DEATH OF KAUIKEOULI. 147 
recovering from a swoon, and seeing Kauikeouli 
bending over him, made a sudden spring, and 
grasped him round his neck, or (as some of the 
natives say) by his long flowing hair, and, being a 
man of uncommon stature and strength, held him 
down. Kauikeouli endeavoured, but in vain, to 
extricate himself from his grasp. At this instant, 
Tamehameha and his attendants, having heard 
that Keeaumoku had fallen, hastened to the spot, 
and one of them, Narimaerua, perceiving the 
situation of Kauikeouli, rushed forward, and ran a 
spear through his body; another stabbed him with 
a pahoa. He fell upon the body of Keeaumoku, 
and instantly expired. Keoua, his uncle, who 
fought near him, was about the same time 
wounded in the thigh by a spear, and obliged to 
quit the field. 
As soon as the death of Kauikeouli was known, 
a panic spread through his men, and they quickly 
fled. Many jumped into the sea, and swam to 
some canoes lying off the place, and the rest fled 
to the mountains or the adjoining puhonua (place 
of refuge) at Honaunau, about four miles distant. 
Among these was Karaiomoku, then a youth, now 
principal chief in the Sandwich Islands. Looking 
one day at the drawing I had made of the pu¬ 
honua, he pointed with his finger to the place by 
which he entered when fleeing thither for protec¬ 
tion. Tamehameha now remained master of the 
field, and before evening reached Honaunau, the 
former residence of the vanquished chiefs. 
The scene of this sanguinary engagement was a 
large tract of rugged lava, the whole superficies of 
which had been broken up by an earthquake. 
Since leaving Keei, we had seen several heaps of 
stones raised over the bones of the slain, but they 
l 2 
