nd into one of them Kamehameha
stumbled, sinking to his armpits. There chanced to be a sizeable stone
within reach of his hand, and this he hurled after the fleeing men,
but his aim was bad and he missed them. This very stone, and the hole
into which the king fell, may still be seen just mauka of Leleiwi
Point.
Glancing over his shoulder, the hindmost fugitive observed the king
was trapped and that his retainers were still some distance to the
rear. Here was a chance for revenge. Swinging his heavy canoe paddle,
which he had been too frightened to drop, the fisherman turned and
dealt his majesty a cruel blow on the head and, leaving him for dead,
made off at top speed after his companion.
When his men came up, the king was just regaining consciousness. One
look at their wounded monarch sent them like a pack of hungry wolves
after the fishermen.
"Mamalahoa Kanawai o na alii!" Kamehameha called after them. "Whoever
purposely murders a fellowman shall be hanged."
And thus the very first law was made in Hawaii.
"Let them go," he said, as his men reluctantly abandoned the chase. "I
am not much harmed and they are badly frightened now. They may never
do violence again to anyone. If any man hereafter wilfully take the
life of another he shall be hanged. Come, let us go back. My heiau
will not require a human sacrifice, for it shall never be used."
So it happened that this was the first heiau ever built without its
human sacrifice, and the last one constructed on the Island. Once the
law forbidding murder was enforced heiaus were no longer needed.
For the first time on Hawaii trails became safe for travelers. Always
theretofore one never knew at what moment an enemy in ambush might rob
him or take his life. Women and children could now go abroad at all
times in safety.
Peace reigned in the land and the people became more prosperous and
progressive. Years passed before the law was broken, and, true to his
word--for the king's word was law--Kamehameha ordered the murderer
hanged. The scene of his execution was the unusually crooked coconut
tree which until recent years stood near the present site of a cracker
factory on what is now Kamehameha Avenue.
Today a careful observer may, by peering beneath the Armory Hall, make
out the few remaining stones which were once a part of the foundation
of the last heiau built on Hawaii.
PAU.
HOW TAPA IS MADE.
This volume of Hawaiian Legends is bound in genui
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