river and sent it in swift pursuit of Kuna, driving him from point to
point and scalding his life out of him. Others say that Maui chased the
dragon, striking him again and again with his consecrated weapons,
following Kuna down from falls to falls until he came to the place where
Hina dwelt. Then, feeling that there was little use in flight, Kuna
battled with Maui. His struggles were of no avail. He was forced over
the falls into the stream below. Hina and her women encouraged Maui by
their chants and strengthened him by the most powerful incantations with
which they were acquainted. Great was their joy when they beheld Kuna's
ponderous body hurled over the falls. Eagerly they watched the dragon as
the swift waters swept him against the dam with which he had hoped to
destroy Hina; and when the whirling waves caught him and dashed him
through the new channel made by Maui's magic club, they rejoiced and
sang the praise of the mighty warrior who had saved them. Maui had
rushed along the bank of the river with tremendous strides overtaking
the dragon as he was rolled over and over among the small waterfalls
near the mouth of the river. Here Maui again attacked Kuna, at last
beating the life out of his body. "Moo-Kuna" was the name given by the
Hawaiians to the dragon. "Moo" means anything in lizard shape, but Kuna
was unlike any lizard known in the Hawaiian Islands. Moo Kuna is the
name sometimes given to a long black stone lying like an island in the
waters between the small falls of the river. As one who calls attention
to this legendary black stone says: "As if he were not dead enough
already, every big freshet in the stream beats him and pounds him and
drowns him over and over as he would have drowned Hina." A New Zealand
legend relates a conflict of incantations, somewhat like the filling in
of the Wailuku river by Kuna, and the cleaving of a new channel by Maui
with the different use of means. In New Zealand the river is closed by
the use of powerful incantations and charms and reopened by the use of
those more powerful.
In the Hervey Islands, Tuna, the god of eels, loved Ina (Hina) and
finally died for her, giving his head to be buried. From this head
sprang two cocoanut trees, bearing fruit marked with Tuna's eyes and
mouth.
In Samoa the battle was between an owl and a serpent. The owl conquered
by calling in the aid of a friend.
This story of Hina apparently goes far back in the traditions of
Polynesians, even to their ancient home in Hawaiki, from which it was
taken by one branch of the family to New Zealand and by another to the
Hawaiian Islands and other groups in the Pacific Ocean. The dragon may
even be a remembrance of the days when the Polynesians were supposed to
dwell by the banks of the River Ganges in India, when crocodiles were
dangerous enemies and heroes saved families from their destructive
depredations.
XIV.
GHOSTS OF THE HILO HILLS.
The legends about Hina and her famous son Maui and her less widely known
daughters are common property among the natives of the beautiful little
city of Hilo. One of these legends of more than ordinary interest finds
its location in the three small hills back of Hilo toward the mountains.
These hills are small craters connected with some ancient lava flow of
unusual violence. The eruption must have started far up on the slopes of
Mauna Loa. As it sped down toward the sea it met some obstruction which,
although overwhelmed, checked the flow and caused a great mass of
cinders and ashes to be thrown out until a large hill with a hollow
crater was built up, covering many acres of ground.
Soon the lava found another vent and then another obstruction and a
second and then a third hill were formed nearer the sea. These hills or
extinct craters bear the names Halai, Opeapea and Puu Honu. They are
not far from the Wailuku river, famous for its picturesque waterfalls
and also for the legends which are told along its banks. Here Maui had
his lands overlooking the steep bluffs. Here in a cave under the Rainbow
Falls was the home of Hina, the mother of Maui, according to the
Hawaiian stories. Other parts of the Pacific sometimes make Hina Maui's
wife, and sometimes a goddess from whom he descended. In the South Sea
legends Hina was thought to have married the moon. Her home was in the
skies, where she wove beautiful tapa cloths (the clouds), which were
bright and glistening, so that when she rolled them up flashes of light
(cloud lightning) could be seen on the earth. She laid heavy stones on
the corners of these tapas, but sometimes the stones rolled off and made
the thunder. Hina of the Rainbow Falls was a famous tapa maker whose
tapa was the cause of Maui's conflict with the sun.
Hina had several daughters, four of whose names are given: Hina Ke Ahi,
Hina Ke Kai, Hina Mahuia, and Hina Kuluua. Each name marked the peculiar
"mana" or divine gift which Hina, the mother, had bestowed upon her
daughters.
