Previous to the eleventh century the several habitable islands of the
Hawaiian group were governed by one or more independent chiefs, as
already stated. After the migratory influx of that period, however,
and the settlement on the islands of a number of warlike southern
chiefs and their followers, the independent chiefs began to unite
for mutual protection. This involved the necessity of a supreme head,
which was usually found in the chief conceded to be the most powerful;
and thus alii-nuis, mois and kings sprang into existence. So far
as tradition extends, however, certain lines, such as the Maweke,
Pili and Paumakua families, were always considered to be of supreme
blood. They came to the islands as chiefs of distinguished lineage,
and so remained.
Gradually the powers of the mois and ruling chiefs were enlarged, until
at length they claimed almost everything. Then the chiefs held their
possessions in fief to the moi, and forfeited them by rebellion. In
time the king became absolute master of the most of the soil over which
he ruled, and assumed tabu rights which rendered his person sacred
and his prerogatives more secure. All he acquired by conquest was his,
and by partitioning the lands among his titled friends he secured the
support necessary to his maintenance in power. Certain lands were
inalienable both in chiefly families and the priesthood; they were
made so by early sovereign decrees, which continued to be respected;
but with each succeeding king important land changes usually occurred.
Although the king maintained fish-ponds and cultivated lands of his
own, he was largely supported by his subject chiefs. They were expected
to contribute to him whatever was demanded either of food, raiment,
houses, canoes, weapons or labor, and in turn they took such portions
of the products of their tenants as their necessities required. The ili
was the smallest political division; next above it was the ahapuaa,
which paid a nominal or special tax of one hog monthly to the king;
next the okana, embracing several ahapuaas; and finally the moku,
or district, or island.
The laboring classes possessed no realty of their own, nor could they
anywhere escape the claim or jurisdiction of a chief or landlord. They
owed military and other personal service to their respective chiefs,
and the chiefs owed theirs to the king. If required, all were expected
to respond to a call to the field, fully armed and prepared for battle.
Caste rules of dress, ornamentation and social forms were rigidly
enforced. The entire people were divided into four general classes:
first, the alii, or chiefly families, of various grades and
prerogatives; second, the kahunas, embracing priests, prophets,
doctors, diviners and astrologers; third, the kanaka-wale, or free
private citizens; and, fourth, the kauwa-maoli, or slaves, either
captured in war or born of slave parents.
The laws were few and simple, and the most of them referred to the
rights and prerogatives of the king, priesthood and nobility. Property
disputes of the masses were settled by their chiefs, and other
grievances were in most instances left to private redress, which
frequently and very naturally resulted in prolonged and fatal family
feuds, in the end requiring chiefly and sometimes royal intervention.
This, in brief and very general terms, was the prevailing character
of the government and land tenure throughout the several islands of
the group until after the death of Kamehameha I. in 1819, and the
relinquishment by the crown of its ancient and sovereign rights in
the soil.
The leading chiefs and high-priesthood claimed a lineage distinct from
that of the masses, and traced their ancestry back to Kumuhonua, the
Polynesian Adam. The iku-pau, a sacred class of the supreme priesthood,
assumed to be the direct descendants from the godhead, while the
iku-nuu were a collateral branch of the sacred and royal strain, and
possessed only temporal powers. It was thus that one of the families of
the Hawaiian priesthood, in charge of the verbal genealogical records,
exalted itself in sanctity above the political rulers.
Proud of their lineage, to guard against imposture and keep their blood
uncorrupted, the chiefs allowed their claims to family distinction to
be passed upon by a college of heraldry, established by an early moi
of Maui. Reciting their genealogies before the college, composed of
aliis of accepted rank, and receiving the recognition of the council,
chiefs were then regarded as members of the grade of aha-alii, or
chiefs of admitted and irrevocable rank.
The chiefs inherited their titles and tabu privileges quite as
frequently through the rank of one parent as of the other. As Hawaiian
women of distinction usually had more than one husband, and the chiefs
were seldom content with a single wife, the difficulty of determining
the rights and ranks of their children was by no means easy; but
the averment of the mother was generally accepted as conclusive and
sufficient evidence in that regard.
