Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Kohala Field System

Throughout the younger islands of the Hawaiian archipelago, dryland agricultural field systems constituted a significant component of the late prehistoric subsistence economy.
 
The field systems produced large quantities of food to support local farmers and residents, as well as local and district-level chiefly elites.
 
It is generally thought that the dryland agricultural systems had spread to their maximum extent, nearly reaching the edge of productive lands.
 
Kohala supported a large and well-developed field system, covering over 15,000-acres with a dense network of field walls and paved trails.  It is one of the largest archaeological sites in Polynesia.
 
In the Kohala area, Hawaiian farmers found, farmed and intensified production on lands that were poised between being too wet and too dry.
 
The distribution of intensive rain-fed agricultural systems was constrained on its lower end by conditions that were too arid to support intensive agriculture reliably, while at their upper margin many millennia of leaching had depleted soil fertility to a point where intensive rain-fed agriculture was infeasible.
 
In essence, Hawaiians were farming the rock in intensive dryland agricultural systems; their field systems extended to the wettest point that still supplied nutrients via basalt weathering.
 
When the field system is plotted against the rainfall map it falls within the 30-70-in rainfall band.
 
Archaeological evidence of intensive cultivation of sweet potato and other dryland crops is extensive, including walls, terraces, mounds and other features.
 
The fields throughout the Kohala system were oriented parallel to the elevation contours and the walls (and perhaps kō (sugar cane) planted on them) would have functioned as windbreaks from the trade winds which sweep down the slopes of the Kohala mountains.
 
Configured in this way, the walls would also have reduced evapotranspiration and – with heavy mulching – retained essential moisture for the crops.  This alignment of fields also conserved water by retaining and dispersing surface run-off and inhibited wind erosion and soil creep.
 
The main development of the Kohala field system took place AD 1450-1800.  By the late-1600s the lateral expansion of the field system had been reached, and by AD 1800 the system was highly intensified.
 
The process of intensification involved shortened fallow periods, and agricultural plots divided into successively smaller units.
 
The archaeological map of the Kohala field system depicts over 5,400-segments of rock alignments and walls with a total length of nearly 500-miles.
 
The fields begin near the north tip of the island very close to the coast.  The western margin extends southward at an increasing distance from the coast, with the eastern margin at a higher elevation and also an increasing distance from the coast.
 
From north to south the field system is more than 12-miles in length.  At its maximum, it is more than 2.5-miles in width.
 
Scientists speculate that this farming did not just support the local population, but was also used by Kamehameha to feed the thousands of warriors under his command in his conquest of uniting the islands under a single rule in the late-1700s.
 
Based on experimental plantings, if only half of the Kohala Field System was in production in one year, it could be producing between 20,000 to 120,000-tons of sweet potato in one crop.
 
The system was abandoned shortly after European contact in the early- or mid-19th century.
 
The image shows remnants of the Kohala Field System walls in present pastureland.  A special thanks to Peter Vitousek, former Hawai‘i resident and now Professor at Stanford, for background information and images. 
 
 
 

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kōloa Heritage Trail

The Kōloa District is the name of a modern political-judicial district encompassing the south shore of Kauai.
 
In ancient times, the Kōloa District was part of a larger district called Kona.  The Kōloa Heritage Trail travels through four ahupuaʻa. From east to west, they are: Māhāʻulepu, Paʻa, Weliweli and Kōloa.
 
Poʻipū is part of the Kōloa ahupua’a.  One meaning of the name Poʻipū is crashing, as in waves crashing.
 
The Kōloa Heritage Trail is a 10-mile walk, bike ride or drive which includes 14 stops and monuments describing the significance of the location.
 
1. Spouting Horn Park
Spouting Horn Park was called puhi, or blowhole, by early Hawaiians.  Legends tell of a huge mo‘o, or lizard, caught in this puhi, which was formed when waves eroded softer, underlying rock and wore through the harder top rock.  Water rushing into the hole is forced through the narrow opening and shoots skyward.
 
2. Prince Kūhiō Birthplace & Park
Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana‘ole was born in Kōloa in a grass hut near this beach to Princess Kinoike Kekaulike and High Chief David Kahalepouli Pi‘ikoi.  He became a delegate to U.S. Congress after Hawai`i became a Territory in 1900, serving for 19 years.  He worked tirelessly on behalf of the Hawaiian people.
 
