Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

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

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Gifts for the Young King

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.

“The crossing was uneventful; on the seventeenth day we came in sight of the island of Oahu and we then sailed along the southeast shore past Koko Head. All this coast appears quite arid at first, but on coming closer one soon perceives greenery and human habitations.”

“This point projects prominently to the southeast coast turning sharply to the west, forms a shallow bay two Ieagues around and terminated by Diamond Head.”

“This low mountain is all the more remarkable in that it stands Isolated alongside the sea, rising out of a low terrain a league from the first high ground of the interior.”

“Its shape, quite round and truncated horizontally, is that of a volcanic crater; it doubtless owes its origin to one of those fire-belching eruptions. At the summit there is a small lake of fresh water filled with excellent fish.”

“West of Koko Head the island takes on a more pleasant aspect; the mountains, cut by deep valleys, are covered with forests of densely growing trees.”

“As soon as we had passed the Diamond we found ourselves opposite a magnificent grove of coconut palms whose broad leaves cast shade on the pretty village of Witite or rather Waitite., where ships used ordinarily to moor before the establishment of port of Anaroura (Honolulu), one league farther west.”

“At a distance of one mile and in a depth of eight or nine fathoms we coasted along the line of reefs that borders the shore and came to cast anchor at eleven fathoms in front of the harbor, where we could see a number of ships.”

“Seldom can one enter the harbor of Honolulu in the middle of the day. The narrow channel leading in is a tortuous opening in the reef, two miles long. If there is not a favorable wind, which there rarely is, on must await the calm of early morning and let the ship be towed in by small boats.”

“This difficulty has created in Honolulu a tradition dear to the fraternal alliance of all seamen among ourselves. On the day a ship is to enter the port, boats from all the other ships arrive before sunrise ready to perform this service.”

“A captain who refuses this touching ceremony would cover himself with shame in the eyes of all others.”

“The harbor of Honolulu Itself is a twisting channel where twenty-five ships can be moored in safety over a mud bottom from three to six fathoms.”

“When the ship was settled in its mooring berth we shot off a salute of thirteen guns, which was returned immediately from the fort in the same number.”

“I then called on the young king Kauikeaouli or Kamehameha III. He was at the house of the regent Boki, seated with no special marks of honor in an armchair similar to the one offered me.”

“He was dressed quite simply in white with a yellow neck-piece of pandanus seeds. Even this was not, as I thought at first, a sign of distinction since many other people, both men and women, wore similar ones.”

“This young prince, then seventeen years old, wore a melancholy air. His features were interesting, his face bearing several marks left by the smallpox, and his color was a dark chestnut brown.”

“He spoke little and looked at me closely for a long time. I had on board portraits of the king, his brother, and of the queen, who had both died in London in 1824, and I offered them to him through the interpreter.”

“He accepted with little show of feeling at first; it was only several days later, when they had been delivered to him, that he was struck by the perfect resemblance and fine execution.”

“For several days these two pictures excited great emotion among all his people; by shedding real tears they demonstrated the great attachment that they felt for their sovereigns.”

“Almost all the women had broken off the two incisors of the upper jaw, a sign of mourning in these islands for the death of the monarch.”

“The house where I found the young king was, as I have said, that of the regent Boki. In exterior appearance it is quite the same as all other houses in the town of Honolulu.”

“The Interior, carpeted with mats like the others, differed only in its European furniture, standing in every corner and mixed with the native furniture.”

“Nothing could have been more strange than to see a magnificent porcelain vase of French manufacture paired with a calabash, a work of nature…”

“… two splendid twin beds with curtains of embroidered stuff and of eiderdown; two hanging mirrors with glided frames meant to display beauties in their most elegant toilette but reflecting instead dark skin half covered with dirty tapa cloth.”

“However that may be, this dwelling would have been clean and decent if it had not been crowded with officials and servants stretched out on the mats and so close to each other that you could scarcely take a step without putting a foot on someone.”

