--- title: Paao From Samoa — Hawaiian Historical Legends · full text with trees · page 2 description: Paao From Samoa, «Hawaiian Historical Legends» by W. D. Westervelt: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: Ka-meha-meha is the chief name around which Hawaiian history gathers. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/8/page/2/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Hawaiian Historical Legends](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/) / Paao From Samoa # Paao From Samoa · page 2 [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/8/) **2** Bundles of feather robes were unrolled.[134](../../134/ "tree and pragmatics") Native cloth, brilliantly coloured, was taken from its wrappings.[135](../../135/ "tree and pragmatics") Paao robed himself in a high-priest’s tabu mantle of black feathers, wearing a white helmet ornamented with black plumes.[136](../../136/ "tree and pragmatics") Around the short masts they placed new mats as sails, inscribed with strange and mysterious emblems.[137](../../137/ "tree and pragmatics") All the people put on their most gorgeous and costly apparel.[138](../../138/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus, as the new morning dawned, they came to Hawaii.[139](../../139/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus they landed as if their journey had known nothing of starvation and death.[140](../../140/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus they met the wondering natives who hastened along the beach to the spot where the boats must land.[141](../../141/ "tree and pragmatics") Greetings were given.[142](../../142/ "tree and pragmatics") The language of the newcomers was almost identical in meaning and pronunciation with the native tongue.[143](../../143/ "tree and pragmatics") The priests with new gods were received with offerings.[144](../../144/ "tree and pragmatics") Food and clothing in abundance were given.[145](../../145/ "tree and pragmatics") Land in Puna, near Hilo, was set apart for their dwelling-place.[146](../../146/ "tree and pragmatics") Paao, aided by the Hawaiians, at once built a temple at Wahaula, which after being twice restored, was destroyed in 1820.[147](../../147/ "tree and pragmatics") From Paao, the high priest’s family, highest in priestly rank of all dwelling in the islands, was perpetuated, until Ka-meha-meha’s high priest, Hewa-hewa, a lineal descendant of Paao, in 1819, aided in destroying the temples of the gods.[148](../../148/ "tree and pragmatics") With his own hands Hewa-hewa set fire to shrines and idols, overthrowing the system of worship and sacred tabu which Paao had established nearly 700 years before.[149](../../149/ "tree and pragmatics") Some years later Hewa-hewa became a devoted adherent to Christianity.[150](../../150/ "tree and pragmatics") Some time during the fifth or sixth centuries two Polynesian brothers, sons of Kii, came to the Hawaiian group with a number of followers.[151](../../151/ "tree and pragmatics") They belonged to a high chief family and appeared to have assumed authority without opposition.[152](../../152/ "tree and pragmatics") They divided the islands.[153](../../153/ "tree and pragmatics") Ulu took Maui and Hawaii.[154](../../154/ "tree and pragmatics") Nanaulu settled on Oahu, taking possession of Oahu, Kauai and Molokai.[155](../../155/ "tree and pragmatics") Kapawa was the last high chief of unblemished blood in the Ulu line on Hawaii.[156](../../156/ "tree and pragmatics") The Nanaulu line maintained its independence through all the centuries, until it was finally absorbed by the Ka-meha-meha family.[157](../../157/ "tree and pragmatics") The Ulu line in Hawaii was replaced by a Samoan family of high chiefs brought into Hawaii by Paao, in connection with the overthrow of Kapawa.[158](../../158/ "tree and pragmatics") The high chiefs of “the good old days of Hawaii” had certain prerogatives which were never questioned.[159](../../159/ "tree and pragmatics") They were his by “divine right.”[160](../../160/ "tree and pragmatics") He visited the inferior chief of any district at pleasure.[161](../../161/ "tree and pragmatics") He was readily supplied with all the available kapa cloth of the district for clothing and sleeping mats for himself and followers.[162](../../162/ "tree and pragmatics") The hunters of the district were required to search the mountain forests for birds of rare plumage, whose feathers the women were required to weave in mantles and helmets.[163](../../163/ "tree and pragmatics") All the food of the district was subject to his command.