Hina Ke Ahi meant the Hina who had control of fire. This name is
sometimes given to Hina the mother. Hina Ke Kai was the daughter who had
power over the sea. She was said to have been in a canoe with her
brother Maui when he fished up Cocoanut Island, his line breaking
before he could pull it up to the mainland and make it fast. Hina Kuluua
was the mistress over the forces of rain. The winds and the storms were
supposed to obey her will. Hina Mahuia is peculiarly a name connected
with the legends of the other island groups of the Pacific. Mahuia or
Mafuie was a god or goddess of fire all through Polynesia.
The legend of the Hilo hills pertains especially to Hina Ke Ahi and Hina
Kuluua. Hina the mother gave the hill Halai to Hina Ke Ahi and the hill
Puu Honu to Hina Kuluua for their families and dependents.
The hills were of rich soil and there was much rain. Therefore, for a
long time, the two daughters had plenty of food for themselves and their
people, but at last the days were like fire and the sky had no rain in
it. The taro planted on the hillsides died. The bananas and sugar cane
and sweet potatoes withered and the fruit on the trees was blasted. The
people were faint because of hunger, and the shadow of death was over
the land. Hina Ke Ahi pitied her suffering friends and determined to
provide food for them. Slowly her people labored at her command. Over
they went to the banks of the river course, which was only the bed of an
ancient lava stream, over which no water was flowing; the famished
laborers toiled, gathering and carrying back whatever wood they could
find, then up the mountain side to the great koa and ohia forests,
gathering their burdens of fuel according to the wishes of their
chiefess.
Their sorcerers planted charms along the way and uttered incantations to
ward off the danger of failure. The priests offered sacrifices and
prayers for the safe and successful return of the burden-bearers. After
many days the great quantity of wood desired by the goddess was piled up
by the side of the Halai Hill.
Then came the days of digging out the hill and making a great imu or
cooking oven and preparing it with stones and wood. Large quantities of
wood were thrown into the place. Stones best fitted for retaining heat
were gathered and the fires kindled. When the stones were hot, Hina Ke
Ahi directed the people to arrange the imu in its proper order for
cooking the materials for a great feast. A place was made for sweet
potatoes, another for taro, another for pigs and another for dogs. All
the form of preparing the food for cooking was passed through, but no
real food was laid on the stones. Then Hina told them to make a place in
the imu for a human sacrifice. Probably out of every imu of the long ago
a small part of the food was offered to the gods, and there may have
been a special place in the imu for that part of the food to be cooked.
At any rate Hina had this oven so built that the people understood that
a remarkable sacrifice would be offered in it to the gods, who for some
reason had sent the famine upon the people.
Human sacrifices were frequently offered by the Hawaiians even after the
days of the coming of Captain Cook. A dead body was supposed to be
acceptable to the gods when a chief's house was built, when a chief's
new canoe was to be made or when temple walls were to be erected or
victories celebrated. The bodies of the people belonged to the will of
the chief. Therefore it was in quiet despair that the workmen obeyed
Hina Ke Ahi and prepared the place for sacrifice. It might mean their
own holocaust as an offering to the gods. At last Hina Ke Ahi bade the
laborers cease their work and stand by the side of the oven ready to
cover it with the dirt which had been thrown out and piled up by the
side. The people stood by, not knowing upon whom the blow might fall.
But Hina Ke Ahi was "Hina the kind," and although she stood before them
robed in royal majesty and power, still her face was full of pity and
love. Her voice melted the hearts of her retainers as she bade them
carefully follow her directions.
"O my people. Where are you? Will you obey and do as I command? This imu
is my imu. I shall lie down on its bed of burning stones. I shall sleep
under its cover. But deeply cover me or I may perish. Quickly throw the
dirt over my body. Fear not the fire. Watch for three days. A woman
will stand by the imu. Obey her will."
Hina Ke Ahi was very beautiful, and her eyes flashed light like fire as
she stepped into the great pit and lay down on the burning stones. A
great smoke arose and gathered over the imu. The men toiled rapidly,
placing the imu mats over their chiefess and throwing the dirt back into
the oven until it was all thoroughly covered and the smoke was quenched.
Then they waited for the strange, mysterious thing which must follow the
sacrifice of this divine chiefess.
