General | Page 198 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 31, 2017 by Peter T Young 3 Comments

Niu

Revelations 22:2 refers to the coconut as “the tree of life, which bears twelve manner of fruits, and yieldeth her fruit every month.” Scientists generally believe that coconut came from the Indian Archipelago or Polynesia. (Tsai)

Early Arabs and Europeans in the first half of the ninth century mentioned that travellers to China referred to the use of coir fiber and of toddy. Medieval writers called the coconut the Indian nut, a palm tree the frond of which produced a fruit as large as a man’s head.

The genus name of coconut (Cocos) probably was derived from the Spanish word coco, used to describe a monkey’s face, because of the three “eyes” at the base of the coconut shell. (CTAHR)

When the first Polynesians landed and settled in Hawaiʻi (about 1000 to 1200 AD (Kirch)) they 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. One of these was ‘niu,’ the coconut; they used it for food, cordage, etc.

Hawai‘i is on the edge of the coconut belt. The coconut bears better nearer the equator, where it is more widely used than here. In Hawai`i there are other plants, native and introduced, that provide as well for people’s needs.

This palm is the most useful plant of the tropics. It is said that more uses are made of it than any other tree in the world. Besides drink, food and shade, niu offers the possibilities of …

… housing, thatching, hats, baskets, furniture, mats, cordage, clothing, charcoal, brooms, fans, ornaments, musical instruments, shampoo, containers, implements and oil for fuel, light, ointments, soap and more. (CanoePlants)

The tree bears fruit around the seventh birthday, for up to 70-100 years, providing food for a human lifetime. There may be up to 50 fruit a year. A he‘e (octopus) was often planted in the bottom of the hole, furnishing fertilizer and giving the plant the idea of roots that spread and grip, and a body that is fat and round.

As food, the niu flesh or meat is used for different purposes, depending upon the maturity of the nut. The jelly-like spoon meat of a green nut is called ‘o‘io. The next stage is haohao, when the shell is still white and the flesh soft and white.

Half ripe, at the ho‘ilikole state, it is eaten raw with Hawai`i red salt and poi. At the o‘o stage, the nut is mature, but the husk not dried.

The flesh of a mature nut at the malo`o stage is used to make coconut cream, which when mixed with kalo (taro) makes a dish called kulolo; with ‘uala (sweet potato) it is called poipalau; and paipaiee with ripe ‘ulu (breadfruit.) (CanoePlants)

The trunks used to make house posts, small canoes, hula drums, or food containers. Leaves (launiu) used to for baskets, thatch and for fans, known as some of the finest in Polynesia. Leaf sheaths used as food or fish-bait wrappers.

Husk fibers also used for cordage to make nets or lashing, known as ‘aha; the cordage could be coarse or fine. The cordage can be made into supports for ‘umeke (bowls) or other round-based objects.

Shell of fruit was used for eating utensils, such as spoons, bowls, plates, as well as ‘awa cups and strainers for ‘awa. Niu shells also served for storage containers, lids, and knee drums or puniu; the fibers are made into a drum beater

A musical instrument, the hokiokio, can also be made from coconut shell. Small mortars and bull roarers (oeoe) are also made from the niu shell. Sometimes the niu “shell” used to make ‘uli‘uli (hula rattles.)

Niu water used as a drink, and flesh eaten raw or with poi. Oil from meat used on body and hair. The mid-rib of the niu leaf is used as the “skewer” for a kukui nut torch (kali lukui). (Bishop Museum)

Later, some commercial uses of niu included copra. “Samples of copra (dried meat of coconut) grown here have been forwarded to San Francisco ….”

“The quality of the product is excellent, comparing favorably with that of the best grade received in that market, and the price per pound is satisfactory. So well pleased are the people on the Coast that they have signified a willingness to take all that can be shipped to them.”