“There was barely free space for four or five people. Since the king was no more than a child, the regent Boki was the most considerable person in the realm; he was always surrounded by the principal chiefs of the archipelago, some of whom lived at his expense.”

“One might think, to observe them, that positions of authority derive directly from size; the highest in rank are also the fattest, and as they are generally tall, we appeared to be pygmies beside them.”

“I often inquired about the extreme obesity of the chiefs, and this was always attributed to the lack of exercise and the abundance of food.”

“These must have something to do with the matter of weight, but why are they taller than the others? There is reason to believe that their origin is different from that of the lesser people …”

“… and that they are descended from the conquerors of these islands as the feudal seigneurs of medieval France descended from the Frankish chieftains who invaded the conquest the privileged nobles of England.”

“The tradition mingled with fale, on which is based the history of the Sandwich Islands, seems to indicate that they were conquered in some remote time by strangers of a race different from that of the first inhabitants.”

“That they do not now have the same facial structure is support from this conjecture. The profiles of most of the chiefs, instead of being straight or even pointed like most of the native people, are concave in form; if you put a straight rule to forehead and chin, it would hardly touch the nose.”

“I do not wish, however, to state as fact a matter so little attested. As for Kauikeaouli, he had purely indigenous features, and he was afflicted by being thin so that the embonpoint of the others was a continued source of jealousy to him.”

“Among the chiefs and courtiers who surrounded the king and regent and who overfilled the house, some were dressed in the European style, that is, in pantaloons and white shirts, while others had wrapped themselves in tapa, a piece of cloth made in this country from the bark of the paper mulberry.”

“But most of them go naked, wearing around the waist only a malo, a band of cloth so narrow that it is nearly always insufficient for the use intended.”

“Some of the women wore dresses and had combs in their hair as our ladies do, but the most usual garment of the sex is a large and billowing white chemise – I speak only of its color.”

“Princess Boki, having accompanied her husband to London when he went there with King Liholiho, had a greater taste for European style than the others and was thus better attired than they.”

“All of them retained one feature of their national costume, a band of feathers, usually red, green, and yellow and worn sometimes around the neck and sometimes on the head like a crown. The lattr manner becomes them marvelously.” (Duhaut-Cilly, 1828) (I am not sure what images were given; the images here are from when Liholiho and Kamamalu were in Europe.)

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Sands of Time

Waikīkī is a ‘built’ beach.

Over the last 100-years it has been built primarily in two ways, (1) construction of walls and groins in the nearshore waters and (2) beach nourishment/replenishment (adding sand to the beach.)

Between 1913-1919, the majority of Waikīkī had seawalls; they were placed to protect roadways and new buildings. The beach was lost fronting Kūhiō and Queen’s Beach.

In 1927, the Territorial Legislature authorized Act 273 allowing the Board of Harbor Commissioners to rebuild the eroded beach at Waikīkī. By 1930, the Board of Harbor Commissioners reported on construction progress, which included 11 groins along a portion of the shoreline.

Then, they started adding sand to Waikīkī Beach.

Reports from the 1920s and 1930s reveal that sand was brought in to Waikīkī Beach, via ship and barge, from Manhattan Beach, California.

As the Manhattan Beach community was developing, it found that excess sand in the beach dunes and it was getting in the way of development there. At the same time, folks in Hawai‘i were in need for sand to cover the rock and coral beach at Waikīkī.

Kuhn Bros. Construction Co supplied the sand; they would haul the sand up from Manhattan Beach, load it onto railroad cars, have it transported to the harbor in San Pedro and shipped by barge or ship to Hawai‘i.

Later, Waikīkī’s sand was trucked from various points around Hawai‘i including O‘ahu’s North Shore – in particular, Waimea Bay Beach, a sand bar off the town of Kahuku and Pāpōhaku Beach on Molokai.

