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November 25, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tahitian Influence on Christianity in Hawai‘i

By the time European explorers entered the Pacific in the 15th century, almost all of the habitable islands had been settled for hundreds of years and oral traditions told of explorations, migrations and travels across this immense watery world.

Double-hulled canoes were seaworthy enough to make voyages of over 2,000-miles along the longest sea roads of Polynesia, like the one between Hawai‘i and Tahiti. (Kawaharada)

The first known Christian missionaries in Polynesia came from the London Missionary Society, an ecumenical Protestant organization; they landed in Tahiti, the Marquesas, then Tongatapu in Tonga. (PCC)

Toketa, a Tahitian, arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1818; he probably landed on the island of Hawaiʻi. He was a member of the household of the chief (Governor) John Adams Kuakini, at that time a prominent figure in the court of Kamehameha I in Kailua, Kona.

A convert to Christianity (he likely received missionary instruction in his homeland – first Europeans arrived in Tahiti in 1767; in 1797 the London Missionary Society sent 29 missionaries to Tahiti,) he became a teacher to Hawaiian chiefs, made a visit to Honolulu with Kuakini in January-February of 1822. (Barrere)

On February 4, 1822, “Adams (Kuakini) sent a young Tahitian to us (Toketa,) to obtain for him that part of the spelling book which is printed, with a view to commence learning to read his own language. … This young Tahitian is one of the three, whom we have found here from the Society Isles, able to read and write their native language.”

“He, with one hour’s instruction, is able to read the Hawaiian (Owhyhean) also, and to assist the chief to whom he is attached.” (Missionary Herald, 1823) Toketa then began to teach Kuakini to read and write.

Shortly after (February 8, 1822,) “Adams (Kuakini) sent a letter to Mr B (Bingham) written by the hand of Toleta the Tahitian, which Mr. B answered in the Hawaiian language. – ‘This may be considered as the commencement of epistolary correspondence in this language.’” (Missionary Herald, 1823)

William Ellis was with the London Missionary Society in Tahiti. Born in England, William and Mary Mercy Ellis went to Tahiti in 1817 as part of a new group of highly educated workers. They brought with them the first press and set it up in Moorea. They soon moved to Huahine, where William Ellis helped draft the code of laws. (Boston University)

Then the London Mission sent Ellis and some others to Hawai‘i. “(T)he colonial government-cutter Mermaid arrived in Fare harbour, on her way to the Sandwich Islands, with a small schooner, the Prince Regent, as a present from the British government to the king of those islands.”

“The captain intimated his intention of touching at the Marquesas on his return from Hawaii, and politely offered a passage to any of us who might be desirous of visiting these islands.”

“We had long been anxious to attempt the establishment of Christianity among the inhabitants of the former, and as the present appeared a favourable opportunity, we communicated the same to the deputation, and it appeared to them desirable to visit these places.” (Ellis)

“The arrangements for the voyage being completed, we assembled at the chapel about ten o’clock on the forenoon of the 25th of February: the native Christians were animated by kind and appropriate addresses from the church, and were affectionately encouraged by Mr. Barff and Mr. Orsmond, the latter being on a visit with us.”

“The native Missionaries then took leave of their fellow-Christians in a most solemn and impressive manner; and, as it had been arranged by Mr. Barff and myself that I should accompany them, to aid in the commencement of their labours, I addressed the people, and, recommending Mrs. Ellis and our dear children to their kind attentions under God, I also bade them farewell.”

“The meeting was peculiarly impressive and affecting; and, after mutually committing each other, under deep intensity of feeling, to the guidance and the keeping of the God of all our mercies, the whole congregation walked from the chapel to the sea-shore, where we exchanged our last salutations.”

“The deputation, the two native Missionaries and their wives, five other natives and myself, now embarked, and the Mermaid stood out to sea.” (Ellis)

“The time for her (Mrs Ellis) departure at length came, and on the 31st of December, 1822, accompanied by her four children, she embarked, with her husband, on board the Active, for the Sandwich Islands.”

“The voyage to the Sandwich Islands, about three thousand miles distant, was safe, and not unpleasant, and by the tender mercy of their heavenly Father, they reached Oahu on the 5th of February, 1823.”

“Here Mrs. Ellis received on landing, a cordial welcome from many of the chief women of the settlement, and from the esteemed American Missionaries, of whose plain but hospitable and comfortable dwelling, she became for several weeks an inmate, and received every attention and kindness as a beloved sister in the Lord.”

