Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Spring Forward

In Hawaiʻi’s prior subsistence society, the family farming scale was far different from today’s commercial-purpose agriculture. In ancient time, when families farmed for themselves they observed and adapted; products were produced based on need and season.

Hawaiians divided the year into two seasons – Kau (Summer – when it was dry and hot; beginning in May when Makaliʻi (Pleiades) set at sunrise;) and Hoʻoilo (Winter season when it was rainy and chilly; beginning in October.)

Months were measured not by the number of days, but were based on the phases of the moon – each beginning with the appearance of a new moon and lasting until the appearance of the next new moon.

When the stars fade away and disappear it is ao, daylight, and when the sun rises day has come, it is called la; and when the sun becomes warm, morning is past. When the sun is directly overhead it is awakea, noon; and when the sun inclines to the west in the afternoon the expression is ua aui ka la.

After that comes evening, called ahi-ahi (ahi is fire) and then sunset, napoʻo ka lā, and then comes pō, the night, and the stars shine out. (Malo)

“The days are divided … not into hours but into parts: sunrise, noon, sunset; the time between sunrise and noon is split into two, as is the time between noon and sunset.” (Lisiansky; Schmitt)

It wasn’t until the Westerners arrived that clocks and watches were used to measure passage of time during the day.

However, shortly after contact, there wasn’t always agreement about what time or date it actually was … time-keeping practices varied in the 18th century, depending on circumstances.

Noon marked the beginning of the day in astronomical reckoning, the middle of the day in civil reckoning, and the end of the day in nautical reckoning. Logs were kept on ship’s time but on entering a harbor reverted to civil time.

In addition, determining dates was not always consistent … folks travelling across the Pacific west to east may have differing dates that those travelling east to west. The International Date Line (generally on the 180th meridian) marks changes in days – but some early travelers didn’t make the adjustment.

To further confuse the issue, “The date line as originally drawn had a kink to the westward of the Hawaiian Islands to include Morrell and Byers islands which appeared on nineteenth-century charts at the western end of the Hawaiian chain. It was then proved that they did not exist, so the date line was straightened out.” (Howse)

In the 1880s, changes were being made in timekeeping practices. Several large nations still recognized prime meridians other than the one through Greenwich, and some continued to differ on the definition of a “day.”

In 1883, the US railroad industry divided the continental US into five (later four) time zones, establishing official time zones with a set standard time within each zone. (National Geographic)

The civil population nevertheless adopted ‘Railroad Time’ almost spontaneously; 85% of US towns of over ten-thousand inhabitants had done so by October 1884. However, it was not until 1918 that an Act of Congress set standard time all over the US. (Howse)

Hawaiʻi did not adopt standard time until 1896, with various notices published in the papers: “Hawaiian standard time will be ten and one-half hours slow of Greenwich. The half hour is chosen for the reason that the Hawaiian group, while limited in area, is almost centrally on the line between the ten-hour and eleven-hour belt, and the inconvenience of a wide difference between standard and local time is thus avoided.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 9, 1896)

“The meridian adopted, 157 deg 30 min, is not far from central to the group. The Kauai people will be expected to set their local time ahead 8-minutes and Niihau 10-minutes; the Maui people will set back local time on an average four minutes. The Hilo people, if they fall into line, will set back ten minutes, and Kona from 7 to 8 minutes.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 9, 1896)

The 1918 act of Congress also provided for nationwide daylight saving time from March through October.

It hit the islands, as well, “Daylight saving plan was again agitated for these islands the early part of this year, and, in April, on official orders from Washington, the navy department here set their clocks forward an hour, but it did not last long. Cutting a foot off the end of Pat’s blanket to add to its head was found to give no greater length or warmth.” (Thrum)

In 1933, the Hawaiʻi Legislature decreed daylight saving for the period between the last Sunday of each April and last Sunday of each September, but less than a month later repealed the act.

