LEGENDARY SURFERS

Friday, October 14, 2022

Wakea

Aloha and Welcome to this chapter segment in the LEGENDARY SURFERS series on the legendary Polynesian Wakea.

Illustration by Herb Kane

In “estimating the time of arrival of the Polynesian family in the Pacific,” Abraham Fornander wrote in the late 1800’s, “I have been guided almost wholly by their own genealogies and traditions. No other history throws any light on their departure, their passage, or their arrival. When once they entered the Pacific, they were lost, as it were, and forgotten.”65

Fornander recognized that the Polynesian legends and genealogies, themselves, are obscure, confused and contradictory to the point of making chronological placement difficult. The Kumuhonua genealogy sets itself apart by tracing itself back to Hawai‘iloa. However, most of the leading Polynesian groups trace their beginnings back to Wakea, Atea, or Makea and his wife Papa. One Tahitian legend traces itself back to Wakea and Tii – Hawai‘iloa’s brother.66

“The Wakean era,” wrote Fornander, “was undoubtedly one of great disturbance, displacement, and change in the ancient Polynesian homesteads. The very fact that so many of the principal tribes have retained his legend, though under different forms, and have attempted to localize him and his wife on their own groups, proves... that he was anterior to, or at least contemporary with, some great popular movement preceding or attending the first considerable exodus into the Pacific, the memory of which was linked to his name, and thus handed down to posterity.”67

In Hawaiian Legends of Old Honolulu, published in 1915, W.D. Westervelt wrote of Wakea and the beginnings of the Hawaiian people:68

Through the legends, we become acquainted with Wakea (possibly meaning “noonday,” or “the white time”) and his wife Papa (earth), the most widely remembered of all the ancestors of the Polynesian race. Their names are found in the legends of the most prominent island groups, and the highest places are granted them among the demi-gods and sometimes among the chief deities. Their deeds belong to the most ancient times—the creation or discovery of the various islands of the Pacific world. Those who worshipped Wakea and Papa are found in such widely separated localities that it must be considered impossible for even a demi-god to have had so many homes.

Atea, or Wakea, was one of the highest gods of the Marquesas Islands. Here his name means “light.” The Marquesans evidently look back of all their present history and locate Atea in the ancient homeland. Vatea in the Society Islands, Wakea in Hawaii and New Zealand, Makea, Vakea and Akea are phonetic variations of the one name when written down by the students who made a written form for words repeated from generation to generation by word of mouth alone. Even under the name “Wakea” this ancient chief is known in most widely separated islands. The only reasonable explanation for this widespread reference to Wakea is that he was an ancestor belonging in common to all the scattered Polynesians. It seems as if there must have been a period when Wakea was king or chief of a united people. He must have been of great ability and probably was the great king of the United Polynesians. If this were the fact it would naturally result that his memory would be carried wherever the dispersed race might go.

In the myths and legends of the Hervey Islands [Manuae, Cook Islands], Vatea is located near the beginning of their national existence. First of all the Hervey Islanders place Te-ake-ia-roe (The root of all existence). Then there came upon the ancient world Te Vaerua (The Breath, or The Life). Then came the god time – Te Manawa roa (The long ago). Then their creation legends locate Vari, a woman whose name means “the beginning,” a name curiously similar to the Hebrew word “bara,” “to create,” as in Gen. i. 1. Her children were torn out of her breasts and given homes in the ancient mist-land, with which, without any preparation or introduction, Hawaiki is confused in a part of the legend. It has been suggested that this Hawaiki is Savaii of the Samoan Islands, from which the Hervey Islands may have had their origin…

One of the children of Vari dwelt in “a sacred tabu island” and became the god of the fish. Another sought a home “where the red parrots’ feathers were gathered” – the royal feathers for the high chiefs’ garments. Another became the echo-god and lived in “the hollow gray rocks.” Another as the god of the winds went far out “on the deep ocean.” Another, a girl, found a home, “the silent land,” with her mother. Wakea, or Vatea, the eldest of this family, remained in Ava-iki (Hawaii), the ancestral home – “the bright land of Vatea.” Here he married Papa. This Ava-iki was to the Herveyites of later generations the fiery volcanic under-world.

When the long sea-voyages ceased after some centuries, the islanders realized that Ava-iki was very closely connected with their history. They had but a misty idea of far-off lands, and they did know of earthquakes and lava caves and volcanic fires-so they located Ava-iki as the secret world under their islands. This under-world with legendary inconsistency was located on the ocean’s surface, when it became necessary to have their islands discovered by the descendants of Vatea. According to the Hervey legends, Vatea was the father of Lono and Kanaloa, two of the great gods of the Polynesians. They were twins. Lono had three sons, whom he sent away. They sailed out through many heavens and from Ava-iki pulled up out of the deep ocean two of the Hervey Islands.

The natives of the Hervey group supposed that the horizon around their group enclosed the world. Beyond this world line were heavens and heavens. A daring voyager by sailing through the sky-line would break out from this world into an unknown world or a heaven bounded by new horizons. Strangers “broke through” from heaven, sometimes making use of the path of the sun. Thus about twenty-five generations ago Raa (possibly Laa, the Hawaiian) broke down the horizon’s bars and established a line of kings in Raiatea. So also when Captain Cook came to the Hervey Islands the natives said: “Whence comes this strange thing? It has climbed up [come up forcibly] from the thin land, the home of Wakea.” He had pierced the western heavens from which their ancestors had come.

When the sons of Lono unexpectedly saw a speck of land far away over the sea, they cried out that here was a place created for them by their deified ancestors. As they came nearer they “pulled up” the islands until they grew to be high mountains rising from the deep waters. In these mountains they found the lava caves and deep chasms which they always said extended down under the seas back to Ava-iki. They made their caves a passageway for spirits to the fairy home of the dead, and therefore into certain chasms cast the bodies of the dead, that the spirit might more easily find the path to the under-world.

Vatea was a descendant of “the long ago,” according to the Hervey legend. Wakea of Hawaii was a son of Kahiko, “the ancient.” Wakea’s home is more definitely stated in the Hawaiian than in the Hervey legends. He lived in O-Lolo-i-mehani, or The Red Lolo, a name confidently referred by Fornander in “The Polynesian Race” to Gilolo, the principal island of the Moluccas. The Red Lolo, as suggested by Fornander, would refer not alone to volcanic action and its decaying debris, but would fittingly designate the largest and most important island of the group. The fire bursting from many volcanoes in the region of the Sunda Straits was “royal” to the beholders, who felt that divine power was present in the mysterious red flames. Hence all the Polynesian tribes invested the red color with especial dignity as a mark of royalty and pre-eminence. It was on the banners allowed only to chiefs when their boats sailed away to visit distant lands. It was the color of the war cloaks of chiefly warriors.

