Channels of the Hawaiian Islands 7 miles. ʻAlalākeiki means "crying baby." The Kealaikahiki Channel is the channel between Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe. It literally means "the road to Tahiti"; if one takes a bearing off of Kealaikahiki Point on Kahoʻolawe while in the channel and heads directly straight, one arrives, more or less, in Tahiti. In practice, however, Polynesian navigators probably did not quite ply a straight route to Tahiti. The channel is 17 miles wide. The ʻAuʻau Channel is one of the most protected areas of ocean in the Hawaiian Islands, lying between Lānaʻi and Maui. The channel is also protected by Molokaʻi to the
Ancient Hawaiian population increased within the local community with the formation of ali'i and maka'ainana classes. The significant reduction of population in the 16-17th century was a result of warfare and conquest among competing chiefs as well as the rise of Aikāne (homosexual) relations. Liloa originated the practice of "moe āikane", the sexual relationship between males in the late 15th century. Ancient Hawaiian population The exact population of the Hawaiian Islands at the time of Captain James Cook's arrival is not known. What is known is that the first voyaging canoes that landed on Hawaiian shores during the discovery and settlement of Hawaii