Chapter 36 of 86 · 800 words · ~4 min read

CHAPTER IX

HOW HOOIPOIKAMALANAI AND HER SISTER LIVED IN WAIPIO AND THEIR RETURN TO KAUAI.

Hooipoikamalanai and her sister lived with their sons in Waipio many days after this; but when the food began to show itself above the ground in all the lands, then they returned to Kauai where Kila, his brothers and mother and aunt, made new regulations and adjustments of the land and its government. Hooipoikamalanai and her sister desired and insisted that Kila take charge and act as king of Kauai according to the wish of Moikeha. In this desire of Hooipoikamalanai and her sister they were disappointed, as Kila did not wish it to be so, but insisted that his mother and aunt should be at the head of the government, their sons to live with them as advisers, while he himself was to be independent; for, as he expressed it, he was satisfied with his own land, Waipio. When his mother and aunt saw they could not prevail on Kila to think as they did, Hooipoikamalanai and her sister acted as the rulers of Kauai until their death, while Kila returned to Waipio with Kunaka, his adopted father.

At the death of Hooipoikamalanai and Hinauu, their sons lived on after them as the joint heirs and successors of the land in the place of their mothers. At about this time Keoloewa, one of the chiefs of Kauai, rose in revolt against the sons of Moikeha, in which he became victorious, and the sons of Moikeha were thus deprived of their lands; for Keoloewa, by reason of his conquest, took all the lands to himself. Shortly after this Keoloewa set sail for Waipio, Hawaii, to urge upon Kila to come back to Kauai to be its king. Upon explaining his mission, Kunaka accepted the offer made in behalf of his adopted son, and Kila returned with Keoloewa to Kauai and assumed the position as king of Kauai with Keoloewa as his prime minister. Shortly after Kila had assumed the position of chief ruler of Kauai, Laamaikahiki arrived from Tahiti, this being his second visit to Hawaii.

LAAMAIKAHIKI’S SECOND VISIT.

After Laamaikahiki arrived at Tahiti upon his return from his first visit to Hawaii, he heard through Hawena that Moikeha had died; so he decided to come for the bones of Moikeha his father. Laamaikahiki soon after set sail for Hawaii and first appeared off the Kau coast, and by evening of the same day had his canoe moored on the beach at Kailikii. The following story is told of his arrival at Kau.

Late in the evening the people of Kau heard the beating of a drum together with the notes of a kaeke [126] flute, which startled them and they rushed out to see where these sounds came from. When they got outside they saw that these sounds came from aboard of a double canoe. Upon seeing this the people remarked: “It is the canoe of the god Kupulupulu. These sounds came from that canoe.” When the people heard that it was Kupulupulu’s canoe they prepared food and swine as offerings to the god. As soon as it was daylight the next day the canoe and the people on it were seen, and the people ashore cried out: “Ye makers of the sounds, here is food and swine; they are offerings for the god.”

Laamakahiki, however, did not make a long stay at Kailikii, when he again set sail, coming along the Kona coast. On this passage from Kau to Kona, Laamakahiki continued to beat the drum and play on the flute, and he was accorded the same treatment by the Kona people as was given him by the people of Kau. It was on this visit that hula dancing, accompanied by the drum, is said to have been introduced in Hawaii by Laamaikahiki.

Laamaikahiki, after receiving food and swine from the Kona people, continued on his journey to Kauai where he met his brother [127] Kila and made arrangements as to the taking of the bones of Moikeha to Tahiti. Soon after these arrangements were made the bones of Moikeha were brought from Haena. On this occasion Laamaikahiki made a long visit on Kauai and occupied his time in teaching the people the art of dancing. From Kauai Laamaikahiki visited all the other islands of this group for the purpose of teaching the people the drum dance.

Soon after Laamaikahiki’s return to Kauai from his tour of the other islands, he made ready for his return to Tahiti, taking with him his brother Kila and the bones of their father [128] which were to be deposited in the mountain of Kapaahu, Moikeha’s own inheritance, where Laamaikahiki and Kila also lived until their death. Nothing more was heard of these two since that time.