In the recent days of the monarchy of Hawaii, the richest crimson was the only color allowed in upholstering the great throne room. Gilolo might worthily bear the name “The Red Lolo” in Hawaiian story. Here Hawaii-loa, the first of the Polynesian Vikings, had his home. Here the Chieftainess Oupe, a Polynesian princess, dwelt. In O-Lolo Wakea married the granddaughter of Oupe, whose name was Papa. She is almost as widely known in legends as her husband. Papa was said to be a tabued descendant of Hawaii-loa and therefore superior in rank to Wakea. Papa is described as “very fair and almost white.” Her name means “earth,” and Wakea’s name might mean “noonday.” This, with the many experiences through which they both passed, would lay the foundation for a very pretty sun-myth, but we cannot avoid the human aspect of the legends and give them both a more worthy position as ancestors of a scattered people.

Kahiko, the ancient, is recorded as having had three sons, from whom descended the chiefs, the priests and the common people the husbandmen almost a Shem, Ham and Japheth division. Other legends, however, give Kahiko only two sons, the eldest, Wakea, having power both as chief and priest. All the legends unite in making Wakea the head of the class of chiefs. This would very readily explain the high place held by Wakea throughout Polynesia and also the jealous grasp upon genealogical records maintained by the royal families of the Pacific.

Wakea and Papa are credited with being the creators of many island kingdoms of the Pacific. Sometimes the credit is given partly to a mischievous fisherman-god, Maui, after whom one of the Hawaiian Islands is named. One of the Hawaiian legends goes back to the creation or discovery of Hawaii and ascribes the creation of the world to Wakea and Papa. The two were living together in “Po” – “darkness,” or “chaos.” Papa brought into existence a gourd calabash including bowl and cover, with the pulp and seeds inside. Wakea threw the cover upward and it became heaven. From the pulp and seeds he made the sky and the sun and moon and stars. From the juice of the pulp he made the rain. The bowl he fashioned into the land and sea. Other legends limit the creative labors of Wakea to the Hawaiian group. With the aid of Papa he established a portion of the islands; then discord entered the royal family and a separation was decided upon.

The Hawaiian custom has always been for either chief or chiefess to exercise the right to divorce and to contract the marriage ties. Wakea is said to have divorced Papa by spitting in her face, according to an ancient custom. Wakea selected a chieftainess named Hina, from whom the island Molokai (the leper island) received the name “Molokai-hina” – the ancient name of the island. Morotai was also an island lying near Gilolo in the Molucca group, and might be the place from which Wakea secured his bride. Papa selected as her new husband a chief named Lua. The ancient name of Oahu (the island upon which Honolulu is located) was “Oahu-a-lua” (The Oahu of Lua). One of the Celebes Islands bears a name for one of its districts very similar to Oahu – “Ouadju.”

Papa seems to have been partially crazed by her divorce. She marries many husbands. She voyages back and forth between distant islands. In an ancient island, Tahiti, she bears children from whom the Tahitians claim descent. In the Celebes she and her people experience a famine and she is compelled to send to O-Lolo for food. In New Zealand legend she becomes the wife of Langi (Hawaiian Lani, or heaven), a union of “earth” and “heaven.” They have six children. Four of these are the chief gods of ancient Hawaii: Ka-ne, “light”; Ku, “the builder”; Lono, “sound”; and Kanaloa. Two of the children are not named in Hawaiian annals, unless it might be that one, Tawhirri, should be represented in Kahili, the tall standard used for centuries as the insignia of very high chief families. The other name, “Haumia,” might possibly be Haumea, a second name given to Papa in the legends. The Maoris of New Zealand deify all of these six sons of Lani and Papa.

Ka-ne was “father of forests.” He was very strong. In ancient days the sky was not separated from the earth. He lifted up the heavens and pushed down the earth—and thus made space for all things to grow. It was while the sky rested its full weight upon the earth that the leaves started into life, but were flat and thin because there was no chance to become plump and full like the fruit which came later. Here is the foundation for another sun-myth of the Pacific, wherein it might be said light came and separating darkness from the earth brought life into the world. Light could well be “the father of forests.” The second son was Tawhirri, “the father of winds and storms.” A part of his name was “matea,” which might possibly be referred to Wakea. He dwelt in the skies with his father Lani.

The third son was Lono, who was “the father of all cultivated food.”

The fourth was Haumia, “the father of uncultivated food” – such food as grew wild in the forests or among the herbs or in the midst of the edible sea-mosses.

The fifth son was Kanaloa, “the father of all reptiles and fishes,” at first dwelling in Hawaiki on the land with all his descendants.

The sixth son was Ku “with the red face,” “the father of fierce or cruel men.” Ku was easily made angry, and after a time waged war against his brothers and their followers. There was great destruction, but Ku could not win the victory alone. He was compelled to call upon Tawhirri, “the father of winds and storms.” Fierce men and fierce storms made it difficult for the remainder of the household to escape.

The “father of forests” bowed to the earth under the terrific force of hurricanes and tornadoes. The “fathers of foods” buried themselves deep in the ground to escape destruction at the hands of cruel mankind and tempestuous nature. Then came the bitter conflict between the family of Kanaloa and their combined enemies. Cruel men were without pity in the blows dealt against their inferior kindred. At last the fish fled to the sea and sought safety in distant waters, finding homes where the children of Ku did not care to follow. The reptiles fled inland to the secret recesses of the mountains and forests. There they have kept their wild savage life through the centuries even to the present day, as in Sumatra, Borneo, the Celebes, the Philippines and other sections of the region around the Sunda Straits. They are not now ocean lovers any more than in the ages past. They do not “go down to the sea in ships.” Neither do they love the coming of Dutch or Spanish or American civilization. They seem to have an hereditary dislike for strange and cruel men.

The sea rovers became great wanderers, carrying with them the name of “Kanaloa” and planting it in almost all the Pacific islands to be worshipped as one of the supreme gods.

How much these domestic troubles surrounding the name of Papa may have had to do with an early migration of the Polynesians we do not know. It may be that while the household was engaged in war the Malays came from the north and with tornado power scattered the divided family, compelling swift flight to distant lands…

Some of the Hawaiian and New Zealand legends imply that for a number of generations a part of the Polynesians remained in the old family home, Hawaiki. The New Zealanders enter quite fully into the account of the troubles attending the coming of their ancestors from Hawaiki. They mention battles and domestic discords. They tell of the long journeys and wearisome efforts put forth until their ancestors find Northern New Zealand, Ke-ao-tea-roa (The great white land). This was pulled up out of the sea for them by Maui with his wonderful fish-hook. This story of the magic fishing of the disobedient and mischievous Maui is common in Polynesia.

After the discovery of New Zealand, boats were sent back to Hawaiki to induce large companies of colonists to leave the land of warfare and trouble and settle in rich lands bordering the beautiful bays of New Zealand.

