Legends of the Wailuku Part 4

"Mamalahoa Kanawai o na Alii" Kamehameha Called After Them.]

Landing safely, yet with the prow of the big canoe not a spear's length behind, the poor fellows made all speed over the open lava beds that lie between the sh.o.r.e and the jungle at this point. The king, standing in the bow of his canoe, was first ash.o.r.e and in hot pursuit, but, unfamiliar with the footing there, made poor progress. These lava beds are full of treacherous pukas and into one of them Kamehameha stumbled, sinking to his armpits. There chanced to be a sizeable stone within reach of his hand, and this he hurled after the fleeing men, but his aim was bad and he missed them. This very stone, and the hole into which the king fell, may still be seen just mauka of Leleiwi Point.

Glancing over his shoulder, the hindmost fugitive observed the king was trapped and that his retainers were still some distance to the rear. Here was a chance for revenge. Swinging his heavy canoe paddle, which he had been too frightened to drop, the fisherman turned and dealt his majesty a cruel blow on the head and, leaving him for dead, made off at top speed after his companion.

When his men came up, the king was just regaining consciousness. One look at their wounded monarch sent them like a pack of hungry wolves after the fishermen.

"Mamalahoa Kanawai o na alii!" Kamehameha called after them. "Whoever purposely murders a fellowman shall be hanged."

And thus the very first law was made in Hawaii.

"Let them go," he said, as his men reluctantly abandoned the chase. "I am not much harmed and they are badly frightened now. They may never do violence again to anyone. If any man hereafter wilfully take the life of another he shall be hanged. Come, let us go back. My heiau will not require a human sacrifice, for it shall never be used."

So it happened that this was the first heiau ever built without its human sacrifice, and the last one constructed on the Island. Once the law forbidding murder was enforced heiaus were no longer needed.

For the first time on Hawaii trails became safe for travelers. Always theretofore one never knew at what moment an enemy in ambush might rob him or take his life. Women and children could now go abroad at all times in safety.

Peace reigned in the land and the people became more prosperous and progressive. Years pa.s.sed before the law was broken, and, true to his word--for the king's word was law--Kamehameha ordered the murderer hanged. The scene of his execution was the unusually crooked coconut tree which until recent years stood near the present site of a cracker factory on what is now Kamehameha Avenue.

Today a careful observer may, by peering beneath the Armory Hall, make out the few remaining stones which were once a part of the foundation of the last heiau built on Hawaii.

PAU.

HOW TAPA IS MADE.

This volume of Hawaiian Legends is bound in genuine tapa, a cloth--or more properly speaking a strong paper--made by hand from the inner bark of the wild mulberry. Briefly, the process of manufacture is as follows:

When full of glutinous sap, the bark of the mulberry is stripped and steeped in running water until the outer layer is softened. This is sc.r.a.ped away and the inner bark beaten with corrugated paddles of palm wood until strips two or three inches broad are widened to ten or twelve inches.

The edges of these strips are then pasted together with a strong vegetable glue and laminated with more beating. So skillfully is this done that it is impossible to detect the lines of jointure.

The tapa used in binding this book is of the stout, heavy grade; but that used for clothing and scarfs is often as sheer as fine muslin.

Tapa making is confined entirely to the women, men never occupying themselves with any of its processes.

GLOSSARY

Hawaiian words may be easily p.r.o.nounced correctly by using the Spanish alphabet. There are no silent letters, and all syllables are stressed equally.

Alae (Hawaiian gallinule): Native bird figuring largely in Hawaiian legends.

Ao-opua: Talisman, guardian spirit.

Haleakala: House (hale) of the Sun (la).

Haole: White man.

Hau: Native tree much favored for lanais (arbors) and the wood for outriggers on canoes and floats for its cork-like lightness. (Hibiscus arnottia.n.u.s).

Heiau: Ancient Hawaiian temple.

Honu: Turtle, turtle-shaped.

Imu: Underground stove made by scooping a hole in the ground, lining it with rocks, and building a fire in it. The food to be cooked is placed in the heated cavern, which is then covered tightly with leaves and earth.

Kaipaaloa: Inlet or estuary where the sea is quiet.

Keahi: Of the fire.

Kuluua: Of the (gentle) rain.

Lauhala: Leaf (lau) of the puhala tree (Panda.n.u.s odoratissimus).

Makai: Toward the sea.

Malihini: Stranger, foreigner.

Mamake: Shrub about ten feet high (Pipturus albidus).

Mamalahoa kanawai o na alii: Your king proclaims this the law of the land (free translation).

Mauka: Toward the mountains.

Olona: Native flax (Touchardia latifolia).

Pahoehoe: The sterile, flintlike lava as distinguished from aa, the friable and highly fertile lava.

Pau: The end, finished.

Pili: Gra.s.s yielding stout fibres (Andropogon contortus).

Puka: Doorway, entrance, hole.

Puu: Small hill, usually of rounded form.

Ti (formerly written ki): Plant of lily family having bright green leaves three feet long and six inches wide (Cordyline terminalis).

Waianuenue: s.h.i.+mmering waters, as a rainbow effect.

Wauke: Native mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera).