Nāmākēhā

Originally from Maui, he and his brothers defected a number of times and resettled on different islands before they allied themselves with King Kamehameha I who would become the first monarch of a unified Hawaiian Kingdom.

[3] As a descendant of the Maui chiefess Kaʻakalani (or Kaʻakaualaninui), Nāmākēhā also possessed a specific kapu called "Kekapupoʻohoʻolewaikalā (a head so sacred that it could not be exposed to the sun except at dawn)".

Elizabeth Kekaʻaniau, a later royal descendant from the same family, would explain that the kapu was only practiced on certain days and required the aliʻi to position their head to the sun from sunrise to sunset.

He would fight in the war of "Kapalipilo" in c. 1759 which pitted Kamehamehanui Aiʻluau against the forces of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, aliʻi nui of Hawaiʻi, over the control of the districts of Hāna and Kipahulu in East Maui.

Captain Meares called the two brothers "Namaatehaw"[16] or "Namitahaw" and "Tianna" and wrote that six of Nāmākēhā's relatives (four females) along with Kaʻiana's wife and son were also given passage.

"[21] The British explorer wrote, "Nomatahah (Nāmākēhā) and Tamaahmootoo (Kameʻeiamoku) are artful, designing, and restless characters, and have dispositions to act on all occasions of hazard, or unlawful attempt, in conjunction with Tianna (Kaʻiana).

[21][22] In 1795, Nāmākēhā and his brother were ordered by Kamehameha I to join him on his campaign against Kalanikūpule, the aliʻi nui of Maui and Oʻahu and the son and successor of Kahekili II.

The decision was also swayed by the counsel of Kalanihuia, a kahuna (priest) of Kiwalaʻo and Keōua Kūʻahuʻula, two cousins and rivals whom Kamehameha I had killed in his conquest of Hawaiʻi Island.

[20] An alternative account, written by Captain Charles Bishop in 1796, stated that Nāmākēhā was appointed co-regent of Hawaiʻi with the British foreign advisor Isaac Davis, a survivor of the Fair American, while Kamehameha was off on his campaign.