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Updated: May 1, 2025
The only dwellings within the heiau were those of the priests, and the "sacred house" of the king, in which he resided during the seasons of strict Tabu.
The chief object of interest on this ride is the great heiau, which stands on a bare steep hill above the sea, not easy of access. It was the last heathen temple built on Hawaii. On entering the huge pile, which stood gaunt and desolate in the thin red air, the story of the old bloody heathenism of the islands flashed upon my memory.
A doleful place this heiau is, haunted not only by the memories of almost unimaginable terrors, but by the sore thought that generations of Hawaiians lived and died in the unutterable darkness of this ignorant worship, passing in long procession from these grim rites into the presence of the Father whose infinite compassions they had never known.
And though they exhibited no resentment at the request, the want of delicacy and consideration on the part of Captain Cook is none the less glaring. After his death, and when the illusion of godship had subsided, his spoliation of the very Heiau in which he had been deified was not one of the least of the grievances which native annalists laid up against him."
I have explored the country pretty thoroughly for many miles round, but have not seen anything striking, except the remains of an immense heiau in the centre of the desert tableland, said to have been built in a day by the compulsory labour of 25,000 people: a lonely white man who lives among the lava, and believes he has discovered the secret of perpetual motion: and the lava-flow from Mauna Loa, which reached the sea 40 miles from its exit from the mountain.
"His body was taken to a heiau or temple; the flesh was removed from the bones and burned, and the bones were tied up with red feathers and deified. Parts of the body were recovered, however, and committed to the deep with military honors, and a part of the bones were kept in the temple of Lono and worshiped until 1819, when they were concealed in some secret place.
Meditating probably, even then, a way of acquiring supreme power, Umi exerted himself to gain the sympathies of the people, in whose labors he took an incredible part. There are seen to this day, above Laupahoehoe, the fields which Umi cultivated, and near the sea can be seen the heiau, or temple, in which Kaleihokuu offered sacrifices to the gods.
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.
The advent of Paao and his erection of this heiau are so ancient, according to the old men, that Night helped the priest raise the temple: Na ka po i kukulu ae la Mokini, a na Paao nae. These sayings, in the native tongue, indicate the high antiquity of Paao.
Now Tahitian customs were very like those of Hawaii at that time, in that the Tahitians offered human sacrifices when a canoe or a heiau was in process of construction. How the observance of this custom caused the flight of Paoa to Hawaii, you shall see. It so happened that one of the brothers was having a canoe built, and they were all undecided as to whom should be offered in sacrifice.
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