WWII brought daylight saving back to the Islands. Year-round daylight saving time, one hour ahead of Hawaiian Standard Time, was established in the Territory during World War II by General Order No. 66 of the military governor, taking effect on February 9, 1942. The new time became known as “Hawaiian War Time.”

In 1947, the Territorial Legislature permanently returned to the pre-war standard time – however, they also advanced Hawaiian Standard Time by 30 minutes, making it 10 (instead of 10-1/2) hours slower than Greenwich Mean Time, and thus two hours (not 2½) behind Pacific Standard Time. This change became effective the second Sunday of June, 1947. (Schmitt & Cox)

Later, the federal Uniform Time Act of 1966 was enacted (April 13, 1966) “to promote the adoption and observance of uniform time within the standard time zones” (called for in the 1819 law.) It sought to simplify the official pattern of where and when daylight saving time is applied across US. States/territories could opt out; the 1967 Hawaiʻi Legislature voted to exempt the Islands.

In 2005, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, effective starting in 2007, that declared daylight saving time starts on the second Sunday in March (‘spring forward’) and ends on the first Sunday in November (‘fall back’,) with the time changes taking place at 2 am local time.

So, today daylight saving time begins in most of the continental US; Hawaiʻi, Arizona (except for the Navajo Nation, which does observe daylight saving time,) Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the US Virgin Islands do not observe daylight saving time.

Since Hawaii does not, we will have the new time differences with most of the continent:
• 3-hours for Pacific
• 4-hours for Mountain
• 5-hours for Central
• 6-hours for Eastern

The image shows Ohio Clock in the US Capitol being turned forward for the country’s first daylight saving time in 1918.

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy

Marines and Sailors trained for what has been referred to as the toughest marine offensive of WWII. 1,300 miles northeast of Guadalcanal, the Japanese had constructed a centralized stronghold force in a 20-island group called Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands.

The Marines would reconstitute at Camp Tarawa at Waimea, on the Island of Hawaiʻi.  Originally an Army camp named Camp Waimea, when the population in town was about 400, it became the largest Marine training facility in the Pacific following the battle of Tarawa.

Huge tent cities were built on Parker Ranch land; the public school and the hotel across the road from it were turned into a 400-bed hospital. At first the school children attended classes in garages and on lanais, but by fall of 1944, Waimea School was housed in new buildings built by Seabees on the property behind St. James’ church.

Over 50,000-servicemen trained there between 1942 and 1945; it closed in November 1945. The new roads, reservoirs and buildings were left to the town. The public school children returned to Waimea School, and the buildings behind St. James’ stood empty … but not for long.

At the end of World War II, the Right Reverend Harry S Kennedy arrived. He was a builder of congregations and of schools, and when he saw the empty buildings at St. James’, he immediately saw possibilities.

March 12, 1949, Bishop Kennedy and a group of local businessmen turned the buildings into a church-sponsored boarding school for boys, Hawaiʻi Episcopal Academy.  The Episcopal priest was both headmaster of the school and vicar of St. James’ Mission.

The early school struggled with facilities and financing. A turning point came in 1954, when James Monroe Taylor left Choate School in Connecticut to become HPA headmaster.

Three years later, substantial financial pledges came in and the church surrendered its direction to a new governing board. The school was then independently incorporated and the name changed to Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy.

In January 1958, the board of governors purchased 55-acres of land in the foothills mauka of the Kawaihae-Kohala junction and announced plans to build a campus there. Within a year, two dorms opened on the new campus and another was cut and moved from the town campus.

Old Air Force buses driven by faculty members made daily runs between the new campus, where boarders ate and slept, and the old campus, where classes were held. The last class to graduate on the town campus was the Class of 1959.

Honolulu architect Vladimir N Ossipoff was retained to design the campus buildings – five classroom buildings, two residence halls, a chapel, a library, an administration building and a dining commons.

In 1976, HPA acquired the buildings of the former Waimea Village Inn in town. Growing out of the “Little School” founded in 1958 by Mrs T to accommodate children of HPA faculty in the lower grades, the Village Campus today houses HPA’s Lower and Middle Schools, encompassing kindergarten through eighth grade.

