Pana Oahu: Sacred Stones, Sacred Land

Ko‘olauloa

Ko‘olauloa Some of J. Gilbert McAllister’s Hawaiian informants for the Ko‘olauloa District. Mr. Padeken (Ka‘a‘awa). John P. Kaleo (Kahuku). John P. Kaleo, boy, and Kaue (Keanakua). Mrs. Kaleo (Kahuku). he northern Ko‘olauloa District, backed by low mountains, has a relatively dry climate. However, in ancient times it supported spring-fed lo‘i kalo (taro terraces) in certain areas, such as the place called Kapuna (the spring) behind the Mormon Temple.168 In the southern half of the district, moist trade winds driving upward against steep pali (cliffs) of the windward Ko‘olau Range became rain that fed large streams and extensive lo‘i kalo in the deepest southern valleys of the district: Punalu‘u, Kahana, and Ka‘a‘awa. During fishing seasons, it was customary for farmers to leave their lo‘i kalo. At other times they observed a kapu to protect particular fish species at spawning times. Often the konohiki would place a local kapu on fishing activities on behalf of his ali‘i. In this way, a valuable resource was managed for the common good. In postcontact times, as the population dwindled, this once-efficient managerial system became oppressive. The maka‘äinana of Waimea Ahupua‘a, for example, paid heavy taxes and worked four half-days each week for others. According to one 1832 observer, “Tuesday is for the king, Wednesday for the Governor, Thursday for the head people, and Saturday for the konohiki. . . . The women are excluded. They make tax mats, kapa.”169 Until 1886, well after the Mähele land distribution of 1848, Waimea was an ahupua‘a in the Ko‘olauloa District. Later Waimea Ahupua‘a was placed in the Waialua District, where it remains today. Traditionally owned by the kahuna nui of O‘ahu, Waimea lies near the island’s largest heiau, Pu‘uomahuka, which was once under the kahuna nui Ka‘öpulupulu. When the second of Captain Vancouver’s ships, HMS Daedalus, anchored at Waimea Bay in 1792, its captain and astronomer were stoned and their guns stolen. According to some accounts their bodies were taken first to Pu‘uomahuka Heiau and then to Mokulë‘ia.170 Kahuku, the northernmost ahupua‘a of O‘ahu, was once famed for its vast grove of hala (screw pine). Captain James King caught a brief glimpse of the area in 1779 and wrote: “Nothing can exceed the verdure of the hills, the variety of wood and lawn, and the red cultivated valleys.”171 Thirteen years later Captain Vancouver agreed, but he noted fewer cultivated lands and farmers.172 Hostilities and disease during this interval had taken their toll on Kahuku, as throughout O‘ahu and the rest of the islands. In 1838, Hall commented, “Much taro land now lies waste, because the diminished population of the district does not require its cultivation.”173 The diaries of the early missionary John Emerson, as interpreted by his son, reveal a further deterioration that one imagines must have been repeated all over the island: Kahuku had passed from the control of its chief to that of an Englishman. The pastures of his big ranch extended along the shore for twelve miles, reaching inland to the mountain chain, and he was so autocratic that the natives could not own a dog, or pasture a cow or horse, without his consent. The depredations of his herds and flocks on their small homesteads became unbearable , but they appealed in vain for the protection of their beloved hala trees and patches of vegetables. . . . With the fading of the forests the people also disappeared and the once populous district of Kahuku became a lonely sheep and cattle ranch.174 Ko‘olauloa Legends and Folklore With its steep, weathered pali, gusting rain squalls, occasional thunder, kalo and ‘uala crops, streams, springs, and pools, the Ko‘olauloa District gave birth to an extraordinary folklore of creatures, gods, and demigods. Each ahupua‘a developed its unique landscape-dependent myths and folklore. In Kaluanui Ahupua‘a, the demigod Kamapua‘a—who T ko‘olauloa 113 Clockwise: Mr. Kaohiona Apuakehau with unidentified woman and child (Lä‘ie); Pua Ha‘aheo (Kahana); Ben Kaoao (Punalu‘u). ko‘olauloa 115 Makuakaumana back to the Känaka Maoli source land, Kahiki. And two Maui brothers (Nïheu and Kana) killed the giant mo‘o living in a deep pool near...