread cry of “_Mao!_” and instantly there follows a
+“_pilipili_” scramble to the shore, so when this great red and yellow
+monster of the deep, with its swift paddles and its human voices, swept
+over the waves, there was such a movement shoreward as showed that the
+indolent Hawaiian could be agile enough when he chose.
+
+But the pursuit did not end with the shore. Leaping from the war canoe,
+the attendants of the ravaging _alii_ hurled their spears with effect.
+Some of the fishermen resisted and more than one with his paddle made
+things lively for his assailant. Presently, however, in the manner
+of Hawaiian warfare, the combat resolved itself into a duel. The
+combatants on either side grounded their spears and paddles to watch
+a single combat which promised to decide the fortunes of the day. The
+champion of the fishermen was Napopo, who, with a child slung upon his
+back, seemed unequally matched with his opponent, a chief of tremendous
+size and unspeakable ferocity of countenance. Once seen, this chief was
+not to be forgotten, and, as he rushed towards the unlucky fisherman in
+his path, he appeared to both sides alike irresistible. But Napopo was
+no coward, and he knew the ground better than his foe. Craftily he drew
+his antagonist over the coral beach and watched with lightning eye the
+moment when the spear should rush forth upon the air. Thus it happened
+that in launching his spear the chief tripped in a crevice of the rocks
+and fell face downward, while the missile whizzed harmlessly through
+the air. Then, leaping forward, Napopo used his paddle to such effect
+that he had surely left the chief dead upon the ground had not his
+followers rushed forward to the assistance of their lord. Encumbered
+with the child and fearing to risk its life by continuing as the
+aggressor, Napopo allowed the retainers to take away the battered and
+crestfallen raider. With his child and his splintered paddle he retired
+to his house a little distance from the shore, and was in time when he
+reached it to see the gaily painted canoe put back around the headland,
+the rowers somewhat sobered, doubtless, by their adventure and without
+a single fish.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Years have passed away and the wars of Hawaii are well nigh over.
+Kamehameha has won the reward of his patience and of his many defeats,
+and is now overlord of all the Eight Islands.
+
+He has been making his triumphal progress round the coast of Hawaii,
+consecrating new _heiaus_, superintending the construction of fish
+ponds and collecting his tributes in labor, sandalwood, yellow feathers
+and fish. He has come, in due course, to Kapoho, and many are assembled
+at the royal enclosure to meet him and present their _hookana_. Among
+these comes Napopo with an enormous calabash of fish. He has no reason
+to fear, but as he approaches the _lanai_ and sees the concourse of
+runners, heralds, soldiers, and executioners, priests and hula-dancers,
+it seems impossible for him to raise his eyes. What is there in the
+eyes which face him which seems to freeze his blood? Glaring at him
+with the recognition of an ancient enemy are the eyes of the man whom
+he had once encountered on the coral beach and whose head he had broken
+with his paddle. The recognition is, at any rate, mutual. Kamehameha,
+the quondam raider, and Napopo, the bold fisherman of Puna, have met
+face to face. It is in vain to attempt escape. Napopo feels that,
+even did not the soldiers crowd the entrance, there was no strength
+in his limbs to move. He can only await death with what composure
+he may. Kamanawa and Kalaimoku, and the two white chiefs, Young and
+Davis, glance at the king for orders, conscious of his emotion, though
+ignorant of its cause. But the king waved them aside and, rising amid
+the assembly, spoke in tones which reached the outer fringe of the
+spectators.
+
+“Chiefs and people of Hawaii, and ye men of Puna in particular, I thank
+you for your welcome and your gifts to-day. Not for the first time,
+however, have I come among you, and I venture to confess that when I
+came before, you treated me even better than you have to-day. For you
+gave me wisdom, which is better for kings than valor. I came among you
+in the bitterness of my heart, thinking to revenge the rebellion of
+Keawemauhili upon his subjects. I swooped down upon you as the shark
+upon the flying fishes, and had well nigh plundered you of your fish
+and burned your houses and slain your men. But this man here before me
+came against me, not with battle-axe or javelin, but with his fisher’s
+paddle, and therewith stayed the course of the blood-drinking spear
+and well nigh ended the battles of Kamehameha. Surely even then were
+the gods my friends, or I had gone down shamed into the halls of the
+dead. And now what shall be done with the fellow who lifted up his hand
+against me?”
+
+The chiefs looked upon one another, and no one ventured to speak. They
+knew the grim, sardonic humor of the man and, in spite of his words,
+would not have been surprised at some fearful sentence. As for Napopo,
+the bitterness of death was almost past. Hope had not yet begun to
+torture him.
+
+Then amid the silence of the multitude the king spoke again, almost a
+smile in his furrowed face.
+
+“My sentence is that the men of Puna be not required to pay the fish
+tax, except as a gift of love. Well do I deserve to lose the fish. That
+day, I remember, I felt lucky not to have lost my life. Go, Napopo, and
+defend the shores of Puna against every doer of a lawless deed. And the
+child thou didst bear upon thy back, what has become of it?”
+
+“He is here, my lord,” said Napopo, scarcely knowing whether or not he
+was dreaming, as he brought forward a young man, tall and erect and
+handsome as any warrior in Kamehameha’s suite.
+
+“It is well,” said the monarch, “he shall be my care and shall be
+numbered among my bodyguard. May the gods give him a heart as fearless
+as his sire’s!”
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The next day Kamehameha promulgated the law known as “Mamalahoe”--“the
+law of the splintered paddle”--by which it was decreed that any chief
+who should henceforth engage in a raid upon unarmed and helpless people
+should be surely put to death.
+
+Thus the king proved himself worthy to rule, because strong enough to
+condemn publicly the errors of his past.
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE SLANDERED PRIEST OF OAHU
+
+
+The chiefs left the council chamber of Kahahana moody and displeased.
+Such a proposition as they had heard had never before been suggested
+by a king of Oahu. The wiles of Kahekili, the _moi_ of Maui, they
+knew. Like a greedy octopus, he was ever stretching out his tentacles
+to lay hold on everything within reach, and his eyes had for many a
+long year been on the coastland of Kualoa. But that Kahahana, their
+own feudal lord, the king who had but recently been installed with
+extraordinary solemnities and the sacrifice of an unwonted number of
+victims, the king whom they were expecting to bring back the glorious
+days of Peleioholani, should propose such a cession was far more than
+weakness; it was imbecility and treason. They gazed in imagination
+upon the beautiful amphitheatre of Koolau Bay, stretching in a perfect
+semi-circle from Kualoa Point to Kaneohe, counted up the revenue in
+whalebone and whale’s teeth it was wont to produce and at once, in a
+fierce kind of unanimity, overrode the proposal of the king. They then
+despatched, in the name of the whole college of the _alii_, a rejoinder
+to the king of Maui, such as would stir up that terrible old warrior
+even from his _awa_-drinking to order forth the _lunapais_ with the
+chant of war. However, better war than disgrace, they felt--better
+even defeat, better to prostrate themselves before Kahekili with the
+ignominious appeal of the vanquished, “_E make paha, e ola paha--iluna
+ke alo? ilalo ke alo?_” than tamely to give away the choicest of their
+lands. Let the country be parcelled out after defeat, and not before!
+
+Such had been the patriotic advice of the priest Kaopulupulu, who had
+long stood near the throne of Oahu, a support to its kings, learned
+in the traditions of kingship and in the lore of the gods, skilled
+not only to read the clouds and the auguries, but also to understand
+the hearts of mortals and of spirits. The white hair which descended
+over his dusky shoulders covered a brain whose like for experience and
+sagacity Oahu did not contain from Maena to Makapuu.
+
+So the chiefs departed to send their message, leaving Kahahana in no
+enviable mood, reclining on the _lanai_. Truth to say, he was ashamed
+of himself and had made his proposal not over willingly. He had been
+brought up with Kahekili on the island of Maui, had adventured with
+him in the wars against Hawaii, their spears had drunk blood together,
+nay, they had become almost one in family ties, for he had taken the
+half-sister of Kahekili for his bride. Thus, in making himself the tool
+of Kahekili, the weak and credulous chief had acted without considering
+the aspects his proposal would present to the rest of the _alii_.
+Now, ill at ease, bitter and angry, as well as ashamed, he could only
+anticipate what would be the wrath of Kahekili and what degree of
+revenge he would plan.
+
+Kahahana was right in one particular at least. Kahekili, when he
+received the news, went almost stark mad with anger. His followers
+whispered one to another that he had become “_hehena_,” and quailed
+before him, or, if possible, kept themselves afar from the royal
+enclosure. At length, however, the paroxysm passed and counsel took the
+place of passion. There sits Kahekili, a mighty man yet, in spite of
+his years, emaciated somewhat through the drinking of awa, but terrible
+to look on. One side of his body was tattooed almost black, the other
+retained its natural hue, his eyes were somewhat heavy, yet now and
+again lustrous with his thoughts. Long had he dreamed of being the
+possessor of Kualoa. It was his “Naboth’s Vineyard.” Here were ivory
+and whalebone enough to make him rich and envied. He had deemed the
+fool Kahahana sufficiently his creature and vassal not to gainsay him
+in such a matter as this. Now, wherefore should he not pronounce the
+word and send out the black _maika_-stone to the chiefs for war?
+
+But other and craftier counsels prevailed. Why go to the trouble of war
+if he could break the power of Oahu some easier way? Oahu was strong
+and formidable in battle array, thanks to the counsel of the priest
+Kaopulupulu. The issue of conflict on the field was by no means assured
+while he remained by Kahahana’s side. Kaopulupulu removed, the fruit
+of Oahu would fall from the tree into his hands. Were it not better
+to proceed craftily? Fortunately, he had in his court the younger
+brother of Kaopulupulu, whose jealousy of the high-priest of Oahu was
+notorious, and with him ere the day was done, had Kahekili speech and
+agreement.
+
+The days went by and Kahahana began to lose his uneasy mind. Kahekili
+had taken his rebuff much more readily than of wont, and there was no
+sign of hostile preparation or intent. Only Kaopulupulu persisted in
+urging the king to beware and remain ready for a visit from Kahekili’s
+flotilla of canoes at any hour of the day or night.
+
+One day, nearly two weeks from the time the cession of Kualoa had been
+rejected, he was on his way to the royal _lanai_ to urge a doubling of
+the coast watch, when, greatly to his surprise, as he went in to stand
+before the king, there went out Nanoa, his brother, who had come with
+messages from Kahekili. Kaopulupulu liked not the look which Nanoa cast
+upon him as he passed, but shame withheld him from mistrusting so close
+a kinsman, and he replied heartily to the other’s formal salutation.
+But when he stood before the king, Kahahana looked blackly on him and
+gave him no such greeting as had been customary. Kaopulupulu misdoubted
+in his heart that some evil was afoot, and presently learned from the
+king that he was adjudged a traitor to Oahu. Had he not, so the charge
+ran, conspired to aid Kahekili to the overlordship of Oahu? But for the
+desire of the Maui king to be true to his old roofmate and kinsman by
+marriage, the treachery had remained unrevealed.
+
+Kaopulupulu remained awhile silent, sorrowful, and in bitter anger
+before the king. “I scorn,” he said, “to defend myself with words--I
+whose deeds ought to speak louder than the calumnies of Kahekili. Yet
+is he laboring to overcome with guile those whom he fears to meet with
+the war-spear. Beware of Kahekili, but if ye will heed me not, suffer
+me to depart with my only son to Waianae to till my fields. Time shall
+be the judge between us.”
+
+The king, who was scarce prepared as yet to take upon himself the
+risk of an arrest, did not withhold his permission, and presently
+Kaopulupulu might have been seen with bowed head, led by the hand
+of his only son, and followed at a little distance by his amazed
+retainers, wending his way slowly to Waianae. Hither he arrived just as
+the rising moon had kindled its beacon on the mountain-tops.
+
+That very night, in spite of his dejection, he tattooed himself and all
+his followers upon the knee, in token of loyalty to Kahahana.
+
+“_He eha nui no, he nui loa lakuu aloha!_”[A] said the faithful slaves
+as the sharp instrument of fish-bones pierced their skin.
+
+  [A] “Great is the pain, but greater still is our love.”
+
+“Soon, I foresee,” answered Kaopulupulu, “you will tattoo yourselves
+not for the living, but for the dead.” And all the household uttered
+their loud “_auwe_.”
+
+And now followed lamentable days for Oahu. The king, distrusted and
+distrustful, held few parleys with his chiefs: more and more careless
+grew the guards along the coast; fewer and fewer the appeals to the
+gods. In the _heiaus_ the shrines stood neglected. A few tattered
+shreds of clothing washed by the rain and bleached by the sun were all
+that was left of their once gaudy array of idols, while piles of broken
+calabashes and cocoanut shells, with rotten wreaths of flowers and
+putrid masses of meat, formed unsightly heaps in the sacred enclosures.
+Men’s hearts seemed to have gone to sleep and even the old warriors
+allowed their spears to rust, and to dream only of the past.
+
+Into the midst of this doleful time came the news that Kahekili was
+preparing to muster his canoes on the beach of Lahaina, but Kahahana,
+so far from allowing the tidings to reveal to his heart the craft
+of the Maui chief and his emissary, kept still within his bosom the
+poisoned shaft and muttered:
+
+“Kaopulupulu predicted this. Surely the priest is skillful to ensure
+the fulfillment of his own predictions.”
