Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Greek Artillery

Ua makaukau pono ʻo Liliʻu
Ma na poka ʻAhi Helene. …
Noho hou o Liliʻu i ke Kalaunu.

Liliʻu is readily prepared
With her Greek artillery fire. …
Return again Liliʻu to the throne.
(Hawaiʻi Holomua, February 11, 1893; Chapin)

Greek sailors found their way to the Islands on whalers and trading vessels after 1830. Beginning in the late 1870s, some forty men from the small Mediterranean country migrated and settled on the Big Island and O‘ahu.

They set up produce-growing and shipping operations, cafés, bars, rooming houses, and hotels. (Greek Festival Hawaiʻi)

In 1883, Peter Camarinos, originally from Sparta, opened the California Fruit Market on King Street, near Alakea, in Honolulu, and in 1891, established the Pearl City Fruit Company with other Hawaiian-based businessmen, inspiring relatives and others to venture here. (Lucas)

They were pioneers in exporting pineapples and bananas and other exotic fruits to California markets. He installed refrigeration containers on ships that can hold up to 2,000 lbs. of fruit. Camarinos transported their own goods to market and allowed other businesses to use their refrigeration containers for a fee. (Lucas)

George Lycurgus, known as Uncle George, was a cousin of Camarinos who came to Hawaiʻi in 1887 and played an important role in the development of the San Souci, Hilo Hotel and Kilauea Volcano House. (Gonser)

Migration from Greece in the last third of the 19th Century was primarily due to crop failures and a surplus population that caused wide-spread poverty. A Western technological revolution of cheap and fast steamship and rail travel, along with rapid industrialization, made feasible large scale emigration to America and, on a smaller scale, to Hawaiʻi.

The Greeks came into direct conflict with that small but powerful group of American businessmen who effectively weakened Kalakaua’s government by means of the ‘Bayonet Constitution’ of 1887.

Later, there was a revolution against Queen Liliʻuokalani’s constitutional monarchy and in 1895 a subsequent counter-revolution that attempted to restore her to the throne.

From January 6 to January 9, 1895, patriots of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the forces that had overthrown the constitutional Hawaiian monarchy were engaged in a war that consisted of three battles on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi.

This has frequently been referred to as the “Counter-revolution”. It has also been called the Second Wilcox Rebellion of 1895, the Revolution of 1895, the Hawaiian Counter-revolution of 1895, the 1895 Uprising in Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian Civil War, the 1895 Uprising Against the Provisional Government or the Uprising of 1895.

In their attempt to return Queen Liliʻuokalani to the throne, it was the last major military operation by royalists who opposed the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. The goal of the rebellion failed.

It turns out several of the Greek businessmen were royalists and were implicated in getting guns past customs officials, notably, Lycurgus at the San Souci in Waikiki.

Lycurgus was a royalist and was implicated with other counter-revolutionists in supplying arms (1895.) He was arrested, thirteen counts of treason were filed against him and he was held at ‘The Reef’ (Oʻahu Prison) for 52-days. (Chapin)

The beginning chant in this post appeared in Hawaii Holomua shortly after Queen Lili’uokalani’s removal in early 1893; it expressed a strong desire that she regain her throne.

“Greek artillery fire” was a classical and heroic allusion by the poet, but it was also, as events turned out, appropriate in that Greek men in Hawaiʻi during the Revolution and Counterrevolution were loyal to her.

During those years, a dozen or so natives of Greece who were Hawaiʻi residents were involved in the prolonged and ultimately futile struggle to preserve the monarchy. Seven men were active participants, and the rest were royalist sympathizers. (Chapin)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Land Divisions

In discussing ancient land divisions, we typically hear of Mokupuni (island,) Moku (district,) Ahupuaʻa (generally watershed units) and ʻIli (strips of land.) Kalana and ʻOkana are often less-heard-of land divisions.

“In very ancient times, the lands were not divided and an island was left without divisions such as kalana, ʻokana, ahupuaʻa, and ʻili, but in the time when the lands became filled with people, the lands were divided, with the proper names for this place and that place so that they could be known.” (Kamakau)

Each of the larger divisions of this group, like Hawaiʻi, Maui and the others, is called a mokupuni (moku, cut off, and puni, surrounded.)

Six districts on the islands of O‘ahu and Hawai‘i, and the system of developing smaller manageable units of land became formalized by the early 1600s, in the reigns of ʻUmi-a-Līloa and Māʻilikūkahi. (Maly)

“The island (moku that is surrounded by water) is the main division, like, Hawai’i, Maui and the rest of the island chain. (Islands) were divided up into sections inside of the island, called moku o loko, like such places as Kona on Hawai’i island, and Hana on Mäui island, and such divisions on these islands.” (Malo)

Over the centuries, as the ancient Hawaiian population grew, land use and resource management also evolved. The moku puni or islands were subdivided into land units of varying sizes.

