Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Maʻi Pākē

The common Hawaiian name for the disease was Maʻi Pākē, or Chinese sickness.

Its introduction to the Islands was but one of many new diseases; it was called maʻi pākē (Chinese sickness,) maʻi ali‘i (chiefly sickness) and eventually maʻi hoʻokaʻawale ʻohana (disease that separates family.) It is thought that it came to the islands in the early-1800s, but it did not attain levels of great concern until the 1850s and 1860s.  (Inglis)

One of the earliest descriptions of it in Hawaiʻi was written by the Reverend Charles Samuel Stewart, a missionary in the 2nd Company of American Protestant missionaries, who landed at Honolulu in 1823.

An entry in his journal dated May 21, 1823 notes “not to mention the frequent and hideous marks of scourge, which more clearly than any proclaims the curse, of a God of Purity, and which while it annually consigned hundreds of these people to the tomb, converts thousands while, living into walking sepulchres.”

“The inhabitants generally are subject to many disorders of the skin; the majority are more or less disfigured by eruptions and sores found many are as unsightly as lepers.”  (Schrodt)

The association of the disease with the Chinese people probably had to do either with the fact that an individual or individuals of that race were noted to have the disease or simply that the Chinese were familiar with it because they had often seen it in their own country.  (Greene)

The name “maʻi pākē” may, no doubt, have originated on the interrogation by a native of a Chinaman, “What is this disease?”  The Chinaman would probably answer, “I do not know the Hawaiian word, but there are plenty of people sick with the disease in my country.”

“It was recognized by the few Chinese, then on the islands, and this has given it the name of “Maʻi Pākē” here, and not because it has been introduced here by the Chinese.” (Hawaii Board of Health 1886)

From Eastern writings there is good evidence that India, East Asia and China are among its most ancient homes. The earliest reference appears to be rather universally accepted was written in the Chou Dynasty in 6th century B.C.

In the Chinese medical classic entitled Nei Ching there are four passages which may allude to an afflicted patient. If this classic was written by one Huang Ti, it may have been recognized in China over five thousand years ago.  (Schrodt)

Early incidences in the Islands were most often associated with Chinese immigrants to Hawai‘i and thus the name maʻi pākē. Some believed that it came with Chinese plantation workers, but many individuals and groups also arrived from other regions of the world where leprosy was endemic. It could have come from any number of sources such as the Azores, Africa, Malaysia or Scandinavia.  (Inglis)

Further statements from the Board of Health report refute that the disease was started by the Chinese, “if one Chinaman caused such an alarming spread of the disease thirty or forty years ago, there are now, comparatively speaking, so very few cases of leprosy among the seventeen or eighteen thousand Chinamen on these islands.”  (Hawaiʻi Board of Health, 1886)

“Again, if the disease had been introduced by the Chinese, and propagated by them … I should expect to find a much larger proportion of (them) affected with this loathsome malady, and yet we all know that the contrary is the fact.”

“It is much more likely that it came to these islands through the mixed crews of whale-ships, which had negroes, black and white Portuguese, and men of other races, coming from countries where leprosy was, and still is, prevalent.”  (Hawaiʻi Board of Health, 1886)

It rapidly spread on Oʻahu.  In response, the Legislative Assembly of the Hawaiian Islands passed “An Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy” in 1865, which King Kamehameha V approved. This law provided for setting apart land for an establishment for the isolation and seclusion of leprous persons who were thought capable of spreading the disease.

On June 10, 1865, a suitable location for incurable cases of leprosy came up for discussion.  he peninsula on the northern shore of Moloka’i seemed the most suitable spot for a leprosy settlement.

Its southern side was bounded by a pali – vertical mountain wall of cliffs 1,800 to 2,000 feet high, and its north, west and east sides by the sea and precipitous shores. Landings were possible in only two places, at Kalaupapa on the west side and at Kalawao on the east side of the peninsula, weather permitting.

The first shipment of lepers landed at Kalaupapa January 6, 1866, the beginning of segregation and banishment of lepers to the leper settlement.

