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December 29, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Did The Early Hawaiians Have Iron?

Hawaiian stone tools came in a variety of shapes and sizes, and likewise served a variety of needs. They were traditionally used to scrape, chop, carve, chisel, gouge, perforate and strip.

Stone tools for food-related uses include the poi pounder (used to crush taro and pounded into poi) and mortars & pestles (mortar bowls and stick-shaped pestles crushed seaweed, nuts, leaves and other products used for food, dyes and medicines.)

Other stone tools eased work, such as adzes (smaller ones to slice like a knife; larger ones to carve wood for canoes or idols, as well as to fell trees, dig, scrape, chip or strip.)

Stone tools also assisted in fishing; stone components were used in lures to catch many types of fish and squid. In addition to use in making weapons, stone tools were shaped into clubs, axes, sling stones and other lethal weapons.

We are generally aware of the extensive use and nature of stone tools that the Hawaiians had and used. But, did they also have and use iron tools – if so, how did they get them?

It turns out iron knives were found in the hands of Hawaiians on Kauaʻi on Captain Cook’s first visit in 1778. Iron, crafted into various shapes, was observed on other islands, as well.

Cook noted that the people he met on Kauaʻi were not “acquainted with our commodities, except iron; which however, it was plain, they had … in some quantity, brought to them at some distant period. … They asked for it by the name of hamaite.”

It is interesting to note that a Spanish word for iron ore is “Hematitas”. … Hmmm.

Journals and other accounts by Cook and his officers aboard the Discovery and Resolution, note they observed five pieces of iron.

Of these, the two iron skewers or daggers seen at Maui are believed to have been ship spike nails that they reshaped.

A third piece was a dagger made from a ship’s bolt which was floated in wreckage to Kauaʻi about October, 1778.

Cook’s vessels were at Kauai only a few days in January 1778. When they returned thirteen months later, Samwell and Edgar observed that the Hawaiians had made a dagger from an iron bolt which had been drifted ashore with wreckage five months before.

Edgar remarked: “It was very well beat out into the form of their own wooden daggers.” The Hawaiian wooden dagger, as then described, was pointed at one end and, at the other, perforated for a cord for attachment to the wrist. (Stokes)

Edgar continued: “we saw a great many daggers beat out of our long spike nails we left here last year.” (Stokes)

Crew journals also note two knives, which have subsequently been identified as Japanese. One was a fish knife, always carried on Japanese sampans; the other was a fish and vegetable knife, generally carried on sampans.

Captain Clerke’s record (Jan. 23, 1778) notes, “This morning one of the midshipmen purchased of the natives a piece of iron lashed into a handle for a cutting instrument; it seems to me a piece of the blade of a cutlass; it has by no means the appearance of a modern acquisition; it looks to have been a good deal used and long in its present state; the midshipman … demanded of the man where he got it; the Indian pointed away to the SE ward, where he says there is an island called Tai, from whence it came.” (Stokes)

On the second visit of the ships (1779), Ms. W Bayly ascertained that all the iron seen in the hands of the Kauaʻi natives had floated ashore in wreckage, a statement which Edgar also made on his second visit after a close enquiry of one of the chiefs.

Referring back to the midshipman’s information, it may be noted that there is no island named Tai to the south-east of Waimea, Kauai, where the matter was discussed, and since tai (kai) is the term for “sea” and the current sweeps up to Waimea from the south-east, it therefore appears that the implement was floated in, from the sea.

It turns out that among practically all the Polynesians, as recorded by the European voyagers, iron was immediately recognized and was by far the most desired commodity which the foreigners could supply.

When Cook returned to Hawaiʻi the ships were supplied with fresh provisions which were paid for mainly with iron, much of it in the form of iron daggers made by the ships’ blacksmiths on the pattern of the wooden pāhoa used by the Hawaiians.

The natives were permitted to watch the ships’ blacksmiths at work and from their observations gained information of practical value about the working of iron. (Kuykendall)

This apparent widespread knowledge of iron might imply a common and ancient Polynesian acquaintance with the metal.

A fair conclusion would be that the Hawaiians (and probably all other Polynesians) were not iron smelters, and their acquaintance with iron was limited to the finished material made by other people.

So, it appears evident, before Cook’s contact with the islands, the Hawaiian already had, used and wanted more iron – to make tools and weapons (principally to shape into knives.)

In answering the obvious follow-up question – Where did it come from? – we need simply recall our existing apprehension of the recent and coming debris from the Japan tsunami, as well as the ongoing volunteer activity by thousands across the State clearing our shorelines of marine debris.

