Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ohia Lodge

“For a number of years prior to the beginning of [WWII], home building was curtailed, and such materials as might normally be needed to meet the housing requirements of a growing population were diverted to national defense … these materials were actually frozen.”  (DOI Annual Report, 1946)

Then, in post-WWII, “During the past year [1946] the problem has become even more serious. The Governor’s housing committee and a committee of the chamber of commerce of Honolulu, after a careful study, reported that 11,000 additional houses were needed”.

“A number of factors have militated against an adequate home-building program. The most important of these are: (a) scarcity of land even at an extremely high price, (b) unavailability of building materials, and (c) shortage and high cost of labor.” (DOI Annual Report, 1946)

“Two enterprising Honolulu business men, with faith in the future of Kona … have licked the building material shortage by using their brains and brawn.  The are Howard O Redfearn, the former Honolulu contractor, and Chester Horn …”

“About the first of the year they started to work to create the timber and other material necessary for the construction of their Ohia Lodge, on Redfearn’s 350-acre tract in South Kona …”

“They were unable to procure material at that time, so set about making their own. First Redfearn moved his sawmill to the site and set it up. Then the two men went to work with ax and saw cutting down ohia trees, which grow in abundance on the tract.  They selected uniform size and then trimmed off the bark and sawed the log in half.”

“With these halves, placed upright, they began the construction of the first lodge, which is 24 by 50 feet. … The interior of the building, including the bar, the tables, doors, bar stools and kitchen are built of koa and ohia.”

“The koa was obtained from a nearby forest but the ohia wood all came from the Redfearn ranch. … The floor is cement but is waxed for dancing. The foundation and all the masonry has been constructed from rocks gathered up on the place, as well as a great circular water tank, cemented inside …”

“A large parking space has been levelled off in front of the building and this will be paved.  Around it there will be special landscaping and flower gardens.”


“The lodge bar will be opened for business [on May 29, 1947]. A little later the dining room, which will specialize in charcoal cooked steaks and short orders, will be opened. And as soon as possible a general liquor dispensary will be opened.” (Hilo Tribune Herald May 10, 1947)

“Plans have been prepared for the construction of 40 cottages in the rear of the lodge similar to many types seen on the mainland. These cottages will be 12×16 feet, and each will contain two three-quarter size beds, adequately spaced for privacy.”

“After the cottages have been constructed a modern gas station will be built, carrying all kinds of motor supplies. The whole setup will stimulate a miniature California Palm Springs, with mild desert air included.”

“Horn will be general manager. Orchestra music will be supplied every Saturday night and on any other occasion required.”

“As a special added attraction for tourists there will be saddle trails all over the tract so that guests will be able to go horseback riding at all times and since the tract is but a short distance from the sea arrangements to conduct fishing parties will be an added feature in the line of sports.” (Hilo Tribune Herald May 10, 1947)

‘Ōhia Lodge, the half-way house on the main highway between Hilo and Kona was “a showplace. Howard Redfearn built it as a volcano country club resort and opened it in [1947].  The lodge, built of Ohia, a native hardwood similar to mahogany, had a dining room seating 200 people.” (Spokesman-Review, Jun 6, 1950)

“[P]eople came from far and near to see for themselves what two men, alone and unaided, had accomplished in such a short time. … [I]t is so located that it gives a clear view of both the mountains and the sea, and is on the main highway into the Kona district.”  (Hnl Adv, Aug 3, 1947)

“Mr Redfearn also revealed that he has begun the construction of another dwelling, to be occupied by Mr and Mrs William [and Helene] Hale, teachers at Konawaena school, and four tourist cabins …”

“… the first units of several to eventually be built for the convenience of tourists and others. Two dwellings have already been completed and occupied and a third is now under construction.”  (Hilo Tribune Herald, Feb 24, 1949)

“The first three units of the proposed auto court at Ohia Lodge Kona is partially completed by Howard O Redfearn, proprietor of the lodge.”

“Work, however, has been temporarily suspended while Redfearn is engaged in the construction of a new … residence for Richard Penhallow at Waimea … This will be the fourth residence of the completed by Mr Redfearn of this unique design.” (Hilo Tribune Herald, Oct 1, 1949)

Then, disaster struck; Mauna Loa erupted … “Howard Redfearn’s handsome Ohia Lodge in South Kona was engulfed by lava between 8 and 9 last night. A fiery finger, separating from the main channel, moved steadily toward the lodge during the afternoon and finally reached the building, wiping out the Ohia and field stone structures.”