Receiving and detention centers were established on Oʻahu.  Kalihi Hospital was the first hospital for leprosy patients in Hawaiʻi opening in 1865. Kapiʻolani Home opened in Kalihi Kai in 1891 adjacent to the Kalihi Hospital and Receiving Station; Kalihi Plague Camp (1900-1912) and Meyers Street, Kalihi Uka (1912-1938.)

Two notable people in Hawaiʻi associated with the treatment of patients with leprosy are Father (now Saint) Damien and Mother (now Saint) Marianne.)

Damien (born as Jozef de Veuster,) arrived in Hawaiʻi on March 9, 1864.  He continued his studies here and Bishop Maigret ordained Father Damien at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, on May 21, 1864; in 1873, Maigret assigned him to Molokaʻi.  Damien spent the rest of his life in Hawaiʻi; he died April 15, 1889 (aged 49) at Kalaupapa.

In 1877, Sister Marianne was elected Mother General of the Franciscan congregation and given the title “Mother” as was the custom of the time. In 1883, she received a letter from Father Leonor Fouesnel, a missionary in Hawaiʻi, to come to Hawaiʻi to help “procure the salvation of souls and to promote the glory of God.”

Of the 50 religious communities in the US contacted, only Mother Marianne’s Order of Sisters agreed to come to Hawaiʻi to care for people with leprosy.  The Sisters arrived in Hawaii on November 8, 1883.

In the summer of 1886, the Sisters took care of Damien when he visited Honolulu during his bout with leprosy.  He asked the Sisters to take over for him when he died.  Mother Marianne led the first contingent of Sister-nurses to Kalaupapa, Molokaʻi, where more than a thousand people with leprosy had been exiled.

A third person in Hawaiʻi, Alice Ball, made notable contributions in the treatment of the disease. In the fall of 1914, she entered the College of Hawaiʻi (later called the University of Hawaiʻi) as a graduate student in chemistry.   The significant contribution Ball made to medicine was a successful injectable treatment for those suffering from Hansen’s disease.

Although not a full cure, Ball’s discovery was an extremely effective in relieving some of the symptoms of Hansen’s disease and was a significant victory in the fight against a disease that has plagued nations for thousands of years.

The discovery was coined, at least for the time being, the “Ball Method.”  During the four years between 1919 and 1923, no patients were sent to Kalaupapa – and, for the first time, some Kalaupapa patients were released.

Once known as leprosy, the disease was renamed after Dr. Gerharad Armauer Hansen, a Norwegian physician, when he discovered the causative microorganism in 1873, the same year that Damien volunteered to serve at Kalaupapa.

During the third quarter of the nineteenth century incidence of the disease occurred in more than 1% of the population in Hawai`i. In 1890 Kalawao’s patient population peaked at around 1,100.

By 1900, the number of new patients in the islands began a slow decline, a trend that continued until the 1940s when it was determined that the disease was not spreading in the general population.  (NPS)

About 8,000 people have been exiled there since 1865.  The predominant group of patients were Hawaiian and part-Hawaiian; in addition there were whites, Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Filipino and other racial groups that sent to Kalaupapa.  The law remained in effect until 1969, when admissions to Kalaupapa ended.

The image shows a view of Kalaupapa, Kalawao.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Early Communication

“Marine Telegraph. Through the exertions of Mr. Jackson, Post Master, we are at length likely to have a marine telegraph erected on ‘Telegraph Hill,’ a knoll just back of Diamond Head and a little to westward of the government road to Waialae. A sum sufficient to defray the cost attending its erection and for keeping it in operation for some months has been subscribed.”

“So much has been said about the supposed value of a telegraph, that we are glad the experiment is to receive a fair trial. The telegraph will consist of a pole (seventy) feet in height, to have four arms, each four feet long.”

“From this knoll vessels can be seen in a clear day from twenty to twenty-five miles either way from Diamond Head, and all coasters as well as foreign vessels will be reported by it.”