“The copra is compressed and the extracted oil used in the manufacture of soaps, and as oils in the manufacture of high-grade paints. Another use to which it is put is the manufacture of shredded cocoanut, which is utilized by confectioners and bakers. The fiber is made into hawsers (ropes) for towing purposes.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 12, 1907)

“One of the uses to which copra is put and for which there has not yet been found an available substitute is in the production of salt water soap, soap that will lather and be effective in salt water. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 15, 1907)

“‘Don’t wait to get fresh milk from Honolulu. Use the cow of the Pacific.’ The coconut is known as the cow of the Pacific. Its milk is very nourishing. I said, ‘Get me two nuts and I’ll show you how to make both cream and milk.’” (Fullard-Leo)

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Coconuts

niu_base_pahu_hula-bishopmuseum

Niu_and_Kukui_Light_(BM)-7745

Rope from coconut husks

Readying_Canoe_for_a_Voyage-(HerbKane)

Niu-Coconut-(NPS photo by Bryan Harry)

Coconut container-nuts

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Coconut

August 28, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hung Wai Ching

“This is a very interesting story that I have never heard before and I have never heard of this man. He is a great leader who rises above the fear, prejudices and anger to pick up a cause to do the right thing for humanity.”

“One wonders if there was never a Hung Wai Ching, where would the Japanese Americans be today?” (Mae Kimura; Yoshinaga)

Hung Wai Ching was born on August 1, 1905, in Hawai‘i. His parents, Yei and Un Fong Ching, came to Hawaii in 1898 from the Chung Shan district of Guangdong province, China. (Ng)

At an early age, his father was killed in an accident, leaving his mother to bring up the six children under circumstances of extreme financial hardship, forcing Hung Wai to sell papers and do odd jobs to help his way through school.

He lived in the predominantly immigrant neighborhood around the Nuʻuanu YMCA. He attended Royal School and graduated in 1924 with the famous McKinley Class of ‘24, which included Hiram Fong, Chinn Ho, Masaji Marumoto and Elsie Ting (to whom he was married for 60 years.)

He graduated from the University of Hawai‘i in 1928 with a degree in civil engineering, earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary and graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1932.

He worked at the Nuʻuanu YMCA as a boys’ secretary and served as secretary of the Atherton YMCA from 1938 to 1941. (Tsukiyama)

In December 1940, he was invited to attend a meeting with the FBI, Army and Navy intelligence, and community leaders present to form the Council on Interracial Unity to prepare the people of Hawaii against the shock of imminent war and to preserve the harmonious race relations among Hawaii’s multiracial population.

When the Japanese bombs fell on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the military governor appointed a Morale Division composed of Charles Loomis, Shigeo Yoshida and Hung Wai to put into effect the plans prepared by the Council of Interracial Unity.

The Morale Division served as bridge between the military government and the civilian community, in particular with the Emergency Service Committee composed of leaders of the Japanese American community.

Ching reported to Col. Kendall J. Fielder of Army Intelligence charged with the internal security of Hawai‘i and also reported to FBI Chief Agent Robert L. Shivers.

There were any number of Japanese in Hawaii who unbeknownst to them were either not detained or were released from internment because of Hung Wai Ching’s intervention on their behalf.

In the first few weeks of the war, the military governor assigned Col. Fielder a quota of Japanese to be picked up each day, but upon consultation with Ching, Fielder refused to make indiscriminate quota arrests, even at the risk of court-martial and his military career.

In January 1942, when all soldiers of Japanese ancestry were discharged from the Hawai‘i Territorial Guard, comprised of UH ROTC students, Ching met, counselled and persuaded these confused, bitter and disillusioned Nisei dischargees to offer themselves to the Military Governor for war time service as a non-combat labor battalion.

The petition of 170 Nisei volunteers was accepted by the Military Governor who assigned this group to the 34 Combat Engineers at Schofield Barracks as a labor and construction corps, popularly to become known as the ‘Varsity Victory Volunteers.’ As Father of the VVVs, Ching showed off the VVVs at every opportunity to military, intelligence and governmental officials.

In late-December 1942, Ching was asked to escort Assistant Secretary of War John J McCloy around military installations on O‘ahu and made certain that McCloy witnessed the VVV volunteers at work in the field.

