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HAWAII NATURE NOTES
HALEAKALA HAWAIIANA MAUI LEGENDS Thus starts the story of Maui, beloved demi-god of all Polynesia in the never-never land of long ago. Not wanted as a babe, for he was scrawny and deformed, his mother, Hina, wrapped him in a lock of her hair and cast him into the sea. But jellyfish rescued and mothered him, and the god, Kanaloa, gave him protection. For all that, the growing youngster yearned for his own, so that one day he crept back and stealthily mingled with his four brothers. He was accepted in the family circle only after much pleading by the eldest boy. Maui-of-a-thousand-tricks is the favorite nickname given this delightful, oft thoroughly human scamp. Throughout his escapades he was ever faithful to man, so frequently fickle and unworthy. Maui made the birds visible, for at first they could only be heard as they sang and fluttered through the air. Maui invented spears and barbed fishhooks. His greatest catch, so runs his fish story, was with a huge hook of powerful magic made from the lifeless jawbone of his grandmother, who was remarkable, for only one side of her body was alive. He tricked his brothers into the task of manning the paddles while he, equipped with his potent tackle, fished up the Hawaiian Islands from the depths of the ocean. Maui first had strictly admonished the brothers not to watch him, but only to look straight ahead. When curiosity overcame the belabored paddlers, they disobeyed. The line parted as they looked back, leaving the land only partly emerged, a chain of islands instead of a continuous whole. The story of the island of Maui thus begins and—so runs one version—Maui lived in plain fashion on simple fare in a humble grass hut at Kauiki, the famous foothill of Haleakala in the district of Hana. Hawaii at the time was covered by darkness and fog, so Maui pushed the heavens to their present position far above the highest mountains, Haleakala, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, and Hualalai. Before this feat, man had to stoop and crawl, pressed closely to the ground, for the skies were low, and were held up by the plants whose leaves became flattened by their burden, even as they remain today. Yet even now, when Maui is asleep, the heavens rush back as somber clouds and darken the country with storms. From Kauiki, Maui made his important journey to the crater to capture the sun and force it to move slowly through the heavens that tapa may be dried and fruits can mature. Also there are more daylight hours for fishing and ceremonial preparations in the heiau. This legend, the most pertinent to this guide, is sketched in the Introduction to Part I. Most Hawaiian legends place Maui's home in the black lava bank of the Wailuku River above Hilo, while his mother chose the dark cave behind Rainbow Falls. His exploits, so often capricious, more frequently reflect a benefactor's concern for mankind. Maui disclosed the art of making fire by rubbing sticks together. Previously, man was dependent on Pele's volcanic furnace or on embers carefully nurtured to kindle his fires. Maui wrung the secret from Alae, the reluctant mud-hen, who alone knew it and guarded it with greatest care. Exasperated by repeated frustration and deception, Maui, once he had gained her secret, punished the stubborn bird by rubbing her head with a stick so roughly that all the feathers came off and raw flesh appeared, which is how it remains today. Maui in his noblest moment gave his all for man, whose frailty brought about the downfall of both. For Maui, too, was doomed to die some day, since his father, like Achilles' nurse Cynosura, had neglected a part of the proper ceremony to make him immortal. Maui abhorred the fact that man must die, for he regarded death as degrading and an insult to the dignity of man. The secret of life was hidden within the heart of Hina-nui-kepo, the dread ogress of death. To win immortality one had to steal through her jaws, which had sharp basalt teeth, enter into the inky blackness of the stomach, and tear out the heart. This could only be done while Hina slept. First, Maui turned man into a little bird, and advised him to keep very quiet, lest he awaken the fearful goddess from her slumber. Then he went stealthily about his fearsome task, speedily and alone. All went well until the return journey; alas! poor, weak man could not restrain himself, but burst into uncontrollable laughter as he watched the plight of the demigod within the ugly, gaping fish-mouth of Hina. The great jaws closed with a snap that crushed Maui and left Death ever after the victor. Greater love hath no man!
It would seem that the crater so high in the sky, so remote in location, so difficult in access, so desolate in appearance, so dread in origin, should have been shunned by the early native. Quite the contrary, many marks of frequent and varied use may be discovered in the crater. A trail through it connected the busy sites on West Maui and the isthmus with Kaupo and Hana near the eastern shore. This direct route avoided the wet heavily forested northern slopes of the mountain as well as the precipitous, arid, rough terrain on the southwest. It was easily traversed, in spite of the climb involved.
