Lilinoe and Nuu

Abraham Fornander, a prominent foreign historian, was married to a Hawaiian woman of chiefly rank from the Kāneʻalai line of Molokaʻi. During his residence in the Hawaiian Islands (c. 1830-1887), Fornander compiled a great collection of Hawaiian history, much of it directly from native informants. While he worked closely with prominent native historians like Kamakau and Kepelino, he also had contact with many individuals from remote areas, who retained personal family accounts and knowledge. Over the years, it has also become clear that some of the work that Fornander did, also incorporated knowledge or concepts that were foreign to the native Hawaiian experience—his accounts would sometimes link Christian and other religious philosophies into Hawaiian lore and genealogies.

Among the accounts that blended Christian concepts with Hawaiian tradition is a narrative about Lilinoe, her husband Nuʻu, and their children, in the time of a great flood. Fornander (1973) wrote:

Nuu, by command of his god, built a large vessel with a house on top of it, which was called and is referred to in the chants as He Waa-Halau-Alii o ka Moku, “the royal vessel,” in which he and his family, consisting of his wife Lili-noe, his three sons, and their wives, were saved. When the flood subsided, “Kane,” “ Ku,” and “Lono” entered the “Waʻa Halau” of Nuʻu and told him to go out. He did so and found himself on top of Mauna Kea the highest mountain on the island of Hawaii), and he called a cave there after the name of his wife [Lili-noe], and the cave remains there to this day… [Fornander 1973:91]

Fornanderʻs narratives were in part constructed from texts recorded previously by native historians, though he added details which none of the earlier versions of the account included. indeed, native historians, David Malo (1951:234-237) and S. M. Kamakau (1964:13-14:)13, refer to a great flood caused by the rising sea (not an inundation of rainfall). Neither of the earlier narratives mention Mauna Kea or sites known to be associated with the mountain. The account collected by Ellis, cited above, conforms with the early Hawaiian accounts, and in reference to Mauna Kea, may reflect localized embellishments to the account.