Interesting Facts about Hawaii

• As many as 100 people often crowded into a single Polynesian double-hulled canoe as the seaworthy ships sailed the thousands of stormy ocean miles from the South Pacific to populate Hawaii.
• When the Hawaiians killed Captain Cook in 1789, they prepared his body as they would have their own great chief, removing the flesh from the bones before burial.
• In 1825, Hawaiian chieftess Kapiolani defied the volcano goddess Pele and ate the sacred ohelo berries to prove that the old religion was no longer effective.
• Hawaiian kings were noted for their great size and strength. Kamehameha I once moved a 4,500-pound stone. His Queen, Kaahumanu, weighed 300 pounds.
• The Robinson family, owners of the island of Niihau, have for years done everything in their power to preserve the ways of early Hawaii, making the island an off-limits place of mystery.