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April 15, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Missed the Boat

“Mrs Charles A Hellwig was hostess at a tea in honor of Miss Ruth Waller, a Honolulu girl who will leave shortly for England where she will be married to Hugh Clegg, a wealthy manufacturer.”

“Miss Waller has been abroad for the last six years studying music and languages and returned to California to spend the winter with her parents and took a house in Central avenue, Alameda. The wedding will take place in London.” (Hawaiian Star, January 27, 1912)

“At a pretty home ceremony, witnessed by half a hundred relatives and close friends, Miss Ruth Waller of Alameda became the bride of John Hugh Clegg of England … The bride was given in marriage by her father Gilbert Waller … formerly prominent residents of Honolulu.”

“The Royal Hawaiian Quintette furnished the wedding music, and Miss Gladys Kaighin, a friend of the bride, sang several appropriate songs prior to the ceremony. An elaborate wedding supper followed. The bride’s table was decked in pink roses and pink shaded candles, with water colored name cards of cupids and miniature brides marking places for fifteen.”

“The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Waller of Central avenue, formerly prominent residents of Honolulu, and is well-known in the social circles of the Encinal City. She is charming, accomplished, a talented violinist.”

“She met Clegg when studying music in Leipsic. Clegg is a wealthy English merchant, and their wedding trip will include a tour of the world. On March 1 they will sail for Honolulu, from there to Australia and India, eventually reaching London, their future home.”

“The ceremony was originally set for the 14th, but was hastened on account of the imperative departure today of the bride’s father for Honolulu, necessitated by business affairs.” (Hawaiian Star, March 11, 1912)

Their travels did not go as planned …

“Clegg and his bride (had) expected to return on the Titanic. Clegg’s business delayed his return and he was unable to sail on the Titanic. He probably owes his life and the life of his bride to this press of business.”

“Clegg was personally acquainted with Captain Smith, the commander of the ill-fated Titanic. Smith was in command of the Olympic on the voyage to Liverpool, leaving the Olympic at the end of that trip to take over the Titanic.” (Hawaiian Star, June 1, 1912)

“(I)n the cold, dark, early morning hours of 15 April 1912, the new and magnificent White Star liner RMS Titanic sank after colliding with an iceberg, approximately 365 nautical miles east-northeast of the Newfoundland coast.”

“The ship, en route to New York on her maiden voyage, was at the time the largest passenger liner in the world, but certainly not the fastest.”

“Although touted as nearly unsinkable by many, the great ship foundered some two hours and forty minutes after striking an iceberg, sending her approximately two and a half miles down to the bottom of the North Atlantic.”

“The loss of life was horrific and, for many, totally unnecessary and was the greatest maritime disaster of the time. No one was ever held accountable for the negligence, gross negligence, or criminal acts that resulted in the needless deaths of this tragedy.” (Paton; The Final Board of Inquiry)

For context, in 1912, “In England, Winston Churchill announced that the Royal Navy would be enlarged and the British War Staff is established. Scott’s Antarctic expedition reached the South Pole only to discover that Amundsen had arrived there first. Coal miners throughout England went on strike and the Titanic commenced her sea trials in Belfast Lough on 2 April 1912.”

“The Royal Air Force was formed and England informed Germany that it would aid France in the event of attack by Germany. The clouds of war were already forming.”

“In other maritime news three unrelated sea disasters took place. The SS Kichemuru sank in a violent storm off the coast of Japan with a loss of 1,000 lives, the Spanish SS Principe de Asturias sank with 500 dead, and two steamships collided on the Nile resulting in 200 deaths.”

“The Titanic left Southampton for Cherbourg on 10 April and later commenced her maiden transatlantic voyage from Queenstown (now Cobb), Ireland, to New York. The Titanic subsequently sank on 15 April at 0227, approximately 365 nautical miles off the Newfoundland coast, with great loss of life.”

“In the United States the first lady, Mrs. Taft, planted the first cherry tree in Washington, D.C. The Dixie Cup was invented and U.S. Marines invaded Nicaragua and re-invaded Cuba. The Beverly Hills Hotel opened.”

