Abandoning his campaign in Maui, Kalaniopuu, who was nearly eighty
years of age and quite feeble, removed his court to Kohala after the
death of Captain Cook, and subsequently to Waipio, where he remained
for some months. Desiring to settle the succession while he lived, he
called his high chiefs together and proclaimed his son Kiwalao as his
heir and successor in the government and the supervision of the tabus,
and Kamehameha as the custodian of his war-god Kaili, to which duty
the heiau of Moaula, in Waipio, was formally dedicated after extensive
repairs. A temple was also consecrated to the same god in Hilo.
Shortly after Imakakaloa, who had raised the standard of revolt in
Puna, was captured after a stubborn war and condemned to be sacrificed
at the temple of Pakini. In the absence of Kalaniopuu the performance
of the ceremonies devolved upon Kiwalao. First in order came the
offerings of pigs and fruits, to be followed by the body of the
rebel chief; but while Kiwalao was making the first of the offerings,
Kamehameha seized the body of the chief, offered it in sacrifice and
then dismissed the assembly.
As the sacrifice was to the war-god Kaili, of which he was the
custodian, Kamehameha doubtless claimed and boldly assumed the right to
conduct the ceremonies himself. But the daring act of insubordination
created an intense excitement at the royal court, many regarding it
as little less than rebellion, and Kalaniopuu advised Kamehameha to
retire to Kohala for a season, as he could not answer for his safety
in Waipio. He accepted the advice of his uncle, and, taking with
him his wife Kalola, his brother Kalaimamahu and the war-god Kaili,
removed to his patrimonial estates at Halawa, in Kohala, where he
remained until the death of Kalaniopuu, which shortly occurred.
Early in 1782 Kalaniopuu died, and his body was brought to Honaunau
for interment in the sacred burial-place of Hale-a-Keawe. Fearful
that the division of lands which usually followed the installation of
a new moi would not be satisfactory, several prominent chiefs, among
them Kamehameha, repaired to Honaunau to assist in the interment of
the dead king and listen to the proclamation of Kiwalao. After the
body had been deposited Kiwalao ascended a platform and informed
the assembled chiefs that, by the will of his royal father, the
sovereignty of Hawaii had been bequeathed to him, and the custody
of the war-god Kaili to Kamehameha. No other chief was mentioned as
having been provided for, and profound dissatisfaction followed.
At an awa party in the evening Kiwalao declined to drink of the
awa prepared by Kamehameha, as custom rendered it proper that he
should do. By Kekuhaupio, the aged counsellor of Kamehameha, the
bowl was struck from the hand of another to whom it had been passed
untasted by Kiwalao, and Kamehameha and his friend abruptly left
the house. An open rupture followed the division of lands soon after
made, and Kamehameha was forced to take up arms against Kiwalao by the
disaffected chiefs. He was made their leader, and around him rallied
the chiefs of Kona, Kohala and Hamakua, while Kiwalao was generally
sustained by the chiefs of Hilo, Puna and Kau.
After hasty preparations on both sides a battle was fought at Hauiki,
in which Kiwalao was slain. The royal army was routed, and Keoua, the
half-brother of Kiwalao, fled to Kau, where he declared himself king
of Hawaii, while Keawemauhili, the uncle of the dead king, who was
allowed to escape owing to his extremely high rank, retired to Hilo
and set up an independent government of his own. After the death of
Kiwalao, Keopuolani, his infant daughter, whose mother had fled with
her to Kahekili, moi of Maui, was the only one whom Keawemauhili was
willing to recognize, and three distinct factions began to struggle
for the mastery of the island.
While a desultory warfare was being carried on by the three rival
chiefs of Hawaii, during which Kamehameha was steadily growing in
strength, a new element of military and naval power made its appearance
in the group, and became an important factor in the political changes
that speedily followed. In 1786 the first foreign vessels, after the
departure of the Resolution and Discovery, touched at the islands,
and during the year following American, English, French, Spanish and
Portuguese merchant-men in considerable numbers visited the group,
and the people began to supply themselves with knives, axes, cloths,
beads and other articles of foreign manufacture, and the chiefs with
swords, guns, powder and lead and other warlike materials. Payment
for these articles was made to some extent in pigs, fowls, fruits and
vegetables, but principally in sandal-wood, in which the mountainous
districts of the islands abounded, and which found a ready market
in China. Many deserting sailors entered the service of the chiefs
of Oahu and Hawaii, and to a less extent of the other islands, and
became the instructors of the natives in the use of fire-arms; and
Kamehameha was especially fortunate in securing the services of Isaac
Davis and John Young, who took an active part in the campaigns of the
final conquest. Young married into a native family of consequence,
and became the grandfather of the late queen-dowager Emma, widow of
Kamehameha IV.
In 1790 Kamehameha, during a temporary cessation of hostilities on
Hawaii, invaded Maui with a large force. To the expedition Keawemauhili
had been in some manner induced to contribute a battalion of
warriors. In retaliation for this showing of friendship for Kamehameha,
Keoua invaded Hilo, defeated and killed Keawemauhili, and assumed
the sovereignty of that district. Nor did he stop there. During the
absence of Kamehameha he overran the districts of Hamakua and Kohala,
and was in the act of possessing himself of the whole island when
Kamehameha abruptly left Maui, which he had completely subjugated,
and returned to Hawaii.
Kaiana had been left to guard the district of Kona during the absence
of Kamehameha, and that was the only division left unoccupied by
Keoua. Kamehameha landed with his forces at Kawaihae, and Keoua fell
back with his army to Paauhau. There and at Koapapa a two days' battle
was fought, when Keoua retreated to Hilo, and Kamehameha retired to
Waipio to recruit his losses.