A few weeks later in January 1943, the War Department announced its decision to form a volunteer all Nisei combat team. This is exactly what the VVV had been working for, so its members disbanded so that they could volunteer for the newly conceived 442nd.

Ching then adopted the 442nd in place of the disbanded VVV and thereafter dedicated himself to seeing that the Nisei got every fair opportunity to prove their loyalty.

“Who knows if we would’ve had a 442nd if it wasn’t for all the things Hung Wai did.” (Tsukiyama)

Through his Morale Division job, Ching met with some very high and influential people, including President Roosevelt and Mrs. Roosevelt, but he never used these contacts to benefit himself.

During a 1943 visit to the White House, Ching used the occasion to brief the president on the wartime situation in Hawaii, how well Sen. Emmons and the FBI were handling the “Japanese situation” and assuring him that there was no necessity for a mass evacuation of Japanese from Hawai‘i.

Ching had no question about the loyalty of Japanese he had known all of his life, but he knew that the general American public would never be convinced of the loyalty of Japanese Americans until they could shed their 4-C (enemy alien) status, get back into military service and fight and even die for their country.

The greatest contributions made by Hung Wai Ching were his outspoken affirmation of the loyalty of Japanese Americans and the direct part he played in the long struggle of Japanese Americans to regain that opportunity to bear arms and to prove their ultimate loyalty to America. (Tsukiyama)

After the war Ching became a real estate broker and land developer, as well as continuing to be a leader in the community, serving on several community and company boards. He, along with his brother Hung Wo Ching, helped found Aloha Airlines. (Ng) (Lots of information here from Tsukiyama, Yoshinaga, Gee and Ng.)

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Hung Wai Ching

August 26, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mānoa – Home of Hawai‘i’s Commercial Agricultural Ventures

Mānoa translates as “wide or vast” and is descriptive of the wide valley that makes up the inland portion of the ahupuaʻa of Waikiki. The existence of heiau and trails leading to/from Honolulu indicate it was an important and frequently traversed land.

Mānoa Valley was a favored spot of the Ali‘i, including Kamehameha I, Chief Boki (Governor of O‘ahu), Ka‘ahumanu, Ha‘alilio (an advisor to King Kamehameha III), Princess Victoria, Kana‘ina (father of King Lunalilo), Lunalilo, Ke‘elikōlani (half-sister of Kamehameha IV) and Queen Lili‘uokalani.

In early times Mānoa Valley was socially divided into “Mānoa-Aliʻi” or “royal Mānoa” on the west, and “Mānoa-Kanaka” or “commoners’ (makaʻāinana) Mānoa” on the east. The Ali‘i lived on the high, cooler western (left) slopes; the commoners lived on the warmer eastern (right) slopes and on the valley floor where they farmed.

Mānoa is watered by five streams that merge into the lower Mānoa Stream: ‘Aihualama (lit. eat the fruit of the lama tree), Waihī (lit. trickling water), Nāniu‘apo (lit. the grasped coconuts), Lua‘alaea (lit. pit [of] red earth) and Waiakeakua (lit. water provided by a god). (Cultural Surveys)

In 1792, Captain George Vancouver described Mānoa Valley on a hike from Waikīkī in search of drinking water: “We found the land in a high state of cultivation, mostly under immediate crops of taro; and abounding with a variety of wild fowl chiefly of the duck kind … “

“The sides of the hills, which were in some distance, seemed rocky and barren; the intermediate vallies, which were all inhabited, produced some large trees and made a pleasing appearance. The plains, however, if we may judge from the labour bestowed on their cultivation, seem to afford the principal proportion of the different vegetable productions …” (Edinburgh Gazetteer)

The well-watered, fertile and relatively level lands of Mānoa Valley supported extensive wet taro cultivation well into the twentieth century. Handy and Handy estimated that in 1931 “there were still about 100 terraces in which wet taro was planted, although these represented less than a tenth of the area that was once planted by Hawaiians.” (Cultural Surveys)