“It was the plan to expand Ohia lodge facilities with a group of tourist cabins.  It is reported that two such cabins had been constructed before the lodge was destroyed by the flowing lava.” (Star Bulletin, Jun 5, 1950)

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by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Campos Dairy

During the mid-1800s, Queen Kalama, wife of Kamehameha III, and Judge CC Harris attempted to establish a sugar plantation on the majority of lands in Kāneʻohe and Kailua. When this venture failed in 1871, Judge Harris obtained title to the lands, which he transferred to his daughter Nannie R Rice.

JP Mendonca leased the lands from her and, on November 1, 1894, incorporated Kāneʻohe Ranch, for the purpose of raising cattle. A foundation herd of Aberdeen-Angus cattle formed the basis for a commercial herd of between two and three thousand head.

The “wet-lands” on the property were leased to Chinese for rice cultivation. In 1907, James B Castle acquired the capital stock of Kāneʻohe Ranch Company Limited, and in 1917 his son Harold KL Castle eventually purchased the lands from Mrs Rice.

The cattle industry remained an integral part of the ranch’s operations until World War II, with the herds in the early days being driven by cowboys over the Pali to be butchered in Honolulu. Military operations on the ranch lands became so extensive during World War II that the cattle industry was discontinued.

The 12,000-acre ranch, when it came under the direction of Mr Castle, also engaged in the cultivation of pineapple. However, because of the extensive rainfall on this side of the island, pineapples proved uneconomical and in the 1920s were discontinued. Likewise, because of competition from California, rice farming declined in the 1930s.  (NPS)

Parts of the area became used by dairy farms … that leads us to the Campos clan.

One of the biggest dairies on the Island was Campos Dairy in Kailua (it was also called LW Campos Ranch and Eagle Rock Dairy – because there was a large lava outcrop in the middle of a flat field shaped like an eagle.)  (Miranda) 

Rafael Marfil Campos was born in Velez, Malaga, Spain on June 30, 1860 to Antonio Gonzales Campos and Ana Robles Marfil. In 1883 he married Irene Rudea Lopes of Macharaviaya, Malaga (she died in 1889); his second wife was Carolina Escano Lopes, of Benagalbon, Malaga (she died in 1894).

Campos had emigrated from Spain to Cuba in 1893; there he lost his worldly possessions in the revolution against Spain. In 1897, Campos married Maria Gallardo Claros de Macharaviaya. He then moved to Puerto Rico in 1900.

After returning to Spain and living there for a while, he came to Hawaiʻi in 1907.

1912 newspaper reports show Campos was farming in Kapahulu (near where the Honolulu Zoo is situated.)  Campos “is an expert farmer who arrived here from Spain in the immigrant steamer Heliopolis …”

The newspaper was reporting on losses he suffered on his vegetable and fruit farm due to fruit flies attacking his Chile pepper.  He noted, “If something is not done in regard to the fruit fly, our islands will be ruined as far as vegetables and fruits are concerned.”  (Hawaiian Star, June 6, 1912)  That same year, recorded transactions note he also sold cows.

During the 1920s and 1930s several dairymen moved from Kapahulu to the windward side because large tracts of land had been abandoned by Libby, McNeill & Libby, following the closing of their pineapple cannery in Kahaluʻu.

Campos Dairy farm appeared in 1925 along the mauka side of Kailua Road (reportedly, one of the first to make the move to the Windward side.) It was where Target and the Ka Malanai Condominiums are today.

Leasing land from Kāneʻohe Ranch, Campos also bought land around Kaʻelepulu Stream.  A 1994 MidWeek cover story said the Campos land included 800 to 1,000-acres, where a herd of 1,000 to 1,200-cattle roamed.  (Star-Bulletin)

The senior Campos “retired from the diary business in 1937, turning his interests over to his sone, Lawrence. He kept his hand in, however, by maintaining a flock of 600 Rhode Island Red chickens as a hobby.” (Adv, Mar 1, 1946) (Another son, George, also was involved with management of the dairy.)