In the 1980s, 30-acres of Parker Ranch land were added to the Upper Campus. Besides the Village Campus, the school added the Institute for English Studies and a campus in Kailua-Kona for grades K-5. (The Kona campus became the independent Hualālai Academy, but it closed effective May 30, 2014.)

Building projects expanding the HPA facilities included Atherton House, the headmaster’s residence, Gates Performing Arts Center, Dowsett Pool, Gerry Clark Art Center, Davenport Music Center, Kō Kākou Student Union, faculty housing and the Energy Lab.

Starting with five boarding students in a World War II building, today, there are 600 students (approximate annual enrollment) – 200 in Lower and Middle Schools (100% day students) – 400 in Upper School (50% day, 50% boarding) ; Boarding students: 60% U.S., 40% international.

HPA is fully accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and is a member of 12 educational organizations including the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, College Entrance Examination Board, Council for Spiritual and Ethical Education, Cum Laude Society, National Association of College Admission Counselors, Hawaii Association of Independent Schools, and National Association of Independent Schools.  (Information here from HPA and St James.)

I am one of the fortunate boys-turned-to-young-men under the leadership and guidance of headmaster Jim Taylor.

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

“Build me a house like that”

Princess Ruth wrote to Lot Kamehameha and asked that he “fence the lot at Kaakopua with boards and to put up a gate large enough for carriages to enter”, as well as “furnish lumber for a house”.  (Zambucka)

“The two storied wooden frame residence of Emma St. of Princess Ruth was destroyed by fire during the absence in Hawaiʻi.  A valuable wardrobe, mementos of chief families, jewelry etc. was lost.”  (Honolulu Advertiser, October 18, 1873; Zambucka)

Having lost her house, Princess Ruth Luka Keanolani Kauanahoahoa Keʻelikōlani sought to rebuild.  The area where the home was located was known as Kaʻakopua.

“It is said … that in looking over various plans for the construction of a mansion on Emma Street, she was particularly struck with those of a normal school building in the States.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, October 1, 1895)

“Drawing those plans from among many others she said in her imperious manner to the architect standing nearby, ‘Build me a house like that.’”    (Hawaiian Gazette, October 1, 1895)  Thus began the construction of a home; she named it Keōua Hale.

The main architect behind new structure was Charles J. Hardy, an American from Chicago, employed at the Enterprise Planing Mill in Honolulu. The gaslit interior of the mansion was celebrated for its ornate plaster work and frescoes.  It was the most expansive residence of the time; it was larger than ʻIolani Palace.

The house was completed in 1883; however, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani never lived in the palace. She became ill immediately after the house warming and birthday luau.

She returned to Huliheʻe, her Kailua-Kona residence, where they believed she would more quickly regain her health.  On May 24, 1883, Keʻelikōlani died at the age of fifty-seven, in her traditional grass home in Kailua-Kona.

At her death, Keʻelikōlani’s will stated that she “give and bequeath forever to my beloved younger sister (cousin), Bernice Pauahi Bishop, all of my property, the real property and personal property from Hawaiʻi to Kauaʻi, all of said property to be hers.” (about 353,000 acres, which established the land-base endowment for Pauahi’s subsequent formation of Kamehameha Schools.)

The palace was inherited by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop; she and her husband, Charles Reed Bishop lived in house.  Pauahi passed away in the house a year later (October 16, 1884.) “(F)rom the hour of her death until the morning of her funeral, it rained continuously, until, at the appointed time the heavens cleared, and the sun shone brightly”.  (KSBE)

In her will, Pauahi initially intended to devise Kaʻakopua to Queen Emma.  However, in her later codicils (amendments,) Pauahi devised “the Ili of “Kaʻakopua”, extending from Emma to Fort Street and also all kuleanas in the same, and everything appurtenant to said premises” to her husband, “to hold for his life, remainder to my trustees.”  (KSBE)

On April 9 1885, the first meeting of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Trust Board of Trustees was held at Keōua Hale 21 Emma Street with Bishop chosen chairman for the evening.  (KSBE)

But the house was not destined to be the home for Kamehameha Schools.  Rather, it had the honor of serving as the campus of the first public high school in Honolulu.

