Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kūʻīlioloa Heiau

The ancient name for the place was Neneʻu.  It was also known as Māʻalaea.  It’s at Waiʻanae, on the western coast of Oʻahu.

Pōka‘ī Bay (“night of the supreme one,”) named for Chief Pōka‘ī, has been the center of activity for the Waiʻanae Coast since pre-contact days.

Pōka’ī was reputed to have been a voyaging chief of Kahiki (Tahiti) who is credited with bringing the versatile and valuable coconut palm to the Islands.

A great grove of coconuts, Ka Uluniu o Pōkaʻī, lined the back shore of the entire bay and provided shelter and a vast array of materials for the village.

“In very ancient times, when the great Hawaiian chiefs and navigators sailed across the vast Pacific between Hawaiʻi and Kahiki, a legend arose about a voyaging chief named Pōkaʻī. It said that he brought and planted at Waiʻanae the first coconut tree in Hawai`i, from which grew in time a famous grove, Ka Ulu Niu o Pōkaʻī. The grove stretched from the site of the present police station to that of the Sacred Hearts Church…the bay makai of the grove, formerly known as Māʻalaea, eventually took the name of the legendary planter”.  (Shefcheck, Spear)

Prior to contact with the western world the bay was the site of a famous fishing village with double-hulled canoes going in and out of the bay.

The south end of Pōkaʻī Bay is formed by Kaneʻilio Point (Kane’s dog’”,) a pointed peninsula that juts out into the sea. On this finger of land are remains of Kūʻīlioloa Heiau (“The long dog form of Kū”.)

Kūʻīlioloa was a kupua, a demigod, who could assume the form of a man or dog. He was a protector of the navigators.  The names and symbolism related to the heiau incorporate the Hawaiian’s four primary gods: Kū, Kāne, Lono and Kanaloa.

The heiau name, Kūʻīlioloa, incorporates the god Kū; the name of the point, Kaneʻilio, incorporates the god Kāne; one of the major functions of this heiau is for navigation which incorporates the realm of Lono through the clouds and the heavens; and Kūʻīlioloa is also the only heiau in Hawaiʻi that is bordered on three sides by the ocean, which is the domain of Kanaloa.

Kūʻīlioloa is said to have been constructed by Lonokaeho who came to Hawai’i from Raiatea in the Society Islands in the 11th or 12th century.

One of the primary functions of the Heiau was as a training center and lighthouse for all navigation between Hawaiʻi and Tahiti. The location of this site allows specialists in astronomy to study the stars and celestial features.

In 1793, Vancouver described the area as desolate and barren, “From the commencement of the high land to the westward of Opooroah [Puʻuloa] was. . .one barren rocky waste, nearly destitute of verdure, cultivation or inhabitants, with little variation all to the west point of the island…. Nearly in the middle of this side of the Island is the only village we had seen westward of Opooroah… The shore here forms a small sandy bay. On its southern side, between the two high rocky precipices, in a grove of cocoanut and other trees, is situated the village. … The face of the country did not, however, promise an abundant supply.”   (Shefcheck, Spear)

After 1819, when the kapu system was overthrown, Kūʻīlioloa was one of the few heiau which was still used by the community.

Prior to WWII the US government decided to utilize Kaneʻilio point by building a concrete bunker on the site of Kūʻīlioloa.  Later, in the late-1970s, the Waiʻanae community rebuilt the heiau.

The Royal Order of Kamehameha, Moku O Kapuāiwa Chapter has a goal to turn the Heiau back into a training facility for kids and adults to learn about Hawaiian culture while being trained in ocean navigation.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

John Harvey Coney

John Harvey Coney was born in June 1820 in Litchfield, NY.  He came to Hawaiʻi after participating in the 1848 Mexican-American War.  He married Laura Amoy Kekuakapuokalani Ena (she was 17) on November 27, 1860.

