Rise of Sea Level at Honaunau — Apple and Macdonald 
131 
The Park’s famous "egg-crate” papamu, on 
which the ancient Hawaiian checker-like game 
of konani was played, can be shown to visitors 
only at low tide. Figure 6 emphasizes the re- 
semblance to a modern egg crate. In perfection 
of manufacture this particular papamu has few 
equals, and it must have been a favored gam- 
bling device of resident and visiting royalty. 
According to tradition, people who used the 
ancient route to the refuge from the north (Fig. 
2 ) did not get wet much above their waisH, but 
anyone following that route today would be in 
water up to his neck. Dry ground was reached 
at the end of the water route at a lava flat named 
Akahipapa. In ancient times this slightly convex 
area, Akahipapa, was a peninsula, with water 
making it an island only at high tide. Today it 
is always an island, and during unusually high 
tides it is completely submerged. A human-form 
petroglyph on Akahipapa is frequently covered 
with water. 
During the extremely low tides of the early 
daylight hours during June, 1964, an unnamed 
shelf in Kapu-wai cove was uncovered. Local 
outrigger and skiff operators had long been 
aware of the shelf, because it is a hazard to 
navigation of small craft between the cove and 
offshore fishing grounds. Passageway for boats 
lies between the northern point of the shelf and 
Pu’u Ehu. The Park staff took the opportunity 
to examine the exposed shelf in detail and map 
its outline and features (Fig. 7 ) . Thirteen major, 
and six smaller, man-made concavities were 
found, all covered with marine growth. Figure 8 
Fig. 6. "Egg crate” papamu at Paeiki, just south of the refuge, at low tide, November, 1963. (City of 
Refuge negative 1012.) 