Campos sold milk to the Dairymen’s Association (a cooperative formed in June 1897 when seven O’ahu dairy farms joined forces (Honolulu Dairy, Kaaipu Dairy, Kapahulu Dairy, M. A. Silva Dairy, M. A. Baptista Dairy, Waialae Dairy and Woodlawn Dairy.)) (In 1959, the Dairymen’s Association, Ltd name changed to Meadow Gold Dairies Hawai‘i.)

Due to disagreement in a new policy, Campos was ready to go out on his own.  “The decision to go into his own milk and dairy products business was made, according to Mr Campos, when Dairymen’s refused him the renewal of the flat-rate contract … he was asked to join the pool to which most of the milk producers now belong”.  (Honolulu Record, September 7, 1950)

Lawrence Campos of the Eagle Rock Dairy planned to go into distributing milk in competition with the Dairymen’s Association.  This brought speculation of a “milk price war.”

“Campos is working closely with owners of the Hygienic Dairy in his plans to organize a million dollar company … Hygienic has also had disagreement on a contract renewal with Dairymen’s.” (Honolulu Record, September 14, 1950)

By 1952, Campos is noted as “processing and selling milk;” that year, Foremost bought Campos Dairy Products, Ltd, as well as several other dairies and made its entrance into the Honolulu milk market.  Operations were later transferred to Waimanalo.  (FTC)

In the late-1960s, negotiation were underway by respective parties to acquire the Campos lease on the Castle/Kāneʻohe Ranch lands – the plan was to develop the pasture into apartments, condominium and commercial uses (one party offered $1,370,000 to purchase the Campos Ranch leases with Castle.)

Hawaii’s current dairy industry is tiny compared to what it once was. The state was self-sufficient in milk until 1982. Dairy operations could once be found across Oahu — from Hawaii Kai to Kapahulu and Waianae.

But in 2022, Hawaii had 633 dairy cows spread across 22 farms, according to the USDA. And more than half belong to Cloverleaf Dairy. In the 1960s, the state had about 50 dairies; now, there is one – the 350-cow Cloverleaf Dairy. (Heaton; Civil Beat)

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Suo Oshima

The Seto Inland Sea is dotted with about 700 islands of various sizes, and Suo Oshima (officially Yashirojima), located in the southeastern part of Yamaguchi Prefecture, is the third largest island. (Kawai, JANM)

Situated off the coast of western Honshu is Suo Oshima, often noted English as “Suooshima” or “Suo-Oshima,” this rural part of Japan is one of the countless landmasses that can be found out on the Seto Inland Sea. Officially part of Yamaguchi Prefecture. (Kimball)

Seto Inland Sea is the largest inland sea of Japan and is surrounded by Honshu. Shikoku, and Kyushu.  Features of the Seto Inland Sea is fast tide due to a big difference of high and low tide There are high tides and two low tides twice a day.

Water level difference between high tide and low tide is called “tidal range” – here, it is 3-10-feet in the east and 10-13-feet in west. (International Environmental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas (EMECS) Center)

Suo Oshima is home to a series of peaks that are collectively called the “Seto Inland Sea’s Alps”. Comprised of Mt. Monju, Mt. Kano, Mt. Genmeizan, and Mt. Dake, the heights of this mountain quadruplet are nearly 2,300-feet tall.

Back during the Edo Period (1603–1868), Suo Oshima was overpopulated. Due to the mountainous core of the goldfish-shaped island, residents had a hard time finding ample space to live. (Kimball)

“The population is now around 15,000, but at the beginning of the Meiji period there were about 70,000. At that time, politics was in chaos, and there were also natural disasters such as typhoons, so the islanders could not make a living.”

“At the same time, the island had a history of migrant workers, and it was common for people to go out on boats. At that time, the government talked about migrant workers (overseas emigration), and many people applied. For the islanders, it probably felt like going to a faraway place for a long period of time.” (Makoto Kimoto, JANM)

A shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations in Hawai‘i became a challenge.  The only answer was imported labor.

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

The first to arrive were the Chinese (1852.)  The sugar industry grew, so did the Chinese population in Hawaiʻi.  Concerned that the Chinese were taking too strong a representation in the labor market, the government passed laws reducing Chinese immigration.  Further government regulations, introduced 1886-1892, virtually ended Chinese contract labor immigration.

