La'amaikahiki

Sacred Texts

https://sacred-texts.com/pac/hm/hm27.htm

pgs. 353-362

THE MOIKEHA-LA‘A MIGRATION

FROM Ulu and Nana-ulu, sons of Ki‘i, twelfth in succession from Wakea and Papa, all high chief families count descent. Hikapoloa, as well as the Waha-nui and Keikipaanea families of early legend, belong to the Nanaulu line, The important Maweke family is, according to Kamakau, the first of that line from whom men today trace ancestry. Their contemporaries are the Paumakua of Oahu, the Kuhiailani of Hawaii, Puna of Kauai, Hua of Maui, and the Kamauaua of Molokai. To the Ulu line belongs the late migration of chiefs introduced by Paao to the island of Hawaii, from whom most families of that island trace descent. Both legends, that of Paao and that of Maweke, are believed to have bearing upon early colonization of the Hawaiian group from North Tahiti.

The coming of Maweke and his sons to the Hawaiian group is dated sometime between the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Their descendants are supposed to have occupied the whole of Oahu and spread to the islands of Kauai, Maui, and Molokai, and hence, some say, the differences in speech and custom between these islands and Hawaii. Of the three sons of Maweke, Mulieleali‘i who inherited his father's lands on the south side of the island of Oahu, Keaunui who settled the western end of the island, and Kalehenui who took the north side, it is the children of the first about whom legends are told today. Of the three sons of Mulieleali‘i, Kumuhonua, Moikeha, and Olopana, it is the firstborn, Kumuhonua, who succeeds to his father's lands. Kamakau asserts that the two younger brothers, Moikeha and Olopana, make a sea attack upon him and are defeated and taken captive, together with La‘a. However this may be, the Kumuhonua line of Oahu ruling chiefs ends with Haka. With Mailikukahi, who succeeds Haka, the Moikeha branch is established as the ruling line. 1

Eia Hawai‘i, he moku, he kanaka

He kanaka Hawai‘i, e –

He kanaka Hawai‘i

He kama na Kahiki

He pua ali‘i mai Kapa‘ahu

Mai Moa‘ulanuiakea Kanaloa

He mo‘opuna na Kahiko, laua o Kapulanakehau

Na papa i hanau

Na ke kamawahine a Kukalani‘ehu, laua me Kahakauakoko

Na pulapula ‘aina i paekahi

I nonoho like i ka Hikina, Komohana

Pae like ka moku i lalani

I hui aku, hui mai me Holani

Puni ka moku o Kaialea ke kilo

Naha Nu‘uhiwa, lele i Polapola

O Kahiko ke kumu ‘aina

Nana i mahele ka‘awale na moku

Moku ke aho-lawai‘a a Kaha‘i

I ‘okia e Ku-Kanaloa

Pauku na ‘aina, na moku

Moku i ka ‘ohe kapu a Kanaloa

O Haumea Manukahikele

O Mo‘ikeha ka lani nana e noho

Noho ku‘u lani ia Hawai‘i – a –

Ola! Ola! O Kalana-ola!

Ola ke ali‘i, ke kahuna;

Ola ke kilo, ke kauwa;

Noho ia Hawai‘i a lulana;

A kani mo‘opuna i Kaua‘i

O Kaua‘i ka moku – a –

O Mo‘ikeha ke ali‘i.

Behold Hawai‘i, an island, a man a

A man is Hawai‘i

A man is Hawai‘i

A child of Kahiki

A royal bud from Kapa‘ahu b

From Moa‘ulanuiakea Kanaloa

A descendant of Kahiko and Kapulanakehau

Born of Papa, c

The daughter of Kukalani‘ehu and Kahakauakoko d

Sprouts of land in a line

Placed alike to the East, to the West

Arranged evenly in a line

Joined to, joined from Holani

Kaialea, the seer, circumnavigated the islands

Left Nukuhiwa behind; landed on Borabora

Kahiko is the source of land

He divided and separated the islands

Severed the fish-line of Kaha‘i e

Cut by Ku-Kanaloa

Divided up was the lands, the islands

Cut by the sacred bamboo knife of Kanaloa

Of Haumea Manukahikele

Mo‘ikeha is the chief who will live there

My chief shall dwell in Hawai‘i

Life! Life! Set life free!

Long live the chief, the priest,

Long live the seer, the servant,

They shall dwell quietly in Hawai‘i

The grandchildren will sing out on Kaua‘i

Kaua‘i, the island

Mo‘ikeha, the chief.

