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Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands written by Charles Nordhoff

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2. The clergy (_Kahuna_), comprising the priests, doctors, prophets, and
sorcerers;

3. Citizens (_Makaainana_), comprising laborers, farmers, proletaries, and
slaves.


THE NOBILITY. NA'LII.

The chiefs or nobles were of several orders. The highest chief bore the
title of _Moi_, which may best be rendered by the word majesty. In a
remote period of Hawaiian history, this title was synonymous with _Ka
lani_, heaven. This expression occurs frequently in ancient poems: _Auhea
oe, e ka lani? Eia ae_. This mode of address is very poetic, and quite
pleasing to the chiefs.

The Moi was still called _kapu_ and _aliinui_. To tread on his shadow
was a crime punished with death: _He make ke ee malu_. The chief next the
throne took the title of _Wohi_. He who ranked next, that of _Mahana_.
These titles could belong at the same time to several chiefs of the
blood-royal, who were called _Alii kapu, Alii wohi_. The ordinary nobility
furnished the king's aids-de-camp, called _Hulumanu_ (plumed officers).

By the side of the nobility were the _Kahu alii_, literally guardians of
the chiefs, of noble origin by the younger branch, but who dared not claim
the title of chief in the presence of their elders. The Kahu alii of the
male sex might be considered born chamberlains; of the female, ladies of
the bed-chamber.

There were five kinds of Kahu alii, which are: Iwikuamoo, Ipukuha,
Paakahili, Kiaipoo, Aipuupuu.

These titles constituted as many hereditary charges reserved for the
lesser nobility. The functions of the Iwikuamoo (backbone of the chief)
were to rub his lord on the back, when stretched on his mat. The Ipukuha
had charge of the royal spittoons. The Paakahili carried a very long plume
(_kahili_), which he waved, around the royal person to drive away the
flies and gnats. The duties of this officer were continual and most
fatiguing, for he must constantly remain near the person of his master,
armed with his kahili, whether the king was seated or reclining, eating
or sleeping. The Kiaipoo's special charge was to watch at the side of his
august chief during sleep. The Aipuupuu was the chief cook, and, besides,
performed functions similar to those of steward or purveyor.

There were, besides, other inferior chiefs, as the _Puuku_, attendants of
the house or palace; _Malama ukana_, charged with the care of provisions
in traveling; _Aialo_, who had the privilege of eating in the presence of
the chief; and, at the present day, the _Muki baka_, who had the honor of
lighting the king's pipe and carrying his tobacco-pouch.

Although the people considered these last four orders as belonging to the
nobility, it seems that they were of lower rank than the citizens favored
by the chiefs.

Finally, the king had always in his service the _Hula_, who, like the
buffoon or jester of the French kings, must amuse his majesty by mimicry
or dancing. The _Kahu alii_, or _Kaukaualii_, as they are now styled,
are attendants or followers of the high chiefs by right of birth. They
accompany their masters everywhere, almost in the same manner that
a governess follows her pupil.[4] From the throne down nobility was
hereditary. The right of primogeniture was recognized as natural law.
Nobility transmitted through the mother was considered far superior to
that on the father's side only, even if he were the highest of chiefs.
This usage was founded on the following proverb: _Maopopo ka makuahine,
aole maopopo ka makuakane_ (It is always evident who the mother is, but
one is never sure about the father). Agreeably to this principle, the
high chiefs, when they could not find wives of a sufficiently illustrious
origin, might espouse their sisters and their nieces, or, in default of
either of these, their own mother. Nevertheless, history furnishes us
several examples of kings who were not noble on the maternal side.[5]


THE CLERGY. NA KAHUNA.

The priests formed three orders:

1. The _Kahuna_ proper. 2. The _Kaula_, or prophets. 3. The _Kilo_,
diviners or magicians.

The priesthood, properly so called (_Kahuna maoli, Kahuna pule_), was
hereditary. The priests received their titles from their fathers, and
transmitted them to their offspring, male and female, for the Hawaiians
had priestesses as well. The priest was the peer of the nobility; he had
a portion of land in all the estates of the chiefs, and sometimes acquired
such power as to be formidable to the alii. In religious ceremonies, the
priests were clothed with absolute power, and selected the victims for the
sacrifices. This privilege gave them an immense and dangerous influence in
private life, whence the Hawaiian proverb: The priest's man is inviolable,
the chief's man is the prey of death, _Aole e make ko ke kahuna kanaka, o
ko ke 'lii kanaka ke make_.