“This is the backdrop against which the world, while still at peace, witnessed the worst maritime disaster it had ever experienced. It was a loss that was suffered by not only immigrants and middle-class professionals but by the elite of high society and wealth on both sides of the Atlantic as well.” (Paton; The Final Board of Inquiry)

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April 14, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Protection of Traditional & Customary Practices

Several Supreme Court Cases have reviewed and clarified Native Hawaiian rights to Traditional & Customary practices. The Court noted:

“Our proud legal tradition in this State of protecting Native Hawaiian rights is not of recent vintage, for even as far back as the days of the Hawaiian Kingdom, protections have been in place to ensure the continued exercise of traditional Hawaiian rights amidst the pressures exerted by countervailing interests of a changing society.

“[A number of legal cases have been appealed to the Hawai‘i Supreme Court. Decisions by the Court in those cases have defined, explained and clarified. The Supreme Court’s] “evolving jurisprudence concerning Native Hawaiian traditional and customary rights has conceived of a system in which the State and its agencies …”

“… bear an affirmative constitutional obligation to engage in a meaningful and heightened inquiry into the interrelationship between the area involved, the Native Hawaiian practices exercised in that area, the effect of a proposed action on those practices, and feasible measures that can be implemented to safeguard the vitality of those practices.”

“When an individual of Native Hawaiian descent asserts that a traditionally exercised cultural, religious, or gathering practice in an undeveloped or not fully developed area would be curtailed by the proposed project, the State or the applicable agency is “obligated to address” this adverse impact …”

“Consequently, if customary and traditional Native Hawaiian practices are to be meaningfully safeguarded, “findings on the extent of their exercise, their impairment, and the feasibility of their protection” are paramount. … To effectively render such findings, it is imperative for the agency to receive evidence and then make “[a] determination … supported by the evidence in the record.” (Pollack, SCAP-14-0000873 2015:3-10)

Following are some of the cases that address Native Hawaiian rights to traditional and customary practices.

Oni v Meek (1858)

In 1858, Oni, a tenant of the ahupua‘a of Hono‘uli‘uli, O‘ahu, filed suit against John Meek, who had a lease over the entire ahupuaʻa. Oni brought suit when some of his horses, which had been pastured on Meek’s land, were impounded and sold.

Oni claimed that he had a right to pasture his horses on the land division as one of his traditional tenant rights (by custom and by language in the Kuleana Act).

On September 22, 1858, the Police Court of Honolulu rendered a judgment for Oni. Meek was ordered to pay $80.00 for two horses and $4.00 in court costs. At the request of the defendant (Meek), the case was appealed to the Hawai‘i Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court was concerned with the right of a private property owner to use the land as he individually wished without having to share its use. The court said “the custom contended for is so unreasonable, so uncertain, and so repugnant to the spirit of the present laws, that it ought not to be sustained by judicial authority.”

The court also said “…it is perfectly clear that, if the plaintiff (Oni) is a hoaʻāina, holding his land by virtue of a fee simple award from the Land Commission, he has no pretense for claiming a right of pasturage by custom.” (Judicial History Center) The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Meek.

Common Law – Hawaiian Usage (1892)

In 1892, the legislature of the Hawaiian Kingdom and Queen Liliʻuokalani passed a law that recognized Hawaiian usage as part of the common law of the Kingdom, together with the common law of England. (McGregor & MacKenzie)

Act to Reorganize the Judiciary Department, ch. LVII, § 5, 1892 Laws of Her Majesty Lili‘uokalani, Queen of the Hawaiian Islands, provided for exceptions to the English common law that were “established by Hawaiian national usage.” (McGregor & MacKenzie)

This law, which is today known as Section 1-1 of the Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes (HRS), provided the basis for the rights of the makaʻāinana (common people) beyond the rights reserved under the Kuleana Act, so as to include whatever was broadly customary as Hawaiian usage prior to 1892. (McGregor & MacKenzie)

State Constitutional Amendments (1978)

In 1978, the State convened a historic constitutional convention that included recommendations that reaffirmed its commitment to Native Hawaiian interests and values.

The 1978 Constitutional Convention recognized the need to “preserve the small remaining vestiges of a quickly disappearing culture [by providing] a legal means … to recognize and reaffirm native Hawaiian rights.”

