The three great mountains of Hawaii had been built many centuries
before Pele found an abiding home in the pit of Kilauea. Kilauea itself
appears rather as a shelter to which she fled than as a house of her
own building. The sea waters quenched the fires built by her at lower
levels, forcing her up higher and higher toward the mountains until she
took refuge in the maelstrom of eternal fire known for centuries among
the Hawaiians as Ka lua o Pele (The pit of Pele),—the boiling centre of
the active pit of fire. Some legends say that Kamapuaa drove Pele from
place to place by pouring in water.
The Kalakaua legends probably give the correct idea of the growths of
Pele-worship as the goddess of volcanic fires when they say that the
Pele family of brave and venturesome high chiefs with their followers
settled under the shadows of the smoke-clouds from Kilauea and were
finally destroyed by some overwhelming eruption. And yet the
destruction was so spectacular, or at least so mysterious, that the
idea took firm root that Pele and her brothers and sisters, instead of
passing out of existence, entered into the volcano to dwell there as
living spirits having the fires of the under-world as their continual
heritage. From this home of fire Pele and her sisters could come forth
assuming the forms in which they had been seen as human beings. This
power has been the cause of many legends about Pele and her adventures
with various chiefs whom she at last overwhelmed with boiling floods of
lava tossed out of her angry heart. In this way she appeared in
different parts of the island of Hawaii apparently no longer having any
fear of danger to her home from incoming seas.
The last great battle between sea and fire was connected with Pele as a
fire-goddess and Kamapuaa, the demi-god, part hog and part man. It is a
curious legend in which human and divine elements mingle like the
changing scenes of a dream. This naturally follows the statement in
some of the legends that Ku, one of the highest gods among the
Polynesians as well as among the Hawaiians, was an ancestor of
Kamapuaa, protecting him and giving him the traits of a demi-god.
Kamapuaa had passed through many adventures on the islands of Oahu and
Kauai, and had lived for a time on Maui. He had, according to some of
the legends, developed his mysterious powers so that he could become a
fish whenever he wished, so sometimes he was represented as leaping
into the sea, diving down to great depth, and swimming until he felt
the approach of rising land, then he would come to the surface, call
out the name of the island and go ashore for a visit with the
inhabitants or dive again and pass on to another island. Thus he is
represented as passing to Hawaii after his adventures on the islands of
Kauai and Oahu.
On Hawaii he entered into the sports of the chiefs, gambling, boxing,
surf-riding, rolling the round ulu maika stone and riding the holua
(sled). Here he learned about the wonderful princess from the islands
of the southern seas who had made her home in the fountains of fire.
Some of the legends say that he returned to Oahu, gathered a company of
adherents and then visited the Pele family as a chief of high rank,
winning her as his bride and living with her some time, then separating
and dividing the island of Hawaii between them, Pele taking the
southern part of the island as the scene for her terrific eruptions,
and Kamapuaa ruling over the north, watering the land with gentle
showers or with melting snow, or sometimes with fierce storms, until
for many centuries fertile fields have rewarded the toil of man.
The better legends send Kamapuaa alone to the contest with the
fire-goddess, winning her for a time and then entering into a struggle
in which both lives were at stake.
It is said that one morning when the tops of the mountains were painted
by the sunlight from the sea, and the shadows in the valley were
creeping under the leaves of the trees of the forests, that Pele and
her sisters went down toward the hills of Puna. These sisters were
known as the Hiiakas, defined by Ellis, who gives the first account of
them, as “The cloud-holders.” Each one had a descriptive title, thus
Hiiaka-noho-lani was “The heaven-dwelling cloud-holder,”
Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele was “The cloud-holder in the bosom of Pele.”
There were at least six Hiiakas, and some legends give many more.
That morning they heard the sound of a drum in the distance. It was the
tum-tum-tum of a hula. Filled with curiosity they turned aside to see
what strangers had invaded their territory. One of the sisters, looking
over the plain to a hill not far away, called out, “What a handsome
man!” and asked her sisters to mark the finely formed athletic stranger
who was dancing gloriously outlined in the splendor of the morning
light.
