The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-05
LEGENDS OF HAWAII.
Strange stories Which the Island
Fishermen Believe.
From the New York Times.


been transmitted from father to son.
for generations. While a few of these
legends have been reduced to writing,
many are still unwritten and waiting
for the student of folklore who is
a BILE TO converse with the native in
his own language.
Their earliest traditions relate TO
wonderful race of people called the
Menehunes, who were small of stat
ure, but of great activity species of
Brownie. These people were always
united in any work they did and had
an invariable rule that any operation
undertaken must be completed in one
night otherwise it would be left unfin-
ished, as they did not labor twice on
the same work.
At one time Pi, man who lived at
Waimea, Kauai, told the Menehunes
to wall in a fish pond a the bend of
the Huleia river, close by. They COM
menced work a midnight, but at dawn
the walls of the pond were not sufh-
GENTLY finished to meet, so it was left
incomplete, and has remained so to
this day.
Union of the Islands.
There is a tradition current among
the fishermen that many years ago
the Islands of Kauia. Niihua and Nj
hao were one, under the name of Mil
hau, while Oahu and Molokai were
also united under the former name.
One day two fishermen were busily
engaged in fishing. One was on the
shore of Waianae, on the western ex-
tTemity of Oahu, and the other on the
rocks of Koloa, on Niihau, now Kauai.
Owing to the strong current the hooks
and lines of each were carried out
10 sea and became entangled togeth er
in the middle of the channel, and when
the fishermen endeavored to haul in
their lines the two islands, unable to
withstand the strain, parted from their
mornings.
Kauai broke off first from Nihoa and
afterwards from Niihau, while Oahu
separated from Molokai, and the two
main bodies approached each other
until the lines broke and the islands
came to a standstill in their present
position. When the kings of the ISL
ands discovered the cause of the great
changes they ordered the fishermen to
swim out to the middle of the new
channel and dive down and get the
hooks. They did this, and, wonderful
to relate, there were found upon each
hook specimens of every kind of fish
in the sea- from the whale down to the
shrimp.
God of the Fishermen.
The chief god of the fishermen was
Kuula, whose worship was general to
all the islands. The story of his delft
ca ton is condensed as follows from the
narrative of Moke Manu-, one of the
legendary bards of the islands.
Kuula lived at Leho-ula, in the land
of Aleamai, Hama, Maui, with his wife
Hinapu- ku-ia, and a younger brother
of Kuula. The brothers separated in
time, the younger taking up teamwork,
while Kuula became a fisherman. He
first built fish pond on the shore close
to his house, and this he stocked with
all kinds of fish. Upon a rocky plat
form he also built house, to be sacred
for the fishing tabu, which he called
by his own name, Kuula, and it is said
that in this he made offerings of the
first fish caught by him to a supreme
god. Because of his piety all the fish
were under his command, and would
appear and disappear at his will. The
news of this soon spread all over Ha-
ma, and when the king, Kamohaolii,
who was. then living at Wananalua,
heard of it he appointed Kuula as his
head fisherman. BY the aid of his
well-stocked pond he was enabled to
keep the Kings table regularly sup
piled with all rare varieties, whether in
OF our Oh season, anu consequently w ciS
held in high esteem by the latter.
About this time Kuula's wife gave
birth to a son, whom they called All
ARA Kuula (Aiai of Kuula). After this
son aid grown into quite stripping
he achieved considerable fame by kill
ing a large publ (eeD called Koona,
which had been deifed by the people
of Wailau, on the Koolau side of the
Island of Molokai. This publ had come
RI in IN rnh llnla'G fish
pond. Some time after this man
from Wailau, Molokai, who had been
the ka,hu (keeper) of the publ, in a
dream was told that his bod had been
killed at Hama. Coming to Maui to
find out for himself, he was befrinded
by one of the retainers of the king
with whom he lived for some years,
killed his god, upon which he resolved
to be revenged
a ManSIed Message.
One day he went to Kuula, without
orders from the King, and said that
he had sent him for fish. Kuula gave
him an ulua, with the following warn
ing Instructions;
go back to the King and tell him
to cut off the head of the fish and
cook it in the imu. and the flesh of its
body cut up and salt and dry in the
Hama of the scarce fish; the fish of
Kama: the fish of Lanalika. " When
the man came to the King with the
fish, the latter asked him who had
sent it, and he said 'Kuula,' and sub
stituted the following lying message in
place of the true one:
Your head fisherman told me to
come back and tell you that your head
should be cut from your body and
cooked in the imu, and the flesh of
your body should be cut up and salt
ed and dried in the sun"
The King was so angered with this
supposed reasonable message that he
ordered his people to gather plenty of
firewood and place it around Kuula's
house and burn him and his family in
it. All the people except those of
Aleami obeyed the Kings order, and
in a short time the hut of Kuula was
surrounded with the fagots. When the
latter saw that the end was close at
hand, he advised his son as to how ne
might escape by following the smoke
up in the air to a cave on the hill of
Kaiwiopele where he would find safety
He then gave him a hook, a fish
pearl, a shell called "lehoula," and a
small sandstone. This sandstone was
the progenitor of all the fish in the sea
With it Kuula gave him power over
all the inhabitants of the sea when he
should exercise such power in his
name.
The Kings people came then and
seized the three of them, bound them
in the house, and, closing the door, set
ing. Kuula and his wife, after giving
tn lot CT off