The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-03-27
How the Hawaiians Came to
Hawaii.
LEAVES FROM OLD RECORDS.
j. NJ. POepOe's Lecture Last Night
The Natives Idea of the Creation.
A Divided Gourd Makes Two
Hemispheres-But One Continent.

''The Origin of the Hawaiian Islands
was the subject selected by j. M Poepoe
editor Of the Kuokoa, for a very inter
esting, lecture at the Young Hawaiian
Institute last night
After the lecturer had described the
geographical position occupied by the
Hawaiian Islands in the North Pacific
and their distance from North Amer
lea and from Asia, as well as from
Tahiti and Australia, he pointed out
the reason why the Hawaiian Islands
Alma
at is on account said the speaker,
''of their standing in row, from south
east to northwest. The old Hawaiians
knew this position, and the bard of
the ancients, Kamahualele, more es-
pecially, made it the subject of mele
The lecturer did not claim
to bring out the geological researches
concerning these islands, or to advance
any fixed theory as to how they came
into existence; whether they are the
result of an upheavel from the bottom
of the sea by volcanic action or that
they are remnants of an old continent
once occupied in the Pacific, portions
of which are subsidized into the deep;
but he simply gave what is known as
the belief of the ancient Hawaiians as
to the origin of the islands as recorded
in their old meles, together with GER
tain theories advanced by some modern
biologists, among whom are Agassiz
King Kalakaua as pertaining to the
islands of the Pacific.
Mr.. Poepoe sub-divided his subject
into three separate divisions:
First-The old Hawaiian point of
view as relating to the creation, but
more especially of the heavens and
earth
Second-The origin of the Hawaiian
Islands according to the Hawaiian ira
dition.
Third-The theories advanced by
some of the modern biologists, includ-
ing Agassiz and Dana, concerning these
islands
Under the first division he pointed
out that the old Hawaiians had three
different opinions as to how the heav-
ems and earth were created, none of
them fixed or Interchangeable. One was
that the heavens and earth came into
existence by volcanic action. Another
that they had a natural birth, and still |
another that they were created by three
gods who were supreme beings.
In support of the first of the three
divisions, the lecturer quoted part of |
an old mele known as "Mele Koiho- |
nua," entitled '"Ka Holoua ka Papa
Lono Ike Kapularie, and some |
of the lines from the mele of Kumulipo, |
which showed that the heavens and |
earth were made by volcanic action |
Following this came several of the
old traditions showing the natural !
birth of these islands:
In the geneology of Puanuue it is
said that one Paialani CK) was the hus-
band and Kumukaianikekaa CW) the /
wife, came forth the four quarters /
Of the earth and the foundations of the
heavens. And in the genealogy of Ku-
the man, and Kamaieli, the
woman, came forth the foundation of
the earth. And that in the genealogy of
Wakea, the progenitor of the Hawaiian
race, as some supposed, his wife, Papa,
gave birth to a gourd or "umeke." Wa
1ea is said to have taken the cover from
the umeke and thrown it high above
him. The result was the sky and the
canopy of heaven.
When this had been accomplished
Wakea took the pulp from the gourd
md threw it up into the heavens. The
pulp turned into bright light, which