“One advantage will be that China bound vessels, passing during the day time can be reported, and probably in most cases can be boarded from the port, to procure news, where heretofore they have passed without stopping.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, June 4, 1857)

On June 12, 1857, a marine telegraph was put into operation behind Diamond Head.  A companion semaphore signal was put on Honolulu Hale on Merchant Street in downtown Honolulu.

This device was actually a kind of semaphore designed to send visual (rather than electric) signals to the post office in Honolulu Hale when an approaching ship was sighted. (Schmitt)

The ‘marine telegraph’ is a semaphore.  Initially set up by the local Post Master to time the landing of ships to collect the mail, it also served as a means to notify the community of what ship was landing, especially those who service the ships and their passengers.

“There were very few who could not read the signals made by the directions of the arms of the semaphore and as soon as any was made some one would call out “whale ship coming past Koko Head” or “Fore and after coming past Barber’s Point” or “Steamer coming past Koko Head” as the case might be.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, May 21, 1905)

The postmaster posted advertisements in the newspapers offering to sell “Marine Telegraph Cards of Signals” for $1.

“Back of the head (Lēʻahi, Diamond Head) there was a lookout and when he saw a ship coming he raised a flag. Directly I saw it I gave the cry ‘Sail, ho!’ – and up went the signal on the semaphore. It was my call that brought the people from the neighboring offices and the signal from those further away.”

“If it turned out to be a whaler, all was well; but if it happened to be a schooner from the other islands I came in for a drubbing of words from everybody within the limits of civilization. I as the small boy who was blamed for the error of the lookout and seldom praised for his correct reports.”  (Stacker; Sunday Advertiser, December 5, 1909)

“Naturally there was a good deal of rivalry among the pilots, for in those days and for years, they received their compensation by the way of fees. Each man was supposed to leave the pilot house when a signal was given and go out to meet the vessel. The first man out got the ship and the fee.”

“If there were more coming down the channel Signal No. 2 would show it.” (Stacker; Sunday Advertiser, December 5, 1909)

“This enterprise, which has now been conducted for some two years, has proved itself of so much public benefit that there is scarcely a man in the community who would not regret to see it discontinued.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, November 17, 1859)

Unfortunately, a storm in 1872 took the semaphore out of service.  The loss was felt … “That the telegraph is needed and must be put in order again, everyone will concede; but the question is, whose duty is it to see the thing done.”   (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 27, 1872)

The Chamber of Commerce met shortly thereafter.  “It was the general understanding that the telegraph must be resumed, and a committee was appointed to procure subscriptions and attend to the necessary details.”  (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 17, 1872)

“When the telephone system got into working order the lookout station was moved to a position on Diamond Head which gave a view further along the channel, because it was no longer necessary for the station to be in full view of the city.” (Hawaiian Star, February 10, 1899)

In 1878 Samuel G Wilder established the first telephone line on Oʻahu, from his government office to his lumber business.  “By the fall of 1881 telephone instruments and electric bells were in place in the Palace.”  (The Pacific Commercial, September 24, 1881)   (Charles Dickey in Haiku, Maui had the first phones in the islands (1878;) connecting his home to his store.)

Diamond Head was connected by telephone with the book store of Whitney & Robertson conducted in Honolulu Hale.  (Evening Bulletin, September 27, 1907)  The Marine Telegraph semaphore system was later discontinued.

Right about this same time, Hawaiʻi was getting connected through a submarine telegraph cable.  The first submarine cable across the Pacific was completed (landing in Waikīkī at Sans Souci Beach) linking the US mainland to Hawaiʻi, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji (1902) and Guam to the Philippines in 1903.  (The first Atlantic submarine cable, connecting Europe with the USA, was completed in 1866.)

The first telegraph message carried on the system was sent from Hawaiʻi and received by President Teddy Roosevelt on January 2, 1903 (that day was declared “Cable Day in Hawaiʻi.”)  On January 3, 1903, the first news dispatches were sent over the Pacific cable to Hawaiʻi by the Associated Press.

