Early in the spring of 1885 a party of six or eight ladies and
gentlemen--the writer being of the number--made a carriage circuit
of the island of Oahu. Ample preparations for the little journey
had been made by the governor of the island, and the marshal of the
kingdom acted in the double capacity of guide and escort. A score of
attending natives accompanied the party on horseback, and a delightful
week or more was consumed in skirting the breezy beaches of Koolau,
in dalliance at Waialua, in visiting historic points of interest,
and in completing a journey of something less than one hundred miles.
Starting from Honolulu, the empty carriages were carefully lowered
down the steep, ragged and narrow Pali road leading to the valleys
below, and the first evening found us at rest by the beautiful
shores of Kaneohe. Entering the district of Koolauloa the next day,
and approaching the coast over a broad stretch of grassy meadow but
slightly above the level of the ocean, our party was suddenly brought
to a halt beside a pool of clear water, nearly round, and perhaps a
hundred feet in diameter. The surface of the pool was ten or twelve
feet below the level of the surrounding plain, and its even banks
of solid rock dropped almost perpendicularly into water of unknown
depth. The volume of the pool is affected neither by rain nor drought,
and the native belief is that it is fed by springs at the bottom,
and has a subterranean drainage to the ocean, some two or three
miles distant.
This, we learned, was the celebrated pond of Waiapuka, around which so
many strange legends have been woven. All of them speak of a cavern
somewhere beyond the walls of the pool, and to be reached only by
diving into the water and finding the narrow passage leading up
into it.
While listening to fragments of the story of Laieikawai and of
other legends connected with the mysterious cavern, and seriously
doubting the existence of the secret chamber so prominently referred
to in the early folk-lore of Oahu, an old native, who had joined the
party at Kaneohe, quietly and without a word dismounted, divested
himself of his upper garments and plunged into the pool. Swimming
to the northern wall, he clung for a moment to a slight projection,
and then disappeared. It was suggested for the first time that he
was in search of the cavern of Laieikawai, and all eyes were turned
toward the point where he was last seen above the water.
Three or four minutes elapsed, and fears for his safety began to be
exchanged, when the salutation of "aloha!" greeted us from the opposite
wall, and the next moment a pair of black eyes were seen glistening
through a small opening into the cavern, not before observed, about
four feet above the surface of the water.
The swimmer then returned to the pool by the passage through which
he had left it, and we were compelled to admit that the cavern of
Laieikawai was a reality, however wild and visionary may have been the
stories connected with it. Not a single person present, including the
governor, had ever before seen the passage to the cavern attempted,
and the natives were overjoyed at what they had witnessed.
To the many questions with which he was pressed the old man returned
but brief answers on his return, and when importuned to explain the
method of his entrance to the cavern, that the secret might not be
lost, he pointed significantly to the sea, and declared that there
would be found the bodies of those who sought to solve the mystery
of the passage and failed.
This rediscovery of the entrance to the cavern of Laieikawai created
a renewed interest in the legends associated with it, and thenceforth
during our journey many of the old stories were rehearsed. The most
interesting related to Laieikawai. It is a recklessly fanciful
recital, and gives expression to the extravagant conceits of the
early Hawaiian bards. Following is presented a condensation of the
legend of Laieikawai, as more elaborately told by Haleole.--Editor.