KALALAU — Lloyd Imuaikaika Pratt’s self-appointed mission is daunting: using a machete and a small ax, clear two heiau, one of which he calls the largest in the state, 11 miles from the nearest chain saw, backhoe or pay loader.
KALALAU — Lloyd Imuaikaika Pratt’s self-appointed mission is daunting: using a machete and a small ax, clear two heiau, one of which he calls the largest in the state, 11 miles from the nearest chain saw, backhoe or pay loader.
The two heiau, named “Kala,” meaning “light,” are on bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Kalalau Beach in Kalalau, and Pratt, who prefers to be called his Hawaiian name “Ikaika,” has cleared nearly two acres of hau bush, java plum, oleander and lantana already in the eight months since he started this mission.
But the problems of lantana cuts and avoiding the poisonous sap of the oleander tree pale in comparison to his frequent run-ins with state Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement personnel, who have given him a number of tickets for illegal camping.
The state officers and Kaua‘i Police Department officers arrested him September 11 for a bench warrant, for failing to appear on old camping violation citations, taking him out of Kalalau in handcuffs and flying him to jail. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Hanalei District Court this Wednesday, Oct. 8.
Ikaika, for his part, has filed complaints against the DLNR with the state Attorney General, for neglect and destruction of Kanaka Maoli sites; using the state helicopter for unofficial business, such as flying family members to Kalalau and transporting alcohol; distribution of alcohol to minors and campers on state park land; discrimination; abusive conduct by a DLNR officer; and endangering the welfare of a child.
“We are aware of the complaint, and our department and the department of the Attorney General are investigating the complaint at this time,” Deborah Ward, DLNR spokeswoman, said last month.
“Currently, there are no permits, licenses, or agreements to alter, modify, or disturb any historical sites in Kalalau Valley,” Ward said Friday, “or to camp without a valid camping permit.
“The department has worked with Native Hawaiian groups on restoring and maintaining historical sites subject to review and cooperation with the DLNR and historical-preservation advisors,” said Ward. She added that the state recognizes Malae in Wailua as the largest heiau in the state.
As for Ikaika, he continues to clean the heiau as he awaits his court date.
“Who gave me the rights? I gave me the rights. My ancestors lived here. This is our culture. This is our values,” said Pratt in an interview at his home in Kalalau a week ago.
“I’m just following instructions to be in the moment. That’s all I’m doing,” he said. “I don’t know how it’s going to look when it’s all cleaned.
“It may be overgrown, but it still has mana. It’s really exciting to go and clean (the heiau). It’s like a treasure hunt.”
On a tour of the heiau and the roadways, Pratt pointed out some of the artifacts he has uncovered.
To date, he has found numerous Hawaiian artifacts, including numerous markings on rocks throughout the valley; gravesites at two or three different locations; uneven boulders forming roadways linking villages and heiau that lead nearly a mile up into Kalalau Valley; and lua, or four- or five-foot deep holes in the roadways where sentries used to wait to enforce kapu when a ceremony was being held in the heiau.
As he has cleaned the smaller heiau, just to the west of the Kalalau River fronting the beach, which Pratt said was used for cleansing ceremonies, he has found a waiu, or cleansing rock with two mounds at front and a small, basin-like hole in the rock behind the mounds. He said that during the ceremony, a kahuna would break a coconut against rock mounds, and the basin would catch milk, oil, and pieces from the coconut. Whatever was caught in the basin would be used for cleansing.
Thirty feet away from the waiu, on the mauka side of the hill, Pratt found a pohaku, or birthing stone. The stone was not actually used for birth, but to cut and store umbilical cords to link generations together, and the baby to mother earth, he said.
The larger heiau on the eastern side of the stream is “the most spiritual in all of Polynesia,” Pratt said. It was here that kahuna would “graduate,” becoming more than human; where they would learn to shape-shift, becoming rock or animal as they pleased, he said.
Unfortunately, the brush is still too dense to find even the layout of the temple. However, he has found over 10 carvings into stone, as well as a koula — a rock used by kahuna to put their spirit into.
“All of their stored knowledge is in there,” said Pratt reverently as he touched the stone, which is nearly six feet high and four feet around.
As he continued his tour, he pointed out campsites where campers had desecrated the temples with their trash.
He also became involved in a mystery, as a friend of his camping on the larger heiau implored Pratt to watch his equipment while he was away, but lost six cans of olive oil and six bags of wine, hot commodities in an area nearly 12 miles from the nearest store.
As for the DLNR, “at least they are policing people who shouldn’t be here,” who bring violence into Kalalau. “But we need policemen, and the policemen we have, I don’t trust them at all. I end up having to be the policeman.”
Pratt finds himself in an interesting mix: since he has lived against the wishes of the state, he has become an outlaw — one of the illegal residents of Kalalau. He has become a friend and confidante to other illegal residents, and often settles disputes between them. He even banished one from the valley for drinking, and the continual violence that his drinking caused.
However, he also believes the heiau will soon be guarded, with Hawaiians sworn to guard and protect the temple from the lua. When they come, all residents will be asked to leave, he said.
“The lua (guards) are coming to perform their spiritual mission and clean the heiau,” Ikaika said. He has already contacted them, and expects them to move in the next few weeks, he said.
“If I cut a tree in your campsite, I’m sorry, but this is for a higher purpose,” he added.
After the tour, sitting comfortably on the hard ground in his camp, with his prized ‘ukulele made of Kaua‘i wood on his lap, Pratt discussed his ideas about the future of Kalalau.
He envisions a place of spirituality and learning where Hawaiians can come and learn their culture. Meanwhile, campers and hikers can stay in a replica fishing village where the state campsites already exist.
“Everything we need is going to be here,” he said, from edible plants to wood that can be used to create the “arts and crafts of our culture,” he said, such as sippers and canoes.
“First things first. We need trees,” edible ones, he said. He hopes one day the entire valley will produce fruit, nuts, and vegetables, he said. “We’re going to feed our whole families from Hanapepe to Hanalei.”
“There are lots of resources here. Come on, let’s use them.”
“This is the power of one,” said JaNee Dominique, who has been helping Pratt clean the heiau. “He has given me the best example of living aloha, more than anyone I’ve ever met.
“It’s all coming together,” she said.
Using just the machete and the hand ax, turning the overgrown brush into piles of compost and logs, it will take Pratt and Dominique five years to clean the land without help.
“I didn’t come here for this purpose, but this is what manifested in front of me,” Pratt said. “I’m cleaning the temple, and the temple is Kalalau. The heiau is only pieces to put on the temple.”
Staff Writer Tom Finnegan may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 226).