“The State reaffirms and shall protect all rights, customarily and traditionally exercised for subsistence, cultural and religious purposes and possessed by ahupua’a tenants who are descendants of native Hawaiians who inhabited the Hawaiian Islands prior to 1778, subject to the right of the State to regulate such rights.” (Hawaiʻi Constitution, Section 7)

Kalipi v Hawaiian Trust Co (1982)

In 1982, plaintiff William Kalipi, a Moloka‘i taro farmer, sought access to private land in order to gather “ti leaf, bamboo, kukui nuts, kiawe, medicinal herbs and ferns.”

The Hawai‘i Supreme Court held that “lawful occupants of an ahupua‘a may, for the purposes of practicing native Hawaiian customs and traditions, enter undeveloped lands within the ahupua‘a to gather those items enumerated in HRS § 7-1.” (Belatti & Garcia)

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court noted: “The statutory exception to the common law is thus akin to the English doctrine of custom whereby practices and privileges unique to particular districts continued to apply to residents of those districts in contravention of the common law.”

“This, however, is not to say that we find that all the requisite elements of the doctrine of custom were necessarily incorporated in § 1-1. Rather, we believe that the retention of a Hawaiian tradition should in each case be determined by balancing the respective interests and harm once it is established that the application of the custom has continued in a particular area.” (Hawaiʻi Supreme Court, Kapili, 656 P.2d 745 (1982))

Public Access Shoreline Hawai‘I (PASH) v Hawai‘i Planning Commission (1995)

In PASH, developer Nansay Hawai‘i, Inc. applied to the Hawai‘i County Planning Commission for a Special Management Area permit to develop a resort community covering over 450 acres of shoreline area on the Big Island of Hawai‘i.

The Hawaiʻi Supreme Court explained in PASH case that “the State’s power to regulate the exercise of customarily and traditionally exercised Hawaiian rights … necessarily allows the State to permit development that interferes with such rights in circumstances. Nevertheless, the State is obligated to protect the reasonable exercise of customarily and traditionally exercised rights of Hawaiians.”

In PASH, the court reaffirmed the State’s affirmative duty to protect customary rights as it regulates the development of land “previously undeveloped or not yet fully developed” in Hawai‘i. The court admonished State agencies, stating that they “[do] not have the unfettered discretion to regulate the rights of ahupua‘a tenants out of existence”.

The PASH Court also clarified that “those persons who are ‘descendants of native Hawaiians who inhabited the islands prior to 1778,’ and who assert otherwise valid customary and traditional Hawaiian rights under HRS 1-1, are entitled to protection regardless of their blood quantum.”

Pele Defense Fund v Paty (1992)

Plaintiff Pele Defense Fund challenged the exchange of more than 27,000 acres of public lands, including areas designated as Natural Area Reserve lands, between the State and a private landowner.

Related to this, it was determined that, “The nature and scope of the rights reserved to hoaʻāina (tenants) by custom and usage are to be defined according to the values, traditions and customs associated with a particular area as transmitted from one generation to the next in the conduct of subsistence, cultural, and religious activities.”

That case also found that residency of a particular ahupuaʻa was not required for gathering, noting, “Unlike other areas in Hawai‘i, Hawaiians historically crossed ahupua‘a boundaries in the Puna district. …”

“…The hunting and gathering patterns in the Puna district are unique because they are influenced, to a large extent, by an active volcano, Kīlauea. It can be reasonably inferred that volcanic eruptions in the Puna area force hunters and gatherers to change areas to find plants and animals for subsistence purposes.” (Circuit Court of the Third Circuit, Civil No. 89-089 2002)

The Pele Defense Fund decision extended rights to non-Hawaiians, noting, “Accordingly, non-Hawaiians could have the same right as Hawaiians, irrespective of Article XII, § 7, if they could prove that their rights were based on custom and usage.”

Water Use Permit Applications (2000)

“The Waiāhole Ditch System collects fresh surface water and dike-impounded ground water from the Koʻolau mountain range on the windward side of the island of Oʻahu and delivers it to the island’s central plain.”