“All the affection professed in the invitations they had so kindly forwarded, was practically manifested; and every hope of tenderness and sympathy which they excited, was fully realized. Mrs. Ellis found that the prospects of greater usefulness …”

“In Huahine the influence of the Missionaries could bear on a comparatively small number, but here the town of Honolulu contained not fewer than 8,000, while the population of the island amounted to 20,000, and the influence of the Missionaries was brought to bear indirectly upon 150,000 or 180,000 persons.” (Mary Mercy Ellis Memoirs)

Ellis and the others who joined him from the London Missionary Society (including Tahitians who came with them) worked well with the American Protestant missionaries who arrived in Hawaii in 1820.

The American Mission immediately saw benefit in working with Ellis and the Tahitians … “of bringing the influence of the Tahitian mission to bear with more direct and operative force upon this nation …”

“… trembling under the too great responsibility of the spiritual concerns of the whole nation, & looking with hesitating awe at the great and difficult work of translating the bible & continually casting about for help …”

“… we feel the need of just such talents and services as Brother (Ellis) is able to bring to the work, whose general views of Christian faith practice, & of missionary duty, which accord so well with ours, whose thorough acquaintance with the Tahitian tongue so nearly allied to this …”

“… & which it cost the mission almost a 20 years’ labor fully to acquire, & whose missionary experience, among the South Sea Islands’ kindred tribes, enable him to cooperate with us, with mutual satisfaction, and greatly to facilitate our acquisition of this kindred language …”

“… & the early translation of the sacred scriptures, & thus promote the usefulness, rather than supersede the labors, of all who may come to our aid from America.” (Journal of the Sandwich Island Mission, May 9, 1822)

“The earliest, and model for the rest, was the Tahitian missionary Auna who came to Hawaii with a visiting English delegation of missionaries in 1822.”

“At the urgent request of the Hawaiian chiefs Auna was permitted to remain, and for well over a year Auna and his wife lived in the household of Ka’ahumanu, teaching reading and writing and explaining Christian doctrine to the king and chiefs.”

“Auna left a school of sixty pupils when the couple returned to Tahiti in 1824. His school was taken over by Kaomi, the son of his wife’s brother Moe, a Tahitian long in the service of Ka’ahumanu’s brother Ke’eaumoku the governor of Maui.” (Barrere & Sahlins)

Ellis remained in the Islands for eighteen months, but returned to England, due to illness of Mary (she died in 1835.) Ellis later remarried and continued mission work in the Madagascar. Ellis died in 1872.)

Because of the positive role of the London Missionary Society in assisting the Hawaiian mission, any descendant of a person sent by the London Missionary Society who served the Sandwich Island Mission in Hawaii is eligible to be an Enrolled Member in the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society.

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November 24, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kekūanāoʻa

“The father of (Mataio (Matthew)) Kekūanāoʻa was Nahi‘olea, brother to Ka‘iana. The two were noted O‘ahu chiefs of high rank and nearly related to the famous Kahekili of Maui.”

“Rebelling against his rule, they were vanquished, and went to live on Kauai.” They later served Kamehameha. However, they “separated from Kamehameha I on his voyage for the subjugation of O‘ahu, turned against him, and were killed at the battle of Nu‘uanu in 1795.”

“The mother of Kekūanāoʻa, Inaina, was of Hawai‘i, and of a high-born family of kahus of Kamehameha I. Their home and land, Keokea, was near Honaunau, Kona. Kekūanāoʻa, however, was born during a temporary absence in Hilo, near the period of Vancouver’s third visit.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 28, 1868)

His name (literally, the standing projections) is said to refer to ships’ masts seen in the harbor when Kekūanāoʻa was born. (Pukui) (Some claim Kekūanāoʻa to be the son of Ki‘ilaweau, the grandson of Alapaʻi, King of Hawai‘i, and the Chiefess Kaho‘owaha of Moana. (Kapi‘ikauinamoku))

“As a young man he was a favorite and attendant of the declining years of Kamehameha I. With Liholiho he was a punahele, or intimate attendant and friend, and in that capacity accompanied the Royal party to England; – to return with Boki and Liliha in sad and sacred charge of the Royal remains (in 1825.”)

“The years immediately following were those distinguished by the regency of Kaahumanu, and the aspiring rivalry of Boki. Kekūanāoʻa was at first much favored by the latter.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 28, 1868)

He married Pauahi, formerly a wife of Liholiho. They had a daughter, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani. Pauahi died while giving birth to Keʻelikōlani (February 9, 1826;) Keʻelikōlani was then cared for by Kamehameha’s wife, Kaʻahumanu, who herself died six years later.

