Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawaiian Settlement and Land Use

“Before the coming of man, native forest clothed the islands from seashore to timber line as it does today in undisturbed areas of certain other Pacific islands.” (Elwood Zimmerman, Insects in Hawaii, 1948)

“After the arrival of the Polynesians, … the rapid retreat of the forests began. Fires set by the natives, as is still being done all over the Pacific, made great advances through the lowland and dry-land forests.” (Elwood Zimmerman)

The “forest was cleared by the Polynesian settlers of the valley, with the aid of fire, during the expansion of shifting cultivation … The cumulative effects of forest clearance and habitat modification through the use of fire led to major changes in lowland ecology.” (Patrick Kirch, Impact of the Prehistoric Polynesians on the Hawaiian Ecosystem)

“As a result of population increase and concomitant agricultural development, the greater part of the lowland landscape of the archipelago had been converted to a thoroughly artificial ecosystem prior to European advent.” (Patrick Kirch)

“It is generally assumed that an oceanic people such as the Hawaiians lived mainly by fishing. Actually fishing occupied a very small part of the time and interest of the majority of Hawaiians.” (Craighill Handy, Native Planters)

“For every fisherman’s house along the coasts there were hundreds of homesteads of planters in the valleys and the slopes and plains between the shore and forest.” (Craighill Handy)

“The Hawaiians, more than any of the other Polynesians, were a people whose means of livelihood, whose work and interests, were centered in the cultivation of the soil. The planter and his life furnish us with the key to his culture.” (Craighill Handy)

“Boys were raised to be farmers rather than fighters. When a boy child was weaned, he was dedicated to the god of agriculture and peace. The planter’s labors on the land and his identification with it were other factors that made the native countryman prefer peace and prosperity to the ravages and excitements of fighting.” (Craighill Handy)

“In their practice of agriculture the ancient planters had transformed the face of their land by converting flatlands and gentle slopes to terraced areas where water was brought for irrigation by means of ditches from mountain streams.” (Craighill Handy)

“Hawaiian homes were scattered through the areas cultivated from forest to sea. Not only was the character of the people and their culture determined by their planting economy, but also by their demography.”  (Craighill Handy)

“The land area with which the Polynesian migrant first became familiar was of necessity that along shore, wherever his voyaging canoe made its landfall. This area he termed ko kaha kai (place [land] by the sea).” (Handy, Handy, & Pukui, Native Planters)

“There appear to be three or four different regions in passing from the sea shore to the summit. The first occupies five or six miles, where cultivation is carried on”. (Joseph Goodrich, Notice of the volcanic character of the Island of Hawaii, American Journal of Science, 1826)

“This might comprise a broad sandy beach and the flats above it, or the more rugged shore of cove or harbor with its rocky terrain – in fact many and varied descriptions might fit, according to locale. Kaha was a special term applied to areas facing the shore but not favorable for planting. (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“The highest numbers of people in the early historic period … are found in this [Coastal Settlement] zone from sea level to roughly 20 to 50 ft elevation or 1/2 mile inland.”  (Holly McEldowney)

“Early descriptions, as well as the distribution of known sites, suggest that structures representing both permanent and/or temporary use occur along the entire coast. … Villages tended to appear either as a compact unit or as an elongate complex paralleling the coastline”.  (Holly McEldowney)

“Next above were the plains or sloping lands (kula), those to seaward being termed ko kula kai and those toward the mountains ko kula uka (uka, inland or upland). Here were the great stretches of waving pili grass, which was used to make the thick rain-repellent thatch for dwellings (hale).”  (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“Before cultivation took over the area, the carpeting grass was interspersed with vines (such as the koali, morning-glory) and many shrubs, all of which found practical uses by the immigrant folk. There were also a few stunted trees.” (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“On the ko kula uka, the upland slopes, were found the native ginger and other flowering plants, medicinal herbs, and thick-growing clumps of shrubs. Here too the great variety of trees attained to greater height, and their wood became the source of valuable materials for many necessities of life.” (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“This word kula, used by Hawaiians for sloping land between mountain and sea, really meant plain or sloping land without trees.  (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“In terms of use, from the Hawaiian planter’s point of view it was the area beyond or intersecting the kula lands that was of prime importance in dictating his habitation and his favored type of subsistence.” (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“This was the kahawai, ‘the place [having] fresh water’ – in other words, the valley stretching down from the forested uplands, carved out and made rich in humus by its flowing stream.” (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“Here he could find (or make) level plots for taro terraces, diverting stream water by means of ‘auwai (ditches) into the lo’i, or descending series of lo‘i, until from below the whole of the visible valley afforded a scene of lush green cultivation amidst fresh water glinting in the sun.” (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“The planter might have his main dwelling here, or he might dwell below and maintain here only a shelter to use during periods of intensive cultivation in the kahawai. Here also was a source of many of his living needs and luxuries, from medicinal herbs to flowers for decorative garlands, and with a wide range in between. (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“Strawberries, raspberries, as large as butternuts, and whortleberries flourish in this region …. It is entirely broken up by hills and vallies, composed of lava, with a very shallow soil.” (Joseph Goodrich)

