Hālaliʻi Lake is an

ephemeral lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larger ...

in the south central region of the island of

Niʻihau Niihau ( Hawaiian: ), anglicized as Niihau ( ), is the westernmost main and seventh largest inhabited island in Hawaii. It is southwest of Kauaʻi across the Kaulakahi Channel. Its area is . Several intermittent playa lakes provide wetland hab ...

. During the rainy seasons, it becomes the largest lake in the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

. It is located near the smaller

Halulu Lake Halulu Lake is a lake in the south central region of the island of Niʻihau (the smallest inhabited island in the chain). It is the largest (non-intermittent) natural lake in the Hawaiian Islands and ranks third in size after Hālaliʻi Lake (al ...

, regarded as the largest (non-intermittent) natural lake in the Hawaiian Islands. The lake measures around during the rainy seasons. During dry periods on the arid island, the lake transforms into a dry reddish flat punctuated by small saline lakes. Other sources states that it has an area of . Sometimes it is not regarded as a lake due to the irregularity of the water level. According to Hawaiian linguists

Mary Kawena Pukui Mary Abigail Kawenaulaokalaniahiiakaikapoliopele Naleilehuaapele Wiggin Pukui (20 April 1895 – 21 May 1986), known as Kawena, was a Hawaiian scholar, author, composer, hula expert, and educator. Life Pukui was born on April 20, 1895, in her ...

, Samuel H. Elbert, and Esther T. Mookini, the lake and the surrounding land division was named after its owner, either the Hawaiian high chief (

aliʻi The aliʻi were the traditional nobility of the Hawaiian islands. They were part of a hereditary line of rulers, the ''noho aliʻi''. The word ''aliʻi'' has a similar meaning in the Samoan language and other Polynesian languages, and in Māori ...

) or the

Oʻahu Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O’ ...

trickster god Hālaliʻi. Hālaliʻi and Halulu were both aliʻi of the island of Niʻihau. A

cinder cone A cinder cone (or scoria cone) is a steep conical hill of loose pyroclastic fragments, such as volcanic clinkers, volcanic ash, or scoria that has been built around a volcanic vent. The pyroclastic fragments are formed by explosive eruptions o ...

Haleakalā Haleakalā (; Hawaiian: ), or the East Maui Volcano, is a massive shield volcano that forms more than 75% of the Hawaiian Island of Maui. The western 25% of the island is formed by another volcano, Mauna Kahalawai, also referred to as the West ...

on the island of

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

also shares the same name. The Makaloa sedge ('' Cyperus laevigatus'') grows along its shore and was traditionally used by the

Native Hawaiians Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...

for weaving the Makaloa mats. The lake bed was also used for the cultivation of sugarcane where famously it grew "in the sand with only leaves protruding". The lake provides natural wetland habitats for Hawaiian bird species including the ''ʻalae keʻokeʻo'' (

Hawaiian coot The Hawaiian coot (''Fulica alai''), also known as the alae ke'oke'o'' in Hawaiian, is a bird in the rail family, Rallidae, that is endemic to Hawaii. In Hawaiian, ''alae'' is a noun and means ''mud hen''. ''Kea'' or its synonym ''keo'' is an ad ...

), ''aeʻo'' (

Hawaiian stilt The Hawaiian stilt (''Himantopus mexicanus knudseni'') is an endangered Hawaiian subspecies of the black-necked stilt (''H. mexicanus'') species. It is a long-legged, slender shorebird with a long, thin beak. Other common names include the Hawai ...

) and ''koloa maoli'' (

Hawaiian duck The Hawaiian duck (''Anas wyvilliana'') or koloa is a species of bird in the family Anatidae that is endemic to the large islands of Hawaii. Taxonomically, the koloa is closely allied with the mallard (''A. platyrhynchos''). It differs in that it ...

). The lake is also used for mullet farming. Hawaiians bring the baby ''pua'' mullets from the sea in barrels, release them during the rainy seasons and then catch the grown fish when the water recedes in the summer. In Halulu Lake, the fish naturally enter the lake from the sea through lava tubes when they are young. The grown fish are often sold at market on

Kauaʻi Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the List of islands of th ...

and Oʻahu.

References

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* * * * * * * {{authority control Bodies of water of Niihau Lakes of Hawaii

See also

References

Bibliography