The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-06-04
For the Daughters of | Hawaii
By Anna NJ. Paris.
The Story Of Uni
By Anna NJ. Paris.

sellers urging him forward, with the
priest predicting his success and with
an army eager to fight in his cause,
he at length resolved to strike the
fatal blow.
Descending unexpectedly upon Ha-
kau, it is said that the two brothers
met face to face. Uni, famed for his
athletic skill, wrested from Hakau, the
uplifted javelin and was in turn about
to strike, when the high priest inter
posed. "Let this be sacrifce,'' said
he, Sin the name of the gods I Stay
him. Thus fell the tyrant and with
his death the authority of Uni was
unquestioned.
Great was the rejoicing over the
new king, and success attended his
efforts in uniting nearly all of the
rival elements in the different dis
tricts of Hawaii. On one of these
powerful factions in Kona, however,
headed by a chief notorious for his
wickedness and cruelty, Uni openly
declared war. The two leaders met,
with their armies, on the high plain
between the three great mountains of
Hawaii. Uni was hard beset at first,
but the fates were with him at the
end. To celebrate his victory and mar
row escape on this occasion, he caused
six stone pyramids to be erected, one
for each island district, while a sew
enth one was built by his officers for
Uni himself. In the center of these
unique piles he built a temple, nearly
one hundred feet long by seventy feet
wide, of which only portion today
remains. Yet this ruin, desecrated by
the goat herd and marred by the hand
of time, retains a weird individuality. |
It's very atmosphere seems to voice
the spirit of the past, when the soil
tary plain teemed with human life, |
and when from the once sacred en-
closure, the gods issued their inexora- |
bic decreesi Here, with Mauna Loa,
guard, like faithful sentinels, Uni
made his headquarters for many years,
and he has been called, liking of the |
Mountains
1t was said that he preferred living |
in remote places, because of the out |
RACES committed, in those days, by |
royal retinues, or, to use his own |
words, "That the robberies of his at |
tendants might not cause the tears
of the people to flow"
Uni s marriage to the daughter of
the king of Maui, was followed by a |
conquest of that island, in the cause |
of an exiled chief, her brother. Land |
ing at Hama, with fleet Of war
canoes, he was successful in this as |
in other undertakings, and history
tells US, that owing to him, Maui en-
joyed long season of prosperity, I'M
der the rule of the reinstated chief, |
Kiha a Piilani.
His religious zeal expressed itself
in the building of several heiaus; be-
sides the one in Kona distinctly known
as "The Temple of Umi,' and the
remains of paved road, built by him,
can still be seen at the southern end
Of the island. Everywhere men were
in cutting stone, and in the
ruins of today-in the large compact
blocks of lava laid without cement,
we still see, despite imperfect instru
ments, how enduring was the work
of his time. Some of the stones cut
by Uni, were afterwards used in the
building of the large church at Kailua,
the first church built at the islands,
where Rev. Mr.. Thurston preached for
more than fifty years.
Beginning his long reign in the ff
teenth century, when the power of the
priesthood was absolute, when deeds
of violence on the part of those in