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. The poet of the
Kualii mentions the hill thrice--once in connection with the legend of
Maui, once when he likens the coming forth of the sun at Kauwiki to the
advent of Ku, and in a descriptive passage in which the abrupt height is
described:

Shooting up to heaven is Kauwiki,
Below is the cluster of islands,
In the sea they are gathered up,
O Kauwiki,
O Kauwiki, mountain bending over,
Loosened, almost falling, Kauwiki-e.

Finally, Puna, the easternmost district of the six divisions of Hawaii,
is a region rich in folklore. From the crater of Kilauea, which lies on
the slope of Mauna Loa about 4,000 feet above sea level, the land slopes
gradually to the Puna coast along a line of small volcanic cones, on the
east scarcely a mile from the sea. The slope is heavily forested, on the
uplands with tall hard-wood trees of _ohia_, on the coast with groves of
pandanus. Volcanic action has tossed and distorted the whole district.
The coast has sunk, leaving tree trunks erect in the sea. Above the
bluffs of the south coast lie great bowlders tossed up by tidal waves.
Immense earthquake fissures occur. The soil is fresh lava broken into
treacherous hollows, too porous to retain water and preserving a
characteristic vege