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As soon as it subsided he called back the fish and placed them in his canoe once more. They had been very helpful and might be of use should the storm arise again. At last Paoa came to an island which appeared very large and was covered with vegetation. Paddling his canoe into a great crescent-shaped bay, he observed a river emptying into it and turned the nose of his tiny craft that way.
"Why," she exclaimed, "you must not stay on this rock! Can't you see the waters above here are high? When the rains come you will be washed away and drowned. It is not safe!" Paoa stood upon the little plot of pili grass as he answered her. "No, I will not go away, for no matter how high the waters come they shall never cover this spot." From that day Paoa's word has held true.
A quarrel ensued. Paoa and the owner of the new canoe grew very bitter towards each other over it. When the time came for the sacrifice Paoa's only son was taken and offered to the flames. Grief-stricken at the loss of his son and furious at the cruelty of his brother, Paoa decided to leave it all and seek peace on some other island.
Not far up the river he came to a long, low rock which he called Waa Kauhi, and landed on the southeastern side of its point. So great was the joy of Paoa upon reaching this beautiful island that he decided to make it his home. To commemorate his safe landing he at once planted on the rock the pili grass he had brought with him.
How her son, the demi-god Maui, came to the rescue, saved his mother, and finally hunted Kuna from his lair up the river and slew him, is told in the legend, "The Last of Kuna." When Paoa, a very powerful god from Tahiti, came to visit Hawaii he built a grass hut and made his home on the long, low rock now known as Maui's canoe in the Wailuku near its mouth.
In the legend, "The Coming of Paoa," you will find his answer. In those days there must have been much more water in the river than there is today, for a certain amount is now diverted above Rainbow Falls for water power. In spite of the decreased volume the river is still very violent and treacherous.
Hawaiians soon learned to use the pili grass in house building, as it made a tighter thatch and lasted longer than the lauhala or the grasses to which they had been accustomed. The stems of the flowers were later used in weaving hats, as they, too, were firm and strong. Farther up the river, which Paoa learned was called the Wailuku, there lived the goddess Hina.
Local gods viewed this selection of a homesite as foolhardy, but Paoa was unaware of the sudden and rapid rise the river made when heavy rains and cloud-bursts loosed their torrents high upon the slopes of Mauna Kea. Hina, goddess of the river, warned the visitor of his danger and told him how the angry waters would sweep everything before them.
Journeying northward he encountered a terrific storm which grew more terrible as the days passed until it seemed the low canoe could no longer breast the great mountains of angry water that bore down upon it as though to drive it under and swallow it into the black depths. Paradise Eng. Fearing for his safety, Paoa took the two kinds of fish and threw them overside.
And there the ungainly form lies today a long, black-rock island known as Moo Kuna, between the rapids where every freshet, every heavy rain, beats upon it as though in everlasting punishment for plotting the death of Hawaii's beloved goddess, Hina. Many years ago there lived on the Island of Tahiti several brothers, all very gifted and powerful gods of that land. One was by name Paoa.
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