Legend of Pupuhuluena. 



IT WAS amongst the steep cliffs to the east of Kohala, Hawaii, that Pupuhuluena 

 once lived. When he first came to the place there was no food growing, no taro, 

 no potatoes, no yams, nor anj'thing else in the shape of food. All the food had been 

 taken and hidden by the gods in Kalae, Kau. Once upon a time Pupuhuluena had a 

 desire to go fishing, so he sailed to a point directly off Makaukiu. While he was busy 

 fishing, he saw that all the different fishes were gathered under his canoe; the uhu," the 

 nenue," ulna,' kahala,'' opakapaka,'^ hee," manini,' opelu,^ aku" and all the other kinds 

 of fishes. When he saw the fish move away he followed them until the cliffs were 

 passed, and as the fish kept on going he followed right along; he arrived off Kohala, still 

 the fish kept on: he arrived off Kawaihae, still the fish kept on: then on to Puako and to 

 Maniniowali where the manini remained behind, but he still followed until he was off 

 Kekaha and from there on to Kaelehuluhulu; here the aku and opakapaka remained be- 

 hind. Proceeding again until he was off the Kona coast, here some of the other fishes 

 remained behind, but he kept on following the others until he was off the place called 

 Kapukaulua, just this side of Kalae where the ulna remained behind. At this place he 

 saw a canoe floating with a large-mouth net let down on the coral bed. There were two 

 fishermen in the canoe, leiea and Poopalu; they were the fishermen of Makalii. 



Pupuhuluena upon seeing the men moved on until he was quite close to them. 

 He then took up a kukui nut, chewed it up and blew the substance upou the surface of 

 the sea '° which enabled him to clearly see the bottom. As he looked down he saw the 

 fish entering the mouth of the net, let down by leiea and Poopalu, so he called out: 

 "Say, the fish have gone into 3^our net." "You are telling a lie. We are looking down 

 and we don't see any fish going in." The reason why leiea and Poopalu did not see 

 the fish was because they were chewing the sea-bean (mohihi) and blowing the juice 

 on the surface of the sea which did not render the sea smooth, so the}' were unable to 

 see the bottom very clearly. The place where they had their net was uot very deep. 

 Pupuhuluena, however, kept on calling to haul up the net till at last leiea and Poopalu 

 thought they would haul up the net, when to their surprise they discovered it was full 

 of fish. When leiea and Poopalu saw that Pupuhuluena had something they did not 

 have they requested some kukui nut; so Piipuhuluena gave some of his nuts to the 

 fishermen and they threw away their sea-beans. These two fishermen kept some of the 

 nuts and when they arrived home they planted some. This is how the kukui " was first 

 introduced into the districts of Kona and Kau. 



Poopalu then gave Pupuhuluena some kalo and potatoes already cooked. Pupu- 

 huluena took them and placed them in his calabash. At this Poopalu asked him: "Why 

 do you put them in the calabash?" Pupuhuluena replied: "To save them for planting." 



' U/iu, parrot-fish (Caloiomus sandwicheiisis). 

 ^ Nenue, rudder-fish (^Hyphosus ftisciis). 

 ^ Ulna {Carangus igtiobilis). 

 ^Kahala, amber-fish {Seriola). 

 ^Opakapaka {Apsilus microdon). 

 ''Hee, squid {Octopus). 

 (570 J 



'' Matiini, surgeon-fish {Teuthis sandwickensis). 

 ^ Opelit, mackerel scad {Decapterus pinnulatus). 

 "^ Aku, bonito {Gymnosarda pelamis). 

 '"Oil on troubled waters had recognition in early days 

 ■with a double purpose. 



" A'/iA-iit {A/eurites moluccana). 



