Hawaii: Today in History 9/26

9-26-1824  Kapiolani defies Pele (Hawaiian volcano goddess) & lives

In the fall of 1824 she decided to show her people a dramatic demonstration of her faith.

Although many other temples were destroyed by this time, the native Hawaiians continued to honor the goddess Pele at Kīlauea, which was still active. Following the example of the Ellis trip, she traveled to the volcano. Because of the sharp, barren lava rock on the way, it would have been much faster to use canoes. She set out on foot, gathering a large crowd as she walked about sixty miles. Rev. Goodrich from the Hilo mission met her at the volcano near the end of December. The guardians of Pele warned that if she did not make the customary offerings, she would certainly be killed. Many remembered when their relatives were wiped out by an explosive eruption in 1790. She said a Christian prayer instead of the traditional one to Pele, and descended about 500 feet down into the main vent of Halemaʻumaʻu. There was a molten lava lake at the time, but no eruption and she survived intact, with only bruises on her feet from the long journey. This event has become legendary at the volcano.[9] The tale probably was enhanced through time, often involving the throwing of stones into the pit or eating ʻŌhelo berries.

In July 1825, Admiral Lord Byron (cousin of the famous poet) brought back the bodies of Kamehameha II and Queen Kamāmalu who had died in England.[10] Naihe traveled to Honolulu and helped negotiate the peaceful transition in which the 11-year-old Prince Kauikeaouli would be named Kamehameha III, but power would be held again by Queen Kaʻahumanu. Naihe led Byron back to Kealakekua Bay, where his crew looted many artifacts from the temples that remained in the area.[11]

In October 1825 Kapiʻolani was baptized. Commanding the respect of the people, she kept order in her districts of south Kona and Kaʻū, and often traveled to help the less fortunate. This was very different than the strict isolation of the upper classes that was the tradition in ancient Hawaii. She is described as not being “hard and puritanical” but rather having a “nature-loving spirit”.[4]:51 Rev. Samuel Ruggles became pastor of the church in 1828. He found the shoreline areas too hot, so Kapiʻolani offered some land at a higher elevation and a few miles inland to build a house. It was near the present town of Captain Cook, an area formerly used to grow taro called Kuapehu.[12] USS Vincennes visited Kealakekua Bay in 1829 and she hosted the officers at her home. The ship chaplain, Rev. Charles Stewart, was a former missionary to Hawaii who had met Kapiʻolani in 1823.[6]

In 1829, she was saddened to find the destruction of the temples included desecrating the bones of her ancestors at the Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau. She removed the remains of the old chiefs and hid them in the Pali Kapu O Keōua cliffs. She then ordered this last temple to be destroyed. The bones were kept hidden safely until they were moved to the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii in 1858.[13]

Naihe died December 29, 1831, and Kapiʻolani moved uphill to live near the missionaries. She became friends with Persis Goodale Thurston Taylor (daughter of Asa and Lucy Goodale Thurston) who sketched a silhouette in 1839. She started a garden, experimenting with various plants, including guava, oranges, and coffee. This area is now known as the center for growing Kona coffee. In 1839 missionary Cochran Forbes started to build a massive stone church on more of her land. The site was kepulu, just uphill from the current village of Napoʻopoʻo,[14] since the village of Kaʻawaloa was mostly abandoned.

In about 1840 she developed breast cancer. In March 1841 she traveled to Honolulu for surgery by Dr. Gerrit P. Judd (without anesthetic). She recovered, and was preparing to leave when she died on May 5, 1841. She was buried in a royal plot in Honolulu