Haole Lokomaikai / Good-Hearted Foreigner

Haole Lokomaikai / Good-Hearted Foreigner

This good-hearted foreigner, named Knudsen, has lived among us, his residence is at Waiawa.  He has become an officer under the King, and he is charged with overseeing this area of Waimea.

I shall describe what I have witnessed of this foreigner’s kindness when the fish reserved for the Konohiki, the akule, is caught in the nets.  If thirty-two-thousand are caught, then it is divided such that the fishermen get sixteen-thousand and the konohiki gets sixteen-thousand.  Of his sixteen thousand, all are given away to the people who show up there, the men, women and even the children and visitors.  If the catch is greater, all are given out, and the same is true if the catch is less, all are given out with none left.

The old-timers here in Waimea are saying that the ali‘i were not like that in the old days, for when they would distribute their fish, they would distribute them directly to their own people, not just giving them away to anyone else.  That seems to have been the case up until now.  It was not at all like the unmatched generosity of Kamehameha III’s officer.

I have heard that Kahiki‘ula and his wife, Hina, presided as ali‘i over Waimea, along with their fishermen.  These were their names: Kūkapalinu‘u, Kūkeuea, Aukeke, Kūlāuka, Kūlākai, Kamakapōhaku.

The fishermen of Kahiki‘ula and his wife would surround great numbers of fish with their nets, and the catch would be brought ashore at Keonepoko.  Kamapua‘a made huge requests for fish from the fishermen, Kūkapalinu‘u and the others.  This is how he asked: “Give me four hundred thousand, give me forty thousand, give me four thousand.”  But he received not a single fish, and all the fishermen gave him were rude words.  He asked in the same way of his parents, Kahiki‘ula and the others, but again, he got not a single fish.  Perhaps his parents did not recognize him; that may be why he got no fish.  The parents also gave him nothing but rude words.  That was how we were denied fish up until now. This good-hearted foreigner who gives away fish is one of a kind.

    J. W. KAPEHE.

   Waimea, Kauaʻi, Ian. 4, 1862.

 

(click image for original Hawaiian text)

Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, April 5, 1862
, Book: 1, Number: 19, Page: 3