“(T)he valley is under almost complete cultivation of taro”. “(T)he whole valley opens out to view, the extensive flat area set out in taro, looking like a huge checker-board, with its symetrical emerald squares in the middle ground.” (Thrum, 1892)

In 1825 an English agriculturist named John Wilkinson, who in his younger years had been a planter in the West Indies, arrived at Honolulu on the frigate Blonde. He had made some arrangement with Governor Boki, while the latter was in England, to go out and engage in cultivating sugar cane … and, probably, rum. (Kuykendall)

Although sugar cane had grown in Hawaiʻi for many centuries, its commercial cultivation for the production of sugar did not occur until 1825. In that year, Wilkinson and Boki started a plantation in Mānoa Valley. Within six months they had seven acres of cane growing and processing. The sugar mill was later converted into a distillery for rum. (Schmitt)

Over the years, sugar‐cane farming soon proved to be the only available crop that could be grown profitably under the severe conditions imposed upon plants grown on the lands which were available for cultivation. (HSPA 1947)

At the industry’s peak a little over a century later (1930s,) Hawaii’s sugar plantations employed more than 50,000 workers and produced more than 1-million tons of sugar a year; over 254,500-acres were planted in sugar.

The sugar industry is at the center of Hawaiʻi’s modern diversity of races and ethnic cultures. Of the nearly 385,000 workers that came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix.

Hawai‘i continues to be one of the most culturally-diverse and racially-integrated places on the globe. And remember, commercial-scale sugar production started in Mānoa.

That was not the only plantation-scale agriculture started in Mānoa. In 1885, John Kidwell started a pineapple farm with locally available plants, but their fruit was of poor quality. That prompted him to search for better cultivars; he later imported 12 ‘Smooth Cayenne’ plants.

An additional 1,000 plants were obtained from Jamaica in 1886, and an additional 31 cultivars, including ‘Smooth Cayenne’, were imported from various locations around the world. ‘Smooth Cayenne’ was reported to be the best of the introductions.

Kidwell is credited with starting Hawai‘i’s pineapple industry; after his initial planting, others soon realized the potential of growing pineapples in Hawaii and consequently, started their own pineapple plantations.

The “development of the (Hawaiian) pineapple industry is founded on his selection of the Smooth Cayenne variety and on his conviction that the future lay in the canned product, rather than in shipping the fruit in the green state.” (Canning Trade; Hawkins)

The commercial Hawaiian pineapple canning industry began in 1889 when Kidwell’s business associate, John Emmeluth, a Honolulu hardware merchant and plumber, produced commercial quantities of canned pineapple.

Emmeluth refined his pineapple canning process between 1889 and 1891, and around 1891 packed and shipped 50 dozen cans of pineapple to Boston, 80 dozen to New York, and 250 dozen to San Francisco.

By 1930 Hawai‘i led the world in the production of canned pineapple and had the world’s largest canneries. And remember, the first commercial cultivation of pineapple and subsequent canning of pineapple started in Mānoa.

Other smaller scale agriculture activities across the Islands also started in Mānoa. Wilkinson, noted for starting commercial sugar in Mānoa, also started commercial coffee in the Islands in Mānoa Valley.

Coffee was planted in Mānoa Valley in the vicinity of the present UH-Mānoa campus; from a small field, trees were introduced to other areas of O‘ahu and neighbor islands.

In 1828, American missionary Samuel Ruggles took cuttings of the same kind of coffee from Hilo and brought them to Kona. Henry Nicholas Greenwell grew and marketed coffee and is recognized for putting “Kona Coffee” on the world markets.

At Weltausstellung 1873 Wien (World Exhibition in Vienna, Austria (1873,)) Greenwell was awarded a “Recognition Diploma” for his Kona Coffee. (Greenwell Farms)

Writer Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) seemed to concur with this when he noted in his Letters from Hawaiʻi, “The ride through the district of Kona to Kealakekua Bay took us through the famous coffee and orange section. I think the Kona coffee has a richer flavor than any other, be it grown where it may and call it what you please.”

