CHAPTER XVII

1780-1786

FROM THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN COOK TO THE ARRIVALOF PORTLOCK AND DIXON

Such was the impression made on the civilized worldby the tragical death of Captain Cook , that no foreignvessel touched at the islands for over seven years. Dur-ing this period Hawaii was rent into three independentpetty kingdoms, while all the other islands were broughtunder the sway of Kahekili and his brother Kaeo.

Dissensions on Hawaii . —The dissensions which led tothe breaking up of the kingdom of Kalaniopuu seem tohave begun before the close of his reign. About theyear 1780 he held a great council of the highest chiefsof Hawaii in the valley of Waipio to settle the succession,at which Kauikeaouli Kiwalao, his son by the tabu Maui princess Kalola, sister of Kahekili, was proclaimed heirto the throne, or to the title of “Moi.” The second placein the kingdom was awarded to his nephew Kamehameha,together with the charge of the ancestral war-god Kukaili-moku, and of his heiaus.*

* Some months later, as Kiwalao was about to offer up the corpse of Tma-kakoloa, a rebel chief, to this war-god, Kamehameha interfered and performedthe ceremony himself. This bold assertion of his prerogative excited such hostilefeeling that the old king advised him to leave the court in Kau, and retire tohis hereditary estates. Accordingly he returned to Kohala, where he spent more