Like stories of discovery of new lands and return for friends adorn the legends of all Polynesia. Wakea’s descendants were clannish and stood by each other in that great migration of the second century as well as in the better-remembered journeys of later years. There seems to have been a continued migration of the Polynesians. Sometimes they were apparently fought off by the black race, as in Australia; sometimes they held their own for a time, keeping the black men inland, as in Fiji; and sometimes they struck out boldly for new lands, as when they sailed long distances to the Hawaiian and Easter Islands. It is said that the purest forms of the Polynesian language, most harmonious with one another, were carried by the children of Wakea to the far distant islands of New Zealand, Hawaii and Easter Island.69

Wakea and Papa

Wakea and his wife Papa are the people responsible for the Hawaiian race according to most Hawaiian genealogies. Some say they were from the big island of Hawai‘i while other genealogies claim that they were from Kahiki (Tahiti) or “distant lands” and later settled in the Hawaiian Islands. Even the birth of the Hawaiian Islands claims Wakea and Papa as their parents. According to the priest Pakui who was a great historian of King Kamehameha’s time, Wakea and Papa had Hawai‘i and then Maui (loa). Papa went back to Tahiti and her husband Wakea had Lana‘i with a woman named Ka‘ula, then Wakea had Moloka’i with Hina. Papa came back from Tahiti and was angry and jealous and she found a new husband and had O‘ahu from a man named Lua. Then later Papa went back to Wakea and had Kamawaelualanimoku (Kaua‘i). These islands were named after people who had done something so significant that the people named the islands after them. These people were children of Wakea and Papa.

This primary Wakea genealogy begins with Wakea and Papa and continues on through the children of Ki’i. They are Ulu and Nanaulu. Kaua‘i and O‘ahu genealogies cling more to the Nanaulu branch while Maui and Hawai‘i genealogies claim the Ulu branch. Abraham Fornander believes that the Ulu branch was more of a Southern Polynesian extraction versus the Nanaulu – Northern Polynesian. The Ulu branch splits into two other branches through ‘Aikanaka’s sons Punaimua and Hema. O‘ahu and Kaua’i chiefs claim their descent through Punaimua while Hawai‘i and Maui chiefs claim their descent from Hema.

Two versions of the genealogy – the Ulu and Nanaulu – are available for viewing at: http://home.earthlink.net/~motuahina/hawaiian_genealogy/wakeagen.html. The Ulu version shows a slight deviation from the Nanaulu version. The Ulu version claims their descent from Ho‘ohokukalani, the daughter of Wakea and Papa just as the Nanaulu branch does. However, the Ulu branch shows Wakea as the husband of Ho‘ohokukalani.

It was Wakea who set up the kapu (tabu) system, of which it is said he used to his advantage and slept with his own daughter. Papa in turn was jealous and slept with Ha‘akauilana, a servant of Wakea, and from them descends the kauwa or “outcasts”. The genealogy continues down to the high chiefess Kapi‘olani who defied the fire goddess Pele in 1824 by breaking the usual tabu and proclaiming the might of the Christian god Jehovah.

Many famous Polynesian chiefs are listed in the two genealogies, including some not of the Hawaiian Islands. Some were born in the Hawaiian Islands, while others were from Kahiki.70

End Notes

65 Fornander, 1878, Volume I, p. 160.

66 Fornander, Abraham. The Polynesian Race, pp. 160-161. According to Fornander, between 57 and 70 generations had come and gone by the time of his writing, in the late 1800’s. His guess was that Wakea lived somewhere between 230 B.C. and 160 A.D.

67 Fornander, Abraham. The Polynesian Race, p. 162.

68 Westervelt, W.D. Hawaiian Legends of Old Honolulu, 1915, published by G.H. Ellis Press, Boston. Source:

http://home.earthlink.net/~motuahina/hawaiian_genealogy/wakeagen.html.

69 Westervelt, W.D. Hawaiian Legends of Old Honolulu, 1915, published by G.H. Ellis Press, Boston. Taken from:

http://home.earthlink.net/~motuahina/hawaiian_genealogy/wakeagen.html.

70 Source:

http://home.earthlink.net/~motuahina/hawaiian_genealogy/wakeagen.html.

Monday, September 19, 2022

Hawai'iloa

Aloha and Welcome to this chapter segment in the LEGENDARY SURFERS series on the legendary Polynesian Hawai’iloa.

The modern day voyaging canoe Hawai'iloa

Courtesy of the Polynesian Voyaging Society

Thanks to a large number of Polynesian and Hawaiian oral histories, we know about a number of surfers in the long ago. Many of the most notable legends of Polynesian and Hawaiian watermen from before the time of the written word – from the time of the mele1 – were known surfers, while others – like Hawi‘iloa – can only be guessed as such.

According to Hawaiian legends recorded by Abraham Fornander and Thomas George Thrum, Hawaiʻiloa was a great chief, expert fisherman and navigator who was famous for his lengthy voyages..

While on one such, his principal navigator, Makaliʻi, asked Hawaiʻiloa to steer eastward towards Aldebaran (Hokuʻula, meaning "red star") and the Pleiades (near the Cluster of Makaliʻi). After sailing in this direction, he and his crew stumbled upon the island of Hawaiʻi, which was named in Hawaiʻiloa's honor. Hawaiʻiloa returned to his homeland, Ka ʻāina kai melemele a Kāne ("the land of the yellow sea of Kāne"), to bring his family back with him to Hawaiʻi. He then organized a colonizing expedition with his family and eight other skilled navigators. They settled on what is now the Island of Hawaiʻi, named in his honor.

The legend contains reference to his children: Māui (his eldest son), Kauaʻi (son), and Oʻahu (daughter) who settled on the islands that bear their names.

Although the Hawaiʻiloa legend is a realistic Hawaiian origin story that is consistent with modern anthropological and historical findings, and DNA research, its historical accuracy should be treated more for what it is than an actual historical reconstruction. Hawai’iloa’s exploits come to us as a product of many centuries of story telling from one generation to another.

According to 19th Century Hawaiian folklorist Abraham Fornander, “the earliest reminiscences of the Hawaiian branch of the Polynesian family refer to a far western habitat on some very large island or islands, or perhaps continent, as the birthplace of their ancestors. This land was known under many names, but the most frequently occurring is ‘Kapa-kapa-ua-a-Kane.’ It is also called ‘Hawaii-kua-uli-kai-oo’ (Hawaii with the green back, banks or upland, and the dotted sea).”2

This ancestral home was said to be “situated in Kahiki-ku, or the large continent to the east of Kalana-i-Hau-ola, or the place where the first of mankind were created.”3

Seventeen generations4 after the same Flood (ke kai-a-Kahinalii) upon which the Biblical story of Noah is based – an event in the histories of many different people on the planet – on the east coast of Kapakapaua-a-Kane, in an area called Ka ‘Aina kai melemele a Kane (“Land of the yellow sea of Kane”)5 there lived “a chief of high renown and purest descent.”6 Chief Hawai‘iloa (“the great burning Hawa” or sometimes “the straits of the great burning Hawa”),7 also called Ke Kowa i Hawai‘i,8 was a noted fisherman and a great navigator.9 We can only assume that he was also a surfer and that many of the legends attributed to him are collected legends of the exploits of several men.