The kahuna, being clothed with supreme power in the exercise of his
functions, alone could designate the victim suitable to appease the anger
of the gods. The people feared him much for this prerogative, which gave
the power of life and death over all, and the result was that the priest
had constantly at his service an innumerable crowd of men and women wholly
devoted to him. It was not proper for him to choose victims from a people
who paid him every imaginable attention. But among the servants of the
alii, if there were any who had offended the priest or his partisans,
nothing more was necessary to condemn to death such or such an attendant
of even the highest chief. From this it may be seen how dangerous it was
not to enjoy the good graces of the kahuna, who, by his numerous clan,
might revolutionize the whole country. History affords us an example
in the Kahuna Kaleihokuu of Laupahoehoe, who had in his service so
considerable a body of retainers that he was able in a day, by a single
act of his will, to put to death the great chief Hakau, of Waipio, and
substitute in his place Umi, the bastard son (_poolua_) of King Liloa,
who had, however, been adopted by Kaleihokuu. Another example of this
remarkable power is seen in the Kahuna of Ka'u, who massacred the high
chief Kohookalani, in the neighborhood of Ninole, tumbling down upon him a
huge tree from the top of the _pali_ (precipice) of Hilea.

The _Kahuna_, especially those of the race of Paao, were the natural
depositaries of history, and took the revered title of _Mo'olelo_, or
historians. Some individuals of this stock still exist, and they are all
esteemed by the natives, and regarded as the chiefs of the historical
and priestly caste. The sacerdotal order had its origin in Paao, whose
descendants have always been regarded as the _Kahuna maoli_.[6] Paao
came from a distant land called Kahiki. According to several chiefs, his
genealogy must be more correct than that of the kings. Common tradition
declares that Paao came from foreign countries, landing on the north-west
shore of Hawaii (Kohala), at Puuepa, in the place where, to this day, are
seen the ruins of the Heiau (temple) of Mokini, the most ancient of all
the temples, and which he is said to have built. The advent of Paao and
his erection of this heiau are so ancient, according to the old men, that
Night helped the priest raise the temple: _Na ka po i kukulu ae la Mokini,
a na Paao nae_. These sayings, in the native tongue, indicate the high
antiquity of Paao.[7]

To build the temple of Mokini, which also served as a city of refuge, Paao
had stones brought from all sides, even from Pololu, a village situated
four or five leagues from Mokini or Puuepa. The Kanakas formed a chain the
whole length of the route, and passed the stones from one to another--an
easy thing in those times--from the immense population of the
neighborhood.

Paao has always been considered as the first of the Kahuna. For this
reason his descendants, independently of the fact that they are regarded
as _Mookahuna_, that is, of the priesthood, are more like nobles in the
eye of the people, and are respected by the chiefs themselves. There are,
in the neighborhood of Mokini, stones which are considered petrifactions
of the canoe, paddles, and fish-hooks of Paao.

At Pololu, toward the mountain, are found fields of a very beautiful
verdure. They are called the pastures, or grass-plots, of Paao (_Na mauu a
Paao_). The old priest cultivated these fields himself, where no one since
his time has dared to use spade or mattock. If an islander was impious
enough to cultivate the meadow of Paao, the people believe that a terrible
punishment would be the inevitable consequence of that profanation.
Disastrous rains, furious torrents, would surely ravage the neighboring
country.

Some Hawaiians pretend that there exists another sacerdotal race besides
that of Paao, more ancient even than that, and whose priests belonged at
the same time to a race of chiefs. It is the family of Maui, probably
of Maui-hope, the last of the seven children of Hina,[8] the same who
captured the sea-monster Piimoe. The origin of this race, to which Naihe
of Kohala pretends to belong, is fabulous. Since the reign of Kamehameha,
the priests of the order of Maui have lost favor.

The second class of the clergy was composed of the prophets (_Kaula_),
an inoffensive and very respectable people, who gave vent to their
inspiration from time to time in unexpected and uncalled-for prophesies.
The third order of the clergy is that of _Kilo_, diviners or magicians.
With these may be classed the _Kilokilo_, the _Kahunalapaau_ and
_Kahunaanaana_, a sort of doctors regarded as sorcerers, to whom was
attributed the power of putting to death by sorcery and witchcraft.[9] The
Kahunaanaana and the Kahunalapaau have never been considered as belonging
to the high caste of Kahuna maoli.

The Kahunaanaana, or sorcerers, inherited their functions. They were
thoroughly detested, and the people feared them, and do to this day. When
the chiefs were dissatisfied with a sorcerer, they had his head cut off
with a stone axe (_koipohaku_), or cast him from the top of a pali.