On the afternoon of July 4, 1903, Honolulu was connected to the Pacific cable from Midway Island, which extended east to the Philippines and China. On that day, the Pacific cable commenced full operation between Asia and Washington, DC.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Volcanic Glass

Because “obsidian” is a generic term for dark-colored volcanic glass, people sometimes refer to the dense, glassy crust that forms on some Pāhoehoe flows here in Hawaiʻi as obsidian.

Most geologists and archeologists, however, prefer to make a distinction between the thin, glassy rind on an otherwise crystalline lava flow and the glass that erupts as thick flows or domes. We refer to the former as “volcanic glass,” reserving the term obsidian for the latter.

According to the International Association for Obsidian Studies, the sole source of obsidian in the state of Hawaiʻi is Pu`u Wa‘awa‘a, a broad, dome-shaped cone on the north flank of Hualālai Volcano.

The cone consists of layers of gray pumice, some containing blocks of black obsidian, that were deposited during explosive eruptions about 114,000 years ago. (USGS)

Obsidian is dense volcanic glass, usually rhyolitic (the fine-grained equivalent of granite) in composition and black in color. Glass, be it volcanic or manmade, cools quickly from a molten liquid without forming crystals, the building blocks of the minerals that make up most rocks.

In nature, erupting a glass flow requires an unusually viscous magma, one that has both a high silicon dioxide (silica) content and a very low water content. When viscosity is high and heat loss is rapid, crystallization is inhibited.

Crystals impart a regular structure to materials. Without this structure, glass fractures in conchoidal, or smoothly curved, shapes, leaving edges that are sharper than the finest steel blades.

Walking on an obsidian flow can be a nerve-wracking experience-wear gloves! Native Americans, of course, prized obsidian for arrowheads, and obsidian was traded hundreds of miles from its source.

Volcanic glass is rich in iron and magnesium, and tiny crystals of iron oxide give the glass its dark color. Different oxidation states of iron can tint the obsidian red, brown, or green.

Obsidian is commonly banded or streaked, because the high viscosity of molten obsidian prevents impurities or bubbles from easily mixing with the surrounding magma.

Obsidian is short-lived relative to most crystalline rocks. Most obsidian is younger than 20 million years, because any obsidian older than that has devitrified, or changed from glass to crystalline rock. Over eons, the silica molecules within the glass slowly rearrange into organized crystal structures.  (USGS)

Since the raw material is quite small, there is no tradition of formal tool manufacture as in other parts of the world where obsidian is a preferred resource for manufacturing flake blades and a range of bifaces (e.g., arrow and spear points).

Based on retouch, microscopic edge damage, step flake scars, and crushing, most researchers have assumed that small sharp flakes were used for light or fine cutting and scraping tasks.  Some have speculated that volcanic glass flakes may have been used for circumcision.  (Weisler in Liritzis and Stevenson)

Volcanic glass was used by Hawaiians to make cutting tools like knives for butchering birds and other animals as well as for doing fine wood work. (NPS)  They appear to have been used for short periods of time then discarded. (McCoy et al)

Volcanic glass was limited to a few small, informal tools types, typically scrapers or multi-purpose cutting tools. Basaltic volcanic glass, sometimes referred to as tachylite, forms by the rapid cooling of lava, and has few, if any, crystals and no corresponding internal crystal structure. Rarer in Hawai‘i is high silica volcanic glass from trachyte cones.  (Lundblad, et al)

Another form of volcanic glass are thin strands drawn out from molten lava that have long been called Pele’s hair, named for Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes.

Scientists say Pele’s hair is “volcanic glass that has been stretched into thin strands by the physical pulling apart of molten material during eruptions. Most commonly it forms during fire fountain activity.”  (Batiza)

Missionary Titus Coan describes Pele’s Hair: “All at once the scene changes, the central portion begins to swell and rise into a grayish dome, until it bursts like a gigantic bubble, and out rushes a sea of crimson fusion …”

“… which pours down to the surrounding wall with an awful seething and roaring, striking this mural barrier with fury, and with such force that its sanguinary jets are thrown back like a repulsed charge upon a battle-field, or tossed into the air fifty to a hundred feet high, to fall upon the upper rim of the pit in a hail-storm of fire.”

