The Rivalry Between Poliʻahu and Pele

Artwork by Herb Kane

One of the prominent late historic writers, was W. D. Westervelt, who resided in Hawaiʻi between 1889-1939. Westervelt wrote of the conflicts between Pele and Poliʻahu, and told them how Poliʻahu came to gain control over northern portion of while Pele retained dominance over the arid and volcanically active southern part of in his tradition of “Pele and the Snow-Goddess,” Westervelt reported an eruptive event that took place after Hawaiian settlement (contrary to geological research) of the island group, explaining how Laupāhoehoe and Onomea Arch were formed. Westervelt writes:

Poliahu…loved the eastern cliffs of the great island Hawaii—the precipices which rise from the raging surf which beats against the coast known now as the Hamakua district. Here she sported among mortals, meeting the chiefs in their many and curious games of chance and skill. Sometimes she wore a mantle of pure white kapa and rested on the ledge of rock overhanging the torrents of water which in various places fell into the sea… [Westervelt 1963:55]

Westervelt then tells readers that once, when Poliʻahu and her companions were competing in the sport of hōlua (sledding), on the slopes of Mauna Kea, south of Hāmākua. There appeared among them a beautiful stranger, who was invited to participate in the sport with them. But, the woman instead:

…threw off all disguise and called for the forces of fire to burst open the doors of the subterranean caverns of Mauna Kea. Up toward the mountain she marshaled her fire-fountains. Poliahu fled toward the summit…Soon she regained strength and threw the [snow] mantle over the mountain…the lava chilled and hardened and choked the flowing,

13 It is noted here, that in his“Na Hunahuna no ka Moolelo Hawaii,”Hawaiian historian, John Papa lʻi, made no direct

references to Mauna Kea (cf. lʻi, 1959, in “Fragments of Hawaiian History”).

burning rivers… The fire-rivers, already rushing to the sea, were narrowed and driven downward so rapidly that they leaped out from the land, becoming immediately the prey of the remorseless ocean.

Thus the ragged mass of Laupahoehoe was formed, and the great ledge of the arch of Onomea, and the different sharp and torn lavas in the edge of the sea which mark the various eruptions of centuries past [Westervelt 1963:61-63]