Peter T Young

March 14, 2026 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Mea ‘Ono Pua‘a

Originally a Cantonese custom, dim sum (literally small snack – cuisine prepared as small bite-sized portions of food) is inextricably linked to the Chinese tradition of ‘yum cha’ or drinking tea. Teahouses sprung up to accommodate weary travelers journeying along the famous Silk Road.

Rural farmers, exhausted after long hours working in the fields, would also head to the local teahouse for an afternoon of tea and relaxing conversation. (Parkinson)

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America. The first to arrive in the Islands were the Chinese (1852.)

“When they (Chinese contract laborers) reached Honolulu, they were kept in the quarantine station for about two weeks. They were made to clean themselves in a tank and have their clothes fumigated. Planters looked them over and picked them for work in much the same way a horse was looked at before he was bought.” (Young – Nordyke & Lee)

“These Chinese were taken to the plantations. There they lived in grass houses or unpainted wooden buildings with dirt floors. Sometimes as many as forty men were put into one room. “

“They slept on wooden boards about two feet wide and about three feet from the floor. … (T)hey cut the sugarcane and hauled it on their backs to ox drawn carts which took the cane to the mill to be made into sugar” (Young – Nordyke & Lee)

The sugar industry grew, so did the Chinese population in Hawaiʻi. Between 1852 and 1884, the population of Chinese in Hawai’i increased from 364 to 18,254, to become almost a quarter of the population of the Kingdom (almost 30% of them were living in Honolulu.) (Young – Nordyke & Lee)

They brought their customs and cuisine with them – and it caught on in the Islands.

One such, dim sum, includes char (or cha) siu bao, a bun with a barbecued pork filling. It is either steamed to be fluffy and white or baked with a light sugar glaze to produce a smooth golden-brown crust.

Char siu refers to the pork filling; the word bao simply means ‘bun.’

In the islands this Chinese pork cake became known as mea ‘ono pua‘a (‘mea ‘ono’ (delicious thing) as in cake or pastry, and ‘pua‘a’ for pork.) Reportedly, the pidgin adaptation “mea ‘ono pua‘a” evolved to “manapua.”

These steamed or baked buns are sometimes are filled with coconut, black bean paste or chicken (and other meats and vegetables,) but char siu pork has been predominant.

Not only did the tasty snack receive a Hawaiian name, they were also Hawaiian-sized, turning the ‘small snack’ to accompany tea, into a meal. (Some suggest the name is a variant of “mauna pua‘a” (mountain of pork.)

After finishing contracted terms as sugar plantation laborers, many Chinese opened businesses and restaurants. Food peddlers would walk neighborhoods selling snacks, including manapua, from large aluminum cans hung with cord at the ends of poles hoisted on their shoulders. (Hawaii Magazine)

A Manapua Man (vendors carrying tin cans on either end of a pole over his shoulder) would walk the neighborhoods, yelling “manapua, pepeiao, manapua pepeiao!”

(Pepeiao (the Hawaiian word for ear) is what is now known as Half Moon (har gao (a shrimp dumpling) because its shape looks like an ear – or what you would imagine is a boxer’s cauliflower ear.)

The walking street vendors are gone, but manapua continues as a local staple. (The Ma‘iola Indigenous Health Program notes manapua in the foundation of the Hawaiian food pyramid.)

March 13, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaukahoku

“Kamehameha III, By the Grace of God, King of the Hawaiian Islands, by this Royal Patent, makes known, unto all men, that he has for himself and his successors in office, this day granted and given, absolutely, in Fee Simple unto John George Lewis, his faithful and loyally disposed subject for the consideration of Eight Hundred Dollars”.

Thus, in 1848, through Royal Patent No. 97, John George Lewis acquired 8.92-acres of land in the ili of Kaukahoku (the stars have arisen.) In the 1840s the land was separated from the city by nearly two miles of open land and tropical forest.

It was through this land that Kamehameha the Great marched during what would become the Battle of the Nu‘uanu in April 1795 (the last major battle before the unification of the Hawaiian Islands.)

(Coincidently, Kamehameha was aided by foreigners, including John Young and Isaac Davis, who provided the cannons and tactical know-how used in the battle.)

