The 'Ewa Plain

Abstract

It was called the Plain of Kaupe'a, or Pu'uokapolei, or Kai'ona,l this scorched limestone corner of O'ahu now know as the 'Ewa Plain, part of the ahupua'a of Honouliuli, in the moku of'Ewa (Fig. 1). From a vantage point at the southern tip of the Wai'anae mountains, one can see the mountain-side level out to meet the plain (Fig. 2), unremarkable except for its expanse, the distant edge blurring into ocean. The landform of the plain is an emerged reef that stretches from Pearl Harbor to the Wai'anae coast (Fig. 3). The lower portion is exposed limestone pocked with sinkholes, the upper portion is covered by a soil mantle. This is a hot land that goes without rain for weeks or months, then may endure the downpour of a kona storm dropping rain measured in inches per hour, water that disappears into the limestone, leaving few surface drainage channels. Only one feature breaks the slope of this land: the small cinder cone of Pu'uokapolei, which stands along the upper edge of the plain. Pu'uokapolei was the common landmark for travelers of the nineteenth century making the hard journey between the upper Pearl Harbor area and Wai'anae, with hot, barren Kaupe'a well known as a place of spirits without good intentions (I'i 1963:27, 29; Nakuina 1990:54; Fornander 1916-20, V:318; Pukui 1943:60). To the Hawaiians of old Pu'uokapolei was not only a landmark, but a place of spiritual force, associated with Kamapua'a,2 his grandmother Kamaunua-Niho, and the sisters of Pele, particularly Hi'iaka and Kapo' ulakina'u, the eponymous deity of the hill.