John, supposedly through his wife’s family’s connections with King Kamehameha IV, was soon appointed Sheriff of Hilo, where Laura’s ancestral lands were located.  (Williams)

“I stopped 3 days with Hon. Mr. (Coney), Deputy Marshal of the Kingdom, at Hilo, Hawaii, last week, & by a funny circumstance, he knew everybody that ever I knew in Hannibal & Palmyra. We used to sit up all night talking, & then sleep all day. He lives like a Prince.”  (Twain)

The Coneys lived in a long grass thatched house on the mauka (toward the mountain) side of the courthouse lot, and later built a pretentious residence which is now (1922) the County Building….”  (Williams)

Coney was “a tall handsome man, who carried himself like a soldier,” he was “titular executive head of government next to the Governess of Hawaiʻi and Lieut. Governor”.  (Sanderson)

Besides being Sheriff (and later postmaster,) Coney got into a variety of business interests.  An April 22, 1868 Hawaiian Gazette notes, “Wharf at Hilo. The landing of passengers and goods at the Harbor of Hilo has been facilitated by the building of a short wharf from the rocky point at the west end of the beach. It has been made by the enterprise of Mr Coney and Mr  Hitchcock”.

“The wharf just built is well timbered and fastened, and carries six feet of water. Its strength was tested by the great, earthquake wave of Thursday, and by a loaded scow washing upon it, and it proved equal to the strain. Wharfage, hereafter, will be one of the charges on schooners running to Hilo.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, April 22, 1868)

Wife Laura was of royal descent.  She was the daughter of Chinese merchant John Lawai Ena and Hawaiian chiefess Kaikilanialiiwahineopuna (a descendent of the Kamehameha line and the last high chiefess of the Puna district of the island of Hawaiʻi.)  She was described as “an exceptionally fine woman of high character, gracious manner, generous instincts and kind disposition….” (Williams)

The Coneys had six children:  Clarissa (Clara) Piilani Amoy Coney (lady-in-waiting to the household of Queen Kapiʻolani;) Mary Ululani Monroe Coney; John Harvey Haalalea Coney (High Sheriff on Kauaʻi, later Territorial Representative and Senator;) Elizabeth (Lizzy) Likelike Kekaekapuokulani Coney (lady in waiting to Princess Miriam Likelike Cleghorn at Coronation of Kalākaua;) Eleanor (Kaikilani) Coney (travelling companion to Queen Liliʻuokalani across US) and William Hawks Hulilaukea Coney (co-Founder with Wallace Rider Farrington of Evening Bulletin, predecessor of the Honolulu Star Bulletin.)

Laura taught her children not to speak of their aliʻi blood, to forget about high chiefs and chiefesses, and to make their own way in the world because the days of chiefs and chiefesses were gone.

A daughter-in-law once noted, “I remember a time when the king (Kalākaua) was calling on Mother Coney. He was busy at the time collecting the genealogies of the nobility and the mele (songs, chants) of the Hawaiians.”

“He said to Mother Coney, ‘Tell me, Mrs. Coney, who were your ancestors, I know that you belong to the Kamehameha line.’ ‘Adam and Eve were my ancestors,’ she replied.”  (Williams)

After about 18-years in Hilo, the Coneys moved to Honolulu; their home (which they called ‘ Halelelea,’ that they translated to ‘Pleasant House’) was just mauka of ʻIolani Palace (on the mauka-Diamond Head corner of Richards and Hotel Streets.)  It was often the setting for many of the city’s “brilliant entertainments” during the Kalākaua monarchy.  (Williams)

In the Māhele of 1848, the property had been grant to High Chiefess Miriam Ke‘ahikuni Kekauōnohi, a granddaughter of Kamehameha I and a wife of Kamehameha II. Upon her death on June 2, 1851, all her property was passed on to her second husband, High Chief Levi Haʻalelea.

Levi Haʻalelea’s second wife was Amoe Ululani Ena Haʻalelea, sister of Laura Ena Coney.  When Levi Haʻalelea died in 1864, his second wife transferred ownership of the land to her sister’s husband John Coney.

In 1889, the Coney’s home, Halelelea, played a minor role during the Wilcox rebellion to restore the rights of the monarchy, two years after the Bayonet Constitution of 1887 left King Kalākaua a mere figurehead.

The insurgents were hunkered down in a bungalow across a narrow lane from the Coney House.  The plan was to throw dynamite at the bungalow.