Each island was divided into several Moku ʻĀina (moku-o-loko (district – literally: interior island)) (Moku) or Districts. The Moku and Kalana (similar to the Moku) were divided into ʻokana (divisions within a Moku or Kalana) and Ahupuaʻa.

There sections were further divided into subdivision called ʻokana, or kalana. On the intermediate level, some kalana/moku were subdivided into ʻokana, some ʻokana were apparently independent of any moku/kalana, and moku and kalana were not always synonymous but appear in some cases to have been units nested within each other. (Beamer)

“(A) poko is a subdivision of a ʻokana. These sections were further divided into smaller divisions called Ahupua’a, and sections smaller than an Ahupua’a were called ‘ili ‘āina.” (Malo)

There is a district called Kona on the lee side, and one called Koʻolau on the windward side of almost every island. On Maui there are some sub-districts called ʻokana, of which there are five in the Hana district, while Lahaina is termed a Kalana. (Alexander)

Despite the diversity and complexity of the system, it appears that the ahupua’a became the most important division in the resource administration of the Hawaiian Kingdom, both as a unit and as a reference for the location of smaller properties. (Beamer)

Ahupuaʻa are subdivisions of land that were usually marked by an altar with an image or representation of a pig placed upon it (thus the name ahu-puaʻa or pig altar.)

In their configuration, the ahupua‘a may be compared to wedge-shaped pieces of land that radiate out from the center of the island, extending to the ocean fisheries fronting the land unit.

Their boundaries are generally defined by topography and geological features such as pu‘u (hills), ridges, gullies, valleys, craters, or areas of a particular vegetation growth.

The ahupua‘a, like the larger districts they belonged to, were also divided into smaller manageable parcels. Among the smaller land units that were identified by the ancient Hawaiians were the: ‘ili lele and ‘ili kupono. (Maly)

A peculiarity of the ‘Ili, on Oʻahu at least, is that it often consists of several distinct sections of land in different parts of the Ahupua’a, which are called lele, i.e. ‘jumps.’

Thus many lands in Waikiki have their corresponding patches of taro land and forest in Waikiki and Manoa valleys. The taro lands of Wailupe are found in Palolo valley. In Kalihi, and also in the district of ʻEwa, are ʻili which consist of eight or ten scattered lele apiece, included under one title. (Alexander)

ʻIli were detached parcels with resources in various environmental zones; kihāpai, both lo‘i (pond fields) and dry gardens; māla, dryland agricultural systems; and kōʻele, agricultural parcels worked by commoners for the chiefs.

These smaller parcels were inhabited and managed by the makaʻāinana (people of the land) and their extended families. In each ahupua‘a—from mountain slopes to the ocean—the common people were generally allowed access to all of the various natural resources within a given ahupua‘a. (Maly)

Land Divisions include, generally:

• Mokupuni – The island groups (such as our current county system)
• Moku – The major districts of each individual island
• Kalana – The significant divisions within each Moku
• ʻOkana – Division of the Moku or Kalana
• Ahupua‘a – Individual watershed regions within each Kalana
• ʻIli – functional subdivisions of an Ahupua‘a

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by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Fueling the Forces

Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor all of the Navy’s fuel was stored in unprotected above ground tanks at Pearl Harbor, next to the submarine base.

When RADM Chester Nimitz was Commander of the Bureau of Yards & Docks (in 1940) he wanted the Navy’s 2 ½-year supply of fuel oil protected from aerial attack – existing aboveground unprotected tanks next to the Submarine Base presented a vulnerable enemy target.

In 1942, US victory at the battle of Midway altered the role of Hawaii from a defense position to “a springboard for the Pacific offensive. Troops poured into the islands en route to the western Pacific, and were housed in barracks and makeshift camps throughout the islands.”

“There were 43,000-soldiers on Oʻahu on December 7, 1941, plus a handful on the other islands. In the first six months of the war, the total swelled to 135,000. By June of 1945, when plans were mounting for an offensive against the homeland of Japan, troops on Oʻahu alone numbered 253,000.” (Allen; army-mil)

Jungle training and coordinated Army-Navy amphibious landings were practiced in anticipation of the island-hopping battle strategy of the western Pacific. Areas on Oahu that had been taken over by the military at the onset of war were developed as training areas.

“Hawaiʻi served as an invaluable training ground for the amphibious and jungle warfare which characterized the Pacific fighting. Well removed from the combat zone, yet 2,000 miles nearer the battlefront than the Mainland …”

“… there was sufficient area and enough equipment in the Islands to handle many thousands of troops and to embark them for large-scale operations. More important, some of the varied climates and terrains in Hawaii were like those of the target areas.” (Allen; army-mil)

To fuel the forces, the military had three major fuel storage sites located in the mauka lands of Oʻahu: Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility, Waikakalaua Fuel Storage Annex and Kipapa Gulch Fuel Storage Annex (other storage areas supplemented the effort.)

