Missionaries / Churches / Religious Buildings

September 15, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Holy Ghost Catholic Church

Elizabeth (Isabel) was a Spanish princess who was given in marriage to King Denis of Portugal at the age of twelve. She was very beautiful and very lovable. She was also very devout, and went to Mass every day. (Catholic-org)

Queen Elizabeth died on July 4th, 1336. She was 65 years of age, perhaps somewhat older, and had incorporated into her passage through this earth prayers, sacrifices, interventions for peace among monarchs, acts of worship, and works of mercy too numerous to mention in this brief piece.

Almost three centuries after her death, His Holiness Pope Urban VIII inexplicably broke his reported vow that there would be no canonizations during his Pontificate: He canonized St. Elizabeth of Portugal on Holy Trinity Sunday, May 25th, 1625. (SaintsCatholic)

Centuries later, Portuguese began arriving in Hawai‘i in large numbers to work on plantations in 1879. Many continued to be employed by the plantations even after their contracts had been fulfilled.

Others, however, sought to take up independent work and on Maui turned especially to farming and ranching. The middle slope of Haleakala is an exceptionally fertile region and many people of Portuguese ancestry settled here, some homesteading the land.

Before long, this growing Catholic community felt the need for a priest. In 1882 James Beissel, a priest from Prussia, was assigned to Makawao, and his district extended from Ulupalakua around to Huelo. At some time between 1894-1897, he designed the Holy Ghost Church in Kula and supervised its construction. (NPS)

The two acres of land on which it was built were donated by Louis and Randal von Tempsky in Waiakoa, and the building was financed by weekly auctions of cattle by local ranchers. (Kula Catholic Community)

The octagonal shape of the structure, according to local belief, derives from the fact that it corresponded with the shape of a replica of the crown of Queen Elizabeth of Portugal, which the church housed.

The crown of St. Elizabeth plays an important role-in the Portuguese community’s Holy Ghost celebration. According to folk beliefs in the Azore Islands, from which many of Hawaii’s Portuguese population immigrated, Queen Elizabeth gave the Catholic Church her crown after she had prayed to the Holy Ghost and her people were delivered from famine. (NPS)

The richly decorated altar and the Portuguese language Stations of the Cross were commissioned by Father Beissel in 1895 and were carved by the famous artisan and master woodcarver, Ferdinand Stuflesser, from Groden, Tirol, Austria.

Shipped in nine separate crates around the Cape of Good Hope to Hawai‘i, the altar and stations were hauled by oxcart from Kahului Harbor to Waiakoa and reassembled by the faithful members of the parish.

They are recognized now as examples of museum-quality ecclesiastical art of that time. In January of 1899 Bishop Ropert Gulstan of Honolulu arrived to officiate at the formal dedication the church. (Kula Catholic Community)

This frame church, the only known nineteenth-century octagonal-shaped building in Hawai‘i, is approximately sixty feet in diameter. Its steep, corrugated-metal hipped roof is surmounted by a mock clerestory with a blind arcade and terminates with a steeple supported on a round-arched arcade with a balustrade.

Tuscan columns serve as corner posts for the eighteen-foot-high, tongue-and-groove walls, six of which have round-arched stained glass windows. The interior is a large octagonal space with the chancel at the north end opposite the entrance and choir loft.

Four central Tuscan columns carry an octagonal rib-vaulted, tongue-and-groove ceiling. The stations of the cross are unusual in that they are inscribed in Portuguese rather than Latin or English. (SAH Archipedia)

In 1991, under the leadership of Father Michael Owens, a major restoration of the church and altars was initiated, requiring the closure of the church for about one year. In 1995, the parish was able to celebrate its Centennial year in its resplendent, restored condition.

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Holy Ghost Catholic Church

Holy Ghost Catholic Church_interior

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Holy Ghost Catholic_Church

Holy Ghost Catholic Church-high alter

St Elizabeth

September 12, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ali‘i Letters – Kaʻahumanu to Evarts (1831)

Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives (Mission Houses) collaborated with Awaiaulu Foundation to digitize, transcribe, translate and annotate over 200-letters written by 33-Chiefs.

