Mauna Kea Oral History Appendix - Office of Mauna Kea Management

HK:
KM:
HK:
KM:
HK:
Tom Hori [chuckling].
[chuckling] Snow fight. ‘Auwë! Did you, later on, or in the years that you were working the
ranch and with the old Hawaiian cowboys. Do you remember, anyone talking to you
about the adze quarries Or, there are places along the mountain and near Waiau where
there are just like this other photograph, that shows sort of like a platform, but then a
stone mound set on it Where there were upright stones like that Did anyone talk story
at all, tell you that
No.
Did you remember ever hearing, and I know this is a very sensitive subject, but did you
ever hear about people going, in the old days, finding burials or there were old places like
that up on the mountain
Well, I heard rumors, but I don’t know where the location is. But where normally, every
winter we have snow of course, on the high. They found a human skeleton.
KM: ‘Ae.
HK: And it still is, it’s not really decayed because of the cold weather, preserves it.
KM: Up high, do you think on the mountain then, must be
HK: Yes, high up in the snow area.
KM: Yes. It’s amazing because there are many stories.
HK: Yes. You can almost imagine that these old Hawaiian natives were climbing up the
mountain.
KM: That’s right. You see that’s the thing with your wife’s family…
HK: Yes.
Family has taken piko to the summit of Mauna Kea for generations:
KM: And I don’t know if aunty remembers hearing, some families actually made a practice of
taking piko up to the mountain.
EK: Up Mauna Kea.
KM: Yes.
EK: Up to Waiau.
KM: Do you remember, did you hear that in your own family
EK: Oh, my mother used to tell.
KM: Your mother
HK: Is that right.
KM: And mama was…
EK: Laika.
KM: Yes.
EK: Eliza.
KM: ‘Ae.
EK: She was very particular about how to not bury, but you have to…
HK: Discard
EK: Discard.
Mauna Kea– “Ka Piko Kaulana o ka ‘Äina”
Kumu Pono Associates LLC
A Collection of Oral History Interviews (HiMK67-050606) A:216