In Hawaiian folklore, Hawai‘iloa is a traceable descendant of the first man Kumu Honua and his wife Lalo Honua, who lived in the land called Kalana i Hauola. This line went all the way down to Aniani Ka Lani, Hawai‘iloa’s father, and Ka Mee Nui Hikina, his mother.10 Hawai‘iloa’s other three siblings were Ki, who settled in Tahiti, Kana Loa, who settled in Nukuhiwa, and Laa-Kapu.11

Hawai‘iloa and his brothers were born on the east coast of Ka ‘Aina kai melemele a Kane (the land of the yellow or handsome sea of Kane).12 Hawai‘iloa was not only a distinguished man of his community, but also a noted fisherman famous for his fishing trips which could take as long as a month-to-a-year to complete. During this time, he roamed about the ocean on “fishing excursions” in his voyaging canoe (wa‘a) called also an “island” (moku) with his crew and navigators (poe ho‘okele and kilo-hoku).13

Hawaiian Chain Discovered

On one of Hawai‘iloa’s longer voyages, his principal navigator Makali‘i said, “Let’s steer the canoe in the direction of Iao, the Eastern Star, the discoverer of Land [Hoku hikina kiu o na ‘aina]. There is land to the eastward, and here is a red star, hoku‘ula (Aldebaran), to guide us, and the land is there in the direction of those big stars which resemble a bird.”14

So, they took to the direction of Iao (Jupiter, “the eastern star”),15 the red star (the rising Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus)16 and the Pleiades.17 The red star, situated in the lap of the goats (a constellation) was henceforth called Makali‘i after Hawai‘iloa’s navigator. Some other red stars in the circle of the Pleiades were called the Huhui-a-Makali‘i (“Cluster of Makali`i).18

By taking this route, Hawai‘iloa and crew discovered a group of islands far from their western homeland.19 These islands have been generally considered to be the Hawaiian chain, though this is not certain. If it was Hawai‘i, then archeological evidence suggests a direct link between Hawai‘i and Hiva – the Marquesas Islands.20 In Fornander’s translations, not all the islands in the Hawaiian chain had been formed by this time. “When Hawai‘i Loa arrived here, there were only the two islands of Hawai‘i-Loa [Hawai‘i] and Maui-au-Ali‘i [Maui],” wrote Fornander, “but during his time and close afterwards the volcanoes on Hawai‘i and on Maui began their eruptions; and earthquakes and convulsions produced or brought to light the other islands.”21

The Hawaiian scholar Kepelino has all the islands in place upon Hawai‘iloa’s first landing on the western end of the archipelago. “First he saw the island of Kaua‘i, but he kept on sailing and found O‘ahu and then the islands of the Maui group, then, seeing the mountains of Hawai‘i, he kept on until he reached that island. There he lived and named the island after himself. The other islands from Maui to Kaua‘i were named for his children and probably for some who sailed with him.”22 Of Hawai1iloa’s children, Maui was the eldest, O‘ahu the next younger, and Kaua‘i the youngest. These names he gave to the three large islands, but it is probably that the smaller islands were named for others who accompanied him on the discovering voyage.23

The voyagers “went ashore and found the land fertile and pleasant,” wrote Fornander, “filled with ‘awa, coconut trees... and Hawai‘iloa, the chief, gave that land his name. Here they dwelt a long time and when their canoe was filled with vegetable food and fish, they returned to their native country with the intention of returning to Hawai‘i-nei, which they preferred to their own country.”24

Hawai‘iloa and crew returned to their homeland. There, they were delayed a long while in their own country and amongst their own relatives,25 before returning to the newfound land. The time spent in Hiva was possibly due to their efforts to build enthusiasm and interest in the new land.

Second Trip to Hawaii and First Settlement

Finally, Hawai‘iloa and a new crew again set sail for the islands he had named. This time, Hawai‘iloa brought his wife and children and an unusually large amount of men-steersmen, navigators, ship builders and others. According to Kepelino, the second time Hawai‘i-nui sailed to Hawai‘i, he did so with only eight steersmen. Because of their skill in observing stars, each one was renamed after his favorite star. They were: Makali‘i, the famous steersman and great farmer; Iao; Kahiki-Nui; Hoku ‘Ula (named, possibly after the star Aldebaran); Maiao; Kiopa‘a (“fixed,” a name for Polaris, the north star; also called Hokupa‘a); Unulau; Polohilani (possibly the star Schedir in Cassiopeia).26

Supposedly, Hawai‘iloa was the only man who had his wife and children along with him, but this is highly unlikely. On this voyage, the ka Hoku Loa, the Morning Star, was the special star they steered by.27

In the various Hawai‘iloa legends, the ocean Hawai‘iloa and his fellow voyagers traversed is called by different names. These include: Ka Moana-kai-Maokioki-a-Kane (the spotted, many-colored ocean),28 Kai Holo-o-ka-i‘a (the Ocean where the fish run),29 and Moana-kai-Popolo (the blue or dark-green ocean). After traversing the long distance, Hawai‘iloa and his entourage arrived finally at the islands Hawai‘iloa had previously named after himself and his son or children.30 Again, the various legends differ. Some have it that these events occurred early enough to the point where there were only two islands in the Hawaiian chain; others have all islands in place. The multiple-islands legend has Hawai‘iloa naming not only the big island for himself and Maui after his first-born son, but also O‘ahu after his daughter (and O‘ahu-a-Lua [Honolulu] after her foster parent Lua), and Kaua‘i after his younger son.31

Hawai‘i, Sawai‘i, Tonga?

