Kawananakoa recently founded Na Lei Ali'i Kawananakoa, which has filed its first claim under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the federal law commonly known as NAGPRA.

The group is one of those seeking "repatriation" — transfer to Native Hawaiian ownership — of two burial objects now in the possession of the Bishop Museum. They are a small wood image from an unknown Moloka'i cave and a cowrie shell taken from the island's Mo'omomi sand dunes.

But Kawananakoa's statement focused more on repatriation in general, mentioning only one particular effort: the Forbes case, in which 83 artifacts being sought by 13 claimants were taken on loan from the museum and reburied in the Big Island cave from which the David Forbes expedition took them a century earlier.

Kawananakoa said her organization agrees with the position of claimant La'akea Suganuma, who has pressed for the recall of the items from the cave and has argued that the loan kept repatriation from occurring properly. Others argue that the objects have been transferred legally and so should remain where they are.

The more general point dealt with whether artifacts should be in a museum.

"For a moment let me reflect upon the purpose of repatriation under NAGPRA," she said. "In my opinion it is to protect historical artifacts from looting and destruction.

"It is unfair in my personal view to call David Forbes and J.S. Emerson 'grave robbers,'" she added, referring to the way some in the Hawaiian community have described those who take artifacts from caves. "They were men of honor whose work preserved Hawaiian culture from being lost."

Kawananakoa could not be reached for further clarification yesterday, but her attorney, Jim Wright, said that in the past she has said that some treasured and sacred artifacts were placed in caves for safekeeping but were not intended to remain buried.

Other individuals and groups involved in the artifacts and burial issues could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Kawananakoa described Forbes as "an expert botanist with a passion for Hawai'i's history," and Emerson as one who "spoke fluent Hawaiian and dedicated his life to the recording and preserving of authentic Hawaiian culture."

"The work of Forbes and Emerson gave Bishop Museum the foremost collection in the world of Hawaiian antiquities," she said. "From the very outset, the Bishop Museum has given every consideration necessary for the protection and preservation of all the items in their custody. The museum must be recognized for its vigilance and integrity in preserving what little we have left of Hawai'i's past."

She also reiterated her opposition to those who took another sacred object, the ka'ai, from the museum. The ka'ai are two sennet baskets containing what are said to be the bones of the revered ruling chiefs Liloa and Lonoikamakahiki. They have been missing since February 1994 from the museum's Konia Hall and are widely believed to have been reburied in the Big Island's Waipi'o Valley.

The ka'ai were at the museum with the permission of her kinsman, Prince Kuhio.

"If any are grave robbers, it is those who stole the ka'ai," she said. "There has never been any question as to ownership. The ka'ai passed from Queen Kapi'olani to Prince Kuhio and now to me through the Kaumuali'i line — not the Kamehameha or Kalakaua lines."