Moikeha is the chief!" 2

LEGEND OF MOIKEHA-OLOPANA

Olopana settles in Waipio on Hawaii and Lu‘ukia, grand-daughter of Hikapoloa of Kohala, becomes his wife. They are driven out by a flood and retire to Kahiki where some say Moikeha is living, others that he was with Olopana in Waipio. Moikeha becomes infatuated with Lu‘ukia and Olopana raises no objections; but a rival suitor, Mua, who cannot win her favor, pretends to her that Moikeha is defaming her publicly, and she will have nothing more to do with Moikeha. The chief therefore leaves his lands under the care of Olopana and paddles away in a canoe manned by companions whose names, as recorded, are perpetuated as place names on the Hawaiian group. His canoes beach on the island of Kauai, at Waimahanalua, in Kapa‘a in Wailua. The pretty daughters of the chief Puna are out surfing. They take Moikeha for their husband and he succeeds at Puna's death to his father-in-law's lands. . . .

Moikeha's son Ho‘okamali‘i settles at Ewa on Oahu, Haulanui-aikea remains on Kauai, Kila goes to Hilo, Hawaii. Other sons named are Umalehu, Kaialea, Ke-kai-hawewe, Lau-kapalala. His two wives are Ho‘oipo-i-ka-malanai and Hina-uulua [but both names may belong to a single woman and "Sweetheart in the trade wind" may be a chant name for the Hina-uulua who appears on the Nana-ulu genealogy as wife of Moikeha and mother of Ho‘okamali‘i who succeeds his father].

On the journey from the south the party touches first at the easternmost point of Hawaii and the younger brothers of Moikeha (Kumukahi and Ha‘eha‘e) remain at Puna; the kahunas Mo‘okini and Ka-lua-wilinau make their home at Kohala; Honua-ula lands in Hana on Maui; the sisters Makapu‘u and Makaaoa land on Oahu [where Kila visits them when he sails after La‘a, and Hi‘iaka claims Makupu‘u as relative in ghost form on her journey about Oahu]. The rest of the party go on to Kauai. These include the paddlers Ka-pahi and Moana-ikaiaiwe, the sailing master Kipu-nui-aiakamau, with his mate, especially skilled in maneuvering a canoe by backing water; the spy Kaukaukamunolea, with his mate, who goes later as pilot with Kila

to Kahiki; and the foster son of Moikeha, the chanter Kamahualele (Child of the flying spray).

Between Lanai and Molokai, Moikeha has joined to his company a kupua called Kakaka-uha-nui (Strong-chested Kakaka) who has such long legs he can steady a canoe as he stands in the water and can stay under water for a long time without breathing. It is he who, on the return voyage with Kila, wins a match in a diving contest with the tide kupua Ke-au-miki and Ke-au-ka by staying under water "ten nights and two" to their ten nights.

The fine chant calling upon Moikeha to make his home in Hawaii is supposed to have been composed by Kamahualele as the canoe first sighted land, some say at South cape in Kau district, others off the Hilo coast.

LEGEND OF KILA AND LA‘A-MAI-KAHIKI

(a) Moikeha wishes to summon from Kahiki a certain La‘a (Sacred one) of peculiarly high rank, either a son or adopted son, left behind at the time of the migration to Hawaii. The object seems to be to insure the transportation of his bones back to Kahiki at his death. He tests his sons to see which will have endurance for the voyage to Kahiki. Kila's toy boat made out of a ti leaf passes directly between the father's legs; the other boys' boats miss the mark. The boys are jealous and try to trap Kila away to a dart-throwing contest in order to make away with him, but the father will not allow it. Before the expedition starts, Kila proposes to take a "god" along with him to protect him from his brothers, and the brothers are afraid to accompany him. On the journey to Kahiki, Kila first visits the members of Moikeha's company who have settled on other islands and at each stop there ensues a repetitive dialogue: "Who are you?" "Kila of the uplands, Kila of the lowlands, Kila born of the Woman-of-the-trade-winds, the child of Moikeha." "Is Moikeha then alive?" "He is alive." "What kind of life is he living?" "Dwelling at ease on Kauai where the sun rises and sets; where the surf of Makaiwa curves and bends; by the changing blossoms of the kukui of Puna; by the broad waters of Wailua. He will live on Kauai and die on Kauai." "What is the journey of the chief for?" "A journey to seek a chief." "What chief?" "La‘amaikahiki." Kila goes on to Kahiki, stopping first at a place called Moa-ula-nui-akea-iki to get a food supply from his uncle Ku-pohihi the rat-man, then greeting his aunt Lu‘ukia, and finally ascending to Lani-keha at Moa-ula-nui-akea to find La‘a. Kamahualele advises his consulting the aged priestess Ku-hele-po-lani. She tells him that when he hears the beating of Moikeha's drum Hawea from the mountains of Kapaahu where La‘a is in hiding under tapu, he must sacrifice a man on the altar of Lanikeha, then go up with her to the heiau and hide himself inside while she, as a woman, remains outside, and when his brother comes to strike the drum and the priests line up and begin chanting, then he must address La‘a and give Moikeha's message. Kila obeys these instructions and La‘a obeys the message. By the sound of the drum beating off Kauai, Moikeha is made aware of La‘a's coming. 3

