What a hustling and barbaric little world in themselves were the eight
habitable islands of the Hawaiian archipelago before the white man
came to rouse the simple but warlike islanders from the dream they
had for centuries been living! Up to that time their national life
had been a long romance, abundant in strife and deeds of chivalry,
and scarcely less bountiful in episodes of love, friendship and
self-sacrifice. Situated in mid-ocean, their knowledge of the great
world, of which their island dots on the bosom of the Pacific formed
but an infinitesimal portion, did not reach beyond a misty Kahiki,
from which their fathers came some centuries before, and the bare names
of other lands marking the migratory course of their ancestors thither.
The Hawaiians were barbarous, certainly, since they slew their
prisoners of war, and to their gods made sacrifice of their enemies;
since no tie of consanguinity save that of mother and son was a bar
to wedlock; since murder was scarcely a crime, and the will of the
alii-nui on every island was the supreme law; since the masses were
in physical bondage to their chiefs and in mental slavery to the
priesthood. Yet, with all this, they were a brave, hospitable and
unselfish people. The kings of the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Oahu and
Kauai were in almost continual warfare with each other until brought
under one government by Kamehameha I.; but the fear of foreign invasion
never disturbed them, and the people, who feared their gods, reverenced
their rulers and possessed an easy and unfailing means of sustenance
and personal comfort, were content with a condition which had been
theirs for generations and was hopeless of amelioration; for the high
chiefs in authority claimed a lineage distinct from that of the masses,
and between them frowned a gulf socially and politically impassable.
The Hawaiians were never cannibals. The most conspicuous of their
barbarisms was the sacrifice of human beings to their gods; but
did not the temples of early Gaul and Saxon flow with the blood of
men? and did not one of the fathers of Israel sharpen his knife to
slay the body of his son upon the altar of the God of Abraham? They
knew but little of the arts as we know them now, and the useful and
precious metals were all unknown to them; yet they made highways over
the precipices, reared massive walls of stone around their temples,
carried effective weapons into battle, and constructed capacious single
and double canoes and barges, which they navigated by the light of
the stars. They had no language either of letters or symbolism, but
so accurately were their legends preserved and transmitted that the
great chiefs were able to trace their ancestry back, generation by
generation, to something like a kinship with the children of Jacob,
and even beyond in the same manner to Noah, and thence to Adam. What
wonder, then, that under their old kings the islands of Hawaii should
have been the home of romance, and that the south wind should have
sighed in numbers through the caves of Kona?
And now, borne by the soft breath of the tropics, let us be wafted to
the island of Hawaii, and backward over a misty bridge of historic
meles to the reign of Kealiiokoloa, a son of Umi and grandson of
the famed Liloa. It was during his brief reign--extending, perhaps,
from 1520 to 1530--that for a second time a white face was seen by the
Hawaiians. A Spanish vessel from the Moluccas was driven upon the reefs
of Keei, in the district of Kona, and completely destroyed. But two
persons were saved from the wreck--the captain and his sister. They
were first thought to be gods by the simple islanders; but as their
first request was for food, which they ate with avidity, and their next
for rest, which seemed to be as necessary to them as to other mortals,
they were soon relieved of their celestial attributes and conducted
to the king, who received them graciously and took them under his
protection. The captain--named by the natives Kukanaloa--wedded a
dusky maiden of good family, and the sister became the wife of a
chief in whose veins ran royal blood.
On the death of Kealiiokoloa his younger brother, Keawenui, assumed
the sceptre in defiance of the right of Kukailani, his nephew and son
of the dead king, who was too young to assert his authority. This he
was the better enabled to do in consequence of the sudden death of
the king, possibly by poison, before his successor had been formally
named. Keawenui's usurpation, however, was resisted by the leading
chiefs of the island, who refused to recognize his authority and
rose in arms against him. But he inherited something of the martial
prowess of his father, Umi, and, meeting the revolted chiefs before
they had time to properly organize their forces, destroyed them in
detail, and thereafter reigned in peace. Nor could it well have been
otherwise, for the bones of the rebellious chiefs of Kohala, Hamakua,
Hilo, Puna, Kau and Kona were among the trophies of his household,
and Kukailani, lacking ambition, was content with the lot of idleness
and luxury which the crafty uncle placed at his command.