The doctors were of two kinds. The first, the Kahunalapaau proper,
comprised all who used plants in the treatment of disease. Just as the
sorcerers understood poisonous vegetables, so the doctors knew the simples
which furnished remedies to work cures. The second kind comprised the
spiritual doctors, who had various names, and who seem to have been
intermediate between priests and magicians, sharing at once in the
attributes of both. They were:

_Kahuna uhane_, the doctors of ghosts and spirits;

_Kahuna makani_, doctors of winds;

_Kahuna hoonohonoho akua_, who caused the gods to descend on the sick;

_Kahuna aumakua_, doctors of diseases of the old;

_Kahuna Pele_, doctors or priests of Pele, goddess of volcanoes.


All the doctors of the second kind are still found in the islands,[10]
where they have remained idolaters, although they have been for the most
part baptized. There is hardly a Kanaka who has not had recourse to them
in his complaints, preferring their cures and their remedies to those
of the foreign physicians. Laws have been enacted to prohibit these
charlatans from exercising their art; but under the rule of Kamehameha
III., who protected them, these laws have not been enforced.


THE CITIZENS. NA MAKAAINANA.

The class of _Makaainana_ comprises all the inhabitants not included in
the two preceding classes; that is to say, the bulk of the people.

There were two degrees of this cast: the _kanaka wale_, freemen, private
citizens, and the _kauwa_ or servants. The Hawaiian saying, _O luna, o
lalo, kai, o uka a o ka hao pae, ko ke 'lii_ (All above, all below, the
sea, the land, and iron cast upon the shore, all belong to the king),
exactly defines the third class of the nation, called makaainana, the
class that possesses nothing, and has no right save that of sustenance.

The Hawaiians honored canoe-builders and great fishers as privileged
citizens. The chiefs themselves granted them some consideration; but it
must be confessed that the honorable position they occupied in society was
due to their skill in their calling rather than to any thing else. These
builders were generally deeply in debt. They ate in advance the price of
their labor, which usually consisted of hogs and fowls, and they died of
starvation before the leaves ceased to sprout on the tree their adze had
transformed into a canoe.

The _kauwa_, servants, must not be confounded with the _kauwa maoli_,
actual slaves. A high chief, even a wohi, would call himself without
dishonor _ke kauwa a ke 'lii nui_, the servant of the king. At present,
their excellencies the ministers and the nobles do not hesitate to sign
their names under the formula _kou kauwa_, your servant; but it is none
the less true, for all that, that formerly there were among the common
people a class, few in number, of slaves, or serfs, greatly despised by
the Hawaiians, and still to our days so lowered in public opinion that a
simple peasant refuses to associate with the descendants of this caste.

They point the finger at people of kauwa extraction, lampoon them, and
touch the soles of their feet when they speak of them, to mark the lowness
of their origin. If they were independent, and even rich, an ordinary
islander would deem himself disgraced to marry his daughter to one of
these pariahs.

The slaves were not permitted to cross the threshold of the chiefs'
palace. They could do no more than crawl on hands and knees to the door.
In spite of the many changes infused into Hawaiian institutions, the kauwa
families remain branded with a stigma, in the opinion of the natives, and
the laws, which accord them the same rights as other citizens, can not
reinstate them.

It seems certain that the origin of slavery among the Hawaiians must
be sought in conquests. The vanquished, who were made prisoners, became
slaves, and their posterity inherited their condition.

From time immemorial the islanders have clothed themselves, the men with
the _malo_, the women with the _pau_. The malo is bound around the loins,
after having passed between the legs, to cover the pudenda. The pau is a
short skirt, made of bark cloth or of the ki leaves, which reaches from
the waist half down to the knees. The old popular songs show clearly that
this costume has always been worn by the natives. To go naked was regarded
as a sign of madness, or as a mark of divine birth. Sometimes the kings
were attended by a man sprung from the gods, and this happy mortal alone
had the right to follow, _puris naturalibus_, his august master. The
people said, in speaking of him, _He akua ia_, he is a god.

_Kapa_, a kind of large sheet in which the chiefs dressed themselves, was
made of the soaked and beaten bark of several shrubs, such as the wauke,
olona, hau, oloa. Fine varieties were even made of the kukui (_Aleurites
moluccana_). In ancient times it was an offense punishable with death for
a common man to wear a double kapa or malo.

