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Statue of Kameharneha 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.
NEW YORK
COCHRANE PUBLISHING CO.
1908




- -- --— "I --- —




_h I    f   e. ~7 I 
Copyright, 1908, by
COCHRANE PUBLISHING CO




'- rf  - f t. 
-'   - - -
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 I736, achieved the
unification of the group in 1795, and died in I819,
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
I




INTRODUCTION


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 I816. 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




INTRODUCTION


3


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"),




INTRODUCTION


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 1. 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 tothe 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




INTRODUCTION


5


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




INTRODUCTION


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
Caesar. 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




INTRODUCTION


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 EnglishmenYoung 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 con



8               INTRODUCTION
demnation 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
-— THE POISON GODDESS OF MOLOKAI.......  II
II-THE STORY OF THE KIHA-PU........... I9
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..........    IOI




4




Hawaiian Idylls of Love and Death


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 pigeverything 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
II




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


I3


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 onehalf 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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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 dedi



HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


cated 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.
"0 Kalaipahoa," he cried, "why am I worse off
than the serfs who died in Maunaloa? They stand in




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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




i8          HAWAIIAN     IDYLLS
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.




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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




20


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


21


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 I889, 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 mamne 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




22


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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 trum



OF LOVE AND DEATH


23


pet. 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




24


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


25


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 po



26          HAWAIIAN      IDYLLS
tent 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.




OF LOVE AND DEATH


27


IIl
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.




28           HAWAIIAN     IDYLLS
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 fleetfooted 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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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"




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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. En



OF LOVE AND DEATH


3I


cumbered 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, sandal-wood, 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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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 ven



OF LOVE AND       DEATH           32
tured 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.




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH                35
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.




36


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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




38           HAWAIIAN     IDYLLS
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!"* said the
faithful slaves as the sharp instrument of fish-bones
pierced their skin.
"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
*" Great is the pain, but greater still is our love."




OF LOVE AND DEATH


39


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 Mfis 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 landingplace 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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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 deathboat 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 bv the club
of the ilamoku. All men wept to see such sacrilege
committed, as the old man stood un for his deathblow 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, 0 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 mo



OF LOVE AND DEATH


ment 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




42           HAWAIIAN      IDYLLS
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. 




OF LOVE AND DEATH


43


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,




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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? Alohal
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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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 awaywhy, 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-roll



46


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


ing 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.




OF LOVE AND DEATH


47


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




48


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


49


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 prisonhouse. 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




50           HAWAIIAN     IDYLLS
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."




OF LOVE AND DEATH


VI
PELE DECLARES FOR KAMEHAMEHA
' HE 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.




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


53


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, I790, 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,"




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


"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 unapai, and




OF LOVE AND DEATH


55


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:
"0 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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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 oheloberries. 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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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




58


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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."




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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




60o


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


death"-not only among the yellow-cloaked aliis who
had hurled their spears in vain against the "redmouthed" 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
T-orld. So with a little cry, which might have been
'e expression of disappointment or of hope, Liliha,
laughter of the high-priest of Kauai and wife of




OF LOVE AND DEATH


6i


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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


63


after another, with a sidelong glance at the helpless
prisoner, yielded to the seductive narcotic and slepta 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,




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


one word passed between them, as they gazed halffrightened 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,




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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 eyescame 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




66          HAWAIIAN      IDYLLS
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.




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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 Leiiehua 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
I-Iakuole, 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.




OF LOVE AND DEATH


69


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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


7I


the pride of his manhood, the bravest, the strongest of
the young alis. 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 conchshell 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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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 "Auze"




OF LOVE AND DEATH


73


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 Pali-uli, 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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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 tabusticks, 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, papal, 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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


forward to the presence of the king. "0 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,he




76


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


77


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.




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


79


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,




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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 grew
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.




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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




84


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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 urn




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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:
"0 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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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.
"0 Kaala! Kaaialii is here!" He pushed back herwet




OF LOVE AND DEATH


87


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.




88


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


"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."




OF LOVE AND DEATH


89


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 con



HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


cealed 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 I8I9 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, mon



OF LOVE AND DEATH


9r


sters 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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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-prest, 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,




OF LOVE AND DEATH


93


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.




94


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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 highpriest, 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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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,




OF LOVE AND DEATH


97


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 I9, 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 mesenger 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




98


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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 tempta



OF LOVE AND DEATH


tion 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:




100         HAWAIIAN      IDYLLS
"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?




OF LOVE AND DEATH


I01


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




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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 taropatch, 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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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 whitehaired 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.




o104


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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 on board 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




io6


HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


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;




OF LOVE AND DEATH


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.




HAWAIIAN IDYLLS


"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 Iazar-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.




OF LOVE AND DEATH


"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."




I




UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
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