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October 21, 2021 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

House Without a Key

“The koa-wood key has reached me and it is a lovely thing – but that was to be expected, since it came from Hawaii.”

“I am proud of the friends I have made in the Islands and prouder of this key than of anything that has happened to me in 20 years of writing. I was eager to draw a true picture of Hawaii, but was not entirely confident of success. “

“I was only a malihini, a stranger, and what would the thousands who had known and loved the islands for many years think of the story? That I did not entirely fail, this gift is proof, and that is only one of the reasons why I shall always prize it highly.”

“I should add at once that my long delay in writing you was due to the fact that the key was only just reached me, having traveled to New York, and thence back to the coast.”

“Most people who have been to Hawaii long to return, and in the future I shall long a bit more ardently than most. I hope before many months I shall be able to do so.”

“In the meantime I want all those who had anything to do with the key to know that their thought of me has touched my heart. Please than them all for me.”

“Their unexpected, graceful gift is characteristic of Hawaii, and just another proof that he who has friends in the islands is rich indeed.” (Star-Bulletin, June 19, 1925)

The thank you letter above was written by Earl Derr Biggers and sent to the Hawaii Tourist Bureau in 1925.

On January 24, 1925, ‘The Saturday Evening Post’ began its serialization of the book that would make Earl Derr Biggers famous: The House Without a Key, the first of the Charlie Chan series.

The principal character in the story was Charlie Chan, the celebrated Chinese detective. Chan was modeled after Chang Apana. In 1897, Helen Kīna‘u Wilder was given the authority to enforce animal cruelty laws. She was appointed a special constable by the Marshall of the Republic of Hawai‘i.

She and her friends pooled their resources to pay a salary to hire Chang Apana, the first officer to investigate animal crimes, who inspired author Earl der Biggers’ popular Charlie Chan series of detective novels. (Hawaiian Humane Society)

Born Ah Ping Chang on December 26, 1871 in Waipiʻo, Oʻahu; he eventually became known as Chang Apana (the Hawaiianized version of the Chinese name Ah Ping.) In 1898, Chang joined the Honolulu Police Department and the “shrewd and meticulous investigator” rose through the ranks to become detective in 1916.

Biggers was an early guest at the Halekūlani Hotel in Waikiki. Biggers’ book title was based on his discovery that no one locked their doors there. In memory of the author and his novel, the Halekūlani named its seaside bar and lanai “House Without a Key.”

“’The House Without a Key’ is the story of a very rich man who has many enemies. He wants a certain locked chest in San Francisco cast into the sea – until it is beyond the reach of man he will know no peace.”

“He commissions his nephew to do the deed. But before the nephew reaches Honolulu the man is dead – murdered by an unknown assailant.”

“The secret of the chest. By mystery of the murder and the enmity that existed between the dead man and his brother furnish a lively plot”. (Stockton Independent, December 4, 1926)

The ”Decision to present the key to Biggers was made at a recent meeting of the tourist bureau, and arrangements for having it made were left to WH Hussman, Hawaii representative of the bureau.”

The key measures 25 inches in length and is six inches in width at both ends. It was made at the Hilo Boarding School manual training shop. (Star Bulletin, April 6, 1925)

“The present of the Hawaii Tourist Bureau was for a time displayed in Benson, Smith & Co.’s window, where it attracted much interest.” (Star-Bulletin, April 15, 1925)

Bigger’s book and subsequent movies helped to put Hawaii and one of its iconic hotels on the map.

The key had an inscription, “Hawaii is still the ‘House without a Key’: you have it. Use it often.” True to his word, Biggers would soon return to the Islands.

Earl Derr Biggers was born in 1884 in Warren, Ohio. He graduated from Harvard University in 1907 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After college, Biggers went to work at The Boston Traveler, where he wrote a humorous column, and then reviews, until 1911.

Biggers ultimately wrote six Charlie Chan mystery novels: The House Without A Key, The Chinese Parrot, Behind That Curtain, The Black Camel, Charlie Chan Carries On, and Keeper of the Keys.

The Charlie Chan movies were one of the most successful screen series in history, with over 40 movies based on the character. There were also numerous Chan radio adaptations and comic strips, as well as attempts to bring the character to television. Earl Biggers died in Pasadena, California, in April of 1933 at the age of 48, from a heart attack.