The letters, written between 1823 and 1887, are assembled from three different collections: the ABCFM Collection held by Harvard’s Houghton Library, the HEA Collection of the Hawaii Conference-United Church of Christ and the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society.

These letters provide insight into what the Ali‘i (Chiefs) were doing and thinking at the time, as well as demonstrate the close working relationship and collaboration between the aliʻi and the missionaries.

In this letter, Elisabeth Kaʻahumanu writes to Mr. Jeremiah Evarts regarding the success of the mission in Hawaiʻi. She includes her religious sentiments to the brethren of the ABCFM.

Jeremiah F. Evarts was an early leader of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM). He was a reformer who advocated for the rights of Native Americans and wrote under the pseudonym William Penn.

Kaʻahumanu, favorite wife of Kamehameha I, served as the Kuhina Nui, or regent at the time of this letter. She became a staunch advocate for literacy and Christianity for all her people.

“Oahu September 11, 1831”

“Regards to you, Mr. Evarts, missionary superintendent and my first brother in Christ Jesus,”

“Here is my message to you along with my joy.”

“Here I live by the voice of salvation of Jesus Christ who resurrected me from death. I was dwelling in the core of death. I was adorned and bedecked by the glory of death and its symbols.”

“When I heard the voice of Jesus sounding in my ears, it was a chill in my heart, speaking as follows, [“]Come unto to me all of you who are weary and heavy-laden and I shall give you rest.[”]”

“And his voice then said again, [“]He who thirsts, let him come and drink the waters of salvation.[”] So, I rose to come and lie under the shelter of his feet, with great trepidation.”

“Here I am bearing his yoke, thinking to myself that I am unable to move his yoke, he being the one who enables me with his assistance night and day; there I forever dwell in his glory and his love for me.”

“There is my desire and my affection, with the intention of my heart and my spirit to submit to Jesus. There my mouth and my tongue shall forever give thanks for the life I live until I join in his everlasting glory. That is my humble message to you.”

“Here is this other message of mine to you. I am grateful for the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for his assistance in sending new teachers for us.”

“They have arrived and we have beheld their eyes and faces. We met in the presence of our Lord and in our own presence with gratitude to our Lord for protecting them on the ocean until they arrived here in Hawaii.”

“We abide here, teaching the native language of Hawaii so they will understand. Then, we sow the gardens with fruitful seeds for eternal salvation.”

“At that point, my elder brethren, them [the teachers] and my native brothers and sisters together will take up the will of our Lord in this archipelago, praying to him to assist so that the bumpy places be smoothed by him through his intentions for these islands from Hawaii to Kauai.”

“But my adopted child and I carried the word of our Lord from Hawaii to Kauai with love in our hearts for God, traveling to speak of his love, his word, and his laws and to tell people that they should abide by them.”

“That is what we, my adopted child and I, speak of. It is not according to our will, but according to the will of the Lord that we take this up.”

“That is my humble message to you.”

“Here is another remaining message that I say to you. Do express my regard to the brethren in Christ and my beloved sisters in Christ Jesus. Here are my regards to you all.”

“Do pray often to God for all the lands of the unenlightened, for all those remaining in enlightened lands, and for us as well and we shall do the same with the brethren here.”

“Pray often to God for the unenlightened lands, and for the remainder of those in enlightened lands, and for you all as well.”

“Thus we beseech our Lord so all peoples cooperate through him that his kingdom be unified to the bounds of the earth, and so all people unite behind him to praise his everlasting name.”

“That is my message of affection to you all. Deep regards to you.”

“Though we may not meet in person in this world, it is our hope that if we do meet in this world, our souls will also meet in the glory of the kingdom of our Lord of salvation, Jesus Christ.”

“That is the end of the message to you.”

“By Elisabeth Kaahumanu”

Click HERE to link to the original letter, its transcription, translation and annotation.

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US, led by Hiram Bingham, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) They arrived in the Islands and anchored at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-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.

One of the earliest efforts of the missionaries, who arrived in 1820, was the identification and selection of important communities (generally near ports and aliʻi residences) as “stations” for the regional church and school centers across the Hawaiian Islands.