+
+So his anger waxed against the aged priest and he sent canoes with his
+_ilamoku_, or executioner, to Waianae. In his frenzy it seemed better
+to slay one who had been his friend than to sit still and await the
+oncoming of Kahekili.
+
+Kaopulupulu and his son were fishing along the shore when the boat hove
+in sight, and, as it were, by the afflatus of the gods, the priest knew
+that it was an errand of blood.
+
+“Farewell,” he said, “my son, blood of my blood. A little while we
+shall wander apart, but Lono will see and hear, and will not allow
+death to sever us long, since we are true kin!”
+
+Nevertheless, he went courteously to the landing-place to meet the men
+and asked them whence they had come. But they answered roughly and
+straightway seized the boy, who cried piteously for his life. Out into
+the canoe they bore him, and then hurled him headlong into the water
+between the boat and the reef. When he tried to swim they smote him on
+the head with the paddles and with clubs, till the waves were reddened
+with blood and the sharks scented their prey afar. Then upon the shore
+stood Kaopulupulu, his white hair streaming in the breeze, and cried
+aloud under the inspiration of the gods:
+
+“It is better to sleep in the sea, for from the sea comes the means of
+life.”
+
+Men mused much upon this saying in the aftertime, but understood it
+not till many years had flown. The enemies of Kaopulupulu said: “It
+is a proof of his conspiracy with Kahekili,” but all men afterwards
+interpreted it of the coming of Kamehameha, the overlord of the Eight
+Islands, from the sea.
+
+Kahahana was, however, not content with the death of the son, and when
+he had allowed Kaopulupulu some space for the torment of grief, he sent
+again the death-boat for the priest.
+
+So Kaopulupulu was brought, not all unwillingly, to Puulio, and there
+in the presence of the king for whom he would willingly have died to
+preserve him from the impending storm, he was slain by the club of the
+_ilamoku_. All men wept to see such sacrilege committed, as the old man
+stood up for his death-blow before the king. Once more the prophetic
+fire glowed in his eye-sockets, and once more he cried aloud so that
+all the assembly might hear:
+
+“Farewell, my lord, O king! Alas! that I should in my death foreshadow
+thine own. When the fatal club whirls behind thee, then shalt thou know
+the faith of Kaopulupulu to Oahu and to thee!” A moment after he fell
+face foremost and was dragged away with a hook to the temple.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Great is the commotion on the beach of Waikiki. The echoes of Diamond
+Head are rudely awakened with the shouts of warriors. The forces of
+Maui have swept over from Lahaina and have effected their landing
+almost without opposition from Kahahana. The Oahu forces, undisciplined
+and demoralized, are driven helter-skelter to the valleys, and Kahekili
+may solace himself ere long with Kualoa, and all Koolau to boot.
+
+Kahahana fled to the mountains around Ewa and here for nearly two years
+was hidden, fed and clothed by his compassionate subjects. Then, having
+learned how lovely it is to rely upon fidelity, such fidelity as he now
+knew to have been that of his slandered priest, Kaopulupulu, he learned
+in his turn also how bitter it is to be betrayed.
+
+His wife’s brother, Kehuamanoha, yielded up the secret of his
+hiding-place to Kahekili, and he was dragged by the order of the
+conqueror from Ewa to Waikiki, to stand in the presence of his crafty
+antagonist.
+
+Thus in all points Nemesis overtook him, and when he died a sacrifice
+to the gods at Waikiki, he cried out for the vengeful deities to wash
+out in his blood the wretchedness of his unfaithfulness and allow him
+to meet the manes of Kaopulupulu in peace.
+
+But a man’s folly, so far as its consequences are concerned, does not
+end with repentance, and heavily did Kahekili lay his yoke upon Oahu.
+Men, women and children were butchered, the streams were piled high
+with the dead, and ran scarlet to the sea, and one of the Maui chiefs
+built a house at Lapakea with the bones of the slain.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+KEALA
+
+
+The man-eating _mu_ was in the street.
+
+This accounted for the silence in the village. No one was in sight when
+the two chiefs, Kakaua and Kapahala, met.
+
+“Ha, Kakaua, hearest thou the news? Kahekili is dead!”
+
+“_Auwe!_ dark the day of Maui! There will be pickings for crows, now
+the eagle is gone! Methinks the ‘Lonely One’ in Kohala will soon be
+looking this way again.”
+
+“Ay, said not Kahekili to him: ‘When the black _kapa_ covers me, then
+shalt thou be the _maika_-stone sweeping from Hawaii to Niihau’?”
+
+“What say Kaeo and Kalanikapule?”
+
+“Nay, I know not. When I left the royal enclosure they were wailing
+and knocking out their teeth, and between whiles they discussed the
+disposal of Kahekili’s bones.”
+
+“Ah, Kalani had best grind them to powder and mix them with _poi_ for
+the eating of the chiefs. They will need all the strength of Kahekili’s
+heart to stand up against the lord of Halawa.”
+
+“Yea,” said a newcomer, “and methinks, Kakaua, you need to eat his
+liver, for I hear the man-eating _mu_ is in the street, seeking some
+victim to please the gods and the dead chief therewith. The _mu_, who
+is, you may know, none other than Ahi, the priest, has a special love
+for you, Kakaua! Is it not so? _Aloha!_ I go a-fishing.”
+
+Kakaua turned white under his dusky skin, and apparently concluded to
+go fishing, too, for when an hour later the priest Ahi came to make a
+call of honor--having destined Kakaua for the sacrifice which was to
+appease the manes of the dead king--the intended victim was not to be
+found, nor was his canoe.
+
+This looked bad, for the surf was thundering upon the reef as though
+the shark god himself had come to attend the obsequies of Kahekili, and
+Laamaomao in his train--a big leak in his calabash, from whence poured
+forth angry gusts of wind along the shore.
+
+Meanwhile Ahi, acting the part of that unpopular functionary, the
+_mu-ai-kanaka_, was parading the empty streets with horrible yells and
+contortions of the body. In one hand he held a club with which to fell
+his victim from behind, in the other a hook with which to drag the body
+to the _heiau_. He was very angry, for he had calculated by this time
+to have had the hook in the flesh of Kakaua, against whom he bore a
+special grudge.
+
+The history, as is so often the case, concerned a maiden.
+
+Sweet Keala! ill was it for thy peace that thou wast beautiful as the
+_lehua_ which is wooed by the _olokele_ in the morning sun, and ill was
+it for Ahi and Kakaua that they, the one or the other, agreed not to
+give thee up and seek another maiden, whereof there were many in the
+Eight Islands!
+
+Ahi was a priest and cruel, and Keala loved him not, loved neither
+himself nor his vocation; but Kakaua she loved because he was a
+warrior, straight as a palm-tree and smiling as the dawn. This was not
+pleasant knowledge to Ahi, and he had loved the idea of personating the
+man-eating _mu_, because he might thereby rid himself of his rival,
+and, Kakaua away--why, surely Keala would love him.
+
+And now Kakaua was away--if not consumed upon the altar of the gods,
+assuredly eaten by the sharks outside the reef, for the surf which
+boomed upon the coral rocks had cruel white teeth which must have
+devoured any canoe out that night. Ahi protested to Keala that, beyond
+all doubt, Kakaua had gone down to the realm of Milu to eat lizards
+and butterflies and recline under ghostly trees--nevermore to revisit
+the upper air. But, somehow, such is the obstinacy of womankind, Keala
+loved Ahi none the more, and Kakaua none the less. Moreover, she told
+the priest to his face she would rather be the bride of the sharks than
+share his loathsome couch.
+
+In his heart, however, Ahi was by no means so sure of the death of
+Kakaua, and oftentimes at night he would build a fireplace on the
+hearth of his hut, plant _kapa_-sticks at the corners and make a fire
+by rubbing the firestick, _aulima_, on a twig of _akia_ and endeavor to
+send out his soul through the smoke, to discover the whereabouts of the
+man whom he feared absent even more than present.
+
+But his visions for many nights were vague--rolling seas, surf-beaten
+shores, groves of palms, slopes of lava, concourses of men, troops
+preparing for battle, but no Kakaua. Each night his soul came back to
+his body fruitlessly wearied.
+
+His disappointment he revenged upon the girl whom he hoped to win. Day
+by day he persecuted her with his advances, and day by day she repelled
+him with the bitterest scorn. All the power of the gods he denounced
+against her faithful obstinacy, but Keala refused to believe that the
+_akua_ were hostile to human constancy, and bore the revilings of the
+priest in patience.
+
+But it was hard to live in the Hawaii of olden time the enemy of the
+priests. The high chief Hua had ventured to oppose them, and of him it
+was said in proverbs: “Rattling are the bones of Hua in the sun.” Is
+it, then, to be wondered at that, week by week, the situation of Keala
+became more perilous? Till one day, after Ahi had been most violent
+in his protestations of love, and Keala most bitter in her repulse,
+the struggle ceased with the slaughter of the maiden--on a charge,
+supported by false witnesses, of having broken the _kapu_ and eaten of
+the forbidden food. Like a meek lamb, and amid the tears of the people,
+Keala was slain before the altar of the _heiau_, but with her dying
+voice she appealed to the only goddess whose power she knew--Pele, the
+mistress of the great volcano whose lava-floods ravaged the coasts of
+Hawaii. Pele was a fickle deity, she knew, but surely she would avenge
+the wrongs of her sex. So Keala died, faithful to Kakaua. Yet Ahi was
+not happy. The people hated him, and his own heart was not at peace.
+
+More zealous than ever in his priestly duties, he made daily offerings
+to propitiate the volcano goddess, for he feared the prayer of the
+dying maiden, and as the rumor of his subornation grew he feared even
+more the living arm of Kakaua, to be assured of whose death he would
+have given half his wealth. Again and again he projected his spirit
+into space, to search for his former rival, and each time he grew
+certain that Kakaua was alive and not dead.
+
+But one night, no sooner had he made his fire, prepared and drunk his
+_awa_, chanted his fire-prayer and called upon the terrible name of
+Uli, than he felt his soul go out through the smoke, like an invisible
+bird, over the sand plains and over the sea, till he came to a dark
+mountain mass rising far above the clouds. Here he once more felt
+himself touch the ground and able to look about him. Down below through
+the driving mists he could see the gray shore-line and the white reef.
+The locality seemed familiar to him, though he recalled not its name.
+Up above was the mountain sparsely covered with _ohelo_ and with clouds
+of sulphurous smoke rolling from its summit. Now he suspected his
+whereabouts, and when he glanced a second time along the road he was
+certain. The green water below was the bay of Hilo, the mountain was
+the terrible Kilauea, where in Halemaumau, the house of everlasting
+fire, the goddess Pele was wont to ride the red surges with her sisters
+and tilt with lances of flaming lava. The road was the mountain-path
+from Waiakea to Kapapala, and up the road, as the spirit of Ahi gazed
+at the well-known landmarks, a strangely familiar figure was making
+its way. A foretaste of malicious joy thrilled the disembodied spirit
+and he hurriedly gained the path which the toiling wayfarer must take.
+Right in the middle of the road he made the magic sign known only to
+the _kahunas_, uttered the imprecation of Uli, and then, although
+conscious that he was only a ghost, and invisible, withdrew to a cave
+near by to watch the working of his wizardry.
+
+Scarcely had he reached his place of concealment when he felt a strange
+trembling of the earth, and a moment later, gazing out, he beheld a
+sight which made him, spirit though he was, shiver like a leaf. The
+traveler had almost reached the spellbound square when from the top of
+the mountain there appeared the head of a tide of lava like a river
+of molten lead, and on the lurid crest, as though riding upon the
+surf-board, was the dreaded goddess of the crater. The tide of flame
+was making its way straight along the channel of the road, and Ahi saw
+with relief it would sweep by him and leave him untouched. And when the
+traveler lifted his face in terror toward the oncoming death, Ahi was
+happy at last, for the face was indeed the face of Kakaua. The spell
+was working. His old enemy was doomed, and by the very power to whom
+Keala had made her supplication.
+
+But Ahi’s joy was short-lived and gave way to convulsive rage when he
+looked again. For the terror had fled from Kakaua’s face and in its
+stead was joy, and the priest following the eyes of the doomed man
+looked upon the countenance of Pele, and lo! it was Pele no longer,
+but Keala. And the man stretched out his arms in ecstasy for the
+embrace of the goddess. Yes, Pele had, after all, hearkened to Keala’s
+prayer.
+
+Darkness came over the frustrate ghost, and presently from the smoke
+of his own hearth Ahi’s spirit went out unbidden and stood in the
+halls of the underworld, the abode of Milu. A great paradise stretched
+out before the portals of the gloomy prison-house. There were waters
+fresher and palms greener than those of Waipio, and down the mossy
+rocks trickled the sparkling drops which made the stream, as though the
+tears of lovers shed on earth were here distilling into the river of
+the water of life. Delicious perfumes and the song of innumerable birds
+filled the air.
+
+But all this gave no pleasure to the soul of Ahi, who made fruitless
+efforts not to see, when before him glided the happy shades of Kakaua
+and Keala in joyous converse, and he cursed Uli and Kiiaka and all his
+gods when they looked upon him and said:
+
+“Thanks, Ahi, through thee we are alive, for we love, and thou, alas!