October 20, 2021 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Capital Punishment

Pā‘ao (ca 1300,) from Kahiki (Tahiti,) is reported to have introduced (or significantly expanded) a religious and political code in old Hawai‘i, collectively called the kapu system.

The kapu system was the common structure, the rule of order, and religious and political code. This social and political structure gave leaders absolute rule and authority. This forbid many things and demanded many more, with many infractions being punishable by death.

Shortly after the death of Kamehameha I in 1819, King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) declared an end to the kapu system. In a dramatic and highly symbolic event, Kamehameha II ate and drank with women, thereby breaking the important eating kapu.

This changed the course of the civilization and ended the kapu system, effectively weakened belief in the power of the gods and the inevitability of divine punishment for those who opposed them. The end of the kapu system by Liholiho happened before the arrival of the missionaries; it made way for the transformation to Christianity and westernization.

While Liholiho’s brother Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) ruled as monarch (with shared authority with the Kuhina Nui,) he, too, took bold steps in changing the structure of governance. Kamehameha III initiated and implemented Hawaiʻi’s first constitution (1840) (one of five constitutions governing the Islands – and then, later, governance as part of the United States.)

Included were also published “penal laws,” which outlined classes of offenses and punishments for the same – with the death penalty being allowed for acts of murder.

“Many foreigners had predicted that whenever it became necessary to enforce the Penal Laws this enacted and promulgated, leniency would be shown towards chiefs of high rank.” (Bennet)

Then, there was enforcement and execution of the new laws on someone of rank, Kamanawa II (his father was High Chief Kepoʻokalani.)

Kamanawa, born during the days of the ancient customs with an unstructured approach to marriage, had found it difficult to live according to the increasingly Christian ways of his peers. When “one-to-one” marriage had been declared the law by royal order, his roving habits were not changed, and whenever he was attracted to a new love he followed his old ways. Kamokuiki (his wife,) adhering to the new faith, had little sympathy with his wanderings and finally went to the chiefs seeking a divorce. (Gutmanis)

As early as 1825, the chiefs in various districts had issued edicts of law that, following Christian teachings, included prohibitions against adultery and the biblical relief of divorce and the right to remarry given the injured party. And so it was with Kamokuiki whose divorce, dated August 16, 1840, stated: because Kamanawa has repeatedly committed adultery, his wife Kamokuiki has requested a separation. (Gutmanis)

There is no record of how Kamanawa received the decree, but six weeks later on September 26, 1840 Kamokuiki was dead. Murder being instantly suspected, an autopsy was performed and the stomach found to be “much inflamed while every thing else was in order.” (Gutmanis)

Kamanawa and his friend Lonopuakau, captain of the Hawaiian vessel Hooikaika, confessed that Kamanawa had administered the fatal dose and that the Captain had prepared the mixture of ʻakia, ʻauhuhu and ʻawa that caused Kamokuiki’s death.

“She survived but three hours, medical assistance being of no avail. As soon as she was dead, which was about midnight, the news immediately spread and a terrible wailing commenced, which was quickly born to the other side of the island. It was so loud, so prolonged and so sudden as to awake at once almost all the residents, and at that hour, as its sepulchral cadences rose and fell, and were lost in the distance, the effect was startling and mournful in the extreme.” (Hawaiian Gazette, October 12, 1894)

Justice was swift; on September 30, 1840, a jury of 12 chiefs was empaneled to try Kamanawa and Lonopuakau.

On “Wednesday morning a court was held at the Fort, for the trial of Kamanawa and Lono, captain of the schooner Hooikaika, for the murder of Kamokuiki, wife of the former. Governor Kekūanāoʻa was the presiding Judge, the King and high chiefs being present.” (The Polynesian, October 3, 1840)

“The court being organized, the trial commenced, when the following facts were developed: The first-mentioned person, it appears, had been divorced from his wife for some time past, but could not marry again while she was living: Having conceived a violent passion for another woman, he determined to rid himself of his wife, and applied to Lono, who was said to be skilled in preparing poisons. Lono also wishing to destroy his wife, the two agreed to poison both”. (The Polynesian, October 3, 1840)

The jury found the two guilty and sentenced to hang on October 20th.

On the October 24, The Polynesian carried a short item that succinctly summed up the execution of the sentencing: “The murderers Kamanawa and Lonopuakau expiated their crime on the scaffold on Tuesday last, at the Fort in the presence of a large concourse of people.”

