Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Colonel Zephaniah Swift Spalding

“(He) was most emphatic in his conviction – the conviction of personal experience, that Sherman’s verdict, ‘War is Hell’ is the nearest thing to an adequate characterization of it that can happen.”

“‘In all reverence, War is hell – nothing else, and no effort to prevent war can be too assiduous or too costly.  The supreme effort of every people should be not to get out of war, but to keep out; – not to win a war, but to prevent it.’”  (Spalding, The Garden Island, June 1, 1920)

Colonel Zephaniah (Zeph) Swift Spalding fought in the US Civil War.  “The Colonel was in command of the famous Seventh New York Regiment, which was the second to reach Washington, even before the regular mobilization of the union troops. … “

“They found that Washington was practically a Southern city in sentiment and population – there were more Southerners than Union men there…”  (The Garden Island, June 1, 1920)

Spalding first enlisted in the 7th New York City Regiment. Within forty days, he had received a commission as a major in the 27th Ohio Regiment and held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in that regiment at conclusion of that war.

It was reported that, because of his service record with the 27th Ohio during that war, he gained the favor and recommendation of Ohio Governor, David Todd, and, in 1867 was appointed by President Andrew Johnson to serve as American Consul to the Kingdom Hawaiʻi in Honolulu.

Spalding, born at Warren, Ohio, near Akron, September 2, 1837, was son of Rufus Paine Spalding – Representative and Speaker of the House of the Ohio Legislature, Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio and member of the US Congress.  Spalding was named after his father’s mentor, Zephaniah Swift, Chief Justice of Connecticut, whose daughter, Lucretia, was Zeph’s mother.

Shortly after the war, Zeph was tasked by Secretary of State William H Seward to serve as a ‘secret agent’ in Hawaiʻi (December 1867) to gauge “what effect the reciprocity treaty would have on future relations of the United States and Hawaiʻi.”  (They were weighing reciprocity versus annexation.)

His mission was said to have been known only to his father, Congressman RP Spalding, to Secretary Seward and to Senator Grimes of Iowa. His reports were made in the form of letters to his father, who delivered them to Seward.

Spalding was strongly opposed to the reciprocity treaty, and was in favor of annexation, which he thought would be hastened by rejection of the treaty. (Kuykendall)  That treaty, under consideration over 3-years (1867-1870) failed to pass.

On July 25, 1868 Andrew Johnson in a message to the US Senate nominated “Zephaniah S. Spalding, of Ohio, to be consul of the United States at Honolulu, in place of Morgan L. Smith, resigned.”  (US Senate Journal) He served as such until June 1, 1869, when President Ulysses S Grant suspended Spalding and nominated Thomas Adamson, Jr to replace him.

Soon after leaving the consulate in Honolulu, Spalding associated himself with Kamehameha V, Minister Hutchison and Captain James Makee in a sugar venture on the island of Maui.

Spalding’s association and work with the West Maui Sugar Association apparently caused a personal change of heart, transforming him into a strong supporter of reciprocity, and, in 1870, he wrote to President Grant suggesting …”

“… ‘to admit duty free Sugar’ and other articles from Hawaiʻi, in exchange that the Hawaiian Government grant or lease “sufficient land and water privileges upon the Island of Oahu near the port of Honolulu … to establish a Naval Depot”.  (Papers of Ulysses S Grant, September 27, 1870)

On July 18, 1871, Spalding married Wilhelmina Harris Makee, first-born daughter of Captain James Makee, at McKee’s Rose Ranch in Ulupalakua, Maui.  In that same year, Makee’s eldest son, Parker, took over management of the West Maui Sugar Association.

Zephaniah and Wilhelmina had five children: Catharine “Kitty” Lucretia Spalding; Rufus Paine Spalding; Julia “Dudu” Makee Spalding; Alice “Flibby” Makee Spalding and James “Jimmy” Makee Spalding.

The Treaty of Reciprocity finally passed in 1875, eliminating the major trade barrier to Hawai‘i’s closest and major market.  The US negotiated an amendment to the Treaty of Reciprocity in 1887 giving the US exclusive right to establish and maintain a coaling and repair station at Pearl Harbor.

