Two or three attempts to consolidate under one general government
the several islands of the Hawaiian group were made by ambitious and
war-like chiefs previous to the final accomplishment of the project,
at the close of the last century, by Kamehameha I.; but all these
early schemes of conquest and aggrandizement proved unsuccessful,
and were especially unfortunate in affording excuses for retaliatory
raids and invasions, sometimes extending, with more or less persistency
and bitterness, to generations thereafter.
The most disastrous of these ambitious ventures was the first, and
connected with it were a number of strange and dramatic incidents,
giving to the story of the enterprise something more than a historic
interest. It occurred in about A.D. 1260, and the bold warrior who
attempted it was Kalaunuiohua, king of the island of Hawaii. He was
the grandson of Kalapana, who reconquered the kingdom from Kamaiole,
the usurper, as related in the story of "The Royal Hunchback."
At that time Kamaluohua, the seventh in descent from Paumakua,
was the moi of Maui, or rather of the western and greater part of
the island. Huapouleilei, the eighth in line from Maweke, was the
alii-nui of Oahu, his possessions embracing the districts of Ewa,
Waianae and Waialua, while the Koolau and Kona divisions were
ruled, respectively, by Moku-a-Loe and Kahuoi. The moi of Molokai
was Kahokuohua, the fourth in descent in the old Nanaula line from
Keoloewa, the brother of Kaupeepee, the abductor of Hina and desperate
defender of the fortress of Haupu, as told in the legend of "Hina,
the Hawaiian Helen." Kukona was the sovereign of Kauai. He was the
great-grandson of Ahukini-a-Laa, one of the three sons of the three
wives of Laa-mai-kahiki, as mentioned in the story of "The Triple
Marriage of Laa-mai-kahiki."
The contemporary rulers of the several islands are thus referred
to for the reason that they all appear as prominent actors in the
several legends from which have been gathered the historic features
of the story about to be related, and also for the purpose of keeping
partially in view the conspicuous and succeeding representatives of
the sovereign families of the group.
Kalaunuiohua--or, as he will be called hereafter, Kalaunui--inherited
something of the military spirit of his warlike grandfather, and is
referred to by tradition as an ambitious and aggressive sovereign,
courageous in enterprise, but lacking in judgment and discretion. This
estimate of his character is abundantly sustained by the record of
his acts.
Waipio had been made the focus of sovereign authority by Kahaimoelea,
the royal father of Kalaunui, and continued to be the most attractive
and consequential point in the kingdom. The royal grounds and
edifices had been enlarged and improved from time to time, until
barbaric taste and skill seemed to be able to add nothing more to
their grandeur or beauty. Not far from the royal mansion was the great
heiau of Pakaalani, partially built by Kalapana, and completed by his
successor. Its tabus were the most sacred on Hawaii, and a descendant
of Paao officiated there as high-priest. It was connected with the
palace enclosure by a sacred stone pavement, which it was death for
any but royal and privileged feet to touch, and on its walls were
over a hundred gods.
Kalaunui was proud of his ancestry, which carried back his lineage
both to Pili and Maweke, and united in his veins the foremost blood
of the pioneers of the fifth and eleventh centuries. He had two
children--a son named Kuaiwa, and a daughter, Kapapa, whose full
name was Kapapalimulimu. At the time of which we are writing she
was fifteen, and her brother was three or four years older. Both
had been carefully reared. The son had been instructed in all the
manly accomplishments of the time, and from her infancy the daughter
had been guarded with the most jealous watchfulness. She had grown
almost to womanhood without betrothal, for the reason that a husband
suited to her rank and personally deserving of her beauty could with
difficulty be found in the kingdom.
Among the number of the king's retainers of various grades of
rank--beginning with the wohi, or chief counsellor of royal blood next
to the throne, and ending with the kahu-alii and puuku, or personal
and other attendants at the palace--was the young chief Kualu. He
was large, muscular and handsome, with a bearing indicative of good
blood, and through his courage and capacity at arms had been raised
to the military position of pukaua, or captain, and placed in charge
of the palace guard--an office which gave him, if he did not before
possess it, the privilege of an aialo, or the right to eat food in
the presence of the king.
Kualu was a chief without possessions. His grandfather, a chief of
the old line of Nanaula, had been killed in the battle which restored
Kalapana to the throne of his fathers, and on the sudden death of his
father, twenty years before, he had been adopted by Waahia, a kaula, or
prophetess, renowned in tradition for her foresight and influence. He
was recognized by the Aha-alii, or college of chiefs of established
lineage, as of noble blood, but belonged to that class of chiefs who,
lacking the influence of family and estates, were compelled to rely
upon their own efforts for advancement.
Although it is claimed that Waahia was of chiefly lineage, nothing is
positively known, even of her parents. She first appeared in Waipio
more than a generation before, and, through an almost undeviating
verification of her prophecies, in time became noted and feared by
the people, not only as a favored devotee of Uli, the god of the
sorcerers, but as a medium through whom the unipihili, or spirits of
the dead, communicated. She lived alone in a hut in a retired part
of the valley of Waipio, and it is said that a large pueo, or owl,
which, with the white alae, was sacred and sometimes worshipped,
came nightly and perched upon the roof of her lonely habitation.
