Place Names | Page 12 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

September 15, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiʻanapanapa

Popoalaea (ball of red clay,) a chiefess of rank in Hana district on Maui during the rule of Kamohoali‘i, is won as a reward of victory in strength-testing games by the chief Kakea (Kaakae, Makea) and he makes their home close to the crater above Kaupo at a place called Koae-kea because there the koae birds flock (or at the village of Hono-ka-lani.)

He is jealous, especially of her fondness for her younger brother. (Beckwith)

Kakae (also the name of their great-grandfather, but could have been a namesake) was more than twenty years older than Popoalaea and as time went on he grew more jealous and suspicious of her and threatened her constantly until she began to fear for her life.

Her brother, Piʻilaui, who was of a gentle nature, decided to move near her to keep her company and they would wander through the woods in search of plants and herbs for his house. They were happy in their affection for each other and forgot the jealousy of Kakae.

Then Kakae, angered by this affection of the brother and sister, threatened to kill Popoalaea.

Fearing for her life, she and her faithful companion, Manona … fled … traveling by the underground passage (for the great mountain (Haleakala) is honeycombed with caves and caverns, and lava tubes leading to the ocean.)

At last they reached the sea, the beach of Papaloa (?Pailoa.) There, where the waters have washed the rocks for centuries were to be found wild caves and deep places where only the sunbeams play and here the women thought to hide in safety.

In one of the caves they found refuge…. Kakae, searching for his wife, came to the village of Honokalaui where he heard strange tales from the fisher folk of spirits wandering on the shore at night. …

The wife hid in a cave, but the shadow of the kahili waved by the attendant betrayed their hiding place, and Kaʻakea killed them both. On the night of Ku, the water in the pool is said to run red. (Pukui)

From that day to this the caves in that region have been called Waiʻanapanapa (water flashing rainbow hues, glistening water) – for the death of Popoalaea it is said the place sparkled with rainbow stones which the gods in their pity sent … (Reportedly, as told by Emma Kalelookalani Omstead and printed in the Paradise of the Pacific.)

Today, on the night of Ku, god of justice, the water in the pool runs red. At some time each morning prismatic colors (anapa) such as are sacred to divine chiefs play over the waters of this pool as proof of her innocence.

The water of the pool makes even a dark skin look white when immersed in it. (Beckwith)

A State Park was established at Waiʻanapanapa, with campground and trails.

September 10, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pohaku O Kauai

On every island there existed a prominent bluff pointing westward, bearing the name: “leap of the spirit” (leina-a-ka-uhane). The name marked the jumping-off place where the soul of the dead was believed to depart beyond the land of the living.

Kaʻena or Kaʻena Point (‘the heat’) is the westernmost tip of land on the island of Oʻahu. The point can be reached on foot from both the East (via Oʻahu’s North Shore / Mokuleʻia) and Southeast (via Waiʻanae Coast;) you cannot drive around the point.

Two stories tell of Pohaku O Kauai, here.

The first speaks of the demigod Maui; in many of the accounts Maui is a mischievous trickster, stealing the secret of fire and helping his mother to dry kapa by lassoing the sun to slow its progression across the sky. (Bishop Museum)

The most audacious terrestrial undertaking of Maui was his attempt to rearrange the islands of the group and assemble them into one solid mass. He went to Kaʻena Point and cast his magical hook, Mana-ia-ka-lani, far out into the ocean that it might engage itself In the foundations of Kauai.

When he felt that it had taken a good hold, he gave a mighty tug at the line. A huge boulder, the Pohaku o Kauai, fell at his feet.

This failure to move the whole mass of the island argues no engineering miscalculation on Maui’s part. It was due to the underhand working of spiritual forces. Had Maui been more politic, more observant of spiritual etiquette, more diplomatic in his dealings with the heavenly powers, his ambitious plans would, no doubt, have met with better success. (Emerson)

The second story of Pohaku O Kauai is written by Westervelt: A long time ago there lived on Kauai a man of wonderful power, Hau-pu. When he was born, the signs of a demi-god were over the house of his birth.

Lightning flashed through the skies, and thunder reverberated – signs of the birth or death or some very unusual occurrence in the life of a chief.

Mighty floods of rain fell and poured in torrents down the mountain-sides, carrying the red soil into the valleys in such quantities that the rapids and the waterfalls became the color of blood, and the natives called this a blood-rain.

Then a beautiful rainbow formed over the house in which the young chief was born. This rainbow was thought to come from the miraculous powers of the new-born child shining out from him instead of from the sunlight around him.

Hau-pu while a child was very powerful, and after he grew up was widely known as a great warrior. He would attack and defeat armies of his enemies without aid from any person. His spear was like a mighty weapon, sometimes piercing a host of enemies, and sometimes putting aside all opposition when he thrust it into the ranks of his opponents.

If he had thrown his spear and if fighting with his bare hands did not vanquish his foes, he would leap to the hillside, tear up a great tree, and with it sweep away all before him as if he were wielding a huge broom. He was known and feared throughout all the Hawaiian Islands.

One night he lay sleeping on the side of a mountain which faced the neighboring island of Oʻahu. When clouds were on the face of the sea, these islands were hidden from each other; but when they lifted, the rugged valleys of the mountains on one island could be clearly seen from the other.

This night the strong man stirred in his sleep. Indistinct noises seemed to surround his house. He turned over and dropped off into slumber again.

Soon he was aroused a second time, and he was awake enough to hear shouts of men far, far away. Louder rose the noise mixed with the roar of the great surf waves, so he realized that it came from the sea, and he then forced himself to rise and he looked out toward Oʻahu.