In 1876, Captain Makee and Col. ZS Spalding purchased Ernest Krull’s cattle ranch in Kapaʻa, intending to start a sugar plantation and mill.  After a brief stay in San Francisco (1875-1878) Spalding returned to the Islands, living on Kauai. Where Makee was already operating the Makee Sugar Company and mill at Kapaʻa.

King Kalākaua and others formed a hui (partnership) to raise cane.  About the first of August, 1877, members of Hui Kawaihau moved to Kauai.  Makee had an agreement to grind their cane.

Upon Makee’s death in 1879, Spalding took over management of the new sugar venture.  Spalding also started the neighboring Keālia Sugar Plantation, in which King Kalākaua had a 25% interest. The Kapaʻa mill was closed in 1884, and all processing was done at Keālia. (In 1916, Colonel Spalding sold a majority of his holdings to the Līhuʻe Plantation Company, which kept the Keālia mill in operation until 1934, when it was dismantled and sent by rail to Lihue to become Mill “B”.)

 In the 1880s, Spalding built the “Valley House,” a Victorian-style wooden mansion, one of the finest on the island.

From 1877 to 1881, Hui Kawaihau was one of the leading entities on the eastern side of the Island of Kauaʻi, growing sugar at Kapahi, on the plateau lands above Kapaʻa.  (In 1916, Colonel Spalding sold his holdings to the Līhuʻe Plantation Company.)

On October 30, 1889, having traveled to Paris as the appointed representative of the Hawaiian Government, Spalding was presented the French order and ribbon of the Legion of Honor (Chevalier) during 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris.

Prior to the turn of the 19th century, Spalding had already developed a unique diffusion process for the refining of sugar at the Keālia Mill and was processing 24-hours a day. In 1900, with the construction of a new mill from Australia, sugar production was greatly increased.

Spalding expanded his business interests in Hawaiʻi, US and Europe.  In 1895, the idea of a Pacific communication cable caught his interest.

He formed the Pacific Cable Company of New Jersey and on August 12, 1895, he entered into agreement with the Republic of Hawaiʻi “to construct or land upon the shores of the Hawaiian group a submarine electric telegraph cable or cables to or from any point or points on the North American Continent or any island or islands contiguous thereto.”  (Congressional Record)

However, a rival company, Pacific Cable Company of New York formed to compete with him.  Congress split its support, the Senate favored Spalding and the House favored his rival.  In the end the two projects killed each other off.  (Pletcher)

“I tried to bring it about some years ago. We had a concession from the Hawaiian Government which we proposed to turn over to any company that might be formed under the auspices of the United States, but we could not get the aid of the United States in building the cable, and, of course, there was not enough business to attempt it without that.”  (Congressional Record)

(Ultimately, in 1902, the first submarine cable across the Pacific was completed (landing in Waikīkī at Sans Souci Beach; the first telegraph message carried on the system was sent from Hawaiʻi and received by President Teddy Roosevelt on January 2, 1903 (that day was declared “Cable Day in Hawaiʻi.”))

Spalding expanded his business interests in Hawaiʻi, US and Europe. During part of this time, Spalding moved his family to Europe to provide his children with a European education and Wilhelmina, “an accomplished musician,” who had suffered a debilitating stroke, with access to “concerts, opera and other musical events.” (Diffley)

In 1924, due to his failing health, Spalding left Kauai for California, to live with his son, James Makee Spalding, in the family home on Grand Avenue in Pasadena.  The last few years of his life were spent in California due to failing health, and he died in Pasadena on June 19, 1927 at the age of 89.

On the afternoon of April 20, 1930, a monument was dedicated to Col ZS Spalding, built by his Keālia Japanese friends. It is located at the corner of what was then known as Main Government Road and Valley House Road, a high point within the lands of the Makee Sugar Plantation. (Garden Island April 22, 1930)  (Lots of information also from Tyler.)