“Although estimates as to the extent of this [Upland Agricultural] zone vary in early journal accounts, most confirm an expanse of unwooded grasslands or a ‘plain’ …. Scattered huts, emphasized by adjacent garden plots and small groves of economically beneficial tree species, dotted this expanse up to 1,500 ft elevation (i.e., the edge of the forest).” (Holly McEldowney, Lava Flow Control Study)

“The cumulative effects of shifting agricultural practices (i.e., slash-and-bum or swidden), prevalent among Polynesian and Pacific peoples, probably created and maintained this open grassland mixed with pioneering species and species that tolerate light and regenerate after a fire.” (Holly McEldowney)

“The constituents of gardens and tree crops in the village basically continued in the upland except that dry-land taro was planted more extensively and bananas were more numerous. Wet or irrigated taro occurred along small streams, tributaries, and rivers that cut into the ash-capped substrates.”  (Holly McEldowney)

“With remarkable consistency, early visitors … describe an open parkland gently sloping to the base of the woods. This open but verdant expanse, broken by widely spaced ‘cottages’ or huts, neatly tended gardens, and small clusters of trees, was comfortingly reminiscent of English or New England countrysides.”  (Holly McEldowney)

“Estimates as to the extent of this unwooded expanse ranged from between five and six miles to between three and four miles above the coast or village, with most falling between four or five miles.” (Holly McEldowney)  “[T]hose woods that so remarkably surround this island at a uniform distance of four and five miles from the shore” (Ledyard, Cook’s Crew, 1779)

“The land we passed in the forenoon rose in a steep bank from the water side and from thence the country stretched back with an easy acclivity for about four or five miles, and was laid out into little fields, apparently well cultivated and interspersed with the habitations of the natives. Beyond this the country became steeply rugged and woody, forming mountains of great elevation.” (Menzies, 3 visits to Hawai‘i onboard Vancouver’s 1792-1794 voyages)

“[T]he central idea of the Hawaiian division of land was emphatically … radial. Hawaiian life vibrated from uka, mountain, whence came wood, kapa for clothing, olona for fishline, ti-leaf for wrapping paper, ie for rattan lashing, wild birds for food, to the kai, sea, whence came ia, fish, and all connected therewith.” (Curtis J Lyons, Islander, July 2, 1875)

“Wao means the wild – a place distant and not often penetrated by man. The wao la‘au is the inland forested region, often a veritable jungle, which surmounts the upland kula slopes on every major island of the chain, reaching up to very high elevations especially on Kauai, Maui, and Hawaii.” (Handy, Handy, & Pukui, Native Planters)

“The Hawaiians recognized and named many divisions or aspects of the wao: first, the wao kanaka, the reaches most accessible, and most valuable, to man (kanaka); and above that, denser and at higher elevations, the wao akua, forest of the gods, remote, awesome, seldom penetrated, source of supernatural influences, both evil and beneficent. The wao kele, or wao ma‘u kele, was the rain forest.” (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“Use of [the Lower Forest – Wao Kanaka] zone, from roughly 1,500 to 2,500 ft elevation, revolved around the gathering of forest resources needed for a variety of wood, feather, and fiber products, and for the collecting of supplemental food crops grown in small forest clearings and along streams.” (Holly McEldowney)

“This includes the celebrated and specialized crafts of cutting koa for canoes and catching birds for feather-decorated objects. Historic accounts suggest that a cluster of small huts, small religious shrines, and numerous paths were frequented by a family unit or group of workers for these purposes.” (Holly McEldowney)