“The Board of Education used every means in its power to obtain the building” (Hawaiian Gazette, October 1, 1895)  “(D)uring talks to make the house into a school, there soon were people approving and praise this conversion into a high school. The Board of Education immediately sought to obtain the house, and were fortunate to get it at a fair price ($600,000.)”  (Kuokoa, October 12, 1895)

However, the idea of the purchase was not without its detractors.

“The stupidity of the Board of Education has been made clear. The Legislature has not approved the money to purchase Kaʻakopua and Keōua Hale. This is a huge sum of money, and it is better if they purchased some other land and built buildings for the high school, and not that beautiful house which will cost a lot to clean it up, as a place for a few people to live haughtily and snobbily off the money of the Government. It is true!”  (Makaʻāinana, 8/12/1895)

The DOE purchased the property from the Bishop Estate on June 27, 1895.  (DOE, Star Advertiser)  “(E)verything (moved) forward, expeditious preparations (were) made to begin school soon, when regular school starts. The nation is proud to obtain this schoolhouse to enroll and teach children in higher learning than that taught at the other schools which teach general knowledge.”  (Kuokoa, October 12, 1895)

So began Kula Kiekie o Honolulu (Honolulu High School.)

“The instructors of this school are, Prof. M. M. Scott, principal; J. Lightfoot, teacher of Mathematics and Latin; Miss Brewer and Miss Needham, grammar teachers; Miss Beckwith, art teacher; and Miss Tucker, a teacher of singing.”  (Kuokoa, October 12, 1895)

“This institution has been developing satisfactorily during the period under review. It is not accredited at any of the universities of America, and in my opinion it is not desirable that it be so accredited. The plan of leaving each of our graduates to enter college or fail to do so on his own merits, as recent experience indicates, will produce results creditable to all concerned.”

“Besides, the preparation of candidates for college entrance examinations is but a small part of the work of a high school in Honolulu. The course of study should be such as will fit for life, and the matter of fitting for college should be relegated to its own subordinate place.”

“The Honolulu High School is especially adapted to the needs of those who speak the English language as a mother tongue and to no others. It accommodates but passably a few of the exceptionally bright pupils of the much larger class who have the language to learn after entering school. Taking into account the number of English speaking persons in Honolulu, it will be observed that the high school is of very creditable size.”  (Report of the Minister of Public Instruction, 1899)

In 1907, Honolulu High School moved out of Keōua Hale to the corner of Beretania and Victoria Streets. The school’s name was then changed to President William McKinley High School, after President William McKinley, whose influence brought about the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States.

The educational needs of Honolulu exceeded the space of Princess Ruth’s palace for several reasons. In 1920, a report was published on the survey of schools conducted by the Bureau of Education of the Federal Department of the Interior.

The report noted that typical middle class families in America were sending their children to public secondary schools, but in Hawaii, public schools were so few and geographically isolated, that many had to go to private schools or were forced to drop out.

Therefore, the commission recommended the establishment of secondary or junior high schools which should offer more academic and vocational choices to feed various high schools. And Hawaii, at this time, tried very hard to be American. (NPS)

Later, at Kaʻakopua, new school buildings replaced Keōua Hale.  Upon its official opening in 1927, the Advertiser news article described the layout which has remained relatively intact:

“Entering the main portal of the new plant, the visitor finds the principal’s office at the left and teachers’ room at the right. … Four large classrooms flank the main corridor and behind them are the kitchen and the dining pavilions. …”

“There are 11 classrooms in the old wing and in the new wing there are six classrooms on the main floor and seven on the second story. … The 31 classroom building had room for 1,500 pupils.”  (NPS)

Though called Central Middle School, as you drive down South Kukui Street (between Queen Emma Street and Nuʻuanu Pali Highway) the name “Keʻelikōlani School” is noted on the building.

