A thrilling story, in verse, of nineteenth-century Hawaii.

The story of an attempt by the government to seize and constrain possible victims of leprosy and the determination of one small family not to be taken. A tale of the perils and glories of their flight into the wilds of the island of Kauai, pursued by a gunboat full of soldiers.

A brilliant capturing—inspired by the poet's respect for the people of these islands—of their life, their history, the gods and goddesses of their mythic past.

A somber revelation of the wrecking of their culture through the exploitative incursions of Europeans and Americans.