“Beginning in Kahana Valley, the collection portion of the system proceeds along the windward side of the Koʻolaus, then passes under the Koʻolau crest to the leeward side at the North Portal. … The ditch system was built in significant part from 1913 to 1916 to irrigate a sugar plantation owned and operated by Oʻahu Sugar Company, Ltd. (OSCo).”

“Diversions by the ditch system reduced the flows in several windward streams, specifically, Waiāhole, Waianu, Waikāne, and Kahana streams, affecting the natural environment and human communities dependent upon them.”

“Diminished flows impaired native stream life and may have contributed to the decline in the greater Kāneʻohe Bay ecosystem, including the offshore fisheries. The impacts of stream diversion, however, went largely unacknowledged until, in the early 1990s, the sugar industry on Oʻahu came to a close.”

In 2000, the Hawaiʻi Supreme Court noted “we continue to uphold the exercise of Native Hawaiian and traditional and customary rights as a public trust purpose. … [T]he mandate of ‘conservation’-minded use subsumed in our state’s water resources trust contemplates ‘protection’ of waters in their natural state as a beneficial use. … [T]his state bears an additional duty under Article XII, section 7 of its constitution to protect traditional and customary Native Hawaiian rights.”

Ka Pa‘akai o ka ‘Āina v Land Use Commission (2000)

In the dispute before the LUC, Native Hawaiian community organizations opposed the re-classification of over 1,000-acres from conservation to urban lands for the Ka‘ūpūlehu Resort Expansion, a luxury development project on the island of Hawai‘i.

Within the reclassified lands, the Court noted that the coastal point known as Kalaemanō and the historic 1800-1801 Ka‘ūpūlehu Lava Flow were two well-known physical features associated with native Hawaiian culture and history. The Court also noted the association of two historical figures to the petition area, Kame‘eiamoku and Kamanawa, two chiefs who served as advisers to Kamehameha I.

The Court reaffirmed special protections for Native Hawaiian cultural practices when it ruled that the State Land Use Commission (LUC) failed to satisfy its statutory and constitutional obligations to preserve and protect customary and traditional rights of Native Hawaiians.

Ultimately, the Court held that the LUC’s determinations were “insufficient to determine whether [the LUC] fulfilled its obligation to preserve and protect customary and traditional rights of native Hawaiians.”

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Hawaii Supreme Court

Oni v Meek (Hawaiʻi Judiciary)

Bill Paty signing 1978 Con Con Document (Honolulu Advertiser)

Pele Defense-Wao Kele o Puna Geothermal Well (WKOP Transfer Celebration)

PASH-Kohanaiki Beach Park (Live in Hawaiʻi)

Waterfall believed to be at Waiāhole (CWRM)

April 13, 2018 by Peter T Young 9 Comments

Pszyk

Geologic evidence suggests that the modern caldera of Kīlauea formed shortly before 1500 AD. Repeated small collapses may have affected parts of the caldera floor, possibly as late as 1790. For over 300-400 years, the caldera was below the water table.

Kīlauea is an explosive volcano; several phreatic eruptions have occurred in the past 1,200 years. (Phreatic eruptions, also called phreatic explosions, occur when magma heats ground or surface water.)

The extreme temperature of the magma (from 932 to 2,138 °F) causes near-instantaneous evaporation to steam, resulting in an explosion of steam, water, ash and rock – the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens was a phreatic eruption.

There were explosions in 1790, the most lethal known eruption of any volcano in the present United States. The 1790 explosions, however, simply culminated (or at least occurred near the end of) a 300-year period of frequent explosions, some quite powerful. (USGS)

Keonehelelei is the name given by Hawaiians to the explosive eruption of Kilauea in 1790. It is probably so named “the falling sands” because the eruption involved an explosion of hot gas, ash and sand that rained down across the Kaʻu Desert. The character of the eruption was likely distinct enough to warrant a special name. (Moniz-Nakamura)

The 1790 explosion led to the death of one-third of the warrior party of Kaʻū Chief Keōua. At the time Keōua was the only remaining rival of Kamehameha the Great for control of the Island of Hawaiʻi; Keōua ruled half of Hāmākua and all of Puna and Kaʻū Districts. They were passing through the Kilauea area at the time of the eruption. (Moniz-Nakamura)