3. Hanakaʻape Bay & Kōloa Landing
Once, Kōloa Landing was the third largest whaling port in all of Hawai`i and the only port of entry for foreign goods.  The Sugar industry increased its use until 1912, when better facilities became available elsewhere.  Goods and people were transferred by hand and small boat to ships in Hanaka‘ape Bay.
 
4. Pa‘u a Laka – Moir Gardens
What began as a hobby garden by the Kōloa Plantation Manager’s wife became celebrated as one of the world’s best of its kind.  Numerous cactus planted in the 1930s thrived in the arid, rocky soil here.  Many escaped to surrounding areas to become naturalized over time.  You’ll also find water lily-filled lava rock ponds, koi and a variety of orchid and cactus species.
 
5. Kihahouna Heiau
The walled heiau (temple) that once stood here was 130 feet by 90 feet; dedicated to Kane, a major god of Hawaii; Hulukoki, a bird god; and Ku-hai-moana and Ka-moho-alii, two shark gods.  Three hala-lihilihi-ula trees situated on the outside of the naupaka hedge mark the heiau perimeter.
 
6. Po‘ipū Beach Park
Abundant, easy-to-view marine life in calm waters is a major attraction at Po‘ipū Beach.  The endangered native Hawaiian Monk seal and threatened Green sea turtle are frequent visitors.  From November through May, the endangered Humpback whale appears.  Ancient Hawaiians fished and played here and harvested salt in dug-out evaporating pans nearby.
 
7. Keoneloa Bay
Between 200 and 600 A.D., early visitors arrived at Keoneloa Bay, meaning long sand, likely from the Marquesas Islands.  They used the area as a temporary fishing camp, leaving behind stone-age tools, remnants of heiau, or temples, and ahu, or altars.  They prayed to Kane‘aukai, an important fishing god.
 
8. Makawehi & Pa‘a Dunes
The lithified sand dunes of Makawehi, calm face, and Pa‘a, hard rock, yield fossilized plant roots, bird bones, crab claws and other treasures.  Prior to extensive wave erosion, this prominent limestone ridge extended across Keoneloa Bay.  During March through November, water birds visit and sea birds nest and roost in the dunes.
 
9. Pu‘uwanawana Volcanic Cone
More than 5 million years ago, a hotspot in the earth spewed lava upward to form the volcanic mountain island of Kaua‘i. Nearby Ha‘upu Ridge and Mountain contain some of the oldest geologic formations.  Look for the youngest volcanic cones such as Pu‘uwanawana, within view.  Weathered volcanic material produced rich agricultural plains.
 
 10. Hapa Road (Hapa Trail)
Lava rock walls near Hapa Road signify Hawaiian habitation ca. 1200 AD, while the road dates to the late 1800s.  Nearby tracks once held trains hauling cane to Kōloa Plantation for milling.  Hapa Road served as a supply and emergency evacuation route during World War II, and at various times a foot- and bicycle path.
 
 11. Kōloa Jodo Mission
Buddhist temples provided Japanese immigrants a place to worship, study their language, learn martial arts and participate in social events.  This Jodo Mission used a specialist in temple architecture from Japan to build the large temple’s interior.  Hand-painted, wooden ceiling tiles were a gift from the Japanese artist who rendered them.
 
12. Sugar Monument
Ancient Polynesians were the first to bring sugar cane to Hawai’i.  Starting with its first cane seeding in 1835, Kōloa Plantation was the first in Hawai’i to successfully mill cane commercially for export.  It set the precedent for free housing and medical benefits for its immigrant employees from China, Japan, East and West Germany, Portugal and the Philippines.
 
13. Yamamoto Store & Kōloa Hotel
Built at the turn of the 20th century, The Yamamoto Building functioned at various times as a plantation camp store and general store with service station.  Behind it, the Kōloa Hotel offered rooms to traveling salesmen and actors.  The o-furo, or hot tub, provided a relaxing soak to guests.
 
14. Kōloa Missionary Church
Kōloa Missionary Church sanctuary is part of a homestead once owned by Dr. James W. Smith, a medical missionary.  In 1842, he began a practice of over 40 years, later becoming an ordained minister at The Church at Kōloa.  His grandson, Dr. Alfred Herbert Waterhouse, added a clinic to the homestead in 1933.
 
The Poʻipū Beach Resort Association and its Po‘ipū Beach Foundation are the major sponsors of the trail map and brochures.
 
All of these sites are Points of Interest in the Holo Holo Kōloa Scenic Byway; we worked with the Kōloa and Poʻipū communities and prepared the Corridor Management Plan for their Scenic Byway.
 