In 1827, Kīnaʻu, daughter of Kamehameha, became his wife. They both publically professed the Christian faith in 1830. Following Ka‘ahumanu’s death in 1832, Princess Ruth was then sent to live with her father, Kekūanāoʻa, and her stepmother, Kīnaʻu.

Kīnaʻu and Kekūanāoʻa had five children: Prince David Kamehameha (who died as a child;) Prince Moses Kekūāiwa (who died in 1848;) Prince Lot Kapuāiwa; Prince Alexander Liholiho and Princess Victoria Kamāmalu.

Kekūanāoʻa and Kīnaʻu were the parents of two kings, Kamehameha IV (Alexander Liholiho) and V (Lot Kapuāiwa.) His daughter, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani, passed her great land holdings to Bernice Pauahi Bishop; it was the land base that formed Kamehameha Schools / Bishop Estate.

In 1833, Kīnaʻu was appointed Kuhina Nui. The Kuhina Nui was a unique position in the administration of Hawaiian government and had no specific equivalent in western governments of the day. It has been described in general terms as ‘Prime Minister,’ ‘Premier’ and ‘Regent.’

When John Adams Kuakini left his position as Governor of O‘ahu in 1834 to govern the Island of Hawai‘i, Kekūanāoʻa succeeded him and served the government for more than 30-years.

Starting in 1837, “the common Hawaiian folk of Honolulu” started petitioning Rev Hiram Bingham, head of the Hawaiian Mission, to establish a second church or mission in Honolulu (Kawaiahaʻo being the first).

When the matter of deciding where a new Church should be built, Governor Kekūanāoʻa “begged to express his manaʻo that it should be in the village” (Honolulu;) specifically, in the district of Kaumakapili where 12,000 to 13,000 people lived. (The Friend)

They requested that the Rev Lowell Smith be their pastor. The 1837 annual ʻAha Paeʻaina (the annual meeting and gathering of the churches and ministers) granted their request.

Kīnaʻu died on April 4, 1839, not long after the birth of her youngest child, Victoria; Kekūanāoʻa then raised Victoria. She was educated at Chief’s Children’s School (Royal School) along with all her cousins and brothers.

“An amusing scene is said to have taken place at the staking out for (Kawaiahaʻo Church.) The Governor insisted that it should be 160-feet long, – the pastor of the church (Hiram Bingham,) also a determined man, said 120 feet, and set the stakes of one end further in.”

“The Governor set those of the other end again ahead; the missionary followed up from behind, and the site would have walked rapidly downtown, had not a happy compromise arisen as to the required dimensions.” (The church is 143’ 6’” long by 78’ 10” wide.)

“In those days the labor of the people was in great measure at the command of the chiefs, and it was but for the chief to say, Come and let us do this, and the thing was done.”

“The planning and execution and procural of material however, for that massive edifice, required an amount of energy and thought, and the credit is due to (Kekūanāoʻa,) to the late Hon A Paki and the Rev Mr Bingham.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 28, 1868)

Years later, it was “an old building and one that is greatly beloved by a portion of our people, this mother church of ours. Its predecessor on these grounds was a church of pili grass; and the stone building was completed in 1842, constructed by the loving hands of the aliʻi and makaʻāinana of times gone by.”

“It was Kekūanāoʻa and Bingham (Binamu) Sr who selected the area where it was to be built and supervised its construction, however Bingham returned to America before the completion of this building.” (Kuokua, January 24, 1885)

“On the occasion of the hauling down of the Flag by Lord George Paulet in 1843, he was ordered to have the ignominious service performed. ‘Not at all, you shall do that yourselves,’ was the doughty answer, and the British mariners had to do it.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 28, 1868)

At the age of 17, Victoria Kamāmalu was appointed Kuhina Nui by her brother Kamehameha IV soon after he ascended the throne in December 1854.

“In 1861, (Kekūanāoʻa) became President of the Board of Education, succeeding the Rev Dr Armstrong in that office. He held in tender regard the good of the young of his nation, and the last public speech heard from his lips, outside the Legislative Hall, was a Sunday School celebration.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 28, 1868)

While President of the Legislative Assembly, “His last speech was in favor of progress and improvement. It was on the steamer subsidy question. ‘Gentlemen, where are we, for going forward? – looking back? Our race have more than once declared the progress, the foreign improvements. I am for steam.’” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 28, 1868)

When Lot Kapuāiwa (Kamehameha V) succeeded his brother Kamehameha IV in 1863, he selected his father Mataio Kekūanāoʻa to be the Kuhina Nui.