This land, a portion of a grant known as Kaukahoku was originally designated as Fort Land; that is, it was set apart for the use of the Fort, probably as agricultural land.

Sometime in the 1840s Kekūanāoʻa, Governor of the island of Oahu, leased this land to Henry A Peirce, an American merchant who had established a thriving business in the Hawaiian Islands. He named the property ‘Beleview.’ Peirce, however, soon left the Islands and the land was leased to Lewis. (Rivera)

In September 1843 Lewis notified the Hawaiian Government that at the end of the year he desired to buy the Government interest in the land for $500. The Government, however, set the price at $800 plus interest, which Lewis presumably paid. (HABS)

John Lewis, the son of Isaiah and Polly (Holmes) Lewis, was born in Hawaii and was a successful dry goods importing merchant in Honolulu. Lewis & Co later became Mitchell & Fales, Ship Chandlers, on Nuʻuanu street at Merchant street (Lewis left to become a Real Estate Broker and General Agent.) (Thrum)

Tradition claims that Lewis built the house at Kaukahoku in 1847. (HABS)

It was modeled in the Greek Revival style. It has a formal plan arrangement, wide central hall, high ceilings and floor-length hinged, in-swinging shuttered casement window.

It is one-story, over a basement, and measures about 73-feet by 51-feet. The roof is hipped over the main portion of the home and gabled over the rear lanai that was converted to a room.

Around 1850, Lewis went to Boston and engaged in business there. Before leaving, he sold the land to John Young II (Keoni Ana) for $6,000. (Young was son of John Young who assisted Kamehameha in his final battles for unification, including Nuʻuanu.)

Young gave the name Hānaiakamālama to the house (“foster child of the God Kamalama,” one of the ancestral gods his mother, a Hawaiian high Chiefess, Mary Kuamoʻo Kaoanahaeha, a niece of King Kamehameha I (Lit., the foster child of the light (or moon) – also the name given to the Southern Cross.))

John Young II was an uncle to Emma Rooke who became Queen of the Hawaiian Islands at the time of her marriage to King Kamehameha IV in 1856.

Young gave the young royal couple the use of the home in Nuuanu Valley and they found it a pleasant respite from court life at ʻIolani palace.

At his death in 1857, Young willed the property to his niece, Queen Emma, and thus Hanaiakamalama came into her possession.

She and her family continued to enjoy the home for another five years until the death of her young son, and then her husband.

Queen Emma continued to use the home as a summer house until her death in 1885. Hānaiakamālama became a center of social activity as well as a restful country retreat. (HABS)

When the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Hawaiian Islands as part of the itinerary of a round-the-world tour, Queen Emma “gave an impromptu entertainment to a large number of guests at her residence in Nuʻuanu Valley.”

“The guests enjoyed themselves at croquet and other outdoor sports on the lawn until evening when the fine room prepared for the entertainment of the Duke of Edinburgh was thrown open and dancing commenced and was kept up until about 9 o’clock”. (Hawaiian Gazette, March 2, 1870)

Queen Emma left her property after her death to Colonel Cresswell Rooke of Broomhill, Colchester, Essex, England, a nephew of her hānai father, Dr TCB Rooke, and to Queen’s Hospital.

Col. Rooke visited Hawai’i in 1903 to settle the estate. When the property was divided, the Colonel waived back rents due him, which had been given to Queen’s Hospital (in exchange for several keepsakes.) (Hackler)

In 1890, Alexander Cartwright, executor of the estate testified that Queen Emma’s old home was “in need of extensive repairs, is old and untenantable, has been unoccupied for past five years.” The land and house were put at auction and were bought by the Hawaiian Government on August 27, 1890.

When the government tried to sell the property in 1906, strong public objections to the sale were made, many suggesting that the land be set aside as a park. The government reconsidered. (HABS)

A later concurrent resolution from the legislature was adopted in 1911, “that ‘The Queen Emma Place’ in Nuʻuanu Valley, City and County of Honolulu … be set aside and reserved as a Park, to be known as ‘Nuʻuanu Park’ …”

“… and that the Governor or other proper authorities of the Territory of Hawaii are hereby requested to take, without delay, the necessary legal steps to put into force and effect the purposes of this Concurrent Resolution.”

