3IO /'oniaiulcr i'ollcctioii of Ilauuulaii I'olk-lorc. 



harrasscd tlie countn- in fornicr days a chief may have lost his lands and possessions and 

 been driven into exile and reduced to poverty and there be no one left to do him homage, 

 or observe the kapus towards him, or he might never have had land and subjects as- 

 signed him from his infancy. But if fortune smiled u])on him and if. through the 

 strength of his s])ear or the favor of his sovereign moi. he reconquered the paternal 

 domain or obtained another, he simply resumed the rights and kapus which had been 

 Iving in abeyance during" poverty and exile. Some families never recovered from 

 such a disaster, but their descendants retain to this day their rank unimpaired and the 

 rights which that rank conferred, though it may not be ])rudent or practicable to exact 

 them. To illustrate the vicissitudes of the aristocracy during the last 150 years : The old 

 nobility of Molokai, the descendants of Maweke of Nuakea, of Keoloewa, circum- 

 scribed in territorial ]30ssessions certainly, but as lofty and as pure in its blue blood as 

 any of Oahu or Kauai were, with the exception of one family destroyed, despoiled 

 and exiled by Peleioholani of Oahu in vengeance for the death of his daughter, Kulani- 

 honuaiakama, who was treacherously killed by some chiefs of windward Molokai. Thus 

 the Oahu chief families, the descendants of Alaweke of Laakona, of the Kalonas[?], 

 went to the wall and were despoiled by Kahekili of Maui, after his conquest of the 

 island, not one Oahu chief of the ancient nobility remaining in possession of his hered- 

 itarv lands. Death, flight and exile were their portion. Thus the Maui aristocracy, 

 the descendants of Haho, of Eleio, of Piilani, w'ith the exception of the few who joined 

 the conquering party, were despoiled after the conquest of the island by Kamehameha 1. 

 Thus, though somewhat later in time, the Kauai aristocracy, the proud descendants of 

 Maweke, of Ahukini-a-Laa, of ]\lanokalanipo, were almost literally exterminated or re- 

 duced during the insurrection of Humehume against Liholiho, Kamehameha II. As for 

 the Hawaiian noblesse, the descendants of Hikapoloa, of I'ilikaeaea, of Kiha-nui-lulu- 

 moku, how many ha\'e survived the internecine wars that followed the death of Keawe- 

 i-kekahi-alii and the death of Kalaniopuu ? Where are the scions of Imakakaloa of 

 Puna, of Plena of Kau, of Palena of Kohala, ami others too numerous to mention? 

 What would have been the fate of the illustrious and once powerful house of I of Hilo, 

 the descendants of Liloa and Piilani, had not a lucky accident ranged Keawe-a-Heulu 

 on the side of three other chiefs, whose spears and whose counsel raised Kamehameha I. 

 on the throne? As it was, other adverse circumstances afterwards nearly brought that 

 house to its ruin, when another turn of fortune's wheel jjlaced it on the top of the lad- 

 der. But who will venture to say that during this partial eclipse for more than two 

 generations, when for prudential reasons its white puloulou, or its day-light torches 

 were no longer visible, its kapus, its rights, its privileges, or its rank had been for- 

 feited, diminished, or lost through non-observance? Who will dispute the rank and 

 the kapus of Keawemauhili's descendants through Elelule and Kuhit), backed as they 

 were by the royal escutcheon of Kamakahelei of Kauai? And yet the heirs to that 

 rank were ignored and their kapus slumbered for more than fifty years, until of late 

 their former status has been restored. Who will deny the rank and heraldic consider- 

 ation due to the descendants of the great house of Kualii of Oahu, either through his 

 son Peleioholani or his daughter Kukuiaimakalani, many if not most of whom, have 

 not at present land enough of their own to be buried in, and whose only remaining heir- 