As the last Kuhina Nui, Kekūanāoʻa essentially presided over the demise of the office. Kamehameha V proclaimed a constitution on August 20, 1864 in which there was no provision for a Kuhina Nui.

It was “an unnecessary check upon the Legislative in giving to this Office an absolute control over the acts of a body of which he himself is a member and in which he has a vote.” (Archives)

“In former times, (Kekūanāoʻa) would have been a warrior; in this time he has done more than any person of his race to maintain their independence and their good name.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 28, 1868) Kekūanāoʻa died November 24, 1868.

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Kekuanaoa

Mataio Kekuanaoa

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Kamehameha_V-PPWD-15-6-016-1865

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Kaumakapili-1stChurch-(TheFriend)

Kekuanaoa-Territorial_Office_Building

November 23, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Okumura Home

“In August, 1894, Rev T Okumura, accepting the call of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, came to Honolulu to succeed Rev J Okabe in the pastorate of the Nuuanu church, which had only 91 members at that time.” (Star Bulletin, April 7, 1914)

At age 29, Reverend Takie Okumura of Japan was initially appointed to serve as minister of the Japanese Christian Church, the predecessor to today’s Nuʻuanu Congregational Church.

Okumura left there and began his work in the section of Honolulu centering about Makiki district in November, 1902. The work commenced in a little shed on Kīnaʻu Street near a Japanese camp and without a single church member. (The Friend, November 1930)

“In April, 1896, he established the Nuuanu Japanese School for Children with a view to the correct reading and use of the Japanese language.” (Star Bulletin, April 7, 1914)

“Being the founder of the first Japanese language school and a strong believer in the instruction of the Japanese language, I did not wish to see the splendid work which had been done so far spoiled.”

“So, in writings and speeches, I pointed out the folly of spreading Japanese nationalistic education under the cloak of loyalty and patriotism, and called upon the people in charge of language schools to alter their policies.” (Okumura)

“In September, 1896 he opened his home for the Christian home training of children. This boarding school has been able, up to the present, to receive 400 boys.” (Star Bulletin, April 7, 1914)

“In August 1896, the wife of one of my friends was returning to Japan for an extended visit, and I was asked to look after their boy in my home. I decided to do this simply to help my friend. But this was really the beginning of my Home.”

“The boy who was only nine years old when he first came to me, stayed with me for sixteen years … The second boy in the Home was George, son of Rinnojo Uyemura, a notable and powerful man in the Japanese community.” (Okumura)

“In 1899, $7,000 was raised by contributions and we purchased a lot and house on Kukui Street, the present site of a concrete building which was used until recently as the Philippine Consulate. In October, the Home moved to this larger house, which a spacious ground for the children to play in.”

“In December 1901, $2,000 was donated to the Home. With this sum, we built a two-story building for 60 boys and girls. Then, Mother Castle gave us 60 iron folding beds. For years the beds were known among the children as ‘Castle Beds.’”

“From early years, the Home promoted good citizenship, discipline and healthy exercise by encouraging military drills with wooden guns under the leadership of an Army sergeant from Camp McKinley which was then in Kapiolani Park, and later under an experienced instructor, Rev. K. Komuro.”

“The Home is run on strict Christian principles. Each day is opened and closed with prayers, and every possible effort is made to build up strong characters, not by mere words but by actual living. After vesper services, simple language lessons are given. On Sundays, every one of our boys and girls attend church services and Sabbath School.”

In October 1902, when the Nuuanu Church served its connection financially from the Hawaiian Board of Missions, the Home was given permission to use the old theological seminary building on Punchbowl Street, near Beretania Street.”

“But in 1906, the Hawaiian Board sold the Punchbowl Street property and we were forced to move … (and again in 1907.)”

“Immediately, I agreed with (Frank Damon’s) proposal of building a strong Christian school, and gladly offered my help. Keeping only about 18 boys all below the age of twelve, I sent 40 of the older boys to join 60 Chinese boys to form the nucleus of the ‘Mid-Pacific Institute.’”

“The incorporating of Kawaiahao Seminary, Mills Institute (founded in 1892), the Japanese Boarding School (opened in 1896), and the Methodist Korean Boarding School, was approved by the Hawaiian Board of Missions in 1905, thus supplying a boarding school for all races for both boys and girls.”