“No attack was expected from that quarter, and there was nothing to disturb the bomb thrower. (Hay Wodehouse) stood for a moment with a bomb in his hand as though he were in the box waiting for a batsman. He had to throw over a house to reach the bungalow, which he could not see.”

“The first bomb went sailing over the wall, made a down curve and struck the side of the bungalow about a foot from the roof … The bomb had reached them and hurt a number of the insurgents. “

Wodehouse “coolly picked out another bomb. Then he took a step back, made a half turn and sent it whizzing.  It landed on the roof … He threw one more bomb and Wilcox came out and surrendered.”    (The Sporting Life, October 16, 1889)

Another property that had been granted to Kekauōnohi and subsequently conveyed to Coney at the same time as their home was approximately 41,000-acres of land at Honouliuli.  In 1877, Coney sold that land to James Campbell, who soon started Honouliuli Ranch.  After drilling Hawaiʻi’s first artesian well (1879,) by 1890 the Ewa Plantation Company was established.

John Harvey Coney died in Honolulu on October 9, 1880, at the age of 60.  Laura Ena Coney died in Honolulu on February 24, 1929, at the age of 85.

In a funeral recitation for Laura given by the Reverend Akaiko Akana, pastor of Kawaiahaʻo Church, on February 24, 1929, Laura was referred to as “one of the old and prominent kamaʻāinas who has helped to build Hawaii, not only by her personal effort, but through her influence on her husband, children and influencial associates and acquaintances throughout these islands.”  (Williams)

There are two marble plaques in Kawaiahaʻo Church commemorating members of the Coney family, both above the mauka royal pew. Donated by her daughters Kaikilani and Elizabeth, one reads: In Memory of Laura Kekuakapuokalani Coney 1844—1929 Always a devoted member of Kawaiahaʻo Church, she often said, “Ka wahi e nele ai, e haʻawi” Where need is, there give.

The other plaque reads: “In Memory of Levi Haʻalelea 1828-1864 His wife Ululani A. A. Haʻalelea 1824-1904 and Richard Haʻalilio 1808—1844.”  (I have been told this plaque is incorrect – Levi Haʻalelea was born in 1822; the last name listed should be Timothy Haʻalilio.)

The image shows John Harvey Coney.  In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hālona Blowhole

As molten lava flows, its surface cools; the lava then flows underground, forming tubes. When the eruption stops, lava drains from the tube, leaving it an open chamber.  Sea caves also can form with openings in the roof.

Near the ocean, this can form a blowhole.  As waves rush toward the rock, the water is compressed as it moves upward, erupting into a spray of water, not unlike a small geyser.

Blowholes are sometimes called “spouting horns” because of the loud roaring noises created by the rushing air and water coming up the chimney.

Hālona Blowhole on Oʻahu’s eastern coastline has a narrow opening, but then it opens up about eight-feet below the surface.  The waves crashing against the shoreline rush through, sending a spout of water and spray up to 30-feet into the air.

Ha-Lo-Na is literally saying – See The Foundation Breathe or Look At The Breath Of The Foundation. Ancient Hawaiians may have found it – just like us – to be a marvel and entertaining to watch – and perhaps as stupid as some to challenge it.  (Yardley)

It is one of Oʻahu’s busiest brief stops, for residents and visitors alike.

It gained attention years ago, and a lookout was initially built in the early-1950s; railings were added in 1971.

In 2008, a $1-million renovation project replaced a lower viewing platform that collapsed in 1997, added stainless-steel railings and a sitting area.  An expanded 42-stall parking lot, including two bus spots, was repaved, and an accessible sidewalk was added.

Viewing is not limited to the blowhole; on a clear day, the islands of Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Maui can be seen from the lookout (an etched compass of Oʻahu and a map shows the island locations.)

It is not safe to go down to the blow hole.  Numerous signs warn of the hazards of getting too close.   However, that doesn’t seem to stop people from trying (and dying.)

Since 1927, four people have been swept into the blowhole; three men have died in 1969, 1986 and 2002, one man survived in 1967.

