Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 1, 1 January 2009 — Kēlā Mea Kēin Mea [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kēlā Mea Kēin Mea

Author's note: Although diacritical marks were rarely used in the original sources, they are included here except in the quoted material. For citations and location of original documents, email ronaldwi@hawaii.edu.

Within the dozens of Hawaiianlanguage news-

papers published during the 19th and early 20th centuries were often found engaging coluinns titled Kela Mea Keia Mea. These features carried small tidbits of news and interesting happenings from places throughout the islands. With that same mana'o, this modem-day eolumn is published with the idea of bringing to the readers brief bits of interesting and sometimes less-er-known histories. These "news bites" have been collected during the course of research in newspaper, manuscript, correspondence and other archival collections around Hawai'i. The sources are both Hawaiian language and English. It is hoped that, like its many predecessors, this eolumn might infonn, entertain and perhaps even spark discussion. Me ka ha'aha'a no. ■ Lāhainā. March 12, 1895. Emboldened by the recent defeat and arrests of those said to be involved in the "Wilcox Rebelhon," the Repubhc is eagerly seeking to crush any vestiges of Royahst sympathies or resistance to what they see as "progress." The other day here in Lāhainā, our District Iudge D. Kaha'uleho, one of the earliest and strongest supporters of the Provisional Government, cahed before him nearly all of the prominent kāhuna lā'au lapa'au from Kahakuloa to Ukumehame; 34 in ah. Kalākaua's Board of Heahh had licensed most of these kāhuna in 1886. The judge ht into them with a tempest of speech on the wickedness of their practices and reminded them of the laws in plaee regarding these things. Such was the intimidation that all but one of these long-practic-ing kāhuna promised to amend their ways. The single holdout was dealt

with severely. We ean only begin to fathom the great loss of knowledge that this move portends. ■ Honolulu. May 31, 1893. A recent retumee from the United States infonns us that hanging in the show window of the Tiffany and Co.

store in downtown New York City is one of the sacred 'ahu'ula of Kamehameha I. The store claims that the only other eloak like it in the United States is to be found in the eolleehon of the Smithsonian and is valued at $100,000. ■ Ni'ihau. April 28, 1874. An important message was conveyed to His Majesty Kalākaua yesterday, delivered as a most beautiful gift. Kala'i, now age 80 and L reportedly Ni'ihau's most skillful weaver of makaloa, has created an astounding mat that contains throughout a woven message of protest. She speaks of the decline of her people that accompanies the tuming away from the old ways of the great king, Kamehameha. She reminds that because of his great love for his people, he protected and provided for them by creating the law of Mamalahoa. Now however, because of the burden of unwarranted taxes and the great decrease of the Hawaiian race, their position is threatened. She finishes her powerful message with the thought, "E Kalani E: E hookuu oe ia makou i na hana kanawai, i ka noho kauwa kuapaa ana malalo o na haku o ka lewa. Na'u na Kalai" (O Heavenly One: Release us from the oppression of laws that keep us slaves to masters from above. By me, Kala'i). Ronaīd WiUiams Jr., a graduate of and teacher at the Kamakakūokaīani Center for Hawaiian Studies at UH Mānoa, is currently working on a Ph.D. in Pacific History at UH Mānoa. Contact him at ronaldwi@hawaii.edu. ^ >-

— KE AU I HALA ■ FR0M ĪHE ARCHIVES — ^

By Rnnald Williams Jr.