PU'UKOHOLA HEIAU NHS • KALOKO-HONOKOHAU NHP • PU'UHONUA O HONAUNAU NHP A Cultural History of Three Traditional Hawaiian Sites on the West Coast of Hawai'i Island

CHAPTER VII:
PU'UKOHOLA HEIAU NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE (continued)

N. Management Recommendations (continued)

1. Analysis of Pu'ukohola Heiau (continued)

     e) Comparative Historical Descriptions of Luakini

          (1) George Vancouver, 1792-94

One of the structures noted during Vancouver's visit to Hawai'i Island was Hikiau Heiau at Kealakekua Bay. Because skulls also comprised part of its furnishings, its description is presented here:

Adjoining one side of the Square was the great Morai, where there stood a kind of steeple ['anu'u] that ran up to the height of 60 or 70 feet, it was in square form, narrowing gradually towards the top where it was square and flat; it is built of very slight twigs & laths, placed horizontally and closely, and each lath hung with narrow pieces of white Cloth. . . . next to this was a House occupied by the Priests, where they performed their religious ceremonies and the whole was enclosed by a high railing on which in many parts were stuck Sculls [sic] of those people, who had fallen victims to the Wrath of their Deity.. . . In the center of the Morai stood a preposterous figure carved out of wood larger than life representing the . . . supreme deity. . . . [270]

          (2) Louis de Freycinet, 1819

Louis de Freycinet also visited Hikiau Heiau and compared it to Pu'ukohola:

The one [temple] of Riorio in Kayakakoua was surrounded by a simple square palisade in the center of which were twelve hideous idols of gigantic proportions.... Next to them rose the light wooden obelisk-like structure that we mentioned earlier and then a small terrace surrounding a wooden platform, which was supported by two stakes driven into the ground. This platform is where they sacrifice men and animals to these terrible deities. . . . A rather large number of rocks, piled here and there without any seeming order, covered the ground. . . . In the center, as well as to the extreme right of the enclosure, stood wooden huts covered with palm leaves. One of these was reserved for the king during certain ceremonies and others for the priests. . . .

He continues:

At Kohaihai [Kawaihae], the heiao [sic] located on a nearby elevation had a rock enclosure, properly secured and so high that it could be taken for a fortress wall. We did not go inside, but we were told that its arrangement was similar to the one we had seen. [271]

     f) Illustrations of Luakini

A few engravings of early Hawaiian heiau do exist, although none of Pu'ukohola Heiau have been found. Illustration 82 is an engraving by John Webber of the Cook expedition of a heiau at Waimea, Kaua'i, executed sometime after Cook's arrival there in January 1778. Note the large pavement area with the sacred slab images and towers on one side and the buildings on the other. Note also the low interior wall on the platform, similar to the type of division that might have been used at Pu'ukohola.

Illustration 82. Interior of a large luakini at Waimea, Kaua'i, drawn by John Webber on Cook's third voyage in 1778. Note the high 'anu'u tower, the offering stand, the tail central post image, and the five slab images with kapa streamers attached at the sides. From Ellis, Polynesian Researches, 4: Pl. I.

Illustration 83 shows Kaneaki Heiau in the Makaha Valley of O'ahu on the Waianae Coast, whose restoration was completed in 1970. A terrace and platform temple was first constructed on this site about 1545. It underwent six alterations, becoming ever larger and more sophisticated. Tradition says that in 1795 Kamehameha ordered that Kaneaki be transformed into a war heiau to insure his final conquest of Kaua'i (Kaena Point nearby points directly at that island). Supposedly those who started restoring the temple in the 1940s used Pu'ukohola as a model for the placement of the houses and idols. Bishop Museum staff supervised the restoration. The picture depicts a low terrace in the foreground from which observers watched the ceremonies, the large hale mana for the priests on the upper platform alongside the smaller hale pahu, with an altar on pole legs between them. Behind the altar is the god figure flanked by two prayer towers. These structures were reconstructed on the basis of postholes found in the stone platform. [272]

Illustration 83. Kaneaki Heiau on O'ahu, Hawai'i, as restored in 1970. From Wiig, "Kamehameha's Last War Temple."

Illustration 84. Row of images on Hikiau Heiau, Kealakekua, Hawai'i, 1779. From Ellis (1782), 2:181; Plate 3 in Valeri, Kingship and Sacrifice.