Halai hill trembled and earthquakes shook the land round about. The
great heat of the fire in the imu withered the little life which was
still left from the famine. Meanwhile Hina Ke Ahi was carrying out her
plan for securing aid for her people. She could not be injured by the
heat for she was a goddess of fire. The waves of heat raged around her
as she sank down through the stones of the imu into the underground
paths which belonged to the spirit world. The legend says that Hina made
her appearance in the form of a gushing stream of water which would
always supply the want of her adherents. The second day passed. Hina was
still journeying underground, but this time she came to the surface as a
pool named Moe Waa (canoe sleep) much nearer the sea. The third day came
and Hina caused a great spring of sweet water to burst forth from the
sea shore in the very path of the ocean surf. This received the name
Auauwai. Here Hina washed away all traces of her journey through the
depths. This was the last of the series of earthquakes and the
appearance of new water springs. The people waited, feeling that some
more wonderful event must follow the remarkable experiences of the three
days. Soon a woman stood by the imu, who commanded the laborers to dig
away the dirt and remove the mats. When this was done, the hungry people
found a very great abundance of food, enough to supply their want until
the food plants should have time to ripen and the days of the famine
should be over.
The joy of the people was great when they knew that their chiefess had
escaped death and would still dwell among them in comfort. Many were the
songs sung and stories told about the great famine and the success of
the goddess of fire.
The second sister, Hina Kuluua, the goddess of rain, was always very
jealous of her beautiful sister Hina Ke Ahi, and many times sent rain to
put out fires which her sister tried to kindle. Hina Ke Ahi could not
stand the rain and so fled with her people to a home by the seaside.
Hina Kuluua (or Hina Kuliua as she was sometimes known among the
Hawaiians) could control rain and storms, but for some reason failed to
provide a food supply for her people, and the famine wrought havoc
among them. She thought of the stories told and songs sung about her
sister and wished for the same honor for herself. She commanded her
people to make a great imu for her in the hill Puu Honu. She knew that a
strange power belonged to her and yet, blinded by jealousy, forgot that
rain and fire could not work together. She planned to furnish a great
supply of food for her people in the same way in which her sister had
worked.
The oven was dug. Stones and wood were collected and the same ghostly
array of potatoes, taro, pig and dog prepared as had been done before by
her sister.
The kahunas or priests knew that Hina Kuluua was going out of her
province in trying to do as her sister had done, but there was no use in
attempting to change her plans. Jealousy is self-willed and obstinate
and no amount of reasoning from her dependents could have any influence
over her.
The ordinary incantations were observed, and Hina Kuluua gave the same
directions as those her sister had given. The imu was to be well heated.
The make-believe food was to be put in and a place left for her body. It
was the goddess of rain making ready to lie down on a bed prepared for
the goddess of fire. When all was ready, she lay down on the heated
stones and the oven mats were thrown over her and the ghostly
provisions. Then the covering of dirt was thrown back upon the mats and
heated stones, filling the pit which had been dug. The goddess of
rain was left to prepare a feast for her people as the goddess of fire
had done for her followers.
[Illustration: On Lava Beds.]
Some of the legends have introduced the demi-god Maui into this story.
The natives say that Maui came to "burn" or "cook the rain" and that he
made the oven very hot, but that the goddess of rain escaped and hung
over the hill in the form of a cloud. At least this is what the people
saw--not a cloud of smoke over the imu, but a rain cloud. They waited
and watched for such evidences of underground labor as attended the
passage of Hina Ke Ahi through the earth from the hill to the sea, but
the only strange appearance was the dark rain cloud. They waited three
days and looked for their chiefess to come in the form of a woman. They
waited another day and still another and no signs or wonders were
manifest. Meanwhile Maui, changing himself into a white bird, flew up
into the sky to catch the ghost of the goddess of rain which had escaped
from the burning oven. Having caught this spirit, he rolled it in some
kapa cloth which he kept for food to be placed in an oven and carried it
to a place in the forest on the mountain side where again the attempt
was made to "burn the rain," but a great drop escaped and sped upward
into the sky. Again Maui caught the ghost of the goddess and carried it
to a pali or precipice below the great volcano Kilauea, where he again
tried to destroy it in the heat of a great lava oven, but this time the
spirit escaped and found a safe refuge among kukui trees on the mountain
side, from which she sometimes rises in clouds which the natives say are
the sure sign of rain.
Whether this Maui legend has any real connection with the two Hinas and
the famine we do not surely know. The legend ordinarily told among the
Hawaiians says that after five days had passed the retainers decided on
their own responsibility to open the imu. No woman had appeared to give
them directions. Nothing but a mysterious rain cloud over the hill. In
doubt and fear, the dirt was thrown off and the mats removed. Nothing
was found but the ashes of Hina Kuluua. There was no food for her
followers and the goddess had lost all power of appearing as a chiefess.
Her bitter and thoughtless jealousy brought destruction upon herself and
her people. The ghosts of Hina Ke Ahi and Hina Kuluua sometimes draw
near to the old hills in the form of the fire of flowing lava or clouds
of rain while the old men and women tell the story of the Hinas, the
sisters of Maui, who were laid upon the burning stones of the imus of a
famine.
