From Hawaiian mythology we learn that the Polihale He‘iau — a temple dedicated to the dead — was built by Menehunes centuries ago with stones brought from Makaweli.
It is a four-terraced structure on the seashore at the base of Polihale cliff.
The first terrace is faced with large rocks and is quite large, and above it, the he‘iau climbs uphill, terrace upon terrace.
Hawaiians believed that the souls of everyone who’d died needed to go to the Polihale He‘iau to be purified before they could enter the land of Po, the Hawaiian abode of the dead.
When these spirits were made pure they then climbed the cliffs above the he‘iau to a big black rock, some 800 feet above, and leapt into the depths of Po, which lay under the sea about a mile or two offshore of Polihale.
Almost 100 yards north of the he‘iau is the sacred Polihale Spring.
Only Hawaiian priests could drink of its waters.
In 1890, a sick, dying and desperate King David Kalakaua turned to the Hawaiian gods of his ancestors for help after the treatment of modern medical doctors and his Christian prayers of deliverance had failed to restore his health.
He traveled to Kaua‘i for the final time, stopping first at the homestead of Valdemar Knudsen at Waiawa, near Kekaha, before continuing westward along the old government road to the ruins of the Kapaula He‘iau near Barking Sands.
There, he prayed to Lono and Ku, and sacrificed a black pig and a white rooster.
Further on, at the Polihale He‘iau, he prayed to Miru, the god of Po, and more sacrifices were offered.
But, his Hawaiian gods failed him, also.
He then sailed to San Francisco, seeking the help of medical doctors once again.
King David Kalakaua died of kidney disease at age 54 in San Francisco on Jan. 20, 1891.
And, when teller of Hawaiian tales Eric Knudsen (1872-1957) was growing up in West Kaua‘i during the late 1800s, Hawaiian priests still lived near the Polihale He‘iau and made sacrifices to Miru.
Even now, people go there and place little altars upon the terraces.
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Hank Soboleski has been a resident of Kauai since the 1960s. Hank’s love of the island and its history has inspired him, in conjunction with The Garden Island Newspaper, to share the island’s history weekly. The collection of these articles can be found here: https://bit.ly/2IfbxL9 and here https://bit.ly/2STw9gi Hank can be reached at hssgms@gmail.com
