Kamehameha decided to build
a great heiau (temple) at Kawaihae to his war god, Ku-kaili-moku, by which the
help of that god might be invoked. A priest-architect shaped an earthen model
of it, and the call went out.
Thousands of men passed rocks from hand
to hand over great distances. Stoneworkers fitted the rocks without mortar.
Kamehameha himself led the work, raising rock platforms and walls. He is
depicted as the tall figure facing the reader, attended by a kahili
bearer and an guard with a spear, and working in the line of men passing
rocks.
News of the temple-building would have been received with
dismay by the kings of the other islands, and may have caused them to rush to
attack Hawai'i without adequate preparation, hoping to crush Kamehameha before
he could complete the temple. If so, the building of Pu'ukohala (hill of the
wale), was a masterstroke of psychological warfare.
See also: "Cerimony at
Pu'ukohala Heiau"
Link to on-line publication of Ancient Hawai'i
