MOʻOLELO
KA MOʻOLELO O KŪĀHEWA
After Kamehameha united all of the islands.. In 1812, Kamehameha arrives in Kona to discover that the people of Kona were suffering from a great famine. This famine was called “Hī laulele” ((hī = cause dysentery; diarrhea, purge; laulele = a perennial herb eaten during famine)) named after only consuming this herb that caused dysentery. It is said that this famine may have been caused in part due to the ʻiliahi or sandalwood trade. Chiefs were heavily influenced by the foreign trade, and so the people were neglecting their food crops, such as kalo, ʻulu, ʻuala, etc. to farm sandalwood. Kamehameha decided to put out an order or kauoha. In one account he tells the people to stop farming ʻiliahi completely. In another account, they say only dedicate a portion of the time to ʻiliahi, and with the remaining time go up mauka and reestablish their agricultural lands. He orders the makaʻāinana, aliʻi, kahuna, he, himself heads up mauka to reestablish this system. Obeying his order means life or death and many choose life. They head up into the uplands of Kona and it is said that they work in 3 waves. The first wave comes and they remove any brush/weeds. The second wave of people come in and they til and hoʻomomona the soil. The last wave comes in and begins planting their ancestral crops. They develop fields and fields of stoned walled māla in every direction as far as the eye could see. And they plant fields and fields of ancestral crops such as kalo, uala, maʻia, as far as the eye can see.And when the work is complete and they stand to look up at the work they have done they say “hewa na maka ke nana aku”. The eyes go buss/broken from looking out at one end of the field to the other, describing how huge and vast the system was. It was the people of Kona that gave this great māla the name “Kūāhewa” ku = to stand; ā = until; hewa = buss/broken, again to describe how vast this system was. Kamehameha (re)established this system with the intention to feed future generations. We know this because he had one kānāwai or rule. He said, “Everyone can come and take from this māla, but, for every kalo you pull up, you plant one back in its place. For every sweet potato you pull up, you plant one back in its place. And so forth and so forth.” Not with the intention that you will be the one to come back and pull it up. But this is how we will be able to feed future generations.
