Just outside Lihue and Nawiliwili Harbor, on the Huleia River, lies a mystery that still can't be explained -- the handiwork of the menehune. The pond, called Alekoko ("rippling blood") and today known as the Menehune Fishpond, was an aquacultural feat constructed hundreds of years ago. The builders of this 2,700-foot-long stone wall (that cuts off a bend in the river) were believed to be the mythical people who inhabited Kauai before the Polynesians arrived. The fishpond is located in the Huleia National Wildlife Refuge, 238 acres of river valley that is a habitat for endangered Hawaiian water birds (ae'o or Hawaiian stilt, 'alae Ke'oke'o or Hawaiian coot, 'alae 'ula or Hawaiian gallinule, and Koloa maoli or Hawaiian duck). Although you can see the fishpond and the refuge from the road, the area is not open to the public. Small boats, kayaks, jet skis, windsurfers, and water-skiers use the river.