The Red Hill Underground Fuel Storage Facility was started the day after Christmas 1940 and continued through 1943; 20-underground fuel storage tanks were built more that 100-feet below the surface. The facility was designed as an impenetrable, bombproof reserve of fuel for the military.

Each vertical tank is 100-feet in diameter and 250-feet high, roughly the size of a 20-story building, and lined with quarter-inch steel plates.

Each tank is able to store up to 12.5 million gallons of fuel. it has an overall design capacity of 6-million barrels of fuel oil (9.97-billion gallons.)

Dug from the inside, the storage facility is connected with pipes (32-inch-diameter diesel pipe, and 18- and 16-inch jet fuel pipes) and tunnels down to a Pearl Harbor pumping station, more than two-and-a-half miles away.

The tanks were set up in two parallel rows with two main access tunnels, one above the other, bisecting the rows; smaller tunnels branched from these main axis tunnels to the tank cavities.

Waikakalaua Fuel Storage Annex near Wheeler Army Airfield, one of two Air Force Fuel Storage Annexes, was made up of nine 1.75-million-gallon underground storage tanks.

It borders the Wheeler Army Airfield on the Schofield Plateau; underground fuel storage tanks are reported to have been constructed between 1942 and 1945, and were used to store various fuels since 1943.

The other Air Force fuel storage facility was the Kipapa Gulch Fuel Storage Annex that consisted on four massive underground tanks. Each tank is three times the length of a football field. Each tank could hold 2.4-million-gallons of fuel.

A 20-mile, 10-inch pipeline connected the Waikakalaua Fuel Storage Annex and the Kipapa Gulch Fuel Storage Annex with Hickam Air Force Base. Fuels that were stored in the tanks included aviation and motor gasoline and later, JP-4 and JP-8 jet fuel. (army-mil)

The image shows the aboveground fuel storage tanks at the Submarine Base in Pearl Harbor. (October 13, 1941)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Keʻelikōlani

Keʻelikōlani’s heritage was controversial. She was the poʻolua (“two heads”) child of Kāhalaiʻa and Kekūanāoʻa. (Johnson)

Her mother, Pauahi, was said to be carrying the child of Kāhalaiʻa when she married Kekūanāoʻa. Kekūanāoʻa claimed Keʻelikōlani as his own in court, and the matter was officially settled, though it would be debated again in later years, even by her own half-brother, Lot. (Nogelmeier)

After Pauahi’s death, Kekūanāoʻa married Kīna‘u, and they became the parents of Lot Kapuāiwa, Alexander Liholiho, and Victoria Kamāmalu, making Keʻelikōlani a half-sister to these three.

Her mother died during her childbirth (February 9, 1826,) and she was raised by the Kuhina Nui and favorite wife of Kamehameha I, Kaʻahumanu. (Kaʻahumanu died six years later; she was then sent to live with her father, Kekūanāoʻa, and her stepmother, Kīnaʻu.)

Keʻelikōlani was an important figure during her lifetime, known for her high rank in the Kamehameha lineage, her social position as a governor and woman of means, and for her character as a woman of dignity, both strong-willed and kind.

She was held in high regard by the general populace, and treated lovingly or respectfully by the ranking chiefs, government officials, and the people of her time.

She was a great-granddaughter of Kamehameha, a grand-niece to Kamehameha II and III, and a half-sister of Kamehameha IV and V. (Nogelmeier)

As a Kamehameha descendant, Keʻelikōlani was part of the royal family and the court for as long as the Kamehameha dynasty ruled. Following the death of Kamehameha V, William Charles Lunalilo ascended the throne by election in 1873.

A Kamehameha through his mother Kekāuluohi, Lunalilo proclaimed the royal family to consist of himself, his father Kanaʻina, Dowager Queen Emma and Keʻelikōlani. His official royal court included these four, along with the king’s treasurer, H. G. Crabbe. (Nogelmeier)

When mentioned in the press, Keʻelikōlani was usually listed as Ka Mea Kiʻekiʻe, Ke Ali‘i Ruta Keʻelikōlani – Her Highness, Chiefess Ruth Keʻelikōlani. Foreigners knew her as “Princess Ruth.” (Nogelmeier)

At the age of sixteen, Keʻelikōlani married William Pitt Leleiōhoku. While serving as governor of Hawai‘i Island, Leleiōhoku died, only twenty-two years old. Their surviving son, William Pitt Kīnaʻu, died at the age of seventeen in an accident on Hawai‘i. (Silva)

Keʻelikōlani’s second husband (June 2, 1856) was the part-Hawaiian Isaac Young Davis, grandson of Isaac Davis, a British advisor to King Kamehameha I. The two had a son (1862,) Keolaokalani, whom Keʻelikōlani gave as a hānai to Bernice Pauahi. Keolaokalani died in about 6-months and Leleiōhoku died of pneumonia in 1877.