Hānaiakamālama was later saved from demolition by the Daughters of Hawaiʻi. Today, the Daughters preserve and maintain this residence and the Huliheʻe Palace in Kailua-Kona as museums open to the public.

The restored and furnished home of Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV offers a glimpse into the lifestyle of the Hawaiian monarchy.

The Daughters of Hawai‘i was founded in 1903 by seven women who were daughters of American Protestant missionaries. They were born in Hawai‘i, were citizens of the Hawaiian Kingdom before annexation and foresaw the inevitable loss of much of the Hawaiian culture.

They founded the organization “to perpetuate the memory and spirit of old Hawai‘i and of historic facts, and to preserve the nomenclature and correct pronunciation of the Hawaiian language.” (My mother was a Daughter.)

March 12, 2026 by Peter T Young 6 Comments

Alsoberry Kaumualiʻi Hanchett

“The object of the Harvard Club of Hawaiʻi as stated in its constitution is ‘to extend the influence of Harvard University in Hawaiʻi and to foster closer relations between the Harvard men in Hawaiʻi and other Harvard Alumni.’”

“Toward carrying out the program involved, the question of assisting worthy young men financially in going to Harvard was brought up …”

“… and after a full discussion it was ‘Voted that it be the policy of the Club to help boys to go to Harvard; that one boy be helped each year by a loan of an amount not to exceed $200 per year’”.

“AK Hanchett, a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools, now a senior in Oʻahu College, was chosen as the first recipient.” (Harvard Graduates’ Magazine, 1907)

Born in Lihuʻe, Kauai, November 16, 1885, Alsoberry Kaumualiʻi Hanchett was the son of Salem Panole Hanchett and Julia Malaea (Palaile) Hanchett.

His grandfather, Salem Hanchett of Massachusetts, went to sea as a teenager aboard a Pacific whaler, and settled on Kauai during the reign of King Kaumualiʻi; he married Aluhua Aka, a descendent of Kaumualiʻi.

In 1848, he was granted citizenship in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, and seven years afterward, he obtained a license to operate a Wailua River ferry at a time when no bridges spanned the river. (Soboleski)

AK Hanchett received his early education in Honolulu at the Kamehameha. Following his graduation from Kamehameha, he went on to excel at Oʻahu College. President Arthur F Griffiths noted:

“Hanchett is a part Hawaiian of the best type. He is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools and of Oahu College. He is steady, reliable and conscientious. As a student, he has good ability which compares with the best”.

Hanchett applied for Harvard in the spring of 1907 with strong letters of support from President Arthur F Griffiths of Oʻahu College and President Perley Horne of the Kamehameha Schools. (Aki; OHA)

He received an AB degree at Harvard University in 1911, and, continuing his studies in the medical college of the same institution, earned his MD degree in 1914.

“This Hawaiian boy will graduate in this coming June, and will intern for two years at one of the Famous Hospitals of America to advance his abilities in the medical field, and at the completion of his stay at the Hospital, then he will select where he will practice his calling.”

“We hope that he will come back to Hawaiʻi nei to practice this greatest of occupations in which he trained, and be the first Hawaiian to practice medicine in here in Hawaiʻi.” (Ka Hoku o Hawaii, June 21, 1914)

“(I)n an examination of the medical students in Boston, in order to enter one of the Hospitals of the City, and from amongst a 100 students, the Hawaiian boy ranked 3rd …”

“… and because this Hawaiian Boy wanted to once again test his competence, his Medical abilities were tested once again at a big Hospital in Providence in the State of Rhode Island, and what was revealed in that examination was that amongst 50 students who took the test, to the Hawaii boy went ‘Number One.’” (Ka Hoku o Hawaii, June 21, 1914)

Dr Hanchett abbreviated his name to A Kaumu, discovering that Alsoberry Kaumualiʻi was altogether too long for a doctor’s shingle. (Episcopal Church)

During World War I, Major Hanchett served in the Medical Corps at Schofield Barracks and Fort Shafter, and later entered private practice with Dr Pekelo in an office on the corner of Beretania and Punchbowl.