In 1868, an American businessman, Eugene M Van Reed, sent a group of approximately 150-Japanese to Hawaiʻi to work on sugar plantations and another 40 to Guam. This unauthorized recruitment and shipment of laborers, known as the gannenmono (“first year men”,) marked the beginning of Japanese labor migration overseas.  (JANM)

However, for the next two decades the Meiji government prohibited the departure of “immigrants” due to the slave-like treatment that the first Japanese migrants received in Hawaiʻi and Guam.  (JANM)

In March 1881, King Kalākaua visited Japan during which he discussed with Emperor Meiji Hawaiʻi’s desire to encourage Japanese nationals to settle in Hawaiʻi.

Kalākaua’s meeting with Emperor Meiji improved the relationship of the Hawaiian Kingdom with the Japanese government and an economic depression in Japan served as motivation for agricultural workers to move from their homeland.  (Nordyke/Matsumoto)

The first 943-government-sponsored, Kanyaku Imin, Japanese immigrants to Hawaiʻi arrived in Honolulu aboard the Pacific Mail Steamship Company City of Tokio on February 8, 1885.  Subsequent government approval was given for a second set of 930-immigrants who arrived in Hawaii on June 17, 1885.

With the Japanese government satisfied with treatment of the immigrants, a formal immigration treaty was concluded between Hawaiʻi and Japan on January 28, 1886. The treaty stipulated that the Hawaiʻi government would be held responsible for employers’ treatment of Japanese immigrants.

Many Japanese people living on Suo Oshima opted to move.  From 1885 to 1894, 3,913 people living on the island took advantage of the opportunity and moved to Hawai‘i (about 13.5% of the total of about 29,000 Japanese emigrants to Hawai‘i during that time).  Thus, many of the Japanese now living in Hawaii originally have roots that harken back to Suo Oshima. (Kimball)

After Hawai‘i was annexed by the US, many people from Suo Oshima went to Hawaii, and many Suo Oshima people were active in Hawaiian society. After the war, many donations and goods were brought from Hawaii to Suo-Oshima. (Japan Hawaii Immigration Museum)

To commemorate the connection between Suo Oshima and Hawai‘i, the Japan Hawai‘i Immigrant Museum was opened February 8, 1999 after four years of collecting materials.

Here is a link to the Museum website: https://suooshima-hawaii-imin.com/en

The building of the Japan Hawai‘i Immigrant Museum is a reproduction of the former Fukumoto residence built by the late Chouemon Fukumoto.

After returning to Suo Oshima in 1924, he built the Fukumoto residence, which is now the Japan Hawaii Immigrant Museum, in 1928. (Japan Hawaii Immigration Museum)

Many of the materials displayed in the Immigration Museum were donated by townspeople and their families who had returned from Hawaii. The museum also has historical materials, old documents, and a data search corner for information on the history of immigration to Hawaii. (Japan Hawaii Immigration Museum)

Kauai County and Suo Oshima established a sister city relationship which was signed in June 1963.  “The relationship between Japan and Hawai‘i is an integral part of our state’s historic, cultural, and economic well-being – just look at our food, our customs, and our people,” said Mayor Kawakami.

“Through our 60 years of friendship, we have come to share a mutual understanding of each other’s government, economy, agriculture, tourism, and community. And as we celebrate together this milestone, we continue our promise to pass along our customs with the next generation, keeping both Japan and Hawai‘i culture and tradition alive.” (Kauai County)

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Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham & Wong

OK, this is pretty recent history, but it’s worth recalling – especially when you look at the name dropping of some of the notable names of Hawaiʻi’s past and the apparent lack of confirmation of the families who were part of “the deal.”

The saga of Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham & Wong began in 1977, when Ronald Ray Rewald, following a minor criminal conviction and the bankruptcy of a sporting-goods concern in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, moved to Hawaiʻi.

Rewald was born in 1942 and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  A natural born athlete, he was a sought after professional football player.  He signed with the Cleveland Browns and trained with the Chiefs, but an ankle injury during training kept him from ever being an NFL superstar.

The faux investment entity was incorporated in 1979.  Using names of the past (as well as his and that of his partner in crime, Sunlin LS Wong) 36-year-old Rewald rubbed elbows with the likes of Governor George Ariyoshi and actor Jack Lord, before his company started to cave in.

Rewald and Wong formed “Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham & Wong” and quickly fell into favor with many who invested millions of dollars on behalf some of Honolulu’s most prominent businesses and families.

Rewald moved into a sprawling estate near Kuliouou and traveled around town in a black stretch limo that featured a coat of arms and Rewald’s initials on the doors.