“Here grew giant trees and tree ferns (ama’u) under almost perpetual cloud and rain. The wao kanaka and the wao la‘au provided man with the hard wood of the koa for spears, utensils, and logs for boat hulls; pandanus leaves (lau hala) for thatch and mats; bark of the mamaki tree for making tapa cloth; candlenuts (kukui) for oil and lights …” (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“… wild yams and roots for famine time; sandalwood, prized when shaved or ground as a sweet scent for bedding and stored garments. These and innumerable other materials were sought and found and worked by man in or from the wao.” (Handy, Handy, & Pukui)

“[T]he zone of timber land … generally exists between the 1,700 feet and 5,000 feet line of elevation. The ordinary ahupuaa extends from half a mile to a mile into this belt.  Mauka and makai are therefore fundamental ideas to the native of an island. Land … was divided accordingly.” (Curtis J Lyons)

“[T]he heaviest general use of the forest took place one-half to one mile above the forest margin”. (Holly McEldowney)  “[I]t should here be remarked that it was by virtue of some valuable product of said forests that the extension of territory took place.”  (Curtis J Lyons)

“For instance, out of a dozen lands only one possessed the right to kalai waa, hew out canoes from the koa forest. Another land embraced the wauke and olona grounds, the former for kapa, the latter for fish line.”  (Curtis J Lyons)

“The upper region is composed of lava in almost every form, from huge rocks to volcanic sand of the coarser kind. Some of the peaks are composed of coarse sand, and others of loose stones and pebbles.” (Joseph Goodrich)

“The term for mountain or mountain range – a mountainous region – is kuahiwi (backbone).” (Handy, Handy, & Pukui) “The earliest accounts … refer to these mountain regions as a vast, uninhabited, and infrequently visited wilderness. … Exceptions are the consistent descriptions of caves used for shelter and as potential water sources”. (Holly McEldowney)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tanomoshi

“The establishment of a cash economy and community of foreigners in Hawai‘i during the early years of the Pacific whaling industry also led to the development of commercial fisheries in the waters around the islands.”  (Schug)

Then came sugar … A shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge.  The only answer was imported labor. 

The first to arrive were the Chinese (1852.)  The sugar industry grew, so did the Chinese population in Hawaiʻi.  Concerned that the Chinese were taking too strong a representation in the labor market, the government passed laws reducing Chinese immigration.  Further government regulations, introduced 1886-1892, virtually ended Chinese contract labor immigration.

In March 1881, King Kalākaua visited Japan during which he discussed with Emperor Meiji Hawaiʻi’s desire to encourage Japanese nationals to settle in Hawaiʻi.

Kalākaua’s meeting with Emperor Meiji improved the relationship of the Hawaiian Kingdom with the Japanese government and an economic depression in Japan served as motivation for agricultural workers to move from their homeland.  (Nordyke/Matsumoto)

The first 943-government-sponsored, Kanyaku Imin, Japanese immigrants to Hawaiʻi arrived in Honolulu aboard the Pacific Mail Steamship Company City of Tokio on February 8, 1885.  Subsequent government approval was given for a second set of 930-immigrants who arrived in Hawaii on June 17, 1885.

With the Japanese government satisfied with treatment of the immigrants, a formal immigration treaty was concluded between Hawaiʻi and Japan on January 28, 1886.

“Japanese social conventions compelled established residents in Hawai’i to offer guidance and support to new arrivals, who could expect assistance especially from ken-jin, fellow immigrants from the same region of Japan.”

“The transition to American society was eased for Japanese immigrants by the establishment of tightly knit communities. … These cohesive communities were important sources of financial and social capital for budding entrepreneurs.” (Schug)

“Plantation workers had no credit and minimal income, so banks were quick to deny them loans.” (CUInsights)

“Families … banded together in times of hardship and celebration. Families not only shared their harvests, but also helped others out financially through a feudal Japanese system known as ‘tanomoshi.’  Families regularly invested to create a large sum of money to provide financial assistance.” (Nancy Iwasaki Saiki; Zentoku Foundation)

“In the Tanomoshi the Japanese have put a unique concept of co-operation into effect. Tanomoshiko as used in Western Japan comes from ‘tanomui’ which means “dependable.’”

