I am reminded that Kamehameha I had a home (around circa 1800) on a high
spot where he could observe his personal lo'i up and down the valley - at
Ahipu'u - which I would argue is probably at or very near the same location
as Hanaiakamalama - but preceding it by decades.
Some say there was a heiau there. I wouldn't be surprised.
But one haole wrote in his journal that he visited the king there and gave
the paraphrased description above.
It is also interesting that the Paki Auwai starts in the vicinity of
Kaniakapupu, however, I'm not sure whether the auwai at Hanaiakamalama is
continuous with the beginning of it at Kaniakapupu. I would guess that it
is.
High Chief Paki, builder of the auwai, was not only the father of Princess
Pauahi, he also performed the "marriage" between Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha
III) and his sister Nahienaena.
Actually, Paki didn't build the entire auwai by himself - he was the
organizer and supervisor - and every person downstream who hoped to use the water was assigned to build a stretch of it.
It might be interesting though, that the the reservoir that is mentioned,
might be the same one, or near the same one, where power was generated for
Kalakaua's 'Iolani Palace - the water probably being sourced through the
Paki Auwai. I believe that historical accounts usually place the reservoir
power source near what is now O'ahu Country Club - which is not very far
away - or - not far from my favorite rock - Pohakuaumeume - that is on the
boundary of the country club.
Another very interesting feature of the area - or close by - is Waolani -
the valley site of O'ahu Country Club. It is said that that was the first
home of Papa and Wakea in Hawai'i. Others say that Papa and Wake were born
there.
Nu'uanu is indeed a magical and important place.
ku
Notes:
[image: Map of Queen Emma's]
This 1877 map shows Queen Emma's house alongside the Paki Auwai, with two
groups of taro lo'i ("kalo patches") . A reservoir is noted in bold in the
upper left.
The site of Hanaiakamalama, near Pu'iwa, is thought by some to have formerly
been a *heiau*. *Kalani* states, "from listening to people, I understand
that when Kamehameha would come, because the area was planted in *lo'i* and
*'uala*, it was about this area that he would turn and look down the valley.
So if this was a stopping off place, then there probably would have been a *heiau*, to mark the spot or to conduct ceremonies and rituals--because it
was so much a part of daily life. You didn't go to church on Sunday for two
hours; Hawaiian spirituality was incorporated throughout the whole day, from when you awoke. Maybe not in front of strangers, but certainly in private."
_________________
Pohaku-a-Umeume
[image: Pohaku-a-umeume]
The Pohaku-a-Umeume.
*The Pohaku-a-Umeume* is another remainder from the time that the menehune
and 'e'epa peoples inhabited Waolani. This rock was discussed earlier in
regard to these ancient peoples. There, we discussed the rock's later,
historical importance in relationship to the birth of O'ahu chiefs. Indeed,
there are some who say that the Pohaku-a-Umeume is itself a birthing stone.
But in its legendary context, the Pohaku-a-Umeume is the focus of a struggle between two rival groups. One version of the story involves two different groups of menehune, which Mary Kawena Pukui identified as the Na-mu and the Na-wa. *Mu* means "silent" and *Wa* means "noisy," so these groups were The Silent Ones and the Noisy Ones. The story as told to *Pukui* by *Lahilahi Webb* goes as follows (Sterling & Summers, 1978: 302):
------------------------------
[image: Fingerprints]
The marks said to be the fingerprints of the opposing groups.
"A group of *menehune* wanted that stone moved. some wanted it moved
*mauka*[upland], and some, *makai* [seawards]. They tugged at the stone in opposite directions until the cock crowed and they all ran away.
"There the stone remained in its old place but on it are the imprints of the hands of the *menehune* who did not agree and tugged, not together, but
against each other."
Here is a longer and slightly different version of the story, dictated by *J. A. Wilder* from notes made of a conversation with the late *John A.
Cummins*(Hawaii Ethnological Notes vol.2: 204):
"The king of the menehune defied a giant king living in what is not the
Country Club grounds. He hurled insults at the giant and the latter threw at him a stone called Pohakuaumeume. The fight becoming general, the air was full of stones and this particular stone was thrown back and forth many
times.
"At last the menehune were driven to the cliff now represented by the name
Pacific Heights. Here the "stone of contention" (Pohakuaumeume) was hurled
with a mighty effort back to Waolani where it struck the chief giant in the
head, killing him and ending the battle."
[image: Birthing Stone?]
[image: Pohaku with 'ili'ili]
"This stone is now a boundary of the Country Club and is to be seen to this
day lying where it fell. ....The natives of the old school could be seen
worshipping or paying homage to Pohakuaumeume. The marks of the giant's
finger prints and the prints of the Menehune fingers are in it.
"After the victory the menehune gathered at the stream where the swamp, the
stream, and the cliff meet, and on a rock called Kaumakapili a jubilation of victory took place. This rock is still there, and it is said that
Kaumakapili Church took its name from it."
Pohakuaumeume was also the rock which was the advisor for Kuali'i and his ohana - and where they worshipped. An account of the story is written up in Sterling and Summers: Sites of O'ahu.
__________
(Kamakau Tales 135-147; cf. Malo 238 and Kepelino 191-192. Papa and W*a*kea
are the Earth Mother and Sky Father of Polynesian religion According to a
widely accepted Hawaiian tradition, they are the first ancestors of the
kanaka maoli, standing at the beginning of genealogical time. In one chant,
they are said to have given birth to the islands of Hawai'i, Maui, and
Kaho'olawe [Beckwith Hawaiian Mythology 302]. Kamakau, on the other hand,
presents a genealogy in which Papa and W*a*kea, born at Waolani, in Nu'uanu, O'ahu, appear twenty-seven generations after the first man, K*a*nehulihonua ["Man made from earth"], and the first woman, Keakahulilani ["Shadow changed by heaven"]. These two "progenitors of the people of Hawai'i and of all those who dwell in the islands of the Pacific" were created by K*a*ne, Lono, and Ku*, the main Gods of the Hawaiian pantheon at the time of European contact. The three Gods made "a model of the lands of the earth" in K*a*ne'ohe Bay between Kualoa and K*a*ne'ohe; when they saw there was no chief to rule over all things, they drew a man in the red-black soil "on the eastern flank of Mololani [a rise near Heleloa Beach on M*o*kapu Peninsula], facing the sunrise and near the seashore"; then they chanted the figure to life: "Hikiau; e ola!" ["I have come; live!"] The first woman was created from the shadow of the first man [Kamakau *Tales* 130-2]. Kamakau's localized creation story contains both Polynesian and Biblical elements.)
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