“This makes the filamentous vitrification called ‘Pele’s hair.’”

“The sudden sundering of the fusion into thousands of particles, by the force that thus ejects the igneous masses upward, and their separation when in this fused state, spins out vitreous threads like spun glass.”

“These threads are light, and when taken up by brisk winds, are often kept floating and gyrating in the atmosphere, until they come into a calmer stratum of air …”

“… when they fall over the surrounding regions, sometimes in masses in quiet and sheltered places. They are sometimes carried a hundred miles, as is proved by their dropping on ships at sea.”

“This ‘hair’ takes the color of the lava of which it is formed. Some of it is a dark gray, some auburn, or it may be yellow, or red, or of a brick color.”  (Titus Coan)

A single strand, with a diameter of less than 0.5 mm (~0.02 inch), may be as long as 2 m (~6.5 feet). The strands are formed by the stretching or blowing-out of molten basaltic glass from lava, usually from lava fountains, lava cascades, and vigorous lava flows (for example, as pāhoehoe lava plunges over a small cliff and at the front of an ‘a’a flow.)

Pele’s hair is often carried high into the air during fountaining, and wind can blow the glass threads several tens of kilometers from a vent.  (USGS)

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The Big Fence on the Big Island

“Captain George Vancouver brought the first cattle to Hawaii from California in 1793-1794. They were landed and liberated at Kealakekua, South Kona on the Big Island. As with other introduced animals of the same period, a rigid “kapu” was placed on them in order to permit them to multiply.”

“This they did with a vengeance and within a comparatively short span of years they became quite common on all the islands, particularly on Hawaii where they found many hundreds of acres of good pasture lands.”

“Over a period of many years they were slaughtered by men employed for this purpose by the King, principally for their hides, which at one time formed one of the principal articles of export from Hawaii.”

“Experts were employed by the King to go into the mountains to shoot and rope these animals. Only a small amount of the meat was used, some of it being salted and sold to the whaling ships wintered in these water at that time.”

“Many of them were trapped in “pitfalls” similar to the one which David Douglass lost his life on the slopes of Mauna Kea in 1834.” (Bryan, “Wild Cattle in Hawaii” Paradise of the Pacific (1937))

“For the past twenty years the attention of our Government and of this Forestry Bureau has been called to the destruction of our Native forests on Government lands in particular. … It is become a serious problem with us.”

“Large areas of Public Forests are annually destroyed by fire, orginating [sic] in many instances by cattlemen setting fire to the ferns and underbrush to improve their pasture. …  If the cattle are not taken away soon it will be but a short time when this Native forest will be destroyed, and the water supply on the low land diminished.”

“‘[C]attle seem to be the principal enemy of the forests.’  [Sheep also damage the forest habitat]  .By way of countering this threat, [it was] recommended that large parts of the government forest lands …”

“… ‘should be fenced off at once, for the purpose of preserving the living and growing timber and promoting the younger growth of fern and underbrush.’” (Report of the Minister of Interior to the President of the Republic of Hawaii for the Biennium, Ending December 31, 1899; LRB, 1965)

Then came “The Big Fence on the Big Island” … The Territorial Division of Forestry intensified efforts to eradicate feral sheep from the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve in the 1930s after noticing a lack of natural regeneration and damage to māmane trees caused by sheep.

With the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), territorial foresters built a 55-mile fence around Mauna Kea in 20 months. It was 4.5-foot tall galvanized stock wire stretched between large māmane posts. (DLNR)

“On the 29th of January, 1937, the longest fence in the Territory of Hawaii was completed by CCC boys. It is around the entire boundary of the Mauna Kea Forest Reserve – the second largest reserve in the Hawaiian Islands.”

“This project, which is part of the Territorial Division of Forestry’s conservation program, was done under the direction of Project Superintendent W.A. Hartman. …  Much credit is due … to the enrollees who worked under them, for the fine accomplishment.”

“Actual construction work was started in June of 1935. A total of twenty months was required to complete the work on the fence which has a total length, including necessary corrals, of fifty-five and one-half miles. Eighteen thousand five hundred and thirty-six man-days were expended on all work connection with this project.”

