Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-02-01
DEFENSE OF ANCIENT religion
TO BE PORTRAYED IN PAGEANT

,kuhina.nli or, premier WIS to exercise
+, equal authority with the king.
Hewahewa, the high priest, had
ceased to believe in the power of the
ancient deities. and his highest chiefs,
i resolved to abolish the oppressive
''kapu" system The king, Iolani Ii
holiho, had been carefully trained in
the traditions of his ancestors and 1t
was not an easy matter to forsake
the beliefs OF his fathers He was
very slow to yield to the sentiments
of the chiefs.
Keopulani, the queen mother, sent
to the king for his younger brother,
Kauikeaouli, to come and eat with her
in defiance of the kapu. The king per.
mitted IL but was careful to refrain
from violating the kapu himself
/ Kaahumanu then sent for the king,
requesting him to renounce idolatryo
Accordingly, he spent two days In a
drunken debauch with his retinue and
some white men thaolesl during
which he committed several violations
of the kapu. On his arrival at Kailua
q great feast was prepared to which
he sat down with large company OF
chiefs Of both sexes and openly feast
ed with them The common people
looked on with mingled fear and curl
osity.
The high priest then proclaimed the
breaking of the kapli- which was term
| ed the al noa, or free eating, in OPP
| position TO the al kapu-and himself
Fset the example by setting fire to the
| idols and sanctuaries. Messengers
were sent even as far as Kauai to.
| proclaim the abolition of the kapu.
Kaumualii gladly consented to the
fbfeakine OF. the KapEand a general
jubilee was held over all the islands
but the kapu system was too ancient
TO be given up without a struggle.
|insurrection Breaks.
Kekuaokalani, prince Of the high
priests and keeper OF the ancestral
dignant at the conduct OF his cousin
! the king and retired to Kaawaloa.
There the priests flocked around him
and Offered him the crown. A large
body Of chiefs and common people
rallied around the standard of the
| prince, who was called defender of
| the faith. ? He had adherents in the
district Of HaInakua and the favor of
| the chieftains OF Kona.
Nuuanu and his brother, Keakaoka-
| lani, sent messengers to the king to
come overland during the midnight
and they, with their force, they said,
would join him. Kekuaokalani had
fewer men and muskets than Kalani-
moku, and little ammunition.
The two armies met near Kuamoo,
and Kekuaokalani and his men were
Outflanked and driven to the seashore,
where they were exposed to flank
Ling IRE from q squadron Of double ca
noes. enc of WI n carried q mounted
gun manned by foreign gunner.
The prince fought brayely and re-
peatedly rallied his men. in the mean
time calling to them the war-cry of his
order: Comrades uphold the sacred
honor of our ancestral deifies" (El
Ihii Ike. kapn akua on mail kupula e
ma hoa.) He received q shot In the
| left breast His beautiful wife, Ma
mono. fought courageously by his side.
Knowing that the Prince was wounded
she knelt by his side and he gave into
her keeping his lei Milo palaoa. Fear
| ing that the enemy might discover
the ornament she resolved to destroy
II but her husband urged her to keep
II as q memento.
The prince died surrounded by his
men and with his fathers cloak Gov.
ering his face Thus passed Kekuao-
kaiani, defender of the kapu, as the
result of shot from q white mans
gun
His wife called out for quarter to
her cousin Kalanimoku, but he, know.
ing very well the custom OF royalty,
kissed her and said "Waia auanei
kaua 10 oe'-you win dishonor us by
your cowardice." He then killed her
with lei mano or necklace of
sharks, teeth.
Thus Hawaii's noble defenders of
the ancient faith died on the battle
field of Kuamoo, North Kona An
oblong pile of stones near the sea COW
cred with vines marks the spot where
Prince Kekuaokalani and his heroic
wife, Manono, died Their bodies were
carried away and taken to q place
known only to those of their lineal an
cestral line.
With the breaking Of the kapu Ha- !
wall was without religion. With the
arrival Of the first American mission. ,,
aries and the three Hawaiian youths
from the Cornwall school, new re-
ligion was established in the islands |
D--o-----
The Cunard liner Orduna, sailing