Kauā o Kaʻū

Photo: Kelley Cultural Surveys Ninole 1954

THE POLYNESIAN FAMILY SYSTEM INKA-ʻU, HAWAIʻI

by

E. S. CRAIGHILL HANDY

and

MARY KAWENA PUKUI

with a concluding Chapter on the History and Ecology of Ka-ʻu by

ELIZABETH GREEN HANDY

pg 204-205

THE OUTCASTE CLASS.

The aristocrats (aliʻi), experts in priestcraft of one kind or another (kahuna), and tribesmen of the land (maka-ʻaina-na) were proud of being one stock, native to Ka-ʻu. But there was an outcaste group whose origin is subject to speculation.

A part of Ninole, in Ka-ʻu, was set apart for the kauwā people; a people so despised that they were never allowed to mingle even with the commoners nor to marry anyone but a kauwā. Should any forbidden union take place and offspring result, the baby was put to death.

Should any person walk on land set apart for the kauwā, he or she was regarded as being defiled and was put to death. A kauwā was allowed to go to the place of the chief who was his lord and nowhere else. In travelling, the head was covered with a large handkerchief of kapa, and the eyes kept downcast in humiliation.

When there was no lawbreaker or war victim to offer as human sacrifice in the heiau, the kahuna went near the boundary of the kauwā land and selected a man, as one might select a fowl in a barnyard. A kauwā could not refuse and followed the kahuna who called him. If he were not to be put to death immediately, he was given an elongated gourd to wear, suspended from the neck with a string, which was referred to as “garland for waiting” (lei i ke ʻolo). To say to one that his ancestor had worn the ʻolo gourd was the equivalent of saying that he was a person of no consequence. For a person to refer to himself as his chiefʻs kauwā was all right, because it implied a properly humble spirit. In Christian times, the expression kauwā o ke Akua, Godʻs humble servant, came into use. But in other than Bible language we prefer to speak of servants as kanaka Nana (work man) or kanaka lawelawe (lawe: to carry, serve).

With the overthrow of the kapu system, the segregation of the kauwā was done away with. It was no longer compulsory for them to wear distinguishing marks tattooed in the middle of the forehead or at the outer corners of the eyes. They mingled with the people in general and were lost sight of. Some married outside of their own group, thus mixing kauwā blood with that of others.

In our homeland lived a man in whose veins ran the blood of chiefs and of the kauwā. One of his daughters became intensely interested in genealogy and went to question him. He would only mention the chiefly side, but of the kauwā side, he was silent. To his daughterʻs plea, his one reply was, “What do you care about such smutty-nosed people?” (He aha ka nana is poʻe ihu papaʻa?)

At one time, my motherʻs brother fell in love with a pretty girl who lived in Pahala. She was industrious, well-mannered and the kind of person who would have made an excellent wife. Plans for the coming marriage went on until my grandmother learned that she was of kauwā ancestry. The engagement was broken at once, and all plans laid aside! Excellent though the girl was, she was absolutely not acceptable as a new addition to the family.

It is my own belief that the despised kauwā were early settlers, who fought against those who migrated hither at a later date, were badly defeated, greatly reduced in numbers and forced by their conquerors to live a segregated life on a tract of land allotted to them—despised and regarded as the very lowest of the low.