(b) Moikeha tests his three sons to see which one is ablest for a journey to Kahiki. Kila's toy boat strikes his father's navel and by this sign Moikeha knows that he will excel the others. Moikeha later fits out a canoe and sends Kila to avenge him upon his enemies in Kahiki. On the journey the long-breathed man Kakaka-uha-nui saves him from the tide kupua who would drag the canoe to the bottom. At a neighboring island to Kahiki lives Kane-pohihi, a rat-woman who is Moikeha's aunt. Kila finds her blind and roasting bananas, makes himself known, and is told that the chiefs are all dead, Kahuahuakai being the last of them; but Kila knows that La‘a is still there, guarded by Huihui and Maeele. He is in need of food and his aunt in rat form nibbles the rope which releases the food that Makali‘i has drawn up in a net out of reach.

At the tapu harbor of the main island, Mua, the lover of Lu‘ukia who caused Moikeha's withdrawal, comes down to meet the canoe and, finding in Kila a man handsome enough to be-guile Lu‘ukia, whom he still hopes to win, determines to use him as a lure; for Lu‘ukia, although her husband Olopana has dropsy and cannot enjoy her favors himself, has refused all lovers since Moikeha left her. Kila pretends to accept the plot, but has Mua killed. His warriors then defeat those of Makali‘i, although half their size. He himself gives their leader such a blow that Makali‘i lies stunned "long enough to cook an oven of food," then picks himself up and returns "up above," where he remains until his death and never shows himself on earth again.

Kila ascends, greeted by the wailings of the former people of the land, until he comes to Moikeha's ancient house, built with posts of kauila wood and battens of birds' bones, but now empty and overgrown with weeds. One by one the guards come to life as he enters. He goes to sleep on Moikeha's couch. Lu‘ukia enters and, seeing his resemblance to Moikeha, embraces him, al-lows him to untie the cord with which she has been bound against the approach of men, and the two become lovers. (The mission to La‘a is omitted in this romantic version.) 4

(c) Kila is named in memory of Lu‘ukia and is more beloved by Moikeha than any of his brothers. Moikeha hence instructs Kila in the art of navigation and the knowledge of the stars and makes him leader of an expedition to Kahiki after La‘a. His place is on the high platform between the canoes while the two older brothers manage the canoes. The canoe calls at Waianae to acquaint Moikeha's former companion of the life the chief is living. At Kahiki, Olopana is high chief and Lu‘ukia chiefess. La‘a is the heir. The land is rich and people are living at ease. Olopana refuses to let La‘a go until after he himself is dead; then he may go to Moikeha. On the return of the expedition, Kila settles at Hilo, Ho‘okamali‘i at Ewa on Oahu, Haulanuiaiakea on Kauai, and from all three descend chiefs and commoners of these islands. 5

LEGEND OF KILA AND HIS JEALOUS BROTHERS

La‘a-mai-kahiki returns to Kahiki after Moikeha's death and Kila becomes ruling chief of Kauai. The brothers are jealous and entice him away on an expedition to Waipio after their father's bones, which have been left hidden in the cliff of Haena. They abandon him there and tell their mother at home that the canoe was upset, Kila seized by a shark, and the bones lost. He passes in Waipio as a slave, but often when he climbs Puaahuku after firewood a rainbow accompanies him and the priest of the temple of Pakaalana suspects his rank. When he is accused of eating tapu food, he flees to this temple. The ruling chief adopts him under the name of Lena and makes him land agent. It is he who devises the system of working a certain number of days for the chief. He is beloved for his industry. In the time of Hua there is a famine. His brother Kaialea comes from Kauai after food. Kila has him thrown into prison until he will confess the whole truth, but saves him from death. The mothers and brothers are summoned. When the mothers learn the truth they say the brothers must die. Kila intercedes and all are reconciled. The mothers are given the rule over Kauai and Kila remains in Waipio. Later he goes to Kahiki with La‘a-mai-kahiki to deposit Moikeha's bones. 6

