land, by flight of birds and other signs; and with all this a courage, hardihood, and perseverance that never failed them at critical moments. And when to this be added that seven or eight hundred years ago the Pacific Ocean probably presented a different aspect as regards islands and atolls than it now does the legends speaking of islands both large and small in the track of their voyages, of which now no trace exists-surprise ceases when one finds on the traditional record accounts of voyages undertaken from Hawaii to Marquesas, Tahiti, Samoa, or vice versa. As little as the legends speak of the cause or causes which led to this ethnic or tribal movement and intercommunication after so long a period of comparative quiet, as little do they mention the causes which led to its discontinuance after more than two hundred years' duration. It is permitted, therefore, to suppose that, among other causes, not the least potent was the subsidence and disappearance of some of those islands which had served as landmarks and stopping-places on previous voyages. What the conceptions of the ancient Hawaiians of this and subsequent periods were in regard to the geography of the Pacific may be gathered from the following chant of Kamahualele, the astrologer and companion of Moikeha, and forty men, besides provisions, water, stores, armament, &c. Of the enormous size of the double canoes that were fashioned out of a single tree, some idea may be formed from a specimen still existing-at least it was a few years ago when the author visited the locality-near the south point of Hawaii. It was said to have been one of a double canoe belonging to Kamehameha I., and it measured one hundred and eight feet in length. Its mate had decayed and disappeared, and this giant relic of ancient shipbuilding was also hastening to decay. In the New Zealand legends collected by Sir George Grey we read of a Samoan expedition of five large double canoes, the Arawa, Tainui, &c., decked over, or partly so, containing the different chiefs and their families, their retainers and their families, provisions, animals, &c., which were bound to New Zealand, the Ao-tea-roa of the legend, who found the land they were bound to, and, disembarking, settled there; that some of them returned to the Samoan group, and finally came back and remained permanently on New Zealand. the grandson of Maweke, on his return from Tahiti to Hawaii. As he approached the latter island the seer and prophet exclaimed: Here is Hawaii, the island, the man, Eia Hawaii, he moku, he kanaka, He kanaka Hawaii,-E. A man is Hawaii, He kanaka Hawaii, A child of Kahiki, He kama na Kahiki, Mai Moaulanuiakea Kanaloa, A grandchild of Kahiko and Kapulanakehau, Na Papa i hanau, The daughter of Kukalaniehu and Kauakahakoku. Na ke kama wahine o Kukalaniehu laua me Kauaka hakoko. The scattered islands are in a row, Na pulapula aina i paekahi, I nonoho like i ka Hikina, Komohana, Spread evenly is the land in a row Joined on to Holani. I hui aku, hui mai me Holani. Kaialea the seer went round the land, O Kahiko is the root of the land, He divided and separated the islands. Broken is the fish-line of Kahai, Moku ka aholawaia a Kahai, That was cut by Kukanaloa : I okia e Kukanaloa: Broken up into pieces were the lands, the islands, Cut up by the sacred knife of Kanaloa. Moku i ka ohe kapu a Kanaloa. O Haumea Manukahikele, O Haumea Manukahikele, O Moikeha, the chief who is to reside, Ola, Ola, o kalana ola! Live shall the chief and the priest, Live shall the seer and the slave, Dwell on Hawaii and be at rest, In the chant of Kahakukamoana, a famous high-priest of olden times, though several generations later than this migratory period, mention is made of Hawaii as having arisen from the dark-from the deep-and forming one of "the row of islands of Nuumea, the cluster of islands reaching to the farthest ends of Tahiti." And giving the same indefinite origin to Maui and the other islands under the paraphrases of natural births, the chant refers to some of the principal chief families from Nuumea, Holani, Tahiti, and Polapola who settled on the other islands of the Hawaiian group, and are thus poetically said to have given birth to them. Thus Kuluwaiea, the husband, and Hinanui-a-lana, the wife, are said to be the parents of Molokai, which is called "a god, a priest, the 1 Ea mai Hawaii-nui-akea! Ea mai loko, mai loko mai o ka Puka ka moku, ka aina, Rising up is Hawaii-nui-akea! Appeared has the island, the land, first morning light from Nuumea."1 Lanai is said to have been an adopted child of a chief from Tahiti, whose name, if the transcript of the chant is correct, is not given, but whose epithet was "the spatterer of the red or dirty water,” Ka haluku wai ea. Kahoolawe is said to be the child of Keaukanai, the man, and Walinuu, the wife, from Holani; and the epithet of the island-child is "the farmer"-he lopa. Molokini has no separate settlers, but is called the navel-string-Tewe-of Kahoolawe. Oahu is attributed to Ahukini-a-Laa, a son of the famous Laa-mai-kahiki, who was fourth in descent from Paumakua of the southern Ulu-puna branch, and his wife's name is given as Laamealaakona. The epithet of Oahu is he Wohi, a royal title assumed only by the Oahu chiefs of the highest rank until comparatively modern times. Ahukini-a-laa is said in the chant to have come from foreign lands, mai ka nanamu, from Apia, Samoan group, though the verse makes a pun on the word, and from the deep sea of Halehalekalani.2 Kauai is said to have been begotten by Laakapu, the man, and Laamealaakona, the wife, thus having the same mother as Oahu. Finally, Wanalia, the husband, from Polapola, and his wife, Hanalaa, were the parents of Niihau, Kaula, and Nihoa, the last and westernmost islands of the group. A remarkable fragment has been preserved of the chant of Kaulu-a-kalana, a famous navigator of this period. 1 Na Kuluwaica o Haumea he kane, Na Hinanui-a-lana he wahine, Loaa Molokai, he Akua, he Kahuna, He pualena no Nuumea. 2 Ku mai Ahukinialaa, He Alii mai ka nanamu, Mai ka Api o ka ia, Mai ke ale poi pu o Halehalekalani, Loaa Oahu he Wohi, He Wohi na Ahukini-a-Laa, To Kuluwaiea of Haumea, the hus- To Hinanui-a-lana, the wife, Up stands Akuhinialaa, The chief from the foreign land, From the overwhelming billows of Born is Oahu the Wohi, Whether he belonged to the southern, Ulu, line of chiefs, or to the northern, Nana-ulu, line, is not clear, but that he lived or settled on Oahu seems to be admitted; and he is referred to in several legends of this period as contemporary with Moikeha, Luhaukapawa, the famous priest and prophet, and other prominent personages of both lines. In his chant he mentions a number of lands and islands visited by him, some of which occur under the very same names as those earlier homesteads of the Polynesian race of which I have treated in the beginning of the first part of this work, and to which the legends of Kumuhonua and Hawaii-loa refer. The majority of the lands visited by Kaulu I have, however, been unable to identify. Wawau of the Tonga group and Upolo of the Samoan are clearly distinguishable as parts of his periplus. I quote the fragment in full: |