Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 11, 1 November 1989 — He Mau Nīnau Ola [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

He Mau Nīnau Ola

" by Kekuni Blaisdell, M.D.

Na iwi o ke kino (the bones): Mokuna 'Elima (Part V) Mālama (protect) vs. ho'ohana (utilize)

Ninau: Why are you Hawaiians so upset over the unearthing and scientific study of bones buried so long ago that they cannot be individually identified? After all, did not your ancestors use the bones of people they knew as fishhooks, ornaments and as good-

luek charms? Pane: In response to your first ninau, i kēlā mahina aku nei (last month), 'elima (five) main explanations were given for the Hawaiian eommunity's strong opposition to disintering nā iwi kānaka kahiko (ancient burials). Your second ninau concerning kahiko (preWestern) ho'ohana 'ana (uses) of nā iwi kānaka will be considered against a background of special veneration for nā iwi of the dead. This reverence is especially pronounced for ruling chiefs, such as in the case of Kamehameha 1. Although it is popularly thought that the great warrior's iwi were promptly sequestered in a secret cave, another account is also told by Dorothy Barrere in her Bishop Museum publication of 1975. Don Francisco de Paula Marin (Manini), colorful Spaniard who attended the king during his terminal illness at Kamakahonu, Kailua-Kona, on the island of Hawai'i, recorded in his journalonMay8, 1819: "This day, the KingTameamea died at 3 in the morning." Here follows a chronological summary, from Barrere's work, of what is known of the disposition of the king's remains: On the same (May 8, 1819) morning, the corpse was taken to the hale lua, a shallow pit. The body was covered with a thin layer of soil. On this, a fire was kept burning for later ease in removing the 'i'o (soft flesh) from nā iwi. On the same day, the king's heir Liholiho went to Kohala for about one week, to escape the defilement in Kona caused by the death of his father. The funerary rites of the late king were thus performed in the absence of the young new ruler. The ceremonies included destruction of Kamehameha's hale mua (men's eating and worship house) by fire. A hale poki was then constructed, at or near the site of the funeral pyre, to house the late chief's iwi. This hale was adjacent to Kamehameha's 'Ahu'ena heiau whieh remained intact. In August 1819, three months later, the hale poki was termed "the tomb of Tamehameha" by Capt. Louis de Freycinet and his men on the visiting French warship Uranie. Artist Jacques Arago's drawing at that time of this large building at 'Ahu'ena, with padlocked door guarded by crossed pūlo'ulo'u ("taboo sticks"), was printed in this eolumn i kēlā mahina aku nei. The hale, said to "contain the mortal remains of the king," was patrolled constantly by sentries for it was considered kapu. In the first week of November 1819, the new sovereign Liholiho ended ka 'ai kapu (eating taboo) by dining with ithe chiefesses. Heiau were ordered burned and the images destroyed. Five months later, in Apnl 1820, the first New England missionaries arrived and visited 'Ahu'ena. Although the heiau was in ruins, missionary physician's wife Lueia Holman wrote: "In a large ohale nearby, lies buried the bones of the Great Tamahamah. . .Upon this sacred ground was no eommon person allowed to step." However, in two years, by Apnl 1822, visiting English missionaries made no allusion to the tomb

or even to a respected loeahon at 'Ahu'ena of the ruler's remains, but rather referred to Kamehameha's bones as having been "distributed among his principal chiefs." By 1858, a revised early native account, edited by Rev. John Pogue of Lāhaināluna Seminary, for the first time referred to concealment of Kamehameha's iwi in a secret burial cave at Kaloko, north of Kamakahonu, by Hoapili, the first king's trusted friend. This version was given further elaboration by Samuel Kamakau in 1867, who first referred to the old chief's bones as being contained in a basketwork ka'ai, as was the custom i ka wā kahiko (see Fig. 1). In July 1885, shortly after Kalākaua as king had acquired the 'ahupua'a of Kaloko, he visited the alleged Kaloko burial cave, called Kahikuokamoku. His guide, Kapalu, showed him two bundles of iwi without ka'ai. One bundle was said to be nā iwi of Kamehameha. In February 1888, Kalākaua brought nā iwi to Honolulu, and deposited them with a signet ring at Mauna'ala, the Royal Mausoleum in Nu'uanu. Not long after Kalākaua's death in 1891, his widow Kapi'olani had nā iwi removed to her home in Waikiki because she doubted their authenticity.

On May 14, 1901, after Kapi'olani's death, these iwi, wrapped in tapa, were in the possession of Queen Lili'uokalani, who returned them to Mauna'ala as those of Kamehameha. In 1918, after Lili'uokalani died, Pnnee Kūhiō proposed that the bones be examined by Dr. William Brigham, director of the Bishop Museum, who recorded later in 1920: "It was the skeleton of a person (probably /ema/e) below the average development. . ,the skull was not a pronounced male." In 1927, Dr. Louis Sullivan of the American Museum of Natural History, also examined the alleged Kamehameha iwi procured by Kalākaua and housed at the Bishop Museum. He found that"the skull was that of a man not over 30 years o/ age. " Thus, it was concluded that these were not the iwi of the conqueror, but no one seems to have commented that the two Western experts disagreed on the gender of the skeletal remains. While Kamakau is considered to be responsible for the burial cave version, he got this elue from writings edited by his Lāhaināluna teacher Rev. Pogue. As controversy continues, perhaps all will at least agree with Kamakau's oft-quoted poetic comment: "The morning star alone knows where Kamehameha's bones are guarded." Since the evidence appears to be against the Kalākaua-recovered iwi as being those of Kamehameha, and whereas earlier evidence favors the view that the king's bones were "distributed among his pnneipai chiefs," we will pursue the ninau of ho'ohana'ana (uses) of the iwi kānaka i kēia mahina a'e (next month).

Figure 1. Ka'ai a woven fibre basket to house the bones of a high chief. Kamehameha's iwi were alleged to be contained in a similar ka'ai and buried in a secret cave at Kaloko, North Kona, but this is disputed.

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