[164](../../164/ "tree and pragmatics") He levied upon any canoe attracting his fancy.[165](../../165/ "tree and pragmatics") Food and cloth and canoes were the wealth of the islands.[166](../../166/ "tree and pragmatics") The high chief usually left each district impoverished.[167](../../167/ "tree and pragmatics") There was no complaint against Kapawa on this score, although he had used his “divine right” in the most burdensome manner.[168](../../168/ "tree and pragmatics") The idle, the dissolute, the depraved and the reckless among the sub-chiefs of the various islands flocked to Kapawa and became his “eating companions”—those who received from his bounty their food and clothing.[169](../../169/ "tree and pragmatics") The atrocious lives which such men lived in any community can be imagined.[170](../../170/ "tree and pragmatics") But this was not criminal.[171](../../171/ "tree and pragmatics") When the Hawaiian legends say “The Ulu line of high chiefs became extinct on account of the crimes of Kapawa,” something must be considered besides property, morality or human life.[172](../../172/ "tree and pragmatics") It was not until the sanctity of the temples was attacked that the chiefs decided that even royal blood of many generations might become too impure for a ruling chief.[173](../../173/ "tree and pragmatics") One day the district chief of Hilo came to the temple, asking to see “the priest of the brother tongue, who worshipped the two round white gods.”[174](../../174/ "tree and pragmatics") When he was brought before Paao he said:[175](../../175/ "tree and pragmatics") “I speak to you as to a brother.[176](../../176/ "tree and pragmatics") But I must first ask if the priest from afar will make his home by the burning mountain?”[177](../../177/ "tree and pragmatics") “Aye,” said Paao.[178](../../178/ "tree and pragmatics") “The priest is wise and knows the genealogies of the chiefs, the sons of the gods.[179](../../179/ "tree and pragmatics") He knows the chant of the royal line of Hawaii.”[180](../../180/ "tree and pragmatics") Paao bowed his head.[181](../../181/ "tree and pragmatics") “The priest understands that our high chief, Kapawa, is descended from Ulu.[182](../../182/ "tree and pragmatics") Is the priest aware that Kapawa is cruel and evil, that he tramples the life out of the land and that he violates the temples and drags out of the city of refuge the man who has safely entered therein?[183](../../183/ "tree and pragmatics") Does the priest know that the high chief is already planning to visit him, to examine his stores and secure whatever new ornaments have been brought from Samoa?”[184](../../184/ "tree and pragmatics") “I fear no king.[185](../../185/ "tree and pragmatics") I am the voice of the gods.[186](../../186/ "tree and pragmatics") I am the friend of ‘Lono, who walks on the sea.’[187](../../187/ "tree and pragmatics") I fear no man,” replied Paao, quietly.[188](../../188/ "tree and pragmatics") “True,” said the chief.[189](../../189/ "tree and pragmatics") “Nevertheless the gods aid the man who crosses the channel in a canoe a little more than the man who tries to cross by swimming.[190](../../190/ "tree and pragmatics") We must plan together and hew out our canoe.[191](../../191/ "tree and pragmatics") We want you to consult the gods and tell us their will.”[192](../../192/ "tree and pragmatics") Paao was practical.[193](../../193/ "tree and pragmatics") He knew that by becoming the high priest of the chiefs he would establish his position in Hawaii.[194](../../194/ "tree and pragmatics") He knew the value of advice that comes through mysterious channels.[195](../../195/ "tree and pragmatics") He went into the temple.[196](../../196/ "tree and pragmatics") After some time he returned and said to the chief:[197](../../197/ "tree and pragmatics") “The gods answer slowly.[198](../../198/ "tree and pragmatics") They show that you must gather the chiefs upon whom you can depend and have the hard wood prepared for making spears.”[199](../../199/ "tree and pragmatics") “The bird that speaks” flew to Kapawa with the news that the priest from afar was seeking the wisdom of the gods to use against him, and that the chiefs were organising a rebellion.[200](../../200/ "tree and pragmatics") Several weeks of weary warfare followed.[201](../../201/ "tree and pragmatics") Kapawa was driven from refuge to refuge.[202](../../202/ "tree and pragmatics") All the district chiefs finally deserted him, and gave adherence to Paao.[203](../../203/ "tree and pragmatics") The defeated king fled across the channel between the Islands of Hawaii and Maui.