Hawaiian Mission Houses’ Strategic Plan themes note that the collaboration between Native Hawaiians and American Protestant missionaries resulted in the
• The introduction of Christianity;
• The development of a written Hawaiian language and establishment of schools that resulted in widespread literacy;
• The promulgation of the concept of constitutional government;
• The combination of Hawaiian with Western medicine, and
• The evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing).

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Kaahumanu to Evarts – September 11, 1831-1

Kaahumanu to Evarts – September 11, 1831-2

Kaahumanu to Evarts – September 11, 1831-3

September 10, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Imiola

During the mid-nineteenth century, Imiola Congregational Church at Waimea, Hawaii became the main base for Congregational missionary activities in the Hāmākua and South Kohala Districts of Hawaii. (Imiola means ‘seek salvation.’)

The first Imiola Church was a grass hut built by order of the local chiefs for traveling missionaries. No construction date has been found for the first church, although it had been built and dedicated by King Kamehameha III before 1832.

It contained a rough pulpit and a crude window. Congregations sat on mats on the ground and often were so large that the tiny structure could barely accommodate them.

Reverend Lyons wrote in his journal that at least one hundred little grass schoolhouses were scattered around his church in the immediate Waimea area.

Imiola Church’s membership, combined with that of Reverend Titus Coan’s church in Hilo, accounted for three out of every four church members on all islands in May, 1838. Lyons’ triumph was short-lived, however. Of the nearly 5,000-natives who became members during the peak period of religious revival, only 1,197 were in good standing by 1841.

By February of 1843, the first church had been torn down and was replaced by a stone structure with thatched roof and windows. Hundreds of natives helped in the collection of stones, often carrying them miles to the construction site.

It was “A large stone edifice whose extension of stately walls and two large panel doors and smiling windows, presents an imposing form and whose interior …”

“… with the addition of a boarded floor and well-arranged seats and neat simple pulpit, furnishes new attractions to the native worshipper.” (Lyons, September 15, 1841; Gulick)

Difficult as the raising of the second church was, the structure lasted for only a little over twelve years. At the end of April, 1855, it was determined to be unsafe and was abandoned.

On June 11 of that year, the roof collapsed and was described by Lyons as “a mass of ruins”. On August 29, 1855, the cornerstone of the new church was laid.

“Under the cornerstone (SW corner) was deposited a tin box wrapped in mamaki kapa – Hawaiian Bible, hymn books, newspapers, laws, etc.”

By 1857, the church was completed and dedicated. The ceiling rafters, floor, and exterior clapboard were made of koa, a Hawaiian hardwood.

Lyons’ recollections of the construction of the building list two important figures. Mr. Cairr “was engaged to put up the new building” and Alani was responsible for planing the clapboard siding. The church was constructed by the help of church members who did most of the heavy work.

Imiola Congregational Church is a rectangular wooden gabled structure which makes use of indigenous construction materials. The church measures approximately 40 by 60 feet and is set on stone footings and a dry fieldstone wall.

It is sheathed with bevel siding. Shingles cover the solid NE end and located on the opposite end is a small gabled entrance way with a curved lintel piece. A rectangular tower with crenellations and a cross crown the high-pitched gable.

By 1882, the church required repairs and between the money donated and funds collected at a church fair, Imiola was reshingled, repainted and rematted.

“There were no doors to Imiola church in Laiana’s time, and when I was little the entrance was always open. There was no other church like it, for the benches all had horse hair cushions, covered with brocaded material. We youngsters used to go in and run around and pick out the best cushions and drag them along and change them to our own pew.” (Helen Lindsey Parker; Makua Laina)

Competition with the Catholic Church, the drastic drop in the Hawaiian population, as well as the movement of many natives to coastal urban centers accounted for the dwindling congregation.

Two years before his death, a crowd which included Waimea’s young, old, middle aged, Catholics, Mormons, Protestants, and non-believers all came to one of Lyons’ services to honor him.

As was the practice, the early missionaries learned the Hawaiian language and taught their lessons in Hawaiian, rather than English. In part, the mission did not want to create a separate caste and portion of the community as English-speaking Hawaiians. In later years, the instruction, ultimately, was in English.