+art dead!”
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Ahi awoke and the ashes upon his hearth were dead and cold.
+
+As for Ahi himself, his hair was white and his limbs palsied. He knew
+that the words of Kakaua and Keala were true, and that the gods had
+written down his name as dead. His heart within his breast was like
+stone, and his life was gone from him like smoke. He lived thus many
+years, but he gave no more offerings to Pele, for he said: “Verily, the
+fires of Pele turn to sunshine, and the spells of the _kahuna_ are vain
+before such love as that of Kakaua and Keala.”
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+PELE DECLARES FOR KAMEHAMEHA
+
+
+The ancient kings of Hawaii showed their wisdom and their appreciation
+of the beautiful when they chose Waipio for a royal residence. There
+was no other spot in the Eight Islands so blessed by nature, prodigal
+as she was of her gifts from Niihau to Hawaii. A romantic valley
+nearly a mile wide at the seaward entrance, enclosed on the other
+sides by nearly perpendicular hills, clothed with grass, creepers and
+shrubs--such was Waipio. Winding paths led upwards amid the jutting
+rocks and threadlike cascades descending almost at one leap, forming
+the stream below which flowed deviously among the sand-hills to the sea.
+
+At one time, says an old legend, the stream was more sluggish than now,
+but a great fish which lived off the Hamakua coast found the supply of
+fresh water too scanty for his need and appealed to Kane for more. In
+consequence, fresh springs were created, the bed of the river tilted up
+and the requisite increase of water obligingly supplied. The great fish
+is there no longer; but, if so disposed, you may still see the finger
+marks of Kane on the huge stones which he hurled into the river to
+raise its bed.
+
+A hundred and eighteen years ago Waipio was still the loveliest spot
+in the Paradise of the Pacific. Here the palms were tallest, the
+foliage greenest, the blossoms brightest, the water coolest. And in
+recognition of this fact many were the folk who here made their abode.
+Along the foot of the mountains and extending up the valley as far as
+the eye could reach were little groups of grass huts looking almost
+as natural as the trees and mountains. Nearer the sea was part of the
+patrimony of Kamehameha, and many were the evidences of the labors
+in which the great chief, like a modern Cincinnatus, had indulged in
+the intervals of fighting his many foes. Here were the fish ponds,
+here the taro-patches, here even attempts at the construction of an
+aqueduct--attempts rendered, however, futile by the lack of adequate
+tools.
+
+At the time of which we speak Kamehameha was at home, but nevertheless
+not bent upon peaceful pursuits. This was at once evident from a glance
+at the coral beach. Gigantic war canoes painted and pennoned lay along
+the sand mile after mile. A great double pirogue, containing mounted
+cannon and chests of firearms, was evidently the king’s own special
+craft. There were, however, several more or less seaworthy schooners of
+American build in the royal fleet.
+
+In these Kamehameha and his army had come hurriedly back from Molokai,
+whither he had gone after his great victory in Maui. The battle in the
+Iao valley, known as the “damming of the waters,” had rendered him, for
+the time being, master of Maui, and, after sending one ambassador to
+Kauai to look out a powerful wizard and another to Oahu to interview
+Kahekili, he had gone himself to Molokai to secure influence over
+the high chiefess Kalola, her daughter Liliha and her granddaughter
+Keopuolani. With these on his side, or under his protection, Kamehameha
+knew he could appeal with every hope of success to the aristocratic
+instincts of the people.
+
+But suddenly, almost from the blue sky, a thunderbolt had fallen into
+the midst of his plans. A messenger landed one morning with the news
+that Keoua in Hawaii had attacked and slain Keawemauhili in a battle
+near Hilo, had overrun and annexed his dominions in Puna and Kau, and
+had forthwith invaded the territories of Kamehameha in Hamakua, Waipio,
+and Waimea, destroying fish ponds and potato fields, and committing all
+kinds of barbarities.
+
+Such news was an imperative summons to Kamehameha to return at once to
+Hawaii, and this he had done with his usual celerity. Keoua, taken by
+surprise, retreated to Paauhau in Hamakua and there awaited attack. Two
+bloody battles were fought, but neither side gained much advantage,
+and, while Keoua fell back on Hilo, Kamehameha withdrew to Waipio,
+where we now behold him, in November, 1790, getting ready for the final
+struggle.
+
+Little groups of chiefs and warriors are sitting on the beach,
+polishing their weapons and talking of the prospects of the campaign.
+
+“Kamehameha has been playing with Keoua so far,” said an old grizzled
+warrior, scarred with the wounds of twenty battles. “When he begins to
+fight real battles, he will win.”
+
+“He has the favor of the gods,” said another; “he should soon make an
+end of rebellion.”
+
+“Ay,” added a third, “what chief in Hawaii aforetime has been at once
+the guardian of Kaili, the war god, and the possessor of Kalaipahoa,
+the poison goddess?”
+
+“And,” said Kamanawa, “the owner of the magic conch, Kiha-pu!”
+
+“And has had the help of the white men,” interposed Kaiana, proud of
+his friendship with the _haole_ captains, with whom he made a visit to
+China. “See what havoc the red-mouthed guns made in Kepaniwai!”
+
+“Yea,” resumed Keeaumoku, “the ‘Lonely One’ must succeed. Years ago,
+when I withdrew from the battlefield because I knew no leader whose
+battle-shout stirred my blood, the old prophet Keaulumoku came across
+the hills from Lahaina to my dwelling and chanted me the events which
+were to come. That was years ago, but I wait in patience.”
+
+“One thing Kamehameha lacks,” said a chief who had hitherto remained
+silent--and as he spake the others lifted their faces in expectant
+surprise--“one thing the lord of Kohala lacks. Marked you not the other
+night how, while we slept, there came a tremor of the earth which waked
+us all and brought cold blood to our hearts? If that same goddess who
+thus changed sleep into fear would come to the help of our chief, Keoua
+would not long remain in the upper air. Pele is stronger than the white
+man’s fire-breathing guns! But, behold! yonder comes the _lunapai_,
+and with him a goodly number of recruits for the war. Let us go and
+hear his news.”
+
+As though the speaker’s thought were the thought of the whole camp,
+there was a simultaneous movement towards the _lanai_, whither the
+messenger had directed his steps. The excitement grew when it was seen
+that the _lunapai_ had news. He had gone well nigh round the island,
+three hundred miles in nine days, and had met with signal success.
+There had been no need of the _uluku_ to slit the ears of the recruits
+and drag them reluctant to the war. Goodly young men had joined him
+at every village, and Kamehameha’s ranks were swelled by a daily
+increasing army of those who had heard of his exploits in Maui and how
+he had at last avenged the slaughter on the sand-hills fifteen years
+before.
+
+But the man had evidently something else to relate besides his success
+as a _lunapai_ and, refusing to eat or drink until he told his tale, he
+only waited until Kamehameha, who had just come in from fishing, had
+taken his place on a couch of _pulu_ and then began:
+
+“O king, verily a mightier _lunapai_ than Pakahala has gone through
+the island. Hearken, chiefs, and fear the gods! Hearken, warriors, and
+follow your lord, the beloved of heaven, to sure and happy victory!”
+
+The chiefs and spearmen gathered round at once and a great silence was
+made. Then the orator resumed:
+
+“Keoua assembled his warriors and set out for Kau. They marched, a
+great host lusting for the noise of battle, along the road which leads
+by the abode of Pele, the death-dealing Kilauea. Heedless of the power
+of the goddess, they rolled stones into the crater, unmindful of the
+sacrilege.
+
+“But Pele was not pleased with their amusement, neither liked she to
+receive rocks instead of _ohelo_-berries. And when the men slept, she
+awakened in her anger and threw out the stones they had thrown in,
+with flame and cinders, to a great distance. Then were Keoua’s men
+afraid and in vain tried to soothe the goddess. But she refused to be
+appeased, and all through that day and the second and the third the
+earth shook and the fire leaped from the mountain, and the ashes rained
+down upon the host.
+
+“Then on the third night Keoua spake and said: ‘Why stay we here to be
+consumed of Pele? Let us advance.’ So they advanced in three companies.
+The first company moved on over the mountain, and, verily, as they went
+they died a thousand deaths.
+
+“For the earth rocked beneath their feet and darkness came forth from
+the crater which entered into their souls, and the thunder made their
+hearts quake, and the lightnings burned up many among them. From the
+pit beside them the fire glared red and blue and yellow, as though all
+the sisters and cousins of Pele were holding revel and mocking their
+victims. Scarce could they breathe, but they hastened on and gained at
+last the free air.
+
+“After these marched the second company and, a little later, the third.
+These felt the earthquake and the showers of sand, but lost no men in
+the darkness and storm. As they pressed on, hoping soon to overtake
+their fellows, they rejoiced and each bade the other be of good cheer,
+since they had escaped the fury of the goddess.
+
+“But, ere they had gone a hundred paces further, they saw a sight which
+moved their hearts with such a fear as comes to man but once in life.
+What was that crowd of warriors doing yonder, sitting silent on the
+earth? Were they asleep or turned to stone? There was the whole central
+band of the army, silent and still; some sat upright, some were lying
+down, some even yet embracing their wives and children, some joining
+noses, as taking leave one of another. And all was ghastly and still.
+Every heart was chilled with the cold shadow of death.
+
+“Nevertheless, scarce could they believe the truth until they
+approached and touched and shook them. Then they knew that suddenly, as
+in a moment, the third part of Keoua’s army had been breathed upon by
+Pele, and the life had fled from them like vapor before the fire. But
+one living thing was there. It was a hog rooting among the trees, and
+the men were afraid, believing it to be Kamapuaa, the man-pig, spouse
+of the goddess. So they did not dare to stay to raise the wail of
+mourners. They hurried on and, after much time, reached the band which
+first crossed the mountain. From these, O king, I heard the story, and
+thither I am come to proclaim that the queen of Halemaumau has declared
+herself on our part. Verily, Pele has accepted thee for a son and will
+bring thee to the lordship of Hawaii!”
+
+The concourse scarce awaited the orator’s peroration. A mighty shout
+arose from the host, and with one voice they cried: “_E Kamehameha!_
+Praise we the goddess of fire, gracious to us and to our lord.”
+
+Kamehameha arose. He had thrown his cloak over his shoulders, donned
+his feather-helmet and grasped his terrible spear. Head and shoulders
+he appeared above every man in the assembly, and as he spake his form
+seemed to swell and his voice increase in power, as though the afflatus
+of the gods possessed him. Then he cried, and men in the canoes far out
+to sea heard his voice:
+
+“Great is the favor of Pele! Now, chiefs and warriors of Hawaii, the
+time is come. On with the building of the great _heiau_! On with
+Puukohola! Make the altar ready for the body of the victim, even for
+Keoua. A few more days and Keliimaikai shall present Kaili the blood
+for which he thirsts. Keoua’s death-day draws nigh and the day of
+victory. Praise to Pele, dwelling in the vaults of eternal fire, the
+friend and guardian of Kamehameha, your king.”
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE CITY OF REFUGE
+
+_A Tale of Oahu_
+
+
+“All day long the noise of battle roll’d.”
+
+But it was night now, and there was silence on the battlefield. As
+the moon rose, its long shafts of light quivered across the lagoons
+which stretched between Moanalua and Waianae, and silvered the coral
+beach of Ewa, so that the dark heaps of corpses stood out with weird
+distinctness.
+
+The treachery of Kalanikapule had been crowned with success--a
+success which in the aftertimes proved ruinous enough, since the
+folly of Kahekili’s heirs was preparing the way for the supremacy
+of Kamehameha--and Kaeo was dead. The brave invader from Maui had
+accepted war with a light heart, since it brought him immunity from the
+plottings of his chiefs, and might even have repelled the wanton attack
+of his brother, had it not been for the guns and ships of the white man.
+
+But, as it was, he found himself in a trap. “Better to die in battle,”
+he said, “many will be the companions in death,” and so fought to the
+last, and died.
+
+Yes, indeed! many _had_ been the “companions in death”--not only among
+the yellow-cloaked _aliis_ who had hurled their spears in vain against
+the “red-mouthed” guns, but even among the women, who, following at
+first to supply the warriors with food and drink from their calabashes,
+stood at last, side by side, with their husbands to aid them, and fell
+across their corpses.
+
+It was thus that Liliha had stood by and fallen with her husband
+Kahulu; but, in the moonlight, who was to distinguish hero from hero?
+Their souls had gone down into the dark halls of Milu, their bodies
+were objects of attention to the foul night-birds which flapped their
+dusky wings with joy and scarce had leisure to break the silence with a
+scream as they gorged themselves on the red fruit of fraternal discord.
+
+There was apparently no one to disturb the horrid feast, but suddenly
+a little cry came from one of the hills of slain which sent the whole
+black brood whirring across to another part of the battlefield. A bird
+had been pecking at the eyes of the slain and had aroused, by the
+smart, some unconscious one back to life.