“The procedure seems to have originated in pooling contributions to a given fund and drawing lots to see who might go on pilgrimages to the shrines and temples. During the early part of the Tokugawa Period  [1603–1867],Tanomoshi took on a definite economic meaning.” (Bogardus)

“If a man needs money to pay debts, to build a house, or to bear the expenses of marrying off his daughter, he invites a group of friends, usually on payday, to drink tea.”

“There is no limit to the uses of the tanomoshi. One group of women held a five dollar one until they all had wrist watches. Among men a suit tanomoshi is favored.” (Bradford Smith)

Tanomoshi required mutual trust among its members because these loans did not have collateral. Families trusted one another that loans would be paid back and acted in the best interest of the community.  (Kanase, Zentoku Foundation)

Tanomoshi is an informal collaborative funding pool that participants can draw on.  Call it venture capital.  The system is somewhat intricate and was used to fund hundreds of businesses and other ventures. (HPR)

“The tanomoshi-ko is normally promoted by a person who is in urgent need of money. Suppose, for instance, he needs $100 and decides to organize a tanomoshi.”

“He asks nine friends to subscribe $10 a month each to his tanomoshi. They meet and each deposits the $10, making the total of $100.”

“The first month’s receipts always go to the promoter, who gets the entire amount, interest free.”

“Because the promoter is not required to pay interest to the other members, who must thereafter pay interest besides their $10 when they want to use the capital, the tanomoshi is often described as ‘aid for a friend in need,’ insofar as the promoter is concerned.”

“Each month thereafter for nine months, all the members contribute their regular $10 shares and, depending upon their immediate needs, bid for the use of the capital.”

“At all subsequent meetings, the members who wish to draw the principal submit bids of the interest they are willing to pay for the use of the money.”

“At times there is considerable competition for the use of the capital. The member making the highest bid gets the principal for the month, but he must also pay each shareholder the amount of interest he bids.”

“If the highest bid in the second month is $2, the bidder has to pay this amount to each member what has not received his share. Thus, he would have to pay out a total of $16 to the eight members whose shares have not been drawn, leaving him with $84.”

“After a person draws his share, he does not benefit thereafter from interest payments, although he continues to make his monthly payments until the tanomoshi has run its course.” [“When everyone has had the pot, the ko ends.” (Bradford Smith)]

“Each member before receiving his share must have two persons stand witnesses for him. These witnesses must be members of the ko.”

“If a borrower can not finish his payments after drawing his share, the witnesses are obliged to meet his payments thereafter. If tanomoshi they cannot pay, their share is withheld from them.”   (SB Nov 4, 1939)

“Private money clubs or mutual financial aid and saving associations are commonly identified as one of the contributing factors to high small business ownership rates among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean immigrants in the United States.” (Yoon)

“While the first tanomoshi groups were bound by a shared ethnicity or culture, they soon evolved into circles of individuals that had common jobs or interests. From those groups, credit unions were born.” (CUInsights)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Plain of Numbering

At about the same time of Christopher Columbus crossing the Atlantic to America (he was looking for an alternate trade route to the East Indies,) exciting stuff was happening here in the Hawaiian Islands.

The political governance and land management system by Aliʻi-ai-moku, was expanding and developing after two centuries since its inception, and there was a wake of progress taking place on our shores.

It was a natural progression, which began with three brothers as the first Aliʻi-ai-moku in the 12th century; Kumuhonua on Oʻahu, Olopana on Hawaiʻi, and Moikeha on Kauai, as grandsons of Maweke.  (Yardley)

When they arrived from Tahiti with their new system, their first cousins were already serving as High Chiefs – “Laʻakona, High Chief of ʻEwa; Nuakea, Queen Consort of Molokai; Mōʻī, kaula (prophet) of Molokai; and Hinakaimauliawa, High Chiefess of Koʻolau.” (Beckwith, Yardley)

Then, in the time of Columbus, the new Aliʻi-ai-moku were: Māʻilikūkahi on Oʻahu, Piʻilani on Maui, ʻUmi-a-Līloa on Hawaiʻi and Kukona on Kauai.