The image shows Zephaniah Swift Spalding.   In addition, I have included more related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Old Mission School House

“Very soon I gathered up 12 or 15 little native girls to come once a day to the house so that as early as possible the business of instruction might be commenced. That was an interesting day to me to lay the foundation of the first school ever assembled”.  (Sybil Bingham)

“Mother Bingham … teaching at first in her own thatched house, later in one room of the old frame house still standing on King Street … until the station report of 1829 finally records, in the Missionary Herald of September, 1830:”

“As evidence of some progress among the people, we are happy to mention the erection of a large school house, 128 feet in length by 37 feet in breadth, for the accommodation of our higher schools, or classes, on the monitorial plan.” (The Friend, December 1, 1924)

“That such structures of native thatch were frail and temporary is evidenced by the next mention of this huge school house which was more than twice as long as the present one, its successor.”

“The fine large school house built at our station was blown down last fall and all the benches, doors, etc., were crushed in the ruins. It was altogether too large, 120 feet long – badly lighted, having no glass windows, the seats and desks of the rudest kind imaginable”.

“Mr Bingham has succeeded in inducing the natives to rebuild it, and when I left home, the work had commenced. It will he almost 66 feet by 30. It will be more permanent than before, and as it is for the accommodation of the weekly meetings, it will be a very useful building.”  (Judd, October 23, 1833; The Friend)

“When I was little, very little, I mean, we always spoke of that adobe school house as Mrs Bingham’s school house. The Hawaiians and everybody always thought of it and spoke of it as her school house, because she was the only one of the mission mothers who could manage to carry on school work even part of the time.”  (The Friend, December 1, 1924)

“I cannot tell you when the old school house was first opened for a Hawaiian school. It must have been when I was very little, perhaps even before I was born. But I do know that Mrs Bingham and occasionally some of the other ladies taught the Hawaiian Mission School there all the year, until it came time for the general meeting of the Mission in May or June.”

“That was the time when the whaleships might be expected from around the Horn, and if there was to be a reinforcement of the mission, it was appropriate to have it arrive when all the members of the mission were gathered at Honolulu.”  (Henry Parker, Pastor of Kawaiahaʻo Church; The Friend)

“We have a very good school house built of mud and plastered inside and out with lime made of coral. It is thatched with grass, has a floor, seats and benches in front to write upon… All our scholars assemble in it and after prayers the native teachers take their scholars into the old grass meeting house, leaving us with about 60, which we manage ourselves.” (Juliette Cooke; The Friend)

“(T)his old room speaks so unmistakably of other days, of other modes of building as of other modes of thought, that one is led instinctively to make inquiry into its origins.”  (Ethel Damon; The Friend)

“The desks were long benches, running from the center aisle to the side of the long single room of the building. Attached to the back of each seat or bench was the sloping desk or table, at a proper height for the sitter, and under this desk, was a shelf for books, slates, etc.”

“The school furniture was all made of soft white pine and it was not long before it began to show that not even missionary boys with sharp knives could resist the temptation to do a little artistic carving.”  (William Richards Castle; The Friend)

The early Mission School House, built about 1833-35 was also the regular meeting place of the annual missionary gathering, known as the “General Meeting.” This building stood south of Kawaiahaʻo Church, at the foot of a lane.  (Lyons)

Very prominent in the old mission life was the annual “General Meeting” where all of the missionary families from across the Islands gathered at Honolulu from four to six weeks.

“The design of their coming together would naturally suggest itself to any reflecting mind. They are all engaged in one work, but are stationed at various and distant points on different portions of the group, hence they feel the necessity of occasionally coming together, reviewing the past, and concerting plans for future operations.”  (The Friend, June 15, 1846)

The primary object of this gathering was to hold a business meeting for hearing reports of the year’s work and of the year’s experiences in more secular matters, and there from to formulate their annual report to the Board in Boston.