Camped in Hilo, Keōua learned of an invasion of his home district of Kaʻū by warriors of Kamehameha. To reach Kaʻū from Hilo, Keōua had a choice of two routes one was the usually traveled coastal route, at sea level, but it was longer, hot, shadeless and without potable water for long distances. (NPS)

The other route was shorter, but passed over the summit and through the lee of Kilauea volcano, an area sacred to, and the home of, the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele. Keōua chose the volcano route, perhaps because it was shorter and quicker, with water available frequently. (NPS)

… Fast forward … “Despite the network of Pre-Western contact trails that covered the island, Hawaiʻi lacked a comprehensive system of interior roads for overland travel before 1846.”

“In that year, the Kingdom established the Department of the Interior and the office of Superintendent of Internal Improvements (the forerunner of Public Works) to oversee the construction of piers, harbors, government buildings, roads, and bridges.” (Terry)

Like the times of Keōua, “Two routes may be taken to the crater Kilauea, on the slope of Mauna Loa, one by Puna, the other by ‘Ōla‘a. It will be advisable to combine both, by going one way and returning the other.”

“Time being an object, the trip to and from the crater via ‘Ōla‘a can be accomplished in three days, which will give one day and two nights at the volcano house.” (Whitney, 1875)

“A critical step toward developing agriculture in ʻŌlaʻa was the creation of a new road between Hilo and Kīlauea located mauka of the Old Volcano Trail.” (Terry)

Work on the road began in 1890 using mainly prison labor, and in September of 1894 the entire road was completed. As the new Volcano Road through ʻŌlaʻa was being built, the Crown made a large portion of potential agricultural lands in ʻŌlaʻa available for lease and homesteading.”

“Three hundred eighty-five ʻŌlaʻa Reservation lease lots were created mauka and makai of the new Volcano Road, as well as an additional forty homesteads.” (Terry)

The ‘Ōla‘a Sugar Company was incorporated on May 3, 1899; the promoters purchased 16,000 acres in fee simple land and nearly 7,000 acres in long leasehold from WH Shipman. The plantation fields extended for ten miles along both sides of Volcano Road as well as in the Pāhoa and Kapoho areas of the Puna District.”

‘Ōla‘a Sugar Company began as one of Hawai‘i’s largest sugar plantations with much of its acreage covered in trees. Previous to cane, coffee was the primary agricultural crop grown in the region. After purchase of these lands, the company uprooted the coffee trees and cleared it for planting sugarcane.”

“The town of Mountain View grew with the sugar trade, as immigrant laborers were imported from Japan, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to work on the sugar plantation.”

“Another lesser known group also came to ʻŌlaʻa. In 1897, the Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs approved a request by H.F Hackfeld and Company (who acted as a recruiting agency for the “Planters Association”) to bring in European laborers for a number of sugar plantations.”

“Between 1897 and 1910, a number of Ukrainian families and single workers were recruited to work for ʻŌlaʻa Sugar Company. Most Ukrainian immigrants left ʻŌlaʻa for the US mainland in 1905 and 1906, but a few remained.” (Terry)

Among those who stayed in Mountain View were Michael and Annie Pszyk. (Terry) They a fifty-acre farm and in addition to work on the plantation they began to clear some land and go into developing a small herds of cows.

It was rather isolated, about 1 ½ miles from the highway. They first blazed a path so that they were able to walk out to Volcano
road.

He then widened it into a trail, but it wasn’t very satisfactory to haul wood to the village for which there was good demand, and take milk and other products.

“My father approached the council to have them make the trail into a road, but there was little interest in such a project.”

