In Hawaiian mythology, the Menehune are said to be an ancient race of people small in stature, who lived in Hawaii before settlers arrived from Polynesia.
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At the same time, the Wilkes expedition noted the native population was vanishing at a drastic rate . . . particularly the chiefs, and that the ancient manners and customs had nearly disappeared.
David Malo and Samuel Kamakau, two of the first native Hawaiian historians, were students at a missionary school who gathered knowledge of the past from the oldest generations and the most informed members of their communities. The first native Hawaiian to publish a historic account was David Malo.
This publication’s timing in 1861 coincided with the birth of the Hawaiian language newspapers, produced entirely by native Hawaiians. It was their first opportunity to publish cultural knowledge. The Menehune Ditch in Waimea was first mentioned on September 26, 1861, in this manner, “in the sprays of Kikiaola, the ditch of the Melehuna [Menehune] will flow…”