Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The Green Flash

As the sun sinks slowly in the West, there is cause for pause by people as they wish their luck in seeing the elusive “green flash.”
 
I remember the daily ritual on our deck in Kahaluʻu mauka in Kona (as we were growing up, it was the only home we ever lived in with a western orientation and view of the Pacific Ocean.)
 
Scientists say green flashes come in two common forms; these were described by James Prescott Joule in a letter to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society in 1869.
 
First, he noted that “at the moment of the departure of the sun below the horizon, the last glimpse is coloured bluish green.” This “last glimpse” flash is associated with the inferior mirage, familiar on asphalt roads on sunny days.
 
It is best seen from a few meters above sea level, and becomes compressed to a thin line at the horizon when seen from considerable heights.
 
Joule also observed that “Just at the upper edge, where bands of the sun’s disk are separated one after the other by refraction, each band becomes coloured blue just before it vanishes.”
 
This second form of flash is associated with a mock mirage, which is caused by a thermal inversion below eye level; so it is mainly seen from elevated positions.
 
As light passes from the vacuum of space into the atmosphere, which acts like a prism, it slows down and causes the light to bend or refract towards the surface of the earth.
 
The white from the sun is made up of many different colors of light, all of which have a different wavelength. The wavelength (or color) of light affects how much it is refracted on entering the atmosphere, with red light refracted the most and blue least (as in rainbows).
 
Imagine the image of the sun as being made up of red, green and blue images. Light from the ‘red image’ will be refracted more than that from the green and blue.
 
So, the ‘red image’ will appear lower than the green, which will similarly appear lower than the blue. At sunset, or sunrise, this effect is intensified as light travels through a slightly thicker atmosphere.
 
As the sun disappears below the horizon, the ‘red image’ will disappear first and the blue last.
 
The atmosphere causes blue light to be scattered more than red or green – the reason why the sky appears blue – so light from the ‘green image’ … the ‘green flash’ … will normally be the last thing you see as the sun disappears below the horizon.
 
On very rare occasions, the atmosphere may be clear enough to allow some of the blue light to reach us and cause a ‘blue flash’ as the sun sets.
 
The phenomenon lasts only a fraction of a second, so unless you know where to look and when, the chances of seeing one are very slim. Viewing conditions need to be just right, too.
 
Watching the sun set over an ocean horizon on a clear evening creates optimal viewing conditions.
 
Your line of sight should be almost parallel to the horizon and you need to really concentrate at the top edge of the sun as it is about 98% set.
 
If you are lucky, you will see the top edge of the sun turn green for a brief moment, before disappearing below the horizon.
 
Jules Verne’s 1882 novel “Le Rayon Vert” (The Green Ray) popularized the green flash, described as “a green which no artist could ever obtain on his palette, a green of which neither the varied tints of vegetation nor the shades of the most limpid sea could ever produce the like! If there is a green in Paradise, it cannot be but of this shade, which most surely is the true green of Hope”.
 
Be careful.  Even with the sun low in the sky, concentrated observation with the naked eye can cause damage to your eyesight.

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  • At sunset, the sky is often painted with an array of oranges, reds and yellows, and even some shades of pink. There are, however, occasions when a green flash appears above the solar disc for a second or so. One such occurrence was captured beautifully in this picture taken from Cerro Paranal, a 2600-metre-high mountain in the Chilean Atacama Desert, by ESO Photo Ambassador Gianluca Lombardi. Cerro Paranal is home to ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The green flash is a rather rare phenomenon; seeing such a transient event requires an unobstructed view of the setting (or rising) Sun and a very stable atmosphere. At Paranal the atmospheric conditions are just right for this, making the green flash a relatively common sight (see for example eso0812). But a double green flash such as this one is noteworthy even for Paranal. The green flash occurs because the Earth’s atmosphere works like a giant prism that bends and disperses the sunlight. This effect is particularly significant at sunrise and sunset when the solar rays go through more of the lower, denser layers of the atmosphere. Shorter wavelength blue and green light from the Sun is bent more than longer wavelength orange and red, so it appears slightly higher in the sky than orange or red rays from the point of view of an observer. When the Sun is close to the horizon and conditions are just right, a mirage effect related to the temperature gradient in the atmosphere can magnify the dispersion — the separation of colours — and produce the elusive green flash. A blue flash is almost never seen as the blue light is scattered by molecules and particles in the dense blanket of air towards the horizon. The mirage can also distort the shape of the Sun and that of the flash. We see two bands of green light in this image because the weather conditions created two alternating cold and warm layers of air in the atmosphere. This stunning photo was taken by ESO Photo Ambassador Gianluca Lombardi on 28 March 2011. The phenomenon was captured on camera as the Sun was setting on a sea of clouds below Cerro Paranal.

