LEGEND OF KELIIKUKU.

This high chief reigned in Puna.  He journeyed to the island of Oahu.  There he a prophet of Kauai, named Kaneakalau, who asked him who he was.  “I am,” replied the chief, “Keliikuku of Puna.”  The prophet then asked him what sort of a country he possessed.  The chief said:  “My country is charming; every thing is found there in abundance; everywhere are sandy plains which produce marvelously.”—­“Alas!” replied the prophet, “go, return to your beautiful country; you will find it overthrown, abominable.  Pele has made of it a heap of ruins; the trees of the mountains have descended toward the sea; the ohia and pandanus are on the shore.  Your country is no longer habitable.”  The chief made answer; “Prophet of evil, if what you now tell me is true, you shall live; but if, when I return to my country, I prove the falsity of your predictions, I will come back on purpose, and you shall die by my hand.”

Unable, in spite of his incredulity, to forget this terrible prophecy, Keliikuku set sail for Hawaii.  He reached Hamakua, and, landing, traveled, home by short stages.  From the heights of Hilo, at the village of Makahanaloa, he beheld in the distance all his province overwhelmed in chaotic ruin, a prey to fire and smoke.  In despair, the unfortunate chief hung himself on the very spot where he first discovered this sad spectacle.

This tradition of the meeting of Keliikuku and Kaneakalau is still sometimes chanted by the Kanakas.  It was reduced to metre, and sung by the ancients.  It is passing away in our day, and in a few years no trace of it will remain.

Whether the prediction was made or not, the fact is that Puna has been ravaged by volcanic action.

LEGEND OF THE CHIEF HUA.

The high chief Hua, being in Maui, said to Uluhoomoe, his kahuna, that he wished for some uau from the mountains (a large bird peculiar to the island of Hawaii).  Uluhoomoe replied that there were no uau in the mountains—­that all the birds had gone to the sea.  Hua, getting angry, said to his priest:  “If I send my men to the mountains, and they find any uau there, I will put you to death.”

After this menace, the chief ordered his servants to go to bird-hunting.  They obeyed; but instead of going to the mountains (mauka), they set snares on the shores (makai), and captured many birds of different kinds, among others the uau and ulili.  Returning to the palace, they assured the chief that they had hunted in the mountains.

Hua summoned his kahuna, and said to him:  “There are the birds from the mountains; you are to die.”  Uluhoomoe smelled of the birds, and replied:  “These birds do not come from the mountains; they have an odor of the sea.”  Hua, supported by his attendants, persisted in saying, as he believed truly, that they came from the mountains, and repeated his sentence:  “You are to die.”  Uluhoomoe responded:  “I shall have a witness in my favor if you let me open these birds in your presence.”  The chief consented, and small fish were found in the crops of the birds.  “Behold my witness,” said the kahuna, with a triumphant air; “these birds came from the sea!”