Legend of Puniakaia. 



NUUPIA was the father and Halekou the mother of Puniakaia.' The land of 

 his ])irth was Kaneohe. The parents of Puniakaia were of the royal blood of 

 Koolauloa and Koolaupoko. Puniakaia was a very handsome man and had 

 not a single blemish from the toj) of his head to the bottom of his feet. He was erect, 

 front and back, and so on the sides. While Puniakaia was living- with his parents, a 

 desire to go fishing came upon him, so he accom])anied his mother to the beach and 

 they went fishing. The kind of fish caught by them was the kind called ])auhuuhu," but 

 only one. This fish was brought home alive and was saved l)y Puniakaia ; being fed 

 and taken care of vmtil it grew to be a very large fish ; and to it was given the name of 

 Ulumiakaikai.^ This fish wai^ the parent of all the fishes. After Puniakaia had brought 

 up Uhumakaikai until it was full grown, he turned it into the ocean, free from all con- 

 finement. 



Some time after this a proclamation was issued calling everybody to go out fish- 

 ing, and amongst those who obeyed the call was Puniakaia. When the fishermen ar- 

 rived at the fishing i)lace, Puniakaia called upon Uhumakaikai in the following manner: 



Say, Uhumakaikai, 



Crawl this way, crawl this way. 



Draw along this way, draw along this way ; 



For here am I, Puniakaia; 



Send the fisli in large numbers 



Until the heacli here is stenched ; 



The pigs will eat until they reject them, 



And the dogs will eat until they waste them. 



As soon as Puniakaia ceased calling, Uhumakaikai was seen to be driving all the 

 fish to Puniakaia; the fish reached from way down deep in the sea to the surface, and 

 they were driven clear tip onto the sand. Upon seeing this the people began taking up 

 the fish; some were salted, some given away to the people, and so on, from the Maka- 

 ptut point to the Kaoio point at Kualoa. With all this great number of people taking the 

 fish, still there was a large number left, there being so many; and the people had to 

 leave a great many behind and the pigs and dogs ate of them. Rumors of this great 

 catch were soon carried to the hearing of Kaalaea,* a very beautiful woman, who had no 

 equal in all the land of Koolau; she was just like Ptmiakaia [very pleasant] to look 

 upon. 



'Puniahiiia, coveting fisli, or given to tisliing proclivi- 'Uhu (Parrot-fish) mahiiikai, siglit-sccing; indicating 



ties. a roving, sightseeing tihu. 



^Perliaps, Paniiluiuiihu (Callyodon ahvla). 'Kaalaea, name also of a portion of tlie Koolau dis- 



(154) '™'- 