+
+The cry was faint enough, but presently from the gory hillock whence
+it came, there might have been seen a form of a woman painfully
+disengaging herself from the surrounding dead. One corpse she sought,
+but could not find, or she had been content to clasp it and send forth
+her soul to seek its soul in the nether world. So with a little cry,
+which might have been the expression of disappointment or of hope,
+Liliha, daughter of the high-priest of Kauai and wife of Kaulu (for so
+you might have recognized her as the traveling lamp of night sent its
+cold rays across her beautiful face), slipped, with a shudder, from her
+gruesome bedfellows, and laboriously sought the shore. The little waves
+were sleepily plashing on the coral beach, toying with the dripping
+branches and blossoms of the overhanging _hau_. Here was an invitation
+if not to life, at least to death, which latter Liliha felt was almost,
+if not quite, as good.
+
+But when the water flowed around her limbs she felt suddenly strong and
+instinctively swam out into the silver waters of the lagoon. The waves
+bathed her wounds and cooled her fevered brow, and there seemed above
+her the spirit-wings of Hope whom even Hawaiian mythology recognized
+and worshipped. She struck out for the Aiea shore, where she hoped to
+find refuge among her kin until the wrath of Kalanikapule should be
+overpast.
+
+But, as she went on, the wounds bled again, some hungry shark was
+surely behind her scenting the blood, and, when at length she cast her
+body, bruised and bleeding, upon the beach, she no longer hoped for
+life, but for a cave in which to die.
+
+At the entrance of the Halawa valley was a thicket almost concealing
+the mouth of the pass. A tangle of _ieie_ had overgrown the shrubs and
+trees, so that to right or left of the white boulders, over which in
+freshet-times the torrents passed from the mountains to the sea, there
+was just the place where a hunted fugitive might hide or a wounded
+animal might die.
+
+Here Liliha lay on the _pulu_, never so luxuriously soft as now. (We
+may appreciate the instinct which leads the Hawaiians to-day to pad
+their coffins with it.) But the valley of Halawa was not to be Liliha’s
+coffin. Her swoon of the battlefield was but repeated, and when she
+awoke there was near her the sound of many men all talking together
+around a fire whose glow penetrated her hiding-place. They were mixing
+_awa_; the bowl was in their midst, and they were busy chewing the
+narcotic root and steeping the masticated morsels in the bowl. They had
+evidently shared in the recent fight, for they had their weapons with
+them, and, as the firelight shone upon their breasts, Liliha saw that
+the ivory _palaoa_ of several had been stained with blood.
+
+But presently a groan startled the awakened woman. It came from an
+inert bundle just beyond the fireglow. The warriors turned their heads.
+They were in a merry mood. Victory had crowned their arms, and an _awa_
+orgy was in sight. Hence they only chuckled and said:
+
+“_E Kahulu!_ but you shall soon drink _awa_ with Milu! Kaeo will have
+some boon companions down there in the dark. There is twitching of
+the eyes in the house of Kahulu to-day, or verily the _akua_ are all
+asleep.”
+
+The object of their mockery answered not, but turned over to nurse his
+thoughts in silence. As his face for one instant caught the light, the
+woman in the thicket knew him and--decided to live.
+
+Meanwhile the _awa_-brewing went on, and presently came the
+_awa_-drinking. For an hour the merriment grew and then for an hour it
+declined, till one form after another, with a sidelong glance at the
+helpless prisoner, yielded to the seductive narcotic and slept--a sleep
+not pleasant to look on, for the bodies of the men turned uneasily and
+writhed as in pain.
+
+But one slept not. He had had no _awa_, and bitter thoughts keep him
+wakeful. Death was certain. All the omens proved it. Was not even
+now that low cooing sound the voice of the _alae_, the waterfowl,
+whose call was always the harbinger of death? He raised his head to
+listen, and then he doubted. Had he been in his native woods in Kauai
+that low cry would have brought him to Liliha’s arms. How often had
+she thus greeted him as she came back from beating the _kapa_ in the
+pools. Alas! nevermore should he see her on this beautiful earth, but,
+perchance, when the ordeal of the sacrificial oven was passed----
+
+Ah! that _coo-ee_, softly repeated and so near him! He had never
+thought of Milu--the Hawaiian Pluto--as a benign deity, but now he
+breathed a thanksgiving to the grim _akua_ that he had permitted the
+shade of Liliha to come back from the dead. They would keep together,
+and soon enter the underworld together, and then--who shall separate?
+
+But was it a ghost who cut the thongs which bound him? Was it a ghost
+who, finger on lip, led him stealthily over the prostrate bodies of the
+guards, and placed his feet on the downward path? He dared not stop
+to reflect. His brain whirled. But no sooner were they side by side
+and hand in hand on the dark plain together than they sped fleetly as
+though they knew no wound nor fatigue. One thought buoyed them up, one
+word passed between them, as they gazed half-frightened at each other
+for one moment. It was the word “_Puuhonua_”--the city of refuge--a
+word which called up to view an open gate, and white-robed priests with
+branches of _maile_ who would bid them enter into peace in the name of
+the gods.
+
+Oh! how long the way was! How dark the road! Never had the sun been so
+slow rising from its watery bed to look forth once more upon the world
+from behind the barred cage made by the trunks of the cocoanut palms
+along the shore!
+
+Light at last--and lo! in the distance before them the long line of
+stockaded wall, with the guarded gates, and the white flags floating at
+either end from the lofty spear points. The grim idols along the wall
+seemed to smile and mock alternately. To smile, as the distance to the
+gate grew less, to mock, as behind them rose the ferocious yell which
+proclaimed that the _awa_-drinkers had not long overslept their watch.
+The same sun which made shine so fair the walls of the city of refuge
+glinted upon the spears and feather helmets of the pursuers.
+
+Liliha and Kahulu ran like hunted hares, but Nature has her limits.
+They had done miracles, but even miracles have their laws, and stern
+Nature would yield no more. They stood between the priests and the
+pursuers; they saw life before them and death behind them--alas!
+ineluctable. Then they looked into one another’s faces and saw
+something stronger than death and better than life itself. So they
+fell vanquished upon the sand. But as Kahulu fell, he knew a dear,
+pale face--no ghost--a face scarred with wounds, looking at him with
+radiant, starlike eyes and--was content.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A company stood before the victorious Kalanikapule. The chief was
+reclining upon a heap of ferns, with a crowd of runners, diviners,
+priests, _hula_-dancers, and _kahili_-bearers around him. The eyes of
+all, however, were fixed upon two bruised and bleeding forms which
+made the center of the company before the king. The chiefs, with their
+spears and gorgeous feather capes, the priests with their red cloaks
+and white wands were vigorously declaiming before the king. They seemed
+unanimous as they clamored for the death of Kahulu.
+
+“O Kalanikapule,” cried the chiefs, “we have brought hither the rebel
+to die. His head is forfeit to the king, and the gods desire to drink
+his blood. We took him--the slayer of our brethren--the right hand
+of Kaeo--we took him in the battle. We bound him fast, foot to foot,
+hand to hand, his neck between his knees, and we were bearing him to
+your feet. But while we rested, for it was night, and we were in the
+mountains, came this woman, who assuredly fought by his side in the
+battle and died before our eyes--came this woman, we say, even as
+from the dead, and loosed his bands and helped him to escape from our
+hands. Verily, had not thy servants been keen-sighted as the hawk,
+and very wakeful, they--the guilty ones--had reached the _puuhonua_,
+and had now been in peace. But, O king, be this remembered to our
+good: thy servants were swifter than the fleet dogs of the _haole_
+and outstripped the rebels, that Kaili and all the gods may become
+pleasant towards thee, when they see the flesh of men smoking on their
+altars in the _heiau_.”
+
+And the priests added to the voice of the chiefs: “_Ai!_ we have
+sharpened the _pahoa_ and heated the oven for Kahulu. He did not reach
+the _puuhonua_, but fell before the very threshold--such was the will
+of the gods! Therefore he must die! Is it not death for the defeated
+one who reaches not the city of refuge?”
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Then the king--with a light playing across his features such as no man
+had seen before--answered and said:
+
+“Set Kahulu free! Verily, he reached the _puuhonua_, for there is no
+city of refuge like that of a woman’s love.”
+
+And the priests and the chiefs stood silent, but the people shouted
+greatly at the decree of Kalanikapule.
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+SWEET LEILEHUA
+
+
+What the rose is to England and the lily to France is the _Lehua_ to
+Hawaii _nei_. When the maidens lying on the beach of coral sand or
+beneath the _lauhala_ palms touch their guitars and sing the _meles_ of
+times gone by, it is of “Sweet Leilehua” that they sing. And when they
+would inspire departing visitors with happy memories of the mid-ocean
+Paradise they twine around their necks the fragrant wreaths of _maile_
+and _lehua_.
+
+And the beautiful flower well deserves its place as the emblem of
+Hawaii. Almost all over the country, anywhere between fifteen hundred
+and six thousand feet above sea-level, you may see its scarlet blossoms
+flashing in the sun. Here it is slender and graceful, like the island
+maidens, a shrub some fifteen feet high; there a tree of a hundred
+feet, strong and tall, like the island men. Men say that the higher
+up the trees grow the finer are the blossoms, and certainly where the
+white man’s foot has trodden least the _lehua_ seems most at home.
+
+“Sweet Leilehua” has a lover who is as the nightingale to the rose--the
+_olokele_, a bright little scarlet bird, whose life’s happiness it is
+to drink honey from the scarlet flower. You can scarcely distinguish
+bird from blossom. The tree seems alive with flashing wings.
+
+But, alas! civilization has doomed the _olokele_, and perhaps the
+_lehua_. Is it true, also, that their human counterparts in the youth
+and maidenhood of Hawaii are going, too?
+
+The following tale of Leilehua and Hakuole is a tale of over a hundred
+years ago. Still the maidens sing it, still men remember it; but where
+now is there an _olokele_ so bold in his love for the _lehua_ as was
+Hakuole, the chief of Oahu?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Hakuole stood on Leahi gazing earnestly seawards or turning his eyes
+occasionally to the left, in the direction of Koko Head and Makapuu.
+The sun never shone upon a fairer scene than that upon which he looked.
+Down below lay the glistening white beach of Waikiki, fringed a few
+yards from the water with dense thickets of _hau_ trees, whose short,
+crooked trunks, glossy leaves and showy yellow flowers were a welcome
+relief to the eye from the coral sand. In the blue-green waters which
+stretched out to the horizon there was only the break of the white
+reef on which the Pacific waves rolled with thunderous noise, and here
+and there a fishing boat in which the fishers sat silent with uplifted
+spear. Leahi, on which the chieftain stood, rose like a crouching lion
+from the seashore, its lava slopes almost bare of vegetation save for
+a few straggling indigo bushes, while in the crater behind Hakuole was
+a large swamp surrounded by rushes and patched here and there with the
+white wings of flocking sea-birds.
+
+The chief was in the very prime of youth, and his figure showed to
+advantage on the rocky promontory against the sky. He had upon his
+head the usual helmet of yellow feathers, on his shoulders a small
+feather cloak, and the rest of his dress was of dark brown _kapa_.
+He had a necklace of shells and shark’s teeth round his neck and a
+heavy spear of _Kauila_ wood in his hand. It was easy to see by his
+erect and martial bearing that he was an _alii_, whose pedigree was
+uncontaminated by mixture with the common people, and his training had
+been the training of a warrior.
+
+And warriors were needed now, for the great Kamehameha was on his
+way from Apani to attempt the conquest of Oahu, and so complete the
+subjugation of the Eight Islands. Hawaii was his from Kalae to Upolo.
+Maui had in vain gathered its warriors to meet him. And now the news
+had come that Kamehameha was on his way to Oahu. He had embarked with
+the veterans of his army and the fleet of war canoes was fast lessening
+the distance between him and his last great rival, Kalanikapule.
+
+Meanwhile Kalanikapule was not to be caught napping. The flower of
+his army was assembled on the south side of the island: watchmen were
+stationed on Makapuu, Koko Head and Leahi, and for the last two nights
+the waves had been illumined by a constant burning of _papala_ sticks.
+But so far no sign of the war prows of the great _alii_ had been
+discovered.
+
+Hakuole at his lonely post wished they would appear, to terminate the
+awful suspense. With eyes still turned seaward he flung himself down
+wearily on the ground in the shade of a dark-foliaged _milo_, whose
+quivering aspen-like leaves seemed, like his own heart, apprehensive of
+the trouble to come. He was in love; he longed to declare his passion,
+to lead his bride to the house he had prepared for her. But what could
+he do? This horrible conflict was impending, and who could say what
+would be the result? Kamehameha, the unconquered Kamehameha, was at
+hand: a bloody battle would be fought. Who would win? Who was even sure
+of surviving?
+
+In this dismal strain ran his thoughts, when suddenly the bushes behind
+him parted and a face peered through, timidly advancing and then
+retreating amid the leaves. It was a beautiful face--with great, soft
+brown eyes gleaming like evening stars from the dusky olive skin, a
+face surrounded by thick masses of wavy hair of raven blackness, a face
+full of warm blood and passionate life. It belonged to no other than
+Leilehua.
+
+Sweet Leilehua!--who among the maidens of Oahu was more loved than she,
+the daughter of the great _kahuna_, the priest of Lono?
+
+When the maidens sat by the streams and beat out the _kapa_ with their
+mallets on the broad, flat boulders, whose song was merrier than hers?