DOE suggests the school there was never called that.  (Unfortunately, DOE records were lost in a fire.)  However, a July 2, 1917 Star Bulletin article notes Pedro Augusta as the Keʻelikōlani School janitor (no other school was named Keʻelikōlani.)

In October of 1994 the buildings of Central Intermediate were placed on the Hawaiʻi Register of Historic Places. The school continues to honor Princess Ruth’s generosity in providing a location for their school by celebrating her birthday February 9 of each year.  (Central Middle School)

In September 2021, the Hawaiʻi State Board of Education (BOE) approved the restoration of Central Middle School to its former name honoring Princess Ruth Keanolani Kanāhoahoa Keʻelikōlani. The change was effective immediately. Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani Middle School currently serves 336 students in grades six through eight.

© 2022 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Crew

The canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi.  Canoes were used for inter-village coastal and interisland travel, while trails within the ahupuaʻa provided access between the uplands and the coast.

The ancient Hawaiians also participated in canoe racing. When they wished to indulge this passion (including betting on the races,) people selected a strong crew of men to pull their racing canoes.

If the canoe was of the kind called the kioloa (a sharp and narrow canoe, made expressly for racing) there might be only one man to paddle it, but if it was a large canoe, there might be two, three or a large number of paddlers, according to the size of the canoe.

“The racing canoes paddled far out to sea – some, however, stayed close to the land (to act as judges, or merely perhaps as spectators), and then they pulled for the land, and if they touched the beach at the same time it was a dead heat; but if a canoe reached the shore first it was the victor, and great would be the exultation of the men who won, and the sorrow of those who lost their property.” (Malo)

Today, canoe racing continues.  “Canoe paddling is one of the things that our ancestors did, and a lot of people look at it as something they can do that is truly Hawaiian,” says Oʻahu Hawaiian Canoe Racing Association president Luana Froiseth.

During races, canoes are manned by six paddlers at a time, each with a specific duty. Practices are designed for the novice paddler to understand the fundamentals of paddle form and stroke cadence.  Races seasons include sprint and long distance. (Honolulu)

But this story is not about paddling; this is about rowing.

Here, a handful of Hawaiʻi high schoolers had hopes of representing Hawaiʻi and the US in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Their boat (called a ‘shell’) was long, narrow and broadly semi-circular in cross-section in order to reduce drag to a minimum. In the rear is the coxswain (cox,) and ahead of him are four sweep rowers (different races have different numbers in the crew.)

The sweep rower sits facing toward the stern; each rower has one oar fixed in an oarlock, held with both hands (as opposed to sculling where each rower has two oars (or sculls,) one in each hand.)

In sweep or sweep-oar rowing, each rower is referred to either as port or starboard, depending on which side of the boat the rower’s oar extends to; sometimes the port side is referred to as stroke side and the starboard side as bow side.

Back in the 1960s, four Hawaiʻi high schools — ʻIolani, Punahou, Kaimuki and McKinley — had crew teams. The expense of the shell, lack of coaches and other obstacles deterred most schools from rowing. (Today, no Hawaii high school offers crew as a competitive sport.)  (ʻIolani)

The ʻIolani Red Raiders (today it’s just Raiders) captured the ILH rowing crown in both heavy- and lightweight divisions for four consecutive years (1962 to 1965.)

Once, ʻIolani practiced with a visiting team from New Zealand, which had stopped in Hawaiʻi on its way to the Royal Henley Regatta in England. The New Zealanders were humbled after ʻIolani beat them soundly in some practice races.

New Zealand was so shaken by their defeat they considered abandoning Henley and returning home. But they journeyed on to England and won the four-oared event, spreading the word about those boys in Hawaii. (ʻIolani)

Then, the fateful day …

ʻIolani received an official invitation to compete in the 1964 Olympic Trials and was encouraged to participate.  The event was held at Orchard Beach Lagoon, adjacent to the New York Athletic Club boathouse.

