Chapter V

were fought, where Kualii maintained his title of king of Oahu, after the land matters were satisfactorily arranged, he again set sail for Hawaii and landed in Hilo where he took up his residence for some time. While there word was brought to him of wars on Molokai, where several pitched battles had been fought and the chiefs were in conflict with one another all the time. The cause of all the trouble was this: The chiefs on the Koolau side of Molokai were anxious to get possession of Kekaha, a stretch of country from Kawela to Maamomi; and the reason why these chiefs were so desirous of getting possession of this section of country was on account of the fishing. But the chiefs of Kekaha, knowing the value of these fishing grounds, were determined to hold on to them; so this determination on their part caused a general internal conflict at this time.

When Kualii heard of this general conflict on Molokai, he left Hilo and set sail for Molokai. On the way Kualii touched at Honokawai in Kaanapali, Maui, where a chief by the name of Paepae arrived at the same time. This Paepae was one of the chiefs of Kekaha, and the reason why he had come to Maui was to enlist Kauhi, one of the chiefs of Maui, to come to their aid. This Kauhi was the son of Kauhiakama, the younger brother of Kamalalawalu. Upon Paepae’s arrival at Kaanapali he was told that Kualii had already arrived there. Upon hearing this he went to ascertain whether it was really the Kualii who was noted for his great strength. That was the sole purpose of Paepae’s visit to see and be assured that it was Kualii.

When Paepae saw for himself that it was indeed Kualii he decided there and then to abandon his first idea of enlisting Kauhi’s aid, and left in haste for Kekaha to notify the chiefs of his discovery and to ask their consent to the change in the programme. Upon his arrival at Kaunakakai he found that all the chiefs of Kekaha had gone to Kalamaula preparing for another battle to commence upon the arrival of Kauhi. But when Paepae arrived at Kalamaula the chiefs saw that Paepae had returned alone and so were anxious to hear what he had to say about his mission.

When Paepae came up to the chiefs he was asked: “Where is Kauhi, the chief?” Paepae replied: “I left here with my mind fully made up to procure Kauhi, but upon my arrival at Kaanapali I met Kualii, the king of Oahu, so I returned to inform you of this fact and to urge upon you to try and enlist him on our side, else the Koolau chiefs will get him first.” When the chiefs heard this they urged upon Paepae to again set sail, and also sent Kapolei, daughter of Keopuolono, to entertain Kualii. Early that morning Paepae reached Kaanapali, but to his surprise found that Kualii had already left for Molokai at dawn.

Upon hearing that Kualii had already left for Molokai, he boarded his canoes again and returned in haste. While in mid-channel he saw the flapping of the sails of canoes inside of the reef at Kamalo, so Paepae followed in. Before the several things in Kualii’s canoes could be taken ashore and before the canoes could be hauled on the beach, Paepae arrived and moored his canoe at the stern of Kualii’s canoes. Without further delay Paepae told Kualii the object of his errand in the following words: “I have come to entreat you to come to our rescue. The chiefs of Koolau have taken up arms against us with the intention of taking away from us our lands from Kawela to Maamomi. Because of this desire on their part we have had several disputes and a battle is about to commence. A minor engagement has already taken place, however, in which we were beaten. The majority of the chiefs are encamped on the top of Maunaloa.”

When Kualii heard this he immediately gave his consent and the canoes were again put to sea and they set sail for Kaunakakai where they arrived in due time. A council was then held by the chiefs, at the close of which they set out. The men were embarked on the canoes, while the Molokai chiefs and Kualii went by land until they reached Maamomi, where Kualii and the chiefs took the canoes and set sail for Kalaupapa.

When the chiefs of Koolau heard that the war was to be carried into Kalaupapa, the war canoes were put out from Halawa and from all the Koolau side to go to battle. But Kualii and his chief warriors, Maheleana and Malanaihaehae, with two other warriors had already encountered the chiefs residing at Kalaupapa and had defeated these chiefs. But other chiefs of Koolau and Kona with their men arrived soon after this who were prepared to continue the battle against the chiefs of Kekaha. In this battle Paepae was very conspicuous both in strength and bravery, so much so that he and his force surpassed the chief warriors of Kualii. When Kualii and his followers were victorious over all the chiefs of Molokai all the lands on the Koolau side came into Paepae’s possession. This victory was not, however, gained through the use of the war clubs, but through the use of Kualii’s stone axe named Haulanuiakea. Following is the story of the destruction of the enemy by Kualii with the blade of the axe.

While Kualii and his followers were floating in their canoes over the sand bar at Kalaupapa the soldiers from Koolau swam out to the canoes of Kualii with the intention of capturing them; there were some forties in number. When they got to the canoes they took hold of them and lifted them onto their shoulders. While this was being done Kualii rose with his axe in hand and swung it along one side of the canoes killing those on that side, which caused the canoes to lean toward that side as the canoes were then on the shoulders of the men. When Malanaihaehae saw that the people on one side of the canoes were all slain, he rose and reached for the axe which was being held in Kualii’s hand and swung it along the other side of the canoes, which slew all the people on that side; and the canoes again fell on even keel in the sea and floated as before.

Not very long after this some more of the enemy came along, equal in number to those that had been slain, and again lifted up the canoes of Kualii just as the others had done, without any signs of fear, although the others were floating around dead. Again the axe was used with deadly effect and again Kualii and his followers were victorious by the use of the blade of Haulanuiakea. This was kept up until the whole army was slain.

At the final battle which was fought at Pelekunu, Kualii left the fighting to Paepae and Malanaihaehae. Again Paepae showed his quality by routing the whole army. After this great slaughter at Pelekunu, Paepae stood up in the canoe and spoke to the people in a boastful manner saying: “You are all slain by the war club of Kualii.” At these words the people were for the first time made aware of the fact that it was Kualii that had killed their men. The chiefs of Koolau then gave up to Kualii the whole of Molokai. It was this battle that a few lines of the Kualii mele speaks of in