Likewise, a list of SCUBA fatalities since 1971 shows that more fatalities occur at Hālona Blow Hole than any other dive site in the state. (shorediving)

The sea cliffs that make this stretch of shoreline so great for diving also preclude any easy exit sites. This, coupled with the strong current, slippery rocks, waves on the ledges and lack of lifeguards makes this coast one of the most hazardous on the island.

Nearby is Hālona Cove (to the right as you look out,) it’s a small pocket of sand that has a history of its own.

It was here, in the 1953 film ‘From Here to Eternity,’ that Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster shared the kiss as a wave rolled in.  The location also served as a scene in the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean IV,’ ’50 First Dates’ and Nikki Minaj’s ‘Starships.’

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Two Early Museums in Hawaiʻi

The display of objects of interest had an earlier history in post-contact Hawai‘i. In 1833, Seaman’s chaplain, Rev. John Diell, began displaying artifacts in the basement of the Seaman’s Bethel (church) in Honolulu, attracting the occasional interested visitor.

Diell enlarged his collection in 1837, seeking to preserve the objects of what he saw as a dying race. He named his new “museum” The Sandwich Islands Institute. It opened with among other odd curiosities, a large black bear and snow shoes.

(These were owned by the late David Douglas, who discovered the Douglas fir tree. He had left them at the home of the Reverend Diell shortly before being killed in a cattle trap near Hilo on July 12, 1834.)

After a short time, the museum at the Bethel closed; relics of its brief existence may have found their way into Bishop Museum and the Hawaiʻi Public Library.

In later decades, the Hawaiian Kingdom government came to recognize the value that a museum might offer as a site of cultural preservation and national voice.

On July 29, 1872, King Lot Kapuāiwa (Kamehameha V) signed into law an “Act to establish a National Museum.”

The Hawaiian National Museum opened in 1875, during the reign of King David Kalākaua, as a small collection with a meager budget. It was housed in an upper room of Ali‘iolani Hale, the government building.

As Kalākaua began to focus his attention on nationalistic projects he would increase the museum’s budget ten-fold and name Emma Nakuina, the museum’s first native curator, as head of the institution.

However, in 1887, the newly imposed “Bayonet Constitution” greatly curtailed the king’s power and slashed funding for the National Museum. Discussions soon began concerning a possible transfer of the government collection to Charles Bishop’s proposed museum.

Charles Reed Bishop founded the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in 1889 in honor of his deceased wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831-1884.)

Pauahi, as a member of the royal family and mo‘opuna kuakahi (great granddaughter) of Kamehameha I, had inherited many treasured objects, including the collection of her cousin, Princess Ruth Ke‘elikōlanii (1826-1883). The preservation and display of these objects had been a desire of both of these chiefly women.

When a third high ranking chiefess, the former queen, Emma Rooke (1836-1885), passed only a year after Pauahi her significant artifacts joined the others, forming the foundational collection of the proposed new museum.

Construction of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum began in 1889 in Kalihi-Pālama on the grounds of the campus of the Kamehameha School for Boys. The museum opened to the public in 1892, and later added Polynesian Hall in 1894, and the “Victorian masterpiece” named Hawaiian Hall in 1903.

In January of 1891, word arrived by ship of the death of King Kalākaua. Museum Director William T. Brigham, reportedly anxious over what might become of the national collection, collected and transferred many of the artifacts to the newly founded museum now under his direction.

On June 22 of that same year the museum opened to the public with a mission to “preserve and display the cultural and historic relics of the Kamehameha family that Princess Pauahi had acquired.” The nation’s new sovereign, Queen Lili‘uokalani, was the first guest.

After a 3-year facelift, the museum’s 3-floor, Hawaiian Hall was reopened. The first floor is the realm of Kai Ākea (which represents the Hawaiian gods, legends, beliefs and the world of pre-contact Hawai‘i.) The second floor, Wao Kanaka, represents the realm where people live and work; focusing on the importance of the land and nature in daily life. The third floor, Wao Lani, is the realm inhabited by the gods; here, visitors learn about the aliʻi and key moments in Hawaiian history.