LEGEND OF LA‘A-MAI-KAHIKI'S TRIPLET SONS

La‘a is received on Kauai by Moikeha and his kahuna Poloahi-lani. He settles at Kahiki-nui on Maui but, finding it too windy, removes to the west coast of Kahoolawe, whence he sails back to Kahiki. His principal place of residence is at Kualoa on Oahu. Here he has three wives, daughters of three chiefs of this region, all of whom give birth on the same night. Hoaka-nui-kapuaihelu, daughter of Lono-ka-ehu, chief of Kualoa. is the mother of Lauli-a-la‘a; Waolena from Kaalaea, of Ahukini; Mano from Kaneohe, of Kukona. Mano's child came last, but when she heard that the other wives had given birth she used energetic means to hasten her child's arrival and hence her name of "Mano who slapped her abdomen" (Mano-opu-pa‘ipa‘i). 7

A chant [from Kamehameha's day] records the incident:

"Ahukai (the father), La‘a (the son),

La‘a, La‘a, La‘a-mai-kahiki the chief;

Ahukini son of La‘a,

Kukona son of La‘a,

Lauli son of La‘a,

The triple canoe (triplets) of La‘amaikahiki,

The sacred firstborn sons of La‘a

Who were born on the same day."

TRADITION OF LA‘A-MAI-KAHIKI AND THE HULA DRUM

(a) It is La‘a-mai-kahiki who introduces image worship in the shape of the figure Lono-i-ka-ouali‘i and the coconut fiber rope called Lanalana-wa‘a. He is most famous as the bringer of the kaeke drum and the hula dance to Hawaii. When the people hear the noise of the drum and the nose-flute as his canoe passes the coast of Hawaii they say, "It is the canoe of the god Kupulupulu (Laka)" and bring offerings. 8

(b) La‘a sails with a company consisting of his kahuna Kukaikupolo, his astronomer Kukeao-ho‘omihamiha, his diviner (Luhau-kapawa), his seer Maula, his drummer Kupa, and forty men to handle the canoes. They pass to the left of Hawaii and sail north past Maui and Molokai sounding the drum over the sea. A certain man named Haikamalama hears the strange sound from the Oahu coast at Hanauma bay and follows the canoe along the shore, beating out the notes on his breast to get the rhythm, and repeating the drummer's chant. When the canoe beaches at Ka-waha-o-ka-mano in Waihaukalua, he pretends, in order to get a good look at it, that the drum is well known on Oahu, and then makes an exact copy of his own. 9

The names of Olopana and Lu‘ukia in the Moikeha-Kila legend for relatives of Moikeha left behind in Kahiki make it probable that the Moikeha family migrated from the north-western of the three land divisions into which old Tahiti was divided; that is, from the Oropa‘a (Olopana) division dominated by the powerful Oropa‘a family. Puna-au-ia is the chief district, through which runs the great valley of Punaru‘u, a name found also on Hawaii. Mou‘a-ula-nui-akea as the former name for the land division on the north now called Tahara‘a suggests the Moa-ula-nui-akea of the Kila story. Taputapuatea is a great marae (temple) at Opoa on Ra‘iatea. 10

The Oropa‘a were a rugged family of warriors whose name appears far up oh the line of descent of the Pomare family. Later they retreated into the mountains before invading peoples. Lizards (mo‘o) were their family gods and lowering clouds lying with fringed edges on the horizon are called after the fork-tailed lizard. 11 Tipa, whose "shadow" on earth was a species of lizard, was the healing god of sickness and disease of the Oropa‘a chiefs. 12 In myth there is an Oropa‘a, god of ocean, son of Tumu-nui and Papa-raharaha. The man-of-war bird is his shadow, the whale his messenger. 13 In chant it is said that "he lies with head upwards when the breezes come. The white-foaming breakers are his jaws. He swallows whole persons and fleets of people; he does not spare princes." 14

Lu‘ukia is not mentioned in Tahitian genealogies, but in Maori tradition Tu-te-koropanga and Rukutia his wife (Olopana and Lu‘ukia in Hawaiian) appear on the royal genealogy "relating to the period of occupation of the Society islands." The names of Koropanga and Rukutia occur in Tongareva as "two adjacent islands on the north side of the lagoon." Rukutia introduces culture elements. "Be ye girded with the mat of Rukutia," says a Maori chant, and again, "Be ye tattooed after the manner of Rukutia." 15 Irapanga is said by the Maori to have migrated with his children and sub-tribes to Ahu (Oahu) and hence originated the people of Hawaiki, Maui, and other islands. To reach it they sail north-east from Tawhiti-nui. They name the big island Hawaikirangi, and this is the old name for the Hawaiian group. From here they migrate to Rangiatea (Ra‘iatea) and Rarotonga. The Maori call Lanai, Maui-pae; Molokai, Maui-taka.

