“It is not only by far the worst part of the Island, but as barren waste looking a country as can be conceived to exist … we could discern black Streaks coming from the Mountain even down to the Seaside.”
“But the s[outhern] neck seems to have undergone a total change from the Effect of Volcanoes, Earthquakes, etc … By the SE side were black honey comd rockds, near the s extremity were hummocks of a Conical Shape which appeared of a reddish brown rusty Colour, & we judged them tot consist of Ashes.”
“The s extremit, which projects out, has upon it rocks of the most Craggy appearance, lying very irregularly, & of most curious shapes, terminating in Sharp points; horrid & dismal as this part of the Isalnd appears …”
“… yet there are many Villages interspersed, & it Struck us as being more populous than the part of Opoona [Puna] which joins Koa [Ka‘ū+. There are houses built even on the ruins lava flows we have describ’d.”
“Fishing is a principal occupation with the Inhabitants, which they sold to us, & we also had a very plentiful supply of other food when off this end…”
“…those we saw off Kao [Ka`ū], are very tawny, thin, & smallmean looking people, which doubtless arises from their constant exposure to the heat of the Sun, their being mostly employed in fishing or other hard labor on shore, & to their spare diet.” (King’s Journal)
“Kahuku, a very large ahupua‘a which for many years has been a ranch, is just beyond the southwest shoulder of Mauna Loa.”
“Over these heights the moisture-laden trade winds, having traversed the wet uplands and forested interior of eastern Ka‘ū, Hilo, and Hāmākua Districts, spread a great roll of cool clouds.”
“These masses of cool water vapor expand and precipitate as rain when they meet the air that rises morning to evening from the ocean, warmed in its passage over the dry lower plains of Kahuku, Manuka, and neighboring Kona.”
“Warmed trade winds also blow in over the southeast coast and Ka Lae, crossing the high rolling plains of Kama‘oa and Pakini, there precipitating much moisture as dew where it meets the cooled air blanketing the uplands.”
“Actually, during the months of March through November, the blanket of cool moist air moving over the upland flank of Mauna Loa, and the warm damp flood of wind diverted inland and overland by the high plains of Kama‘oa and Pakini …”
“… are nothing more nor less than vast eddies of the great southeastward flow of arctic air, which is warmed as it passes over the ocean in these latitudes.”
“These we term the “trades” – the winds so named because the ‘traders’ (sailing vessels) utilized their regular flow from March through November in their voyages.”
“In the season of southerly (kona) cyclonic storms, the wind and rain came in upon western Ka‘ū from oceanward in more violent gusts, sometimes sweeping in with great force.”
“These kona storms originate in the equatorial regions, hence their warm winds are heavily laden with moisture.”
“Coming upon the cool uplands their heavy black clouds produce electric storms, with thunder and lightning, and downpours starting with light gentle rain (hilina), which gradually increase into deluges, at times veritable cloudbursts.”
“These winter storms drench the whole land, which, whether dry lava, grassland, or forest, soaks it up greedily, and in the uplands stores it beneath the forests.”
“Continuing our journey into Ka‘ū, going southeastward, the next ahupua‘a after Manuka is Kahuku. Until the land was covered by lava through much of the verdant lower forest area in the last century, this must have been a far more favorable area for human occupation than was Manuka.”
“The evidence of such occupation have, however, been obliterated. Where lava has not covered the land, the pastures of Kahuku Ranch have done so. The seacoast of Kahuku is a barren as any on this side of Hawaii.”
“Standing on top of a hillock named Pu‘u Lohena on the east of Pakini and looking north across the 1868 flow, one can see beyond lava-covered land to where there was an open sandy area of Ka’iliki’i between two sections of the 1868 flows.”
“Ka‘iliki‘i was in 1823 described by Ellis as ‘a populous shore village’” The open ground led directly north toward Kahuku from the beach at Ka‘iliki‘i, where travelers from Kona often landed. “
“We could see how their path would have crossed an older flow that was there before the 1868 flow, as they headed for a break in the pali. This is a low dip in the ridge called Lua Puali.”
“In its lower reaches Kahuku is said formerly to have had flourishing gardens of sweet potato and sugar cane on the land now covered with lava.”
“If so, and we have no reason to doubt the veracity of informants, there must have been underground water here. Surface verdure, also, may have drawn more cloud and dew.”
“There probably was more rain coming across from Pakini when the plains east of the Pali-Mamalu and Pali Kulani (the great cliff that borders Kahuku on the east) were more verdant and covered with brush.”
“The bare lava of the recent flows, and the now dry plains of Pakini, Kama‘oa, and Ka‘alu‘alu must desiccate the winds which, sweeping along the coast line, normally throw up a cloud of cooled air that is moisture laden when the trade winds blow.”
“There is no similar drift of moisture over the naked shores of Kahuku and Manuka. Yet these coasts, barren as they are today, must have sufficed as good fishing grounds for the population settled in the two western ahupua‘a of Ka‘ū.”
“Wai-o-‘Ahu-kini close by, with its spring, pond and canoe haven, and the best fishing ground in all Hawaii, was awarded in the ancient land allotment to Pakini, then one of the most verdant of the plains areas of cultivation.”
“Doubtless it was Pakini’s numerous population, which gave its ali‘i power, that was responsible for this award.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)
Follow Peter T Young on Facebook
Follow Peter T Young on Google+
Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn
Follow Peter T Young on Blogger