Lyons was an avid supporter of the Hawaiian language. He wrote a letter to the editor in The Friend newspaper (September 2, 1878) that, in part noted:

“An interminable language…it is one of the oldest living languages of the earth, as some conjecture, and may well be classed among the best…the thought to displace it, or to doom it to oblivion by substituting the English language, ought not for a moment to be indulged. … Long live the grand old, sonorous, poetical Hawaiian language.”

He was lovingly known to Hawaiians as Ka Makua Laiana, Haku Mele o ka Aina Mauna – Father Lyons, Lyric Poet of the Mountain County.

Lyons was fluent in the Hawaiian language and composed many poems and hymns; his best known and beloved work is the hymn “Hawaiʻi Aloha” sung to the tune of “I Left It All With Jesus” (circa 1852.) The song was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in 1998.

“Widely regarded as Hawaiʻi’s second anthem, this hymn is sung in both churches and public gatherings. It is performed at important government and social functions to bring people together in unity, and at the closing of Hawaiʻi Legislative sessions.”

“The first appearance of “Hawaiʻi Aloha” in a Protestant hymnal was in 1953, nearly 100 years after it was written. Today, people automatically stand when this song is played extolling the virtues of ‘beloved Hawaiʻi.’” (Hawaiian Music Museum).

In 1886, Lyons died at the age of 79. He was buried some distance from the church on the grounds of his old homestead. With the help of Parker Ranch management, his remains were removed to the grounds of Imiola Church in April, 1939. (Nelia and I were married at Imiola, seventeen years ago, today.)

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P-06 View of Waimea

Imiola_Church-(EthanTweedie)

Imiola_Church,_Waimea,_Hawaii-(WC)

Imiola_Church_interrior,_Waimea,_Hawaii

Imiola_Church,_Waimea

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Imiola_Church-PTY-Nelia-Group-leaving

Imiola_Church-PTY-Nelia-Wagon

Imiola_Church-PTY-Nelia-Wagon-riding into sunset

Grave site of Lorenzo Lyons, at the ‘Imiola congregational church in Waimea (Hawaii County), Hawaii. He designed the church and died in 1886-(WC)

September 5, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mission Stations

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of ABCFM missionaries set sail on the Thaddeus to establish a mission in the Hawaiian Islands; they anchored at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”), about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the ABCFM in the Hawaiian Islands.

One of the earliest efforts of the missionaries, who arrived in 1820, was the identification and selection of important communities (generally near ports and aliʻi residences) as “Stations” for the regional church and school centers across the Hawaiian Islands.

As an example, in June 1823, William Ellis joined American Missionaries Asa Thurston, Artemas Bishop and Joseph Goodrich on a tour of the island of Hawaiʻi to investigate suitable sites for mission stations.

On O‘ahu, locations at Honolulu (Kawaiahaʻo), Kāne’ohe, Waialua, Waiʻanae and ‘Ewa served as the bases for outreach work on the island.

By 1850, eighteen mission stations had been established; six on Hawaiʻi, four on Maui, four on Oʻahu, three on Kauai and one on Molokai.

Meeting houses were constructed at the stations, as well as throughout the district. Initially constructed as the traditional Hawaiian thatched structures; they were later made of wood or stone.

One of the first things the first missionaries did was begin to learn the Hawaiian language and create an alphabet for a written format of the language. Their emphasis was on preaching and teaching.

The instruction of students in schools (initially, most of whom were adults), in reading, writing and other skills initially fell to the missionaries. The schools generally served as both native churches and meeting houses, and were established in most populated ahupua‘a around the islands; native teachers and lay-ministers were appointed to oversee their daily activities.

The missionaries were scattered across the Islands, each home was usually in a thickly inhabited village, so that the missionary and his wife could be close to their work among the people.

In the early years, they lived in the traditional thatched houses – “our little cottage built chiefly of poles, dried grass and mats, being so peculiarly exposed to fire … consisting only of one room with a little partition and one door.” (Sybil Bingham) The thatched cottages were raised upon a low stone platform. Later, they lived in wood, stone or adobe homes.