Pele scornfully looked and said she saw nothing but a great hog-man,
whom she would quickly drive from her dominions. Then began the usual
war of words with which rival chiefs attacked each other. Pele taunted
Kamapuaa, calling him a hog and ascribing to him the characteristics
belonging to swine. Kamapuaa became angry and called Pele “the woman
with red burning eyes, and an angry heart unfit to be called a
chiefess.” Then Pele in her wrath stamped on the ground until
earthquakes shook the land around Kamapuaa and a boiling stream of lava
rolled down from the mountains above. The stranger, throwing around him
the finest tapa, stood unmoved until the flood of fire began to roll up
the hill on which he stood. Then raising his hands and uttering the
strongest incantations he called for heavy rains to fall. Soon the lava
became powerless in the presence of the stranger. Then Pele tried her
magical powers to see if she could subdue this stranger, but his
invocations seemed to be stronger than those falling from her lips, and
she gave up the attempt to destroy him. Pele was always a cruel,
revengeful goddess, sweeping away those against whom her wrath might be
kindled, even if they were close friends of her household.
The sisters finally prevailed upon her to send across to the hill
inviting the stranger, who was evidently a high chief, to come and
visit them. As the messenger started to bring the young man to the
sisters he stepped into the shadows, and the messenger found nothing
but a small hog rooting among the ferns. This happened day after day
until Pele determined to know this stranger chief who always succeeded
in thoroughly hiding himself, no matter how carefully the messengers
might search. At last the chant of the hula and the dance of the
sisters on the smooth pahoehoe [50] of a great extinct lava bed led the
young man to approach. Pele revealed herself in her rare and tempting
beauty, calling with a sweet voice for the stranger to come and rest by
her side while her sisters danced. Soon Pele was overcome by the
winning strength of this great chief, and she decided to marry him. So
they dwelt together in great happiness for a time, sometimes making
their home in one part of Puna and sometimes in another. The places
where they dwelt are pointed out even at this day by the natives who
know the traditions of Puna.
But Kamapuaa had too many of the habits and instincts of a hog to
please Pele, besides she was too quickly angry to suit the overbearing
Kamapuaa. Pele was never patient even with her sisters, so with
Kamapuaa she would burst into fiery rage, while taunts and bitter words
were freely hurled back and forth. Then Pele stamped on the ground, the
earth shook, cracks opened in the surface and sometimes clouds of smoke
and steam arose around Kamapuaa. He was unterrified and matched his
divine powers against hers. It was demi-god against demi-goddess. It
was the goddess of fire of Hawaii against the hog-god of Oahu. Pele’s
home life was given up. The bitterness of strife swept over the black
sands of the seashore. When the earth seemed ready to open its doors
and pour out mighty streams of flowing lava in the defence of Pele,
Kamapuaa called for the waters of the ocean to rise. Then flood met
fire and quenched it. Pele was driven inland. Her former lover,
hastening after her and striving to overcome her, followed her upward
until at last amid clouds of poisonous gases she went back into her
spirit home in the pit of Kilauea.
Then Kamapuaa as a god of the sea gathered the waters together in great
masses and hurled them into the firepit. Violent explosions followed
the inrush of waters. The sides of the great crater were torn to pieces
by fierce earthquakes. Masses of fire expanded the water into steam,
and Pele gathered the forces of the under-world to aid in driving back
Kamapuaa. The lavas rose in many lakes and fountains. Rapidly the
surface was cooled and the fountains checked, but just as rapidly were
new openings made and new streams of fire hurled at the demi-god of
Oahu. It was a mighty battle of the elements. The legends say that the
hog-man, Kamapuaa, poured water into the crater until its fires were
driven back to their lowest depths and Pele was almost drowned by the
floods. The clouds of the skies had dropped their burden of rain. All
the waters of the sea that Kamapuaa could collect had been poured into
the crater. Fornander gives a part of the prayer of Kamapuaa against
Pele. His appeal was directly to the gods of water for assistance. He
cried for
... “The great storm clouds of skie,”
while Pele prayed for
“The bright gods of the under-world,
The gods thick-clustered for Pele.”