In Hawaii the introduction of the bark-cloth skirt of five thicknesses commonly worn by women is ascribed to Lu‘ukia, as well as the network cover used for water gourds and for the lashings of the outrigger of a canoe, supposed to be wrought after the pattern of the protection with which her thighs were bound against the approach of lovers after her quarrel with Moikeha. So sacred is such a form of canoe lashing that death is the penalty for intruding while the work is being done. 16 According to one story, the house of separation set up between Kawaihee and Waimea while she and Olopana were living at Waipio, to which she retired during her monthly periods, was a novelty in Hawaii. Waiauwia, a man of prominence in Waimea who followed her there, had never heard of the tapu for women at this time. 17 A cave is pointed out in Hana district on Maui where Lu‘ukia is said to have taught tapa beating to the women of Hana. The cave goes by the name of Hana-o-Lu‘ukia (Work of Lu‘ukia), the long a representing a profession carried on, rather than incidental labor.

Hawaiian legend links Lu‘ukia with the Hikapoloa family of Kohala on Hawaii, but some say she belongs to Tahiti and not to the Hawaiian group. In the Hainakolo romance she is a relative of Hainakolo belonging to Waipio or to Hamakua district, who adopts Hainakolo's child, brings him up as a waif, and later makes him her husband. In the Uweuwelekehau romance she is daughter of Olopana at Wailua on Kauai and takes as husband her cousin, who comes to her from Hawaii in the form of a fish but with the marks of a chief. An incomplete story from a school composition makes her the daughter of Hamau and Hooleia of Puako, South Kohala, and wife of Kama-o-ahu on Oahu. When her young brother Makahi comes to visit her and wins a betting contest in spear throwing with Kaaiai of Oahu, Lu‘ukia's husband takes him for a former lover of his wife and insults him. 18 All these

stories agree in making Lu‘ukia the heroine of a love affair with a young husband, which makes trouble with her first husband or an older relative.

About the name of Olopana also certain traditions persist in Hawaii. He is said to have been afflicted with dropsy. After Moikeha's departure one version has it that as ruler of Moaula-nui-akea he makes himself so beloved that Moikeha's uncle sends him away and he emigrates to the Hawaiian group. He is said to have brought there the style of tattooing and to have enforced the tapu system. Some say there are three different Olopana chiefs mixed up in Hawaiian story, one belonging to Tahiti, another to the legend of Moikeha, a third to the Kamapua‘a legend. In one romance, that of Uweuwelekekau, Olopana is the older brother of Ku and Hina at Wailua, Kauai. Olopana and Ku quarrel and Ku, followed by his sister Hina, settles at Pi‘i-honua, Hilo, Hawaii. 19 In the romance of Ke-ao-melemele, when Ku has an affair with in "one of the large islands of the heavens," his wife Hina is taken by Olopana and their child is adopted by Ku and Hi‘ilei. 20 Here again the woman seems to be the wife of two brothers.

Footnotes

NOTES:

This version of the Mo‘ikeha story is from Fornander, Vol. IV, pp. 112-128; the story of La‘amaikahiki is found on pp. 152-154 of the same volume. Other versions of the Mo‘ikeha-Kila-La‘amaikahiki story are found in Kamakau’s Tales and Traditions (105-110) and Kalakaua’s Legends and Myths of Hawaii (“The Triple Marriage of Laa-mai-kahiki,” 117-135).

1. For a discussion of the location of Mo‘ikeha’s homeland in Tahiti, see Rubellite Kawena Johnson’s “From the Gills of the Fish: The Tahitian Homeland of Hawaii’s Chief Mo‘ikeha.” Johnson points out that Fornander favored the island of Ra‘iatea as the homeland, while Teuira Henry favored the island of Tahiti-nui. Based on an analysis of Tahitian and Hawaiian place names, Johnson argues for Tahiti-nui as Mo‘ikeha’s homeland, though “not greater Tahiti-nui as [Henry] suggests…but its peninsula to the south” (51).