Stopping for a few days to divide the lands of the district among
his chiefs, Keoua started on his return to Kau. His path led by the
crater of Kilauea. His army, marching in three divisions, encamped
on the mountains, the central division finding quarters not far from
the crater. Before morning an eruption occurred, and four hundred
warriors were suffocated. This was considered a special visitation of
the wrath of Pele, the goddess of the volcano, and she was thereafter
deemed to be the friend of Kamehameha.
For a year or more continuous efforts to crush the power of Keoua were
made by Kamehameha. Kaiana operated against him in Kau, and Keeaumoku
in Hilo, but he stubbornly and successfully resisted. Availing himself
of this condition of affairs, Kahekili, moi of Maui, assisted by Kaeo,
king of Kauai, invaded Hawaii, probably for the purpose of creating
a diversion in favor of Keoua, but the combined armies were driven
from the island by Kamehameha.
Keoua, however, remained unsubdued, and Kamehameha resolved at every
sacrifice to crush him, as a preliminary step toward the conquest
of the entire group, which at that time he began to meditate. Some
time before he had sent the grandmother of Kaahumanu to Kauai to
consult the prophets of that island, and word was brought back to
him from the renowned Kapoukahi that if he would rebuild the heiau of
Puukohola and dedicate it to his war-god, he would become the master
of Hawaii. Some work had been done on the temple, and Kamehameha
determined to complete it at once. He therefore ordered large relays
of people from the surrounding districts to repair to Kawaihae and
assist in the building of the heiau. Many thousands responded. With
the exception of Keliimaikai, a brother of Kamehameha, who was left
uncontaminated for the consecration, every chief took part in the
labor, and the temple was soon completed, with sacrifices embracing
a large number of human beings as the work progressed.
Thus was the temple of Puukohola completed, but, pending its formal
consecration, Keawe-a-Heulu and Kamanawa, two of the principal
counselors of Kamehameha, were despatched to Kau under a flag of truce,
to invite Keoua to visit Kamehameha, with the view of arranging terms
of peace. Keoua received the ambassadors kindly, and consented to
the conference. His actions show that he suspected the motives of
Kamehameha, but he resolutely accepted the hazard of placing himself
at the mercy of his enemies.
Proceeding in state in a double canoe, Keoua arrived at the landing
of Mailekini, in Kawaihae. Observing Kamehameha on the beach,
Keoua called to him, and was invited to land. Several canoes were
around him, and as he leaped ashore Keeaumoku, from one of them,
treacherously drove a spear through his body, killing him at once. An
attack was then made upon his attendants, and all but two of them
were slain. As this, and many other events noted in this chapter, are
briefly referred to in the legend of "The Prophecies of Keaulumoku,"
it will be sufficient to mention that the body of Keoua was taken to
the temple of Puukohola, and there sacrificed to Kaili with ample
pomp and ceremony. The possessions of the unfortunate chief passed
into the hands of Kamehameha, who at once became the acknowledged
sovereign of the entire island. This was in 1792.
In Kamehameha's previous campaign against Maui, from which he had been
recalled by the successes of Keoua at home, that island, as already
stated, had been completely subjugated. At the time of the invasion,
Maui, Oahu, Molokai and Lanai were all in the possession of Kahekili,
who had taken up his residence in Oahu, leaving his son Kalanikupule
in charge of Maui. In a single mighty battle on the plains between
East and West Maui, Kamehameha had destroyed the army of Kalanikupule,
who had escaped to Oahu and joined his father, while the most of the
chiefs of Maui had sought refuge on the other islands.
After this victory Kamehameha despatched a messenger to Kahekili,
informing him of his intention to invade Oahu, and the old king
returned to him this answer: "Tell Kamehameha to return to Hawaii,
and when the black kapa covers the body of Kahekili the whole group
shall be his." This answer seems to have been hardly honest, however,
for, soon after Kamehameha returned to Hawaii, Kahekili entered into
a combination with Kaeo, king of Kauai, and made war upon Kamehameha
in his own home, with the disastrous results to the confederates
already mentioned.
In 1794 Kahekili died, leaving Kalanikupule as his successor, and a
claimant to the sovereignty of Oahu, Maui, Molokai and Lanai. Kaeo, the
younger brother and ally of Kahekili, and who had become the king of
Kauai by marrying Queen Kamakahelei, and had shared in the government
of Maui after the withdrawal of the forces of Kamehameha, concluded to
return temporarily to Kauai after the death of Kahekili. Taking with
him a portion of his army, he first touched at Molokai to collect
tribute, and then landed on Oahu for further supplies. Although his
visit was friendly, he met with opposition from Kalanikupule, and a
battle followed, in which Kaeo was slain.
The Oahu king was assisted by the seamen of two English vessels
lying in the harbor of Honolulu, the Jackal and Prince Leboo. After
the victory a feast was given on board the vessels, to which the
king and a number of his chiefs were invited. Some of the boats of
the vessels, returning from the shore with their crews, grounded on
the reef. Perceiving this, Kalanikupule and his chiefs seized the
vessels, killing their captains and a number of others. Elated with
the possession of these vessels and their armaments, the king resolved
to invade Hawaii. Embarking his army in canoes, he took passage in
one of the vessels, on board of which had been stored the most of
his guns and war materials.
The crews of the vessels had been retained to manage them, and
Kalanikupule sailed out of the harbor in high glee. But he did not
proceed far. After reaching deep water the foreigners sent him and
his attendants back to Waikiki in a boat, and then sailed for Hawaii,
where they delivered Kalanikupule's war supplies to Kamehameha,
who was even then preparing for a descent upon Oahu and the final
conquest and consolidation of the group. This was in the latter part
of 1794. The amount of war material delivered to Kamehameha was not
large, but all of it proved of service to him.