[204](../../204/ "tree and pragmatics") He sought the Maui branch of the Ulu descendants, a discouraged and ruined king.[205](../../205/ "tree and pragmatics") The legends say that here he died.[206](../../206/ "tree and pragmatics") His body was placed in the royal burial cave, in Iao Valley, back of the village Wailuku.[207](../../207/ "tree and pragmatics") The native custodians of this cave guard its secrets jealously.[208](../../208/ "tree and pragmatics") Probably none of the white residents have seen its mysteries.[209](../../209/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus the old royal family of Hawaii was overthrown, and the way prepared to introduce “Pili, the king, from a foreign land.”[210](../../210/ "tree and pragmatics") Paao was afraid that the district chiefs would ask him for a high chief as soon as they should come together.[211](../../211/ "tree and pragmatics") Some of the chiefs had already said, “It may be the will of the gods that the high priest become the high chief also.”[212](../../212/ "tree and pragmatics") But Paao knew the inherent reverence of the Polynesians for blood-royal.[213](../../213/ "tree and pragmatics") He knew his own power.[214](../../214/ "tree and pragmatics") He felt that his position as high priest was unassailable.[215](../../215/ "tree and pragmatics") He wanted no civil entanglements.[216](../../216/ "tree and pragmatics") He had managed through all the campaign, to surround himself with mysteries, and had gained unbounded influence through arousing superstitious fears as well as through warlike deeds.[217](../../217/ "tree and pragmatics") The Hawaiian legends tell us Pili, a very high chief of Samoa, was persuaded by messengers from Paao to move to the islands of the north.[218](../../218/ "tree and pragmatics") Pili journeyed with, what the legend called, a “cloud of boats.”[219](../../219/ "tree and pragmatics") It was an eleventh century migration of a small nation to a distant home.[220](../../220/ "tree and pragmatics") Thus was Pili set apart as King of Hawaii.[221](../../221/ "tree and pragmatics") From Hilo, the eleventh century king went to the beautiful Waipio Valley, taking Paao with him.[222](../../222/ "tree and pragmatics") Later he moved to the Kohala district.[223](../../223/ "tree and pragmatics") Here Paao built the Mookini temple, in a place to which he gave the name it still bears—Lae Upolu, the Cape of Upolu.[224](../../224/ "tree and pragmatics") Here, in Kohala, from the eleventh century to 1819, the high priests and the chiefs of Hawaii made their home.[225](../../225/ "tree and pragmatics") The priest and the king stand out from the mists of the past, representing two great forces of Hawaiian government—the religious and the civil.[226](../../226/ "tree and pragmatics") Independent of each other, the rights of each were jealously guarded.[227](../../227/ "tree and pragmatics") Paao gave Pili no chance for choice.[228](../../228/ "tree and pragmatics") While he granted to the king civil authority, he retained absolutely independent control over the minds of the chiefs and the people in religious matters.[229](../../229/ "tree and pragmatics") Ka-meha-meha, the most noted person of all Hawaiian history, was a descendant in a straight genealogical line from Pili, and Hewa-hewa, the Christian, was the last high priest of the Paao line.[230](../../230/ "tree and pragmatics") This is the story of the founding of the Ka-meha-meha family.[231](../../231/ "tree and pragmatics") The legends have been shorn of the fabulous element which naturally gathered around them, in order that the true names and customs of the time might be delineated.[232](../../232/ "tree and pragmatics") One of the most important results was the establishment of an Aha-alii—council of chiefs—or herald’s college, which demanded the genealogy and proof of high birth, before admission was granted to the privileges of rank.[233](../../233/ "tree and pragmatics") In meeting this demand genealogies became of great importance.[234](../../234/ "tree and pragmatics") The separation between chiefs and common people became a gulf fixed by custom.[235](../../235/ "tree and pragmatics") VIII[236](../../236/ "tree and pragmatics") [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/8/) **2** - ← previous: [page 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/8/) - next →: [Moi-keha, the Restless](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/9/) - ↑ back to [Hawaiian Historical Legends](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66357/)