Natural History of Hawaii 



se:ction two 



GEOLOGY. GEOGRAPHY AXD TOPOGEAFHY OF THE HA^YA1IAN 



ISLAXDS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



COMIxXG OF PELE AND AN ACCOUNT OP THE LOW ISLANDS OF 

 THE GROUP. 



Pele's Journey to Hawaii. 



There is perhaps no better way to begio aii account of tlic natural history 

 of the Hawaiian Islands than by recounting an Hawaiian legend that tell.s of 

 the coming of Pele, that powerful mythical deity of fire and flood, feared and 

 respected by all the ancient inhabitants of the group as the source, as well as 

 the end, of all the wonderful volcanic phenomena with which they were familiar. 



In the beginning, so one version of the legend runs, long, long ago, before 

 things were as they now are, there was born a most wonderful child called Pele. 

 Hapakuela was the land of her birth, a far distant land out on the edge of the 

 sky — away, ever so far away to the southwest. There she lived with her parents 

 and her brothers and sisters, as a happy child, imtil she had grown to woman- 

 hood, when she fell in love and was married. But ere long her husband grew 

 neglectful of her and her charms, and at length was enticed away from her 

 and from their island home. After a dreary period of longing and waiting for 

 her lover, Pele determined to set out on the perilous and uncertain journey in 

 quest of him. 



When the time came for tlie journey her parents, v/ho must have been very 

 remarkable people indeed, made her a gift of the sea to bear her canoes upon. We 

 are told that among other wonderful gifts Pele had power to pour forth the 

 sea from her forehead as she went. So, when all w'as in readiness, she and 

 her brothers set forth together, singing, making songs, and sailing — on, on, on 

 over the new-made sea — out over the great unknown in the direction of what 

 we now know as the Hawaiian Islands. 



But in the time of which the legend tells the islands of Hawaii were not 

 islands at all, Init were a group of vast unwatered mountains standing on a 

 great plain that has since become the ocean's, floor. There was not even fresh 

 water on these mountains until Pele brought it. But as she journeyed in 

 search of her husl)and, the waters of the sea jireceded her, covering over the 

 bed of the ocean. It rose before her until onlv the tops of the highest moun- 



