KAPAIHIAHILINA APPOINTED PREMIER.—INTRIGUE FOR HIS DOWNFALL.—HIS
AFFECTIONATE FAREWELL.
After the installation of Kapaihiahilina as premier for
Lonoikamakahiki, he was awarded the ahupuaa called Hihiu nui, the same
being located at Kohala. Kapaihiahilina having been inducted into the
office of premier, his subordinate officers began to immediately entrap
him into some offense. One was found, and a most serious one, but being
a very great favorite of Lonoikamakahiki’s the king was loath to
entertain any wrong in Kapaihiahilina.
As no incriminating charges could be brought against Kapaihiahilina
that would be entertained by the king, the inferior officers made
greater efforts to convict him. They finally brought the charge against
him of having had illicit intercourse with Kaikilani, the wife of
Lonoikamakahiki, brought about principally by the acts of the
subordinate officers themselves who studiously prepared the conspiracy.
The inferior officers being aware of the illicit relations between
Kapaihiahilina and Kaikilani and knowing that it was such an offense
from which he could not escape, the conspirators placed the information
before Lonoikamakahiki, who upon hearing of it set it aside as being
unworthy of his royal attention.
Being unable to implicate Kapaihiahilina in these matters it dawned
upon the conspiring officers that Kapaihiahilina was indeed a highly
honored favorite of the king, so they gave up conspiring.
After being about a year in office as premier, Kapaihiahilina proceeded
to Kauai with the intention of returning to resume the premiership.
Whilst he was absent on Kauai the king’s suite renewed their conspiracy
to implicate him in some trouble in his capacity as prime minister and
as a favorite of Lonoikamakahiki. The chiefs immediately around the
sovereign brought all manner of accusations of the most contemptuous
description against Kapaihiahilina and the idea entered the king’s mind
that he should be dismissed from his ministerial position as well as
losing his place as a favorite.
Lonoikamakahiki then made a solemn pledge that he would not again see
the face of Kapaihiahilina. Through the subtle machinations of the
royal suite the high esteem of Lonoikamakahiki for Kapaihiahilina
ceased.
It was only a short while that Kapaihiahilina remained on Kauai when he
heard that he was no longer the premier and favorite. To verify what he
had heard relative to his dismissal he sailed for Hawaii. Whilst on the
voyage to Hawaii on his canoes he commenced the composition of a song
wherein was recited his travels with Lonoikamakahiki in the mountain
glens, their escapes from dangers of many descriptions. On the way, he
first landed at Kohala, as he desired to see the land which had been
given him. Upon arriving there he found that a new konohiki had been
installed on the land and the one placed there by him had been
dismissed. It was then that he realized his downfall. He set sail for
Kona to fully acquaint himself with the commands of the king.
At that time Lonoikamakahiki was living at Kahaluu and was then
conducting temple services. When he came in sight immediately outside
of Kahaluu, he was recognized at once by his canoes. In consequence
thereof, Lonoikamakahiki immediately gave orders that the doors of the
house be closed. The doors were not, however, closed at once. At the
time the canoes reached the shore and Kapaihiahilina commenced wending
his way to the king, when nearing the fencing of the house the doors
shut. Kapaihiahilina observing the door closing on him stood outside
the fence where the sentinels stood. Raising his voice on high he
described in chant their wanderings:
Lonoikamakahiki, the sacred one of the high chief,
The sacred chief given birth by Keawe.
The chief was born a king of large possessions.
Lono is like soft mats without number,
[Stretching] from ancient lines
Come the sacred feather capes of Kumalana.
It is wrong!
It is wrong for him to maintain his anger,
For the fault is as nothing for the chief to continue being angry.
My father! The great chief,
We have tramped the ground,
We have walked the ground
At Opikananuu, at Opikanalani,
At the plains of Kanuukewe,
The base of the isle, the foundation;
The foundation of the land where Wakea lived,
Wakea the sacred chief.
By Keawe was given birth;
The right was first given birth,
Then followed that which was wrong.
The going began with numbers and was continued till few were left;
Until lonely and deserted,
But two continued tramping in the forest,
To where grew the koa tree without roots, [308]
Above Kahihikolo,
Loin-cloth of ferns was made,
Ti-leaf was broken and worn at the back;
Thus were we two sheltered from the rain, my companion.
We ate of the ripe pandanus in our wanderings,
Thus were our days of hunger appeased, my companion,
My companion of the tall pandanus,
From Kilauea to Kalihi;
The pandanus that had been partly eaten,
Of Pooku in Hanalei.
Thus did we two wander along, my companion,
Through the heavy and wind-blown rain,
The ceaseless and general rain.
We drank of the awa [309] of Koukou,
The fragrant-leaved awa [310] of Mamalahoa.
Say, my companion!
A companion, a friend of Lono, a man,
A companion of the deafening rains.
As the rain traveled in the uplands at Hanaleiiki,
To Hanaleinui,
One rain was from the highlands,
One rain was from the lowlands,
One rain was from the east,
One rain was from the west, [311]
Along the pandanus cape of Puupaoa.
It was there the rain fell on the sand,
The sand, food of the kinau, [312]
The kinau that ate of the ripe pandanus at Hanalei,
The rain that ripens the ohia of Waioli.
Cheer up, it is best to be so, chief.
The lord,
The lord in our toils at Kanananuu,
Of the calm stretches at Kukalaea,
Who levels and pushes along
To the sounding-leafed koa.
The battle sounds in the rear.
From the ridge-pole of the house of Maoea.
It was there the rain drops danced in the forest.
The rain in the forest fell low,
The rain in the forest danced about,
The rain in the forest fell softly,
The rain in the forest was like mist,
The rain in the forest fell from all sides,
The rain in the forest fell at the back,
The rain cut furrows in the forest
In the uplands of Laauhaele.
Goest thou?
As the man prone to idleness
[Who] on return, found trouble, found wrong doing,
You have indeed trouble-making servants.
I came at your bidding like a messenger;
You have dispossessed me, you have ousted me.
This my going cannot be laid to others since it is your own making.
The owner of the house has driven me out.
The fault would have been mine
Had I lived and left without cause,
Such action
Would have been a fault on my part,
The companion who followed you in all your tribulations.
[You] remain,
I am leaving you, my companion, I am going.
The rain is passing slightingly,
[The rain] of Hopukoa, of Waialoha.
Say, there!
My greetings to you
While you remain in anger.