Namaka was a noted man of the time of Kalaniopuu. He was born on Kauai,
but journeyed forth to find some one whom he would like to call his
lord. He was skilled in managing land (Kalai-aina), an orator
(Kakaolelo), and could recite genealogies (Kaauhau). He excelled in
spear-throwing (lonomakaihe), boxing or breaking the back of his
opponent (lua), leaping or flying (lele) and astronomy (kilo). All this
he had learned on Kauai.
Sailing from Kauai he landed on Oahu. In Nuuanu Valley he met Pakuanui,
a very skilful man, a fine orator and boxer. He was the father of
Ka-ele-o-waipio, a noted man of the time of Kamehameha, the maker of a
chant for the missionaries at Kailua.
Toward the upper end of Nuuanu Valley, in a place Ka-hau-komo, where
spreading hau [27] trees cluster on both sides of the road, Namaka and
Pakuanui had a contest. They prepared themselves for boxing and
wrestling, and then faced each other to show their skill and agility.
This man from Kauai appeared like a rainbow bending over the hau-trees,
arched in the red rain, or in the mist cloud over the Pali, as he
circled around Pakuanui. He was like the ragged clouds of Lanihuli, or
the wind rushing along the top of the Pali. His hands were like the
rain striking the leaves of the bushes of Malailua. He was so swift and
strong that he could catch Pakuanui in any part of his body.
The man of Oahu could not hold Namaka. That Kauai man was as slippery
as an eel, and as hard to hold as certain kinds of smooth, slimy fish,
always escaping the hands of Pakuanui. But he could strike any place.
The hill of the forehead he struck, the ridge of the nose also. There
was no place he could not touch. He rushed like a whirlwind around the
man. However, he did not try to kill Pakuanui. He wished only to
display his skill.
Pakuanui was very much ashamed and angry because he could not do
anything with Namaka, and planned to kill him when they should reach
the Pali (precipice of Nuuanu Valley), to which they were going after
the boxing contest.
When they came to Kapili at the top of the Pali, a very narrow place,
Pakuanui said to Namaka, “You may go before me.”
Namaka passed by on the outside and Pakuanui gave him a kick, knocking
him over the Pali, expecting him to be dashed to pieces on the rocks at
the foot of the precipice.
But Namaka flew away from the edge of the Pali. The people who were
watching said: “He went off. He flew off from the Pali like an Io bird,
leaping into the air of Lanihuli, spreading out his arms like wings.
When the strong wind twisted and whirled, Namaka was lifted like a kite
by the wind, and hung among the kukui branches below a little waterfall
which is on the western side of the precipice where a rivulet starts on
its way to the ocean.” Then he leaped to the ground and went away to
Maui. At Pohakuloa, on Maui, Namaka leaped down some precipices,
showing his strength and skill.
When Namaka came to Hawaii, Kalaniopuu was king. He liked him very much
and hoped to have him as his lord.
Note: The older natives sometimes recall this wonderful flight of the
man from Kauai who was skilful in leaping and flying from the edge of
precipices.
However, another man from Kauai was a favorite with the king. He knew
Namaka, and was afraid that he might be supplanted when the king should
learn about Namaka’s wonderful powers, so he gave no welcome to Namaka,
but turned him away.
Namaka went to Waimea and found Hinai, the high chief of that place, a
near relative to Kalaniopuu. He told Hinai what he could do, and was
made a favorite of the high chief.
He taught Hinai how to be very skilful in all his arts, and especially
in leaping from precipices. He hoped that Hinai’s skill would be noised
abroad, and the king would hear and wish to have the teacher come to
live with him.
Hinai became very proficient, and even wonderful, in standing on the
edge of high precipices and leaping down unhurt. These places have been
pointed out to the young people by their parents.
When the favorite of Kalaniopuu heard that there was a very skilful man
from Kauai stopping with the high chief of Waimea, he told the king
that an enemy from Kauai was in Waimea.
The king listened to this man and then he charged Namaka with trying to
make his relative Hinai so skilful in leaping down high places that he
could always escape any attempt to injure him.
The favorite said: “This man, Namaka, can fly over mountains and
streams and precipices and plains and not be killed. He is a rebel
against your kingdom.”
Kalaniopuu commanded some men to go and kill this stranger from Kauai,
telling them to begin war upon Hinai if he opposed their attempt to
take the stranger.
Namaka had prepared himself for escape by digging in the ground and
making a pit under his house, with a tunnel and an opening some
distance away.
The warriors from Kalaniopuu surrounded the house, thinking he was
inside. They consulted about the best method of killing him, and
decided to burn him up. They set fire to the house and destroyed it and
went away, believing this stranger had been burned to death.
Namaka easily escaped from Hawaii and crossed over to Maui, where he
remained some time, but he found no one whom he wished to take as his
lord. Then he went to Oahu, and at last returned to his home on Kauai.
There prophesying about the chiefs of Hawaii, whom he had considered
superior to those on Maui and Oahu, but not equal to the royal family
of Kauai, he spoke thus: “There is no ruling chief in Hawaii who can
step his foot on the tabu sand of Kahamaluihi [Kauai]. There is no war
canoe or divine chief who can come to Kauai unless a treaty has been
made between the two ruling chiefs.”
The natives call this a prophecy of the skilled chief who could fly
from Nuuanu Pali, and think it was fulfilled because Kamehameha never
conquered Kauai, but secured it by concession from its king.
Note: History repeats itself the world over. Recently the bird-men
visited Hawaii and gave exhibitions of flying in aëroplanes. According
to old Hawaiian traditions, however, there were bird-men in Hawaii
before the white man came, as the foregoing translation from one of the
old legends illustrates.