And thus, while Keawenui continued in the moiship of Hawaii, Kukailani,
the rightful ruler, grew to manhood around the court of his uncle. In
due time the prince married, and among the children born to him was
Kaikilani, the heroine of this little story. At the age of fifteen
she was the most lovely of the maidens of Hawaii. Her face was fairer
than any other in Hilo, to which place Keawenui had removed his court;
and that is saying much, for the king was noted for his gallantries,
and the handsomest women in the kingdom were among his retainers. If
her complexion was a shade lighter than that of others, it was because
of the Castilian blood that had come to her through her grandmother,
the sister of Kukanaloa, and brighter eyes than hers never peered
through the lattices of the Guadalquivir.
Kaikilani became the wife of the king's eldest son, Kanaloa-kuaana,
and, in further atonement of the wrong he had done her father,
on his death-bed Keawenui formally conferred upon her the moiship
of Hawaii. Among the other sons left by Keawenui at his death was
Lono. His full name was Lonoikamakahiki. His mother was Haokalani,
in whose veins ran the best blood of Oahu.
Early in life Lono exhibited remarkable intelligence, and as he grew
to manhood, after the death of his father, in athletic and warlike
exercises and other manly accomplishments he had not a peer in all
Hawaii. So greatly was he admired by the people, and so manifestly
was he born to rule, that his brother, the husband and adviser of
the queen, recommended that he be elevated to the moiship, in equal
power and dignity with Kaikilani.
What followed could have occurred only in Hawaii. A day was appointed
for a public trial of Lono's abilities before the assembled chiefs of
the kingdom. Although but twenty-three years of age, his knowledge of
warfare, of government, of the unwritten laws of the island and the
prerogatives of the tabu was found to be complete; and Kawaamaukele,
the venerable high-priest of Hilo, whose white hairs swept his knees,
and who had foretold Lono's future when a boy, bore testimony to his
thorough mastery of the legendary annals of the people and his zeal
in the worship of the gods.
So much for his mental acquirements. To test his physical
accomplishments the chiefs most noted for their skill, strength
and endurance were summoned from all parts of the kingdom. It was a
tournament in which one man threw down the glove to every chief in
Hawaii. The various contests continued for ten consecutive days, in
the presence of thousands of people, and between the many trials of
strength and skill were interspersed feasting, music and dancing. The
scene was brilliant. More than a hundred distinguished chiefs, in
yellow mantles and helmets, presented themselves to test the prowess of
Lono in exercises in which they individually excelled. But the mighty
grandson of Umi vanquished them all. He outran the fleetest, as well on
the plain as in bringing a ball of snow from the top of Mauna Kea. On
a level he leaped the length of two long war-spears, and in uli-maita,
holua and other athletic games he found no rival. In a canoe contest
he distanced twelve competitors, and then plunged into the sea with
a pahoa in his hand, and slew and brought to the surface the body of
a large shark. He caught in his hands twenty spears hurled at him
in rapid succession by as many strong arms, and in the moku-moku,
or wrestling contests, he broke the limbs of three of his adversaries.
Among the witnesses of these contests was the still young and comely
Kaikilani. It is true that she had frequently met the young hero, and
regarded him with such favor as she might the brother of her husband;
but now, at the end of his victories, he appeared to her almost as a
god, with whom it would be an honor to share the sovereignty of the
kingdom; and when, amidst the plaudits of thousands, she threw the
royal mamo over his shoulders with her own hands, and in doing so
kissed his cheek, her husband saw that she loved Lono better than
she had ever loved him. "The gods have decreed it," said Kanaloa,
in sorrow, but with no feeling of bitterness, "and so shall it be!"
He consulted with the chiefs and high-priest, and at the conclusion
of a feast the same evening, given in honor of Lono, he took his
brother by the hand and led him to the apartment of the queen. As they
entered, Kaikilani rose from a soft couch of kapa, and waited to hear
the purpose of their visit; for it was near the middle of the night,
and but a single kukui torch was burning in front of the door. The
heart of Kanaloa fluttered in his throat, but he finally said, with
apparent calmness:
"My good Kaikilani, what I am about to say is in sorrow to myself
and in affection for you. Of all the sons of our father, Lono seems
most to have the favor of the gods. Is it strange, then, that he
should have yours as well? It is therefore deemed best by the gods,
the chiefs and myself that you accept Lono as your husband, and share
with him henceforth the government of Hawaii. Is it your will that
this be done?"
Kaikilani was almost dazed with the abrupt announcement; but she
understood its full meaning, and, after gazing for a moment into the
face of Lono and reading no objection there, she found the courage
to answer:
"Since it is the will of the gods, it is also mine."
"So shall it be made known by the heralds," said Kanaloa, bowing to
hide his grief, and leaving Lono and the queen together.
Thus it was that Lono, of whom tradition relates so many romantic
stories, became the moi of Hawaii and the husband of the most
attractive woman of her time, Queen Kaikilani.