If the island group where Hawi‘iloa and clan settled was not the Hawaiian chain, it was no doubt somewhere within the confines of what we know as Polynesia.32 Added both to the uncertainty of where exactly Kapa-kapa-ua-a-Kane or Hawaii-kua-uli-kai-oo was located, is the uncertainty of where exactly Hawai‘iloa settled. Three Polynesian groups the Hawaiian, Samoan and Tongan have an island by the same name, with slight dialectical difference. Each claim the honor of having been first peopled and first named by people from the west.33

The Hawai‘iloa legend itself is just part of the epic Hawaiian legend of Kumuhonua (the first man) and indicates, according to the earliest traditionally handed down recollections of the Hawaiian people, that Hawai‘i was first peopled by emigrants from a land far to the west of it. Fornander admitted, “whether the Hawaii to which the legend refers be the Hawaii of the North Pacific, the Sawaii of the Samoan group, or the Jawa of the Asiatic Archipel, they did not come there from the east, north, or south, but from lands and seas in the far distant west.” Furthermore, “The Hawaiians considered themselves as emigrants, not as autochthones, of the Hawaii of which the legend speaks.”34

The Hawa or Hawai‘i that most Polynesians refer to as being the birthplace of their ancestors, Fornander mused, must have been well to the west of Polynesia.35 This may be the case of the original inhabitants that arrived with Hawai‘iloa, but archaeological evidence suggests the major cultural link to be Hiva (the Marquesas Islands),36 over 1600 years ago. “The argument for a Marquesan origin of some of the early settlers,” wrote Dennis Kawaharada of the Polynesian Voyaging Society, “is based in part on linguistic and biological evidence.”37 Archaeologist Patrick Kirch wrote, “Indeed, the close relationship between the Hawaiian and Marquesan languages as well as between the physical populations constitutes strong and mutually corroborative evidence that the early Hawaiians came from the Marquesas.”38

“Adzes, fishhooks, and pendants,” continued Kawaharada, “found at an early settlement site at Ka Lae on the Big Island of Hawai‘i resemble those found in the Marquesas. Also, the Marquesas Islands are the best departure point for sailing to Hawai‘i from the South Pacific because they are closer and farther east (upwind) than the Society Islands or the Cook Islands, two other possible sources of early migrants.”39

Later Voyages of Hawai‘iloa

Hawai‘iloa, according to legend, made several voyages afterwards between Kapa-kapa-ua [Hiva?] and Hawai‘i to find his brothers and see if they had any children who might become husbands or wives to members of his party back on Hawai‘i.40

Hawai‘iloa made these voyages to “the extreme south (i ka mole o ka honua). Leaving from Lae o Kalae, in Ka‘u, and following the stars of Ke Ali‘i-o-Kona-i-ka-Lewa (Canopus) and the stars of Hoku-kea o ka Mole Honua (the Southern Cross, also known as the ‘Star-cross of the bottom of the earth’)”. Utilizing these guides, Hawai‘iloa and crew made it to Tahiti and other islands to the south. On Tahiti, he found his brother Ki, who had settled there and called the island after one of his own names. Together, the brothers sailed southward (i ka mole o ka honua) and found some uninhabited islands. When they finally returned to Hawai‘i, they had with them Ki’s first born son Tu-nui-ai-a-te-Atua as a husband for Hawai‘iloa’s daughter O‘ahu.41

Hawai‘iloa, Ki and party returned to Lae o Kalae, steering by the Hoku-‘iwa stars and the Hoku Poho ka ‘Aina.42

Tui-nui-ai-a-te-Atua and O‘ahu had a child named Kunuiakea, who was born at Keauhou, in Puna, Hawai‘i. Puna was a fertile land and was named after Tui-nui-ai-a-te-Atua’s (Kunuiaiakeakua) own birthplace, Puna-Auia, in Tahiti. Kunuiakea became a chief of the highest rank (kapu loa) and from him sprang all the race of chiefs in Hawai‘i (welo ali‘i). From the great navigator Makali‘i sprang the common people (welo kanaka). The priests (welo kahuna) were “one and the same with the race of the chiefs from the beginning.”43

Other later voyages of Hawai‘iloa included a trip to Sawai‘i (Somoa), where he placed some of his offspring. They, in turn, became the ancestors of Sawai‘i, thereafter called Hawai‘i-ku-lalo (Hawai‘i rising downwind).44

Hawai‘iloa afterwards revisited Tahiti where he found his brother Ki had returned and forsaken the religion they were born into together; the religion of Kane, Ku and Lono. Instead, Ki now worshipped Ku-waha-ilo [maggot-mouthed Ku], the man-eating god (ke akua ‘ai kanaka). Hawai‘iloa soon left Tahiti after quarreling with his brother on this issue.45

Hawai‘iloa revisited Tahiti a third time and Hawai‘i-ku-lalo (Sawai‘i) a second time, holding a meeting with those people at Tarawao. Finding that these people still persisted in following after the god Ku-waha-ilo, who required human sacrifices, and that they had now become used to man-eating, he renounced them, passing a law called “he Papa Enaena,” forbidding anyone from Hawai‘i-Luna (upwind Hawai‘i) from ever going to the southern islands for fear they would go astray, be converted to this new religion, and become cannibals.46

Fornander has Hawai‘iloa also visiting some western land that was neither Kapa-kapa-ua or i ka mole o ka honua. Travelling westward, he used Mulehu (Hoku Loa) as his guiding star. He found a land where there lived “people with turned-up eyes” (Lahui maka-lilio) – Asians. Travelling across this land to the northward and west, he came to the country called Kua-hewa-hewa, part of a very large land expanse. Returning from this country, he brought back with him two white men (poe keokeo kane). On his return voyage he used the star Iao to help guide the way. After landing, Hawai‘iloa had the two white men marry Hawaiian women (a ho‘omoe i ko‘onei po‘e wahine).47

Hawai‘iloa made one last journey back to the southern and eastern shore of Kapakapaua-a-Kane and took with him his grandchild Kunuiakea in order to teach him navigation and long distance voyaging. When they returned, Kunuiakea brought with him two stewards (he mau ha‘a elua), one called Lehua and the other Nihoa. They settled on the two Hawaiian Islands which bear their names. As konohiki (land stewards), they were put under the charge of Kaua‘i, Hawai‘iloa’s youngest son.48

Hawai‘iloa, Ki & Kanaloa Descendents

According to many of the legends, the descendants of the brothers Hawai‘iloa and Ki peopled nearly all the Polynesian islands. From Ki came the people of Tahiti, Borabora, Huahine, Taha‘a, Ra‘iatea and Mo‘orea.49

Hawai‘iloa’s lesser mentioned brother Kanaloa peopled Nukuhiwa, Uapou, Tahuata, Hiwaoa, and other islands of the Hiva group (Marquesas). On Nukuhiwa, Kanaloa married a woman from the man-eating people, from who sprang the cannibals who live on Nukuhiwa, Fiji, Tarapara, Paumotu (Tuamotus) and lesser islands in western Polynesia. Despite what some of the legends may indicate, the people of Hawai‘i and Tahiti never fully converted to cannibalism.50

The Hawaiian scholar Kepelino concluded, “Hawai‘i-nui was perhaps a chief or perhaps not; he was a man of high standing (ke kanaka ko‘iko‘i), as I see it.”51 Fornander noted, “In the first age, from Hawai‘i Loa to Wakea, the royal authority and prerogative were not very well defined. The chiefs were regarded more in the light of parents and patrons (haku), than as moi and ali`i-kapu, although they enjoyed all the honor and precedence due to their rank. This state of things was considerably altered by Wakea, his priest and successors, yet even so late as the time of Kanipahu, who refused the government, it is evident that the royal authority was not well settled in the olden times (‘aole he ano nui o na ‘li‘i ka wa kahiko loa ‘ku).”52