“He, eventually, widened the trail himself and made it into a passable road. Then the council took it over and named it Pszyk Road, and rightly so …” (Helen Richardson-Pszyk; Ewanchuck)

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Pszyk Road Sign

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Michael Pszyk headstone

Annie Pszyk headstone

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April 12, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Honolulu 1848

Nineteen-year-old Gorham D. Gilman arrived in the Islands in 1841. He mastered the Hawaiian language, and pursued his career at several locations in the islands. It is likely Gilman set down his impressions of Honolulu while at sea on his way to California—lured thence by news of the gold strike. The following is his writing, compiled and edited by Sharpless & Greer:

“The first impression generally received of Hon: as the stranger rounds Dimond Pt is that of disappointment. The hills and plains if in the summer season look bare and barren—and burnt-brown by the heat of the sun …”

“… but as the vessel nears the anchorages the prospect is more pleasing the village of Waikiki amid its grove of Coconut trees—the long line of sand beach on which the surf gently roll ….”

“Leaving the vessel at anchor two or three miles from shore—the bay is entered in the boats—the passage safe and commoidious—there being 22 feet of water on the bar which—On either hand makes up and down the coast forming the protection of the harbor from the sea …”

“… on this reef the sea waves curl their tops and break the snowy crests and when old ocean is excited by a storm they crash and break with almost deafning roar—tho harmless—and it is of beautiful and exquisite music of a still evening to hear its reverberations— as it spend it strength on the coral rocks.”

“The first object that arrests the attention on approaching the shore, is the beautiful valley of Nuuanu situated just in the rear of the city and extending inland between two spurs of the Mountain. It is clothed with perpetual green and with its numerous cottages whose white walls peep forth from amid the shrubery has a cool and inviting appearance.”

“Most conspicuous of the buildings, as you near the shore is The Palace The Bungalow (a private residence)—The Large Stone Church—the Catholic Church The Bethel—and some of the larger warehouses of the merchants while from various parts of town may be seen the consular flags of which there is quite a number …”

“… sailing past the Fort which stands at the head of the passage into the harbour—and whose walls bristle with guns—the boat lands at the wharf amid a crowd of boatboys and natives assembled to see the strangers.”

“The first impression of the people as received from the motley crowd of men, women & children here assembled is not apt to be very favorable—their chattering like so many parrots quite amuses one.”

“The city is regularly laid out all the principle streets crossing at right angles cuts up the place into regular squares and makes it easy to find the way from one part to another without difficulty.”

“The most of the streets are wide and pleasant the most unpleasant feature of them is, the high adobie walls which generally line either side sperating the yards & premises of the citizens from the street—these are often plastered and white washed and when the sun is bright the reflection of this light and heat is very unpleasant …”

“… but these unsightly walls are fast giving away to neat picket fences set upon stone foundations which while they protect the premises from the street—afford the passerby a pleasant view of the cultivated yards within and the residences amid the shrubery.”

“The streets present a bustling active appearance during business hours—merchants—and traders are busy transacting their business the drays loaded with [illeg.] imported & for Export—the wharfes filled with goods and all the machinery in motion of an active place.”

“It is amusing to the stranger to stand and study the people as they pass before him—clad in every variety of costume. Some of which is unique in.”

“If it is a hot sweltering day in summer he will be likely to see some native who has become possessed of an old cast off pea jacket, and with this on buttoned up close to the chin—and with neither pants draws nor stockings to cover his legs he will walk up the streets as dignified as possible.”

“Another & quite as common sight is to see a man with a old hat shirt & vest on while his neither limbs have nothing but a pair of thick shoes upon his feet—but who is this? that with her silk parrasol comes by—she is dressed in the richest satin made like a loose dress worn by the laides at home an expensive Canton Crepe tied by two of the corners hangs upon her back …”

“There has been a very great improvement in the appearance of the people in the streets in the last few years—a few years since & it was very common to see some stout backwoodsman from the other Islands walking thru the street clad only with the Malo and the Kehei (Kihei – shawl) …”

“It is supprising almost to see the amount of silks and other rich goods that are worn by the females for they dress much more and better than the males—for a half clad female without some article of foreign fabric is seldom or ever seen in the streets of Hon.”

“I never saw but one of them clad in the ancient cloth & fashion —& she was just in from the backparts of Hawaii—and in an hour was genteelly fitted out by her friends.”

