Post #268753 by christiki295 on Sun, Nov 26, 2006 10:05 AM

[i]On 2006-11-26 08:43, WenikiTiki wrote:
About those Menehunes: They are everywhere in the various islands of Hawaii. There were 65 people listed on the island of Kauai as Menehunes in the 1820 census. I can't find my source right now, but I remember that some speculate that they were protesting that there was a census and did that as a little joke/protest.

Interesting fact regarding the Census.

Hawaii's myths & folklore on the Menehunes is that the Tahitians arrived on Kauai in 1000 A.D. to find a population of little people numbering about 500,000 and called them "manahune", which in their language meant commoner.

Another theory is that the Menehune were brought from Tahiti as Laborers to perform construction projects.

The Menehunes were a nocternal people skilled in engineering and mosonry and would complete their projects in one night, although the single night is probably a Western fiction.

Myths and traditions concerning the Menehune are more prevelant on Kaua'i. It is probable that the later invaders pushed them gradually out of other islands so that they congregated in Kaua'i, the last of the large islands, at the northwest end of the chain.

From there they apparently withdrew to the barren and rocky islets of Nihoa and Necker, as evidenced by numerous terraces, stone implements, and stone images.

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