“This year there is an enrollment of one hundred and thirty-four, representing the following nationalities: Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Korean, Porto Rican, Filipinos, South Sea, American, German, Hawaiian-Spanish, Hawaiian-Scotch, Hawaiian-Norwegian, Hawaiian-Japanese-Indian, Hawaiian-Mexican.” (Hawai‘i DOE, 1913)

The Home was called by a variety of names, including Okumura Home, Okumura School Japanese Boarding School Japanese Christian School. In 1988, the home would be closed by Suyeki Okumura, a prominent Honolulu attorney and Reverend Okumura’s last living son. (Castle)

In early-1910, the Makiki Japanese Church (later known as the Makiki Christian Church) introduced the custom of one English sermon per month. The Church acquired property near McKinley High School (at the corner of Pensacola and Elm.)

Then, in the 1930, a new, enlarged church was contemplated and then constructed. The “Makiki Castle” was the inspiration of the Reverend Okumura. Okumura asked Hego Fuchino to design the church. It was modeled after a Japanese Castle.

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November 22, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1810s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1810s – Kamehameha and Kaumualiʻi negotiations, death of Kamehameha and the fall of the Kapu. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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November 21, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Bonin

‘Mu nin to’ or ‘Bu nin to’ are the Japanese sounds for three Chinese ideographs which would be translated ‘no man island.’ A group of Islands later took the name Bonin Islands.

A Spanish explorer, Ruy Lopez de Villalobos, was reported to have discovered the islands in 1543; he had given the name Arzobispo to the islands.

Villalobos commanded an exploring expedition that sailed from Mexico some time in 1542 or 1543. After reaching the Philippines on August 26, 1543, he sent off a small ship, the San Juan, having a crew of eighteen or twenty men, to explore in a northerly direction.

Somewhere about the beginning of October they sighted some islands, which from the description were almost certainly some of the Bonin group. They did not land and shortly afterwards steered back for the Philippines, and the chief reason given is that their stock of water was not sufficient for them to proceed.

In about the year 1675 a Japanese vessel was driven by a storm to these islands which, though uninhabited, they found to be pleasant and fruitful and, in default of other name, described as Buninto.

But this is not the name by which they are commonly known in Japan, nor is the year 1675 the first in which there is record of them, for these same islands are claimed to have been discovered in 1592 by a certain Ogasawara Sadayori, a Japanese warrior under Hideyoshi.

The Islands were granted to him as a fief, so that they became known as the Islands of Ogasawara (the name the group keeps today.)

“This small but interesting, and from its situation, valuable group of islands, lies in latitude 27° north, longitude 146° east, within five hundred miles distance from the city of Yedo in Japan.”

“It appertains to Great Britain, having been discovered by an English whaling vessel in 1825, and formally taken possession of by Captain Beechey of HMS Blossom in 1827. There were no aboriginal inhabitants found on the islands nor any trace that such had existed.”

“Their aggregate extent does not exceed two hundred and fifty square miles; but their geographical position — so near Japan, that mysterious empire, of which the trade will one day be of immense value —“

“… gives them a peculiar importance and interest. The climate is excellent, the soil rich and productive, and there is an admirable harbour well fitted for the port of a commercial city.” (Alex Simpson, Acting Britich Consul for the Sandwich Island)

HMS Blossom, under command of Captain Beechey, was a sloop carrying fifteen guns and a complement all told of 122 men. She had been dispatched from England on May 19, 1825, with instructions to co-operate with Franklin and Parry’s Arctic Expeditions.

The Blossom anchored in a harbor on June 9, 1827, having first attempted to fetch the southernmost group; but finding wind and current against the ship and discovering in the nearest land an opening which appeared to give promise of a good harbor, Captain Beechey made for this and anchored in Port Lloyd, to which he gave this name out of regard to the then Bishop of Oxford.

Captain Beechey was much surprised to find here two Europeans who turned out to have been two of the crew of the English whaler William, which vessel had been wrecked in Port Lloyd some eight months previous to the Blossom’s arrival. The name of one of the men was Wittrein; that of the other is not given.

It appears that after the wreck of the vessel the crew set to work to build a small schooner in order to find their way to Manila, as the chances of their being picked off from Port Lloyd were somewhat remote.

To their surprise, however, a whale ship, the Timor, appeared, and took off the crew of the wrecked vessel with the exception of these two men.

