The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-07-14
CHIEF MAN-EATER
Y Rev w d Westervelt in Paradise OF the Pacific


now known as the leper island. Here
dwelt the priest Hawalo. who, by the
aid of the great shark god, Kauhuhu,
brought upon his enemies storm
which swept them into the sea, where
they were eaten by the subjects and
companions of the shark god.
A legend, or, rather, genealogy,
placed a Chief Man eater on the ISL
and of Hawaii, but no hints are given
of man-eating feats, or of journeys to
other islands, and the name may sim
ply refer to a fierce disposition. The
oahu chief, Ke-aIii-ai Kanaka, lived
sometime about the middle of the eigh-
tenth century, as nearly as can be es-
tinated. Up to the middle of the nine
teenth century the accounts of Chief
Maneater's deeds and the accurate
knowledge of his place of residence
We're quite fresh in the minds of old
Hawaiians.
It is still an undecided problem
whether Chief Maneater'' was a for
eigner or an Hawaiian. The difficulty
that makes his foreign birth a problem
is the accepted date of the close of all
intercourse with far-away island
groups, such as Samoa and Ffji-at
least three hundred years earlier than
the century assigned to Ke-alii-ai Ka-
naka.
1t would seem best to accept the
legend that that degenerate chief was
a desperate and an outcast from the
high chief family of Waialua. on the
northwest coast of Oahu.
Ke-alii-ai Kanaka was a powerful
man. He is described as a champion
boxer and wrestler. In some way he
learned to love the taste of human flesh.
| When his awful appetite became known
he was driven from his home. AS he
passed through the village the women
who had been his playmates and COM
panions fled from him. His former
friends, the young warriors, called out
"Maneater." "Maneater," and openly
despised him. In bitter anger he called
the few servants who would follow him
and fed to the royal Waianae noun
tains. Driven from his kindred and
friends, he buried himself and his brut-
al appetite in the mountain forests.
1t is possible that soon after this he
visited the island Kauai, and there
passed himself off as a chief from a.
foreign land. But his hand was
against every man. and therefore
every mans hand was against him..
Finally he made his permanent home
range that borders Waialua.
His followers numbered only hand
full, for a single canoe brought them
away from Kauai-if his was indeed the
band driven from the hospitable shores
of that fertile island.
Kokoa and Kalo were the names by
which he was known in his nobIer
young manhood, and Kokoa was his
name to his followers, but he was ever
after Chief Maneater'' to the Hawai-
ian world.
It was wild and wonderfully beauti-
full spot that Kokoa chose for his final
home. 1t was a small plateau or mesa
of from two to three hundred acres on
the top of a small mountain surround
ed by other higher and more precipi-
tous cliffs. It was luxuriantly covered
with tropical growth and blessed with
abundant rains. The Hawaiians have
given the name Hale-manu, or "house
of the hand to this plateau. It's sides,
sloping down into the valleys, were so
precipitious as to be absolutely inacces-
sible. 1t could be entered only along
a narrow ridge. The pandanus dropped
its long leaves and aerial rootlets along
the edges. The uluhI, or tangle-fern, |
massed and matted itself into a thick
through the valleys below. Native |
flowers bordered the paths and crowned |
the plateaus as if mans worst nature |
could never wither the appeal of things |
beautiful. a magnificent koa, or ma |
tive mahogany, tree spread its protect |
ing branches by the spot chosen by Ko- |
koa for his grass house. Kukui trees /
furnished their oily nuts for his torches. |
The ohia or native apple, and the bread |
fruit and wild sugar cane gave gener- |
ously of their wealth to the support of |
the cannibal band. They easily culti- !
waited taro-the universal native food
and captured birds and sometimes I'M
wary hunters who penetrated the forest
recesses in search of the birds with the
rare yellow feathers. 1t was a beauti- !
full den into which spider-like he drag
ged his victims.
kokoa led his followers into the noun
tafns through winding valleys and
thick forests and sometimes in the very
beds of the Waianae brooks to this Sc
cluded retreat lying within the walls
of one of the enormous extinct craters
of the volcanic mountains. As they en- ,
tered the valley below the plateau, one
of his followers said to another: Our
chief has found a true hiding place for .
u.s. Let us hope that it may not prove
a trap. If our presence here should be
known to the people of Waialua they
could easily close the entrance of this
valley with a strong guard and drive
us against the steep walls up which we
cannot climb" Kokoa only called out.
Wait, I will protect you" then led
them to the plateau he had selected.
The ascent to the summit was along
''knife-blade ridge" fianked by pic
turesque sides For long distance
there was only room for one man to
walk. One of the men carelessly hast
ened across this causeway bearing a