Reportedly, before sand mining operations removed over 200,000 tons of sand at Waimea Bay to fill beaches in Waikīkī and elsewhere, there was so much sand that if you would have tried to jump off Pōhaku Lele, Jump Rock, you would have jumped about six feet down into the sand below.

A formal application for a cooperative study regarding beach erosion in Waikīkī was made by the Board of Harbor Commissioners, Territory of Hawaii in 1948.

The intent of the Waikīkī Beach Erosion Control Project, which was the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers, was to increase beach land, improve access to beaches, and to prevent further erosion of beach sand.

The Waikīkī Beach Erosion Control Project was initiated in response. This project initiated what would turn out to be a 50-year series of attempts to restore Waikīkī Beach.

Since 1929, about 616,500 cubic yards of sand have been used to enlarge and replenish Waikīkī Beach between Fort DeRussy and Kūhiō Beach, but every year more erodes away. Little sand has been added since the 1970s, according to the DLNR.

When I was at DLNR, we initiated a demonstration project to move near shore sand back on to the beach.

In 2006, DLNR spent $500,000 to siphon 10,000 cubic yards of offshore sand – this was the largest replenishment effort of Waikīkī’s beaches in more than 30 years.

It worked; then, a larger project was implemented.

Early in 2012, a larger-scale replenishment project pumped sand from 2,000 feet off Waikīkī to fill in the shrinking beach.

The 2006 demonstration project and recent (2012) larger scale replenishment were really recycling projects, because the sand now settled offshore was brought in years ago to fill out the beach.

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  • Waikiki-fronting_old-Seaside_Hotel-seawall-1915
  • Waikiki with Diamond Head in the background-hawaii-gov-1934
  • Waikiki_and_Helumoa_Coconut-(from_Ewa_end_of_Helumoa)-1870
  • Waikiki_Beach_Houses_(UH_Manoa)-1924
  • Waikiki-Moana_Hotel-1920
  • Waikiki-Kalia_to_Moana-1920

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sailors

“The longer a man is out of his own country, the more he feels the need of support. To a Parisian, then, every Parisian is a relative; to a Frenchman all Frenchmen are friends; to a European, any European Is a compatriot, a fellow citizen.”

“And a sailor extends even further this community of feeling. Any man whose name is inscribed on the master roll of a ship is a child of the same great family, almost a brother.”

“The sailor greets him, defends him, makes sacrifices for him, and, above all, will consider it shameful to be made use of in any way harm a man of his own craft.”

“It is in the months of October and November that the English and American whaling ships, having spent the summer off the coast of Japan, come to the Sandwich Islands to refresh their crews and put their vessels in shape to go back to sea …”

“… either to return home if their whaling is finished or to continue the work if they do not yet have a full cargo. And in fact there arrived many such ships belonging to these two nations.”

“One cannot help noticing a great difference between the one and the other.”

“The Americans do not use ships of more than four hundred tons; they all arrive here in a state of uncleanness and disrepair1hat indicates a lack of discipline and care.”

“The English ships, much larger and more difficult to maintain since they are almost all renovated warships, appear on the contrary pleasingly neat and orderly.”

“We saw American whalers that remained a week in the harbor without loosing their wet sails to dry and others that let them Rap in the wind for several days without furling them.”

“On the English ships the oil casks are stowed away as they are filled and not touched until arrival In England. The Americans have to heave theirs onto the deck at least once in order to reseal them; without this precaution they would lose half their contents.”

“The English have perfected their casks , while the ship owners of Boston and Nantucket follow an old practice that they do not wish to change.”

“But if the English show more order and capacity to manage their ships, once the whalers have reached the Sandwich lslands the two groups compete with each other in dissipation.”

“English and American officers and sailors, all display the same manners. As soon as set foot on land, the streets are full of drunken men, nothing is to be heard but quarrels and bickering.”

“What a spectacle for the islanders, you see them run shouting toward the places where the Yankees and Jhn Bulls dispute their differences.”

