Hurricane Lane brought more attention than usual to our streams and rivers. Hopefully, we can learn from the flooding. One place to look for clues is in the ancient legends. One, associated with the Wailuku, has to do with the arrival of Paʻao.
When Pāʻao arrived in Hilo, he built his hale and planted pili on the rock called Maui’s Canoe. Locals told him that it was a poor place to build, as the islet was often awash when the river flooded. Pāʻao replied that as long as the pili grew there, the rock would not be covered.
It is said that many generations passed, and the rock was not covered, no matter how high the waters rose. Hurricane Lane, however, utterly covered the rock. Even Koloiki (Reed’s Island) was awash.
Re-examination of this moʻolelo makes me think that our kūpuna considered tending the riverbed to be an important part of flood control. We have not been tending the Wailuku river bed. It has become clogged with invasive trees and brush. When Lane came and washed logs and brush into the river, they were trapped by the invasive trees and contributed to the flooding of the island.
As Maui’s Canoe is really too small for a proper home, and I have seen it covered several times in my own lifetime, I wonder if the story originally was attached to Koloiki.