 

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

‘Duck Bill’

For a time, he was known as “Duck Bill” because of his sweeping nose and protruding upper lip (covered with a mustache later in life). He was also nicknamed “Wild Bill” for his daring fighting in the Union army during the Civil War, which included service as a spy, a scout, and a sharpshooter.

James Butler Hickok was born May 27, 1837 at Homer (now Troy Grove), Illinois.  His family emigrated from England in 1635 to Massachusetts, where his great-grandfather responded to the British march on Lexington and Concord at the beginning of the American Revolution.

Hickok’s father moved his family from Vermont to Maine to Illinois. There the family’s small farm served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. (Britannica)

William A Hickok, father of “Wild Bill,” constructed a hidden trap door in the floor of his house that led to a secret room between the first floor and the cellar.  Runaway slaves would hide in this secret room before continuing on to Canada and freedom.

William Hickok and other residents of Troy Grove would hide the runaway slaves during the day, but then at night, cover the slaves with hay in the bottom of William Hickok’s wagon and travel under the cover of darkness to the next Underground Railroad station.  (LaSalle County Historical Society Museum)

Hickok left home at age 17 and worked as a canal boat pilot in Utica, Illinois, before heading west in 1856 to Bleeding Kansas, which was embroiled in a violent conflict over whether slavery should be permitted there.

During this period Hickok prevented a man from beating an 11-year-old boy, who grew up to become Buffalo Bill Cody, Hickok’s longtime friend. (Britannica)

Buffalo Bill later wrote in his memoirs that he first met Wild Bill when Hickok saved him from a serious beating by an irate teamster while they were all working for a freighting company.

Cody had recently been hired as an “extra”, the term generally used at that time for a young boy too small to drive the teams or load freight, but who was able to perform various camp duties for the crew as an extra hand. When the teamster chose to pick on Cody, Hickok intervened. (Center of the West)

Hickok later joined the antislavery Free State Army of Jayhawkers and, having already become skilled with a gun as a youth, served as a bodyguard for Union General James H Lanes.

Hickok’s growing reputation for fairness and courage earned him, in 1858, a position as a constable in Monticello, Kansas. Later that year he became a teamster with the great freighting enterprise Russell, Majors and Waddell, creators of the Pony Express, for which he was too tall and heavy to be a rider.

It was at this time that Hickok came across a bear blocking a road, an encounter that would become part of the lore surrounding him: Hickok shot the bear, which only angered it, and a struggle ensued, during which Hickok used a knife to slit the bear’s throat, but not before he was nearly crushed to death.

Hickok was bedridden for months before he went to southern Nebraska in the summer of 1861 to work at the Pony Express station at Rock Creek. (Britannica)

There are many versions of the shootout that occurred at Rock Creek on July 12, 1861, shortly after the start of the Civil War, and all, in one way or another, contributed to Hickok’s legend.

David McCanles acted as the Pony Express’s Rock Creek station manager and had reputedly ridiculed Hickok during his convalescence from his injuries.

The first major description of the incident appeared in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in February 1867.  In quick succession, Hickok was said to have then killed five members of McCanles’s gang and knocked out another before three more gang members threw him down on a bed, only to be bested in hand-to-hand combat by the knife-wielding Hickok.

Later historians, however, have presented a radically different portrayal of the events at Rock Creek. Hickok was charged with murder but found not guilty.

After the fact, there was much speculation as to whether romantic rivalry had had a role in the incident: Hickok was apparently involved with a woman who had also been involved with the married McCanles. (Britannica)

On July 21, 1865, in a shootout in Springfield, Missouri, he killed David Tutt, a skillful gunfighter who had been flaunting the watch he won from Hickok in a poker game.

Hickok was arrested for murder, tried, and acquitted. This incident added to his fame as a gunslinger, which skyrocketed when journalist and later explorer Sir Henry Morton Stanley reported as fact in the New York Herald in 1867 Hickok’s exaggerated claim that he had killed 100 men. (Britannia)

Hickok was a favorite of George Armstrong Custer and his wife, Libbie, who described him “as a delight to look upon.” Hickok’s physical appearance was by many accounts arresting.

One account of him, written in the late 1860s, described Hickok as “six feet tall, lithe, active, sinewy, [a] daring rider, [a] dead shot with pistol and rifle, [with] long locks, fine features and mustache, buckskin leggings, red shirt, broad-brim hat, twin pistols in belt, rifle in hand.”

