Samuel Rice | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

“…the meat-eating population has increased, while the areas devoted to grazing and the numbers of cattle have gradually diminished, so that at the present time we are face to face with a situation in which the supply will no longer cover the demand.”

“Formerly (cattle) had wider ranges to rove over and feed upon; they were possessors of the land, and their value consisted chiefly in the labor and hides that they yielded.”

“At that time the plantations, which were of smaller areas than now, were almost wholly worked by bullock labor… In the course of time, and that very recent, the sugar industry has undergone great expansion.”

“The lands, some of which formerly were among the best for meat-making uses, have been absorbed by the plantations, and the cattle have been gradually forced within narrower limits at higher altitudes.” (Walter Maxwell; Thrum 1900)

Let’s look back …

With the arrival of Western ships, new plants and animals soon found their way to the Hawaiian Islands. In 1793, Captain George Vancouver gave a few cattle to Kamehameha I. When Vancouver landed additional cattle at Kealakekua in 1794, he strongly encouraged Kamehameha to place a 10‐year kapu on them to allow the herd to grow.

In the decades that followed, cattle flourished and later turned into a dangerous nuisance. (By 1846, 25,000-wild cattle roamed at will and an additional 10,000-semi‐domesticated cattle lived alongside humans.)

Kamehameha III lifted the kapu in 1830 and the hunting of wild cattle was encouraged. The king hired cattle hunters from overseas to help in the effort; many of these were former convicts from Botany Bay in Australia.

Wild cattle were hunted for consumption, as well as provisioning ships with salt beef, and hides and tallow to the growing whaling fleets replenished their stocks.

In addition, Kamehameha III had vaqueros (Mexican-Spanish cow hands) brought to the islands to teach the Hawaiians, the skills of herding and handling cattle.

“The formalization of ranching operations on Hawai‘i evolved in response to the growing threat of herds of wild cattle and goats to the Hawaiian environment, and the rise and fall of other business interests leading up to the middle 1800s.” (Maly)

The vaqueros found the Hawaiians to be capable students, and by the 1870s, the Hawaiian cowboys came to be known as the “paniola” for the Espanola (Spanish) vaqueros who had been brought to the islands (though today, the Hawaiian cowboy is more commonly called “paniolo”). (Maly)

“The forest areas of the Hawaiian Islands were very considerable, covering the upland plateaus and mountain slopes at altitudes above the lands now devoted to sugar growing and other cultures.”

“Those areas, however, have suffered great reduction, and much of the most valuable forest cover has been devastated and laid bare. The causes given, and to-day seen, of the great destruction that has occurred are the direct removal of forest without any replacement by replanting.”

“Again, in consequence of the wholesale crushing and killing off of forest trees by cattle which have been allowed to traverse the woods and to trample out the brush and undergrowth which protected the roots and trunks of trees, vast breadths of superb forests have dried up, and are now dead and bare.”

“All authorities of the past and of the present agree in ascribing to mountain cattle, which were not confined to ranching areas, but allowed to run wild in the woods, the chief part in the decimation of the forest-covered lands. (Maxwell; Thrum)

“While the visits of the whaleships were confined to a few ports, the effects were felt in many other parts of the kingdom. Much of the domestic produce, such as potatoes, vegetables, beef, pork, fowls, and firewood, that was supplied to the ships was raised in the back country and had to be taken to the ports for sale.”

“The demand for firewood to supply so many ships over so great a period of time must have had an appreciable effect in reducing the forest areas and helping to create a serious problem for later generations.”

“Cattle for beef were, where possible, driven to the ports on the hoof and slaughtered as needed; at times they were led carelessly through the streets, to the annoyance and danger of the peaceful populace.” (Kuykendall)

In the years prior to the Māhele of 1848, nearly all of the cattle (as well as goats and sheep) belonged either to the King, the government, other chiefs close to the King, and a few foreigners who had been granted the right to handle the cattle. By 1851 there were around 20,000 cattle on the island of Hawai‘i, and approximately 12,000 of them were wild. (Maly)

The issuance of land title through the Māhele and Royal Patent Grant program of the Hawaiian Kingdom facilitated the development of large scale ranching activities on Hawai‘i. Every ahupua‘a in the area between Keauhou to Kealakekua (as well as on lands to the north and south) was put into ranching.

Ranchers, such as Samuel Rice, Charles Hall, William Johnson, Henry N. Greenwell, John D. Paris, James Atkins, Preston Cummings, Henry Weeks, George Trousseau and several others, operated in the uplands of Kona. (Maly)

The ranches of this region were generally situated between the 1,500 to 4,500-foot elevation, above the lands that in the same period were being turned over to the cultivation of coffee and other crops.

There were also important mauka-makai trails at various locations in the Keauhou-Kealakekua vicinity (such as Honalo, Kawanui, Lehu‘ula, Honua‘ino, Kalukalu, Onouli, and Ka‘awaloa), where ranchers would drive their cattle to the lowlands for grazing and shipping.

Māhele records also tell us that the native Hawaiian land owners in the same region, kept pigs and goats (and probably cattle and horses) on their own lands at lower elevations as well.

By 1855, the King signed a law requiring all cattle owners on Hawai‘i to register their brands between April 1st to September 30th 1855. On October 16, 1855, SL Austin (secretary to Governor of Hawai‘i), reported to John Young (Minister of the Interior), that 13 individuals had submitted the necessary documentation. (Maly)

For the most part, Kona Ranching operations continued on leased or fee lands by descendants of the earlier ranchers – Greenwell, Johnson, Paris, Wall and Roy.

Most of the ranching was/is in the uplands (areas extending from the Māmalahoa Highway vicinity to around the 4,800-foot elevation).

