History of the Hawaiian Priesthood Called the 



Order of Sorcery. 



PREFACE/ 



FROIM the earliest days of this people tliere were many useful customs known to 

 them relating to the order of priesthood, but the establishment of this order in this 

 nation cannot be fully explained at this writino^, nor the genealoo^ies of those who 

 founded it, because there are none livino- who can o^ive explicit information of the time 

 of its establishment among- this peo])le. nor of those who instituted it. Neither can it be 

 said that the useful order had no foundation in these islands, nor that the founding of 

 the order of priesthood was in vain, because their characteristics are shown in Bible his- 

 tory in the time of Aaron, and the generations which followed, down to the time of Jesus. 



The offices of the priesthood of the days before Jesus continued down to His time 

 and thereafter, and the ])riesthood so continued in order down to the last generations of 

 these days. Therefore it may be assumed that some one established the learned customs 

 in this nation; but because of the envelopment of this race by the dark clouds of ignor- 

 ance the works of this people of that time are obscured. 



On reflection these days, things which were [thought] facts in former times have 

 become mere fables, thus confusing the history of the country at the present time. 

 However, certain things transpired in those days which were true in some respects, and 

 in writing this history it is not un])rofitable for me to preserve in this book the useful cus- 

 toms of that time, though 1 do not pretend to be free from all error in this history 

 writing. 



Honolulu, August 13, i86j 



S. N. Hai.f.ole. 



THE ORDER OF PRIESTHOOD. 



NUMBER I. 



A DIVINER, a weather prophet, an architect were all called ])riests, and in these 

 people were embodied the department of knowledge. They could read the omens in the 

 clouds, whether favorable or unfavorable ; good or evil ; jirofitable or unjirofitable ; fortu- 

 nate or unfortunate; or the death of a chief, or a land [overseership] withdrawn,' per- 



'This series of papers on the sorcery priesthood by 'Tliis lias reference to stewardship of a tract or tracts 

 a recognized Hawaiian writer of rare talent, compiled of land, the kouoliihi of an Hi or (iliii/'iwa, whose ten- 

 several months apart are given as written, thongh some- ure of office was ever subject to the whim, fortune of, 

 what in duplicate. The first paper being Ijrief, its sub- or change in the district chief, who in turn held under 

 jects will be found more extended in the later com- the king. Even a well-cultivated Hi giving satisfac- 

 pilation. The author, S. X. Haleole, died in Honolulu, lory tax returns of its products was, as likelv as not, 

 September 22, 1866. to be the envy of sycophaiU followers of the chief who 



would seek to supplant him. 

 (S6) 