By the 1930s there were more than 1,000 farms and, as late as the 1950s, there were 6,000-acres of coffee in Kona. The only place in the United States where coffee is grown commercially is in Hawaiʻi. And remember, ‘Kona Coffee’ was the same as that in Mānoa Valley.

Another commercial crop, macadamia nuts, also has its Island roots in Mānoa. Macadamia seeds were first imported into Hawaiʻi in 1882 by William Purvis; he planted them in Kapulena on the Hāmākua Coast. A second introduction into Hawaii was made in 1892 by Robert and Edward Jordan who planted the trees at the former’s home in Nuʻuanu Honolulu. (Storey)

“Brought in ‘solely as an addition to the natural beauty of Paradise’ (Hawaiian Annual, 1940,) it was not until ES (Ernest Sheldon) Van Tassel started some plantings at Nutridge in 1921 that the commercial growing of the plant began. On June 1, 1922, the Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Company Ltd. was formed.” (NPS)

The Van Tassel plantings were at ʻUalakaʻa on a grassy hillside of former pasture land (what we call Round Top on the western slopes of Mānoa Valley.)

Mo‘olelo (Hawaiian stories) indicate that Pu‘u ‘Ualaka‘a was a favored locality for sweet potato cultivation and King Kamehameha I established his personal sweet potato plantation here. ‘Pu‘u translates as “hill” and ‘ualaka‘a means “rolling sweet potato”, so named for the steepness of the terrain.

In order to stimulate interest in macadamia culture, beginning January 1, 1927, a Territorial law exempted properties in the Territory, used solely for the culture or production of macadamia nuts, from taxation for a period of 5 years.

In just over 10-years (1933,) “the Hawaiian Macadamia Nut Company has about 7,000 trees in its groves at Keauhou, Kona District, Hawaii, which are now coming into profitable bearing. The company has also approximately 2,000 trees growing and producing in the Nutridge grove on Round Top, Honolulu, or a total of 9,000 trees.” (Mid-Pacific, October 1933)

Macadamia nut candies became commercially available a few years later. Two well-known confectioners, Ellen Dye Candies and the Alexander Young Hotel candy shop, began making and selling chocolate-covered macadamia nuts in the middle or late 1930s. Another early maker was Hawaiian Candies & Nuts Ltd., established in 1939 and originators of the Menehune Mac brand. (Schmitt)

In 1962, MacFarms established one of the world’s largest single macadamia nut orchards with approximately 3,900-acres on the South Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

Today, about 570 growers farm 17,000 acres of macadamia trees, producing 40 million pounds of in-shell nuts, valued at over $30 million. Additionally, nuts are imported from South Africa and Australia, who currently lead the world market, with Hawai‘i at #3. (hawnnut) And remember, commercial cultivation of macadamia nut’s started at Mānoa.

One last thing, Mānoa was home to the Islands’ first dairy; William Harrison Rice started it at what was then O‘ahu College (now Punahou School.) Later, Woodlawn Dairy was the Islands’ largest dairy (1879.)

As you can see, what became significant commercial-scale agricultural ventures in the Islands – Sugar, Pineapple, Coffee and Macadamia Nuts – all had their start in the Islands, in Mānoa.

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Manoa_Valley_from_Waikiki,_oil_on_canvas_by_Enoch_Wood_Perry_Jr.-1860s

Taro Lo’i Agriculture in Mānoa Valley-(UH_Heritage)-ca_1890

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Manoa-back of valley

Manoa-Lantana and Kiawe-PP-59-6-006

Buggies on Mt. Tantalus, Honolulu, 1900s.

Old Manoa Valley-1924

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Manoa-PP-1-4-024

Workers loading sugar cane-1905-BM

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Pineapple_1900

Hawaiian Pineapple Company Canning Lines, Honolulu, O‘ahu, 1958

Coffee

Nutridge-Van_Tassel_Tantalus Home-HonoluluMagazine

August 24, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻIolani Palace ‘Fountain’

Water supply was relatively primitive in the early days of Honolulu. The residents commonly relied on the water from springs and streams, sometimes carrying calabashes of water great distances over rugged terrain.