As noted in historic records, examination of the flotsam on the windward beaches of the islands reveals principally logs from the north-west coast of America and floats from Japan.

After comparing and considering the possibilities in 1778, it is probable that floating pieces of shipwrecks and other marine debris, from Japan and elsewhere, were the more likely sources of the iron.

While the early Hawaiians benefitted from iron materials, as part of the marine debris floating onto the Islands, the matter of marine debris, beyond that associated with the Japan tsunami, is an ongoing concern in Hawaiʻi. (Most of the information here is from a report prepared by John FG Stokes – Hawaiian Historical Society.)

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December 19, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Founder’s Day

Pauahi Pākī was born on December 19, 1831 in Honolulu, Hawai‘i to high chiefs Abner Pākī and Laura Kōnia Pākī. She was the great-granddaughter of Kamehameha I. (KSBE)

Pauahi was hānai (adopted) to her aunt, Kīnaʻu (the eldest daughter of Kamehameha, who later served as Kuhina Nui as Kaʻahumanu II, a position similar to a Prime Minister.) Pauahi lived with Kīnaʻu for nearly eight years, then Kīnaʻu died suddenly of mumps (April 4, 1839.)

High Chief Caesar Kapaʻakea and his wife High Chiefess Analeʻa Keohokālole had three children, a daughter was Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha (born September 2, 1838.)

Liliʻu was hānai (adopted) to the Pākīs, who reared her with their birth daughter, Pauahi. The two girls developed a close, loving relationship.

“…their only daughter, Bernice Pauahi … was therefore my foster-sister. … I knew no other father or mother than my foster-parents, no other sister than Bernice.” (Lili‘uokalani)

They lived on the property called Haleʻākala, in a two-story coral house that Pākī built on King Street. It was the ‘Pink House,’ (the house was name ʻAikupika (Egypt.)) It later became the Arlington Hotel.

The girls attended the Chief’s Children’s School, a boarding school, and were known for their studious demeanor. Founded in 1839 during the reign of King Kamehameha III, the original Chief’s Children’s School was on what is now the capitol grounds.

Mr. and Mrs. Amos Cooke, missionaries from New England, were commissioned to teach the 16 royal children (others who joined the Pākī sisters were Alexander Liholiho (later Kamehameha IV,) Lot Kapuāiwa (later Kamehameha V,) Queen Emma, King William Lunalilo and Liliʻu’s brother, David (later King Kalākaua.) In 1846 the school’s name was officially changed to Royal School; it was opened to the general public in 1851.

In 1850, at the age of 19, Pauahi married Charles Reed Bishop, a young American businessman who had made his way to the Kingdom of Hawai‘i from Glens Falls, New York.

Charles became a pillar in the kingdom government and was a successful businessman, banker and philanthropist. He and Pauahi enjoyed traveling the world with particular fondness for museums and art. With no children of their own, they shared a deep commitment for the well-being and education of kamali‘i — young ones. (KSBE)

When her cousin, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani, died, 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.”

The total land bequest included about 353,000 acres. Keʻelikōlani had previously inherited all of the substantial landholdings of the Kamehameha dynasty from her brother, Lot Kapuāiwa (King Kamehameha V.)

Bernice Pauahi died childless on October 16, 1884. She foresaw the need to educate her people and in her will she left her large estate of the Kamehameha lands in a trust “to erect and maintain in the Hawaiian Islands two schools, each for boarding and day scholars, one for boys and one for girls, to be known as, and called the Kamehameha Schools.”

She further stated, “I desire my trustees to provide first and chiefly a good education in the common English branches, and also instruction in morals and in such useful knowledge as may tend to make good and industrious men and women”.

Bernice Pauahi Bishop, by founding the Kamehameha Schools, intended to establish institutions which should be of lasting benefit to her country; and also to honor the name Kamehameha.

After Pauahi’s death, Charles as president of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate’s board of trustees, ensured that his wife’s wish was fulfilled. He generously provided his own funds for the construction of facilities and added some of his own properties to her estate.

Until his death in 1915, he continued to guide her trustees in directions that reinforced her vision of a perpetual educational institution that would build a vibrant future for her people. (KSBE)

Today, December 19, is Pauahi’s birthday; it is also known as Founder’s Day at Kamehameha Schools.