“The females are very ambitious to appear well dressed and strive to imitate as far as possible the fashions set by the Queen & the other female chiefs—and a good many support themselves by the use of their needle being easy to learn and very good seamstresses and commanding good pay for their labour …”

“Broadway (King Street) is the principal street of the city—th’o there is not so much business done here as at some of the others but it is the widiest & longest and the most of a thoroughfare & favorite resort …”

“… this street runs parallel with the harbour thro the whole length of the town—from the river on the most northern side to the plain on the South Eastern—& is two to three miles long.”

“There are a number of stores but all of them retail establishments. Broadway of a Saturday afternoon presents a gay and amusing spectacle—Saturday being a general holiday—and the afternoon particularly so for all classes of natives they strive to press as much amusement possible into the few hours—between the Meridian sun.”

“Consequently, they may be seen at an early hour on horseback—starting off in gay parties for a ride to some of the places of resort in the suburbs every half hour a very perceptable increase of their number may be seen—and at Four O’Clock the plain and valley roads are filled with equestairans riding at any rate from a wild race to the sober jog …”

“… and upon a variety of animals—From the noble horse proud to distinguish himself from the vulger herd—to the demure looking donkey with two or three rouges of boys on his back who try in vain to urge him along …”

“… and some wag not to be out done mounts a half broken in steer and stears his way among the crowd by a single string attached to a ring in the nose of the animal.”

“The women ride across the saddle and with their long flowing robe of silk or bright calico which conceals the leg of the rider— their loose dress—and head either ornamented with a wreath of Flowers or Feathers—or a strawhat with a good quantity of Ribbon flowing Cut quite a dash they are very expert riders indeed …”

“… and seldom got thrown & will accept a chalange to a race over the plain without the least hesitation and will ride fearlessly and ply the whip if likely to be beaten—as the sun sets the crowds turn to town, and now Broadway is all life—the streets are thronged with men & women all dressed out in their very best …”

“… lining the street its whole length it looks like a great gala day—they seem to enjoy the scene very much and their faces seldom can be seen to express more animation than as they pass & repass one another—among hundreds you scarce can find one that is not well dressed …”

“… the horseman & women make Broadway their point of display and come in in crowds or singly—and the bystanders amuse themselves by critizising the riders—like the crowd in the carnival some will be hailed with shouts of laughter at their appearance …”

“…and then words of praise as some good riders go prancing by – women as well as the men enter this gauntlet of opinion & sometimes call forth loud applause.”

“Soon His Maj’s (King Kamehameha III) coming is announced the streets are closed for his approach. He generally on this P.M. has some dozen or twenty in his train—he is a fine rider and makes appearance on horseback. All is hushed as he passes—and the crowds soon disperse to their homes.”

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View_of_Honolulu_Harbor_and_Punchbowl_Crater._(c._1854)

Auguste_Borget_-_’Honolulu_Waterfront’,_graphite_on_paper,_1838

Honolulu Harbor-Ships pulled by canoes-Henry Walker-1843

The old palace, which was built in 1845 and was replaced by Iolani Palace in 1882

Bethel_Church,_Honolulu,_Hawaii

Our Lady of Peace Cathedral, Honolulu, 1843

Kawaiahao_Church,_Honolulu,_in_1857

Photograph_of_the_Royal_School,_probably_after_1848

Paul_Emmert_-_’Diamond_Head_from_Aliapaakai’,_c._1853-59

No._2._View_of_Honolulu._From_the_Catholic_church._(c._1854)-center image

No._1._View_of_Honolulu._From_the_harbor._Burgess-(c._1854)

John_Prendergast_(English)_-_’Honolulu_Looking_Toward_Diamond_Head’_1848

Interior_of_the_Fort,_Honolulu_Harbor-1830s-1840s

Honolulu Hale-gov’t bldg of Kingdom -Paul_Emmert-1853

Honolulu Hale-governmental building then post office from 1853-1871

Hiram Bingham House, Mission Houses Museum

Downtown_Honolulu-Land_Commission_Awards-Map-1847-Black & White

Downtown and Vicinity-Street_Names-Map-1843

Honolulu_Harbor-Downtown-1847

April 11, 2018 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

‘Upolu

In 1779, Captain Cook explored the North Kohala area and noted: “The country, as far as the eye could reach, seemed fruitful and well inhabited … (3 to 4-miles inland, plantations of taro and potatoes and wauke are) neatly set out in rows.”