+Or who was obeyed so devotedly by all? If Hakuole’s love was returned,
+happy was he among men; but if Leilehua thought not of him, there was
+no other maiden in the land who could solace him for her loss.
+
+Hakuole turned, and his face changed when he saw her. As the sun, when
+it shines opposite the mists of Pauoa, spans the valleys with double
+rainbows, so the face of Leilehua brought brightness to the darkness
+of Hakuole’s brow. He was again the chieftain in the pride of his
+manhood, the bravest, the strongest of the young _aliis_. Raising
+himself and stretching out his eager arms towards the maiden, he cried:
+“Leilehua, my Leilehua, my beautiful scarlet flower!” But even as he
+spoke the graceful form vanished, dropping at his feet a wreath of
+brilliant _lehua_.
+
+Had he been too impetuous and frightened her away? Had she dropped the
+_lei_ in her haste? Or had she designedly left it for him? He would
+follow her and see; but his face was no longer troubled, for he had
+felt the light of Leilehua’s eyes, and he knew she loved him. He had
+her sweet floral namesake on his neck; he was strong as Kamehameha
+himself; he would conquer now and live for love.
+
+But for the present he would follow her, or would she escape him?
+
+“_E ala, e ala, e ala-a-a-a----_”
+
+Loud and shrill came the voice of the lonely watcher far to his left,
+and then shriller still, like the harsh shriek of sea-birds, followed
+blasts from the conch-shell trumpets which woke all the echoes of the
+dead old crater, and sent the gulls clangorous and protesting from
+their marshy resting-place to fill the air, hitherto so still, with
+noise and motion. And as the upper element was thus suddenly awakened
+into life, so the waves below became, almost in another moment, ridged
+with foam in a hundred places. Where the sunbeams had slept placidly
+on an unbroken surface of azure, they were now reflected hither and
+thither by the black sides of canoes, the flashing of outriggers, the
+sheen of polished metal, the scarlet and yellow of innumerable feather
+cloaks, the glittering of oars amid the spray-rain, the gleaming of
+dusky bodies, and the forward leap of the high prows, whose painted
+eyes seemed to glow with the fire of life. And in advance was the
+famous double war canoe Peleleu, the rowers straining at the oars, and
+the _kahili_-bearers and warriors standing around the mighty chief who
+was destined to make Hawaii a nation.
+
+On they came, nearing the flat beach of Waikiki, where unless
+Kalanikapule opposed, they could enter the coral reef and land without
+impediment. But Kalanikapule chose to meet his rival in the heart of
+the country among the _palis_, rather than on the level ground; so,
+though from Leahi you could have seen the moving of dark masses of men
+among the forests of the southern side of the island, there was no sign
+on the beach of opposition to the landing of the Hawaiian troops.
+
+Hakuole hastened to his post in the army, but he did not forget
+Leilehua, for her gift was around his neck.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Of the strife that followed, with all its thrilling episodes, we must
+forbear to speak. How Kalanikapule collected his forces in the Nuuanu
+Pali; how Kamehameha followed him with his veterans, driving him to
+the ridge of the island; how the traitor Kaiana met his doom; how
+Kamehameha’s white men brought into battle the red-mouthed guns which
+made the thunder roll among the mountains; how the fight raged on till
+the awful precipice was reached, from which men poured down in a living
+avalanche to the rocks below; how at last Kamehameha drew back his
+victorious troops into the lower country, where the loud “_Auwe_” of
+the women rent the air in wailing for their husbands and fathers--all
+these are stories by themselves.
+
+Kamehameha knew himself at last lord of the Eight Islands from Niihau
+to Hawaii.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was a day of great mourning in Oahu. In every house there was
+wailing and rending of hair for the warriors transfixed by the sharp
+spears or battered to death on the rocks of the Nuuanu Pali. But they
+had fought well, they were gone to Paliuli, the blue mountain, to
+the land of the divine water of Kane, and as the sun set men saw the
+great procession of the dead in the western sky leaving the earth
+forever by the road of the gods. But when the sun rose again in the
+east they turned their thoughts to the living and the day. What now
+would be their fate? Kamehameha would hold his court; he would receive
+the homage of the conquered people; he would expect his _hookana_ or
+tribute. “Let us hasten,” they said, “to propitiate the new king.”
+So all prepared to go with their gifts. Prominent among these was
+Kamakahou, the father of Leilehua. He had known of Hakuole’s love and
+had been himself disposed to accept him for a son-in-law, but he was a
+sycophant and a schemer. As a _kahuna_ he had been among the advisers
+of the fallen chiefs, and his reputation for learning was great. He
+knew the five planets and suspected the existence of a sixth; he knew
+all the _kapu_ days, the holy seasons and the prescribed ordinances;
+he could prepare lustral waters to drive away diseases and demons. He
+was proficient in all the ten branches of priestly lore, and could
+even cause the spirits of the dead to enter the body of a person and
+possess it. He was skilled, moreover, in the preparation of medicines,
+and could cure toothache and bruises and broken bones.
+
+But with all his learning he was avaricious and preferred the favor of
+the king to the approval of his conscience. So he prepared his gift and
+went.
+
+The court of Kamehameha was held in the open air, the royal pavilion
+consisting of a raised couch of ferns over which a slight _lanai_ had
+been built of _lauhala_ palms. The king reclined at his ease. Beside
+him stood the royal _kahili_-bearers waving their huge feather brushes.
+Close by stood the _pukanas_, or trumpeters, with gorgeous headgear and
+capes. Near these stood the _kukini_, or runners, the _kahunas_, with
+tabu-sticks, while the _hula_-girls with instruments of music squatted
+a little to the left. In the midst of the _kahunas_, on a carpet of
+red cloth was the famous war god of Kamehameha, Kaili, whose shriek
+could be heard above the din of battle. It was of wickerwork decorated
+with small feathers, its eyes made of large oyster shells and mouth
+ornamented by a double row of dog’s fangs.
+
+Before the king the gifts lay in piles--calabashes of rare wood, logs
+of _iliahi_, or sandalwood, rolls of curiously wrought _kapa_, pigs,
+dogs, cocoanuts, sweet potatoes, seaweeds, shrimps, _papai_, _opelo_,
+_awa_, and many another costly article of dress, or dainty morsel of
+food.
+
+Finally, when Kamehameha seemed a little sated with his _hookana_, came
+a gift which drew all eyes. They saw Kamakahou leading his daughter
+Leilehua forward to the presence of the king. “O king,” he cried,
+“behold the _kaikamahine_; take her, the light of my eyes, and let
+there be peace between us.”
+
+The maiden, who had advanced reluctantly, stood timidly before the
+couch, her face hid in her hands. The black tresses fell down her back
+in great coils, rippling over her dusky shoulders and falling to the
+skirt of yellow _kapa_ which was fastened around her waist. On her head
+was a wreath of the scarlet flowers from which she took her name; on
+her wrists and ankles bracelets of sea-shells, and on her breast the
+ivory emblem suspended by the mystic three hundred braids of human hair.
+
+Only a moment she stood, and then, weeping, sank on her knees, let her
+hands fall from her face, and with pleading eyes gazed into the king’s
+face. Kamehameha, startled at so beauteous a vision, raised himself
+from the couch and, as he stood erect, clad in the brilliant feather
+cloak which was the work of ten generations of kings, he seemed a god
+come down in human form. As he stepped forward to take the hand of the
+tribute girl, a great shout began--
+
+“_Nani loa! Maikai loa! e----_”
+
+_Began_, I say, but did not finish; for, lo! the circle of spectators
+parted, and there strode to the side of the weeping maid a young
+man who lacked but little of the height of Kamehameha himself. He
+was covered with blood and dust, having almost crawled from the
+battlefield, but he stood erect now, and he had a torn wreath of
+flowers around his neck. He did not flinch before the gaze of the king,
+but caught the hand of Leilehua, lifted her up, and bore her in among
+the people. It took only a few seconds, but the stillness of death had
+fallen upon the people. Was Hakuole mad? Had he seen a _lapu_ and been
+bewitched? Rash man! See the thunder-cloud in the face of the chief who
+was never crossed with impunity! What fate did the conqueror of Oahu
+meditate for the man who braved him? Would he be offered as a sacrifice
+at the _heiau_, or would he be clubbed to death, burned, or buried
+alive?
+
+Hark! the king raises his voice, and his guards seize the overbold
+youth and the maiden, hurry them before the dais, and stand ready to
+carry out whatever sentence of death is imposed.
+
+Leilehua and Hakuole stand before Kamehameha, and they can hear their
+hearts beat, the people are so quiet.
+
+Then Kamehameha speaks in strong, firm tones, which show the man born
+for command, but with no touch of immoderate anger. The cloud has gone
+from his face, but he begins sharply enough:
+
+“_E Hakuole_, so you are tired of life, tired of fighting. You dream
+already of maiden’s eyes and a life among the _nala_. You would let
+the prows rot on the beach, seeking no more for the glory a man ought
+to love. Well, as you mean to stay among the _wahine_, and love a
+maiden here more than you fear me, I suspend you from a soldier’s duty
+till the moon Ikiiki returns. Away! and for the girl, Leilehua, the
+faithful in love, all the lands which were her father’s are hers from
+henceforth. Take the _kaikamahine_--beautiful is she as the morning
+breaking the shadows--and may the loves of Leilehua and Hakuole be as
+glorious to Hawaii as the wars of Kamehameha.”
+
+Kamehameha had indeed won a greater victory than that of Nuuanu
+Pali, for the hearts of the people, and not their bodies only, were
+henceforth his forever.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Thus the first of the Seven Kings of Hawaii established his sovereignty
+and founded a dynasty, and the statue of this “Napoleon of the
+Pacific” in front of Aliiolani Hale, in Honolulu, will ever attract
+the reverence of men. Had all the island kings been like the first
+Kamehameha, Hawaii had never more known the strife of factions.
+
+Hakuole and Leilehua had a long honeymoon, in which they learned
+depths of love as yet unfathomed. Then they came back to be among the
+staunchest supporters of the new king. Love grew with the years, and
+the sweet singers of Hawaii to-day can choose no better theme to bring
+back the romance of the old barbaric times than the story of sweet
+Leilehua and her bold lover Hakuole, who for her sake braved the wrath
+of a king.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+THE SPOUTING CAVE OF LANAI
+
+  “Over the mountains and under the waves.
+   Over the fountains and under the graves.
+   Over floods that are deepest,
+       Which Neptune obey,
+   Over rocks that are steepest,
+       Love will find out the way.”
+
+                               --_Old Song._
+
+
+Readers of Byron will remember, in his poem entitled, “The Island,” the
+description of a wonderful cavern at Toobanai, the only entrance to
+which was under the sea. The way by which Neuha guided Torquil to its
+safe retreat is described as follows:
+
+  “Young Neuha plunged into the deep, and he
+   Follow’d; her track beneath the native sea.
+   Was as a native’s of the element,
+   So smoothly, bravely, brilliantly she went,
+   Leaving a streak of light behind her heel,
+   Which struck and flash’d like an amphibious steel.
+   Closely, and scarcely less expert to trace
+   The depths where divers hold the pearl in chase,
+   Torquil, the nursling of the northern seas,
+   Pursued her liquid steps with art and ease.
+   Deep--deeper for an instant Neuha led
+   The way--then upward soar’d--and as she spread
+   Her arms and flung the foam from off her locks
+   Laugh’d and the sound was answered by the rocks.
+   They had gain’d a central realm of earth again,
+   But look’d for tree, and field, and sky in vain.
+   Around she pointed to a spacious cave,
+   Whose only portal was the keyless wave.”
+
+The poet admits having found the original of his submarine cave in
+Mariner’s “Account of the Tonga Islands,” taking advantage of the
+license allowed to poets to transplant it to the scene of his poem.
+
+Probably he did not know that there existed in the Hawaiian group a
+cavern similar to that which he describes, to which attaches a story
+far more romantic than that of the loves of Torquil and Neuha.
+
+The Puhio-kaala, or Spouting Cave of Kaala, is on the rocky coast
+of the little island of Lanai, near Kaumalapau Bay. Down below the
+rocky bluff is that “refuge submarine” where “Nature played with the
+stalactites, and built herself a chapel of the seas.”
+
+The entrance is marked by the vortex of a whirlpool, from which a
+column of foam rises up when the tide runs out. He who dared to venture
+the perils of the entrance would, on gaining his footing below, find
+himself beneath a “self-born Gothic canopy,”
+
+  “A hollow archway by the sun unseen,
+   Save through the billows’ glassy veil of green.”
+
+The pleasure of the diver, however, would be rudely disturbed when he
+found the cave already occupied by millions of cold-blooded, slimy,
+shelly, stinging, dank and noisome creatures of the deep. Once, legend
+says, it was inhabited by the great lizard god, Moalii, but Ukanipo,
+the shark god, threatened to block up the entrance with rocks if he did
+not move. Thereupon the cave was left to its present smaller, but no
+less uncanny tenants.
