Mauna Kea Oral History Appendix - Office of Mauna Kea Management

went to the mountain, “I used to go gather pili or we went to gather sandalwood, we used
to go hunt ‘ua‘u or nënë.”
AL: Yes. The nënë it’s for…I think his name, I never met him, but I know the son [thinking] I
think he’s Kamaki Lindsey, he was working for Pu‘u Wa‘awa‘a, the next one is…
KM: Hu‘ehu‘e
AL: Hu‘ehu‘e Ranch, yeah. Because the boy, Robert Lindsey.
KM: Yes, that’s right.
Learned of ‘ua‘u and kölea hunting in the ‘äina mauna from elder kama‘äina:
AL: Later on he came work for the Wildlife for a while. Then he became a policeman. And he
talked about the father going up to the mountain side, the pukas and bring home fat ‘ua‘u.
He said, “All fat, good eating.” [chuckles]
KM: Yes, like kölea they say too, you know when come fat.
AL: Oh, kölea, yes. When we were at Waiki‘i especially, those years, oh, there were just
thousands, thousands, thousands of kölea in that time. In the evening when they come
from east, Hämäkua or Kohala, they fly over Waiki‘i, go down to Mauna Loa side. They
sleep in the rocks, the lava you know.
KM: Yes.
AL: We go shoot, and when it comes to about April, the birds, the kölea, they change to the
breeding plumage, come all black.
KM: That’s right, all black chest and the white stripe.
AL: When you see ‘em with the black there, you know they’re fat.
KM: Yes.
AL: You shoot ‘em in the air and then they bounce down there and they split open because
the skin is so tight.
KM: So they just pop open
AL: Yes, yes.
KM: Wow, amazing!
AL: [chuckles] And all that, they’re good eating.
KM: Was good eating
AL: [chuckling]
KM: That’s what I hear. You know on all the islands, the old families when they would eat
kölea they said, was very good.
AL: Yes. Then by April 26, 27 and 28 in the night the kölea gather, you can hear ‘em, just
singing, calling, calling, calling [gestures flying around in circles].
KM: Circling right to the side
AL: Yes, out.
KM: Out
AL: Going home.
KM: Wow!
AL: Heading north.
Mauna Kea– “Ka Piko Kaulana o ka ‘Äina”
Kumu Pono Associates LLC
A Collection of Oral History Interviews (HiMK67-050606) A:399