The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1883-08-25
H1AKA.
A Hawaiian Legend by a Hawaiian Ma
tive. A Legend of the Goddess Pele,
Her Lover Lohiau and her Sister Hi.

The crater of Kilauea on Hawaii, is the
residence of the Goddess Pele. She had
eight sisters, all called Hiiaka, with some
distinguishing ending, as Hiiaka-noholae,
(Hiaka living OIL the headland), Hiiaka-
~wawahilani, (Hiiaka the heaven BREAKER
Hiiakaikapoliopele, (Hiiaka in Pele's hearD
etc. The latter commonly called the Hill
aka is the heroine of this legend. Pele had
also several brothers Kamehoalii, Lono-
makua, Lonoonolii. etc.
All her brothers and sisters were subordi-
nate to her, but Kamohoalii was her favor
tie brother and Hiiakaikapoliopele the IA
vorite sister. Tradition rs not very explic-
it. as to the source of Kamohoalii's pc wer,
but he has always been regarded as the very
sacred royal brother of Pele. The brothers
and sisters seem to have nata great respect
for each other and new. L:.5passed on one
another's privileges, or interfered with each
others actions. U~wekAhuna the hign bluff
of the crater walls beyond the sulphur
banks is supposed to contain q large cave,
his dwelling, and the bluff is known as
Observation-Disclosures" (the tabu
cliffs of K~amahoalii.) Smoke from volcan-
ic fires has never been known to be blown
against them. True believers stoutly insist
that smoke could never by any possibility
bend or be blown agains' it, as that would
be a gross violation of rue royal privileges
of the sacred brother.
neutrality-suspicious. was the youngest Of
the sisters. AS her name implies she was
the dearly beloved of Pele, n had been
endowed by her with a great deal of her di-
| vine power and attributes. The other sis
tiers were also Goddesses but of inferi or
power.
One day PeIe asked her sisters and broth
ers to go down with her TO the Puma coast
to ngage in sea bathing, and so assuming
human forms they all ,ent down. Whilst
the others were INDUCING in bathing, surf
riding. gathering opihi, limu and other sea
shore deIicacies, PeIe laid down to take n
nap. She first ordered her youngest sister,
Hiiaka, to hold her kahili (fe Their fly brush)
and to sit by her head and on no account to
allow anyone to awaken her.
1t seems that her slumbers at the crater
had of late been very much disturbed by
the continual tumtum of a drum, and she
was determined to discover from whence it
came. So dropping asleep she fOrsook the
human shape she had assumed-:hat of an
old, blear-eyed woman, which was her US
ual one and flo lted in the air towards
" dIdhed III Tie ulTecOlOu ID Ouc SuuuiS
When she arrived at Waiakea, tue drum
seemed to sound from Kukuilauania at Ma
KALAMAZOO, twelve miles from Waiakea.
When Pele arrived there the sounds were
withdrawn to Laupahoehoe, on the confines
of the Hamakua district. She still followed
and on her arrival the SOUNDS SCENE I to
proceed from Mahiki, a forest marsh above
Waipio valley. She was npw tn oroughly
xya~al nd u,nl ..N N. ,s,1 m NIInu fha
sound to its source, if it took her to the end
of Kahiki, from whence she came.
When she arrived at Ma hiki the drum
sounded as if being struck at Kauwiki in
Hama, on the eastern coast of Maui, from
thence it sounded at Kalaeokalaau the point
at the western end of Molokai; arrived there
she seemed TO hear it as if being played on
at Makapuu, the southeastern extremity of
the island of Oahu; from there it sounded
at Kaena, a bold headland at the western
extremity of the same island. Pele still fol-
lowed and was not surprised to find the
sounds had flown to mid-channel of Kaieie-
waho, the channel between Oahu and Kau
al; arrived there the sounds came from
HAupu on the island of Kauai. Haupu is
a mountain peak between Koloa and Lihue
and just Immediately above the valley of
Huleia. When Pele arrived at Haupu she
could hear the drum being played at Haena
the northwestern extremity of that island.
AS she floated over the intervening sp ice
the sounds remained stationary gr adually
growing louder and palmer. Arrived at the
beach of Haena, she perceived hat the
sounds proceeded from a drum played by a
handsome young man.
The young man was Lohiau, the prince of
}the island. He was the most skilful per-
former on the drum, the most accomplished
dancer, as we'll as the hands3meSt rince of
his days. He was so fond of the hula that
he had a large Enclosure built containing a
large halau, or house with open sides,
where he had collected all the handsomest
youths and fairest young women of the is
land, and had them instructed by the most
skilful of the old musicians in the mysteries
of the Hawaiian Terpsichorean Art. He ex-
celled them all in skill and I'm the grace of
his performances, and was p~re-eminent in
personal beauty.
He w%orshipped two Gods, Kanikawi aud
Kanikawa, the deities who presided over
his art. 1t seems they were rather mi2chiev-
Gus divinities, and had been amusing them
selves by carrying the sounds of Lohiau's
III Al IA AAS u 90 w NCASO SHO
Goddess Pele. Gratiied with the devotion
of the young man to themselves, and rely
ing on his great personal attractions, they
determined to annoy the Goddess and ex-
cite her curiosity so as to follow the sounds
and thus come in sight of their protege.
What they anticipated followed.
When Pele alighted on the beach at Haze
na, she took one of the most beautiful of her
$3.50 f.,,a FzIa hnA 4yrar f1,r ,,IroI
human forms called Na-kino-iau-o-Pele)
and walked up to the Pa-hula She was
seen by some of the spectators of the hula,
who nudged each other saying, ''wiIat IA
beautiful woman" and the hum of admira-
ton ross and swelled till it aLtrac ed LOhi-
aus attention. The people had divided of
their own accord forming q straight lane
from the direction whence the lovely wO-
man was approaching to where LOhiau was
in the center of the Halau-hula ida ncing
houSaN Whan he oanoht SIGHT of her ha