The Hawaiians have never worn shoes. In certain districts where lava is
very abundant, they make sandals (_kamaa_) with the leaves of the ki and
pandanus. They always go bare-headed, except in battle, where they like
to exhibit themselves adorned with a sort of helmet made of twigs and
feathers.

The women never wear any thing but flowers on their heads. Tattooing was
known, but less practiced than at the Marquesas, and much more rudely.

The Hawaiians are not cannibals. They have been upbraided in Europe as
eaters of human flesh, but such is not the case. They have never killed a
man for food. It is true that in sacrifices they eat certain parts of the
victim, but there it was a religious rite, not an act of cannibalism. So,
also, when they ate the flesh of their dearest chiefs, it was to do honor
to their memory by a mark of love: they never eat the flesh of bad chiefs.

The Hawaiians do not deny that the entrails of Captain Cook were eaten;
but they insist that it was done by children, who mistook them for the
viscera of a hog, an error easily explained when it is known that the body
had been opened and stripped of as much flesh as possible, to be burned
to ashes, as was due the body of a god. The officers of the distinguished
navigator demanded his bones, but as they were destroyed,[B] those of a
Kanaka were surrendered in their stead, receiving on board the ships of
the expedition the honors intended for the unfortunate commander.

The condition of the women among the ancient Hawaiians was like that of
servants well treated by their masters. The chiefesses alone enjoyed equal
rights with men. It is a convincing proof that women were regarded as
inferior to men, that they could in no case eat with their husbands, and
that the kapu was often put upon their eating the most delicious food.
Thus bananas were prohibited on pain of death. Their principal occupations
consisted in making kapa, the malo and pau, and in preparing food.

Marriage was performed by cohabitation with the consent of the relations.
Polygamy was only practiced by the chiefs. Children were very independent,
and although their parents respected them so much as seldom to dare lay
hands on them, they were quite ready to part with them to oblige a friend
who evinced a desire for them. Often an infant was promised before birth.
This singular custom still exists, but is much less frequent.

They had little regard for old men who had become useless, and even killed
them to get them out of the way. It was allowable to suffocate infants to
avoid the trouble of bringing them up. Women bestowed their affection upon
dogs and pigs, and suckled them equally with their children. Fleas, lice,
and grasshoppers were eaten, but flies inspired an unconquerable horror;
if one fell into a calabash of poi, the whole was thrown away.[11]

The Hawaiians practiced a sort of circumcision, differing from that of
the Jews, but having the same sanitary object. This operation _(mahele)_
consisted in slitting the prepuce by means of a bamboo. The mahele has
fallen into disuse, but is still practiced in some places, unbeknown to
the missionaries, upon children eight or ten years old. A sort of priest
(kahuna) performs the operation.[12]

The Hawaiian women are always delivered without pain, except in very
exceptional cases. The first time they had occasion to witness, in the
persons of the missionaries' wives, the painful childbirths of the white
race, they could not restrain their bursts of laughter, supposing it to
be mere custom, and not pain, that could thus draw cries from the wives of
the Haole (foreigners).

The ancient Hawaiians cared for their dead. They wrapped them in kapa
with fragrant herbs, such as the flowers of the sugar-cane, which had the
property of embalming them. They buried in their houses, or carried
their bodies to grottoes dug in the solid rock. More frequently they were
deposited in natural caves, a kind of catacombs, where the corpses were
preserved without putrefaction, drying like mummies. It was a sacred duty
to furnish food to the dead for several weeks. Sometimes the remains were
thrown into the boiling lava of the volcanoes, and this mode of sepulture
was regarded as homage paid to the goddess Pele, who fed principally on
human flesh.


THE STORY OF UMI; HIS BIRTH AND YOUTH.

Liloa reigned over the island of Hawaii. In the course of one of his
journeys through the province of Hamakua, he met a woman of the people
named Akahikameainoa, who pleased him, and whose favors he claimed as
supreme chief.

Akahikameainoa was then in her menses, so that the malo of the king was
soiled with the discharge. Liloa said to the woman: "If you bring into the
world a man-child, it shall belong to me; if a girl, it shall be yours.
I leave with you as tokens of my sovereign will my _niho palaoa_ (whale's
tooth), and my _lei_. Conceal these things from all eyes; they will one
day be a souvenir of our relation, a proof of the paternity of the child
who shall be born from our loves."

That would, indeed, be an unexceptionable testimony, for by the law of
kapu a wife could not, under pain of death, approach her husband while in
her courses. The soiled malo and the time of the child's birth would give
certain indications.