Wm R Warren reportedly made the earliest attempt to dig a well in Honolulu, around 1820, but failed to find water. The first successful well was dug two years later by Joseph Navarro in his yard near the Bethel.

Visiting Honolulu about the same time, in 1822, Tyerman and Bennet recorded that “good fresh water is obtained from wells sunk eight or ten feet through the coral reef.”

The first unit of a public water system was completed by March 31, 1848, using lead pipe acquired from Ladd & Co. the previous September.

According to the Minister of the Interior, “a water tank, for the convenience of shipping, was placed in the basement of the new Harbor Master and Pilots’ Office, near the wharf (foot of Nu‘uanu street), and it was supplied through a leaden pipe from a reservoir at Pelekane….” (Schmitt)

After the completion of the Bates Street reservoir in 1851, nearby businesses and homes were connected with the main. The system was further expanded in 1860-1861, eventually covering most of the city.

The first artesian well in the Islands was drilled in the summer of 1879 near James Campbell’s ranch house in Ewa and on September 22, a good flow of water was obtained. On April 28, 1880, an artesian well was successfully completed on the land of A. Marques near Punahou. (Schmitt)

To supply water for ʻIolani Palace, Kalākaua authorized a well on Palace grounds. “On Saturday morning (January 27, 1883) at 5 o’clock the water was reached in the well sunk in the Palace yard.”

“No means were available to stop or check the flow, and the whole grounds were soon covered with water. Alakea and Richard streets, from King street to the sea, were flooded all day.” (Daily Bulletin, January 29, 1883)

“Water was struck at the artesian well which is being sunk at the Palace grounds by Messrs McCandless and Braden … an increased flow was struck at a total depth of 760-feet the water rising fully six inches above the top of the 8 3/8 iron pipe.”

“Very little obstruction has been encountered during the sinking of the well, the soil being mostly of a clayey description. The stream whistles which announced the strike of water, both on the morning and evening, sent many people wandering to the wharves to look for the Suez.” (Hawaiian Gazette, January 31, 1883)

However, concern was raised on the impact of the Palace well on the city’s water supply. “During the last three weeks the water in the well in the Palace yard has fallen two inches. That is, it now rises to one foot below the height to which it rose when it was first bored.”

“At this rate it would take less than 10 years to lower the water to such an extent that no Artesian well on the would flow.”

“And that calculation is based on the supposition that no more wells will be bored and that no greater consumption of water will be found during that time than at present.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 13, 1883)

“On Monday the well in the Palace yard was connected with the mains along Hotel street to Nu‘uanu, and up Fort, Richard, and Alakea streets to Beretania, so that we have that additional supply.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 13, 1883)

Later, “During those periods when there was a shortage in the water supply of Honolulu, especially in the hot summer months and at which time the Water Department of the City and County of Honolulu limited the hours in which irrigation was permitted …”

“… the grass and trees in the Capitol (ʻIolani Palace) Grounds suffered and decidedly showed it from lack of sufficient water. For this reason it was deemed advisable to utilize this re-cased artesian well to supply water for irrigating said grounds.”

“As the ordinary pump house seemed rather out of place and would be somewhat of an eyesore to the Capitol Grounds, it was decided to construct the pump house under-ground and make that portion projecting out of the ground a large ornamental flower pot, enclosed in which is located the pressure tank.”

“The pump house will be circular in section measuring 8 ft. inside diameter and 6 ft. high, on top of which is located the pressure tank 6 ft. inside diameter and 3 ft. high, lined with galvanized iron and ornamented and so constructed that ferns or flowers may be planted in same.”

“There will be a small fountain in the top and an iron manhole for access to the pressure chamber. Access to the pump chamber will be by a winding staircase. The entire structure except as noted will be constructed of reinforced concrete.”