The site of the execution was over the gate of Fort Kekuanohu (Fort Honolulu – that once stood at the bottom of Fort Street;) the gallows was erected above the gate, so it could be easily seen for some distance.

After the hanging, either one or both of the bodies were buried at the cross-roads, in accordance with the old English custom of burying executed criminals where they would be out of the way, and the burial places be forever unknown. It is believed that the cross roads selected were at the junction of King and Punchbowl or Queen and Punchbowl streets.

I should note – Kamanawa II was no ‘ordinary’ ranking chief.

He was the grandson of Kameʻeiamoku, one of the ‘royal twins’ (uncles of Kamehameha the Great and his counselors in the wars to unite the Islands.) He was named after his famous grand uncle, the other royal twin. (The twins are on Hawaiʻi’s Royal Coat of Arms; Kameʻeiamoku is on the right holding a kahili and Kamanawa on the left holding a spear.)

Oh, one more thing … Kamanawa II and Kamokuiki were parents of Caesar Kapaʻakea. In 1835, Caesar married the High Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole; they had several children.

Most notable were a son, who on February 13, 1874 became King Kalākaua, and a daughter, who on January 29, 1891 became Queen Liliʻuokalani (they were grandchildren of Kamanawa II, the first to be charged and hanged under Hawaiʻi’s first modern criminal laws.)

It is said that after Kalākaua came to the throne, he had the body of Kamanawa taken up and the bones removed to Mauna Ala in Nuʻuanu. This is positively stated by the natives. (Hawaiian Gazette, October 12, 1894) Kamokuiki was buried at Kawaiahaʻo Church.

October 19, 2021 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Cubit – Ha‘ilima

“And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh; for the earth is filled with violence through them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopher wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits.” (Genesis 6:13 – 15)

The word cubit (′kyü-bǝt) in English appears derived from the Latin cubitum for elbow. It was πήχυς (pay′-kus) in Greek. The cubit is based upon a human characteristic – the length of the forearm from the tip of the middle finger to end of the elbow. (Stone)

“[I]t was from the members of the body that they derived the fundamental ideas of the measures which are obviously necessary in all works, as the finger, palm, foot, and cubit. These they apportioned so as to form the ‘perfect number,’ called in Greek τελειον, and as the perfect number the ancients fixed upon ten.”

“For it is from the number of the fingers of the hand that the palm is found, and the foot from the palm. Again, while ten is naturally perfect, as being made up by the fingers of the two palms, Plato also held that this number was perfect because ten is composed of the individual units, called by the Greeks μονάδεϛ.” (Vitruvius)

The Cubit is a unit of linear measure used by many ancient and medieval peoples. It may have originated in Egypt about 3000 BC; it thereafter became widespread in the ancient world. (Britannia)

The cubit was a basic unit in early Israel and the surrounding Near East countries. The Tabernacle, the Temple of Solomon, and many other structures are described in the Bible by cubit measures.

It is אטה in Hebrew (pronounced am-mah′), which can be interpreted “the mother of the arm” or the origin, that is, the forearm/cubit. (Stone)

To some scholars, the Egyptian cubit was the standard measure of length in the Biblical period. The Biblical sojourn/exodus, war, and trade are probable reasons for this length to have been employed elsewhere. (Stone)

The cubit, generally taken as equal to 18 inches, was based on the length of the arm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger and was considered the equivalent hand measurements of 6 palms or 2 spans. (Britannica)

Fathom, old English measure of length, the longest of many units derived from an anatomical measurement, is now standardized at 6 feet, has long been used as a nautical unit of depth. A fathom equals four cubits.

The fathom originated as the distance from the middle fingertip of one hand to the middle fingertip of the other hand of a large man holding his arms fully extended. The name comes from the Old English faedm or faethm, meaning outstretched arms. (Britannia)

Hawaiians used a similar unit of measurement to the cubit – the ha‘ilima; it is the measurement from the tip of the longest finger to the elbow of the same arm.

Variants of this include:

Iwilei – (equivalent of two ha‘ilima) measuring from the center of the chest to the tip of the longest finger while the arm is stretched out to the side of the body, parallel to the ground

Muku – (equivalent of 3 ha‘ilima) resembling the hula stance, both arms stretched out to the side of the body and parallel to the ground, then bend one arm at the elbow inward to the center of the body; the measurement is from the bent elbow to the tip of the longest finger of the opposite arm.

‘Anana – (equivalent of 2 iwilei or 4 hailima) measuring from longest fingertip to the longest fingertip when both arms are stretched out and parallel to the ground.