+
+These were quite sufficient to prevent frequent visits to the cave,
+though in truth there were few bold and skillful enough to shoot
+through the whirlpool into its sunless depths, even if inclined.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At the present time Lanai has but a few hundred inhabitants at most,
+although one of the loveliest islands of the group. But when, over a
+hundred years ago, Kamehameha, with his court, paid it a brief visit to
+enjoy an interval of rest and refreshment, he found no fewer than five
+or six thousand people on the beach to welcome him. Rich and numerous
+were the presents brought, and among those who offered their gifts was
+Kaala, “the flower of Lanai,” who strewed flowers no lovelier than
+herself in the conqueror’s path.
+
+She was a beautiful girl of fifteen, the daughter of a chief named
+Opunui, and one who had no lack of admirers. Even Kamehameha could not
+help following her graceful movements with pleasure. But in the heart
+of one who followed in the king’s train, the warrior Kaaialii, the girl
+made such instant havoc that it needed only a glance for her to detect
+the passion she had kindled. And, strange to say, she who had repulsed
+so many adorers in her native isle, felt herself won in a moment by
+this tall, sinewy chief from Oahu.
+
+Kaaialii, seeing and reading her smile, apprehended no difficulty in
+winning her for his wife, but he was overestimating the smoothness of
+true love’s course.
+
+When he begged Kamehameha to grant him Kaala for a wife, the king made
+no objection, but ventured to suggest, in justice, a reference to the
+father, too.
+
+Even this, difficult as it may appear in prospect to most lovers,
+did not seem a hopeless task to Kaaialii, for he was well known as a
+warrior and better born than Opunui.
+
+Opunui, however, thought otherwise. He had a grudge against Kaaialii
+which went back as far as the battle of Maunalei, when they had been
+opposed in the conflict, and, moreover, there was another suitor, who,
+although detested by the girl, was more than eligible in the eyes of
+her father.
+
+This favored one was Mailou, “the bone breaker”--one whose prowess as a
+wrestler had won the unstinted admiration and regard of the father, but
+inspired no tender feeling in the breast of the daughter.
+
+Now Opunui was too wise to meet Kamehameha’s request for his daughter
+with a blunt refusal, and he respected the “bone breaker’s” powers
+of body too much to cast him aside for another without an effort, so
+he assumed an air of great deference, told the king how pleased he
+would be to comply, and how great an honor he would esteem it to have
+Kaaialii for a son-in-law, but that unfortunately he had pledged his
+word to his estimable friend Mailou. The only way out of the dilemma,
+the wily old man suggested, was for Mailou and Kaaialii to wrestle the
+matter out between them. He would be content to leave the girl in the
+victor’s hands.
+
+Of course he had such faith in the cruel embrace of the “bone breaker”
+that he believed it vain for his daughter to aspire to the embrace of
+Kaaialii.
+
+Everywhere the news of the contest spread, and was received with
+pleasure, for the Hawaiian needed nothing more than _panem et
+circenses_ to make up the joy of life. There was only one exception and
+this was the maiden who was to be chief gainer or loser by the struggle.
+
+She was driven almost to despair by the news, for she knew the deadly
+strength of Mailou, and could not forget the reports of the many wives
+he had slain and cast into the sea. She clung to Kaaialii as to one
+whom she was sending to his death, and yet one in whom was her only
+hope of life.
+
+Meanwhile the arena was prepared. The two combatants stood face to
+face--Mailou with his long arms, broad shoulders and mighty limbs, his
+fingers opening and closing, as if impatient to tear his adversary to
+pieces--Kaaialii in comparison almost frail and slender, yet with no
+lack of cheerful confidence expressed in his handsome features.
+
+Kaala knew no more of Shakespeare than Shakespeare knew of her; but, as
+she gazed trembling at her lover, she felt, with Rosalind:
+
+  “The little strength that I have, I would it were with you.”
+
+Then the battle began, a struggle to the death, in which every injury
+it was possible to inflict was permissible. To the taunts of Mailou,
+Kaaialii made no reply, but when the “bone breaker” sprang like a wild
+beast at his throat, his shark-like teeth grinning with anticipated
+triumph, he was on the alert and, dexterously swinging aside his body,
+he allowed Mailou to fall headlong to the earth. In another instant he
+had seized his right arm, and with a skillful kick snapped the bone
+below the elbow. With a howl of rage Mailou rushed again to the attack,
+but was felled to the ground and his left arm broken as the right had
+been. With both arms broken, the furious giant rushed once again at the
+warrior, charging with lowered head, like a bull. But this was his last
+charge, for Kaaialii had him by the hair as he fell, and, placing his
+knee against his back, with a mighty effort broke his spine.
+
+There was general rejoicing at Kaaialii’s victory, for the wrestler,
+though feared on account of his strength, was too much of a bully to be
+popular, and only in the heart of Opunui was there any regret at the
+issue. Opunui, so far from being reconciled to Kaala becoming the wife
+of Kaaialii, was more than ever determined that the latter should never
+carry away his prize.
+
+So, although he opposed no word when Kamehameha placed the lovers hand
+in hand before him and pronounced them married, he formed his plan.
+With soft, plausible words he approached his daughter, expressing his
+delight at her happiness, but requesting that she would come with him
+for the last time to visit her mother, Kalani, and speak the sad words
+of farewell. The maiden tearfully acquiesced and, assuring Kaaialii of
+her speedy return, followed her father down the valley of Palawai,
+towards the Bay of Kaumalapau.
+
+“Why go to the bay, my father, since you say that my mother is ill at
+Malana?” inquired the girl.
+
+The old hypocrite answered that her mother was at the seashore, where
+she had prepared a banquet in celebration of her child’s marriage.
+There were crabs, shrimps, limpets, and all kinds of dainties. Kalani
+only awaited her husband and daughter.
+
+Arrived at the shore, however, Kaala saw that her mother’s fire was not
+there, and knew that her father was deceiving her. Glancing up she saw
+his face lighted with a cruel smile, which no longer concealed his real
+feelings.
+
+“Listen,” he said, “rather than be the bride of Kaaialii you shall have
+a shark for your mate, and in his palace beneath the sea I will keep
+you safe till the king has left Lanai with his warriors.”
+
+The poor girl screamed, for she guessed his purpose, but it was too
+late to resist. Just below the bench of rock on which they stood, the
+Spouting Cave roared and foamed. Opunui knew its entrance well, and
+seizing his daughter in his arms waited for the moment when the column
+of water settled down into the vortex. Then he sprang and, sinking
+beneath the surface, the two found themselves drawn swiftly by the
+current down and down, and then suddenly swept through the entrance
+into a dark and gloomy cavern.
+
+The greenish light showed even to the fainting girl the horror of
+her surroundings, and it was as in a dream that she heard her father
+declare that there she should remain till the hated Kaaialii had given
+her up and gone. She had barely time to renew her vow of fidelity to
+her lover before Opunui seized the proper moment, plunged once more
+into the water and was sucked up with the spouting column into the
+upper air.
+
+The girl, brought back to consciousness by the very terror of her
+situation, was left alone to waste her strength in unavailing efforts
+to return through the water. Alas! this was a feat requiring a strength
+and a skill far beyond such as hers.
+
+We return to Kaaialii, who was anything but pleased with the bride’s so
+sudden departure. He followed her with his eyes as long as he could,
+then he transferred his thoughts to the meeting again on the morrow.
+But when the morrow came and no Kaala, and, still more, when he learned
+that Kaala had never been near the hut of Kalani, his heart misgave him.
+
+He started to seek his lost one, and wherever he went signs of evil
+multiplied. The path of his beloved led to the sea and stopped; Opunui
+kept out of his way and took refuge in a _puuhonua_; the diviners, whom
+he consulted, could only tell him:
+
+“The sweet-smelling flower of Lanai is neither in the hills nor in the
+valleys. Search the sea. There are cliffs that are hollow, and caves
+beneath the waves.”
+
+With this vague oracle in his mind he wandered along the rocky shore,
+crying out in his despair:
+
+“O Kaala, Kaala! if living, where sleepest thou? If dead, where rest
+thy bones?”
+
+Suddenly from the waters below him there seemed to come a voice
+mounting upward from a wraith of water. He looked below, and the
+vortex at his feet seemed to call him by name and invite him. She was
+dead, he thought, her spirit had called! What could he do better than
+die too?
+
+So with the cry “Kaala” upon his lips, he leaped and was engulfed in
+the waves which dragged him below as with invisible hands.
+
+A friend following him and knowing that here was the entrance to the
+Spouting Cave, fled along the rocks and told what he had seen, and in
+an hour or two Kamehameha himself, rowed by his sturdiest oarsmen, was
+near the spot in his canoe.
+
+Kaaialii found himself drawn downwards till he no longer believed
+himself alive. At last his feet gained the sloping beach and he found
+his head once more above water, but, in the dark, he believed he had
+arrived in the hall of the dead. The thundering of the breakers sounded
+above him, life seemed left far behind, but both hope and memory came
+back with the touch of cold and slimy things crawling over and stinging
+his flesh. He knew he was alive, and just at that moment a low moan
+reached his ears which made his heart stand still.
+
+Looking around he saw a dark form upon the strand, and from this
+direction came the moaning.
+
+He crawled towards it, and had barely reached it ere he heard his name
+pronounced. It was the body of Kaala he saw before him and the creeping
+things of the sea were sucking her blood.
+
+Kaaialii flung himself upon her with a passionate kiss.
+
+“O Kaala! Kaaialii is here!” He pushed back her wet hair, took her in
+his arms, and began to carry her towards the opening of the cave. But
+with a voice which grew gradually fainter, Kaala told him that she was
+dying.
+
+“I am so happy that you are here! Lay me down and let me die!”
+
+The smile that played upon her lips testified to her joy, but it also
+made Kaaialii hope for her life. When, however, he laid his hand upon
+her heart, it was cold and still. Death had come and found her happy.
+
+But Kaaialii still clasped his precious burden as though waiting for
+Kaala to awake. He sat in silence, all unconscious of the flight of
+time, until he was roused from his stupor by a splash.
+
+In another instant came another, and then there rose up from the water
+two forms: first the figure of Ua, a friend of Kaala, and immediately
+behind Kamehameha, who had been shown the mouth of the cave and had
+dauntlessly leaped to wrest from it its secret and his friend.
+
+A swift glance revealed to the king all that had happened. The warrior
+laid his dead bride beside him, rose to his feet, and with bent head
+stood before his chief.
+
+The stern monarch was touched with Kaaialii’s unspoken grief. “I see,”
+he said; “she is dead. Let her rest; she can have no better sepulchre.
+Come, Kaaialii, let us go.”
+
+Then Kaaialii came to himself. He had never gone further in his
+thoughts as yet than the discovery of his loved one. Now he knew and
+faced the consequences.
+
+“Go?” he cried. “Nay, I stay. Oh, my king, never have I disobeyed you
+before, and never will I disobey you again. But here I must stay. My
+life ends here.”
+
+With a swift movement he seized a stone, dashed it against his head,
+crushing into the very brain, then sank lifeless beside the body of
+Kaala.
+
+Kamehameha left them together, and by-and-by had them wrapped in folds
+of _kapa_. There their bones lie to-day. Few, however, to-day know the
+secret of the entrance to Puhio-Kaala.
+
+The minstrels made a dirge about it and in after years, when Kamehameha
+rested at Kealia or Waipio, there was no _mele_ he loved so well to
+hear as that which told of the faith of Kaala and Kaaialii:
+
+  “Oh! dead is Kaaialii, the young chief of Hawaii,
+   The chief of few years and many battles.
+   His limbs were strong and his heart was gentle.
+   His face was like the sun, and he was without fear.
+   For his love he plunged into the deep waters;
+   For his love he gave his life.”
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+LONO’S LAST MARTYR
+
+
+The heroes of victory are rarely without their monuments: the heroes
+of lost causes are too often forgotten. The old order changes, giving
+place to new, and in course of time we praise the bold innovators who
+let in the light, but we forget that even the defeated darkness may
+have its martyrdoms, its faith and its courage worthy of the poet’s
+song.
+
+It is a story of such heroism as this which gathers round a neglected
+tumulus, now well nigh hidden in clustering ferns and creeping vines
+on the island of Hawaii. Not far from Kilau, on the western coast of
+the island, almost under the shadow of Mauna Hualalai, which rises
+nearly 9,000 feet above the sea, there is a plain of rough lava, whose
+barrenness is only in places veiled by tufts of waving grass and by
+spreading creepers and richly hued flowers. In many places there rise
+the ruins of former temples and fortifications belonging to the old
+warlike time. The massive, squarely shapen stones contrast strangely
+with the spherical volcanic boulders which attest that here Nature has
+warred as well as man. After traveling over two miles of such country
+as this you will begin to stumble over frequent heaps of stones well
+nigh concealed in the grass and ferns. Your imagination suggests
+graves, rightly so, and you pick your way among them till you come
+to Kuamoo, where there is an oblong cairn, some ten feet long by six
+wide, built in the form of a tomb, and almost hidden from sight in the
+greenery of innumerable ferns and the blossoms of morning glory and
+passion flower. Well does Nature keep the spot beautiful and fragrant,
+for here lie side by side the mortal remains of two heroes and two
+lovers, whom, heathen though they were, the new time will not willingly
+permit to be forgotten.
+
+It was in the autumn of 1819 that the great change came which has been
+hailed by many as the day of new birth for the Eight Islands--the
+abolition of the tabu and the destruction of the idols. We shall not
+attempt to defend the anterior condition of the island kingdom, but it
+will be seen in the course of this story that the transition was by no
+means without its element of danger and mischief.