“The pressure tank will be connected to a piping system laid around the Capitol Grounds, which has been so laid out that different sections of the grounds may be irrigated independently by operating the proper valves.”

“The work of installing the piping, pump, etc., and placing this system in operation, will be paid for out of funds appropriated by the 1921 Legislature for that purpose. It is hoped that with this system in operation there will be an abundance of water for irrigation purposes even in the driest periods.” (Report of the Superintendent of Public Works, 1921)

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Iolani Palace Artesian_Well-Pump

Iolani_Palace Artesian Well-Pump

Iolani Palace Artesian Well-Pump

Iolani Palace Artesian Well-Pump-steps

ʻIolani Palace ‘Fountain’

August 21, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Did the Missionaries Ban Surfing?

Did the Missionaries really stop Surfing in Hawaiʻi, as we are most often led to believe?

Invariably there are definitive statements that the missionaries “banned” and/or “abolished” surfing, hula, even speaking the Hawaiian language.

However, in taking a closer look into the matter, most would likely come to a different conclusion.

First of all, the missionaries were guests in the Hawaiian Kingdom; they didn’t have the power to ban or abolish anything – that was the right of the King and Chiefs.

Most will agree the missionaries despised the fact that Hawaiians typically surfed in the nude and that hula dancers were typically topless; they also didn’t like the commingling between the sexes.

So, before we go on, we need to agree, the issue at hand is surfing and hula – not nudity and interactions between the sexes. In keeping this discussion on the actual activity and not sexuality, let’s see what the missionaries had to say about surfing.

Let’s look at surfing …

Here is what Hiram Bingham had to say about surfing (Bingham was leader of the Pioneer Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi, he was in the Islands from 1820 to 1840 – these are his words):

“On a calm and bright summer’s day, the wide ocean and foaming surf, the peaceful river, with verdant banks, the bold cliff, and forest covered mountains, the level and fertile vale, the pleasant shade-trees, the green tufts of elegant fronds on the tall cocoanut trunks, nodding and waving, like graceful plumes, in the refreshing breeze …”

“… birds flitting, chirping, and singing among them, goats grazing and bleating, and their kids frisking on the rocky cliff, the natives at their work, carrying burdens, or sailing up and down the river, or along the sea-shore, in their canoes, propelled by their polished paddles that glitter in the sun-beam, or by a small sail well trimmed, or riding more rapidly and proudly on their surf-boards, on the front of foaming surges, as they hasten to the sandy shore, all give life and interest to the scenery.” (Bingham – pages 217-218)

“(T)hey resorted to the favorite amusement of all classes – sporting on the surf, in which they distinguish themselves from most other nations. In this exercise, they generally avail themselves of the surf-board, an instrument manufactured by themselves for the purpose.” (Bingham – page 136)

“The inhabitants of these islands, both male and female, are distinguished by their fondness for the water, their powers of diving and swimming, and the dexterity and ease with which they manage themselves, their surf-boards and canoes, in that element.” (Bingham – pages 136-137)

“The adoption of our costume greatly diminishes their practice of swimming and sporting in the surf, for it is less convenient to wear it in the water than the native girdle, and less decorous and safe to lay it entirely off on every occasion they find for a plunge or swim or surf-board race.” (Bingham – page 137)

Missionaries also Surfed

Another of the missionary group at the time was Levi Chamberlain, the mission quartermaster in the 1830s;) here is what he had to say:

“The situation of Waititi (Waikīkī) is pleasant, & enjoys the shade of a large number of cocoanut & kou trees. The kou has large spreading branches & affords a very beautiful shade. There is a considerable extension of beach and when the surf comes in high the natives amuse themselves in riding on the surf-board.” (Chamberlain – Vol 2, page 18)

“The Chiefs amused themselves by playing on surfboards in the heart of Lahaina.” (Chamberlain – Vol 5, page 36)

Another set of Journals, belonging to Amos S. Cooke, also notes references to surfing (Cooke was in the 8th Company of missionaries arriving in 1837:)