The Legend Examined

Scholars have questioned the authenticity of the Hawai‘iloa legend because of similarities between biblical stories and stories in the tradition of Kumuhonua. “The legend seems to be a summary of statements contained in many other legends and genealogies,” observed historian Bruce Cartwright. “At the time it was recorded in writing, many Hawaiians had become Christianized and were familiar with Biblical history. The temptation to interpret certain incidents similar to those in Biblical history as being in fact the Hawaiiian rendering of Biblical events seems to have influenced the translators. This unfortunate condition has more or less discredited the ancient legends on which the legend of Hawaii-loa is based, branding them, in the opinion of many modern students as ‘doctored accounts, influenced by Christianity.’”53

Both Kamakau and Kepelino, early Hawaiian writers on the tradition of Hawai‘iloa, were Christian converts. The similarities between the biblical stories and the legend of Hawai‘iloa include the Hawaiian god formed by the trinity of gods Kane, Ku and Lono; the creation of the first man (Kumuhonua) out of clay and the first woman (Lalo Honua) out of the rib of the first man. Kanaloa, angry that he was denied ‘awa, rebelled against god and later seduced the first woman. Afterwards, the first man and woman broke the law of Kane and fell from grace. The Hawaiian Noah is called Nu‘u, who survived the great flood in a large vessel with a house on it.54

Randie Kamuela Fong, representing the traditionalist response, wrote, “after careful review of Fornander’s version of the Kumuhonua tradition, the Hawai‘iloa portion bears no resemblance to any biblical account. The names, places, and basic settings and plots give us no reason to question their age and authenticity. Further, Patience Bacon of the Bishop Museum remembers kupuna (elders) being interviewed” in the 1920’s and 30’s “by Tutu Puku‘i. The kupuna spoke of Hawai‘i Loa as their ‘reality.’”55

Probably closest to the mark are Abraham Fornander‘s impressions. “I am inclined to think,” wrote Fornander, “that the legend of Hawii-loa represents the adventures and achievements of several persons... which, as ages elapsed, and the individuality of the actor retreated in the background, while the echo of his deeds was caught up by successive generations, were finally ascribed to some central figure who thus became the traditional hero not only of his own time, but also of times anterior as well as posterior to his actual existence... In much later times the same process was repeated, when the Hawaiian group was overrun by princely adventurers from the South Polynesian groups, who incorporated their own legends and their own versions of common legends on the Hawaiian folklore, and interpolated their own heroes on the Hawaiian genealogies.”56

The Hawai‘i Loa Story by Fornander

The following is the Hawai‘i Loa story from Fornander, Vol. VI, 278-281. Another version entitled “Hawaii-nui,” in Hawaiian and English, appears in Kepelino’s Traditions of Hawaii (Honolulu: Bishop Museum, 1932, 74-77):

Hawai‘i Loa, or Ke Kowa i Hawai‘i, was one of the four children of Aniani Ka Lani. The other three were Ki, who settled in Tahiti, Kana Loa, who settled the Marquesas, and Laa-Kapu. The ocean was called Kai Holo-o-ka-i‘a (Ocean where the fish run). Only two islands existed and both were discovered and settled by Hawai‘i Loa. The first he named Hawai‘i after himself; the second Maui, after his eldest son. (The other islands were created by volcanoes during and after the time of Hawai‘i Loa.57

Hawai‘i Loa and his brothers were born on the east coast of a land called Ka ‘Aina kai melemele a Kane (the land of the yellow or handsome sea of Kane).58 Hawai’i Loa was a distinguished man and noted for his fishing excursions which would occupy months, sometimes the whole year, during which time he would roam about the ocean in his big canoe (wa‘a), called also an “island” (moku), with his crew and his officers and navigators (poe h‘okele and kilo-hoku).

One time when they had been at sea for a long time, Makali‘i, the principal navigator said to Hawai‘i Loa, “Let’s steer the canoe in the direction of Iao, the Eastern Star, the discoverer of land [Hoku hikina kiu o na ‘aina]. There is land to the eastward, and here is a red star, hoku ‘ula (Aldebaran), to guide us, and the land is there in the direction of those big stars which resemble a bird.” And the red star, situated in the lap of the goats [a constellation], was called Makali‘i after the navigator. Some other red stars in the circle of the Pleiades were called the Huhui-a-Makali‘i (“Cluster of Makali‘i”).

So they steered straight onward and arrived at the easternmost island of the Hawaiian chain.59 They went ashore and found the land fertile and pleasant, filled with ‘awa, coconut trees, and so on, and Hawai‘i Loa, the chief, gave that land his name. Here they dwelt a long time and when their canoe was filled with vegetable food and fish, they returned to their native country with the intention of returning to Hawai‘i-nei, which they preferred to their own country. They had left their wives and children at home; therefore, they returned to get them. When Hawai‘i Loa and his men arrived at their own country and among their relatives, they were detained a long time before they set out again for Hawai‘i.

At last Hawai‘i Loa sailed again, accompanied by his wife and his children. He settled in Hawai‘i and gave up all thought of ever returning to his native land. He was accompanied on this voyage by a great crowd of steersmen, navigators, shipbuilders, and others.60 Hawai‘i Loa was chief of all these men. He alone brought his wife and children; all the others came singly, without women, so he was the progenitor of this nation. On their voyage here, the Morning Star (ka Hoku Loa) was the special star they steered by. And Hawai‘i Loa called the islands after the names of his children and the stars after his navigators and steersmen. The island of Maui was called after Hawai‘i Loa’s first born son. The island of O‘ahu was called after Hawai‘i Loa’s daughter, and her foster parent was Lua, and hence the name O’ahu-a-Lua. Kaua‘i was called after Hawai‘i Loa’s younger son; his wife’s name was Waialeale, and they lived on Kaua‘i, and the mountain was called after her because there she was buried. And thus other islands and districts were called after the first settlers.61

After Hawai‘i Loa had been some time in Hawai‘i-nei, he made another voyage to find his brothers to see if they had any children who might become husbands or wives to his own. They left from Lae o Kalae, in Ka‘u, and followed the stars Ke Ali‘i-o-Kona-i-k a-Lewa [Canopus] and the stars of Hoku-kea o ka Mole Honua [“Star-cross of the bottom of the earth,” or Southern Cross] to Tahiti and other islands to the south. On Tahiti, he found his brother Ki who had settled there and called the island after one of his own names. They sailed together southward (i ka mole o ka honua), and found an uninhabited island, which Hawai‘i Loa gave his name, and another smaller island, which he named for his daughter O‘ahu.

