Eighteen
chiefs stood guard on either hand. Then the taboo drum sounded and the
people assembled on the east and south to witness the event. Say the
Hawaiians, "If one came in confident trust and lay properly upon the
supports, the child would be born with honor; it would be called a
divine chief, a burning fire."[1] Even Kamehameha desired that his son
Liholiho's birth should take place at Kukaniloko. Situated as it is upon
the breast of the bare uplands between the Koolau and Waianae Ranges,
the place commands a view of surprising breadth and beauty. Though the
stones have been removed, through the courtesy of the management of the
Waialua plantation a fence still marks this site of ancient interest.
The famous hill Kauwiki, where the seer built the temple to his god, and
where Hina watched the clouds drift toward her absent lover, lies at the
extreme eastern end of Maui. About this hill clusters much mythic lore
of the gods. Here the heavens lay within spear thrust to earth, and here
stood Maui, whose mother is called Hina, to thrust them apart. Later,
Kauwiki was the scene of the famous resistance to the warriors of Umi,
and in historic times about this hill for more than half a century waged
a rivalry between the warriors of Hawaii and Maui.
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