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawaiian Coat of Arms and Seal

The coat of arms of the Nation of Hawai‘i was drawn up during the time of Kamehameha III; a May 31, 1845 story in the Polynesian newspaper reported that the National Coat of Arms was adopted by the Legislative Assembly.

In 1842, Timothy Ha‘alilio, Private Secretary to the King, and Royal Advisor the Rev. William Richards commissioned the College of Arms in London to prepare a design.

The quartered shield has in its 1st and 4th quarters the red, white and blue stripes representing the eight inhabited Hawaiian Islands.

The 2nd and 3rd quarters have two emblems of taboo (pulo‘ulo‘u) on yellow. As noted in the ‘Polynesian,’ “they were placed at the right and left of the gateway, or door, of the King’s house, to indicate protection, or a place of refuge, to which persons might flee from danger and be safe.”

There is a central triangular flag. The ‘Polynesian” noted, “The triangular flag at the fess point, was an ancient flag of the Hawaiian chiefs which was raised at sea, above the sail of their canoes, and the sail at that time being of a peculiar construction, it presented a very beautiful appearance.”

“It was also placed in a leaning position, across two spears in front of the King’s house, to indicate both tabu and protection. The name of the flag was Puela and name of the cross on which it lies Alia. Both the balls and the flag had on some occasions a religious signification, but their appropriateness to a coat of arms results from the above characteristics.”

The coat of arms has the two royal twins, Kamanawa and Kame‘eiamoku. The men are “clad in the ancient feather cloak and helmet of the Islands, the one bearing a kahili (Kame‘eiamoku on the right) and the other a spear (Kamanawa on the left) as in the processions of former times.”

The twins were Chiefs from the Kohala and North Kona districts and were uncles of Kamehameha the Great and his counselors in the wars to unite the islands.

The drawings for all these emblems and ornaments were taken from the original articles presented to Captain Cook by Kalaniʻōpuʻu in 1778.

The motto reads: “Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono” – “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness”.

As noted in the “Polynesian” announcement, the motto, “refers to the speech of the King at the time of cession, February 25, 1843. ‘I have given away the life of the land. I have hope that the life of the land will be restored when my conduct is justified.’”

“It very naturally alludes to the righteousness of the British government, in returning the Island to their legal sovereign, to the righteousness of the Hawaiian which secured the restoration, and to the general principle, that it is only by righteousness that national existence is preserved.”

The design was modified slightly during the reign of King Kalākaua.

Later, modifications to Coat of Arms were made to make the official Seal of the Republic and Territory of Hawai‘i. It was later altered in 1959 to represent the change in status from Territory to the State of Hawai‘i.

The rising sun replaced the royal crown and Maltese cross of the original coat of arms. King Kamehameha the Great and Goddess of Liberty, holding the Hawaiian flag, replaced the two warriors on the Royal Coat of Arms.

The quartered design of the heraldic shield was retained from the coat of arms. The four stripes of the Hawaiian flag in each of the first and fourth quarters continue to represent the eight islands.

Pulo‘ulo‘u, or tabu ball and stick, in the second and third quarters were retained.

The star represents the fiftieth star added to the national flag when Hawai‘i became a state. The phoenix, symbol of death and resurrection, symbolizes the change from the monarchy to a democratic form of government.

The eight taro leaves, flanked by banana foliage and maidenhair fern are typical Hawaiian flora.

The state motto “Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono”, “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness” was retained from the Royal Coat of Arms.

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  • Coat of Arms-From Pricess Ruth – at Kanaina Bldg
  • Coat_of_arms_of_Hawaii_(1868)
  • Royal_Coat_of_Arms_of_Hawaii-1850
  • Coat_of_arms_of_Hawaii_(1886)
  • Coat_of_arms_of_Hawaii_(1922)
  • Coat_of_Arms-Iolani_Palace
  • Coat of Arms-From Royal Hawaiian Room Doors
  • Seal_of_the_Republic_of_Hawaii-1896-1901
  • Seal_of_the_Territory_of_Hawaii-1901-1959
  • Seal_of_the_State_of_Hawaii-1959-

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Sailing to Waialua

French sea captain Auguste Dehaut-Cilly made round-the world travels between 1826 and 1829; all of the following is from his account of the Islands following his trip from California to Hawai‘i, in 1828.