+
+No darkness could well have been deeper than that of olden Hawaii,
+with its bloody worship, its human sacrifices, its oppression of
+the _makaainana_, or common people, and, above all, its tabu. How
+this pressed with leaden weight upon the people would be almost
+incredible if described in detail. Suffice it to say that for every
+act and condition of life there was a tabu, extending to food, dress,
+etiquette, time, place, labor, and privilege. And for every breach of
+the tabu there was but one penalty--death.
+
+It might, therefore, be thought that its abolition would be received
+with universal applause, that only from the hearts of the cruel bigots
+of heathenism, monsters thirsting for human gore, tyrants ruling
+by oppression and fraud, would there be a sigh of regret when the
+death-knell of the old heathenism sounded forth.
+
+This, however, was not the case. Viewing the matter from close quarters
+we can easily see that the priests and worshippers of Lono, who
+protested against the act of Liholiho had some justice on their side.
+
+The mighty Kamehameha had breathed his last, and his dust had been
+hidden away somewhere, where, no one but Hoapili knew, among the
+mountains of Hawaii. Liholiho, his successor, was under the influence
+of the queen mother, Kaahumanu, who had long been chafing under the
+restraints of the tabu upon her sex. He himself, a youth of twenty-two,
+no stranger, unfortunately, to the fire-water of the whalers, deemed
+the law of tabu overmuch of a clog on his own princely liberty, and as
+entailing, moreover, a heavy expenditure for the support of the state
+idolatry and the maintenance of the priesthood.
+
+Arrived at Kawaihae, he heard of Kaahumanu’s intention to attempt
+the sacrilege, and, not indisposed to have his own share in the
+contemplated work, immediately sailed to the south. Landing at Puako,
+there followed a series of debauches to which the court of Kamehameha
+had been a stranger. For twenty-four hours the tumultuous merriment
+went on. The royal party joined the _hula_-dancers in their obscene
+revelry. They tossed bottles of liquor to the sea gods, inviting them
+to drink themselves drunk with them, and at last the moment arrived
+when a public violation of the tabu was to take place, in order to
+show that the old order had passed forever. This breach with the past
+was made by the king’s deliberate act of sending prohibited food from
+his own table to that of the women, and by his taking his own place
+among them. In a moment the royal example was followed, men and women
+were eating and drinking promiscuously together, and the feast was no
+longer “_ai kapu_,” or sacred eating, but “_ai noa_,” or common eating.
+A few chiefs turned pale in their drunkenness at the outrages offered
+to their religion and their law, some strode forth indignant and held
+counsel together, while Liholiho and the high-priest, Hewahewa, with
+their drunken crew, rode forth to destroy the images of the insulted
+gods, and the shrines where no sacrifice should be offered more.
+
+We shall not be ashamed to stay among the few still faithful to the
+old order and its traditions. It is true the tabu was tyrannous and
+cruel beyond belief, but a cruel code is far better than anarchy, and
+Liholiho had nothing to put in the place of the tabu but the lawless
+wantonness of the whalers. Was the liquor of the white men a better
+inspiration than the will of the chiefs? Had not Kamehameha, to whom
+the land owed prosperity and peace, deliberately given up drinking
+the _haole_ gin and expressly warned his people against falling into
+its pernicious snare? And now had they not lived to see his son, a
+shameful sight to the people, reeling on horseback, arms and legs
+extended, raging against the gods of their fathers? If Vancouver had
+sent the white teacher he had promised they might have heard tidings
+worth giving ear to, as, rumor had it, had been the case in Tahiti,
+but surely it was better to keep the old law, by which the chiefs and
+people alike guided their steps, until they had considered the new!
+
+The chief speaker in the conference was the young and handsome
+Kekuaokalani, upon whom had fallen the defense of the traditions of
+church and state. No nobler Hawaiian had ever been listened to by the
+_alii_. Well nigh seven feet in height, with masses of raven black hair
+hanging upon his shoulders, perfect in features and form, wise, brave
+and magnetic, a chief of even bluer blood than his uncle Kamehameha, by
+his own choice also a priest, equal in learning to Hewahewa, he was a
+man well fitted to be the leader of a cause however desperate it might
+appear. Moreover, his marriage with the beautiful Manono, who lived in
+the light of his love, had touched the sympathy and imaginations of the
+people, and when he strode forth from the wild revelry of the crowd,
+bearing in his arms the insulted image of Lono, he may well have seemed
+a hero, or even a demi-god, to the amazed and troubled people.
+
+Whether ambitious or not, Kekuaokalani conceived that to him had
+come a charge from the gods to avenge their cause upon a drunken and
+degenerate king and to take the place before the shrines vacated by
+the renegade Hewahewa. As for Kaahumanu, he knew her to be a light
+woman, whose escapades had sorely troubled the heart and patience of
+Kamehameha. Certainly Lady Pele, goddess of the fire-world, slumbering
+within the mountain, would protect her honor against law-breakers such
+as she.
+
+So Kekuaokalani withdrew to Kaaweloa, where the conservative leaders
+and the priests offered him the crown, with the oracular saying: “A
+religious chief shall possess the kingdom, but irreligious chiefs
+shall always be poor.” It was a dangerous honor thus thrust upon him,
+but he accepted it gladly and prepared for the trial of strength with
+Liholiho. Many of the people who shared his spirit gathered around him
+and, when the winter solstice brought with it the annual feast of Lono,
+the festival was kept with a sincerity and enthusiasm all the more
+impressive from the presentiment entertained by not a few that it was
+the last festival which Lono would ever have in Hawaii. It is not a
+little pathetic to contemplate the people “about to die” face to face
+with the gods “about to die” for these five strange, sad, festive days.
+
+Meanwhile the work of the royal “reformers” went on throughout the
+land and a month passed by, during which the news came daily of the
+pulling down of _heiaus_ and the burning of idols. The king was happy
+in his iconoclasm, but no word came to him of the preparations of
+Kekuaokalani. Then suddenly the tidings reached Liholiho that Hamakua
+was being invaded by the rebels, and that one of the chiefs, Kainapau
+by name, was slain. Some of the king’s favorites endeavored to belittle
+the affair and strove to allay the royal alarm by offering, with forty
+warriors, to suppress the insurrection. Hewahewa, the renegade priest,
+knew Kekuaokalani better, and declared:
+
+“Not forty times forty will be enough! Kekuaokalani is in the field to
+conquer or to die!”
+
+Then the alarm was genuine and general, and while the resourceful
+Kaahumanu bethought herself of the purchase of muskets from the white
+traders, Liholiho endeavored to quench the fire of rebellion by the
+sending of an embassy.
+
+Some of the most notable men in the crowd were selected, men close
+of kin to Kekuaokalani, as well as high in the counsels of Liholiho.
+There was prominent among them, Naihe, the uncle of the rebel chief,
+and Kalaimoku, the commander of the king’s forces. And with these was
+Keopuolani, the bluest blooded queen of Kamehameha.
+
+“We come,” they said, “to make peace between you and the king. Liholiho
+offers you freedom to follow your own religion if you will consent to
+lay aside your arms.”
+
+“Alas!” replied the chief, “to what avail is liberty to worship when
+the gods and the temples are consumed with fire? How can we serve the
+gods acceptably when the tabu exists no more and men know not what is
+sacred and what is common?”
+
+“You will have war, then?” asked the ambassadors.
+
+“Nay, I choose not,” cried Kekuaokalani. “Here stand I where Liholiho
+and Hewahewa, king and high-priest, should stand to defend the
+traditions to which I am pledged by my oath as _alii_. Lono will not
+forget the faithful, and if we die we die true to our ancestors and to
+the gods who made them kings.”
+
+Kalaimoku withdrew with his company sadly and respectfully, and
+Kekuakoalani went within his house and, falling upon the breast of his
+wife, burst into tears.
+
+O! beautiful was life surrounded with the love of Manono! Hard it were
+to die and go beneath the ground with such sunshine flooding the earth.
+But Kekuaokalani was right: “He could not choose.”
+
+“Is there a choice for strong souls to be weak?” Though he die, he must
+be loyal to his faith in Lono. The night before, the _alae_ had uttered
+its shrill note of presaging ill outside the house. Manono was all
+disconsolate with so many auguries of ill about her, but her husband
+bravely used every endeavor to turn aside her fears, saying that
+forebodings of ill were only for those who did ill. Yet he felt in his
+heart that the gods perhaps intended to take their cause into their own
+hands, and that he might be only a sacrifice where he had hoped to be a
+deliverer.
+
+Nevertheless, the next morning, when the army made itself ready for
+the march, Kekuaokalani had a countenance wherein was no trace of fear
+or foreboding. With cheerful shouts of encouragement to his eager
+followers, he trod the lava plains with as much alacrity as if starting
+to a feast, and close behind him, rather than with the other women
+in the rear, marched Manono, happier to stand on the field of blood
+beside her lover than to tarry behind in ignoble safety. There were
+priests of Lono, too, carrying the gods newly arrayed for the carnage.
+Perchance, yet once again, might the war god Kaili be seen flying above
+the contending hosts, a luminous streak of vapor, uttering aloud the
+war cries which had cleared the way to victory for Kamehameha. How the
+drunkard Liholiho would feel his blood freezing in his veins at such an
+apparition!
+
+As they marched along they came to the spot where, twelve generations
+before, the mighty giant Maukaleoleo had appeared to the hero Umi and
+had given him strength above the lot of man to overcome his foes. Would
+that now that terrific figure might appear, plucking the cocoanuts from
+the tallest trees as he walked, or wading out to sea among the canoes!
+
+But, alas! no marvels came to aid their faith. They must fight the
+battle of the gods alone to-day.
+
+So at last they came to Kuamoo on the morning of December 19, 1819,
+a day forever memorable in the history of Hawaii as the day in which
+the forces of the old era were defeated by those of the new, both
+struggling in the dark and ignorant of the light which was so soon to
+come.
+
+Kalaimoku was even yet anxious to avoid a battle with Kekuaokalani, who
+was his own sister’s son, and he sent a messenger with an affectionate
+entreaty for another interview. But, even though his own mother
+pleaded, together with his uncle, the dauntless heathen refused to
+listen to the messenger and compelled him to leap into the sea and swim
+with all his might to save his life.
+
+The forces then took up their respective positions, Kalaimoku knowing
+that now only the grim arbitrament of battle could decide. Liholiho’s
+forces were strong in musketry and in the aid of foreigners, and their
+retreat was protected by the formidable squadron of double canoes which
+had been the pride of Kamehameha’s declining years. Kekuaokalani placed
+the priests of Lono with the images in the front of his line for a
+while, and then loud were the imprecations denounced upon the royal
+army. But, to be of more avail to-day, behind these was a splendid
+force of spearmen eager for the _lehua_, or first-slain victim. Behind
+all were the women, who followed the soldiers with calabashes of water
+and dried fish, to recruit the strength of the combatants when these
+were weary or athirst. But every woman was ready to fight and die with
+Kekuaokalani.
+
+The attack was made by the rebel forces, who bore down upon the army
+of Liholiho with an impetus such as must have swept all before it,
+had it not been for the foreigners with their guns vomiting streams
+of fire upon their assailants. The company of musketeers kept up
+such a murderous fire upon the rebel center that, after a terrific
+and protracted struggle, this was driven back to the rising ground.
+Kekuaokalani, whose tall form was seen everywhere in the fray as he
+shouted orders to his spearmen, was wounded early in the battle, but
+fought on without knowing it, rallying his forces behind a stone
+wall about breast high, where there took place a struggle which
+for obstinacy and valour had no parallel in the annals of Hawaiian
+warfare. The double canoes commanded by the queen mother, Kaahumanu,
+raked the insurgent position with their guns, but two heroic figures
+seemed to stand out among the falling after every discharge, as if
+bearing charmed lives amid the rain of death. These were Kekuaokalani
+and his wife, Manono, who fought side by side, heedless of the heaped
+corpses around them. Weak with loss of blood from his previous wounds,
+Kekuaokalani more than once leaned fainting upon the arm of his wife,
+but he revived again and again to fight with a still more desperate
+valor. The temptation was sore when he beheld, through the battle
+smoke, his uncle Kalaimoku and his mother signalling him to ask for
+quarter; he set his teeth hard and fired again. Had it been Manono
+herself, he had most like done the same, though her breast had faced
+the bullets! No longer able to stand, he sat upon a fragment of
+lava and continued to load and fire his musket. No Kaili flew above
+the host as of old, no Lono came to lend supernatural aid to his
+faithful martyrs. Instead, the forces of Kalaimoku were advancing,
+and Kekuaokalani knew himself left to die, with life still sweet on
+his lips. The fated ball came at last, pierced his left breast, and,
+folding his face in his feather cloak, Kekuaokalani fell forward at
+the feet of Manono, and expired without a groan. Manono wept not, but
+awaited hopefully the messenger of death which should make them fellows
+again in the halls of Milu. On came the conquerors; in vain Kalaimoku
+and his sister cried to save her. Another bullet, unerring in its aim,
+pierced her temple and she fell upon the warm but lifeless body of her
+husband.