ʻUmi-a-Līloa (ʻUmi) from Waipiʻo, son of Līloa, defeated Kona chief Ehunuikaimalino and united the island of Hawai‘i.  He then moved his Royal Center from Waipi‘o to Kona.

At about the time of ʻUmi, a significant new form of agriculture was developed in Kona; he is credited with starting it.  Today, archaeologists call the unique method of farming in this area the “Kona Field System.”

The Kona Field System was planted in long, narrow fields that ran across the contours, along the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualālai.  As rainfall increases rapidly as you go up the side of Hualālai, the long fields allowed farmers to plant different crops according to the rainfall gradients.

In lower elevations all the way to the shore, informal clearings, mounds and terraces were used to plant sweet potatoes; and on the forest fringe above the walled fields there were clearings, mounds and terraces which were primarily planted in bananas.

This intensive agricultural activity changed farming and agricultural production on the western side of Hawai’i Island; the Kona field system was quite large, extending from Kailua to south of Honaunau

In the lower reaches of the tillable land, at elevations about 500-feet to 1,000-feet above sea level, a grove of breadfruit half mile wide and 20 miles long grew.  Sweet potatoes grew among the breadfruit.  Above the breadfruit grove, at elevations where the rainfall reached 60-70 inches or more, were fields of dry land taro.

The Kona Field System was described as “the most monumental work of the ancient Hawaiians.”  The challenge of farming in Kona is to produce a flourishing agricultural economy in an area subject to frequent droughts, with no lakes or streams for irrigation.

The field system was not the only contribution of ʻUmi.

The history of data processing in Hawaii covers almost five centuries, from the legendary census of King ʻUmi (c. 1500) to the present time.

It embraces at least five forms of technology: pre-contact manual methods, post-contact manual methods (including the abacus and slide rule,) the adding machine and desk calculator, punched-card equipment and the modern computer.  (Schmitt)

No statistical record of pre-contact population still exists, unless you look at the legendary census of ʻUmi.  ʻUmi’s census, taken at the beginning of the 16th century, was an early example of data processing.

For this census, each inhabitant of the Island of Hawaiʻi was instructed to come to a place called the “Plain of Numbering” to put a rock on the pile representing his own district. The result, still visible today, was a three-dimensional graphic portrayal of population size and distribution.

ʻUmi collected all the people of Hawaiʻi at a small plain between the cones on the inner side of Hualālai.  Two small hills are said to have been the seats of the king and queen, with their retainers, while the census was being taken

Later all the people went down on the plain, where each deposited a stone, the strongest the largest, making huge stone-pile memorials around the heiau, one for each district and on the sides toward the districts.  (Baker)

Here are some early accounts getting there.  “… after a day’s travel they reached the site of the ancient temple … These ruins lie equally distant from three mountains, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and Hualālai.  This temple is said to be built by ʻUmi ….”  (Wilkes, 1841)

“Up the long slope of Hualālai we ascended to Kaʻalapuali, following the old Judd trail through fields of green cane, through grass lands, through primeval forests, over fallen monarchs, finally out on that semi-arid upland which lies between Hualālai and Mauna Loa.  Here we turned up the slope of Hualālai, climbing through a forest cover of ʻōhiʻa lehua and sandalwood carpeted with golden-eyed daisies – another picture of Hawaii, never to be forgotten.”

 “Farther up the Judd trail, we came to that unique “Plain of Numbering”, where King ʻUmi built his heiau over four centuries ago and called his people together from all the Island of Hawaiʻi. There is a romantic glamor hanging around those heaps of rocks which numbered the people who gathered at Ahu a ʻUmi that will remain as a fond memory throughout eternity.”  (Thrum, 1924)

 “… we unexpectedly fell upon an ancient temple of the Hawaiian gods, built in a dreary wilderness, far from the habitations of men. … (it) is a square, 100 feet on a side. Its walls, built of the fragments of ancient lava, were eight feet high, and four feet thick. … Around the principal structure, and at the distance of ten to twenty feet, there were eight pyramids, about twelve feet in diameter, and twelve to fifteen in height.”  (Hiram Bingham, 1830)

The piles (pyramids, as Bingham called them) showed the relative size of the population of the districts.  “Kona is the most populous of the six great divisions of Hawaiʻi.” (Kohala is next.)  (Lots of information here from Baker, Schmitt and Thrum.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lā Kū‘oko‘a

King Kamehameha III recognized the need for his kingdom to be recognized internationally and he decided to send abroad a delegation. “In the month of April 1842, (Haʻalilio) was appointed a joint Commissioner with Mr. (William) Richards (and Sir George Simpson) to the Courts of the USA, England and France.”  (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

Timothy (Timoteo) Haʻalilio was born in 1808, at Koʻolau, Oʻahu.  His parents were of respectable rank, and much esteemed. His father died while he was quite young, and his widowed mother subsequently married the Governor of Molokai (after his death, she retained the authority of the island, and acted as Governess for the period of some fifteen years.)