Another important object of the General Meeting was a social one. The many stations away from Honolulu were more or less isolated-some of them extremely so.  (Dole)

Later (1852,) the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society (HMCS – members were typically referred to as ‘Cousins’) was formed in the Old Mission School House as a social organization, as well as to lend support for the Micronesian mission getting started at the time.  (Forbes)

At its first annual meeting its president spoke of its year’s survival as having been “amid the sneers of a few, the fears of some, and the ardent hopes and warm good wishes of many.” It is pleasant to feel that sneers have been hushed, fears have been banished and that hopes have been largely realized.  (Annual Report of HMCS, 1892)

In 1855, Ann Eliza Clark became a bride in the old school house to young Orramel Gulick, the second president of HMCS.  “I was only seven or eight, too little to be allowed to take any part; but I can tell you it was the most wonderful wedding I ever saw in all my life.”

“I can remember all of the bride’s party. There was Charles Kittredge and William Gulick, and Caroline and Sarah Clark. The two girls wore little leis of papaia buds in their hair. I had worked hard all day stringing those leis, so that they should be just right, without any broken petals.”

“I was too little to be privileged to adorn the bride with jasmine buds and her veil, but I remember her lei, too, just as well as if I had strung it myself – it was made of jasmine, of the just-opening buds. And that wedding was the most wonderful one I ever saw in all my life.” (Julia Ann Eliza Gulick, sister of the groom; The Friend)

In 1895, the Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association was formed, one of Hawaiʻi’s first eleemosynary organizations.  It offered the first teacher training program and free kindergarten to all of Hawaiʻi’s children.

Some of the children were taught in the old Mission School House, “the great single room … on Kawaiahaʻo Street. Cool, spacious, dignified, generous in the proportions of its ample length and breadth, of its lofty ceiling, of its deeply recessed windows….” (The Friend, December 1, 1924)

The teacher training program was eventually moved to what became the University of Hawaiʻi, and the kindergartens were taken over by the Territorial Department of Education.  The image shows the Old Mission School House.

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Wisdom

We’re the same age.

We were born in the Islands; I have been fortunate to have visited her home island on several occasions.  She has flown over 3-million miles; I have over 1-million miles in my Hawaiian Air account.

She represents inspiration and hope – folks on the island named her recent child ‘Mana‘olana’ (Hope.)

They call her ‘Wisdom.’

She lives on Midway, at least during the breeding season she can be found there.  She is joined by about a million other Laysan albatross, there.  She has had around 35 chicks, nesting each year within 15-feet of prior years’ nests.  She’s the oldest known wild bird.

The Laysan species of albatross traditionally mate with one partner for life and lay only one egg at a time, each year. It takes much of that year to incubate and raise the chick.

Laysan albatross are black and white seabirds named after Laysan Island. They stand almost 3-feet tall, weigh 6 to 7-pounds and have wingspans of more than 6-feet.

They spend most of their days out at sea and spend hours gliding on headwinds – they eat mostly fish, fish eggs, squid and crustaceans.

Laysan albatross live on both land and sea. The birds spend nearly half the year in the North Pacific Ocean, touching land only during breeding season.

Here’s a link to short video of Laysan Albatross mating ritual on Midway:

Here’s a link to short video of Laysan Albatross sitting on nests on Midway:

Here’s some of the “street view” from Google:

Its traditional name ‘moli’ means a bone tattoo needle, which was made from the bone of an albatross.

Albatross are famously mentioned in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s epic poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,’ published in 1798 …

‘God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!—
Why look’st thou so?’—With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.

Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

The Mariner’s act of shooting the albatross (that had once brought good luck to his ship) is the mother of irrational, self-defeating acts. He never offers a good explanation for why he does it, and his crewmates get so upset that they hang the dead albatross around his neck as a burden, so he won’t forget what he did.

To have an albatross around your neck is to have a constant reminder of a big mistake you made. Instead of the gift that keeps on giving, it’s the blunder that keeps on taking. The phrase has come to mean carrying a great burden.  (Schmoop)

Kuaiheilani, suggested as a mythical place, is the traditional name for what we refer to as Midway Atoll.  Described in the legend of Aukelenuiaiku, the origin of this name can be traced to an ancient homeland of the Hawaiian people, located somewhere in central Polynesia.  (Kikiloi)

According to historical sources, this island was used by Native Hawaiians even in the late-1800s as a sailing point for seasonal trips to this area of the archipelago.

