140 DAHLGREN, THE DISCOVERY OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 



They have three accounts of foreigners' arriving at Hawaii prior to Captain Cook. The first 

 was the priest, Paao, who landed at Kohala, and to whom the priests of that neighbourhood traced 

 their genealogy until very recently. 



The second account states, that during the lifetime of Opiri, the son of Paao, a number of foreigners 

 (white men) arrived at Hawaii, landed somewhere in the south-west part of the island, and repaired 

 to the mountains, where they took up their abode. The natives regarded them with a superstitious 

 curiosity and dread, and knew not whether to consider them as gods or men. Opiri was sent for by 

 the king of that part of the island where they were residing, and consulted as to the conduct to be 

 observed towards them. According to his advice, a large present of provisions was cooked and carried 

 to them. Opiri led the procession, accompanied by several men, each carrying a bamboo cane, with 

 a piece of white native cloth tied to the end of it. When the strangers saw them approaching their 

 retreat, they came out to meet them. The natives placed the baked pigs and potatoes, etc. on the grass, 

 fixed their white banners in the ground, and then retreated a few paces. The foreigners approached. 

 Opiri addressed them. They answered, received the presents, and afterwards conversed with the 

 people through the medium of Opiri. The facility with which they could commnnicate their thoughts 

 by means of Opiri, the Governor (Kuakini) said, was attributed to the supposed influence of Opiri 

 with his gods. The foreigners they imagined were supernatural beings, and as such they were treated 

 with every possible mark of respect. After remaining some time on the island, they returned to their 

 own country. No account is preserved of the kind of vessel in which they arrived or departed. The 

 name of the principal person among them was Manahini; and it is a singular fact,that in the Marquesian, 

 Society, and Sandwich Islands, the term manahini is still employed to designate a stranger, visitor, 

 or guest. 



The third account is much more recent and precise, though the period at which it took place 

 is uncertain. 



It states that a number of years after the departure of Mandhini-ma (Manahini and his party) 

 in the reign of Kahoukapu, king of Kaavaroa, seven foreigners arrived at Kearake'kua bay, the spöt 

 where Captain Cook subsequently landed. They came in a painted boat, with an awning or canopy 

 över the stern, but without mast or sails. They were all dressed; the colour of their clothes was white 

 or yellow, and one of them wore a pahi, long knife, the name by which they still call a sword, at his 

 side, and had a feather in his hat. The natives received them kindly. They married native women, 

 were made chiefs, proved themselves warriors, and ultimately became very powerful in the island 

 of Hawaii, which, it is said, was for some time governed by them. 



A story which rather reminds one of this last, and which is possibly a variant of it, 

 is told by Otto von Kotzebue, who visited Honolulu in 1825 as commander of a Russian 

 man-of-war. His authority was Karemaku, "the most respected and most intelligent 

 man in Honolulu", 1 whose words were interpreted by a Spaniard named Marini. 2 Amongst 

 other information about the earlier history of the islands that Kotzebue gathered in this 

 way occurs the following: 3 — 



A boat with five white men landed in Kealakekua Bay near the marai [temple], where Opuna 

 was buried. The natives regarded them as higher beings and therefore did not prevent them from 



1 Kalaimoku, called by the Europeans William Pitt, because he carried on the government as prime 

 minister after king Liholilio's departure to England. 



2 Don Francisco Paula y Marin, alias "Manini", born at Jeres in Andalusia, arrived in 1791, and 

 remained on Oahu until his death in 1837 (Papers of the Hatvanan Historical Society, No. 1, p. 9). Curiously 

 enough, on Kotzebue's preceding visit in 1816, this same Marin had declared to Adalbert von Chamisso that he 

 had not been able to find in the Hawaiian folk-tales any mention of earlier intercourse with Europeans. See 

 Kotzebue, EntdecJcungs-Beise in die Sild-See und nach der Berings-Sfrasse, Bd III, Weimar 1821, p. 142 note. 



3 Beise um die Welt in den Jahren 1823, 24, 25 und 26.. Th. II, Weimar 1830, p. 90. 



