Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/142

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122 Ralph S. Kuykendall these events from information received from Captain Barber, who was wrecked near Honolulu in October, 1796, and had much opportunity of talking with John Young and others, and possibly also from persons who were on the Jackal and Prince Lee Boo; (3) a short statement by Broughton, 26 based seemingly on information which he obtained during his visit to Oahu in 1796, useful chiefly as corroborative evidence; (4) an account given by Jarves 27 which is, however, too brief to be of much ser- vice. Jarves gives Captain Gordon's name as "Gardner" and this error has been followed by some other writers ; (5) and (6) the accounts by Dibble 28 and Kamakau 29 which are based chiefly upon native sources. All other accounts that I have seen are based on one or more of the six here mentioned and may, for the present purpose, be disregarded. The data presented by these writers are rather confused and, on some points, very conflicting, but it is nevertheless possible to disentangle most of the facts and to make out clearly the general course of events. In order to understand what follows it will be neces- sary to revert once more to the political situation in the islands. Since Captain Brown's last visit important changes had occurred. The powerful king Kahekili had died, leaving his possessions divided, by previous arrange- ment, between his brother and his son. The son, Kalani- kupule, was king of Oahu, while the brother, Kaeokulani (or Kaeo, as he is more frequently called), ruled over Maui and Kauai. 30 Kaeo, who was residing on Maui, decided to return to Kauai. On the way he stopped with a considerable force on the northeast coast of Oahu, 39 40 W R Broughton, A Voyage of Discovery . . (London, 1804), 27 J. J. Jarves, History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands (Boston, 1843), 179-180. 28 Sheldon Dibble, History of the Sandwich Islands (Lahainaluna, 1843), 68-71. 29 S. M. Kamakau, "Ka Moolelo o Kamehameha I," Chapter 29, in the Honolulu Nupepa Knokoa, June 1, 1867. 30 This may not be technically correct, but it represents the realities at the moment.