Theodore Kelsey writes, “Back in 1879 and 1880 these old men used navigation gourds for trips to Kuaihelani, which they told me included Nihoa, Necker, and the islets beyond … the old men might be gone on their trips for six months at a time through May to August was the special sailing season.”  (Papahānaumokuākea MP, Cultural Impact Assessment)

Look at a map of the Pacific and you understand the reasoning for the “Midway” reference (actually, it’s a little closer to Asia than it is to the North American continent.)

Midway’s importance grew for commercial and military planners. The first transpacific cable and station were in operation by 1903. In the 1930s, Midway became a stopover for the Pan American Airways’ flying “clippers” (seaplanes) crossing the ocean on their five-day transpacific passage.

The US was inspired to invest in the improvement of Midway in the mid-1930s with the rise of imperial Japan. In 1938 the Army Corps of Engineers dredged the lagoon during this period and, that year, Midway was declared second to Pearl Harbor in terms of naval base development in the Pacific.

The construction of the naval air facility at Midway began in 1940. At that time, French Frigate Shoals was also a US naval air facility. Midway also became an important submarine advance base.

The reef was dredged to form a channel and harbor to accommodate submarine refit and repair. Patrol vessels of the Hawaiian Sea Frontier forces stationed patrol vessels at most of the islands and atolls.

The Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942) is considered the most decisive US victory and is referred to as the “turning point” of World War II in the Pacific.  The victory allowed the United States and its allies to move into an offensive position.

In 2000, Secretary of the Interior designated Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge as the Battle of Midway National Memorial, making it the first National Memorial designated on a National Wildlife Refuge.

Of all the Islands and atolls in the Hawaiian archipelago, while Midway is part of the US, it the only one that is not part of the State of Hawaiʻi.

Today, Midway is administered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service as Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (a marine protected area encompassing all of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.)

The image shows Wisdom and her chick.  (USGS) 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

Math’s Life Lessons

I wanted to lighten up today and move a bit away from history – and remind us of some Life Lessons from my favorite subject … Math.

Some might suggest my passion is history (talk to any of my former history teachers and you’ll soon learn the truth – back then, history was not a subject that interested me.)

Actually, it’s Numbers that talk to me … they help me see and explain the world around me.

Many who know me think I am weird for my apparent insatiable passion for Math.

Math is not just the quest to solve for the unknown (… as if that is not enough;) Math also helps describe how we should live our lives.

Bear with me for a few moments, while I either turn you to the Math Side, or confirm what many people already think of me.  (I proudly live up to my reputation as the Duke of Dork.)

Here are some important Math Life Lessons.

Math’s equal sign gives us a lesson on EQUALITY.

From grade school through research involving the most complicated mathematical expressions, there is blind faith in Math’s equal sign.

Definitively different looking items on either side of this symbol are indisputably the same.  Without second thought, we defend and protect the equal sign and proclaim equality of two distinctive things.

In life, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we looked at each other … whomever we are, from wherever we come, however each of us looks or whatever each of us believes … and unquestionably see ourselves as equal?

This simple Math concept can save the world.

While we are on the subject of the equal sign, Math also teaches us the GOLDEN RULE.

You know, he who has the most gold, rules … no, wait, that’s a lesson in compounding and the relationship of addition, multiplication and exponents; that’s not what I am referring to.

I am talking about the ethic of reciprocity – doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.

We learn about this in Algebra – we call it balancing the equation, when we isolate a variable or solve an equation.  If you do one thing to one side of the equation, you must do the same thing to the other side.

In life, the same is true.  Treat people equally and treat them just as you wish to be treated.

Math teaches us the importance of WORKING TOGETHER.

This is illustrated in a tricky combination of geometry, trigonometry and physical science; so, bear with me, again.

Assume you need to get something from one point to another; say, up a hill.

In Math, we call it force to move a mass up a slope.  Use all your might and you can eventually get the object to the top.

However, if you and a friend push the same object, each of you uses less of your own muscle power (force) because you are working together.