October 18, 2021 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Wampum

“As an institution, money is almost infinitely adaptable. This helps to explain the wide variety of origins and the vast multitude of different kinds of objects used as primitive money.”

“These include: amber, beads, cowries, drums, eggs, feathers, gongs, hoes, ivory, jade, kettles, leather, mats, nails, oxen, pigs, quartz, rice, salt, thimbles, umiaks, vodka, wampum, yarns and zappozats, which are decorated axes – to name but a minute proportion of the enormous variety of primitive moneys… “

“… and none of this alphabetical list includes modern examples like gold, silver or copper coinage nor any of the 230 or so units of paper currency.” (Davies)

When the Pilgrims arrived, the natives had money, but it was very different from the money Europeans were used to.

American Indians had been using money for millenia, and quite useful money it turned out to be for the newly arrived Europeans – despite the prejudice among some that only metal with the faces of their political leaders stamped on it constituted real money.

Worse, the New England natives used neither silver nor gold. Instead, they used the most appropriate money to be found in their environment – durable skeleton parts of their prey. Specifically, they used wampum, shells of the clam (venus mercenaria and its relatives), strung onto pendants. (Szabo)

“‘Peag’ is the Indian word for a string of beads and ‘wampum’ meant ‘white’, the most common colour of their money, hence the full title of their famous currency ‘wampumpeag’ is usually abbreviated to ‘wampum’.” (Davies)

Clams were found only at the ocean, but wampum traded far inland. Sea-shell money of a variety of types could be found in tribes across the American continent.

Only a handful of tribes, such as the Narragansetts, specialized in manufacturing wampum, while hundreds of other tribes, many of them hunter-gatherers, used it. Wampum pendants came in a variety of lengths, with the number of beads proportional to the length. Pendants could be cut or joined to form a pendant of length equal to the price paid. (Szabo)

Naturally wampum was most commonly used in what are now the coastal states from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the north to Florida and Louisiana in the south; but wampum spread inland also and was used by certain tribes right across the continent.

The powerful Iroquois amassed large quantities by way of tribute, though they lived far from the original source of wampum. The shells are mostly white but with a smaller deep purple rim. The scarcer ‘black’ or blue-black wampum was usually traded at double the price of the white.

The average individual piece of wampum was thus a cylindrical bead about half an inch or so long and between an eighth and a quarter inch in diameter, with a hole drilled lengthwise for stringing; but other shapes and sizes were not uncommon. Even the genuine highest-quality wampum became depreciated over time in quality as well as through increased quantity.

For normal currency purposes the wampum strings were either about 18 in. or 6ft long and were therefore usually reckoned in cubits and fathoms, but on occasions singly or in feet; they were eminently divisible. (Davies)

As an indication of the essential role wampum played in early colonial days even among the white settlers, it was made legal tender in a number of the original thirteen American colonies.

In 1637 Massachusetts declared white wampum legal tender at six beads a penny and black at three a penny, but only for sums up to one shilling.

Apparently this experiment succeeded, for the legal tender limit was raised to £2 in 1643, a substantial amount for those days and far exceeding the real value of our coinage limits today.

Although wampum ceased to be legal tender in New England in 1661, it still remained a popular currency in parts of North America for nearly 200 years subsequently, although the blanket and the beaverskin were strong competitors among the Indians of Canada. (Davies)

Click the following link to a general summary about Wampum:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Wampum.pdf

October 17, 2021 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Battle of Kalaeokaʻīlio

On April 19, 1775, the Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies of British North America.

The first shot (“the shot heard round the world”) was fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. The American militia was outnumbered and fell back; and the British regulars proceeded on to Concord. Following this, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence and it was signed by 56-members of the Congress (1776.)

The next eight years (1775-1783,) war was waging on the eastern side of the continent. The main result was an American victory and European recognition of the independence of the United States (the war ended in 1873 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.)

In the Islands, over the centuries, the islands weren’t unified under single rule. Leadership sometimes covered portions of an island, sometimes covered a whole island or groups of islands. Island rulers, Aliʻi or Mōʻī, typically ascended to power through familial succession and warfare. In those wars, Hawaiians were killing Hawaiians; sometimes the rivalries pitted members of the same family against each other.