The names Bishop, Baldwin and Dillingham were established old-money names of Hawaiʻi that the schemers put on their letterhead to create the illusion of credibility.  One local businessman noted, “It was as if he arrived in Manhattan and had a firm called Rockefeller, Harriman, Cabot, Forbes and Roosevelt.”

It represented itself as being “one of Hawaiʻi’s oldest and largest privately-held international investment and consulting firms”, dealing only in “secured, safe, non-risk” investments.

Before it fell, over 400-people “invested” $22-million, that Rewald used it to buy property around the island and generally came across as a hugely successful local financier, promising 20% returns on investments and claiming a waiting list of two years to contribute funds.

The firm’s sales materials indicated that investors’ funds were “fully accessible without charge, cost, penalties, time deposits or restrictions.”  However, “investors” started demanding return of their funds.

Feeling pressured, and apparently seeing that the light at the end of the tunnel was an on-coming train, Rewald slit his wrists in the Sheraton Waikīkī … and lived.

As soon as he was released from the hospital, he was arrested and charged with theft by deception under Hawaiʻi criminal law.

Rewald’s partner Wong cooperated with the authorities pled guilty and did 2-years in a federal penitentiary.

Rewald faced federal criminal charges of swindling more than $22 million in what government prosecutors characterize as a “Ponzi scheme.”

A Ponzi scheme has no actual earnings, but to keep investor interest, periodic payments are made (using their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from profit earned by the individual or organization running the operation.)

This “investment” strategy was named after Charles Ponzi, who became notorious for using the technique in 1920. Ponzi did not invent the scheme (i.e., Charles Dickens’ 1844 novel Martin Chuzzlewit and 1857 novel Little Dorrit each described such a scheme.)

However, the intrigue grew when claims of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was blamed for the fiasco.

During his trial, the case took a bizarre turn when Rewald claimed his investment company was a CIA front.  The allegations of a CIA cover-up caught the national media’s attention, which sparked a legal battle between the CIA and ABC News.

ABC News launched a review and investigation of the tangled Ronald R. Rewald story that forced the network into an unprecedented legal conflict with the Central Intelligence Agency.

The review was supported and directed by ABC News President Roone Arledge and Vice President David Burke.

However, as Rewald’s trial progressed, little evidence supporting his or ABC’s charges came to light.  Among the more explosive charges in the ABC reports were that the CIA used Rewald’s company for an illegal arms deal with Taiwan, plotted to kill Rewald and threatened the life of an investor in his firm.  ABC later retracted the Rewald murder charge, a move that prompted a $145-million libel suit by the source of the story.

In his defense case, Rewald acknowledged many of the government’s accusations against him.  Rewald declined to testify in his own defense when Federal District Judge Harold M Fong ruled that much of his story would be inadmissible.

In the end, it turned out to be nothing but a common Ponzi scheme.  The con ran for a few years up until 1983, when Bishop, Baldwin, Rewald, Dillingham & Wong met the fate that all Ponzi’s do … implosion.

After an 11-week trial involving over 140-witnesses and 98-charges stemming from theft by deception, Rewald was sentenced to 80 years.

Rewald was released on parole from the Federal Correctional Institution on Terminal Island in California in June 1995.  He wasn’t eligible for parole until October 2015, but was released early, possibly because of a back injury.

Following his release, Rewald lived in Los Angeles and reported to his probation officer in Studio City. The probation office closed his case in 2000.

Rewald later was the director of operations of a talent and literary agency, Agency for the Performing Arts, in Beverly Hills. APA also has offices in New York City and Nashville.

Ronald Rewald died in California in December 2017 after living 23 years as a free man out of the limelight; he was 76. (Gomes)  (Lots of information here from various published reports on the matter.)

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Kukui

Early Polynesians traveling and settling in Hawaiʻi brought with them shoots, roots, cuttings and seeds of various plants for food, cordage, medicine, fabric, containers, all of life’s vital needs.

“Canoe crops” (Canoe Plants) is a term to describe the group of plants brought to Hawaiʻi by these early Polynesians.  Domesticated animals, including pigs, dogs and chickens were also introduced.

Kukui was one of these canoe crops.