Of course a kaula of her sanctity wanted for nothing. The people were
only too happy to leave at her door anything of which she might stand
in need, and the best of everything in the valley came unbidden to
her board. Of her abundance she gave to the needy, and, while she
seldom spoke to any one, her looks and acts were kind to all. The
priesthood recognized her power, and the king and chiefs consulted
her in matters of moment when the kilos of the temple were in doubt.
She had reared Kualu with the greatest care, and saw him grow to a
manhood of which she was proud. She loved him as if he had been her own
child, and he repaid her affection by heeding her advice in all things,
and by kindness comforting her declining years. She had schooled him in
a lore which but few possessed, and the most skilful had instructed him
in the martial and courtly accomplishments consistent with his chiefly
rank. At the age of twenty he became attached to the household of the
king, and in time was advanced, as already stated, to the high grade
of captain of the palace guard. Although his abilities had commended
him to advancement, his early favor with the king was doubtless due
to some extent to the influence of his foster-mother.
Kualu's intimate connection with the royal household brought him into
frequent companionship with Kuaiwa and his sister, and as the latter
grew to womanhood a romantic attachment sprang up between her and
the handsome captain of the guard. It was romantic only because it
was to every appearance hopeless, for there was a wide gulf between
Kualu and the daughter of the proudest moi in all the group, and for
whom there seemed to be no fitting mate.
The home of Kualu was within the palace enclosure; yet he frequently
visited Waahia in her lonely retreat, to cheer her with words of
affection and see that she wanted for nothing. It was during one of
these visits, not long before the beginning of the leading events of
this legend, that the kaula abruptly said to him:
"Kualu, I can see that you are thinking much of Kapapa."
"We sometimes meet," replied Kualu, evasively.
"It is not well for you to try to gather berries from the clouds,"
returned the kaula, kindly. "A niapio of the highest rank alone can
reach that fruit."
"The flying spear brings down what the hand cannot reach," was Kualu's
significant answer.
Waahia smiled at the dauntless spirit of her ward, and after a long
pause, during which she sat thoughtfully, with her eyes fixed upon
the ground, said:
"Your hopes are bold, but the gods are great. Come to me to-morrow."
The next day Kualu was made joyful by the words of Waahia. She told
him that she had been given a view of something of his future, and
that the auguries promised so much that she could not discourage
even the most audacious of his aspirations; but that coming events
affecting his life were so mingled with wars, and strange faces of a
race she had never seen except in dreams, that she could then advise
no definite course of action.
With these vague words of encouragement Kualu returned to the palace,
and authoritatively learned, what had for some time been rumored,
that preparations were to be speedily made for an invasion of Maui,
and possibly of the other islands of the group. Having brought all
the districts of Hawaii under his control, Kalaunui entertained
the ambitious design of uniting the several islands of the
archipelago under one government. In this grand scheme of conquest
and consolidation he was sustained by the leading chiefs of Hawaii,
hungering for foreign possessions, and large quotas of canoes and
warriors were promised.
A general plan of action having been adopted, a fleet of two thousand
canoes of all sizes and an army of twelve thousand warriors were
speedily collected. Sacrifices were made at the great temple of
Pakaalani; the favor of the gods was invoked, and the auguries
were satisfactory. The king was to lead the expedition in person,
and the chivalry of the kingdom rallied to his support. His double
canoe, nearly forty paces in length, was gorgeous in royal colors and
trappings, and more than a hundred others bore at their mast-heads the
ensigns of distinguished chiefs. No such warlike display had been seen
by the generation witnessing it, and the confidence and enthusiasm of
the king and his commanding officers were fully shared by the people.
Leaving the government in the hands of his young son Kuaiwa, with
Kaheka, the queen-mother, as principal adviser, Kalaunui ordered the
warriors to their canoes, and with his aids and personal attendants
repaired to the beach to superintend the departure of the expedition
in person. In charge of his high-priest, his newly-decorated war-god
had been taken aboard, and the king was about to follow, when Waahia,
whose foster-son was one of the leaders in the enterprise, approached
the royal kaulua. She was clad in a pau and short mantle, and her
long, white hair fell below her shoulders. Her form was bent, and
she carried a staff for support.
At the sight of the venerable figure, familiar to every one in Waipio,
the king turned and said:
"I am glad you are here. Encouragement comes from the temple. What
says Waahia?"
"Good in the beginning! bad in the end!" was the blunt response of
the prophetess.
"I am instructed by your cheering assurances," adroitly returned the
king, observing that her words had been overheard. "The true meaning is
that it would be bad to abruptly end a good beginning." Saying which,
with something of a scowl he hastily stepped into his kaulua and gave
the signal for departure.
Without replying, Waahia, fully believing that disaster would overtake
the expedition in the end, and anxious to be near Kualu when it came,
entered one of the many canoes set apart for the women and other
camp-followers of the invading army, and with the fleet set sail
for Maui.