Despite his rough-and-ready ways, Hickok was also said to have been genteel and courteous and to have enjoyed dressing with panache in the latest styles of the day.

In 1869 Hickok became sheriff of Hays City, Kansas, where he killed several men in shootouts. In 1871 he took over as the marshal of the tough cow town of Abilene, Kansas. There, again, he killed several men, including his deputy marshal, whose death – the result of an accidental shooting – led to Hickok’s dismissal.

Hickok tried acting in Wild West shows, which were growing in popularity. His own show, The Daring Buffalo Chase of the Plains, did not fare well, but in 1873 he joined Buffalo Bill Cody’s The Scouts of the Prairie, which was based in Rochester, New York.

Although the show brought Hickok some much-needed income, he was unhappy, began drinking heavily, and returned to the West in March 1874.

In 1876 in Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory, Hickok married Agnes Lake Thatcher, a former circus performer. A month or so later, he left their honeymoon in Cincinnati for the goldfields of the Black Hills in the Dakota Territory, where he hoped to make enough money to send for her.

He traveled west to Deadwood, South Dakota, in a wagon train that included Martha Jane Cannary (“Calamity Jane”), who later claimed she had secretly married him.

Deadwood was overrun with miners, gunmen, and gamblers when Hickok became a peace officer there in July 1876, relying as much on his reputation as on his diminishing gun skills, which were compromised by failing eyesight.

Throughout his lifetime, Hickok would work as a wagon-master for the Union Army during the Civil War, serve as a sheriff and city marshal, and kill at least six men in gunfights.

Hickok is widely regarded as the greatest gunfighter who ever lived, is the winner of the first recorded quick-draw duel, and was posthumously inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979. (Denver Library)

On August 2, 1876, during a poker game in a saloon that found him with his back uncharacteristically to the door, Hickok was shot in the back of his head by Jack McCall, who may have been hired to kill him.  (Initially acquitted, McCall was retried in Laramie, Wyoming Territory, found guilty, and hanged on March 1, 1877.)  (Britannica)

The cards Hickok had been holding when he was shot and killed – a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights plus an unknown fifth card – became known as the “Dead Man’s Hand.”

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Currents

Historically the world was thought of having 4 oceans the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian and Arctic. Today we have five oceans (adding the Southern (around Antarctica)) covering over 71 percent of the earth’s surface and over 97 percent of the earth’s water. (National Geographic)

The term ‘Seven Seas’ has referred to bodies of water along trade routes, regional bodies of water, or exotic and far-away bodies of water.

In Greek literature (which is where the phrase entered Western literature), the Seven Seas were the Aegean, Adriatic, Mediterranean, Black, Red and Caspian seas, with the Persian Gulf thrown in as a “sea.”

In Medieval European literature, the phrase referred to the North Sea, Baltic, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Black, Red and Arabian seas.

As trade picked up across the Atlantic, the concept of the Seven Seas changed again. Mariners then referred to the Seven Seas as the Arctic, the Atlantic, the Indian, the Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

Not many people use this phrase today, but you could say that the modern Seven Seas include the Arctic, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific, Indian and Southern Oceans.  (NOAA)

Oceans have currents, the continuous, predictable, directional movement of seawater driven by gravity, wind and water density. Ocean water moves in two directions: horizontally and vertically. Horizontal movements are referred to as currents, while vertical changes are called upwellings or downwellings. (National Geographic)

Ocean currents exist both on and below the surface. Some currents are local to specific areas, while others are global. And they move a lot of water. The largest current in the world, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, is estimated to be 100 times larger than all the water flowing in all the world’s rivers.

A characteristic surface speed is about 2 to 20 inches per second. Currents generally diminish in intensity with increasing depth.

Vertical movements exhibit much lower speeds, amounting to only a few meters per month. As seawater is nearly incompressible, vertical movements are associated with regions of convergence and divergence in the horizontal flow patterns. (Britannica)

All of this moving water helps more stationary species get the food and nutrients they need. Instead of going looking for food, these creatures wait for the currents to bring a fresh supply to them.

Currents also play a major role in reproduction. The currents spread larvae and other reproductive cells. Without currents many of the ocean’s ecosystems would collapse. (Ocean Blue Project)

Ocean surface currents tend to form ring-like circulation systems called gyres. A gyre is a circular ocean current formed by a combination of the prevailing winds, the rotation of the Earth, and landmasses.