When they had finished their business there, they returned to Hawai‘i, to Lae o Kalae, steering by the Hoku-‘iwa stars and the Hoku Poho ka ‘Aina. On this return voyage, Hawai‘i Loa brought Tu-nui-ai-a-te-Atua, the first born son of his brother Ki, who became the husband of Hawai‘i Loa’s favorite daughter O‘ahu. The couple had a child called Kunuiakea, who was born at Keauhou in Puna, Hawai‘i. Puna was a fertile and fine land and it was called Puna by Kunuiaiakeakua [Tu-nui-ai-a-te-Atua] after his own birthplace, Puna-Auia, in Tahiti.

Kunuiakea, on both father’s and mother’s side, became a chief of the very highest rank (kapu loa). From him sprang the race of chiefs of Hawai‘i (welo ali‘i) and from Makali‘i sprang the race of common people (welo kanaka). The first has been kept separate from the most ancient times, and the second has been kept separate from the time of chaos (mai ka Po mai). But the priestly race (welo kahuna) was one and the same with the race of chiefs from the beginning.62

Kunuiakea’s son Ke Lii Alia, and his grandson Kemilia, were born at Tahiti along with the Aoa, the royal tree; but his great grandson, Ke Lii Ku (Eleeleualani), was born on Hawai‘i.

Eleeleualani was the grandfather of Papa-Nui-Hanau-Moku (w). His wife was called Ka Oupe Ali‘i and was a daughter of Kupukupunuu from Ololoimehani (supposed to be either a name for the island of Nu‘uhiwa, or of a place on that island). They had a son called Kukalani‘ehu, whose wife was Ka Haka-ua-Koko, the sixth descendant from Makali‘i, and they two were the parents of Papa-Nui (w).

Papa-Nui-Hanau-Moku (w) first married Wakea, who was the son of Kahiko (k) and Tupu-rana-i-te-hau (w), who was a Tahitian woman. Papa’s first child with Wakea was a daughter called Hoohokukalani.

Papa, having quarreled with Wakea on account of their daughter [i.e., Wakea slept with their daughter], went to Tahiti and there she took to Te Rii Fanau for husband and had a son called Te Rii i te Haupoipoi. She afterwards returned to Hawai‘i under the name of Huhune and had a son with Waia and called him Hinanalo. Domestic troubles now made her crazy and she returned to Tahiti where she had another son with Te Ari‘i Aumai, who was said to be the fourth generation of the Tahiti chiefs, and she called his name Te Ari‘i Taria, and he became chief over that part of Tahiti called Taharu‘u.

Because she was the mother of chiefs, both here and in Tahiti, she is called Papa Nui Hanau Moku [“Great Papa, the Mother of Islands”]. She is said to have been a comely, handsome woman, very fair and almost white.63

Papa is said to have traveled eight times between Tahiti and Hawai‘i, and died in a place called Waieri, in Tahiti, during the time of Nanakelihi, the fifth descendant from her and Wakea.

Wakea was a wicked and bad man. He instituted the bad and oppressive kapu, such as that men and women could not eat together; that women could not eat red fish, hogs, fowl or other birds, and some kinds of bananas. These kapu were put on to spite and worry Papa, on account of her growling at and reproaching him for his wickedness. Wakea also departed from the ancient worship and introduced idol worship, and many people followed him, because they were afraid of him.

Hawai‘i Loa was born on the eastern shore of the land of Kapakapaua-a-Kane. One of Hawai‘i Loa’s grandchildren was called Keaka-i-Lalo (w) whom he married to Te Ari‘i Aria, one of his brother Ki’s grandchildren, and he placed them at Sawai‘i [Samoa?], where they became the ancestors of that people, Sawai‘i being then called Hawai‘i-ku-lalo [Hawai’i rising downwind].

Afterwards Hawai‘i Loa revisited Tahiti and found that his brother Ki had forsaken the religion in which they were brought up, that of Kane, Ku and Lono, and adopted Ku-waha-ilo [maggot-mouthed Ku], the man-eating God (ke akua ‘ai kanaka), as his God. After quarreling with his brother on this account, Hawai‘i Loa left Tahiti and brought with him Te Ari‘i Apa as a husband for Eleeleualani, his mo‘opuna (grandchild) From these two was born Kohala (w), a girl, from whom the Kohala people sprang.

Afterwards Hawai‘i Loa went again to Tahiti and Hawai‘i-ku-lalo (Sawai‘i) and held a meeting with those peoples at Tarawao, but finding that they persisted in following after the God Ku-waha-ilo and that they had become addicted to man-eating, he reproved and repudiated them, and passed a law called “he Papa Enaena,” forbidding anyone from Hawai‘i-Luna (upwind Hawai‘i) from ever going to the southern islands, lest they should go astray in their religion and become man-eaters.

When Hawai‘i Loa returned from this trip he brought with him Te Ari‘i Tino Rua (w) to be a wife to Kunuiakea, and they begat Ke Ali‘i Maewa Lani, a son, who was born at Holio in North Kona, Hawai‘i, and became the Kona progenitor.

After this Hawai‘i Loa made a voyage to the westward, and Mulehu (Hoku Loa) was his guiding star. He landed on the eastern shore of the land of the Lahui-makalilio (the people with the turned up, oblique eyes, i.e., Asians). He traveled over it to the northward and to the westward to the land of Kuahewahewa-a-Kane, one of the continents that God created, and thence he returned, by the way he had come, to Hawai’i nei, bringing with him some white men (po‘e keokeo kane) and married them to native women (a ho‘omoe i k‘onei po‘e wahine). On this return voyage the star Iao was his guiding star to Hawai‘i.

After this Hawai‘i Loa made another voyage to the southern and eastern shore of Kapakapaua-a-Kane and took with him his grandchild Kunuiakea in order to teach him navigation, etc. When they had stayed there long enough they returned and Kunuiakea brought with him “he mau ha‘a elua” (two stewards), one called Lehua and the other Nihoa, and they were settled on the two islands which bear their names, as konohiki (land stewards) and put under the charge of Kaua‘i, the youngest son of Hawai‘i Loa.

When Hawai‘i Loa returned from the conference with his brother Ki and his descendants, his wife Hualalai bore him a son who was called Hamakua, and who probably was a bad boy (keiki ‘ino‘ino), for so his name would indicate. Ten years later, Hualalai died and was buried on the mountain of Hawai‘i that has been called after her name ever since.

After Hawai‘i Loa was dead and gone, in the time of Kunuiakea, came Tahitinui from Tahiti and landed at Ka-lae-i-Kahiki (the southwest point of Kaho‘olawe, a cape often made by people coming from or going to Tahiti.) Tahiti-nui was a mo‘opuna of Ki, Hawai‘i Loa’s brother, and he settled on East Maui and died there.

