b'C H A P T E R 6 | C U I S I N EA CUL INA RY TA L Ehe courage of Hawai`is first Polynesian settlers was as boundless as the sea itself. They sailed to these islands from the Marquesas, 2,300 miles to the south, between AD800 and AD1000; their homes for the rigorous one-month journey were 50-foot double-hulled canoes that had been hand-hewn from single logs. Amazingly, those skilled mariners didnt need maps, compasses, or sextants; they navigated the Pacific by the winds, stars, and swells.C A N O E P L A N T S Ho`ohkkalani. Wkea slept with his daughter, On board with them were roots, cuttings, seeds,who delivered a stillborn, deformed son. Grief-and shoots of about 27 plants vital for survivalstricken, they named him Hloa-naka, meaningfor food, clothing, tools, shelter, medicine,long breath, wrapped him in kapa (tapa), and more. Among those canoe plants werelaid him in a lauhala basket, and buried him. kalo (taro), mai`a (banana), `ulu (breadfruit),Ho`ohkkalani cleaned and watered the grave `uala (sweet potato), k (sugarcane), niu (coco- with her tears every day, and soon a beautiful nut), pia (Polynesian arrowroot), and `hi`a `aibut unknown plant appeared there. It was taro.(mountain apple). When a second, healthy son was born to Taro is especially important to Hawaiians.Wkea and Ho`ohkkalani, they named him Aslegendgoes,Wkea,SkyFather,andHloa after his older brother. Hawaiians believe Papahnaumoku, Earth Mother, had a daughter,Hloa was the progenitor of the Hawaiian race. 7 9'