The Captains arrive, sometimes more drunk than the men, and would send them back on board; the latter resist; the captains strike, and sometimes the sailors strike back; all shout at the same time; the God damns and damnation are Iike thunder; kicks and blows of the fist come down like hail; black eyes shine like lightning.”

“It is late at night before the storm abates only to blow up again the next day.”

“Few of these ships complete their voyages without some kind of mutiny or revolt, but there is good reason to believe that if the captain and officers were more sober, the sailors would be more obedient and peaceable.”

“Every day the English consul finds it necessary to have some of them flogged.”

“In general and with very exceptions the foreigners who have settles in the Sandwich Islands are the dregs of all countries, and they have brought their vices with them.”

“There are always a number of them around the young king, corrupting and giving bad counsel. Among them are several who have escaped from Botany Bay having been branded for crimes in England.”

“The consul is aware of this situation but has no way to prevent It. For the honor of his country, however, he would not suffer the executioner (flogger) to be a compatriot of his.”

“The season that brings English and American whalers to this archipelago attracts also those ships that trade furs on the Northwest Coast of America, few of which wish to pass the winter on those frozen shores.”

“During the month of October there arrived four of them, all of which had failed to prosper in this business. One of them, the Louisa, out of Boston, staying through a winter and two summers, had been able to procure only eight hundred beaver pelts and one hundred twenty otter skins, and the latter had cost eight times what they were worth ten years before.”

“It appears that this commerce, formerly so rich, is now quite done for, and the natives have turned sour in their relations with the whites.”

“Continually at war among themselves, they have become more savage and intractable than ever; they now hunt the otter only for their own needs.”

“During the years 1827 and 1828 ten vessels have traded for fewer than half the otter skins that a single ship could once have done in three months, and the ones they did obtain have cost them four or five times as much.”

“All the ships that came to the Sandwich Islands during my stay in Honolulu were obliged to sell at public auction what remained of their trading goods. …”

“One cannot deny, however, that (the) American missionaries have contributed much to the civilization of the archipelago as we understand that word, and if the pure Christian doctrine is not the basis of their instruction, they have at least enabled these people to enjoy some of the benefits of Christianity in teaching them the ethics of the Gospels.”

“They have been able to adapt the English alphabet or a part of it to the Sandwich Island idiom and they have succeeded in teaching these people to read and write their own language. There is a printing shop where they print in the Sandwich language the works judged proper for the people to read. …”

“Through the influence of Kaahumanu they receive kapus from the king for everything they want: to build their churches, their houses, their cloisters, their walls, and the like. At such times all the people are required to perform the prescribed tasks. “

“Another kapu fills the schools. In addition to these kapus for the benefit of the missionaries others are used by the king, the queen and the chiefs to get work done for themselves.” (All from French sea captain Auguste Dehaut-Cilly who made round-the world travels between 1826 and 1829.)

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Caste Social Structure

During the period from about AD 1400 to European contact, Hawaiian society underwent a transformation from descent-based (its ancestral Polynesian system) to a state-like society.

The structure that came to characterize Hawaiian society – consisting of a high upper class supported by an underprivileged lower class – was somewhat suggestive of ancient Mediterranean and Asian civilizations, as well as of medieval Europe.

The Hawaiian concept of the universe embodied the interrelationship of the gods, man and nature. The former, although the ultimate controlling influence in this system, granted their direct descendants – the royalty – control over the land, the sea and their resources.