The missionary family’s day began at 4 am (… it continued into the night, with no breaks).

The mission children were up then, too; in the early morning, the parents taught their children. “We had one tin whale-oil lamp between us, with a single wick…. Soon after five we had breakfast.” (Bishop)

By 9 am, after accomplishing all domestic duties and schooling of the children, the wives would begin the instruction of the Hawaiian children – and taught them for six solid hours, occasionally running into the house to see that all was straight.

“Very soon I gathered up 12 or 15 little native girls to come once a day to the house so that as early as possible the business of instruction might be commenced. That was an interesting day to me to lay the foundation of the first school ever assembled”. (Sybil Bingham)

“During the period from infancy to the age of ten or twelve years, children in the almost isolated family of a missionary could be well provided for and instructed in the rudiments of education without a regular school … But after that period, difficulties in most cases multiplied.” (Hiram Bingham)

“Owing to the then lack of advanced schools in Hawaii, the earlier mission children were all ‘sent home’ around Cape Horn, to ‘be educated.’ This was the darkest day in the life history of the mission child.”

“Peculiarly dependent upon the family life, at the age of eight to twelve years, they were suddenly torn from the only intimates they had ever known, and banished, lonely and homesick, to a mythical country on the other side of the world …”

“… where they could receive letters but once or twice a year; where they must remain isolated from friends and relatives for years and from which they might never return.” (Bishop)

Missionaries were torn between preaching the gospel and teaching their kids. “(M)ission parents were busy translating, preaching and teaching. Usually parents only had a couple of hours each day to spare with their children.” (Schultz)

Very prominent in the old mission life was the annual “General Meeting” where all of the missionaries from across the Islands gathered at Honolulu from four to six weeks.

“Often some forty or more of the missionaries besides their wives were present, as well as many of the older children. … Much business was transacted relating to the multifarious work and business of the Mission. New missionaries were to be located, and older ones transferred.” (Bishop)

Above text is a summary – Click HERE for more information on Mission Stations

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Mission Stations – MissionHouses-Map

Kauai-Mission Stations-Hawaiian Congregational Churches (SCHCC)

Oahu-Mission Stations-Hawaiian Congregational Churches (SCHCC)

Molokai-Mission Stations-Hawaiian Congregational Churches (SCHCC)

Maui-Mission Stations-Hawaiian Congre

Hawaii-Mission Stations-Hawaiian Congregational Churches (SCHCC)

September 2, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawai‘i Island (1823)

“Messrs (William) Ellis, (Asa) Thurston, (Artemas) Bishop and (Joseph) Goodrich made a tour round the island of Hawai‘i, examining its various districts, conversing with the natives, and preaching the gospel 130 different times.” (History of ABCFM)

They left Kailua-Kona heading south and circled the Island; the following are their descriptions of respective parts of the Island.

“Kairua, though healthy and populous, is destitute of fresh water, except what is found in pools, or small streams, in the mountains, four or five miles from the shore … “The houses, which are neat, are generally built on the sea-shore, shaded with cocoa-nut and kou trees, which greatly enliven the scene.”

“The environs were cultivated to a considerable extent; small gardens were seen among the barren rocks on which the houses are built, wherever soil could be found sufficient to nourish the sweet potato, the watermelon, or even a few plants of tobacco, and in many places these seemed to be growing literally in the fragments of lava, collected in small heaps around their roots.”

“The next morning, (they) walked towards the mountains … The path now lay through a beautiful part of the country, quite a garden compared with that through which they had passed on first leaving the town. It was generally divided into small fields, about fifteen rods square, fenced with low stone walls, (and) planted with bananas, sweet potatoes, mountain taro, paper mulberry plants, melons, and sugar-cane, which flourished luxuriantly in every direction.”

“After breakfast, Mssrs. Thurston and Goodrich examined the inland part of the (Honaunau) district, and found, after proceeding about two miles from the sea, that the ground was generally cultivated.”