In fact, you two working together, using each of your individual maximum force, can move twice the mass.

In Math, as in life … working together, you can accomplish more.

Here’s another Math Life Lesson – PROBLEM SOLVING.

In all Math problems, from the simplest to the most complex, the solution is simply the systematic addition, subtraction, multiplication or division of only 2 numbers at time.

So, in Math, when faced with an extensive, complicated problem, you solve it by planning and breaking it down into small component parts; the process is called evaluating and simplifying.

In life, our so-called ‘big’ problems can be solved the same way – slowly and systematically – by looking for and addressing the simple component solutions. (It’s kind of like ‘baby steps.’)

There is LOVE in Math.

OK, for many, not necessarily love *for* Math; but, really, love is found in Math.

It is best seen in 1 + 1 = 2.

First, look at the numbers.

1 … a simple vertical line.  By itself, it’s limited in character, scope and scale.  1 is the most basic, simplest and loneliest number.

But, put it with another lonely 1 and you get the most diverse, complicated integer of them all – 2 – a symbol made up of a curve, slope and straight line.

OK, now, we have a little audience participation.  Do this in your mind’s eye.

Just as who we are reflects on others … take that 2 and imagine its left side is reflected up against a mirror.  Can you see it?

That’s right.  When you take a lonely one and put it together with another lonely one … you have love with a solid foundation.

Makes your heart skip a little beat doesn’t it?

Welcome to the Math Side.

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Archibald Campbell

Archibald Campbell was born at Wynford, near Glasgow, Scotland on July, 19, 1787. He received the common rudiments of education, and at the age of ten became apprentice to a weaver.

Before the term of his apprenticeship expired, however, a strong desire to visit remote countries induced him to go to sea; and in the year 1800, he started his life aboard ships.  He ended up with some Russians in the Aleutian Islands.

On the morning of the January 22, 1808, Campbell had his seal-skin boots fill with water, “the cold being so severe, the exercise of walking did not prevent from freezing. In a short time I lost all feeling in my feet”.  (Campbell)  Frostbitten, his feet were amputated.  He later sailed on the ‘Neva’ with the Russians for the Sandwich Islands.

The Neva had a crew of seventy-five seamen, belonging to the Russian imperial service, and was commanded by Captain Hageimeister, who had been bred in the British navy, and could speak English fluently.  They left December 11, 1808.

On January 27, 1809, “at day break, we discovered the mountains of Owhyhee, at the distance of ten leagues. In the afternoon, we were close in with the land, and coasted along the north side of the island.”  (Through Campbell’s observations and subsequent book, we get an idea of life and landscape of the Islands.)

“We passed the-foot of Mouna-kaa, one of the highest mountains in the world.  … a narrow tract of level ground lies between the base of the mountain and the sea, terminating in high abrupt cliffs; presenting at a distance a most barren appearance. On a nearer approach, however, we could observe numerous patches of cultivated land, and the lower parts of the mountain covered with wood.”

“Farther to the west, the plains are of greater extent, the country well wooded, and in a high state of cultivation; with many villages and houses, presenting every appearance of a numerous and industrious population.”

“We made sail in the evening, and reached Mowee the following day. … (and) weighed on the morning of tile 29th, and passing between the islands of Morokai and Ranai, reached the harbour of Hanaroora, on the south side of Wahoo, the same evening.”    (Campbell)

“Upon landing I was much struck with the beauty and fertility of the country, …  The village of Hanaroora, which consisted of several hundred houses, is well shaded with large cocoa-nut trees. The king’s residence, built close upon the shore, and surrounded by a pallisade upon the land side, was distinguished by the British colours and a battery of sixteen carriage guns”.

“This palace consisted merely of a range of huts, viz. the king’s eating-house, his sleeping-house, the queen’s house, a store, powder-magazine, and guard-house, with a few huts for the attendants, all constructed after the fashion of the country.”

“My appearance attracted the notice, and excited the compassion of the queen; and finding it was my intention to remain upon the islands, she invited me to take up my residence in her house. I gladly availed myself of this offer, at which she expressed much pleasure; it being a great object of ambition amongst the higher ranks to have white people to reside with them.”