For political purposes marriage alliances were common between the
royal and chiefly families of the several islands, and thus in time
the superior nobility of the entire group became connected by ties
of blood. The political or principal wife of a king or distinguished
chief was usually of a rank equal to that of her husband, and their
marriage was proclaimed by heralds and celebrated with befitting
ceremonies. Other wives were taken by simple agreement, and without
ceremony or public announcement. Very much in the same manner the
masses entered into their marriage unions. With the latter, however,
polygamy was not common. When husband and wife separated, as they
frequently did, each was at liberty to select another partner. The
political wife of a chief was called wahine-hoao; the others,
haia-wahine, or concubine.
In the royal families, to subserve purposes of state, father and
daughter, brother and sister, and uncle and niece frequently united as
man and wife. The children of such unions were esteemed of the highest
rank, and, strange to say, no mental or physical deterioration seemed
to result from these incestuous relations, for all through the past the
mois and nobles of the group were noted for their gigantic proportions.
There were five or more grades of chiefs connected with the royal
lines. First in order, and the most sacred, was the alii-niaupio
(the offspring of a prince with his own sister); next, the alii-pio
(the offspring of a prince with his own niece); next, the alii-naha
(the offspring of a prince or king with his own daughter); next,
the alii-wohi (the offspring of either of the foregoing with another
chiefly branch); and next, the lo-alii (chiefs of royal blood). Any
of these might be either male or female.
To these grades of chiefs distinct personal tabus or prerogatives
were attached, such as the tabu-moe, tabu-wela, tabu-hoano and
tabu-wohi. These tabus could be given or bequeathed to others by their
possessors, but could not be multiplied by transmission. The meles,
or ancestral chants of a family, passed in succession to the legal
representatives, and became exclusively theirs; but the government,
tabus and household gods of the king were subject to his disposal
as he willed, either at his death or before it. The child of a tabu
chief, born of a mother of lower rank, could not, according to custom,
assume the tabu privileges of his father, although in some instances
in the past they were made to inure to such offspring, notably in
the case of Umi, King of Hawaii.
Before an alii-niaupio, clothed with the supreme function of the
tabu-moe, all, with the exception of tabu chiefs, were compelled to
prostrate themselves. When he appeared or was approached his rank was
announced by an attendant, and all not exempt from the homage were
required to drop with their faces to the earth. The exemptions were the
alii-pio, the alii-naha, the alii-wohi and the lo-alii. They, and they
alone, were permitted to stand in the presence of a niaupio chief. An
alii-pio was also a sacred chief, so much so that he conversed with
others only in the night-time, and on chiefesses of that rank the
sun was not allowed to shine.
The kings lived in affluence in large mansions of wood or stone, in
the midst of walled grounds adorned with fruit and shade trees and
other attractive forms of vegetation. The grounds also contained
many other smaller buildings for the accommodation of guests,
retainers, attendants, servants and guards. They were attended by
their high-priests, civil and military advisers, and a retinue of
favorite chiefs, and spent their time, when not employed in war or
affairs of state, in indolent and dignified repose.
The personal attendants of an ancient Hawaiian king were all of noble
blood, and each had his specified duty. They were known as kahu-alii,
or guardians of the person of the king. They consisted of the
iwikuamoo, or rubber of the person; the ipukuha, or spittoon-bearer;
the paakahili, or kahili-bearer; the kiaipoo, or sleep-watcher;
and the aipuupuu, or steward. Other inferior chiefs, called puuku,
with messengers, spies, executioners, prophets, astrologers, poets,
historians, musicians and dancers, were among his retainers. Connected
with the palace was an apartment used as a heiau, or chapel, which
was sometimes in charge of the high-priest.
During festival seasons brilliant feasts, tournaments and hula and
musical entertainments were given in the royal grounds, and the
court was splendid in displays of flowers, feathers and other gaudy
trappings. The king not unfrequently took part in the manly games and
exercises of the chiefs, and sometimes complimented the hula dancers
and musicians by joining in their performances.
To render the kings and higher nobility still more exclusive, they
had a court language which was understood only by themselves, and
which was changed in part from time to time as its expressions found
interpretation beyond the royal circle. Some portions of this court
language have been preserved.