“They passed through considerable groves of breadfruit trees, saw many cocoa-nuts, and numbers of the prickly pear (cactus) growing very large, and loaded with fruit. They also found many people residing at the distance of from two to four miles from the beach, in the midst of their plantations, who seemed to enjoy an abundance of provisions, seldom possessed by those on the sea shore,”

“The coast for twenty miles to the northward, includes not less perhaps than forty villages, either on the shore or a short distance inland, and contains probably a population of 20,000 souls, among whom a missionary might labour with facility”.

“(A)bout five in the afternoon landed at Kapua, a small and desolate-looking village, on the southwest point of Hawai‘i … At this place we hired a man to go about seven miles into the mountains for fresh water; but he returned with only one calabash full …”

“… a very inadequate supply as our whole company had suffered much from thirst, and the effects of the brackish water we had frequently drank since leaving Honaunau. … Nothing can exceed the barren and solitary appearance of this part of the island”.

“On entering (Kā‘u,) the same gloomy and cheerless desert of rugged lava spread itself in every direction from the shore to the mountains. Here and there at distant intervals they passed a lonely house, or a few wandering fishermen’s huts, with a solitary shrub, or species of thistle, struggling for existence among the crevices in the blocks of scoriae and lava. All besides was ‘one vast desert, dreary, bleak, and wild’”

“A beautiful country now appeared before us at (Kahuku Bluff,) and we seemed all at once transported to some happier island …. The rough and desolate tract of lava, with all its distorted forms, was exchanged for the verdant plain, diversified with gently rising hills, and sloping dales, ornamented with shrubs, and gay with blooming flowers.”

Approaching Waiohinu, “The population in this part did not appear concentrated in towns and villages, as it had been along the sea-shore, but scattered over the whole face of the country, which appeared divided into farms of varied extent, and upon these houses generally stood singly, or in small clusters, seldom exceeding four or five in number.”

Toward Honuapo, “The country appeared more thickly inhabited than that over which we had travelled in the morning. The villages, along the sea shore, were near together, and some of them extensive. … we found tall rows of sugar-cane lining the path on either side”.

From Punalu‘u to Kapapala, “We now left the road by the sea-side, and directed our course towards the mountains. Our path lay over a rich yellow-looking soil of decomposed lava, or over a fine black vegetable mould, in which we occasionally saw a few masses of lava partially decomposed …”

“There was but little cultivation, though the ground appeared well adapted to the growth of all the most valuable produce of the islands. … The surface of the country was covered with a light yellow soil, and clothed with tall grass, but the sides and bed of every watercourse we passed were composed of volcanic rock….”

Toward Kilauea Volcano, “The path for several miles lay through a most fertile tract of country, covered with bushes, or tall grass and fern, frequently from three to five feet high, and … heavily laden with dew.”

“Leaving the wood, we entered a waste of dry sand, about four miles across … As we approached the sea, the soil became more generally spread over the surface, and vegetation more luxuriant.”

“The natives ran to a spot in the neighbourhood, which had formerly been a plantation, and brought a number of pieces of sugar-cane, with which we quenched our thirst, and then walked on through several plantations of sweet potato, belonging to the inhabitants of the coast.”

Continuing around, “The population of this part of Puna though somewhat numerous, did not appear to possess the means of subsistence in any great variety or abundance; and we have often been surprised to find the desolate coasts more thickly inhabited than some of the fertile tracts in the interior …”

“… a circumstance we can only account for, by supposing that the facilities which the former afford for fishing, induce the natives to prefer them as places of abode; for they find that where the coast is low, the adjacent water is generally shallow.”

Passing Kalapana, “the country began to wear a more agreeable aspect. Groves of cocoa-nuts ornamented the projecting points of land, clumps of kou-trees appeared in various directions, and the habitations of the natives were also thickly scattered over the coast”.

“Kaimu is pleasantly situated near the sea shore, on the SE side of the island, standing on a bed of lava considerably decomposed, and covered over with a light and fertile soil. It is adorned with plantations, groves of cocoanuts, and clumps of kou-trees. It has a fine sandy beach, where canoes may land with safety; and, according to the houses numbered today, contains about 725 inhabitants.”

Toward Kapoho, “A most beautiful and romantic landscape presented itself on our left, as we travelled out of Pualaa. The lava was covered with a tolerably thick layer of soil, and the verdant plain, extending several miles towards the foot of the mountains, was agreeably diversified by groups of picturesque hills, originally craters, but now clothed with grass, and ornamented with clumps of trees.”