“Haʻalilio was a man of intelligence, of good judgment, of pleasing manners, and respectable business habits. Few men are more attentive to neatness and order, at home, on shipboard, or in foreign climes, than he; and few public officers possess integrity more trustworthy.”  (Bingham)

“The proofs of his piety appeared in his love for the Scriptures, for secret and social prayer, for the Sabbath, and for the worship of the sanctuary. He was gratified by what he saw of the regard for the Lord’s day in the United States and England, and was shocked in view of its desecration in France and Belgium.”  (Anderson)

“The Kings and Chiefs could not fail to see the real value of such a man (Haʻalilio,) and they therefore promoted him to offices to which his birth would not, according to the old system, have entitled him.”

“He was properly the Lieutenant Governor of the Island of Oahu, and regularly acted as Governor during the absence of the incumbent.  He was also elected a member of the council of Nobles.”  (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

William Richards was ordained in New Haven, Connecticut, on September 12, 1822; on October 30, 1822, Richards married Clarissa, daughter of Levi Lyman, of Northampton, Massachusetts.  On November 19, he, with his wife, joined the Second Company of American Protestant missionaries to Hawai‘i; they arrived in the Islands on April 27, 1823.

In the spring of 1838, the king and chiefs, who felt the need for reform in their government, asked missionary Richards to become their teacher, chaplain and interpreter.  With the consent of the ABCFM, he accepted this position and resigned his appointment as missionary and then spent his time urging the improvement of the political system.

Richards gave classes to King Kamehameha III and his Chiefs on the Western ideas of rule of law and economics. Richards prepared a book No Ke Kalaiaina, based on Wyland’s, Elements of Political Economy. This book and Richards’ interaction with the king and chiefs helped shape the initial Hawaiʻi Constitution (1840).

“The Hawaiian people believed in William Richards (Rikeke), the foreigner who taught the king to change the government of the Hawaiian people to a constitutional monarchy and end that of a supreme ruler, and his views were adopted.”  (Kamakau)  (Later, in 1845, Richards was appointed minister of public instruction and, as such, took over most of the educational work of the missionaries and commenced the organization of the public school system.)

Sir George Simpson was governor in charge of North American operations of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC had established its first post at Honolulu in 1834).

In April 1842, Simpson left for England; Ha‘alilio and Richards sailed from Lāhainā, July 18, 1842, and arrived in Washington on the fifth of December.

While on the continent, a newspaper noted a note Haʻalilio passed to a friend: “We are happy that our Christian friends have so much reason to congratulate us on our success in the prosecution of our official business at Washington.”

“May the cause of righteousness and of liberty, and the cause of Christ every where be prospered. (Signed) T. Haalilio, William Richards.”  Boston Harbor, Feb. 2.  (The Middlebury People’s Press, Vermont, February 15, 1843)

“The Sandwich Island chief, Ha‘alilio, now on a visit to this part of our country, in company with Rev. Mr Richards, has been treated with attention by many of our citizens, and has made a very favorable impression by his general appearance and address.”

“He speaks English tolerably well, is a great of men and things, and observer evidently possesses a cultivated mind. On Tuesday he will proceed to New York with Mr. Richards, and will return to this city on the following week, with the intention of proceeding to Liverpool in the steam packet of the 4th of February.”