"Kihapiilani was one time King of Maui. It was he who caused the road from Kawaipapa to Kahalaoaka to be paved with smooth rocks, even to the forests of Oopuloa in Koolau, Maui. He also was the one who built the road of shells on Molokai." "And," the great Hawaiian antiquarian, Abraham Fornander, might have continued, "he caused the trail across the crater of Haleakala to be paved with water-worn stones, to the foot of Hanakauhi of the mists." Kihapiilani was the great public works king of the islands. Because of Kihapiilani a most remarkable event of ancient Hawaiian history came to pass, the expedition of numberless canoes. Three and a half centuries ago, Piilani, a king of Maui, had four children: two sons, Lonoapii who was the eldest child, and Kihapiilani, the youngest; and two daughters, Piikea, who became the wife of King Umi of Hawaii, and Kihawahine, now regarded as the lizard god. When the old king was dying, he adjured his successor, Lonoapii, to take his place as father and to be kind to the younger brother. But alas, the young prince was neglected and treated with contempt. One day at Waihee, two calabashes of small fish, nehu, still wet with sea water, were brought to Lonoapii. These he gave to everybody except the younger brother, who, therefore, reached out and helped himself. This angered the king so that he hurled the calabash and its contents into Kihapiilani's face. Without a word, Kihapiilani arose and travelled to Kula. After some time, he told his story to the kahuna Apuna and asked what he should do. Apuna replied that he should seek advice at Keanae from a kahuna named Kahoko. Kahoko sent him to Hana, and from there to Hawaii, following a certain dark object as guide. Kihapiilani and his retinue travelled the windward side of Kohala on foot, swimming through shark-infested waters around the bold headlands. Everywhere people gathered to him, for he was handsome and brave. When he reached Laupahoehoe, in Hamakua, he found his sister, Piikea, living with her husband, Umi. Umi had already become a great chief for he had overthrown his tyrant brother, Hakau, but his greatest deeds were yet to follow. These include the union of all of the island of Hawaii under his rule. When Kihapiilani explained that he was seeking someone to avenge him, for Lonoapii had thrown salt water into his face, Piikea goaded Umi to help him, for he had crossed the seas. So Umi sent messengers with orders that koa be felled and many canoes made ready for the crossing to Maui. These were so numerous that when the first canoe reached Kauiki, the last were still in Waipio. The sea was covered with canoes. Umi ordered the canoes to be fastened bow to stern by twos, and in this way the men walked across instead of sailing, the canoes being a dependable road. This is known in legend as the sailing of numberless canoes. At Kauiki fortress the leader, Hoolae, fought bravely from the top of the hill in daytime, but at night he set a huge wooden image of a man with a bristling war club at the head of the ladder up which the attackers had to climb. The trick frightened away all approaching enemies, while the defenders slept in peace. One night, however, Piimaiwaa took his war club and approached the giant. He hurled insults at him from a safe distance. As his taunts drew no response or movement, Piimaiwaa twirled his war club, threatened with gestures, and gradually crept closer to discover the clever ruse that had fooled the forces of Umi. With that obstacle gone, Umi's men surprised and slew the enemy. Hoolae was captured and killed on the eastern side of Haleakala. War spread over all of Maui, until Lonapii was slain at Waihee and Kihapiilani became king of the island. It could well be that during this campaign Kihapiilani became acquainted with our crater, across which he later constructed the paved trail, another monument to his reign. Some believe that the trails paved with waterworn rocks were built by menehune, the dwarf race supposed to work secretively at night. Actually, the commoners performed the labor, being pressed into service for the task. They formed an endless chain from the coast, so that rocks could be passed from hand to hand until carefully fitted into place on the walkway. The spaces between the larger stones were often filled with sand or gravel.
The early Mauians had many names for different parts of the crater. Some places had two names; sometimes one name served more than one place. Thus there is duplication of use of the name Haleakala, for besides being the name of the whole volcano, it is also applied to the peak on the rim west of Kaupo Gap. Or could haole confusion have given rise to use for the whole mountain a name that once applied only to a prominence on the rim?