“A great deal of preliminary work was required before the actual construction of the fence began. First, it was necessary to build many miles of horse and truck trails and tractor roads.”

“In connection with the fence line alone nearly sixty miles of horse-trails were constructed. This trail was used to pack in the fence wire and other supplies. It was made permanent for future use in fence patrol and wild animal eradication work.”

“Most of the fence work was above the eight thousand foot contour. Camp locations had to be selected, shelters constructed, and water tanks installed. These camps were located as close to the fence lines as possible and placed at intervals around the mountain approximately four miles apart.”

“This made the maximum distance from camp to work about two miles each way. At each camp site it was necessary to construct a corral for the work animals. Practically all feed, and part of the water, for these animals, had to be transported to the camp site.”

“Nine line camps were used. Seven of them had to be constructed in advance. These camps were made on the same plan; one small building with watertanks alongside in which could be stored between six and eight thousand gallons of water. The building was used as a cook-house and store-room. The boys lived in tents.”

“During the winter months it becomes quite cold on Mauna Kea and it was found that seven blankets per boy was not too much cover.”

“Frequently the thermometer registered below freezing and at the Puu Loa Camp last February it was necessary to stop work for three days due to an exceptionally heavy fall of snow which covered the ground in that section and prevented work on the fence line.”

“The completion of this fence concludes one of the most important conservation projects attempted by the CCC in the Territory of Hawaii. It completely encloses and protects a reserve area containing approximately one hundred thousand acres. “

“The important Wailuku River – which furnishes the water-supply for the City of Hilo – as well as several other large streams that supply water to Hilo and Hamakua Districts, have their source within this area.”

“This reserve has, for many years, been overrun with wild sheep, there being an estimated population of about forty thousand. These animals do much damage and of recent years have effectively prevented any natural reproduction of the predominating tree growth – Mamani.”

“With this new fence completed it is now possible to conduct drives and reduce the number of these animals to a minimum. In a recent drive, held since the fence was completed, over three thousand wild sheep were captured and killed in a single day.”

“After these animals are exterminated we can expect considerable assistance from nature in our reforestation work. On a small scale this fact has already been demonstrated so we fell assured of ultimate success.”

“In some sections, where seed trees are lacking, it will be necessary to assist nature with reforestation; but where seed trees have been left we can expect to see a new generation of plants occur naturally.” (Bryan, “The Big Fence on the Big Island” Paradise of the Pacific  (1937)

The completed fence enabled territorial foresters on horseback to drive sheep and herd them into pens. In one drive near Kemole, they captured and killed over 3,000 sheep in a day.

Territorial foresters removed nearly 47,000 sheep and 2,200 other non-native browsing animals from Mauna Kea during the 1930s and 1940s. It is likely that the Palila would not be here today if not for these efforts due to the highly degraded condition of the forest at the time. (DLNR)

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Newton Kulani Purdy

“The ‘Polynesian Registry’ is a kind of who’s who and where of Hawaiians in New York”. (Lois Taylor, SB, Jan 9, 1963)

“In 1958 [Newton Kulani Purdy] founded the Polynesian Registry to help locals and expats keep up with each other, and has watched it grow from 50 names to more than 1,000, and his newsletter, which started out at two pages, is now more than 30.” (Donnelly, SB Dec 13, 2002)

“Newton Kulani Purdy was born Oct. 15, 1928, in Kalaupapa, Molokai. His father, Robert Waipa Purdy, was a leprosy patient who lived in Kalaupapa with Kulani’s mother, Marcy Kepalai Kinney. Kulani’s mother did not have leprosy but had volunteered to accompany his father to Kalaupapa to care for him as a family helper.”

“State law at the time required the separation of all children at birth from their parents. Most of the children grew up with other relatives or were taken to an orphanage. Immediately after Kulani was born, he was taken from his parents and was raised outside the Kalaupapa settlement by an aunt.”

