Frommer's Kauai - Jeanette Foster [149]
Hulemalu Rd., Niumalu. From Lihue, take Rice St. to Nawiliwili Harbor. Turn left on Niumalu Rd. and right on Hulemalu Rd. Up the hill is a lookout where you have a view of the pond, Huleia Stream, and Huleia National Wildlife Reserve.
Discovering the Legendary “Little People”
Like many places in the world, including Ireland with its leprechauns, Hawaii has stories about “little people.” According to ancient Hawaiian legend, among Kauai’s earliest settlers were the menehune, a race of small people who worked at night to accomplish magnificent feats. However, archaeologists say the menehune may not be legendary people but in fact non-Polynesian people who once lived on Kauai. These people, believed to be from the Marquesas Islands, arrived in Hawaii between A.D. 0 and 350. When the Polynesians ventured from Tahiti to Hawaii between A.D. 600 and 1100, they fought the menehune already living in Hawaii. Some scholars claim the Polynesians were more aggressive and warlike than the Marquesans, and in a series of wars the Tahitians drove the Marquesans north through the island chain to Kauai.
Anthropologists point out that the Tahitian word manahune, which means a lower class or a slave, was used to describe the racial hierarchy, not the physical stature of the people already living in Hawaii. In other words, manahune (or menehune) was used to mean small in the Tahitians’ strict caste system, not small in size.
In any case, everyone agrees that these people performed incredible feats, constructing elaborate stonework edifices (without using mortar) that have stood for centuries. One example is the Menehune Ditch (Kiki a Ola), along the Waimea River. Only a 2-foot-high portion of the wall can be seen today; the rest of the marvelous stonework is buried under the roadbed. To get here from Hwy. 50, go inland on Menehune Road in Waimea; a plaque marks the spot about 11⁄2 miles up.
Another example lies above Nawiliwili Harbor. The Menehune Fishpond—which at one time extended 25 miles—is said to have been built in just 1 night, with two rows of thousands of menehune passing stones hand-to-hand. The menehune were promised that no one would watch them work, but one person did. When the menehune discovered the spy, they stopped working immediately, leaving two gaps in the wall. From Nawiliwili Harbor, take Hulemalu Road above Huleia Stream. Look for the HAWAII CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU marker at a turnoff in the road, which leads to the legendary fishpond. Kayakers can paddle up Huleia Stream to see it up close.
Wailua Falls If you’d like to see cascading waterfalls but don’t want to hike into the wilderness to do it, this is your best bet. The journey here, about a 4-mile drive from Lihue, takes you through rolling hills past former sugar-cane fields and across a valley, with majestic mountains in the background. From the Wailua Falls parking lot you can look down at two waterfalls cascading some 80 feet into a large pool. Legend claims that the alii (royalty) came to these waterfalls and dived from the cliff into the pool below to show the common people that monarchs were not mere men. Don’t try this today.
Maalo Rd. (Hwy. 583), Wailua. From Lihue, take Kaumualii Hwy. (Hwy. 50) north, and turn left on Maalo Rd. (Hwy. 583). After 4 miles, look for the parking area for Wailua Falls on the right.
2 The Poipu Resort Area
No Hawaii resort has a better entrance: On Maluhia Road, eucalyptus trees planted in 1911 as a windbreak for sugar-cane fields now form a monumental tree tunnel. The leafy-green, cool tunnel starts at Kaumualii Highway; you’ll emerge at the golden-red beach. The Poipu Beach Resort Association ( 88 8/744-0888