2. According to one tradition, ‘Olopana and Lu‘ukia left Waipi‘o after a flood (Beckwith 353); See note 3 below: Kalakaua says ‘Olopana migrated to Tahiti after a hurricane and flood devastated Waipi‘o. A flood as a cause of a migration is found also in the Easter Island tradition of Hotu Matua; though the flood in that tradition seems to refer to the rising of the sea level (Barthel 10).

3. According to another tradition recorted by Kamakau, both Mo‘ikeha and ‘Olopana belonged to Tahiti. Mo‘ikeha left Kahiki and came to Hawai‘i because he had “opened the food-offering calabash of his older brother ‘Olopana and had been caught undoing the chastity belt of ‘Olopana’s wife Lu‘ukia, the ‘aha, or sennit cord, binding called Lu‘u-a-na-ko‘a-i-ka-moana. He was severely criticized and so he went off to sea” (Kamakau 105).

In the Kalakaua version, both ‘Olopana and Mo‘ikeha belonged to Hawai‘i. They were grandsons of Maweke, a native chief of the Nanaula line and ali‘i nui of O‘ahu. Maweke had three sons – the eldest, Mulieali‘i, became ali‘i nui of the western side of O‘ahu; Kalehenui was given land in Ko‘olau; Keaunui resided in ‘Ewa. Mulieali‘i had three sons – Kumuhonua, who became ali‘i nui of O‘ahu, and ‘Olopana and Mo‘ikeha, who were given small holdings. The two younger brothers were dissatisfied with their lots on O‘ahu and settled in Waipi‘o on the Big Island. ‘Olopana married Lu‘ukia, a granddaughter of Hikapaloa, ali‘i of Kohala. Mo‘ikeha did not marry while living in Waipi‘o; he adopted a son, La‘a, a son of Ahukai and a descendent of Paumakua, the famous voyaging chief of east O‘ahu, who “visited all foreign lands then known to the Hawaiians” (119).

In the Kalakaua version, ‘Olopana and Mo‘ikeha left Hawai‘i in five canoes after a hurricane and floods devastated Waipi‘o. He and his brother sailed south and landed on Ra‘iatea, where they took possession of the land. ‘Olopana became the ruler and Mo‘ikeha his chief adviser. Mo‘ikeha’s house and heiau were called Lanikeha (“heavenly resting place” – possibly a variant of Laniakea, the Hawaiian form of the name Ra‘iatea?). Mo‘ikeha left Ra‘iatea to return to Hawai‘i after his brother became jealous of his growing prosperity and popularity. A native ali‘i named Mua, with ambitions of replacing Mo‘ikeha as chief adviser, fueled ‘Olopana’s jealousy.

4. Some of the names of Mo‘ikeha’s crew have survived as place names on the islands where they settled: Kumukahi is the easternmost point of Hawai‘i; Ha‘eha‘e is a land division near Kumukahi. Honua‘ula is a district of south-central Maui; Makapu‘u is the easternmost point of O‘ahu.

Kamakau gives the following list of people let off the canoe as it sailed through the Hawaiian Islands from east to west: Moa‘ula, who remained at Punalu‘u, Hawai‘i; Paha‘a and Pana‘ewa, who remained at Lahaina, Maui; La‘amaomao, who remained at Haleolono, Kaulako‘i, Moloka‘i; Poka‘i and Mo‘eke, who remained at Wai‘anae, O‘ahu.

Kalakaua says that Mo‘ikeha sailed from the harbor of Opoa on Ra‘iatea. The double-hulled canoe was nearly a hundred feet long and the crew was over forty. It included the prophet, poet, and astrologer Kamahualele; the priest Mo‘okini; and La‘amaomao, the director of the winds.

After an apparently uneventful 2500 miles voyage, Mo‘ikeha arrived at Ka‘u, where a joyous crowd greeted the canoe and water and provisions were replenished. The canoe then proceeded to Cape Kumukahi and Kohala on Hawai‘i, where it was welcomed by the ali‘i nui Kaniuhi; then to Honua‘ula on Maui. Mo‘ikeha was warned by his priest and seer against going to ‘Ewa to visit his father Mulieleali‘i, so he sailed north around O‘ahu, stopping only at Makapu‘u and Makaaoa. He landed on Kaua‘i, near Kapa‘a.