“The condition of the common people was that of subjection to the chiefs, compelled to do their heavy tasks, burdened and oppressed, some even to death. The life of the people was one of patient endurance, of yielding to the chiefs to purchase their favor. The plain man (kanaka) must not complain.” (Malo)

At the time of European contact in 1778, Hawaiian society comprised four levels. People were born into specific social classes; social mobility was not unknown, but it was extremely rare. The Kapu System separated Hawaiian society into four groups of people:

  • Aliʻi, the ruling class of chiefs and nobles (kings, high chiefs, low chiefs) considered to be of divine origin who ruled specific territories and who held their positions on the basis of family ties and leadership abilities – the chiefs were thought to be descendants of the gods;
  • Kahuna, the priests (who conducted religious ceremonies at the heiau and elsewhere) and master craftsmen (experts in medicine, religion, technology, natural resource management and similar areas) who ranked near the top of the social scale
  • Makaʻainana, commoners (the largest group) those who lived on the land – primarily laborers, farmers, fishermen, and the like; they labored not only for themselves and their families, but to support the chiefs; and
  • Kauwa (or Kauā), social outcasts, “untouchables” — possibly lawbreakers or war captives, who were considered “unclean” or kapu. Their position was hereditary, and they were attached to “masters” in some sort of servitude status. Marriage between higher castes and the kauwa was strictly forbidden.

“As to why in ancient times a certain class of people were ennobled and made into aliis, and another class into subjects (kanaka), why a separation was made between chiefs and commoners, has never been explained.” (Malo)

The aliʻi attained high social rank in several ways: by heredity, by appointment to political office, by marriage or by right of conquest. The first was determined at birth, the others by the outcomes of war and political processes.

“The chiefs were anxious also to preserve the pure blood of their class by arranging marriages between chiefs and chiefesses. …”

The mating to a sister or near relative, which was not permitted to lesser chiefs or the relatives of chiefs, was considered desirable between very high chiefs in order to produce children of divine rank who carried the sacred fire (ahi) tabu.”

“Such a mating was for the purpose of bearing children, but the two need not become man and wife. Thus the chiefs multiplied, thrived, grew, and spread out over the land; but today we are taught that such practices are wrong.” (Kamakau)

“The makaainana were the fixed residents of the land; the chiefs were the ones who moved about from place to place. It was the makaainanas also who did all the work on the land; yet all they produced from the soil belonged to the chiefs; and the power to expel a man from the land and rob him of his possessions lay with the chief.” (Malo)

Power and prestige, and thus class divisions, were defined in terms of mana. Although the gods were the full embodiment of this sacredness, the royalty possessed it to a high degree because of their close genealogical ties to those deities.

The kahuna ratified this relationship by conducting ceremonies of appeasement and dedication on behalf of the chiefs, which also provided ideological security for the commoners who believed the gods were the power behind natural forces.

“If the people were slack in doing the chief’s work they were expelled from their lands, or even put to death. For such reasons as this and because of the oppressive exactions made upon them, the people held the chiefs in great dread and looked upon them as gods.” (Malo)

“Only a small portion of the kings and chiefs ruled with kindness; the large majority simply lorded it over the people. It was from the common people, however, that the chiefs received their food and their apparel for men and women, also their houses and many other things.” (Malo)

Commoners possessed little mana and were therefore prohibited from entering any of the sacred places where aliʻi and gods communicated, such as the heiau in which the upper class honored their gods. Outcasts, with no mana, could interact with commoners but not approach the upper class.

“The commoners were the most numerous class of people in the nation, and were known as the ma-ka-aina-na; another name by which they were called was hu (hu, to swell, multiply, increase like yeast.)” (Malo)

As Handy states: “It is evident that kapu determined and regulated the three castes. For the aliʻi (and kahuna,) the kapu of sanctity was at once a wall of protection and the source of prestige and authority.”

“The same kapu determined for the commoners their social and economic relationship to, and their reverential attitude towards their overlords. As for the kauwa, their segregation and exclusion from the social organism was due to a kapu of defilement.”

This social structure was reinforced by the kapu, the Hawaiian religious, political and social structure that lasted for 500-years. (Lots of information here from an NPS report, as well as others, as noted.) The painting is by Herb Kane – “Council of Chiefs.”

  • Council_of_Chiefs-(HerbKane)