had priestesses as well. The priest was the peer of the nobility; he had
a portion of land in all the estates of the chiefs, and sometimes acquired
such power as to be formidable to the alii. In religious ceremonies, the
priests were clothed with absolute power, and selected the victims for the
sacrifices. This privilege gave them an immense and dangerous influence in
private life, whence the Hawaiian proverb: The priest's man is inviolable,
the chief's man is the prey of death, _Aole e make ko ke kahuna kanaka, o
ko ke 'lii kanaka ke make_.

The kahuna, being clothed with supreme power in the exercise of his
functions, alone could designate the victim suitable to appease the anger
of the gods. The people feared him much for this prerogative, which gave
the power of life and death over all, and the result was that the priest
had constantly at his service an innumerable crowd of men and women wholly
devoted to him. It was not proper for him to choose victims from a people
who paid him every imaginable attention. But among the servants of the
alii, if there were any who had offended the priest or his partisans,
nothing more was necessary to condemn to death such or such an attendant
of even the highest chief. From this it may be seen how dangerous it was
not to enjoy the good graces of the kahuna, who, by his numerous clan,
might revolutionize the whole country. History affords us an example
in the Kahuna Kaleihokuu of Laupahoehoe, who had in his service so
considerable a body of retainers that he was able in a day, by a single
act of his will, to put to death the great chief Hakau, of Waipio, and
substitute in his place Umi, the bastard son (_poolua_) of King Liloa,
who had, however, been adopted by Kaleihokuu. Another example of this
remarkable power is seen in the Kahuna of Ka'u, who massacred the high
chief Kohookalani, in the neighborhood of Ninole, tumbling down upon him a
huge tree from the top of the _pali_ (precipice) of Hilea.

The _Kahuna_, especially those of the race of Paao, were the natural
depositaries of history, and took the revered title of _Mo'olelo_, or
historians. Some individuals of this stock still exist, and they are all
esteemed by the natives, and regarded as the chiefs of the historical
and priestly caste. The sacerdotal order had its origin in Paao, whose
descendants have always been regarded as the _Kahuna maoli_.[6] Paao
came from a distant land called Kahiki. According to several chiefs, hi