Word of the Bonin Islands had reached Hawaii, and there were already one or two of the chance residents in Oahu who were entertaining the idea of going to these newly-discovered islands and trying their fortune there as colonists. Savory, on his recovery, threw himself warmly into the project.

Shortly after (1830,) colonists from Hawaiʻi made their way to Bonin. Nathaniel Savory, an American citizen – but none the less under English auspices – was one of the founders of the first colony, of which he subsequently became chief, on the Bonin Islands.

Savory had served in some capacity on an English merchantman which in the year 1829 put in at Honolulu. He lost a finger in his right hand during the firing of a cannon salute. Having to undergo surgical treatment, his vessel left him behind at the port of Oahu.

“They sailed accordingly in 1830, took with them some Sandwich Island natives as labourers, some live stock and seeds, and landing at Port Lloyd, hoisted an English flag which had been given them by Mr. Charlton.”

Savory had many acquaintances among the storekeepers in Honolulu, and many friends among the captains of whalers and small trading vessels to the South Seas. From all accounts, the islands were fruitful; fish and turtle abounded; the climate was warm and genial; and the prospects of opening out some lucrative trade seemed altogether promising.

Plans took shape, the scheme being furthered in every way by Mr. Richard Charlton, at that time British Consul in Honolulu; and a schooner was fitted out which eventually set sail in the month of May, 1830, with Savory, Aldin Chapin, John Millinchamp, Charles Johnson, and Matteo Mazarro; they arrived on June 26, 1830. (Cholmondeley, Tokyo Metropolitan University)

Owing to the circumstances under which the first colony had been established on the Bonins, the early settlers, whether British subjects or not, had always regarded themselves as coming ultimately under the jurisdiction of the British Consulate in Hawaii.

“The cliffs in many places round the harbour came so close to the beach as to leave no cultivatable ground between them and the sea; but where valleys occur they have all been turned to account, with the exception of one on the west side of the inner harbour, which has probably been left vacant as a careening and repairing place for vessels.” (Captain Collinson; Cholmondeley)

Materially, the colony was prospering, and opportunities of sale and barter were furnished when, not unfrequently, whalers and other vessels came to visit it.

After Savory established himself on the Bonin Islands, captains of whalers and trading vessels came along to see him; take news of him back to his family; become bearers of their letters to him; and it is with him that Savory’s store-keeper friends want to transact business.

“The little settlement has been visited by several whaling vessels since that period, and also by a vessel from the British China Squadron.”

“(Mazarro,) anxious to get additional settlers or labourers to join the infant colony, the whole population of which only numbers about twenty, came to the Sandwich Islands in the autumn of 1842 in an English whaling vessel.”

“He described the little settlement as flourishing, stated that he had hogs and goats in abundance, and a few cattle; that he grew Indian corn and many vegetables, and had all kinds of tropical fruits; that, in fact, he could supply fresh provisions and vegetables to forty vessels annually.” (Alex Simpson, Acting British Consul for the Sandwich Islands)

“The island was greatly developed by grains which Savory had sent from the United States, and everything was so blooming and prosperous …” (Boston Transcript, August 30, 1887; Daily Bulletin, October 31, 1887)

Commodore Perry re-opened the long closed doors of Japan in 1861. That year, Japan made the first attempt is made to recover her long lost hold on the islands.

Towards the end of the year 1861, a Japanese steamer was despatched to Port Lloyd from Yedo, as the city of Tokyo was originally called, having on board a commissioner, subordinate officers, and about a hundred Japanese colonists.

On Sunday, November 21, 1875, the Meiji Maru, a Japanese ship, captained by an Englishman or American of the name of Peters, left Yokohama at noon with four Commissioners on board — Tanabe Yaichi, Hayashi Masaki, Obana Sakusuke, and Nezu Seikichi. Her destination was the Bonin Islands – Japan took control of the Bonin Islands.

From the year 1876 until 1904 when, under the Revised Treaties foreigners secured the right of travel and residence in any part of the Japanese Empire, no new settlers other than Japanese could make their home on the Bonin Islands.

The two chief islands are no longer ‘Peel’ Island and ‘Bailey’ Island. As newer maps and charts supersede the old ones, the names given by Captain Beechey will gradually disappear and be forgotten. ‘Peel’ Island is now Chichijima, Father Island; its harbor Futami ; ‘Bailey’ Island is Hahajima, or Mother Island. (Lots of information here is from Cholmondeley.)

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