Their shell was badly handled during shipping and arrived in poor shape. In addition, the crew also arrived with problems.

Several contracted upper respiratory infections immediately upon arrival.  They had to slack off on their training to give the crew a chance to recover and the boat repairs a chance to set. (It is hard to row and bail!) Things were not looking good.  (Rizzuto)

“To reach the finals, we had to win a trial race (known in rowing as a “repechage.”) To do that, we had to beat the New York Athletic Club and the Penn Athletic Club. Those were all former college oarsmen and several had competed in the Olympics in the past. One of the boats was stroked by a former Olympic gold medalist.” (Rizzuto)

“Needless to say, we made it to the finals after a very hard-fought race.”  (Rizzuto)

Rowing for ʻIolani and representing Hawaiʻi were: Bow Oar – Ric Vogelsang ’64; Number 2 Oar – David Mather; Number 3 Oar – Donald MacKay ’64; Stroke – Charles Frazer ’64; Coxswain Ronald Reynolds ’64 and Alternates Bruce Facer ’64 and John Leeper ’65.  (ʻIolani)

“We stayed competitive in the finals for the first mile. With a quarter mile to go, all of the outside crews ran into eddies and back currents and it was like hitting a wall. Lanes three and four jumped way out in front and the rest of us were left to battle for respect.”  (Rizzuto)

Their coach was Jim Rizzuto, member of the varsity crew at Rutgers University from 1957 to 1960. (He later taught at Hawaiʻi Preparatory Academy and was one of my Math teachers, there.)

ʻIolani became the first high school crew to reach the finals in US Olympic Rowing competition. ʻIolani failed to win the Olympic berth, finishing sixth with a time of 6:55.4 in the Trials finals, which were won by Harvard, perennial powerhouse in crew, in 6:30.5.  (ʻIolani)

Here’s a link to the 1964 Olympic Eights Trials (not ʻIolani and not their crew size – but a race in the same place at the same time:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpdOP-k6PUU

In 1986 the State of Hawaiʻi designated outrigger canoe paddling as the State’s official team sport.  Outrigger canoe paddling became a State-sanctioned high school sport in 2002.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hawaiʻi Population Distribution 1853

In 1853, thirty-three years after the first missionaries landed, a census of the islands was taken by the Government with the help of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) – the first year for which a census report of the islands by districts is available.

In interpreting the distribution of population in 1853, keep in mind that Hawaiian culture of that year included characteristics not originally Hawaiian. During the seventy-four years which had elapsed since ‘Contact’ was made, interactions with foreigners were frequent and trade and commerce were actively carried on.

Thousands of natives were killed by disease. In 1848 and 1849 epidemics of measles, whooping cough and influenza occurred. Likewise, Hawaiians were leaving and worked on whaling ships.

The distribution of population in the census districts in 1853 is indicated by the awards of land made by the Board of Land Commissioners formed by King Kamehameha III about the time of the “Great Māhele.”

For the first time the common people, formerly tenants of the chiefs, received title to small holdings, known as kuleana. The land commission awarded titles to kuleana involving the hearing and taking of testimony in connection with nearly 12,000-individual claims.

The number of people in a district and their distribution was closely related to the food supply of the area, which was obtained principally from planted crops and fish, supplemented by hogs and in a small way by other animals.

Although sandalwood, whaling and the beginning of sugar and other agriculture formed the foundations of an economy, life was maintained largely by traditional means of subsistence agriculture and fishing.

With people heading to California during the gold-rush of 1849, the lack of sufficient supplies, and the isolation of California from other food-producing areas on the continent gave people in the Hawaiian Islands an opportunity for a while to supply the growing market there.

Since agricultural produce from Hawaiʻi could be marketed in California directly by boat, and therefore cheaper than by overland routes of that time, the use of arable land in the islands was stimulated.

