CHAPTER I.

RELATING TO KALAEPUNI.

Kalanipo and Kamaelekapu were the father and mother of Kalaepuni and Kalaehina. Kalaepuni was the elder and Kalaehina was the younger. They were born and raised in Holualoa, Kona, during the reign of Keawenuiaumi, king of Hawaii. Regarding Kalaepuni: he was a very mischievous boy and one who was without fear. At the age of six he was able to whip all his playmates and his strength developed from that time on until he reached the age of twenty years, at which time Kalaepuni became famous [195] over the whole of Hawaii for his great strength. At twenty he determined to kill all the young chiefs of Hawaii, [196] those who were of very high blood as well as those of low blood, both big and small, even the mere sucklings. In his plan to kill all the chiefs he did not intend to kill Keawenuiaumi, because, as he reasoned, Keawenuiaumi was already well on in years. But Keawenuiaumi [197] was afraid of Kalaepuni and he made his plans to escape and to get out from the presence of Kalaepuni.

Shortly after the events narrated above, Kalaepuni went out fishing with some of Keawenuiaumi’s fishermen to the fishing grounds outside of Kalahiki; they went out shark fishing. After some of the bait was thrown out the sharks began to gather under the canoe, when the baited hooks were let down and several sharks were caught and hauled into the canoe. While Keawenuiaumi’s men were hauling the sharks up, Kalaepuni jumped out amongst the sharks that were gathered under the canoe and began to fight them, [198] killing them all. After killing all the sharks, Kalaepuni began boasting, saying: “Henceforth I shall use my hands as hooks for catching sharks and shall make all sharks as dust in my hands.”

After they had been fishing for some time they returned and landed their canoe at Honaunau where a large kou tree was standing. This was a very large tree requiring three men to span its girth. Kalaepuni, however, took hold of the tree and pulled it up by the roots [199] as though it was but a blade of grass, so resistless was it. After pulling up the tree he again boasted, saying: “I am going to turn my hands into an axe for the cutting down of trees for canoes in Hilo.”

Because of these feats of great strength shown by Kalaepuni before the king, Keawenuiaumi became more and more afraid of him and he went and hid himself in a place back of the Hualalai mountain, between Maunaloa and the Kona mountain. The place after this became famous because it was here that Keawenuiaumi lived in hiding, near the Ahu-a-Umi [200] as can be seen to this day, lying back of the Kona mountain and in the eastern part of that district.

Before Keawenuiaumi went off to hide himself, he left word with one of his servants, Maunaloa by name, as follows: “I am now on my way. If Kalaepuni comes while you are here, tell him that I am dead.” [201] The servant consented to do this. Keawenuiaumi then departed on his way to the place mentioned above. After the departure of Keawenuiaumi, Kalaepuni arrived at the house and asked Maunaloa as to the whereabouts of the king. Maunaloa answered that the king was dead. Kalaepuni then took charge of the whole island of Hawaii and he reigned as king in place of Keawenuiaumi.

While Keawenuiaumi was in the mountain he one day said to his high priest, [202] Mokupane: “You must invoke the gods for the death of Kalaepuni that I may again reign as king of the whole of Hawaii.” Soon after this request of the king was made, Mokupane the priest sent two forties of men to Kahoolawe on canoes to dig a well [203] ten fathoms in depth and to place large rocks around the mouth of the well. The name of the land where they were to dig the well is known as Keanapou and it is there to this day. After the well was dug and the rocks put in place, an old man and his wife were placed in charge of it; they were fisher folks.

When the two forties of men were ready to return to Hawaii, Mokupane the priest instructed the old couple, saying: “If a very large man with locks of hair that are as long as a bunch of olona [204] should come while you two are here, that is the man for whom this well has been prepared and here he must die. When he comes give him all your fish so that after he shall have eaten the fish he will be very thirsty. When he asks of you for some water don’t give him any, but direct him to this well.” After these instructions were imparted by the priest, he and the men returned to Hawaii, where the priest began to invoke of the gods for the death of Kalaepuni.

Soon after Mokupane began on his prayers it was reported all over Hawaii that great schools of sharks were being seen daily at Kauhola off the coast of Kohala. When this was reported to Kalaepuni he at once entertained a strong desire to go to Kauhola and have some sport with the sharks, as it was his chief delight to kill them.

After Kalaepuni had arrived at Kohala and set foot at Kauhola he saw a large number of people gathered at the place looking at the sharks. When Kalaepuni saw them he jumped in and began to fight the sharks, killing a good many of them. While Kalaepuni was busily engaged in his fight with the sharks he did not notice how he was being carried away from land by a strong current into the channel of Alanuihaha. [205] After being in the sea for three nights and three days he landed at Keanapou [206] in Kahoolawe. When he reached the shore he looked about him and saw a small house, near by, to which he then went. Upon arrival at the place he looked and saw an aged couple who greeted him, which greeting he returned. The old people then asked him: “Did you come from the sea?” “Yes,” said Kalaepuni. “I have been three days and nights in the sea before I landed here.” Kalaepuni then asked the old people: “Have you any food?” The old people said: “No, there is no food in this place. The only food that you can get in this place is what is brought here in canoes. When any one comes from Honuaula [207] or Ukumehame,[207] then we get food. The only food that grows here is the kupala.” [208]

Kalaepuni then looked up and saw a shelf with some fish being put out to be dried and asked: “Who owns that fish?” “We do,” answered the old people. Kalaepuni then asked them: “May I have some fish?” The old people then gave him all the fish and Kalaepuni began to eat them until he had finished the whole lot. Kalaepuni then asked: “Is this all the fish you have?” The old people said: “We have two calabashes of pickled ones left.” Kalaepuni then took the fish from the two calabashes and devoured them all. After this Kalaepuni became very thirsty and so asked of the old people for some water. The aged couple then said: “We have no water. The only water we have here is the salt water. Fresh water can only be had after a rain storm; but salt water is our only water; it is in a well.” After this Kalaepuni went and climbed down the well to take a drink.

While Kalaepuni was drinking the water in the well, the old people began to roll down the rocks that were around the mouth of the well. After the back of Kalaepuni was covered with rocks he would move and the rocks would roll off; but the two kept on rolling the rocks until the well was almost filled up, without killing Kalaepuni. In all this Kalaepuni still kept on drinking and as the water was covered over with the rocks he could get but very little.

When Kalaepuni saw that the two were bent on killing him he called out: “I am going to kill you two.” He then began to turn and twist out of the rocks until he had freed himself. When the old people saw that they would get killed if Kalaepuni could get to the top, the old man ran away. When the old woman saw this she called out: “Are you going to run away? Is it not best to continue the fight until the enemy is killed? Do you suppose that you could save yourself by running? You will get killed if you run and you will get killed if you stay, for with this great strength none will ever escape.” With all this the old man kept on running and he never once turned back. The old woman, however, kept on rolling down the rocks till one happened to strike Kalaepuni on the head killing him.