“No, Mrs. Putnam, your question was natural. You shall be satisfied anon.” The night deepened, relieved by torch bearers preceding them and following them. After an hour they reached a small compound of pilis, the native grass houses, at Waialea Bay. As soon as Kapiolani dismounted, her retainers went into what seemed like a well-rehearsed routine, lighting a fire, arranging mats to sit on, and removing baggage into a couple of the houses, which surrounded a small and irregular courtyard. Clarity observed her own portmanteau being carried into a subsidiary house next to a very large one. The chiefess herself helped Clarity off her horse and said, “We shall have tea, and some supper, before we retire.”
From the large house emerged a matronly woman of perhaps fifty, wrapped in stenciled native cloth, who advanced and embraced Kapiolani warmly. “Mrs. Putnam, this is my friend Kinoiki. She maintains this one of my households for me.”
“I am so pleased to meet you.” Clarity extended her hand and the woman took it.
“Aloha, Mrs. Putnam, you are welcome here. We have prepared this guest house for you, if you would care to refresh yourself before supper.”
“That is most needful, and timely. Please excuse me, and thank you.” In it Clarity found the ground laid with straw mats, and it was furnished with a small table with a basin and pitcher of water, a ceramic chamber pot with a lid, what looked like a Hepplewhite chair, a rack on which to hang her clothes, and a bed on a low frame made up with sheets and a blanket.
By the time she returned, she saw that mats had been laid on the ground before the fire, and a mahogany table set nearby laden with a tea service in chased silver. She observed Kapiolani pouring tea through a strainer into the pot, and then in a practiced way pouring tea into a cup of bone china and placing the cup in a matching saucer and a light yellow tea cake on a plate. “Please be seated,” said the chiefess, and handed the tea and cake down to her.
Clarity sampled it. “Great heavens! How did you acquire such excellent tea? And tea cakes?”
Kapiolani heaved a great sigh as she eased herself onto the ground with her own tea and cake. “Ah, the tea cakes are easy. I am, as you would say, very rich. As you see, we live simply, but no fear. I can buy anything I need. Our climate is not good for growing wheat, but my stewards purchase flour from traders who call.”
“I see.”
“Are you rich, Mrs. Putnam?”
Clarity laughed at her artlessness. “Yes, I guess I am, but I left most of my money at home, to care for my mother and for my husband’s parents.”
“Good. That is well done. Now, the tea—that was another matter! The English brought tea with them, and of course they trade in China for it. But once we acquired a taste for it, they did not want us to get accustomed to the best kinds, so they sold us only the lesser quality.”
Clarity nodded. “Yes, I understand. Our experience was, they felt the same way about our political rights.”
“Ah, yes,” laughed Kapiolani. “I have heard this. But once we bought good tea from others, and bought no tea at all of the English, they changed their view.”
“Quite right! Good for you.”
“My chiefess,” said Kinoiki, “I believe you will wish to know the news, that kahuna who caused you so much pain at Kawaihae, he is now an old man, and he has just come to live in this district.”
Kapiolani’s face changed to a stony intensity, the same almost alarming flexibility of expression that Clarity had noted in the queen. “Why did I not know this?”
“Chiefess, he lived at his temple until this year, when the queens, and you, and the other high chiefesses put away the old religion. Only since then has he come to stay with his relations here. Why do we not end this discord now, and send for him?”
“Yes!” she snapped. “Send for him right now. Bring him to me.” Clarity saw Kinoiki give an instruction to a runner—one of her own household, not Kapiolani’s, for he would know where the old priest would be found.
It was tension that needed to be broken until he arrived. “Chiefess, may I ask you something?”
“Yes.”
“It is about how you put away the old religion. When I was in school, I studied a great deal of history, from all periods of time. Sometimes one country will conquer another and force people to change their religion, and sometimes a new idea will come about and start a new religion. But never until now have I heard of people just saying, ‘We are tired of this, we have had enough.’ Can you tell me how it happened?”
“It is a long story. More tea?”
“Yes, thank you very much.” She held out her cup.
“Our religion, the old gods, were very ancient. We brought them with us when we came here centuries ago.”
“Where did your people come from?”
Kapiolani shrugged. “It must have been from Kahiki or those other places south of here. There is nowhere else to have come from. The kahunas ruled our lives for centuries. To break kapu was death; there was no other punishment, at least for the common people. Then, when white Europeans came, and then more and more of them, we saw that they broke kapu all the time. Nothing happened to them. No idols came to life to kill them, no tidal wave swept them away, no volcanoes swallowed them up. The great queens saw that kapu was of no benefit to the people, that it was all silly.”
“I see.”
“The kahunas all supported the old king, but when he died the queens made Hewa-Hewa, the chief priest, agree that its time was passed, and they announced it at the installation of the new king. Most chiefs and priests accepted this, but some few made ready for battle. They were led by the old king’s nephew. If he won and Reho-Reho was killed, he would be king instead. His wife also fought; she was the sister of Karaimoku.”
“So, in one sense, the battle was about religion, but really it was about the same old struggle for power?”
“Yes. There was a terrible battle. Karaimoku led the queens’ army. Hundreds of the rebels were killed, including his sister.”