Hawaiians had many uses for the big seeds, which are borne in large quantities – as many as 75-100 pounds annually – by a large tree. The seed shells, black when mature and white earlier, were made into lei and now into costume jewelry and curios.  (CTAHR)

“The multiplicity of its uses to the ancient Hawaiians for light, fuel, medicine, dye and ornament and to the continued value to the people of modern Hawaiʻi, as well as the distinctive beauty of its light green foliage which embellishes many of the slopes of our beloved mountains, causes the kukui tree to be especially treasured by the people of the Fiftieth State of the United States as an arboreal symbol of Hawaiʻi…”  (Territorial Legislature Resolution, May 1, 1959; Hawaii House of Representatives)

From this property of the kukui comes its kaona, its spiritual import. The tree of light has become a symbol of enlightenment, protection, guidance, and peace, and as such its mana (spiritual power) flows through Hawaiian culture and its ceremonies.

The tree is considered to be the kinolau, or form, of Kamapuaʻa, the pig god, the lover of fire goddess Pele (perhaps due to light’s affinity with fire) and so a pig’s head carved from kukui wood is placed on the altar to Lono at the annual Makahiki festival.

It was used to embellish and fortify canoes. Kukui wood was used for the manu, or bird, the removable figurehead of the canoe.  Burn the seed and a fine black soot (pau) was produced that could dye kapa (bark cloth) or paint designs on the canoe prow.

The inner bark provided a red-brown dye for ‘olona cordage, the outer could provide kapa while the gum from the bark strengthened and helped waterproof the kapa.  (Stein)

In ancient times, kukui was woven into the thatched house to confer its blessings, and for modern houses a bundle of thatch mixed with kukui is used in the ceremony.    (Stein)  The kukui has multiple uses, including light, fuel, medicine, dye and ornament.  (Choy)

But of all the uses of the kukui, none is more appropriate than the property that gives it its name, for “kukui” means “light” or “torch,” and its English name is “the candlenut tree” that is the focus of this summary.

“Oil extracted from the seeds was traditionally used by Hawaiians as a preservative for surfboards.  The oil can also be used as a basis for paint or varnish, burned as an illuminant, made into soap, and used for waterproofing paper.”  (CTAHR)

The raw kernels were used to polish wooden bowls. Oiling inside and outside of the bowls made them waterproof so they could last longer. The oil was also put on the runners of the wooden holua sled to make the sled go faster. (DOE)

“The oily kernels are dried and strung on a skewer such as a coconut leaf midrib (lama kū – torch.)  Each nut in the string burns for about 3-minutes and emits a somewhat fragrant smoke.”  (CTAHR)

These same more rigid midribs (of coconut frond – or bamboo) furnished the rods on which it was the task of children to string kukui nut kernels; these were burned as candles (lama).  (Krauss)

“When (the Hawaiians) use them in their houses, ten or twelve are strung on the thin stalk of the cocoa-nut leaf, and look like a number of pealed chesnuts on a long skewer.  The person who has charge of them lights a nut at one end of the stick, and hold it up, till the oil it contains is consumed, when the flame kindles on the one beneath it, and he breaks off the extinct nut with a short piece of wood, which serves as a pair of snuffers.  Each nut will burn two or three minutes, and, it attended, give a tolerable light.”  (Ellis, 1826)

“Large quantities of kukui, or candle nuts, were hanging up in long strings in different parts of his house. … Sometimes the natives burn them to charcoal, which they pulverize, and use tattooing their skin, painting their canoes, surf-boards, idols or drums; but they are generally used as a substitute for candles or lamps.”

“When employed for fishing by torchlight, four or five strings are enclosed in the leaves of the pandanus, which not only keeps them together, but adds to the light they give.”  (Ellis, 1826)

“As the sky darkened, men prowled the shallow waters of lagoons with torches and spears. ‘Candles’ were made by stringing dried nutmeats of the oily kukui nut on thin skewers of bamboo.”

“The top nut was ignited, and as it burned out it ignited the nut below it. For a fishing torch, clusters of these candles were lighted and carried in a bamboo tube (candlenut torch.)”  (HPA)

Reportedly, on March 17, 1930, Territorial Governor Lawrence McCully Judd issued a proclamation declaring the coconut palm or niu (Cocos nucifera) the official tree of the Territory of Hawai’i.  (Choy)

But on May 1, 1959, the 30th Territorial Legislature passed Joint Resolution No. 3, which designated the kukui the official tree.  (Choy)  State law, HRS §5-8, designated the Kukui as the State tree.

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