“In Honolulu I traded what remained of the cargo in exchange for sandalwood. Stowing this wood on board is a long and careful task if one is to make full use of the space.”

“After ballasting the ship to a sixth of its tonnage, one begins stowing at both ends, stacking together the pieces of equal length, even under the deck, and then forcing into each stack as many other pieces as possible, driving them in with a mallet.”

“While this work was proceeding on board the Heros, I accepted the invitation of the English consul to make a short trip to the north of the island in a small schooner that belonged to him and was going to obtain sandalwood in a place called Waialua.”

“We left at three in the afternoon, and in order to double Koko Head and the eastern part of the island, we tacked until noon the next day when, finding ourselves sufficiently to windward, we let the ship falloff northwest toward our destination.”

“For some while the chain of mountains that appears to traverse the island from east to west and falls away on the side of Honolulu to form a number of fine valleys appeared from the north as a steep wall hemming in a plain of two or three leagues in width and stretching from this barrier to the edge of the sea.”

“But soon the mountains turning abruptly to the north, advanced to the water, leaving only a very small space between themselves and the shore, where a great number of huts stood everywhere.”

“We were less than a mile at sea, ranging along the coast in somber and rainy weather. The setting sun, about to go down on the opposite side of the mountain, left in the shade all that we could see. It is hardly possible to imagine anything more imposing than the spectacle before us that moment.”

“Three massive shapes, suspended over our heads, were composed of fearsome precipices, one towering over the other, of impenetrable forests rising in great steps above other forests, dark chasms of frightful depth, steep and slippery slopes, bare wet rocks mingling their dark color with the somber green of the old trees.”

“High and gleaming cascades, after descending for hundreds of yards, threw themselves onto the tree tops, where they burst into foam only to reunite and fall again until some fissure in the rocks provided a channel for a gentler descent to the sea”

“ If I add that the progress of the ship was continuously changing and varying the scene for us, the reader may form an idea of this spectacle”

“But one must see it with one’s own eyes, see the heavy clouds, now motionless over the forests that they drench with their showers, now eddying swiftly, rising and falling at the will of the wind that was whirling around behind the mountains.”

“One must see this turbulent chaos of clouds, moving, dissipating, and reappearing in different form as the ship advances if one is to sense how magical and mysterious was this scene to us.”

“In the far distance the mountains opened up as if some great hand had torn them apart; narrow valleys, well peopled, wound among the openings.”

“A large number of fishing canoes could be seen close to us. And we called to one of these light craft for a pilot to show us the port of Waialua (place of two streams).”

“The pilot pointed it out, several miles ahead, and we lost no time in entering through the wide opening in the reef, where we found no less than four fathoms of water.”

“It was almost dark when we went ashore and were received by the village chief, who invited us to sup with him ad sleep in his house.”

“We had some provisions brought from on board along with some bottles of wine, and these we added to the excellent fish that he served.”

“Although the house was very large it barely sufficed to hold the numerous guests who were gathered there, for we were no fewer than forty men and women under this hospitable roof.”

“I and my companion, the English consul, stretched ourselves out on mats as did the others, but the night was far advanced before we could sleep.”

“In addition to the insects, flying, jumping and crawling, that tormented us, the chief, after reciting a Christian prayer in the language of the country, kept up a conversation with several others.”

“Although I did not understand a word, this eternal colloquy held me awake for a long time.”

“Even the sleep was not peaceful; with my imagination overwhelmed by the grandiose and sublime spectacle of the mountains, I dreamed that I was pursued by a torrent and took refuge under an overhanging rock that then broke loose and collapsed on me.”

“Awakening with a start, I found on my chest the two heels of a fat Sandwich Islander, my neighbor on the bed, who sept profoundly in that position and who had been the cause of my nightmare.”

”Day was breaking. Taking my gun I went for a walk, intending to shoot some birds, but could not reach the base of the mountains; the entire landscape was cut into a labyrinth of taro fields separated by slippery dikes covered with high, wet grass and difficult to walk on without tumbling into the muddy ponds.Z”

“After killing only a few plover and a duck, I returned to the port. Our little schooner was loaded early, and in the evening we set
sail for Honolulu.”

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

View of Hawaiians in 1828

“Almost all travelers have been pleased to endow with surpassing beauty the women of the different archipelagos of the South Seas. I cannot speak of those in the Marquesas or Society Islands, but if one may judge by the Sandwich Islanders, on whom they have heaped the same praises, I am obliged to say that they are far from living up to this portrait.”