Continents interfere with the movement of both surface winds and currents. Gyres form in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

Gyres in the Northern Hemisphere travel in clockwise directions while gyres in the Southern Hemisphere travel in counter-clockwise directions. It takes about 54 months for water to travel the circuit of the North Pacific gyre, while only 14 months in the North Atlantic gyre.

In the Northern Hemisphere near the equator, trade winds drive currents westward, forming a North Equatorial Current (NE), which moves at about 1 m/sec. At the western boundary of an ocean basin, the water turns and flows towards the North Pole, forming the western-ocean boundary currents.

Western boundary currents are very strong. Two examples are the Gulf Stream (GS) that runs in the Atlantic ocean basin and the Kuroshio Current in the Pacific ocean basin.

They are narrower, but deeper and swifter, than the other currents in the gyre. For example, speeds of 2 m/sec have been measured in the Gulf Stream. These currents, as deep as 1 km, generally remain in deeper water beyond the continental shelf. Western-ocean boundary currents carry warm water from the equator north.

The broad, gentle pitch of the continental shelf gives way to the relatively steep continental slope. The more gradual transition to the abyssal plain is a sediment-filled region called the continental rise. The continental shelf, slope, and rise are collectively called the continental margin. (Britannica)

Eventually, the western boundary currents fall under the influence of the westerly winds and begin flowing to the east, forming the North Atlantic Current (NA) and North Pacific Current (NP).

When they approach the eastern-ocean boundaries of continents, they turn and flow south, forming the eastern-ocean boundary currents. Eastern-ocean boundary currents are shallower and slower than western-ocean boundary currents.

Current flow over the continental shelves (the edge of a continent that lies under the ocean), close to shore, carrying colder waters from the north to the south. Two examples are the California Current (Cal) in the Pacific Ocean basin and the Canary Current (Can) in the Atlantic Ocean basin.

One major current, the equatorial Countercurrent (EC), appears to be an exception to the circulation pattern set up by the gyres. This countercurrent forms just north of the equator in the region between the north equatorial current and the south equatorial current and flows in the opposite direction.  (Hawaii-edu)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Feast

271 hogs, 482 large calabashes of poi, 602 chickens, 3 whole oxen, 2 barrels salt pork, 2 barrels biscuit, 3,125 salt fish, 1,820 fresh fish, 12 barrels luau and cabbages, 4 barrels onions, 80 bunches bananas, 55 pineapples, 10 barrels potatoes, 55 ducks, 82 turkeys, 2,245 coconuts, 4,000 heads of taro, 180 squid, oranges, limes, grapes and various fruits.

But we are already getting ahead of ourselves, let’s look back.

On April 25, 1825, Richard Charlton arrived in the Islands to serve as the first British consul. A former sea captain and trader, he was already familiar with the islands of the Pacific and had promoted them in England for their commercial potential (he worked for the East India Company in the Pacific as early as 1821.)

Charlton had been in London during Kamehameha II’s visit in 1824 and secured an introduction to the king and his entourage.  By the time he arrived in Hawai‘i in 1825, instructions had already arrived from Kamehameha II that Charlton was to be allowed to build a house, or houses, any place he wished and should be made comfortable.  This apparently was due to favors Charlton had done for the royal party.  (Hawaiʻi State Archives)

In 1840, Charlton made a claim for several parcels of land in Honolulu. To substantiate his claim, Charlton produced a 299-year lease for the land in question, granted by Kalanimōku.  There was no disagreement over the parcel, Wailele, on which Charlton lived, but the adjoining parcel he claimed, Pūlaholaho, had been occupied since 1826 by retainers and heirs of Kaʻahumanu.

In rejecting Charlton’s claim, Kamehameha III cited the fact that Kalanimōku did not have the authority to grant the lease.  At the time the lease was made, Kaʻahumanu was Kuhina Nui, and only she and the king could make such grants.  The land was Kaʻahumanu’s in the first place, and Kalanimōku certainly could not give it away.  (Hawaiʻi State Archives)  The dispute dragged on for years.

This, and other grievances purported by Charlton and the British community in Hawai‘i, led to the landing of George Paulet on February 11, 1843 “for the purpose of affording protection to British subjects, as likewise to support the position of Her Britannic Majesty’s representative here”.