“He has taken up his residence, for the present, with James Hunnewell of Charlestown.  From Europe he will return to this country previous to taking his departure for the Sandwich Islands. (New York Herald, January 25, 1843)

On February 18, 1843, they arrived in London and within six weeks “after accomplishing the object of his embassy to England, he proceeded to France, where he was received in the same manner as in England, and … “

“… succeeded in obtaining from the French Government, not only a recognition of independence, but also a mutual guarantee from England and France that that independence should be respected.  (Similar responses were made from Belgium.)”  (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

While in London, Haʻalilio commissioned the College of Arms in London to prepare the Hawaiʻi Coat of Arms (following his design;) a May 31, 1845 story in the Polynesian newspaper reported that the National Coat of Arms was adopted by the Legislative Assembly.

“… the 28th of November, was the day that the Nation of Hawaii gained its independence from the other power of the nations of Britain and France.”

“On that day in the year 1843, the great powers of Britain and France joined together to discuss the bestowing of independence on this Nation, and the two of them agreed to this and we gained this independence.” (Kuokoa, 12/1/1866, p. 3)

The agreement states, “Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of the French, taking into consideration the existence in the Sandwich Islands of a government capable of providing for the regularity of its relations with foreign nations …”

“… have thought it right to engage, reciprocally, to consider the Sandwich Islands as an Independent State, and never to take possession, neither directly or under the title of Protectorate, or under any other form, of any part of the territory of which they are composed.”

“The undersigned, Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs, and the Ambassador Extraordinary of His Majesty the King of the French, at the Court of London, being furnished with the necessary powers, hereby declare, in consequence, that their said Majesties take reciprocally that engagement.” (Hawaiian Journal of Law & Politics)

“The great island of Australia under the power of Great Britain, but as for us, we are overjoyed, and can boast that we are amongst the few Independent Nations under the sun.”

“There are many islands like us, who live peacefully under the powers over them, but Hawaii lives clearly without any power placed above its head.”

“Therefore the commemoration by the Hawaiian hearts from the East to the West of these islands on this day, is not a small thing, but it is important, and we know by heart the foundational words of our Nation. ‘E mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono.’”

“The gaining of this Independence, was not by the point of a sword or the mouth of a gun, but was gotten peacefully, and upon He who sits on the great Throne is our efforts and great trust, and so let us not be mistaken that the drinking of intoxicating drinks is what preserves our Independence, that is not the case.”   (Kuokoa, 12/1/1866, p. 3)

After fifteen months in Europe, they returned to the US and prepared to return to the Islands.  “On his arrival in the western part of Massachusetts, (Ha‘alilio) was attacked by a severe cold, brought on by inclemencies of the weather, followed by a change in the thermometer of about sixty degrees in twenty-four hours.”  (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

“On Sabbath evening, just before his death, he said; ‘This is the happiest day of my life. My work is done. I am ready to go.’  Then he prayed; ‘O, my Father, thou hast not granted my desire to see once more the land of my birth, and my friends that dwell there …”

“… but I entreat Thee refuse not my petition to see thy kingdom, and my friends who are dwelling with Thee.’”  (Anderson) Timothy Haʻalilio died at sea December 3, 1844 from tuberculosis. He was 36 years old.

Lā Kū‘oko‘a, Hawaiian Independence Day, was widely celebrated with pride as Hawaii became an emerging power in the Pacific among the global powers of that time. In 2023, La Kū‘oko‘a, Hawaiian Independence Day was enacted and “November 28 of each year shall be known and designated as La Kuokoa, Hawaiian Independence Day …”

“… to celebrate the historical recognition of the independence of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This day is not and shall not be construed to be a state holiday.” (Act 011)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

It’s Raining … Inside

The Koʻolaupoko moku (district) encompasses lands from Kualoa Point to Makapuʻu Point. Encompassing 43,598-acres (68-square miles,) Koʻolaupoko makes up approximately 11-percent of Oʻahu’s land mass.

The Koʻolau Mountain Range forms the inland (mauka) boundary of the district. The ridge elevation generally ranges from 2,500 to 2,800-feet; Kōnāhuanui, the tallest peak on the Koʻolau Mountain Range (3,150-feet) is found in Koʻolaupoko. (BWS)

Koʻolaupoko is the remnant of the Koʻolau volcano. Eruptions forming the mountains occurred approximately 2-million years ago and left lava flows that layered over each other.  Magma pouring out of fissures in the volcano solidified in the narrow cracks; the rock that is created is much denser and much less permeable than the surrounding porous lava flows.

These dense, usually vertical geological structures are known as volcanic dikes. These dikes form wall-like areas that can capture and contain water.