White Hill, Pakaoao, (see Places of Interest, topic 6) is of pale gray andesitic basalt that splits into slabs. On the leeward side are many enclosures built of stone, 3 or 4 feet high, which are believed to have been erected as shelters or bivouacs by the men of Kaoao, a quarrelsome chieftain who sought refuge on the mountain after he was driven out of Kaupo, early in the 18th century. Dr. Kenneth Emory of Bishop Museum has an unpublished manuscript, in Hawaiian, of a legend given to him on June 22, 1922 by Joseph V. Marciel, an old native of Maui. Copy of the translation by Maunupau of Honolulu was graciously given to me so that the story could be told here. The heiau of Keahuamanono on Haleakala Peak was built by Kaoao, younger brother of Kekaulike, great king of Maui. The brothers were not friends. Kaoao lived on the mountain, but Kekaulike and his men lived by fishing and raising crops in Nuu, the district west of Kaupo Valley. One day Kaoao sent his men north to find food from Keanae to Hana. After they had departed, Kaoao journeyed to his brother's house, which he found deserted since Kekaulike had gone fishing. Kaoao proceeded to pull and destroy all of his brother's crops, and then returned up the mountain. Kekaulike was very angry when he discovered all his crops had been destroyed. As he knew whom to blame, he ordered his men to wrap 'ala, sling stones, in ti leaves as if they were potatoes. Armed with these they marched up the mountain, and found Kaoao with his bodyguard only, for his men had not returned from the foray for food. The defenders were soon overpowered, but Kaoao jumped over a cliff in an attempt to escape. Kekaulike found him dying, and quickly put an end to him. When Kaoao's men returned from Koolau they found that their leader had been dead many days.
Dr. Kenneth Emory made an extensive archeological survey of Haleakala Crater in 1920. He records 58 stone terraces and platforms, 9 groups of open stone shelters, hundreds of ahu, and the paved trail of Kihapiilani.1 (See Places of Interest, topic 18.)
The huge structure built by Kaoao, as mentioned earlier in this chapter, stands in the saddle above Kapalaoa, due south of Puu Maile. This is west of the highest point on Haleakala Peak. It measures 57 X 36 feet and has an eastern supporting wall 18 feet high. This has the appearance of a heiau, possibly used for the worship of Pele. As such, it resembles Oalalauo which was located on the rim of Kilauea Iki in the Kilauea Section of Hawaii National Park. Oalalauo, seen in ruins in 1823, was described by the missionary William Ellis, who, probably the first European to go to Kilauea Crater, has given us the first record of a visit.2
Since the crater is a place of restricted access, it was used for burial sites, which is quite in keeping with practice elsewhere in the Hawaiian Islands. A curious local custom was the deposit of umbilical cords of Kaupo babies in certain localities, principally in the Bottomless Pit (Places of Interest, topic 13), and in Na Piko Haua, a pit 15 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep that is located northeast of Halemauu Trail, less than a half mile east of Holua Cabin. The cord was wrapped in a small piece of tapa, or, in recent days, in a scrap of gay calico and tied with string. Sometimes it was placed in a bottle or other container. This was then carefully stowed in crevices or cast into Bottomless Pit. Reasons given for the practice vary. It was believed that if the cord were destroyed or eaten by rats the child would become a thief. Some claimed that proper disposition made a child strong. Some aver that the custom persists to this day, showing, like belief in the existence of Pele, the durability of ancient superstitions. On the north wall above Paliku is a rock, Pohaku Palaha or Broad Rock, which is called the "hub of East Maui." Boundary lines radiating from it mark off the pie-shaped land divisions, ahupuaa, that extend in all directions to the shores of the ocean. It is quite natural that legends, traditions, and superstitions should be woven in and about such a great natural feature as this crater. All prominent places had original Hawaiian names, although some were changed with time and some are now lost. Ka Lua o ka Oo was the residence of Kamohoalii, the brother of Pele and the king of vapor. Between Halalii and Ka Moa o Pele is the rim of a spatter cone, Pa Puaa o Pele, which is 30 feet square with an opening on the northwest side. It protrudes only 10 feet above later volcanic deposits. This was a place of highest kapu (taboo). Merely to disturb a single grain of sand within it will bring fog and rain, possibly death. Emory discloses the local belief that a stone structure, 9 X 5 feet, located 45 feet east of the rim, holds the bones of two men and a woman who had violated this kapu and who had perished in the ensuing fog. His investigation failed to reveal any burial within the structure. In vaguer vein, it was held that a similar fate would be meted to those disturbing a silversword. Were the National Park committed to a policy of nature protection through fear, this belief would be helpful indeed. |
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nature_notes/havo/vol6-59f.htm
24-Mar-2006
