The Offering of The Chief

SAMUEL M. KAMAKAU

 Ruling Chiefs of Hawaii

(Revised Edition)

 KAMEHAMEHA SCHOOLS PRESS • HONOLULU

CHAPTER IX

Events of Ka-lani-ʻopuʻu's Time

Pgs. 105-109

Kii: Tyler Paul

The heiau of Moaʻula was erected in Waipiʻo at this time, and after its dedication by Ka-lani-ʻopuʻu the chief set out for Hilo with his chiefs, warriors, and fighting men, some by land and some by canoe, to subdue the rebellion of I-maka-koloa, the rebel chief of Puna. In Hilo Ka-lani-ʻopuʻu built the heiau of Kanowa at Puʻueo and after dedicating it he went to stay at ʻOhele in Waiakea while his army went to fight in Puna. The fight lasted a long time, but I-maka-koloa fled and for almost a year lay hidden by the people of Puna. Ka-lani-ʻopuʻu meanwhile awaited his capture. Leaving Hilo, he went to Ka-ʻu and stayed first at Punaluʻu, then at Waiohinu, then at Kamaʻoa in the southern part of Ka-ʻu, and erected a heiau called Pakini, or Halau-wailua, near Kamaʻoa. A certain man, a kahu of the chief named Puhili, said, "I-maka-koloa is being hidden by the natives of Puna, but if the chief consents I will go with my god and find him." "Go with your god," said the chief. Puhili went until he came to the boundary where Puna adjoins Ka-ʻu, to ʻOkiʻokiaho in ʻApua, and began to fire the villages. Great was the sorrow of the villagers over the loss of their property and their canoes by fire. When one district (ahupuaʻa) had been burnt out from upland to sea he moved on to the next. This was Puhili's course of action, and thus it was that he found I-maka-koloa where he was being hidden by a woman kahu on a little islet of the sea. A man of handsome features was this I-tnaka-koloa. He had a fine head of hair so long that it reached to the soles of his feet. Fearing lest he be recognized by his hair he had gone secretly to this woman kahu, on a rock islet standing off in the sea, to have his hair cut, and that was how he came to be found. As soon as he was found, Puhili stopped his god from eating up the houses of Puna.

    I-maka-koloa was taken to Ka-lani-ʻopuʻu in Ka-ʻu to be placed on the altar as an offering to the god, and Kiwalaʻo was the one for whom the house of the god had been made ready that he might perform the offering. Some of the chiefs muttered one to another, "Our chief [Kamehameha] is left destitute!" and, making an end of secrecy, one talked with Kamehameha saying, "Listen to our counsel if you would have wealth rather than poverty. If you will listen to us you may become a chief with wealth for yourself and your descendants, but if you neglect our counsel you will be destitute." Kamehameha said, "Tell me what you advise, and I will consider whether your counsel is good or bad." Said the chief, "This is our counsel: when your cousin is making the offering to the god and has first taken up the hog and the banana to offer, do you seize I-maka-koloa and offer him to the god. The man will be your offering, and the rule over the land will then be yours. I will not be present at the dedication of the heiau." Kamehameha answered, "I consent. If I die it is well, and if I live so let it be, and may the god help me." The day came when the chief, Kiwalaʻo, was to perform the tabu for the heiau of Pakini by presenting the offerings. There were present Ka-lani-ʻopuʻu, the chiefs and kuhina [the executive officers, highest officers next the ruler], the war leaders (pukaua) and bearers of supplies (mamakakaua), the warriors, the retinue of the chiefs (anaina), and the commoners. The ceremony began at which the heiau was made tabu. Then Kiwalaʻo grasped the hog to offer it first and afterward the man. He hooked on Manaia-ka-lani, then made the offering. Before he had ended offering the first sacrifices, Kamehameha grasped the body of I-maka-koloa and offered it up to the god, and the freeing of the tabu for the heiau was completed. It was from this incident that Ka-manawa named his son Amamaʻ-lua, Double-freeing.*

    There was great excitement among the chiefs. "This was not done right! Kamehameha will have the rule over the land!" it was said. Some said, "He will not rebel; both are sons of the chief; they are an elder and a younger brother." Others said, "He will rebel; better to kill him first." Their talk reached the ears of Kalaniʻopuʻu, and he spoke secretly to Kamehameha saying, "My child, I have heard the secret complaints of the chiefs and their mutterings that they will kill you, perhaps soon. While I am alive they are afraid, but when I die they will take you and kill you. I advise you to go back to Kohala. I have left you the god; there is your wealth." Then Kamehameha, with his wife Kalola, daughter of Kumukoʻa, and his brother Kalaʻimamahu', and Kukaʻilimoku the god, went by way of Hilo to Kohala, his own land, and there lived.