XV.
HINA, THE WOMAN IN THE MOON.
The Wailuku river has by its banks far up the mountain side some of the
most ancient of the various interesting picture rocks of the Hawaiian
Islands. The origin of the Hawaiian picture writing is a problem still
unsolved, but the picture rocks of the Wailuku river are called "na kii
o Maui," "the Maui pictures." Their antiquity is beyond question.
The most prominent figure cut in these rocks is that of the crescent
moon. The Hawaiian legends do not attempt any direct explanation of the
meaning of this picture writing. The traditions of the Polynesians both
concerning Hina and Maui look to Hina as the moon goddess of their
ancestors, and in some measure the Hawaiian stories confirm the
traditions of the other island groups of the Pacific.
Fornander, in his history of the Polynesian race, gives the Hawaiian
story of Hina's ascent to the moon, but applies it to a Hina the wife
of a chief called Aikanaka rather than to the Hina of Hilo, the wife of
Akalana, the father of Maui. However, Fornander evidently found some
difficulty in determining the status of the one to whom he refers the
legend, for he calls her "the mysterious wife of Aikanaka." In some of
the Hawaiian legends Hina, the mother of Maui, lived on the southeast
coast of the Island Maui at the foot of a hill famous in Hawaiian story
as Kauiki. Fornander says that this "mysterious wife" of Aikanaka bore
her children Puna and Huna, the latter a noted sea-rover among the
Polynesians, at the foot of this hill Kauiki. It can very easily be
supposed that a legend of the Hina connected with the demi-god Maui
might be given during the course of centuries to the other Hina, the
mother of Huna. The application of the legend would make no difference
to anyone were it not for the fact that the story of Hina and her ascent
to the moon has been handed down in different forms among the traditions
of Samoa, New Zealand, Tonga, Hervey Islands, Fate Islands, Nauru and
other Pacific island groups. The Polynesian name of the moon, Mahina or
Masina, is derived from Hina, the goddess mother of Maui. It is even
possible to trace the name back to "Sin," the moon god of the Assyrians.
The moon goddess of Ponape was Ina-maram. (Hawaiian Hina-malamalama),
"Hina giving light."
In the Paumotan Islands an eclipse of the sun is called Higa-higa-hana
(Hina-hiua-hana), "The act (hana) of Hina--the moon."
In New Zealand moonless nights were called "Dark Hina."
In Tahiti it is said there was war among the gods. They cursed the
stars. Hina saved them, although they lost a little light. Then they
cursed the sea, but Hina preserved the tides. They cursed the rivers,
but Hina saved the springs--the moving waters inland, like the tides in
the ocean.
The Hawaiians say that Hina and her maidens pounded out the softest,
finest kapa cloth on the long, thick kapa board at the foot of Kauiki.
Incessantly the restless sea dashed its spray over the picturesque
groups of splintered lava rocks which form the Kauiki headland. Here
above the reach of the surf still lies the long, black stone into which
the legends say Hina's kapa board was changed. Here Hina took the leaves
of the hala tree and, after the manner of the Hawaiian women of the ages
past, braided mats for the household to sleep upon, and from the nuts of
the kukui trees fashioned the torches which were burned around the homes
of those of high chief rank.
At last she became weary of her work among mortals. Her family had
become more and more troublesome. It was said that her sons were unruly
and her husband lazy and shiftless. She looked into the heavens and
determined to flee up the pathway of her rainbow through the clouds.
The Sun was very bright and Hina said, "I will go to the Sun." So she
left her home very early in the morning and climbed up, higher, higher,
until the heat of the rays of the sun beat strongly upon her and
weakened her so that she could scarcely crawl along her beautiful path.
Up a little higher and the clouds no longer gave her even the least
shadow. The heat from the sun was so great that she began to feel the
fire shriveling and torturing her. Quickly she slipped down into the
storms around her rainbow and then back to earth. As the day passed her
strength came back, and when the full moon rose through the shadows of
the night she said, "I will climb to the moon and there find rest."
But when Hina began to go upward her husband saw her and called to her:
"Do not go into the heavens." She answered him: "My mind is fixed; I
will go to my new husband, the moon." And she climbed up higher and
higher. Her husband ran toward her. She was almost out of reach, but he
leaped and caught her foot. This did not deter Hina from her purpose.