On February 25, the King acceded to his demands and noted, “In consequence of the difficulties in which we find ourselves involved, and our opinion of the impossibility of complying with the demands in the manner in which they are made … “

“… we do hereby cede the group of islands known as the Hawaiian (or Sandwich) Islands, unto the Right Honorable Lord George Paulet … the said cession being made with the reservation that it is subject to any arrangement that may have been entered into by the Representatives appointed by us to treat with the Government of Her Britannic Majesty…”

Under the terms of the new government the King and his advisers continued to administer the affairs of the Hawaiian population.  For business dealing with foreigners, a commission was created, consisting of the King (or his representative,) Paulet and two officers from Paulet’s ship.  Judd served as the representative of the King.  (Daws)

On April 1, 1843, Lord Aberdeen, on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria, assured the Hawaiian delegation that: “Her Majesty’s Government was willing and had determined to recognize the independence of the Sandwich Islands under their present sovereign.”

On November 28, 1843, the British and French Governments united in a joint declaration and entered into a formal agreement recognizing Hawaiian independence (Lord Aberdeen signed on behalf of Britain, French ambassador Louis Saint-Aulaire signed on behalf of France.)

After five months of British rule, Queen Victoria, on learning the injustice done, immediately sent Rear Admiral Richard Darton Thomas to the islands to restore sovereignty to its rightful rulers. On July 31, 1843 the Hawaiian flag was raised.  The ceremony was held in area known as Kulaokahuʻa; the site of the ceremony was turned into a park Thomas Square.  After five-months of occupation, the Hawaiian Kingdom was restored.

July 31, 1843 is now referred to as Ka La Hoʻihoʻi Ea, Sovereignty Restoration Day, and it is celebrated each year in the approximate site of the 1843 ceremonies.  The plot of land on which the ceremonies took place was known as Thomas Square. Kamehameha III later officially gave this name to the area and dedicated it as a public park.

“In the afternoon Kamehameha III went in a solemn procession with his chiefs to Kawaiahaʻo Church … A ten-day celebration of Restoration Day followed, and was annually observed. The last of the Restoration Day celebrations came in 1847.”  A thousand special riders, five abreast … were followed by 2,500 regular horsemen …” (Helena G Allen)

As the procession crossed Beretania street on Nuʻuanu royal salutes were fired from the fort and the king’s yacht, the Kamehameha III. They were headed to Kaniakapūpū, Kamehameha III’s summer home.  (Thrum)

Kaniakapūpū (translated roughly as “sound (or song) of the land shells” sits on land in the Luakaha area of Nuʻuanu Valley.  The structure at Kaniakapūpū (modeled on an Irish stone cottage) was completed in 1845 and is reportedly built on top or in the vicinity of an ancient heiau.  It was a simple cottage, a square with four straight walls.

The royal party reached the picnic grounds at about 11 o’clock in a pouring rain; in fact it rained in occasional showers throughout the day … A man stationed at the first bridge for the express purpose, counted 4,000 horses going up the valley and 4,600 returning-visitors from Koʻolau making the difference in numbers.  (Thrum)

Before dinner, which was set for 2 pm, the guests were entertained with some of the ancient games – a mock fight with spears ; the lua, hand to hand combat, and the hakoko, or wrestling match.

The dinner – the feeding of the immense crowd of men, women and children – was a sight to be remembered. Henry St John, the king’s steward, had the care of this department, and he well understood his business.

For the foreign guests, who were not supposed to squat on the mats with natives, tables were provided in the cottage, where was an abundant supply of food cooked in foreign style, but the multitude were fed in the long lanais, at the far end of which was seated the royal party, the ministers and chiefs.

First there was singing of hymns by a choir of native school children, led by Messrs. Marshall and Frank Johnson, to airs that sounded sweetly to New England ears. Grace before meat was solemnly said by John Ii, and then, on a signal from the king, the assembly went vigorously to work on the immense stores of food before them.

While the feast was going on, several old women in the immediate neighborhood of where the king sat, kept up a constant chanting of metes – native poems – in his honor and that of his ancestors, accompanying the chant with gyrations and motions of the arms. And in the evening, after the most of the company had departed, a company of hula girls gave a “concert” with their attendant drum and calabash beaters.  (Thrum)

In the evening there were religious services at Kawaiahaʻo church, which was filled to overflowing, the king and queen being present. A sermon apropos of the occasion was preached by Rev. Richard Armstrong, the text being taken from Psalms 37, 3 – ‘Trust in the Lord and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.’ There could have been no question but that his hearers had been fed on that day.  (Lots here from Thrum)

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