The descendants of Hawai‘i Loa and also of Ki (which are one, for they were brothers) peopled nearly all the Polynesian islands. From Ki came the people of Tahiti, Borabora, Huahine, Taha‘a, Ra‘iatea and Mo‘orea [the Society Islands].

From Kanaloa [brother of Hawai‘i Loa] were peopled Nukuhiwa, Uapou, Tahuata, Hiwaoa and those other islands [the Marquesas Islands]. Kanaloa married a woman from the man-eating people, Taeohae [Taiohae, on Nukuhiwa], from whom spring those cannibals who live on Nukuhiwa, Fiji, Tarapara, Paumotu [the Tuamotus], and the islands in western Polynesia – so is it reported in the Hawaiian legends and prayers – but the people of Hawai‘i and the Tahiti (properly speaking) did never addict themselves to cannibalism.64

Footnotes

1 Mele – Song, anthem, or chant of any kind; poem. See Pukui and Elbert, 1986.

2 Fornander, Abraham. An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origin and Migrations, Volume 1-3, Trubner, London, 1878, 1880 and 1885. Reprinted by Tuttle, Vermont, 1969. Volume 1, pp. 22-23.

3 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 23.

4 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 133.

6 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 23.

7 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 25.

8 Kawaharada, Dennis. “Hawai`iloa and the Discovery of Hawai`i,” Polynesian Voyaging Society, Section 3.3., ©1995. This section draws on the English version in Fornander, 1878, Volume 1 (VI), pp. 278-281 and the English and Hawaiian work of Kamakau, Samuel M. and Kepelino, Z., especially Kepelino, “Hawaii-nui,” Traditions of Hawaii, Bishop Museum, 1932, pp. 74-77.

9 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 23.

12 Kepelino has Hawai‘i-nui (Hawai‘iloa) sailing from a land called Kahiki-Honua-Kele.

17 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 23.

19 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 23.

20 Kirch, Patrick. Feather Gods and Fishhooks, p. 64.

21 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1 (VI), p. 279.

22 Some folktales say the other islands had not yet formed, others have them in place. See Fornander, Abraham. The Polynesian Race, 1878, Volume 1, p. 132 and 134 and also Kepelino, “Hawaii-nui,” Traditions of Hawaii, Bishop Museum, 1932, pp. 74-77.

23 Kepelino, “Hawaii-nui,” Traditions of Hawaii, Bishop Museum, 1932, pp. 74-77.

24 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1 (VI), p. 278. Other versions suggest that ‘awa and coconut were brought by those who settled Hawai‘i.

26 Kepelino, “Hawaii-nui,” Traditions of Hawaii, Bishop Museum, 1932, pp. 74-77.

28 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 23.

30 Depending on whether there were only two or more islands in the group.

32 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, pp. 23-24.

33 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 24.

34 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 24.

35 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 25.

38 Kirch, Patrick. Feather Gods and Fishhooks, p. 64.

41 Fornander, 1878 Volume 1 (VI), p. 279.

47 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1, p. 135. Fornander translates that the marriage was done at sea, but this does not make sense because women only rode in the voyaging canoes when settlement was the aim for the destination. See also Kawaharada, “Hawai`iloa and the Discovery of Hawai`i,” Section 3.3., ©1995.

51 Kepelino, “Hawaii-nui,” Traditions of Hawaii, Bishop Museum, 1932, pp. 74-77.

52 Fornander, 1878, Volume 1 (VI), p. 281.

53 Cartwright, Bruce. “Some Allis of the Migratory Period,” Bishop Museum Occasional Papers, 1933, p. 105.

56 Fornander, 1878, Volume I, p. 137.

57 Fornander, Abraham. An Account of the Polynesian Race: Its Origin and Migrations, Volume VI, pp. 278-281. The story begins with the genealogy of Hawai’i Loa for many generations, from the first man, Kumu Honua, and his wife Lalo Honua, who lived in a land called Kalana i Hauola, down to Aniani Ka Lani, Hawai’i Loa’s father and Ka Mee Nui Hikina, his mother.

58 Fornander VI. Kepelino’s version: Hawai’i-nui sailed from a land called Kahiki-Honua-Kele.

59 Kepelino’s version states that the canoe made landfall at the western end of the archipelago: “First he saw the island of Kaua’i, but he kept on sailing and found O’ahu and then the islands of the Maui group, then, seeing the mountains of Hawai’i, he k ept on until he reached that island. There he lived and named the island after himself. The other islands from Maui to Kaua’i were named for his children and for some who sailed with him. Here are the names of his children: Maui was the eldest, O’ahu younger, and Kaua’i the youngest. These names he gave to the three large islands, but the smaller islands were perhaps named for those who accompanied him.”

60 Kepelino’s version: Hawai’i-nui sailed to Hawai’i with his eight steersmen: Here are their names: Makali’i, a famous steersman and great farmer; Iao; Kahiki-Nui; Hoku ‘Ula [perhaps the star Aldebaran]; Maiao; Kiopa’a [“fixed,” one name for Polaris, the north star; also called Hokupa’a]; Unulau; Polohilani [perhaps the star Schedir in Cassiopeia]. And because of their skill in observing the stars, each one called the star he observed after his own name. One steersman, Kahiki-Nui, has a land district on Maui named after him.

61 Another passage in Fornander says “When Hawai’i Loa arrived here, there were only the two islands of Hawai’i-Loa and Maui-au-Ali’i; but during his time and close afterwards the volcanoes on Hawai’i and on Maui began their eruptions; and earthquakes and convulsions produced or brought to light the other islands” (279).

62 Earlier in the story we are told that only Hawai’i Loa came with a wife and children so he was “the special progenitor of this nation” (278). Kepelino concludes, “Hawai’i-nui was perhaps a chief or perhaps not; he was a man of high standing (ke kanaka ko’iko’i), as I see it. He had a granddaughter Ku-ka-lani-ehu, who lived in ancient times.” A note at the end of the Fornander version states, “In the first age, from Hawai’i Loa to Wakea, the royal authority and prerogative were not very well defined. T he chiefs were regarded more in the light of parents and patrons (haku), than as moi and ali’i-kapu, although they enjoyed all the honor and precedence due to their rank. This state of things was considerably altered by Wakea, his priest and successors, yet even so late as the time of Kanipahu, who refused the government, it is evident that the royal authority was not well settled in the olden times (‘aole he ano nui o na ali’i i ka wa kahiko loa ‘ku) (281).

63 See Kamakau, Tales and Traditions (133-135) for one version of the story of Papa and Wakea. Papa and Wakea are considered by many as the first female and male ancestors of the Hawaiian people: “Wakea, from whom all Hawaiian genealogies stem as the anc estors of the Hawaiian people, ‘both chiefs and commoners,’ is regarded as a man in Hawaiian tradition, not as a god as in southern groups [of Polynesia].” (Beckwith 294)

64 Fornander VI. pp. 278-281.