Then, the Pacific Hall, a gallery of two floors representing the peoples of Pacific cultures across Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia, was renovated, restored and reopened. (The inspiration and much of the information here is from Bishop Museum.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

August 9, 1871 Hurricane

A couple newspaper accounts of the impacts of the August 9, 1871 hurricane (estimated to be category 3) and its impact in Kohala:

“DD Baldwin (plantation manager) writes: ‘On Wednesday of last week a fearful tornado swept through the district, spreading desolation and ruin in its track, demolishing Mr. Wright’s mill building and a large portion of the thatched houses in the district; throwing down our flume; uprooting large trees, and prostrating our cane fields.’

‘The wind commenced about 6 o’clock A.M. from the North, and rapidly rotating to the West and South, and increasing in fury, reached its climax about 9 AM when it suddenly lulled into a calm fearfully in contrast with the rain the storm had so rapidly wrought.”

“The wind was accompanied with torrents of rain which raised the streams to an unprecedented height and swept away fences and trees.’”

‘We had as usual commenced our morning grinding when the rain drove in under our boilers, extinguished our fires and drenched our whole mill building with a deluge of water and it was with the utmost difficulty that our sugar on hand in kegs and the bins were saved.’”

“‘Our loss in juice on hand was considerable. The fall of our steam chimney of course prevents grinding now, but we are puting up a new one, and shall commence again next week. The portion of our flume prostrated is In our cane fields, and we continue to run down wood to a point near the cane.”

“But by far the greatest damage is to our cane fields, more particularly those belonging to next years crop, which I fear will seriously effect my estimates.’”

“The Rev. Mr. Bond relates: ‘The storm commenced about 6 AM and increased at 10 AM The greatest fury was say from 9 to 9½ or 9¾, torrents of rain came with it. The district is swept as with the besom of destruction.’”

“‘About 150 houses were blown down, trees in ravines torn up like wisps of grass, cane stripped and torn, as never before and even the grass forced down and made to cleave to the earth.’”

“‘The main houses on the plantation, though flooded, remain in position. Cooper’s shop and several of the people’s houses moved from 2 to 10 feet off their foundations. The damage is variously estimated at $1,000 to $10,000. I should say $5,000 is a fair estimate.’”

“‘In our garden there is scarcely a whole tree of any kind remaining. A mango tree 15 inches in diameter was snapped as a pipe stem, just above the surface of the ground. Old solid kukui trees which had stood the storms of a score of years were torn up and pitched about like chaff.’”

“‘Dr. Wright’s mill and sugar house, the trash and dwelling house for manager, or head man, were all strewn over the ground. We were and are most thankful that the storm came in the daytime, and also that it was limited in its duration. These are the large drops of mercy mingled in the cup.’”

“The number of houses destroyed at Waipio, we understand to have been 27. At Waimea but little damage was done except to the road between that place and Kawaihae which we are informed, was seriously damaged in places by the torrents of water.”

“Other portions of Hawaii seem to have escaped the injurious effects of the storm. At Hilo a strong wind blew during the day, and in the districts of Kona and Kau a vast amount of rain fell without wind.”

“The storm seems, so far as we can judge, to have been a cyclone, moving from SE to NW its most destructive force having been felt in a diameter of from 150 to 200 miles.”

“As the China steamer from San Francisco would probably have been somewhere to the NW of these islands at the time of the storm, it is not improbable that we may hear of her encountering the gale.” (Hawaiians Gazette, August 23, 1871)

“The Storm on Hawaii. All accounts agree that the late storm was more severe in Kohala than elsewhere on the Islands. One hundred and twenty-two houses are reported as blown down in that district, and twenty-eight in Waipio. and some houses moved eight or ten feet from the foundations.”

“The plantations of Dr. Wight and of the Kohala Sugar Co., have suffered severely in buildings and growing crops.”

“The entire damage throughout Maui and Hawaii resulting from this gale, has been roughly estimated at $200,000 ; and we do not consider this as too high, taking into account the present actual losses together with the prospective decrease in produce.”

“Hilo and Kona appear to have escaped the wind on this occasion, and enjoyed copious rains.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, August 26, 1871)

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