5. Kamakau’s Version of Mo‘ikeha’s Marriage: Mo‘ikeha married one woman whose name was both Ho‘oipoikamalanai and Hina-‘au-lua. Mo‘ikeha’s three children were Ho‘omali‘i, named for the skin of ‘Olopana; Haulani-nui-ai-akea for the eyes of ‘Olopana; and Kila, for Lu‘ukia, the wife of ‘Olopana.

Kalakaua’s Version of Mo‘ikeha’s Marriage: Mo‘ikeha married Ho‘oipo after winning the right to do so in a canoe race devised by Puna, the ali‘i of Wailua and the father of Ho‘oipo. Puna sent a servant with a palaoa (a carved and consecrated whale-tooth) to the island of Ka‘ula (SW of Kaua‘i). Nine suitors raced to the island to be the first to bring the whale-tooth back. Mo‘ikeha won the race by sailing to Ka‘ula with the help of La‘amaomao, his director of winds, who had a calabash that contained all the winds of Hawai‘i, which he could call forth by chanting their names. In this version, Mo‘ikeha had seven sons with Ho‘oipo; the third was called Kila.

6. Neither Kamakau nor Kalakaua mention the rivalry of the brothers or the test of the ti-leaf canoes, which is the central incident in the Fornander version. A test involving toy canoes is a motif in Polynesian voyaging traditions. The story of Tafa‘i includes a version of this test: the young voyaging hero Tafa‘i made a twig canoe that beat the twig canoes of the other boys to shore.

7. The Fornander version of Mo‘ikeha continues on with the story of Kila (Vol. IV, 128-152) before telling the story of La‘amaikahiki’s second visit to Hawai‘i.

Kamakau’s Version of Kila’s Voyage to Tahiti: Mo‘ikeha sent all three sons to Tahiti to bring La‘a to Hawai‘i. Mo‘ikeha had designated La‘a, the first born, as heir to his lands and titles. The youngest son Kila was placed in command of the canoe, the same one Mo‘ikeha himself sailed from Kahiki to Kaua‘i. “He first taught Kila the way to sail over the ocean and to study the stars….” After departure, the canoe was becalmed off Malae Point in Wai‘anae and Kila and his two brothers met Poka‘i and Mo‘eke, two of Mo‘ikeha crew members from the voyage to Hawai‘i. When asked about his father, Kila replied: “He is enjoying surfing at the stream mouth, body surfing from morning to night on the waves of Ka‘ohala in the sheltered calm of Waimahanalua – the openness of Kewa and its swayng kalukalu – the two hills that bear Puna like a child in arms – the diving place at Waiehu where the taro grows as big as ‘ape – the curling of the waves at Makaiwa – his beautiful wife, my mother Ho‘oipo-i-ka-malanai. Mo‘ikeha will die on Kaua‘i; he will not return to Kahiki lest his feet be wet by the sea.”

The canoe proceeded on to Moloka‘i, Maui, and Hawai‘i, then left from Kalae in Ka‘u for Kahiki. In Kahiki, they found ‘Olopana was the high chief and Lu‘ukia the chiefess, La‘a the heir to the kingdom ‘Olopana persuaded Kila not to take La‘a to Hawai‘i. So Kila and his brothers returned to Hawai‘i without La‘a. After returning, Kila settled on Hawai‘i, and became “a chiefly ancestor for the chiefs and commoners of Hawai‘i and Maui.” The oldest brother, Ho‘okamali‘i, settled in ‘Ewa on O‘ahu. Haulani-nui-ai-akea, the second oldest, settled on Kaua‘i and became an ancestor of chiefs and commoners of Kaua‘i. After ‘Olopana’s death, La‘a sailed to Hawai‘i on his own. (See note 6 for Kamakau’s account of this voyage.)

Kalakaua’s Version of Kila’s Voyage to Tahiti: La‘a was Mo‘ikeha’s adopted son; he was born in Hawai‘i (not Tahiti as in Fornanader’s and Kamakau’s versions), a descendant of the famous O‘ahu voyaging chief Paumakua. La‘a accompanied his foster-father Mo‘ikeha and foster-uncle ‘Olopana to Ra‘iatea in the Society Islands after their home in Waipi‘o Valley was devastated by a flood. La‘a remained in Tahiti, not returning with Mo‘ikeha to Hawai‘i, because La‘a had become the heir to ‘Olopana, the ruler of Ra‘iatea.