“After dinner Auhea went with me, & the boys to bathe in the sea, & I tried riding on the surf. To day I have felt quite lame from it.” (Cooke – Vol 6, page 237)

“This evening I have been reading to the smaller children from “Rollo at Play”–“The Freshet”. The older children are still reading “Robinson Crusoe”. Since school the boys have been to Waikiki to swim in the surf & on surf boards. They reached home at 7 o’clk. Last evening they went to Diamond Point – & did not return till 7 1/2 o’clock.” (Cooke – Vol 7, page 385)

“After dinner about three o’clock we went to bathe & to play in the surf. After we returned from this we paid a visit to the church which has lately been repaired with a new belfry & roof.” (Cooke – Vol 8, page 120)

James J Jarvis, in 1847, notes “Sliding down steep hills, on a smooth board, was a common amusement; but no sport afforded more delight than bathing in the surf. Young and old high and low, of both sexes, engaged in it, and in no other way could they show greater dexterity in their aquatic exercises.”

“Multitudes could be seen when the surf was highest, pushing boldly seaward, with their surf-board in advance, diving beneath the huge combers, as they broke in succession over them, until they reached the outer line of breakers …”

“… then laying flat upon their boards, using their arms and legs as guides, they boldly mounted the loftiest, and, borne upon its crest, rushed with the speed of a race-horse towards the shore; from being dashed upon which, seemed to a spectator impossible to be avoided.” (Jarvis – page 39)

Even Mark Twain notes surfing during his visit in 1866, “In one place we came upon a large company of naked natives, of both sexes and all ages, amusing themselves with the national pastime of surf-bathing. Each heathen would paddle three or four hundred yards out to sea, (taking a short board with him), then face the shore and wait for a particularly prodigious billow to come along …”

“… at the right moment he would fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon the board, and here he would come whizzing by like a bombshell! It did not seem that a lightning express train could shoot along at a more hair-lifting speed. I tried surf-bathing once, subsequently, but made a failure of it. I got the board placed right, and at the right moment, too; but missed the connection myself.–The board struck the shore in three quarters of a second, without any cargo, and I struck the bottom about the same time, with a couple of barrels of water in me..” (Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1880)

As you can see, there were foreigner reports on surfing throughout the decades. Obviously, surfing was never “banned” or “abolished” in Hawaiʻi. These words from prominent missionaries and other observers note on-going surfing throughout the decades the missionaries were in Hawaiʻi (1820 – 1863.)

Likewise, their comments sound supportive of surfing, at least they were comfortable with it and they admired the Hawaiians for their surfing prowess (they are certainly not in opposition to its continued practice) – and Bingham seems to acknowledge that he realizes others may believe the missionaries curtailed/stopped it.

So, Bingham, who was in Hawaiʻi from 1820 to 1840, makes surprisingly favorable remarks by noting that Hawaiians were “sporting on the surf, in which they distinguish themselves from most other nations”. Likewise, Chamberlain notes they “amuse themselves in riding on the surf-board.”

Missionary Amos Cooke, who arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1837 – and was later appointed by King Kamehameha III to teach the young royalty in the Chiefs’ Children’s School – surfed himself (with his sons) and enjoyed going to the beach in the afternoon.

In the late-1840s, Jarvis notes, “Multitudes could be seen when the surf was highest, pushing boldly seaward, with their surf-board in advance”.

In the 1850s, Reverend Cheever notes, surfing “is so attractive and full of wild excitement to the Hawaiians, and withal so healthy”.

In the mid-1860s Mark Twain notes, the Hawaiians were “amusing themselves with the national pastime of surf-bathing. Each heathen would paddle three or four hundred yards out to sea, (taking a short board with him), then face the shore and wait for a particularly prodigious billow to come along; at the right moment he would fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon the board, and here he would come whizzing by like a bombshell!”

Throughout the decades, Hawaiians continued to surf and, if anything, the missionaries and others at least appreciated surfing (although they vehemently opposed nudity – likewise, today, nudity is frowned upon.)

Above text is a summary – Click HERE for more information on Surfing and the Missionaries

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