It was the duty of the Pele family to stir up volcanic action, create
explosions, hurl lava into the air, make earthquakes, blow out clouds
of flames and smoke and sulphurous-burdened fumes against all enemies
of Pele. Into the conflict against Kamapuaa rushed the gods of Po, the
under-world, armed with spears of flashing fire, and hurling
sling-stones of lava. The storms of bursting gases and falling lavas
were more than Kamapuaa could endure. Gasping for breath and
overwhelmed with heat, he found himself driven back. The legends say
that Pele and her sisters drank the waters, so that after a time there
was no check against the uprising lava. The pit was filled and the
streams of fire flowed down upon Kamapuaa. He changed his body into a
kind of grass now known as Ku-kae-puaa, and tried to stop the flow of
the lava. Apparently the grass represented the bristles covering his
body when he changed himself into a hog. Kamapuaa has sometimes been
called the Samson of Hawaiian traditions, and it is possible that a
Biblical idea has crept into the modern versions of the story. Delilah
cut Samson’s hair and he became weak. The Hawaiian traditions say that,
if Kamapuaa’s bristles could be burned off, he would lose his power to
cope with Pele’s forces of fire. When the grass lay in the pathway of
the fire, the lava was turned aside for a time, but Pele, inspired by
the beginning of victory, called anew upon the gods of the under-world
for strong reinforcements.
Out from the pits of Kilauea came vast masses of lava piling up against
the field of grass in its pathway and soon the grass began to burn;
then Kamapuaa assumed again the shape of a man, the hair or bristles on
his body were singed and the smart of many burns began to cause agony.
Down he rushed to the sea, but the lava spread out on either side,
cutting off retreat along the beach. Pele followed close behind,
striving to overtake him before he could reach the water. The side
streams had reached the sea, and the water was rapidly heated into
tossing, boiling waves. Pele threw great masses of lava at Kamapuaa,
striking and churning the sea into which he leaped midst the swirling
heated mass. Kamapuaa gave up the battle, and, thoroughly defeated,
changed himself into a fish. To that fish he gave the tough pigskin
which he assumed when roaming over the islands as the hog-man. It was
thick enough to stand the boiling waves through which he swam out into
the deep sea. The Hawaiians say that this fish has always been able to
make a noise like the grunting of a small pig. To this fish was given
the name “humu-humu-nuku-nuku-a-puaa.”
It was said that Kamapuaa fled to foreign lands, where he married a
high chiefess and lived with his family many years. At last the longing
for his home-land came over him irresistibly and he returned appearing
as a humu-humu in his divine place among the Hawaiian fishes, but never
again taking to himself the form of a man.
Since this conflict with Kamapuaa, Pele has never feared the powers of
the sea. Again and again has she sent her lava streams over the
territory surrounding her firepit in the volcano Kilauea, and has swept
the seashore, even pouring her lavas into the deep sea, but the ocean
has never retaliated by entering into another conflict to destroy Pele
and her servants. Kamapuaa was the last who poured the sea into the
deep pit. The friends of Lohiau, a prince from the island of Kauai,
waged warfare with Pele, tearing to pieces a part of the crater in
which she dwelt; but it was a conflict of land forces, and in its
entirety is one of the very interesting tales handed down by Hawaiian
tradition.
Kamapuaa figured to the last days of Pele-worship in the sacrifices
offered to the fire-goddess. The most acceptable sacrifice to Pele was
supposed to be puaa (a hog). If a hog could not be secured when an
offering was necessary, the priest would take the fish
humu-humu-nuku-nuku-a-puaa and throw it into the pit of fire. If the
hog and the fish both failed, the priest would offer any of the things
into which, it was said in their traditions, Kamapuaa could turn
himself.
Note: For more Pele stories see the “Legends of Volcanoes” by the
author.