Akahikameainoa carefully concealed the royal tokens of her adultery,
saying nothing to any one, not even to her husband. The spot where she
hid them is known to this day as _Huna na niho_, the hiding place of the
teeth.

Liloa then held his court at Waipio in all the splendor of the time.
Besides a considerable troop of servants, he had in attendance priests
(kahuna), prophets (kaula), nobles, and his only son, Hakau. The palace
was made merry night and day by the licentious motions of the dancers, and
by the music of the resounding calabashes.

Nine moons after her meeting with the king, Akahikameainoa gave birth to
a man-child, which she called Umi, and brought up under the roof of her
husband, who believed himself the father. The child developed rapidly,
became strong, and acquired a royal stature. In his social games, in the
sports of youth, he always bore away the palm. He was, moreover, a great
eater: _Hao wale i ka ai a me ka ia_.[13] In a word, Umi was a perfect
Kanaka, and a skillful fighter, who made his comrades suffer for it.
At this time he conceived a strong affection for two peasants of the
neighborhood, Koi of Kukui-haole and Omakamau, who became his _aikane_.

One day his supposed father, angry at his conduct, was about to punish
him: "Strike him not," exclaimed Akahikameainoa, "he is your lord and
chief! Do not imagine that he is the son of us two: he is the child of
Liloa, your king." Umi was then about fifteen or sixteen years old.

His mother, after this declaration, startling as a thunder-bolt, went and
uncovered the tokens Liloa had left as proof, and placed them before her
husband, who was motionless with fear at the thought of the high treason
he had been on the point of committing.

In the mean time, Liloa had grown old, and Akahikameainoa, deeming the
moment had arrived, invested Umi with the royal malo, the niho palaoa, and
the lei, emblems of power, which high chiefs alone had the right to wear.
"Go," said she to him then; "go, my son, present yourself at Waipio to
King Liloa, your father. Tell him you are his child, and show him, in
proof of your words, these tokens which he left with me."

Umi, proud enough of the revelation of his mother, at once departs,
accompanied by Koi and Omakamau.

The palace of Liloa was surrounded by guards, priests, diviners, and
sorcerers. The kapu extended to the edge of the outer inclosure, and no
one might pass on penalty of death. Umi advanced boldly and crossed the
threshold. Exclamations and cries of death sounded in his ears from all
sides. Without troubling himself, he passed on and entered the end door.
Liloa was asleep, wrapped in his royal mantle of red and yellow feathers.
Umi stooped, and, without ceremony, uncovered his head. Liloa, awakening,
said, "_Owai la keia_?--Who is this?" "It is I," replied the youth; "it is
I, Umi, your son." So saying, he displays his malo at the king's feet.
At this token Liloa, while rubbing his eyes, recognized Umi, and had him
proclaimed his son. Behold, then, Umi admitted to the rank of high chief,
if not the equal of Hakau, his eldest son, at least his prime minister by
birth--his lieutenant.

The two brothers lived at court on an equal footing. They took part in the
same amusements, wrestling, drawing the bow, plunged with eagerness into
all the noble exercises of the country and the time. The people of Umi's
suite matched themselves with those of Hakau in the combat with the long
lance _(pololu)_, and the party of Umi was always victorious, compelling
Hakau to retire in confusion.

Liloa, perceiving that his last hour was drawing near, called his two
children to him, and said to them, "You, Hakau, will be chief, and you,
Umi, will be his man." This last expression is equivalent to viceroy or
prime minister. The two brothers bowed, in token of assent, and the
old chief continued: "Do you, Hakau, respect your man; and do you, Umi,
respect your sovereign. If you, Hakau, have no consideration for your
man, if you quarrel with him, I am not disturbed at the results of your
conduct. In the same way, Umi, unless you render your sovereign the homage
you owe him, if you rebel against him, it will be for you two to decide
your lot." Soon after, having made known his last wishes, Liloa gave up
the ghost.

Umi, who was of a proud and independent character, foreseeing, no doubt,
even then, the wicked conduct of his brother, would not submit to him,
and refused to appear in his presence. Giving up his share of power,
he departed from Waipio with his two _aikane_, and retired into the
mountains, where he gave himself up to bird-catching.

Hakau then reigned alone, and ruled according to his fancy. Abusing his
authority, he made himself feared, but, at the same time, detested by his
people. He brought upon himself the censure of the chief attendants of his
father, whom he provoked by all sorts of humiliations and insults. If he
saw any one of either sex remarkable for good looks, he had them tattooed
in a frightful manner for his good pleasure.