Traditional Haivaiian Stories. 251 



that national or intertribal dis|)lacement of the Polynesian race which occurred during 

 the eleventh and twelfth centuries of our era. It nia\' have commenced a generation or 

 two before Maweke, — it certainly continued several generations after him — but I use 

 his name as a kind of central figure, seeing that the line upon which he stands ( the 

 Nanaulu straight line ) is probably the most correct of existing genealogies. 



What preceded this time will ever be a blank in Hawaiian history. There are 

 traditions, no doubt, which refer to a period previous to this, but they all seem to bear 

 the ini])ress of Tahitian origin: There are no legends more common or more generally 

 known throughout these islands than those of Kamapuaa and of Pele; and Koolauloa 

 on Oahu, and Hilo, Puna, and Kau on Hawaii, abound in places and names connected 

 with these stories. Yet Kamapuaa's grandparents came from Kuaihelani (wherever 

 that island may have been), and he himself visited Kahiki and married there; and Pele 

 also came from Kahiki and, after traversing this group, finally settled on Hawaii. A 

 better ac(|uaintance than I possess, with Samoan, Tahitian, Marquesan or New Zea- 

 land legends, would enable the critical student to decide whether these and other legends 

 of the pre-historic times were original and exclusive to the Hawaiian group, or whether 

 they had their root, prototype or correspondent in those other groui)S and were only 

 adapted to Hawaiian locality in the course of time and the process of naturalization, 

 thus illustrating the Latin poet's remark that "qui trans mare currunt, coelum non ani- 

 mam mutant." It is noticeable, moreover, that all the heroes and heroines of these pre- 

 historic legends stand out in bold relief from the genealogical tree of Haloa, singly 

 and disconnected, and that none of the numerous chief-families of after-ages ever claimed 

 their descent from Wakea through these personages. Not having had the opportunity 

 of more fully comparing these legends with those of other Polynesian groups. I have 

 compared them with each other and with legends of a later date, which no doubt belong 

 to the oft-referred-to period of migrations, however much envelo]:)ed in myths and fable, 

 and I have found, as I think, internal evidence that if these prehistoric legends were 

 of Hawaiian origin at all, and not merely Tahitian legends adapted to Hawaiian locali- 

 ties, — then their origin can not be older than this period of influx of the Tahitian 

 element. Thus, for instance, a number of chief-families, on the dififerent islands of this 

 group, trace their ]:)edigrees with great accuracy and evenness up to Maweke through his 

 grand-daughter Nuakea, daughter of Keaunui-a-Maweke and sister of Laakona of Ewa. 

 These genealogies concur in representing Keoloewa-a-Kamauaua of Molokai as the hus- 

 band of Nuakea. They also indicate Kaupeepee-nui-kauila as brother of Keoloewa and 

 of the man who abducted Hina, the wife of Hakalanileo. Hina's sons, Kana and Niheu- 

 kalohe, afterwards rescued their mother and slew Kaupeepee, demolishing his fortress at 

 Haupu on Molokai. Thus Xiheu-kalohe becomes contemporary with the grand-children 

 of Maweke. and, moreover, his grandmother Uli was a Tahitian woman. There are 

 probably few legends of older or of fuller details than this of Kana and Niheu-kalohe, 

 yet it is ostensibly and really, both as regards the ])ersons and the time, of ])ost-Maweke 

 origin. If we now turn to the equally well-known and e(|ually circumstantial legend of 

 Pele's sister, Iliiakaikapoliopele, we find that, when she was resting at the house of 

 Malaehaakoa in Haena. Kauai, previous to ascending the Pali of Kalalau in search of 