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December 15, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kaumualiʻi

Kaumuali‘i was the only son of Queen Kamakahelei and her husband, Aliʻi Kāʻeokūlani (Kā‘eo;) he was born in 1778 at Holoholokū, a royal birthing heiau specifically designated for the birth of high ranking children.

When Vancouver was anchored off Waimea, Kauai, he became interested in Kaumuali‘i, who was then about twelve years old. Vancouver found the child quiet and polite and good-tempered. He was interested in the new things which he saw, and asked intelligent questions.

When Vancouver made his second visit, he brought sheep as a present to the young chief. Kaumuali‘i entertained him with a dance of six-hundred women.

Kaumuali‘i kept up his interest in foreigners. They were his friends and taught him to read and write. Kaumuali‘i sent his son Humehume (Prince George) to America to be educated. (The young Prince later returned to the islands with the first party of American missionaries, in 1820.)

Kaumuali‘i became ruling chief of Kauai upon the death of his father Kā‘eo.

In 1784 Kamehameha I began a war of conquest, and, by 1795, with his superior use of modern weapons and western advisors, he subdued all other chiefdoms, with the exception of Kauai.

King Kamehameha I launched his first invasion attempt on Kauai in April of 1796, having already conquered the other Hawaiian Islands, and having fought his last major battle at Nu‘uanu on O‘ahu in 1795.

Kauai’s opposing factions (Kaumuali‘i versus Keawe) were extremely vulnerable as they had been weakened by fighting each other (Keawe died and Kaumuali‘i was, ultimately, ruler of Kauai and Ni‘ihau.)

About one-fourth of the way across the ocean channel between O‘ahu and Kauai, a storm thwarted Kamehameha’s warriors when many of their canoes were swamped in the rough seas and stormy winds, and then were forced to turn back.

Kamehameha’s second attempt was thwarted, again, when an epidemic, thought to be typhoid or dysentery, swept through the population, killing thousands. The sickness delayed for a second time Kamehameha’s goal of conquering Kauai.

In a renewed effort for a large-scale attack on Kauai, Kamehameha began assembling a formidable armada of sailing ships in Waikīkī, using foreigners to construct the vessels. The invasion never took place.

In the face of the threat of a further invasion, in 1810, at Pākākā on Oʻahu, negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i and Kamehameha I took place and Kaumualiʻi yielded to Kamehameha.

The agreement marked the end of war and thoughts of war across the islands. Although Kaumuali‘i had ceded Kaua‘i and Niʻihau to Kamehameha I, he generally maintained de facto independence and control of the island following his agreement with Kamehameha.

It is believed that in 1816 Kaumuali‘i considered it possible for him to claim rule over Kaua‘i, Ni‘ihau, O‘ahu, Maui, Moloka‘i and Lāna‘i, if he had Russian support. The Russians meanwhile were searching compensation for lost trade goods, as well as expanded trading opportunities.

Kaumuali‘i and Russian representative Georg Anton Schäffer had several agreements to bring Kauai under the protection of Russia, as well as weapons and ammunition from Schäffer, in exchange for trade in sandalwood. While agreements were made, subsequent battles never took place.

After King Kamehameha I died in 1819, Kaumuali‘i pledged his allegiance to Liholiho, Kamehameha’s son and successor. In 1821, Liholiho (King Kamehameha II) anchored his royal ship Ha‘aheo o Hawai‘i (Pride of Hawai‘i) in Waimea Bay, and invited Kaumuali‘i aboard.

After boarding the ship Kaumuali‘i was effectively taken as a prisoner and the ship sailed for O‘ahu. Kaumuali‘i settled in Honolulu and became a husband of Ka‘ahumanu, widow of Kamehameha I.

Hiram Bingham was on a preaching tour of the island of Kauai in 1824, shortly before King Kaumuali‘i died. Kaumuali‘i had been living on Oahu for three years. Bingham spoke to him just before coming to Kauai.

Bingham writes: “We found Kaumuali‘i seated at his desk, writing a letter of business. We were forcible and pleasantly struck with the dignity and gravity, courteousness, freedom and affection with which he rose and gave us his hand, his hearty aloha, and friendly parting smile, so much like a cultivated Christian brother.”

When the king died, Bingham said a gloom fell over Kauai. Kaumuali‘i was buried at Waine‘e Church (Wai‘ola Church,) on Maui.

After Kaumuali‘i’s death his son Humehume tried to seize the throne by leading a rebellion on Kauai, but he was defeated and sent to O‘ahu, where he could be watched.

King Kaumuali‘i’s granddaughter Kapiʻolani (1834–1899) married King Kalākaua.