“That must have been very hard for him.”
“It was. But since then we have freedom of religion. People may respect the old gods, or worship the Christian god, or have no god. We do not interfere.”
“That is very surprising; that is the last thing I would have expected to find here. In my country, we are very proud of ourselves for having freedom of religion, and here you know all about it already!”
“Yet, you have come to preach the new religion.”
“To preach, yes, but not to force or compel people to accept it. Christianity is a religion of love and service. In past centuries, some Christian kings and leaders forgot themselves and forced obedience, but they were wrong to do so.”
“It is a brave and good thing to admit when a religion goes wrong. That is why I have so much respect for Kahumanu. You have not met the queen mother, Kepurani?”
“No, not yet.”
“I am not surprised. She is so high, few people are allowed into her presence.” Kapiolani pushed herself up to her feet. “And now—no, keep your seat—I am going to see how Kinoiki is doing with our supper.”
When she returned, during the hour that it took the runner to return, they visited, and Clarity learned that Kapiolani was married to a powerful warrior chief named Naihe, that she governed her own lands, but her union with him made them a formidable family. As a woman with her own means, she also had lovers whom she felt not the least embarrassed to include as part of her household. Similarly to Henry Obookiah, but some years earlier, she was a toddler when she was nearly killed during Ta-meha-meha’s war of conquest. Family servants left to care for her were routed in a raid and threw her into a clump of bushes as they fled. She was left for dead but rescued by an aunt.
“Truly, Chiefess, your story says a very great deal about life on this island in those old days. I am sorry that you suffered so much.”
Kapiolani grew
thoughtful. “I have not understood how chiefs of my rank, who have all they need, who govern hundreds or even thousands, can be greedy for more. Some are cruel to their people, such as the brother of Karaimoku, or even Karaimoku himself in earlier days. Surely we have a duty to care for those beneath us.”
“That is part of the message we have come to share.” Clarity also noted that the chiefess, though kindly disposed to her commoners, did not question her right to govern over them, but realized that was not a point to question so soon.
“And now, Mrs. Putnam, you asked about the temple on the hill above Kawaihae and why it distresses me. The old kahuna who is now coming was the source of my distress. You will not understand what we talk about unless I tell you of it. Our old religion was called kapu. That means forbidden things.”
“Yes. Henry Obookiah told me a little about it.”
“Yes. Many kapus forbade things to women. One was that for a woman to eat a banana meant her death.”
“He mentioned that as well. But I never understood why!”
“When I was a little girl, four or five years old, I was curious about the same thing. How could a banana be evil for women but not for men? I had a pageboy, a sweet boy, who lived in our household to serve me, and one day I ordered him to bring me a banana. He obeyed me, as he was bound to do, but he was followed, and I was discovered. The kahunas, the priests, were very angry. They went to my parents and said I should be killed, but because of my young years and high rank, they would spare my life. But I must lose my wealth and become a servant, and must never marry. All this unless my parents gave them someone from their house to sacrifice in my place.” Her voice became soft and strained. “So my parents gave my pageboy to the priests. He was my friend and my playmate, but the kahunas took him away and we never saw him again.”
“How terrible! Do you know what happened to him?”
She shook her head. “No.”
After a long silence they heard footsteps, and Kinoiki’s runner entered the light from the fire. “High Chiefess, I have brought the man you sought.” He was followed into the yard by an old man, a mass of wrinkles but still straight in posture.
“What is your name?” asked Kapiolani.
“Chiefess, I am Po-ele-ele-nui.” Clarity understood the name to mean Great Darkness.
“Hmph! How appropriate. Do you remember me from when I was a little girl?”
“Yes.”
“I had a pageboy, name of Mau, whom you took from me for my sin of eating a banana. We never saw him again. I want to know, at last, what became of him.”
“High Chiefess, I must tell you that he was taken into the temple at the Hill of the Whale. He was tied to the kapu stake and strangled in sacrifice to Kuka-ilimoku.”
Kapiolani did not sob, her voice did not shake, nor did she betray any other sign of emotion except for tears that traced their way down her cheeks. “It is as I have always suspected. Mrs. Putnam, that high hill we passed when we left Kawaihae is called the Hill of the Whale, and that great stack of rocks that you took for a fortress was the temple to the war god. Kawaihae is a beautiful place, but I have never taken any pleasure in it, for this reason.”
“Perhaps,” said Clarity quietly, “now that you know the truth, you can mourn for your friend and let it pass away.”
“Kinoiki, stoke up the fire, please, for we are not done.”
“What could we do, Chiefess?” protested Po-ele-ele-nui. “Those were terrible times. We were under the command of the king, and it was his order that kapu be enforced, to keep the people in subjection.”
Kapiolani’s glare pierced him. “So you knew that the gods were false even then?”
“The priests have known this always, Chiefess. The old religion was merely a way to control the people.”
“And make a handsome living for yourselves!”
“To make them serve the king, and the chiefs, such as yourself.”