She shook off her husband, but as he fell he broke her leg so that the
lower part came off in his hands. Hina went up through the stars, crying
out the strongest incantations she could use. The powers of the night
aided her. The mysterious hands of darkness lifted her, until she stood
at the door of the moon. She had packed her calabash with her most
priceless possessions and had carried it with her even when injured by
her cruel husband. With her calabash she limped into the moon and found
her abiding home. When the moon is full, the Hawaiians of the long ago,
aye and even today, look into the quiet, silvery light and see the
goddess in her celestial home, her calabash by her side.
The natives call her now Lono-moku, "the crippled Lono." From this watch
tower in the heavens she pointed out to Kahai, one of her descendents,
the way to rise up into the skies. The ancient chant thus describes his
ascent:
"The rainbow is the path of Kahai.
Kahai rose. Kahai bestirred himself.
Kahai passed on the floating cloud of Kane.
Perplexed were the eyes of Alihi.
Kahai passed on on the glancing light.
The glancing light on men and canoes.
Above was Hanaiakamalama." (Hina).
Thus under the care of his ancestress Hina, Kahai, the great sea-rover,
made his ascent in quest of adventures among the immortals.
In the Tongan Islands the legends say that Hina remains in the moon
watching over the "fire-walkers" as their great protecting goddess.
The Hervey Island traditions say that the Moon (Marama) had often seen
Hina and admired her, and at last had come down and caught her up to
live with himself. The moonlight in its glory is called Ina-motea, "the
brightness of Ina."
The story as told on Atiu Island (one of the Society group) is that Hina
took her human husband with her to the moon, where they dwelt happily
for a time, but as he grew old she prepared a rainbow, down which he
descended to the earth to die, leaving Hina forevermore as "the woman in
the moon." The Savage Islanders worshiped the spirits of their
ancestors, saying that many of them went up to the land of Sina, the
always bright land in the skies. To the natives of Niue Island, Hina has
been the goddess ruling over all tapa making. They say that her home is
"Motu a Hina," "the island of Hina," the home of the dead in the skies.
The Samoans said that the Moon received Hina and a child, and also her
tapa board and mallet and material for the manufacture of tapa cloth.
Therefore, when the moon is shining in full splendor, they shade their
eyes and look for the goddess and the tools with which she fashions the
tapa clouds in the heavens.
The New Zealand legend says that the woman went after water in the
night. As she passed down the path to the spring the bright light of the
full moon made the way easy for her quick footsteps, but when she had
filled her calabash and started homeward, suddenly the bright light was
hidden by a passing cloud and she stumbled against a stone in the path
and fell to the ground, spilling the water she was carrying. Then she
became very angry and cursed the moon heartily. Then the moon became
angry and swiftly swept down upon her from the skies, grasping her and
lifting her up. In her terrible fight she caught a small tree with one
hand and her calabash with the other. But oh! the strong moon pulled her
up with the tree and the calabash and there in the full moon they can
all be traced when the nights are clear.
Pleasant or Nauru Island, in which a missionary from Central Union
Church, Honolulu, is laboring, tells the story of Gigu, a beautiful
young woman, who has many of the experiences of Hina. She opened the
eyes of the Mother of the Moon as Hina, in some of the Polynesian
legends, is represented to have opened the eyes of one of the great
goddesses, and in reward is married to Maraman, the Moon, with whom she
lives ever after, and in whose embrace she can always be seen when the
moon is full. Gigu is Hina under another and more guttural form of
speech. Maraman is the same as Malama, one of the Polynesian names for
the moon.
INDEX
Page.
Akea or Atea, see Wakea, 41
Akalana, or Ataranga, 3, 4, 166
Alae birds, 12, 18, 27, 62, 65, 120, 123
Alae-Huapi, 120
Alae-nui-a-Hina, 123
Ao-tea-roa, 23, 93, 106, 108, 128, 137
Aumakuas, 26
Ava-iki, or Hawa-i-ki, 5, 37, 41, 52, 72, 137
Awa, 8
Axe, stone, 93, 94
Bailing dish, 123
Bananas, 45, 64
Banyan, 56, 71
Barbs, spears, 79, 101
Birds, 85, 110, 112, 135, 144
Bird-machine, 125
Birds, painted, 85, 112
Black rock, 32, 48
Boiling pots, 100, 152
Bones, fish hooks, 15, 83
Brittany, 57
Bua-Tarana-ga, 5
Cain and Abel, 89
Calabash, 19, 31, 84, 115
Cannibalism, 91, 93
Canoe, Maui's, 28, 118, 150
Cats-cradle, 86
Cloud, Maui's-ao-opua, 150
Coco-nut Island, 19, 26
Cook, Captain, 7
Cooking the rain, 163
Coral, 29
Creation, 4, 80, 86