“But I must agree that they possess a natural grace that, without matching the fine and regular features of a white and delicate skin has nevertheless an almost irresistible attraction. Their movements are smooth and supple, their postures enchanting and easy, and their glances, more than anything, are indescribably alluring.”

“The freedom they enjoy means that they are strangers to anxiety or constraint, and this state of tranquility is reflected in all their bodily manners.”

“If they suffer storms of the heart these must be of a passing nature because there is no need for these to persist. Their ways appear to be based on inconstancy; they need never suffer the boredom of an ill-matched union.”

“Amused by the veriest trifles, they wear only smiles on their lips, and their mouths never open to say no. It is surprising that that the stranger, finding such an easy welcome among them, lets himself pain =t them with flattering praise if only to enlarge on and embellish his own conquests.”

“When, several days after our arrival, the young king wished to visit the Heros, we prepared a small collation, and he came on board with the regent and a numerous suite.”

“Kauikeaouli drank with pleasure our best liquors and ate our cakes with eagerness. We noticed that he did not touch the poi that he always has brought along wherever he goes; he preferred our good bread.”

“When he got into his boat to return we saluted him with thirteen guns, a courtesy that he found quite flattering. On the quay his bodyguard awaited: a score of fine young men fitted out simply but uniformly in blue pantaloons, short blue jackets, round hats, guns, bayonets, and ammunition pouches.”

“The king’s house is located in the same compound as that of the regent and is of the same style and size. It has a very high roof supported by low sidings that incline to the inside.”

“This shape imparts to these dwellings of wood and straw more strength than if the sustaining walls were perpendicular. The king has another house built according to the rules of our architecture but he never lives in it, preferring this one of thatch.”

“In fact, this sort of dwelling is better suited to their mode of life. They love to stretch out on mats, letting themselves drop wherever the fancy strikes them, and there they spend the greatest part of the day lying together helter-skelter on their rush carpets. This could not be done in lodgings furnished like ours, where they would need a sofa for each person.”

“The young king sleeps in his thatched great house only in bad weather; when the night is fine he stays in a small hut that has to be entered on hands and knees and that is barely large enough for four people sitting or stretched out.”

“Those of his young court follow his example; each constructs a small hut close to his, all of them together forming a sort of camp around the principal house, which hardly serve for more than to store the furniture.”

“The king and the regent are not the only principal authorities in the archipelago. A wife of the famous Kamehameha I, Queen Kaahumanu, exercises much power in fact if not legally.”

“She has her private court and her own coterie of followers. She lives in the city during the winter but passes the summer in a pretty valley a league to the east of Honolulu.”

“Along with the English consul I went one day to see her at her residence, which consisted of two main houses and a number
of huts.”

“We found her seated on a mat and leaning back on cushions covered in silk. Although she was not much interested in us, she received us in a dignified way. A woman of forty-two, she appeared to have once had much embonpoint, but bad health, caused by her well-known excesses, had brought on premature old age, which left her little hope of a long life.”

“Thus the adherents of the young king were being patient while awaiting the death of Kaahumanu, which they expected soon and believed would deliver him from a feminine yoke.”

French sea captain Auguste Dehaut-Cilly made round-the world travels between 1826 and 1829; all of the above is from his account of the Islands following his trip from California to Hawai‘i, in 1828.

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  • Alphonse_Pellion,_Sandwich Islands-Houses of Kalanimoku, Prime Minister of the King_(c._1819)
  • Alphonse_Pellion,_Îles_Sandwich;_Maisons_de_Kraïmokou,_Premier_Ministre_du_Roi;_Fabrication_des_Étoffes_(c._1819,_detail)

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Honolulu City Lights

The first discoveries of electricity were made back in ancient Greece. Greek philosophers discovered that when amber is rubbed against cloth, lightweight objects will stick to it. This is the basis of static electricity.

The credit for generating electric current on a practical scale goes to the English scientist, Michael Faraday. In 1831, Faraday found the solution that electricity could be produced through magnetism by motion.

Using electricity as a power source, in the period from 1878 to 1880, Thomas Edison and his associates worked on at least three thousand different theories to develop an efficient incandescent lamp. Incandescent lamps make light by using electricity to heat a thin strip of material (called a filament) until it gets hot enough to glow.

Finally, Edison decided to try a carbonized cotton thread filament. When voltage was applied to the completed bulb, it began to radiate a soft orange glow. Just about fifteen hours later, the filament finally burned out; Patent number 223,898 was given to Edison’s electric lamp.

