Painting by Herb Kane showing Pu‘u Kohola in use, with people lining the three terraces at the front. Courtesy of the National Park Service, Pu‘u Kohola.

"In returning back to the waterside again," wrote Archibald Menzies, recounting his visit in 1794, "I went towards a little marae [temple], with an intention to view the inside of it, but my guides told me it was so strictly tabooed that they durst not indulge my curiosity without risking their own lives. They told me it was built about two years before in commemoration of a famous victory gained over Keoua, the last surviving issue of Kalaniopuu. . . . he and eleven of his adherents were put to death near this marae. I was shown the spot on which this happened and where their bodies were interred, but their skulls are still displayed as ornamental trophies on the rail around the marae.

"This marae is situated on the summit of an eminence, a little back from the beach, and appears to be a regular area of fifty or sixty yards square, faced round with a stone wall of considerable height, topped with a wooden rail on which the skulls of these unfortunate warriors are conspicuously exposed. On the inside, a high flat formed pile is reared, constructed of wicker work, and covered either with a net or some white cloth. There were also enclosed several houses in which lived at this time five kahunas or priests with their attendants to perform the ritual ceremonies of the taboo, which had been on about ten days" (Menzies 1920: 56-7).

At this time, the temple was still very much in use, as Kamehameha was pursuing his conquest of the islands. Later, the skulls would be removed, as such a sign of threat was no longer necessary.

"On a hill opposite to that on which the house of Mr. Young is built," wrote French explorer Louis de Freycinet, who visited Kawaihae in 1819, "there is a very large moral enclosed by a stone wall about four feet high. The statues seen here are colossal, and regularly placed; I have counted above forty of them. The earth is covered with pebbles, evidently thrown there by design, although I have not learned the motive.

"A native who accompanied me related that on the board which was placed in the middle of the enclosure, were exposed the dead bodies of those who had been strangled, or stoned to death; that the place was tabooed for all the inhabitants, except the high priest, who repaired thither daily to consult the entrails of the victims. M. Rives [French adventurer who became Liholiho's secretary] afterwards confirmed what I had been told on these subjects. . ." (Arago 1822: 101-2).

Detail of heiau model. The wooden structure in the center would be the lele altar for placing the bodies.

Stonework forming the wall of the heiau.

"Its shape is an irregular parallelogram, 224 feet long, and 100 wide," wrote British missionary William Ellis, who visited the now-abandoned site in the 1820s. "The walls, though built of loose stones, were solid and compact. At both ends, and on the side next the mountains, they were twenty feet high, twelve feet thick at the bottom, but narrowed in gradually towards the top, where a course of smooth stones, six feet wide, formed a pleasant walk. The walls next the sea were not more than seven or eight feet high, and were proportionally wide. The entrance to the temple is by a narrow passage between two high walls. . . .

"The upper terrace within the area was spacious, and much better finished than the lower ones. It was paved with various flat smooth stones, brought from a considerable distance. At the south end was a kind of inner court, which might be called the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, where the principal idol used to stand, surrounded by a number of images of inferior deities."

"In the centre of this inner court was the place where the anu was erected, which was a lofty frame of wicker-work, in shape something like an obelisk, hollow, and four or five feet square at the bottom. Within this the priest stood, as the organ of communication from the god, whenever the king came to inquire his will; for his principal god was also his oracle, and when it was to be consulted, the king, accompanied by two or three attendants, proceeded to the door of the inner temple, and standing immediately before the obelisk, inquired respecting the declaration of war, the conclusion of peace, or any other affair of importance. The answer was given by the priest in a distinct and audible voice, though, like that of other oracles, it was frequently very ambiguous. On the return of the king, the answer he had received was publicly proclaimed, and generally acted upon. . . .

"On the outside, near the entrance to the inner court, was the place of the rere [lele] (altar,) on which human and other sacrifices were offered. The remains of one of the pillars that supported it were pointed out by the natives, and the pavement around was strewed with bones of men and animals, the mouldering remains of those numerous offerings once presented there."

"About the centre of the terrace was the spot where the king's sacred house stood, in which he resided during the season of strict tabu, and at the north end, the place occupied by the houses of priests, who, with the exception of the king, were the only persons permitted to dwell within the sacred enclosure.

"Holes were seen on the walls, all around this, as well as the lower terraces, where wooden idols of varied size and shape formerly stood, casting their hideous stare in every direction. Tairi, or Kukairimoku, a large wooden idol, crowned with a helmet, and covered with red feathers, the favourite war-god of Tamehameha, was the principal idol. To him the heiau was dedicated, and for his occasional residence it was built" (Ellis 1969: 96-8).

The model shows a large idol standing before the sacred enclosure atop the heiau.

Overview of heiau model at the National Park Headquarters, Pu‘u Kohola.

“While we hear so often of Pu‘u Kohola being a seat for Kuka‘ilimoku,” Hannah remarks, “and there being a very strong presence of the god Kane, as in terms of male energy there, we also know that in Hawaiian sensibility, for everything on the right hand there is a thing of the left. For everything that is light, there is a thing of darkness. For everything that is Ku, there is something which is Hina. For every male, female.

"During my time working at Pu‘u Kohola, I came to understand that among the ki‘i that were raised at that heiau was a ki‘i for Kihawahine. And when her ki‘i was upright on the heiau, any boats which passed beneath her ki‘i had to lower their masts in deference to her."

"So when the early adventurers, the early explorers, even those who practiced the religion of their homeland and came to educate us, they came from a strong patriarchal, monotheistic orientation. And they could not see that for every one Ku, there was another Hina. For everything male, there was a thing female. So some of this intelligence was lost from their early recordings of our way of living.”

Pacific Worlds > Hawai‘i: Kawaihae > Native Place > Pu‘u Kohola