In his old age, Mo‘ikeha longed to see La‘a and ordered his men to repair his canoes. He also had a special gift made – a cloak of mamo feathers: “As but a single small yellow feather of the kind used in a royal mantle is found under each wing of the mamo, the task of securing the many thousands required was by no means a brief or easy service;… As the choicest feathers alone were used, the garment was one of the most brilliant and elaborate ever made on Kaua‘i and represented the labor of a hundred persons for a year put Kila in charge of bringing La‘a to Hawai‘i.”

Mo‘ikeha put his third son Kila in charge of the voyage because of Kila’s courage and skill as a navigator. Kila was delighted with the prospect of the voyage. He provisioned a fleet of double-hulled canoe in a few days with “dried fish, dried banana and plantains, coconuts, yams and potatoes and poi and paiai, fresh fruits and cooked fowls and pigs for early consumption. Large calabashes of fresh water were also provided, but frequent baths largely diminished the craving for that necessity… Sacrifices were offered, the auguries were pronounced favorable, and the fleet of double canoes set sail for the south.” Kamahualele, the friend and astrologer of Mo‘ikeha, went as navigator and counsellor to Kila. Three of Kila’s brothers went along. After a smooth voyage, Kila found La‘a in Tahiti and presented him with Moikeha’s gift, the feather cloak. ‘Olopana objected to La‘a going to Hawai‘i until La‘a promised to stay in Hawai‘i only a short while, then return to Tahiti. La‘a went to Hawai‘i, visited Mo‘ikeha on Kaua‘i, and married three women, returning to Ra‘iatea after Mo‘ikeha’s death. (See note 6 for Kalakaua’s account of this voyage.)

8. Kamakau’s Version of La‘amaikahiki’s Visit to Hawai‘i: After ‘Olopana’s death, La‘a sailed to Hawai‘i, with Ka‘ika‘i-kupolo, the kahuna (priest); Ku-ke-ao-mihamiha, the kilo (seer); Luhaukapawa, the kuhikuhipu‘uone (diviner); Kupa, the ho‘oheihei pahu (drummer); Ma‘ula-miahea, the kaula (prophet), and forty paddlers. The canoe sighted Maui and Moloka‘i first and continued on to O‘ahu. There a man named Ha‘ikamalama at Hanauma heard Kupa’s drumming and rushed to Makapu‘u to see where it was coming from. When he saw the canoe heading for Kane‘ohe Bay, he rushed there. By the time La‘a landed at a place which came to be called Na-one-a-La‘a (“The sands of La‘a”) in Kane‘ohe, Ha‘ikamalama had learned Kupa’s mele. He performed it by tapping his chest with his fingertips. He pretended he already knew about the drum so he could examine it and later make one himself.

La‘a settled at Kualoa and married three ali‘i – Hoaka-nui-kapua‘i-helu, Waolena, and Mano. All three became pregnant on the same day and gave birth on the same day. La‘a “became an ancestor for chiefs and commoners of O‘ahu and also for Hawai‘i and Kaua‘i. His chiefly descendants are found in the mo‘o ku‘auhau of Nana‘ulu, Puna-i-mua, and Hanala‘a-nui.”

Kalakaua’s Version of La‘amaikahiki’s Visit to Hawai‘i: Once in Hawai‘i, La‘a visited several places, including Waialua, O‘ahu, where his family was from. He visited Mo‘ikeha on Kaua‘i, then moved to Kualoa on O‘ahu and consented to marry three wives, so that the blood line of Paumakua could be carried on in its native land. The wives are the same three mentioned by Kamakau – Hoakanui, daughter of Lonokaeha of Kualoa; Waolena, daughter of a chief of Ka‘alaea; and Mano, daughter of a chief of Kane‘ohe “The names of the children were Ahukini-a-La‘a, Kukona-a-La‘a, and Lauli-a-La‘a, from whom in after-generations, the pride and glory of the governing families of O‘ahu and Kaua‘i trace their lineage. From Ahukini-a-La‘a Queen Kapi‘olani, wife of Kalakaua, is recorded in descent through a line of chiefs and kings of Kaua‘i.” After Mo‘ikeha’s death, La‘a returned to Ra‘iatea and voyaging between Hawai‘i and the southern homeland ceased.

Kamakau’s version of the Mo‘ikeha tradition continues on with the story of Mo‘ikeha’s grandson Kaha‘i-a-Ho‘okamali‘i, who sailed to Kahiki to go sightseeing, departing from Kalaeloa, O‘ahu. He brought back ulu (breadfruit) from ‘Upolu and planted it at Pu‘uloa in ‘Ewa, O‘ahu.