Hanchett and Mary Hazel McGuire – a nurse at Queens Hospital – were married in Honolulu in 1917 and had eight children. (Soboleski)

Alsoberry Kaumualiʻi Hanchett, was the first person of Hawaiian ancestry to graduate from Harvard Medical College; the first doctor of Hawaiian descent to practice in the Islands; first City-County physician in Honolulu and first doctor at the Shingle Memorial Hospital, Molokai. (Episcopal Church)

March 11, 2026 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Evelaina

“We have received from Captain Hart of the Achilles an extract from the log of that ship signed by the captain, officers and cabin passengers of the vessel containing a full and interesting account of the loss of the Mastiff by fire as viewed from the Achilles.” (Hawaiian Gazette, November 18, 1910)

“By the arrival of the British ship Achilles, which anchored off this port yesterday afternoon, we have news of the burning of the clipper ship Mastiff, on the route from San Francisco to Hongkong, via Honolulu.”

“The ship Mastiff, under command of Wm O Johnson, Esq, sailed from San Francisco, Saturday, Sept. 10th, having on board, twenty-six men, officers and crew” (and 175 Chinese between decks.) The ship was bound to Hongkong”.

“On Tuesday, the 13th, we raised a ship right ahead, which afterward proved to be the British ship Achilles, and continued in company with her until Thursday, at 4 PM, wind being very light”.

“At this time, the Achilles, being on our lee quarter, and about 5 miles distant, the second mate, Mr. Johnson, descried smoke coming out of the ventilators, which were situated in the after part of the ship, and immediately communicated the fact to the Captain and passengers, who were on the quarter deck.”

“At six and half o’clock, the flames burst out at all points, and the ship was left to her fate, Capt Johnson being the last man to leave, and having the satisfaction of knowing that but one life was lost, that of a Chinaman who went below, to get the key of his iron chest which he had got on deck; he was smothered.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 28, 1859)

Wait … this story isn’t about the destruction of the Mastiff, this is about the dedication of a mastiff to his master.

Evelaina was the English mastiff of Kamehameha III.

She originally was a gift to the king. She understood commands in both Hawaiian and English. (Hawaiian History & Culture)

Kamehameha III died on December 15, 1854.

I’ll let the February 19, 1857 story in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser tell the rest of the story …

“Among the instances of strong attachment of dogs to their masters, many interesting tales have been recorded, but we do not recollect one where more endurance and constancy has been displayed than in an instance which many have witnessed here during the past two years.”

“When the remains of our late beloved King, Kamehameha III, were deposited in the sepulchre, many were the sad mourners who watched night and day, lamenting in heart-rending wailing the death of their King, friend and benefactor.”

“Weeks wore on, and human grief was moderated, if not assuaged; the mourners quietly departed and returned to their homes and occupations.”

“Not so the late King’s favorite mastiff.”

“When the body was deposited in its last resting place, ‘Evelaina’ took his station outside the door of the tomb, and there commenced his weary watch.”

“For many weeks he would not leave the spot.”

“After a time, food was not taken to him, and at last, driven by hunger and thirst, he was compelled to leave; but, having satisfied these wants, he returned to his post, and has thus kept watch for nearly two years.”

“Of late his keepers have tried to confine him, but he is frequently missing, and, if searched for, will be found guarding the mortal remains of him he loved so well.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 19, 1857)

The dutiful dog passed away some seven years after Kamehameha III and the then-Prince and Interior Minister Lot Kapuāiwa Kamehameha had the dog put in a coffin and buried in Waikiki.

When Prince Lot ascended the throne as Kamehameha V and began to transfer the bodies of the late sovereigns from Pohukaina to Mauna ʻAla in 1865.

He also ordered the body of Evelaina to be buried at Mauna ʻAla under a tree behind the main chapel so she could continue to guard her beloved master. (Hawaiian History & Culture) (The dog here is representative, not Evelaina.)

March 10, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

About 250 Years Ago … Common Friends to Mankind

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.

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.

It was the turning point in the future of the continent and an everlasting change in the United States.

At this same time, there was a turning point in the future of the Islands.

Captain James Cook’s third and final voyage (1776-1779) of discovery was an attempt to locate a North-West Passage, an ice-free sea route which linked the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Cook commanded the Resolution while Charles Clerke commanded Discovery. (State Library, New South Wales)

In the dawn hours of January 18, 1778, British explorer Cook first sighted apparently uncharted islands in the middle of the Pacific.