Trade winds, which blow over the Pacific from the northeast across the Hawaiian Islands, bring large quantities of moist air to the Koʻolau Range. When these winds are deflected up and over the range, the water vapor condenses into clouds and falls as rain.

The rainfall does one of three things: (1) it runs off, eroding the land, forming valleys and gouges in the mountain slopes (and also creates some spectacular periodic waterfalls;) (2) wets the land surface, shallow infiltration saturates the uppermost soil layer and replaces soil moisture used by plants and then is absorbed by the vegetation and/or evaporates (evapotranspiration;) or (3) it percolates into the ground (slowly sinks into the ground and becomes groundwater.)

For the latter, it takes about 9-months for the rain, now groundwater, to seep down through cracks and permeable materials in the mountain; much of the groundwater ends up contained in dikes inside the mountain.

As these dike compartments become filled with water and overflow the dike edges, sometimes the water emerges at the surface as springs or streams.

Dike water is good for drinking water.

Development of dike-impounded reservoirs for domestic water offers two basic benefits: (1) the water level is typically high (limiting pumping (as in energy to pump water up wells) and allowing gravity to distribute to the needs at lower elevations) and (2)  the reservoirs are isolated from saline water.

Groundwater impounded by dikes in the Koʻolau Range is a major source of water for the island of Oʻahu, and many tunnels have been bored into the range to develop it. (USGS)

The typical sequence of excavation of a high-altitude tunnel starts with the removal of a zone of weathered rocks, either by tunneling or trenching and is followed by penetration of dike intrusions in the basalt rock.

As tunneling advances farther and farther through the dikes and basalts, the contained dike water leaks and water flow increases, often in instantaneous jumps when key restraining dikes are punctured, until either a single dike, or a series of them, releases such a large volume of stored water that excavation must be halted.  (Mink; USGS)

When a tunnel is bored into a dike-water reservoir, if allowed to flow freely, it will drain water out of storage. Over the course of water exploration in this area, several dikes were struck.

The reduction of dike-confined groundwater storage caused by construction of eight tunnels in Oʻahu has been estimated at 25,800-Million gallons, equivalent, then, to the total ground-water withdrawal on Oʻahu for about 60 days.   (USGS)

Little consideration was given to the storage potential of dike compartments tapped and dewatered by water-development tunnels until a bulkhead was placed in a Waikāne tunnel of the Waiāhole system in 1934 to stop the draining and allow the dike to refill with water (about 40 years after high-altitude water-development tunnels were first constructed in Hawaiʻi.)

The bulkhead at Waikāne held back some water in storage, but not in sufficient volume to be considered successful. Use of the Waikāne bulkhead was discontinued, but other attempts at bulkheading were tried elsewhere, also without much success.

That changed on February 8, 1955.  A 12-foot dike 1,600 feet into the Waiheʻe tunnel was penetrated and water gushed out at an initial rate of about 2.5-mgd (million gallons per day.)   A bulkhead was built to contain the water.

The bulkhead held and the concept of inducing and controlling storage was resoundingly proved with the placement of the bulkhead in Waiheʻe tunnel.  The storage above the tunnel in Waiheʻe Valley has been estimated at 2,200-Million gallons.  (Mink; USGS)

In Koʻolaupoko, fresh water comes entirely from precipitation along the Koʻolau Mountain Range; Waiheʻe provides much of the drinking water to Windward Oʻahu, from Kahaluʻu to Kailua.

The Honolulu Board of Water Supply recently drilled an inclined well to tap dike-impounded water. This technique permitted the development of dike impounded water without the large initial and uncontrollable waste of stored water common to prior development by tunneling.

Dike tunnel systems are also at Waimānalo, Luluku, Haiku, Kahaluʻu, Pālolo, Mānoa and two Waianae tunnels, as well as in the Kohala region of the island of Hawaiʻi and in West Maui.

Oh, It’s Raining … Inside (?)

While the bulkhead holds the dike water, along the Waiheʻe tunnel into the Koʻolau, whatever the weather outside, rainwater (now groundwater) that missed the dike continues to make its downward percolation through the mountain, through cracks in the ceiling … producing a constant ‘rainfall’ for all in the darkness of the tunnel to the Waiheʻe bulkhead.

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