Campbell noticed the King’s ship, “the Lily (Lelia) Bird, which at this time lay unrigged in the harbour.   …  Captain Hagemeister recommended me at the same time to the notice or the king, by informing him, that I could not only make and repair the sails of his vessels, but also weave the cloth of which they were made.”

The Neva remained in the harbor for three months, then haven taken provisions of salted pork and dried taro root, sailed for Kodiak and Kamchatka.  Campbell stayed in the Islands.

Campbell moved forward with making a small loom and weaving for the king.  “The making of the loom, from want of assistance, and want of practice, proved a very tedious job. I succeeded tolerably well at last; and having procured a supply of thread, spun by the women from the fibres of the plant of which their fishing lines are made, I began my operations.”

“After working a small piece, I took it to the king as a specimen. He approved of it in every respect except breadth … The small piece I wove he kept, and showed it to every captain that arrived as a specimen of the manufacture of the country.”  (Campbell)

For a while Campbell lived with Isaac Davis, “a Welshman, who had been about twenty years upon the island, and remained with him till the king gave me a grant of land about six months afterwards.”

“In the month of November, the king was pleased to grant me about sixty acres of land situated upon the Wymummee, or Pearlwater, an inlet of the sea about twelve miles to the west of Hanaroora (his farm was at Waimano.) I immediately removed thither; and it being Macaheite (Makahiki) time, during which canoes are tabooed, I was carried on men’s shoulders.”

“We passed by foot-paths, winding through an extensive and fertile plain, the whole of which is• in the highest state of cultivation. Every stream was carefully embanked, to supply water for the taro beds. Where there was no water, the land was under crops ‘of yams and sweet potatoes. The roads and numerous houses are shaded by cocoa-nut trees, and the sides of the mountains covered with wood to a great height.”

“In the end of February, I heard there was a ship at Hanaroora, and went up with a canoe-load of provisions, wishing to provide myself with clothes, and, if possible, a few books. She proved to be the Duke of Portland, South-sea whaler, bound for England.”

“When I learned this, I felt the wish to see my native country and friends once more so strong, that I could not resist the opportunity that now offered. …  the sores had never healed, and I was anxious for medical assistance, in the hopes of having a cure performed.”

“I was, indeed, leaving a situation of ease, and comparative affluence, for one where, labouring under the disadvantage of the loss of my feet, I knew I must earn a scanty subsistence. I was a tolerable sailmaker; and I knew, that if my sores healed, I could gain a comfortable livelihood at that employment.”

“The king was on board the ship at the time, and I asked his permission to take my passage home. He inquired my reason for wishing to quit the island, and whether I had any cause of complaint. I told him I had none; that I was sensible I was much better here than I could be any where else, but that I was desirous to see my friends once more.”

“He said, if his belly told him to go, he would do it; and that if mine told me so, I was at liberty.  He then desired me to give his compliments to King George. I told him that though born in his dominions, I had never seen King George; and that, even in the city where he lived, there were thousands who had never seen him.”

“He expressed much surprise at this, and asked if he did not go about amongst his people, to learn their wants, as he did? I answered, that he did not do it himself; but he had men who did it for him. Tamaahmaah shook his head at this, and said, that other people could never do it so well as he could himself.”  (Campbell)

“Having procured the king’s permission to depart, I went on shore to take leave of my friends; particularly Isaac Davis, and my patroness, the queen, who had always treated me with the utmost kindness.”

“It will be believed that I did not leave Wahoo without the deepest regret. I had now been thirteen months upon the island; during which time I had experienced nothing but kindness and friendship from all ranks – from my much-honoured master, the king, down to the lowest native.”

“A crowd of people attended me to the boat; unaccustomed to conceal their feelings, they expressed them with great vehemence; and I heard the lamentations of my friends on shore long after I had reached the ship. … We sailed next day, being the 4th of March (1810.)”  (Campbell)

The image shows and 1810 map over Google Earth noting the Honolulu Harbor area – this is where Campbell first lived in the Islands.

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