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Kailua Bay looking down on beach by pier

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“Far, far back in the prosperous reign of Kamehameha I, a vessel visited these Islands. She had on board a blacksmith. Kamehameha was every inch a king. All these Islands were made for him; and so he thought was that foreign blacksmith.” (Lucy Thurston)

Kamehameha started to accumulate Western goods, including ships and weaponry. In 1790, he was joined by John Young and Isaac Davis, Europeans who knew how to use both.

A blacksmith would have been needed to keep these ships and weapons in working order. Samuel Rice was a blacksmith by trade. (Solomon)

“Power and skill so interlaced providences, that when the vessel sailed, the blacksmith was detained on shore. (He later) worked for his royal master, but with the full purpose of embracing the first opportunity to leave the Islands.” (Thurston)

Samuel Rice was born in about April 1787; his Hawaiian naturalization certificate notes he was a native of New Hampshire. He came to the Islands around 1811, probably aboard a fur trading ship. (Solomon)

Other note Rice was a native of Springfield, Massachusetts, and left a ship at Kealakekua, of which he was blacksmith, about the year 1815, and became the King’s ‘armourer.’ (Sheldon; Thrum, 1882)

“Kamehameha had never been introduced to the code of Christian morals. Another vessel came and went, and the pioneer blacksmith was still detained. The frightful idea of long and hopeless captivity now burst upon him. He drank more deeply …”

“Such was his sad state when the American Missionaries reached these Islands in 1820. Other foreigners came and took us by the hand. For four years he never approached us. His first call was one never to be forgotten.” (Lucy Thurston)

“If Mr Samuel Rice, of Kailua to be credited, Kamehameha did not forget John Young in his dying instructions to Kaʻahumanu. As Mr Rice was present on that occasion, and as few or any other of those who were, now survive, the statement made by him is to some historical importance, as a record of the olden time.” (The Polynesia, October 11, 1851)

Around 1820, Samuel married a Hawaiian woman known as Kahiwakalana. There are records with other variations of this name as well. They had a daughter named Hannah Kaʻakau Rice. That marriage was annulled; Rice married Kaʻanae of Lanihau on March 24, 1851. (Solomon)

“For about 18 years of his residence in these islands he was addicted to drinking to intoxication, and spent all he earned in this way. But about the year 1833 or 4 there was a marked change in his character in this respect, and he appeared a reformed man; and in the year 35 he was received as a member of the church at Kailua”. (Asa Thurston)

“The daughter had learned to fear, to obey, and to love her father. She then came under his guidance, the instruction and influence of the missionaries, as had never been thought of before. She married, became a faithful wife, a devoted mother, and a humble Christian.” (Lucy Thurston)

In the service of Kamehameha, and later Kuakini, Rice was given property in West Hawaii: Honuaʻino (an ahupuaʻa that runs through Kainaliu) and two house sites in Kailua; the first, Pa O ʻUmi Heiau (on Ololi Road between Kopiko Plaza and Kuakini Hwy.)

During Land Commission hearings regarding various land awards, John ʻIʻi stated, “I have seen this place which is on Hawaii named Honuainoiki (Honuaʻinoiki.) I had heard during the lifetime of Kamehameha that the place had been acquired by him (Rice) and in the year 1843.”

“I had seen the land and house-lot personally. … It is my belief that Kamehameha had given this land to him (Rice) because he (Rice) was Kamehameha’s blacksmith and no one has ever objected.”

“The House lot at Kailua Rice’s house-lot at Kailua is named ʻUmi. It has been enclosed and there are houses. The boundaries are shown in the map of the lot. I believe Kuakini had given him this interest in the year 1829 and since then to this day, no one has objected.” (ʻIʻi; Maly)

The other was Kolelua (in the Honuaʻula ahupuaʻa – in the vicinity of Kona Inn and Huliheʻe Palace;) “the first house built by a white settler”. (Daily Bulletin, April 8, 1886) “Claimant received from Kamehameha I in the year 1814…”

Hannah Rice married Charles Hall. “In the year 1843, Mr Rice came up from Oʻahu to make arrangements with Hall to enter into partnership in a coffee plantation.”

“Some four or five miles beyond Keauhou I reached Mr Hall’s place where he has an extensive coffee plantation. His thatched house, or rather houses, is pleasantly situated among beautiful shade trees – among them the Pride of India, kukui, etc.”

“He has many thousand coffee trees, and after five years’ labor is beginning to find it profitable. He estimates that coffee may be afforded at 5 cents per pound; the actual price this year is 16 cents, and in past years it has been 20 cents or more. “

“There is abundance of rain in this elevated region (some 2000 or 3000 feet above the sea and about 3 miles inland,) and the climate is moderate and bracing. He has a native wife and a family of several children. His wife is a daughter of Mr. Rice of Kailua…” (Lyman; Maly)

“He has been a member of the Church for about 18 years, during which period, and except the faults above mentioned, after each of which he professed repentance, he has exhibited himself as on the Lord’s side.”

“He was a regular attendant on the means of Grace, and his seat in the house of God was never vacant except from ill health, absence from home, or some press of business which could not well be deferred.”

“He read the Bible much till his eyesight failed, and since he frequently requested his wife to read to him some chapter or portion of the word of God; and a short time since lie was seen to take the blessed book and pressing it to his lips, with streaming eyes, expressed his tears that he should no more be able to peruse its sacred pages.”

“He died on the morning of the 24th (of July, 1853,) rather suddenly, with the cholic or cramp, of which he had many previous attacks in years past.” (Asa Thurston)

“Honor be to the memory of the humble old patriarch. I knew him well. He had my most profound sympathy in his deep degradation, in his mighty conflicts, and in his great conquests.” (Lucy Thurston)

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