Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pele and the Missionaries

“Is she (Pele) dead? Does she sleep? or has she only closed her adamantine doors, and with Pluto and Vulcan descended to the fiery bowels of the earth to prepare with deeper secrecy her magazines of wrath which shall one day burst forth with more desolating terror? To us it is a lonely idea that the volcano should become extinct; for we confess that her mutterings, her thunderings, her flashings, the smoke of her nostrils and the shaking of her rocky ribs are music, beauty, sublimity and grandeur to us. They seem so like the voice of Almighty God, so like the footsteps of Deity.” (Lydia Bingham Coan)

“A mighty current instantly overflowed, and they ran for their lives before the molten flood, and ascended from the surface of the abyss to the lofty rim with heartfelt thanksgiving to their great Deliverer. This proves the real danger of meddling with Pele’s palace and trifling with her power. Had this occurred in the days of unbroken superstition, it would doubtless have been ascribed to the anger of that false deity, and multiplied her worshippers. But now such a deliverance was justly ascribed to the care and power of Jehovah, the knowledge of whose attributes displayed in the works of creation, providence, and grace, has introduced the Hawaiian race into a new life.” (Hiram Bingham)

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Environmental Zones

Traditionally in Hawai‘i, environmental zones were perceived and determined by various natural features and resource criteria. Along shore is termed ko kaha kai (place (land) by the sea). Next above were the plains or sloping lands (kula,) those to seaward being termed ko kula kai and those toward the mountains ko kula uka (uka, inland or upland.) In terms of use, from the Hawaiian planter’s point of view was the kahawai (the place (having) fresh water – as in a valley).

Wao means the wild – a place distant and not often penetrated by man. The Hawaiians recognized and named many divisions or aspects of the wao: first, the wao kanaka, the reaches most accessible, and most valuable, to man (kanaka;) and above that, denser and at higher elevations, the wao akua, forest of the gods, remote, awesome, seldom penetrated, source of supernatural influences, both evil and beneficent. The term for mountain or mountain range – a mountainous region – is kuahiwi (backbone). (All here is from Handy.)

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Camp POW

American entry into World War II necessitated a rapid expansion of facilities in dealing with enemy prisoners. Civilian Conservation Corps camps were secured to house the first arrivals; more camps were constructed throughout the war. Of the 50,000 Italian captured soldiers and sailors, 5,000 Italian prisoners of war were sent to Hawaiʻi; Japanese Americans were also incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaiʻi. On December 8, 1941, the first detention camp was set up on Sand Island.

The Sand Island Detention Center held war captives as well as civilians of Japanese, German or Italian ancestry who were under investigation. Another prisoner of war facility was in Hilo; it was in Ponahawai, up Kaumana Drive. During WWII the Army’s 27th Infantry division was housed and trained on the property. Later, the Marines were stationed there and Japanese prisoners of war were confined there. The camp became known as Camp POW. After the war, the camp buildings were converted into rental properties. For safety reasons the buildings were eventually demolished in the 1980s. (Many of the photos in the album are from Raymond W McCracken’s son’s post on flickr.)

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Train Terminal, Depot

Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Dillingham’s OR&L company, created in 1889, changed the landscape of west Honolulu. Its first train depot was created between a fishpond and North King Street, next to Prison Road, later renamed Iwilei Road. The first section of track extended only as far as Aiea, but by the 1920s, tracks had been laid all over the island. The train was the primary mode of transportation. “Plans have been approved by which the main depot will be placed 180 feet from King street in what is now a fish-pond dividing Oahu prison from the royal stables.”

“A large portion, if not all of this extensive fish-pond will be filled in without delay, and this substantial and eligible building ground, artificially firmed, will become of great value by close proximity to the main depot buildings.” In 1924-1925, a new Depot was constructed to replace an earlier 1889 wooden terminal building, and was the main Honolulu rail terminal for OR&L’s passenger operations. Upon completion, the building had dual functions, with the 2nd floor providing offices for the company’s daily railroad operations, and the 1st floor accommodating passengers. A 1975 renovation completely reconfigured the interior of the building for office use by Department of Human Services.

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Timeline Tuesday … 1980s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1980s – bombing halted at Kaho‘olawe, Alexander Young Building demolished, enactment of State Water Code and over 1,000 ancient human remains discovered on land being developed by the Ritz-Carlton on Maui. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world

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ABCFM Companies

“The system of operation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions may be considered under two divisions, – its Home Department, and its Foreign Missions. … The Board has established missions, in the order of time in which they are now named at Bombay, and Ceylon; among the Cherokees, Choctaws, and the Cherokees of the Arkansaw (and later) Asia.” Then, they decided to send a Company of missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands.

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”), about 184-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands. The ‘Companies’ were essentially groups of missionaries traveling together. Several individuals, not part of the 12-companies, also served in the Hawaiian Islands Mission. Most of them were young people, still in their twenties, full of life and enthusiasm. All were pious and accustomed to “lead meetings.”

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

‘Ūkēkē

“While the ‘ūkēkē was used to accompany the mele and the oli, its chief employment was in serenading and serving the young folk in breathing their extemporized songs and uttering their love-talk— hoipoipo.” “The ‘ūkēkē, the one Hawaiian instrument of its class, is a mere strip of wood bent into the shape of a bow that its elastic force may keep tense the strings that are stretched upon it.”

“One end of the stick is notched or provided with holes to hold the strings, while the other end is wrought into a conventional figure resembling the tail of a fish and serves as an attachment about which to wind the free ends of the strings.” “The open cavity of the mouth, acting as a resonator, reenforced the sounds and gave them a volume and dignity that was a revelation. The lifeless strings allied themselves to a human voice and became animated by a living soul.”