The Home Of The Ancestors : THE HOME OF THE ANCESTORS The ancestors of the New Zealand Maoris have a definite ancestral home from which they came to New Zealand. This bears the name Hawaiki which is the same as Hawai'i as also Savai'i in Samoa. Some students try to make Samoa the distributing centre from which the settlers...
Foreword : FOREWORD The advancement of a people is profoundly influenced by three factors, namely: the source and quality of their food supply; their contacts and associations with other peoples; and their religious beliefs and activities. It is, perhaps, the last factor that influences people most in matters...
Xviii. The Bride From The Under World : XVIII THE BRIDE FROM THE UNDER-WORLD A LEGEND OF THE KALAKAUA FAMILY KU, one of the most widely known gods of the Pacific Ocean, was thought by the Hawaiians to have dwelt as a mortal for some time on the western side of the island Hawaii. Here he chose a chiefess by the name of Hina as his wife...
Viii. The Shark Man Of Waipio Valley : VIII THE SHARK-MAN OF WAIPIO VALLEY THIS is a story of Waipio Valley, the most beautiful of all the valleys of the Hawaiian Islands, and one of the most secluded. It is now, as it has always been, very difficult of access. The walls are a sheer descent of over a thousand feet. In ancient times...
Xvii. Ke Au Nini : XVII KE-AU-NINI KU-AHA-ILO was a demon who had no parents. His great effort was to find something to eat--men or any other kind of food. He was a kupua--one who was sometimes an animal and sometimes a man. He was said to be the father of Pele, the goddess of volcanic fires. Nakula-uk...
X. The Old Man Of The Mountain : X THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN This is not a Hawaiian legend. It was written to show the superstitions of the Hawaiians, and in that respect it is accurate and worthy of preservation. FAR away in New England one of the rugged mountain-sides has for many years been marked with the profile of a gr...
V. Legendary Canoe Making : V LEGENDARY CANOE-MAKING SOME of the Hawaiian trees have beautifully grained wood, and at the present time are very valuable for furniture and interior decoration. The koa is probably the best of the trees of this class. It is known as the Hawaiian mahogany. The grain is very fine and curly...
Xi. Hawaiian Ghost Testing : XI HAWAIIAN GHOST TESTING MANOA VALLEY for centuries has been to the Hawaiians the royal palace of rainbows. The mountains at the head of the valley were gods whose children were the divine wind and rain from whom was born the beautiful rainbow-maiden who plays in and around the valley day...
Title Page : HAWAIIAN LEGENDS OF GHOSTS AND GHOST-GODS Collected And Translated From The Hawaiian BY W. D. WESTERVELT Boston, Ellis Press [1916] {scanned , January 2002} {p. vii}
I. The Ghost Of Wahaula Temple : I THE GHOST OF WAHAULA TEMPLE HAWAIIAN temples were never works of art. Broken lava was always near the site. Unhewn stones were piled into massive walls and laid in terraces for altar and floors. Water-worn pebbles were carried from the beach and strewn over the floor, making a smooth place...
Xiv. Kalai Pahoa, The Poison God : XIV KALAI-PAHOA, THE POISON-GOD THE Bishop Museum of Honolulu has one of the best as well as one of the most scientifically arranged collections of Hawaiian curios in the world. In it are images of many of the gods of long ago. One of these is a helmeted head made of wicker-work, over which h...
Iii. A Giant's Rock Throwing : III A GIANT'S ROCK-THROWING A POINT of land on the northwestern coast of the island Oahu is called Kalae-o-Kaena which means "The Cape of Kaena." A short distance from this cape lies a large rock which bears the name Pohaku-o-Kauai, or rock of Kauai, a large island northwest of Oahu. This rock is...
Polynesian Language : POLYNESIAN LANGUAGE "A few words should be added on the peculiar genius and structure of the Polynesian language in general and of the Hawaiian dialect in particular. It is the law of all Polynesian languages that every word and syllable must end in a vowel, so that no two consonants are ever heard...
Ix. The Strange Banana Skin : IX THE STRANGE BANANA SKIN KUKALI, according to the folk-lore of Hawaii, was born at Kalapana, the most southerly point of the largest island of the Hawaiian group. Kukali lived hundreds of years ago in the days of the migrations of Polynesians from one group of islands to another throughout...
Xiii. A Visit To The King Of Ghosts : XIII A VISIT TO THE KING OF GHOSTS WHEN any person lay in an unconscious state, it was supposed by the ancient Hawaiians that death had taken possession of the body and opened the door for the spirit to depart. Sometimes if the body lay like one asleep the spirit was supposed to return to its old...