“Then I am sorry for my part in it. Mrs. Putnam”—she turned to Clarity—“despite what you may think, that you are the first to bring news of your God, that is not the case. We learned of Him through British chaplains and French priests on their ships. We have learned enough to know that if we wish to be forgiven our sins, we must forgive those who have sinned against us. Is this not so?”
“Truly yes, ma’am.” Their circle began to be more brightly illuminated as Kinoiki had added logs to the fire.
“Then, Po-ele-ele-nui, I wish you to know that I forgive you. Here is supper coming. Please, sit with us and eat.”
“I thank you, Chiefess.” Po-ele-ele-nui remained standing. “I have already eaten.”
That dark ferocity came over her again. “Wicked old kahuna, you will sit, and you will take food, and you will eat with us.”
In a flash Clarity remembered, as Obookiah had told her, that under the old religion the sexes eating together was an unthinkable sin, then realized that in her forgiveness Kapiolani was also exacting her revenge, strangling out his last attachment to kapu as surely as they had strangled the life out of her little page. Both the weight and the subtlety of her stroke were breathtaking.
Po-ele-ele-nui stared at the ground as he sank to a mat, a space apart, and accepted a plate of pork and sweet potatoes with a small bowl of poi. With every bite he chewed she could see his sense of defeat deepen, his certainty that he was betraying everything he had lived for. Kapiolani ended his anguish and dismissed him after forty minutes, and suggested that they all retire.
“Mrs. Putnam, the light from our fire out here should allow you to do what you need,” said Kinoiki. “You will understand that we do not encourage the use of candles in houses made of grass.”
Clarity’s eyes opened wide. “Yes, I quite approve. Thank you for your kind hospitality.” She curtsied to Kapiolani. “Ka mea ki-eki-e.”
“Pleasant dreams, Mrs. Putnam.”
* * *
* * *
SHE AWAKENED TO a tray of bread and jam and tea. In getting dressed she noticed an itch at the top of her stocking, and upon inspection saw a number of tiny red blisters just at the point where her skin was exposed. She scratched one, causing it to itch and burn more. She determined to not disturb the others and inspected the edge of the bedding where it had touched the ground. She would not have noticed the tiny black dot on the quilt if it had not moved a tiny space and then disappeared. “Fleas?” she whispered. “Oh, my God.”
She made her toilette and dressed as quickly as she could, shaking out each garment vigorously, including a shawl that she wrapped around her shoulders against the morning chill. Upon entering the courtyard she discovered the horses already saddled. Kapiolani exited the large house in a fresh new dress. “Good morning, Mrs. Putnam, did you sleep well?”
She curtsied. “Very well indeed, thank you, Chiefess.”
“Well, let us be up and doing. Are you prepared to resume?”
“Of course.” As she mounted she looked back and saw a man carrying her portmanteau to a pack horse. She resolved to die before she would mention the fleas. “Kapiolani, may I ask you something?”
“My, your curiosity also awoke well rested, but this is a good thing. What is it?”
“When my friends and I first arrived, we saw the other side of the island. It was green; there were streams and waterfalls, and mountains of jungle. Why do so many chiefs gather here, where it is hot and dry?”
“The chiefs are all from different places, but they gathered here to honor the new king. But to answer your question: You saw the forest and the streams?”
“Yes. They were beautiful.”
“Yes. And where do you think the water comes from, for those streams and the forest?”
“Well, the rain, I suppose.”
“Ah! And in what activity was I engaged when first you saw me?”
“Um, you were sunbathing, ma’am.”
>
“Correct! And how enjoyable would it be to lie out in the rain?”
“Ha! Yes, yes, I see. Well, may I say? I am sorry that last night it must have been painful for you to speak to that man.”
“It will pass. It is better to know what happened.”
As on the day before, the steward led their train as they continued southward. By degrees the ground inland to their left rose higher until Clarity realized it was the shoulder of a great mountain; the morning sun had not reached its western slope, and she pulled the shawl tighter around her. “Does this mountain have a name?”
“Surely. It is the volcano Hualalai.”
“Volcano? It isn’t going to erupt, is it?”
Kapiolani turned in her saddle. “No. I have given instructions.”
Kapiolani’s expression was just droll enough to show she was joking, and Clarity laughed heartily. The path widened as they entered a grassy vale, and they rode abreast. “But there is still something that I do not understand, from what we spoke of yesterday. For what reason would it have been forbidden for women to eat bananas? It seems so trivial; it makes no sense to me.”
“The kapu was so ancient no one remembers, but in my opinion you have noticed that bananas look like that part of a man which is his great pleasure.”
“Oh, my!” Instantly Clarity regretted having put the question to her.
“I think maybe, in those older times, men saw women eating bananas and became frightened of what else they might want to bite off.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake! Well! All I can say is, only a man would think that a woman would think that it looked good to eat.”
When the chiefess made no reply, Clarity looked over and saw her shaking so hard, she was holding her saddle pommel with both hands to keep from falling off, until finally she inhaled deeply and shrieked in laughter, and the valley they were riding through rang with it. At length she regained her composure. “Well, surely we are from different worlds. I know that my race are more frank about such matters than your race. You may find that my people are more willing to give up their gods than their pleasure.”
The Devil in Paradise--Captain Putnam in Hawaii Page 19