She was also the adoptive mother of Leleiōhoku, brother to Kalākaua, Liliʻuokalani and Likelike, and heir apparent, whom she had renamed in honor of her first husband. (Nogelmeier)

“Princess Ruth, daughter of Pauahi and Kekūanāoʻa, who had adopted Leleiōhoku, asked of the king (Kalākaua) if she herself could not be proclaimed heir apparent; and this suggestion was placed before the king’s counsellors at a cabinet meeting, but it was objected that …”

“… if her petition was granted, then Mrs. Pauahi Bishop would be the next heir to the throne, as they were first cousins. At noon of the tenth day of April, 1877, the booming of the cannon was heard which announced that I was heir apparent to the throne of Hawaii.” (Liliʻuokalani)

Keʻelikōlani died in 1883 at Haleʻōlelo, her large hale pili native-style home on the grounds of Huliheʻe Palace in Kailua-Kona, Hawai‘i.

At her death, Keʻelikōlani’s will stated that she “give and bequeath forever to my beloved younger sister (cousin), Bernice Pauahi Bishop, all of my property, the real property and personal property from Hawaiʻi to Kauaʻi, all of said property to be hers.” (about 353,000 acres)

This established the land-base endowment for Pauahi’s subsequent formation of Kamehameha Schools at her death. Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop passed away a year later.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

“It was like laying a corner stone of an important edifice for the nation.”

When Captain Cook first visited the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian was a spoken language but not a written language. Historical accounts were passed down orally, through chants and songs.

After western contact and attempts to write about Hawaii, early writers tried to spell words based on the sound of the words they heard. People heard words differently, so it was not uncommon for words to be spelled differently, depending on the writer.

The planning for the formal written Hawaiian language in the early part of the nineteenth century was started by the Protestant missionaries who arrived in Hawaii, starting in 1820. A committee of some of these missionaries (Hiram Bingham, C. S. Stewart and Levi Chamberlain) worked on the development of the Hawaiian alphabet.

Initially, the missionaries worked out a Hawaiian alphabet of 17-English letters. “On the 7th of January, 1822, a year and eight months from the time of our receiving the governmental permission to enter the field and teach the people …”

“… we commenced printing the language in order to give them letters, libraries, and the living oracles in their own tongue, that the nation might read and understand the wonderful works of God.”

“It was like laying a corner stone of an important edifice for the nation. A considerable number was present, and among those particularly interested was Keʻeaumoku …”

“… who, after a little instruction from Mr. Loomis, applied the strength of his athletic arm to the lever of a Ramage press, pleased thus to assist in working off a few impressions of the first lessons. These lessons were caught at with eagerness by those who had learned to read by manuscript.”

“Liholiho, Kalanimōku, Boki and other chiefs, and numbers of the people, called to see the new engine, the printing-press, to them a great curiosity. Several were easily induced to undertake to learn the art of printing, and in time succeeded. Most of the printing done at the islands has been done by native hands.”

“When the king first examined the press, a sheet of white paper being laid on, he pulled the lever round, and was surprised to see the paper instantly covered with words in his own language. He had some shrewdness, and, for a Hawaiian, an uncommon share of confidence in his own attainments and abilities.” (Bingham)

Toketa, who had learned to read Hawaiian after an hour’s instruction, wrote a letter for Kuakini to Hiram Bingham, requesting copies of pages of the spelling book being assembled. (Barrere)

(Toketa, a Tahitian, arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1818; he was a member of the household of the chief (Governor) John Adams Kuakini (brother to Kaʻahumanu,) 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)

“I immediately answered in the Hawaiian, under date of Feb. 8th, 1822, one month from the first printing for the nation.”

“Epistolary correspondence (writing of letters or literary works in the form of letters,) thus commenced in that language, suddenly opened to the chiefs and people a new source of pleasure and advantage, of which hundreds soon availed themselves.” (Bingham)

Then, on July 14, 1826, the missionaries established a 12-letter alphabet for the written Hawaiian language, using five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p and w) in their “Report of the committee of health on the state of the Hawaiian language.” The report was signed by Bingham and Chamberlain. The alphabet continues in use today.

Collaboration between native Hawaiians and the American Protestant missionaries resulted in, among other things:
• The introduction of Christianity;
• The development of a written Hawaiian language and establishment of schools that resulted in widespread literacy;
• The promulgation of the concept of constitutional government;
• The combination of Hawaiian with Western medicine, and
• The evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition.

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