On to Kea‘au. “The country was populous, but the houses stood singly, or in small clusters, generally on the plantations, which were scattered over the whole country. Grass and herbage were abundant, vegetation in many places luxuriant, and the soil, though shallow, was light and fertile”.

“At half-past ten we resumed our walk, and passing about two miles through a wood of pretty large timber, came to the open country in the vicinity of Waiakea (Hilo.) … The whole is covered with luxuriant vegetation, and the greater part of it formed into plantations, where plantains, bananas, sugar-cane, taro, potatoes, and melons, grow to the greatest perfection”.

“Groves of cocoa-nut and breadfruit are seen in every direction loaded with fruit, or clothed with umbrageous foliage. The houses are mostly larger and better built than those of many districts through which we had passed. We thought the people generally industrious; for in several of the less fertile parts of the district we saw small pieces of lava thrown up in heaps, and potato vines growing very well in the midst of them, though we could scarcely perceive a particle of soil”.

Then, by canoe from Hilo along the Hāmākua coast, “The country, by which we sailed, was fertile, beautiful, and apparently populous. The numerous plantations on the eminences and sides of the deep ravines or valleys, by which it was intersected, with the streams meandering through them into the sea, presented altogether a most agreeable prospect”.

“The high land over which we passed was generally woody, though the trees were not large. The places that were free from wood, were covered with long grass and luxuriant ferns. The houses mostly stood singly, and were scattered over the face of the country.”

“A rich field of potatoes or taro, five or six acres sometimes in extent, or large plantations of sugar-cane and bananas, occasionally bordered our path. But though the soil was excellent, it was only partially cultivated. The population also appeared less than what we had seen inhabiting some of the most desolate parts of the island”.

“… the inhabitants, excepting at Waiakea, did not appear better supplied with the necessaries of life than those of Kona, or the more barren parts of Hawaii. They had better houses, plenty of vegetables, some dogs, and few hogs, but hardly any fish, a principal article of food with the natives in general”.

From Kapulena to Waimea, … taking an inland direction passed over a pleasant country, gently undulated with hill and dale. The soil was fertile, the vegetation flourishing, and there was considerable cultivation, though but few inhabitants.”

“About noon they reached the valley of Waimea, lying at the foot of Mouna-Kea, on the northwest side. Here a number of villages appeared on each side of the path, surrounded with plantations in which plantains, sugar-cane, and taro were seen growing unusually large”.

“Viewed from the great elevation at which we stood, the charming (Waipio) valley, spread out beneath us like a map, with its numerous inhabitants, cottages, plantations, fishponds, and meandering streams. … The bottom of this valley was one continued garden, cultivated with taro, bananas, sugar-cane, and other productions of the islands, all growing luxuriantly.”

“Pololu is a pleasant village, situated in a small cultivated valley, having a fine stream of water flowing down its centre …. The houses stand principally on the beach. … The country was fertile, and seemed populous, though the houses were scattered, and more than three or four seldom appeared together.”

“A wide tract of country in the neighbourhood was divided into fields of considerable size, containing several acres each, which he used to keep in good order, and well stocked with potatoes and other vegetables. … The soil was fertile and vegetation abundant.”

Towarrd Mahukona, “Though we had numbered, in our journey today, 600 houses, we had not seen any thing like four hundred people, almost the whole population being employed in the mountains cutting sandal wood”.

From Mahukona to Kawaihae, “The coast was barren; the rocks volcanic; the men were all employed in fishing; and Mr. Thurston was informed that the inhabitants of the plantations, about (2-3) miles in the interior, were far more numerous than on the shore”.

Southwest of Waimea toward Kiholo, “The soil over which he had travelled was fertile, well watered, and capable of sustaining many thousand inhabitants. In his walks he had numbered 220 houses, and the present population is probably between eleven and twelve hundred.”

Then via canoe, they “landed at Kihoro, a straggling village, inhabited principally by fishermen.” Then they traveled by canoe back to Kailua. (The bulk of this is from information assembled by Newman.)

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