“The walls that separate them are made of the loose burnt stone, which are got in clearing the ground; and being entirely concealed by sugar-canes planted close on each side, make the most beautiful fences that can be conceived …” (Cook Journal)

“The district of Kohala is the northernmost land area of the island of Hawaii. ‘Upolu Point, its northwesterly projection, fronts boldly out into Alanuihaha Channel toward the southeastern coast of Maui, and is the nearest point of communication between the two islands.”

“To the south, along Hawai‘i’s western coast, lies Kona; to the east the rough coast of Hāmākua District unprotected from the northerly winds and sea.” (Handy & Pukui)

“Kohala was the chiefdom of Kamehameha the Great, and from this feudal seat he gradually extended his power to embrace the whole of the island, eventually, gaining the suzerainty of all the Hawaiian Islands.”

“’Upolu, which is the old name of the valley in Tahiti now called Papeno‘o; likewise the old name of the island of Taha‘a, northwest of Tahiti, and the present name of the chief island of the Samoan group.” (Handy & Pukui)

Oral traditions trace the origin of Hawaiian luakini temple construction to the high priest Pā‘ao, who arrived in the islands in about the thirteenth century. He introduced several changes to Hawaiian religious practices that affected temple construction, priestly ritual, and worship practices.

“Pā‘ao is said to have made his first landfall in the district of Puna, Hawaii, where he landed and built a Heiau (temple) for his god and called it Waha‘ula.”

“From Puna Pā‘ao coasted along the shores of the Hilo and Hāmākua districts, and landed again in the district of Kohala, on a land called Pu‘uepa, near the north-west point of the island, whose name, ‘Lae Upolu,’ was very probably bestowed upon it by Pā‘ao or his immediate descendants in memory of their native land.” (Fornander)

“In this district of Hawaii Pā‘ao finally and permanently settled. Here are shown the place where he lived, the land that he cultivated, and at Pu‘uepa are still the ruins of the Heiau of Mo‘okini, which he built and where he officiated.”

Mo‘okini temple was last active as a war temple for Kamehameha I in the last two decades of the 18th century. It is said to have housed the Kamehameha family war god, Ku-ka-‘ili-moku, and this feathered god transferred to Pu‘ukohola Heiau, in 1791, when Kamehameha built this new war temple to assure his conquest of all the Hawaiian Islands.

According to Stokes, Mo‘okini Heiau was said to have been built from stones brought from Pololu Valley. It was believed that the stones were passed hand-to-hand by men standing in a line spanning the 15-mile distance from the valley.

“About 2,000 feet west of Mo‘okini Heiau and near the ocean is the birthplace of Kamehameha the Great. At the time of his birth, ca. 1753, the site was occupied by one of the thatched housing complexes of Alapa‘i-nui-a-Kauaua, ruling chief of the Island of Hawai’i.”

“The birth itself took place late at night within d one of the large thatched houses reserved for royal women. The named stone Pohaku-hanau-ali‘i may have been his mother’s couch inside the house.”

“Alapa‘i’s housing complex would have included a number of thatched houses as well as the canoe landing ‘harbor’ along the shore. The complex, with ‘harbor’ was called by the place name of Kapakaj, within the larger Hawaiian land division (an ahupua‘a) called Kokoiki.” (NPS)

By the time of contact, numerous coastal villages and extensive dryland agricultural systems were in place in North Kohala. This farming system lasted for several centuries and provided taro and sweet potato (the food staples of the time) to the growing population.

When that ended in the 1800s, it was followed several decades later with the commercial production of sugarcane that lasted for over 100‐years. Sugar production stopped in Kohala in 1975.

On June 25, 1927, an Executive Order set aside nearly 38-acres of the property for an airplane landing field for the US Air Service to be under the management and control of the War Department. In 1933, the Army named it Suiter Field, in honor of 1st Lieutenant Wilbur C Suiter who was killed in action serving in 135th Aero Squadron.

Suiter Field was first licensed in 1928. It was also alternatively referred to as Upolu Point Military Reservation, Upolu Landing Field, Upolu Airplane Landing Field and Upolu Airport.

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