“They were named by Captain Cook the Sandwich Islands, in honour of the Earl of Sandwich, under whose administration he had enriched geography with so many splendid and important discoveries.” (Captain King’s Journal; Kerr)

Hawaiian lives changed with sudden and lasting impact, when western contact changed the course of history for Hawai‘i.

At the time of Cook’s arrival (1778-1779), the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lānai and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Throughout their stay, the ships were plentifully supplied with fresh provisions which were paid for mainly with iron, much of it in the form of long iron daggers made by the ships’ blacksmiths on the pattern of the wooden pāhoa used by the Hawaiians.

After a month’s stay, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaiʻi Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke. They returned to Kealakekua.

That night a skiff from the Discovery had been stolen. “Our unfortunate Commander, the last time he was seen distinctly, was standing at the water’s edge, and calling out to the boats to cease firing, and to pull in.”

“If it be true, as some of those who were present have imagined, that the marines and boat-men had fired without his orders, and that he was desireous of preventing further bloodshed, it is not improbable that his humanity, on this occasion, proved fatal to him.”

“For it was remarked, that whilst he faced the natives, none of them had offered him any violence, but that having turned about to give his orders to the boats, he was stabbed in the back, and fell with his face in the water.” (Voyages of James Cook) On February 14, 1779, Cook was killed.

At this same time, recall that back in the Atlantic, the American Revolutionary War was still ongoing with the Americans (with support from the French) fighting the British.

At Canton, King learned that the the American and French governments had issued a directive to all French sea captains exempting Cook from military action on his way back to England.

“Not long after Captain Cook’s death, an event occurred in Europe, which had a particular relation to the voyage of our Navigator, and which was so honourable to himself, and to the great nation from whom it proceeded”. (King)

On March 10, 1779, Benjamin Franklin, who at age seventh-three, had himself issued a similar directive to the captains of American ships,

“A Ship having been fitted out from England before the Commencement of this War, to make Discoveries of new Countries, in Unknown Seas, under the Conduct of that most celebrated Navigator and Discoverer Captain Cook …”

“… an Undertaking truely laudable in itself, as the Increase of Geographical Knowledge, facilitates the Communication between distant Nations, in the Exchange of useful Products and Manufactures, and the Extension of Arts …”

“… whereby the common Enjoyments of human Life are multiplied and augmented, and Science of other kinds encreased to the Benifit of Mankind in general.”

“This is therefore most earnestly to recommend to every one of you; that in case the said Ship which is now expected to be soon in the European Seas on her Return, should happen to fall into your Hands …”

“… you would not consider her as an Enemy, nor suffer any Plunder to be made of the Effects contained in her, nor obstruct her immediate Return to England, by detaining her or sending her into any other Part of Europe or to America …”

“… but that you would treat the said Captain Cook and his People with all Civility and Kindness, affording them as common Friends to Mankind …”

On March 19th, 1779, just a few days after Franklin’s, Monsieur Sartine, secretary of the marine department at Paris, sent to all the commanders of French ships the following statement/directive:

“Captain Cook, who sailed from Plymouth in July, 1776, on board the Resolution, in company with the Discovery, Captain Clerke, in order to make some discoveries on the coasts, islands, and seas of Japan and California …”

“… being on the point of returning to Europe, and such discoveries being of general utility to all nations, it is the king’s pleasure that Captain Cook shall be treated as a commander of a neutral and allied power …”

“… and that all captains of armed vessels, etc., who may meet that famous navigator, shall make him acquainted with the king’s orders on this behalf, but at the same time let him know that on his part he must refrain from all hostilities.”

“By the Marquis of Condorcet we are informed that this measure originated in the liberal and enlightened mind of that excellent citizen and statesman, Monsieur Turgot.”

“Whilst great praise is due to Monsieur Turgot for having suggested the adoption of a measure which hath contributed so much to the reputation of the French government, it must not be forgotten that the first thought of such a plan of conduct was probably owing to Dr. Benjamin Franklin.”

Franklin’s gesture of good will toward Cook was not least among the honors he brought to his fledgling country. On the return of the Discovery and Resolution, they met neither French nor American ships on the way home. (Captain Cook Society)

For more, Click the following link:

https://imagesofoldhawaii.com/wp-content/uploads/Common-Friends-to-Mankind.pdf