Introduction

 When I moved to my present home a few years ago, I had no intention of starting a book.  I had been looking for an older, less populated part of Hawaii, a place that might retain some of the fragrance of the Polynesia of my native ancestors.  I found it in North Kohala, on the island of Hawaii.
 I had been hiking with a camera in the wild eastern valleys for thirty years or more, and had seen the resident shorebirds,  but one day I heard a compelling, high-pitched call, and overhead was a Hawaiian Hawk, great wings extended, riding the northeast trade winds.  It was a moment  Hawaiians describe as ho’ailona (a strong signal or omen.) I abandoned the shorebirds and followed the call of the royal hawk.  It was as if by following this ancient, solitary native, I had found a way to connect more deeply with my own native forebears.  The hawk would lead me home. What follows is what I learned while on a search that took me deep into Hawaiian history.
    I am writing the history of my Hawaiian family so that my children and grandchildren can
know and perhaps better appreciate that history, especially the grandchildren who carry the name of my great great great great grandfather, so that if they are asked regarding the origins of that name, they will be able to explain that they are the namesake of one who was a member of an ancient Hawaiian family of bird collectors and feather workers who lived and worked on the windward flanks of Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii, engaged in the unique and exotic craft of creating feather cloaks and helmets for Hawaiian kings and queens, and their explanation, as improbable and astonishing as it sounds, will be entirely true.  E Komo Mai...welcome, come in.