“Though Kulani was born in Kalaupapa, his birth certificate listed his place of birth as Honolulu. This was a common practice by the Health Department for birth certificates of the children born in Kalaupapa.  At the time it was done to spare children born at Kalaupapa the stigma of having a parent or parents with leprosy.” (Machado)

“Kulani attended Roosevelt High School but left before graduating to join the Army. He was in the Army for seven years, serving as an infantry soldier, military police officer and Army Signal Corps. At one point during his service in the Army, he served under Gen. “Ike” Eisenhower.”

“His final Army assignment was in New York City, where he was honorably discharged. He decided to stay in New York and ended up living there for more than 50 years.” (Machado)

“The Registry took five years to prepare and was originally the brain child of Honolulu born Kulani Purdy, 31, who combined his job as a cutter in New York’s garment district with his love – being with other Hawaiians and collecting lore about the Islands.”

“Kulani accidentally bumped into a cousin, Everett R Kinney, one night in New York and discovered that Everett was living nearby on Long Island.  The encounter so impressed Purdy, that he deserted his collection of more than 200 books about Hawaii and set out to compile the Registry.”

“He enlisted a number of other Island ‘exiles’ in the endeavor, principally Cousin Everett and Ed Kenney, now one of the principals in Broadway’s ‘Flower Drum Song.’ … they want no profit and plan to plough any extra receipts back into enlarging the Registry”.  (Adv, Dec 26, 1959)

“How often have you stood alone in the midst of a strange city and speculated about the people milling about you? And as you walked aimlessly along the streets, you suddenly bumped into a familiar face and miraculously, the city no longer seemed cold and unfriendly.  Or, have you idly sat alone with your thoughts, wondering if per chance your unknown neighbors could be Islanders?”

“We believe that Islanders away from home sooner or later begin a quest for people and things that serve to make them feel a little more in Hawaii-foods, Island talk, an exchange of memories. Our cultural heritage is unique and we somehow like to be able to express it wherever we may be.”

“Who can be listed in this book? Anyone who comes from Polynesia. Island Friends throughout the world or anyone in the business world who deals with things typical of Island culture and interest.”

“Those who want their names to appear in the Registry need only notify the Registry of this intention, for there is no fee attached to this privilege.” (Polynesian Registry Inro by Edward Mana Keeney, SB Feb 2, 1960 )

“Intended basically to permit homesick Islanders to locate each other, the 44-page volume contains the names and ‘off-island’ addresses of 800 individuals and a listing of scores Polynesian clubs, restaurants, gift shops and service establishments.  (SB, Dec 26, 1959)

Purdy’s newsletter, “The Polynesian Registry, kept Hawaiians who were living in the Big Apple in touch with one another. Hawaiians performing in the Hawaiian Room of the Lexington Hotel belonged to Kulani’s network. “

“They included: Mahi Beamer, Ray Kinney, Manu Kanemura Bentley, Mona Joy, Leilani Kaleikini, Betty Makia, Momi Kai Gustafson, Lei Becker, Joyce Ontai, Io Cabanos, Tutasi Wilson and Te Moana Makolo.”

“His newsletter also reached Hawaiians in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. ‘He also was an integral part of organizing Hawaiian luau in Central Park every May Day, and later held on June 1 as it was too cold in May,’ Hale Kaohu Rowland said.”

“‘The luaus are still being held. Kulani would have us gather at Nainoa and Pat Brett’s little restaurant called The Poi Bowl on 71st Street. Later on, we all met at Janu Cassidy’s shop called Radio Hula, in Soho, and also at The Symphony Cafe, a restaurant on 56th and 8th that my husband, Manny, and I had part-ownership,’ Hale said.” (Ben Wood)

“Kulani was a confirmed bachelor, and his ‘ohana consisted of all the ‘local’ expats in and around the New York area, extending into New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.”

“He was known as the glue that held everyone together and was the first to reach out to homesick Hawaiians in Manhattan. Everyone knew him for his kindness and generosity.” (Machado)

Purdy left New York in 2006 to return home to Molokai; he died February 11, 2012 at the in Leahi Hospital at the age of 83.

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