Kanaloa and Kaho'olawe

One story about Kaho`olawe comes from the time prisoners lived on the island. In those days, every once in a great while a large rainbow could be seen on Kaho`olawe's cliffs. There was a lot of hunger and loneliness in the prisoners' lives; so they would sit in the spot that the rainbow had been shining on that morning.

In this spot they would gather wili-wili logs and put them in the ocean. They then would watch the logs, until they could see the Keauka current going out and heading toward Maui. At that time they would choose the 15 best swimmers out of all of them. The fifteen would start swimming toward Molokini.

If they failed to return to a certain point within a certain time, they would be considered dead. However, if they made it to Molokini, they would rest; at twilight they would start swimming again.

In the morning they would rest in a legendary cave of Pele's brother, Kamohoali`i, who is a shark god. The men who made it that far would then steal canoes and food from nearby villages. Then they would return to Kaho`olawe.

Another story about Kaho`olawe is connected to Kanaloa, the island's ancient name. No one knows today why the name has been given. A theory is that it was named for Kanaloa, the Hawaiian god.

A final story speaks of a human man named Kanaloa who was an ali`i, or royal high chief. He is said to have lived on Kaho`olawe before the deluge (a big flood) which separated these islands from a mythical continent and from each other in a time no one knows. An under-sea burial cave is said to hold the ali`i's iwi, meaning bones and treasures. The first foreman of a ranch on Kaho`olawe, Jack `Aina, showed the cave with its treasures to a boy named Erron von Tempski, so he could be the kahu (priest/caretaker) when Jack `Aina left for Maui.

REF: http://campus.ksbe.edu/middle/volhawaii/mauico/kahoolawe/kahoo.html