Xv. Ke Ao Mele Mele, The Maid Of The Golden Cloud : XV KE-AO-MELE-MELE, THE MAID OF THE GOLDEN CLOUD THE Hawaiians never found gold in their islands. The mountains being of recent volcanic origin do not show traces of the precious metals; but hovering over the mountain-tops clustered the glorious golden clouds built up by damp winds from the se...
Ii. Maluae And The Under World : II MALUAE AND THE UNDER-WORLD HIS is a story from Manoa Valley, back of Honolulu. In the upper end of the valley, at the foot of the highest mountains on the island Oahu, lived Maluae. He was a farmer, and had chosen this land because rain fell abundantly on the mountains, and the streams brought...
Homeless And Desolate Ghosts : HOMELESS AND DESOLATE GHOSTS The spirits of the dead, according to a summary of ancient Hawaiian statements, were divided into three classes, each class bearing the prefix "ao," which meant either the enlightened or instructed class, or simply a crowd or number of spirits grouped together...
Iv. Kalo Eke Eke, The Timid Taro : IV KALO-EKE-EKE, THE TIMID TARO A MYTH is a purely imaginative story. A legend is a story with some foundation in fact. A fable tacks on a moral. A tradition is a myth or legend or fact handed down from generation to generation. The old Hawaiians were frequently mythmakers. They imagined many...
Introduction : INTRODUCTION The legends of the Hawaiian Islands are as diverse as those of any country in the world. They are also entirely distinct in form and thought from the fairy-tales which excite the interest and wonder of the English and German children. The mythology of Hawaii follows the laws upon which...
Aumakuas, Or Ancestor Ghosts : AUMAKUAS, OR ANCESTOR-GHOSTS There are two meanings to the first part of this word, for "au" means a multitude, as in "auwaa" (many canoes), but it may mean time and place, as in the following: "Our ancestors thought that if there was a desolate place where no man could be found, it was the aumaku...
Vii. Kauhuhu, The Shark God Of Molokai : VII KAUHUHU, THE SHARK-GOD OF MOLOKAI THE story of the shark-god Kauhuhu has been told under the legend of "Aikanaka the (Man-eater)," which was the ancient name of the little harbor Pukoo, which lies at the entrance to one of the beautiful valleys of the island of Molokai. The better way is...
Appendix : APPENDIX HONOLULU AQUARIUM The Honolulu Aquarium is located in Kapiolani Park on the famous Waikiki Beach, about five miles from the centre of the city. From 600 to 1,000 fish, covering some 200 varieties of remarkable form and bewildering color, are on exhibition here, forming one of the finest...
The Deceiving Of Kewa : THE DECEIVING OF KEWA A poem, or mourning chant, of the Maoris of New Zealand has many references to the deeds of their ancestors in Hawaiki, which in this case surely has reference to the Hawaiian Islands. Among the first lines of this poem is the expression, "Kewa was deceived." An explanatory...
Untitled : HAWAIIAN LEGENDS OF GHOSTS AND GHOST-GODS Collected And Translated From The Hawaiian BY W. D. WESTERVELT Boston, Ellis Press [1916] Title Page Contents Foreword Introduction Pronunciation Part I I. The Ghost of Wahaula Temple II. Maluae and the Under-world III. A Giant's Rock-Throwing IV...
Xvi. Puna And The Dragon : XVI PUNA AND THE DRAGON TWO images of goddesses were clothed in yellow kapa cloth and worshipped in the temples. One was Kiha-wahine, a noted dragon-goddess, and the other was Haumea, who was also known as Papa, the wife of Wakea, a great ancestor-god among the Polynesians. Haumea is said to have...
The Dragon Ghost Gods : THE DRAGON GHOST-GODS Dragons were among the ghost-gods of the ancient Hawaiians. These dragons were called mo-o. The New Zealanders used the same names for some of their large reptile gods. They, however, spelled the word with a "k," calling it mo-ko, and it was almost identical in pronunciati...
Pronunciation : PRONUNCIATION "A syllable in Hawaiian may consist of a single vowel, of a consonant united with a vowel or at most of a consonant and two vowels, never of more than one consonant. The accent of five-sixths of the words is on the penult, and a few proper names accent the first syllable. In Hawaii...
Vi. Lau Ka Ieie : VI LAU-KA-IEIE "Waipio Valley, the beautiful: Precipices around it, The sea on one side; The precipices are hard to climb; Not to be climbed Are the sea precipices." --Hawaiian Chant. KAKEA (the white one) and Kaholo (the runner) were the children of the Valley. Their parents were the precipices...
Xii. How Milu Became The King Of Ghosts : XII HOW MILU BECAME THE KING OF GHOSTS LONO was a chief living on the western side of the island Hawaii. He had a very red skin and strange-looking eyes. His choice of occupation was farming. This man had never been sick. One time he was digging with the oo, a long sharp-pointed stick or spade...