In 1881, the Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) was held in Paris; it was the first International Exposition of Electricity. The major events associated with the Fair included Thomas Edison’s electric lights, electrical distribution and Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone.

Shortly thereafter, the Brush Electric Light Company established New York City’s first electric company. A small generator powered street lights on lower Broadway.

In an era of gas lamps, King Kalākaua recognized the potential of “electricity,” and helped pioneer its introduction in the Hawaiian kingdom. The King arranged to meet the inventor of the incandescent lamp, Thomas Edison, in New York in 1881, during the course of a world tour.

During the King’s visit to NYC, the New-York Tribune (September 25, 1881) wrote an article about the King: “One of the sights that pleased him most was the Paris Electrical Exhibition. We spent some time there.”

“Kalakaua is going to introduce the electric light in his own kingdom; and he examined the different lamps on that account with the greatest interest. The life in Paris entertained him very much; they turned night into day there.”

“The visit, indeed, was not altogether one of curiosity, nor was the Edison light wholly unfamiliar to his Majesty, who had already observed it in operation in Paris.”

“It has for several years been one of the dreams of his Majesty, in the development of the civilization toward which his people are rapidly struggling to introduce the electric light in Honolulu and light the city with it, in preference to gas.”

“He has, however, patiently awaited the perfection of some one of the many systems before the public and will probably on his return reduce the purpose to practice.” (New York Times, September 26, 1881)

“He seemed particularly interested in the statement that after steam-power had been transformed into electricity and carried to a great distance in that form it could again be converted into motive power by means of an electrical motor …”

“… and sold to customers for the purpose of running elevators or operating hoist-ways. His eyes lighted when he was told that one of the most profitable departments of the business of the company would be the sale of power to manufactories and business firms …”

“… in quantities as small as a single horse power, costing, under circumstances of ordinary use, not more than 8 cents a day.” (New York Times, September 26, 1881)

Five years after Kalākaua and Edison met, Charles Otto Berger, a Honolulu-based insurance executive with mainland connections, organized a demonstration of “electric light” at the king’s residence, ʻIolani Palace, on the night of July 26, 1886.

To commemorate the occasion, a tea party was organized by Her Royal Highness the Princess Liliʻuokalani and Her Royal Highness the Princess Likelike. The Royal Hawaiian Military Band played music and military companies marched in the palace square. An immense crowd gathered to see and enjoy the brightly lit palace that night.

Shortly after this event, David Bowers Smith, a North Carolinian businessman living in Hawaiʻi, persuaded Kalākaua to install an electrical system on the palace grounds. The plant consisted of a small steam engine and a dynamo for incandescent lamps. On November 16, 1886 – Kalākaua’s birthday – ʻIolani Palace became the world’s first royal residence to be lit by electricity.

With the palace lit, the government began exploring ways to establish its own power plant to light the streets of Honolulu. A decision was made to use the energy of flowing water to drive the turbines of a power plant built in Nu‘uanu Valley.

Accordingly, “a head of from 300 to 330 feet could be obtained at the elevation known as Queen Emma lot in Nu‘uanu Valley (Hānaiakamālama,) this giving about 130 horse power.”

The new dynamo station was located instead “opposite the Wood estate, it having been found that the Queen Emma lot could not be secured.” The contract was awarded to Peter High, ground was broken November 23, 1887 and the government accepted the building on January 21, 1888.

Water was taken in a pipeline running past Kaniakapūpū, then fed a hydroelectric plant in an area known as “Reservoir #1,” near Oʻahu County Club. Power lines were strung on the existing Mutual Telephone Co. poles in the area, down to downtown Honolulu.

On Friday, March 23, 1888, Princess Kaʻiulani, the king’s niece, threw the switch that illuminated the town’s streets for the first time – the first of Honolulu City Lights.

The Minister of the Interior report to the Legislative Assembly in the 1888 noted, “We have at present one twelve-light machine, carrying twelve lights with five miles of wire, and using nine horse power; also one fifty-light machine, carrying forty-six lamps on fifteen miles of wire, using forty-two horse power, making a total of fifty-eight lights now in use in the city.”

A year later, the first of a handful of residences and business had electricity. By 1890, this luxury had been extended to 797 of Honolulu’s homes.

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  • Nuuanu_Homes-Monsarrat-(portion)-1920-(noting_Government_Electric_Works)
  • Iolani Palace, circa 1889
  • Queen_Kapiolani_on_the_Iolani_Palace_grounds with Antoinette Swan-(PP-97-14-016)
  • Iolani_Palace-early 1880s
  • Kalakaua