Kalaniʻōpuʻu (Hawaiʻi Island ruler,) from the very beginning of his reign, made repeated attempts to conquer the neighboring island of Maui. He held portions of the Hāna district and the Kaʻuiki fort in 1775, when, in the war between Hawaiʻi and Maui, he commanded a raid in the Kaupō district. (Thrum)

In 1775, war between Hawaiʻi and Maui broke out at Kaupō on the island of Maui; it was the first battle that the rising warrior Kamehameha took part in.

While Kalaniʻōpuʻu was at Hāna he sent his warriors to plunder the Kaupō people. Kahekili was king of Maui at that time, when Kahekili’s warriors met those of Kalaniʻōpuʻu at Kaupō, a battle developed between the two sides.

The Hawaiʻi forces at Hāna, apparently under the command of Kalaniʻōpuʻu in person, raided the Kaupō district (that still acknowledged the rule of Kahekili.) Taken by surprise and unprepared, the Kaupō people suffered great destruction of property, cruelty and loss of life at the hands of the Hawaiʻi soldiers. (Fornander)

When Kahekili heard of this he sent two detachments of soldiers to the relief of Kaupō. A battle ensued between the Hawaiʻi and Maui forces near Kalaeokaʻīlio Point, it became known as the Battle of Kalaeokaʻīlio (“The Cape of the Dog” – also called the War of Kalaehohea.)

Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s army was routed and retreated to their fleet, near at hand, and barely a remnant escaped on board and returned to Hāna.

“Among the warriors on the Hawaiʻi side in this battle of “Kalaeokaʻīlio” the legends make honourable mention of the valour of Kekūhaupiʻo, whose fame as a warrior chief stood second to none of his time.” (Fornander)

“Kamehameha, afterwards famous in history, (also) figured prominently in this battle as having gallantly supported Kekūhaupiʻo”. (Thrum) Despite the courageous fighting of Kamehameha and Kekūhaupiʻo along with the other Hawai‘i Island warriors, the massive Maui army of Kahekili eventually forces the Hawai‘i Island warriors to flee the battlefield.

Kekūhaupiʻo was Kamehameha’s teacher in the ancient martial arts. Kekūhaupiʻo was determined to give all his knowledge to his chiefly pupil, and he indeed did so. This brought about the firm bond between Kekūhaupiʻo and the young Kamehameha.

Kamehameha became the most skillful of all the chiefs in the use of the spear. Captain George Vancouver later wrote that he once saw six spears hurled at Kamehameha all at the same time. Kamehameha caught three with one hand as they flew at him. Two he broke by hitting them with a spear in his other hand. One he dodged. (Williams)

Kekūhaupiʻo is arguably the one man most closely connected to Kamehameha I during Kamehameha’s formative years, while he developed his skills as a warrior, and through the early period of Kamehameha’s conquests.

Outnumbered and overpowered, after this severe repulse, Kalaniʻōpuʻu went back to Hawaiʻi and made preparations for a revengeful invasion. This occupied a whole year. (Thrum)

Kalaniʻōpuʻu promised revenge and, in 1776, he again went to battle against Kahekili. This battle (known as the Battle of Sand Hills or Ahalau Ka Piʻipiʻi O Kakaniluʻa) was recorded as one of the most bloody. Unfortunately, Kalaniʻōpuʻu was not aware of the alliance between Kahekili and the O‘ahu warriors under Kahahana, the young O‘ahu chief; Kalaniʻōpuʻu lost again.

Although often defeated, Kalaniʻōpuʻu managed to hold the famous fort of Kaʻuiki in Hāna for more than twenty years. (Alexander) At the time of Captain Cook’s arrival (1778-1779,) Kalaniʻōpuʻu was the chief reigning over the Island of Hawaiʻi and Hāna, Maui.

Kalaniʻōpuʻu returned to Hawaiʻi and met with Cook on January 26, 1779, exchanging gifts, including an ʻahuʻula (feathered cloak) and mahiole (ceremonial feather helmet.) Cook also received pieces of kapa, feathers, hogs and vegetables.

In return, Cook gave Kalaniʻōpuʻu a linen shirt and a sword; later on, Cook gave other presents to Kalaniʻōpuʻu, among which one of the journals mentions “a complete Tool Chest.”

After the departure of the Resolution and Discovery, Kalaniʻōpuʻu left the bay and passed to Kaʻū, the southern district of Hawaiʻi, having in his charge the young Kaʻahumanu. (Bingham) Kalaniʻōpuʻu died in 1782; Kahekili died in 1794.