In 1853, there were 73,138 people in the Hawaiian Islands of whom 71,019 were Polynesians, and 2,119 were classed as “foreigners.”

Following is the head count in Hawaiʻi – in addition, maps are included that graphically display the population distribution to the various districts and portions of each island.

Niʻihau had a population of 790-people. The distribution of people as shown on the population map is based on a map of Niʻihau made by a man named Wilcox between 1850 and 1855, depicting groups of houses.

In 1853 there were 6,981-people on the Island of Kauai. The population was concentrated chiefly on the lower flood plains and delta plains of rivers where wet land taro was raised on the rich alluvial soil.

Nearly half of the population of Oʻahu was concentrated in the City of Honolulu and on the adjoining coastal plain. In the city and vicinity there were between 7,000 and 8,000-people; nearly 1,200 of these were foreigners.

Honolulu was an important center of trade and commerce chiefly in connection with the whaling industry. In 1852 as many as 585 vessels called at the port. “The settled portion of the city was then substantially limited by the present Alapaʻi and River Streets, and mauka at School Street.”

Nearly all the remaining population of Oʻahu was scattered around Pearl Harbor, along the east coast of the island, and at Waialua near the center of the north coast.

Molokai had a population of 3,607. The outstanding characteristic of the distribution and density of people was the concentration along the eastern third of the south coast.

The population of Maui was 17,574. Nearly all the people were scattered around the shores of the island and on each side of the isthmus.

The largest settlement on the island was at Lāhainā, the port of which had advantages in that the roadstead was accessible “at any season of the year, … at any hour of the day or night,” and a pilot was not needed to enter it or leave it. In the spring of 1853 seventy whaling ships called at the port. The town of Lāhainā extended for two miles along the shore.

The population of Lanaʻi in 1853 was 600, all of whom were Polynesians. On the east coast of the island it was possible to raise wet land taro in a small area in the upper part of Maunalei Gulch …

… where the higher land, intercepting the trade winds, caused sufficient precipitation for a small stream of water throughout the year. Hawaiians who lived on the central part of the east coast climbed the highlands to plant their taro patches.

Kahoʻolawe is remarkable by contrast with the other islands in the Hawaiian group. Much of it is a wind-swept plateau devoid of vegetation of any kind. It is not mentioned in the census report of 1853. In 1841 men from the Wilkes’ Exploring Expedition who visited the island found only a few fishermen and fifteen convicts. Kahoʻolawe was used as a place of exile, as late as 1852.

Hawaiʻi, the largest island in the Hawaiian group, had the largest population, 24,450. The most densely-peopled continuous area was along the coasts of North and South Kona.

Dry land taro was an important crop in the Kona districts. Breadfruit, bananas and coconuts grew there, all of which were used for food.

Peas, beans, carrots and cabbages were raised in the vicinity of Kealakekua Bay, near which there was also a “coffee estate,” and between Kealakekua Bay and Kailua “oranges, grapes” and “tall plantains” grew.

For the District of Puna there is an inconsistency between the number of people recorded in the census and the number of land grants which were given after the “Great Māhele.” There were 2,700 people and only nineteen grants. These were large areas and included several ahupuaʻa. Puna was isolated; there was no road into the area until 1898 or 1899.

The eastern, tradewind coast of Hawaiʻi was densely populated. Many streams flowed down the slopes of Mauna Kea into the ocean; near the mouths of which the land was used for irrigated taro.

The distribution and density of people in the Hawaiian Islands in 1853 was closely related to the food supply obtained from agriculture, aquaculture and fishing.

Taro, the most important plant raised for food, was cultivated both by wet land and dry land farming. Other dry land crops were also raised.

Areas where wet land taro was extensively cultivated were more densely populated than areas of dry land farming. Land in the vicinity of fish ponds was densely populated.

Most of the foreign population lived in Honolulu or other ports of call for whalers where they engaged in trade and commerce, although a few carried on pastoral industries or raised crops for export. (Coulter wrote a paper on this subject and it and its images are the basis of this summary.)

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