KAPAA

city, Kauai county, on the east-central coast of Kauai Island, Hawaii, U.S. Since the 1960s, tourism, diversified agriculture, and service industries have replaced pineapple growing as the main sources of income. Various legends, reminiscent of Gulliver and the Lilliputians, are connected with the Sleeping Giant, a mountain formation a few miles south of Kapaa. Another nearby feature is Holo-Holo-Ku Heiau, restored (1933) by the Bishop Museum of Honolulu and one of the oldest heiaus (temples) in Hawaii; it contained the sacred birthstones where Kauai queens came to bear their children. The temple was sacred to the grim god Ku, whose rites included human sacrifice. The historic Wailua River Reserve is nearby. Pop. (1990) 8,149.