+
+The insurgents made but little more resistance now that their leader
+had fallen. It was sunset and under the cover of the darkness any that
+could, escaped. Some surrendered or were captured by the royal troops,
+a few crept into caves and holes of the mountains, and, covering the
+entrance with pieces of lava, lay concealed till Liholiho had returned
+to Kailua.
+
+Kalaimoku and his sister stood over the corpses of Kekuaokalani and
+Manono, and, gazing long upon the noble dead, exclaimed with tears:
+
+“Truly, since the days of Keawe, no nobler Hawaiians have lost the
+light of the sun!”
+
+Thus perished Lono’s last champions, faithful unto death.
+
+Three months later the first Christian missionaries reached the group
+with the tidings so long desired. The first news which reached them
+from the shore was in the almost incredible words: “The idols of Hawaii
+are no more!”
+
+May we not, while rejoicing in the new day which was thus brought to
+the land left by Liholiho bereft of law and religion, retain a tender
+heart for the youthful pair whose bodies sleep beneath the morning
+glory and the heaped-up stones on the shore of Kuamoo?
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+KEOUA
+
+_A Story of Kalawao_
+
+
+The laws of men are merciful in intent, but they sometimes grind
+hard upon the innocent and the poor, at times through the necessary
+imperfection of all human efforts after the ideal, at times through the
+harsh administration of enactments good enough in themselves.
+
+No laws have ever seemed so necessary in Hawaii as the laws enforcing
+the segregation of lepers; no laws just in themselves have ever been
+the cause of so much grief and pain. There have been times, moreover,
+when they were carried out neither wisely nor mercifully.
+
+At such a time only could the following story have been possible--the
+story of a love which laws could not abrogate nor death itself annul.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Pauoa is a valley of almost perpetual rainbow, where the mists dance in
+the sunshine on the mountainside and the waters trickle down through
+thickets of ferns and scarlet creepers to the long lines of cocoanut
+palms which stand like sentinels along the beach from Diamond Head to
+Honolulu.
+
+But its chief beauty to Keoua, returning with his net from fishing
+outside the coral reef, lay in the fact that he was homeward bent.
+There, a hundred yards further, was the grass hut, secluded behind a
+screen of banana trees, and rising apparently out of a glistening swamp
+of taro-patch made on a terrace of the mountainside. What joy to feel
+the embrace of his good _wahine_, Luka, and to have the crowing brown
+baby thrust into his arms to fondle! Was it not always worth while to
+be the long day away to know such a homecoming as this?
+
+But to-night there was no welcome, and Keoua’s heart sank. In his haste
+he waded through the taro-patch, instead of skirting the enclosure as
+usual. The child was there, he heard its cry before he entered, but
+of wife there was no sign. The baby lay on the matted floor, feebly
+whining; the mother was gone, apparently not without struggle, for the
+matting at the door had been torn violently away, making the hut look
+like a desolate cave.
+
+Keoua did not search the enclosure: he knew what had happened. The
+officers of the Board of Health had found his hut at last, and had
+taken away his wife, for--_she was a leper_. They had taken her away in
+the husband’s absence, for they knew that, had he been there, he would
+have fought to the death. His loaded gun still lay where he had left it
+in the corner of the hut. They had taken her by violence as it seemed,
+and callously left the helpless babe behind, for Hawaiian officials,
+even those with bowels of compassion, were not much given to thinking
+about babies. Some Chinese coolies working in the neighborhood
+corroborated the suggestions of his fear. Luka had been carried away
+to the _haole_ (white) doctors, and she would be taken to Molokai, and
+there be dead--dead to husband, child and friends.
+
+Keoua was a crushed man when he took his helpless babe in his arms. It
+did not occur to him to give it away, as many of his friends would have
+done, or even to find a nurse for it. Somehow it reminded him that he
+once had a home. He did not go fishing now. For three or four days he
+tried to make the babe eat some _poi_, or even, so stupid or ignorant
+was the man, some hard taro, or a piece of banana, but, although it
+did not cry, it refused to eat, and one day towards evening its cries
+ceased forever. Then Keoua, more miserable and lonely than ever,
+wrapped the tiny corpse in fold upon fold of _kapa_ and took it to the
+Kawaiahao cemetery. Here, among the graves of so many of his fast-dying
+race, he found a little wooden hut and knocked at the door. An old
+white-haired Hawaiian, no other indeed than Keoua’s father, opened. He
+was living here on the very soil which was in time to be his grave, and
+to him Keoua handed the bundle without a word of explanation, even as
+to the absence of Luka. The two men uttered their “_auwe_” together,
+the young man in his youth and the old man in his age, over the body
+of the babe. Then, as the moon rose, silvering the cocoanut groves of
+Waikiki, Keoua stole back to his deserted hut, with the instinct of a
+beast wishing to hide its head in the earth.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Two days later the “_Likelike_” is on her way from Honolulu to Mani.
+What a dream that voyage is! For a while the empty craters of Leahi and
+Koko Head, fringed with breakers along the coral reef, stand out in
+glorious sunlight. Then suddenly--
+
+  “The sun’s rim dips,
+   The stars rush out,
+   At one stride comes the dark.”
+
+Mattresses are spread on deck, the passengers stretch themselves for
+sleep, the air is heavy with the scent of the wreaths of flowers with
+which almost every voyager is bedecked; overhead the stars swing
+like lamps, or as though the whole vault of heaven, with its million
+eyes, were one lamp swaying in infinite space. Then, with a faint
+consciousness of something breaking in upon your dream, you feel an
+anchor drop and hear the splash of oars. You have not, however, reached
+your destination yet. This is some boat coming off from the shores of
+Molokai for stores for a lonely ranch in the mountains. If you rise,
+you may lean over the bulwarks and look through the mists upon a black
+mass of mountain wall which conceals the most loathsome scene the
+world affords--the great lazar house of Hawaii in Nature’s fairest
+garden, the saddest witness our earth possesses to the existence of the
+serpent’s trail.
+
+Yes, it is not the chill night-mist which makes you shiver; for,
+although you know the leper settlement is not on this side of the
+island, at Kaunakakai, but on the other side over the _pali_ at
+Kalaupapa, you feel that no wall of mountain can shut out the thought
+of thirteen hundred fellow creatures suffering a living death in the
+land which God made so fair.
+
+If you had been onboard the “_Likelike_” on the day of which I speak,
+you would have heard, almost coincident with the lifting of the anchor,
+a splash so indistinct that when some one shouted “Man overboard!”
+few believed the cry. Men lazily looked over the bulwarks, but saw
+nothing, for the moon was behind the mountain, and presently, with the
+comforting assurance that, if anybody had gone overboard, he was by
+this time food for sharks, lay back on their mattresses to continue
+their dreams and their voyage.
+
+But a man _had_ gone overboard, a man whose heart was bent on crossing
+seas and mountains to his leper bride. Keoua swam ashore silently,
+fearing every second to see the white fin of a shark start up beside
+him in the water. Once he felt the cold, slimy sucker of a squid
+against his ankle, but he tore himself free, and, shooting on a high
+roller through a narrow break in the reef, lay at last, spent and
+breathless, but safe upon the beach.
+
+Yet the worst was still before him. Kalaupapa could only be approached
+by crossing the mountain range, and the only path on the other side was
+down a _pali_ so steep that it made the head of the bravest climber
+dizzy to look upon it. However, there was no help for it, and in a
+few minutes, Keoua, recovering from the exhaustion consequent upon
+his swim, set off on the upward journey. This was comparatively easy,
+though it was still easier in the darkness to miss the path and get
+into those haunted gorges where of old the poison goddess had her
+grove. Long ropes of _ieie_, tough as wire cables, formed a ladder
+up the face of the mountain. By these, scarcely touching the ground,
+he toiled upwards through tangled growths which would otherwise have
+been impassable. When he reached the top, the sun was just rising from
+the clouds, and revealing one after another the majestic ridges of
+Haleakala and the rock-bound coasts of Maui and Lanai. Then the wind
+came sweeping up and threatened to dash the intruder backwards down the
+rocks. The trees swayed and bent, the foliage of the _kukui_ shivered
+with its ghostly sheen, the clouds swept away from the bay of Kalawao,
+and there, several thousand feet below, lay the white roofs and
+_lanais_ of as peaceful a settlement, to all appearances, as any upon
+which the sun has ever shone.
+
+But if ever a place could be called a whited sepulchre it was this;
+not that Christian love and self-sacrifice had not cast an aureole
+of beauty about it which made it sacred, but because here was the
+realization of Milton’s terrible vision:
+
+  “A lazar house it seemed, wherein were laid
+   Numbers of all diseased; all maladies
+   Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms
+   Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,
+   Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs,
+   Intestine stone and ulcer, cholic pangs,
+   Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy,
+   And moonstruck madness, pining atrophy,
+   Marasmus and wide-wasting pestilence,
+   Dropsies and asthmas and joint-racking rheums.
+   Dire was the tossing, deep the groans: Despair
+   Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch;
+   And over them triumphant Death his dart
+   Shook, but delayed to strike, though oft invoked,
+   With vows, as their chief good and final hope.”
+
+How could Nature sing so sweetly and smile so fair when the eyes rested
+upon a cancer so foul!
+
+Keoua looked down as though he expected to see there the grass hut
+of Pauoa Valley with Luka and her baby at the door to greet him, but
+the place seemed deserted till, when half-way down, the sweet tinkle
+of a chapel bell roused him from a dream, and he supported himself
+by a clump of guava bushes to watch the dark-cassocked priests and
+white-hooded sisters passing from the House of Misery to the solace of
+the House of God. Such was the mood of Keoua that he could not feel any
+thrill in the thought of these brave men and sweet women thus living
+in grim company with death. He thought only of the curse the white man
+had brought to his race from the days of Cook, the discoverer, to the
+day when the fruits of ancient vice had burst forth in the heart of his
+own home. So it was with hard and bitter thoughts he hastened on his
+way, scarce knowing what he intended to do, perhaps carry Luka bodily
+away from the pest-house to the fastnesses of the mountains, where they
+might live like the free wild beasts and die in peace.
+
+As he came near the hospital, however, there met him, sauntering forth,
+a man dressed in a cool suit of white linen, whose keen eye and earnest
+serious face proclaimed him the doctor.
+
+He glanced at the wayfarer with something of surprise, seeing that he
+was endeavoring to avoid an encounter.
+
+“_Aloha!_” he exclaimed, using the familiar Hawaiian greeting. The man
+made no response, but looked savagely on the ground.
+
+“Hello, my man; what’s the matter?” For Keoua looked ghastly through
+his olive skin, and his steps tottered. But strength came to answer,
+fiercely:
+
+“_Hele aku_--go away--curse you. Before time, _kanaka_ live here, no
+_pake mai_--(leprosy)--all _maikai loa_--very good. Then _haole_ man
+come, bring _pake mai_. Poor _kanaka_ die; make die all time. _Haole_
+man thief steal kanaka’s _wahine_; _haole_ man kill _kanaka’s keiki_
+(child). _Hele!_”
+
+The doctor thought of all he might say, for it was eminently
+reasonable, all this segregation, and the kanaka had much cause to
+be grateful for what the government was doing for the lepers. But he
+knew logic was not what the poor wretch wanted, and while he hesitated
+the need of answering vanished, for there rose up from the hospital a
+strange sound, strange at least from such a place. It was the strain
+of a band of music, plaintive yet joyful--no dirge, but the voice of
+rejoicing. For in this lazar-house joy is not unknown, albeit it comes
+at an hour when others weep. A soul freed from pain, from pollution,
+and from the body of death, born into the light of Paradise--in such a
+case was it not fitting that cymbals should clash and trumpets sound?
+
+“_Heaha kela?_” exclaimed Keoua; “what is that?”
+
+“The good God has taken to rest the soul of a poor woman who was glad
+to go.”
+
+“What was her name?” cried the Hawaiian, excitedly.
+
+“Luka,” replied the doctor.
+
+An ashy pallor spread over the man’s already bloodless face. It was
+plain to the doctor that Death had come even quicker than Love. Then
+there came a bitter cry, mingled with bitter laughter.
+
+“_Akua maikai!_ Good God!... Ha, ha, ha, ha.... He bad God! He all same
+_haole_! Steal poor kanaka’s _wahine_.... _Auwe_ ... _auwe_.... Me
+curse Him!”
+
+But the curse came not. A change as though an angel had whispered
+to him came swift as thought. He pressed his hands on his heart and
+murmured:
+
+“Me no curse Him! Good God! He good God! Sweet wife, sweet _keiki_ ...
+I come. _E Christo e aloha mai._” Then he fell heavily to the ground.
+
+An angel had indeed spoken to him--the kindest angel whom God had sent
+to Kalaupapa--the angel of Death.
+
+The music played on, and celestial harmonies seemed to mingle with its
+strains. It was as though glad spirits met and welcomed one another in
+a land fairer even than Hawaii, a land, moreover, where the serpent’s
+blight may never come.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+A double funeral took place in the leper cemetery that very afternoon,
+and those who were there said the priest must have been absent-minded,
+for at the close of the service he spread his hands over the grave and
+said:
+
+“Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.”
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
+
+
+  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
+
+  Perceived typographical errors have been corrected.
+
+  Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
+
+  Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76499 ***