He blindly rushed out to the edge of a high precipice which overlooked the channel. Evidently many boats and many people were out in the sea below.

He laughed, and stooped down and tore a huge rock from its place. This he swung back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, until he gave it great impetus which added to his own miraculous power sent it far out over the sea. Like a great cloud it rose in the heavens and, as if blown by swift winds, sped on its way.

Over on the shores of Oahu a chief whose name was Kaʻena had called his people out for a night’s fishing. Canoes large and small came from all along the coast. Torches without number had been made and placed in the canoes.

Nets had been set in the best places. Fish of all kinds were to be aroused and frightened into the nets. Flashing lights, splashing paddles, and clamor from hundreds of voices resounded all around the nets.

Gradually the canoes came nearer and nearer the centre. The shouting increased. Great joy ruled the tumult which drowned the roar of the waves.

Suddenly something like a bird as large as a mountain seemed to be above, and then with a mighty sound like the roar of winds it descended upon them.

Smashed and submerged were the canoes when the huge boulder thrown by Hau-pu hurled itself upon them.

The chief Kaʻena and his canoe were in the centre of this terrible mass of wreckage, and he and many of his people lost their lives.

The waves swept sand upon the shore until in time a long point of land was formed. The remaining followers of the dead chief named this cape “Kaʻena.”

The rock thrown by Hau-pu embedded itself in the depths of the ocean, but its head rose far above the water, even when raging storms dashed turbulent waves against it. To this death-dealing rock the natives gave the name Pohaku O Kauai (“Rock of Kauai.”) (Westervelt) The image shows Kaʻena Point.

September 7, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lanai Tsunami

The name Kaluakapo Crater or “Kalua Kapo” means “hole of darkness” (according to the field notes of Stearns, 1936; Keating & Helsley).

Three ancient shorelines (the Mahana, Kaluakapo and Manele) have been described at elevations of 365, 190 and 170 m [1,200, 625, and 560 feet] in the Kaluakapo Crater. Original observations/theories of a fossil-bearing outcrop at 1,200-feet was interpreted as an ancient shoreline.

Subsequently, some argued that this fossil evidence represented the highest inundation of tsunami waves associated with the collapse of the flanks of the Hawaiian Islands chain. (Keating & Helsley)

“Geologists have long debated whether the Hawaiian Islands have been periodically hit by ‘megatsunamis,’ triggered by massive landslides plunging into the ocean.”

“Indeed, several such slides have cascaded from the western flanks of the Big Island–including the 350-cubic-kilometer Alika 2 slide about 120,000 years ago.” (Robert Irion)

“Some researchers think that a megatsunami from that slide deposited coral and seashells high on the slopes of the island of Lanai more than 100 kilometers away.”

“Others reject that interpretation, claiming that the deposits mark the level of shorelines carved into Lanai before tectonic processes lifted the island.” (Robert Irion)

“[T]he giant wave hypothesis (GWH) suggests a submarine landslide southeast of Lanai triggered three ‘giant waves’ that rushed toward Lanai with initial velocities of 149 m/s, at intervals of only one and a half minutes.”

“The first wave reached 190 m elevation on Lanai and eroded the soils and churned up boulders. The second wave reached the 375 m elevation, and picked up the gravels in suspension and stripped the terrain.”

“The third wave reached 190 m high on the island slope taking boulders in suspension, then accelerated down slope, stripping soil and molding the boulders into mound-shaped bed forms.” (Keating & Helsley)

“Computer simulations show that the tsunami would have swamped the other islands as well. ‘These waves were truly catastrophic,’ [Geologist Gary McMurtry of the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa] says.”

“Still, [McMurtry] notes, they would be about as rare as megatsunamis from asteroids hitting the ocean–grave threats, but extremely unlikely in our lifetimes.” (Robert Irion)

Giant tsunamis, generated by submarine landslides in the Hawaiian Islands, have been thought to be responsible for the deposition of chaotic gravels high on the southern coastal slopes of the islands of Lanai and Molokai, Hawai‘i. Investigators used uranium-thorium dating and a study of stratigraphic relationships.

That late investigation showed that deposits were formed by multiple events, separated by considerable periods of time, thus invalidating the main premise of the ‘giant wave’ theory.

Instead, the gravels were probably deposited during interglacial periods (when sea level was relatively high) by typical Hawaiian shoreline processes such as seasonal wave patterns, storm events and possibly ‘normal’ tsunamis, and reached their present height by uplift of Lanai. (Rubin, et al)

While the general consensus seems to be that a megatsunami was not the culprit, there have been other ‘normal’ tsunami that have impacted Lanai and other Islands.

“It was quite a severe earthquake as I remember. Another scary thing that happened on Lanai was a tidal wave during the building of Kaumalapau Harbor.”

“They were building the breakwater and they had a small locomotive that with the tracks ran out to the end so they could carry boulders out to build up the breakwater.”

“And this tidal wave came and later, we went down to see what damage had been done. And the tracks were twisted in knots and the locomotive was on its side. Ever since then, I’ve been very frightened of tidal waves.”

“No one was injured; it was just this damage because no homes were knocked down where the harbor was. (The homes were built on higher ground, so they were not damaged.)”

No one was working at the time … “I believe that tidal wave came during the middle of the night at a time when there was nobody down there.” (Jean Forbes Adams; UH Oral History, Lanai Ranch)

September 6, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Maliko Gulch Inverted Siphon

At the time of Haiku Sugar Company’s charter in 1858, there were only ten sugar companies in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi. Five of these sugar companies were located on the island of Maui: East Maui Plantation at Kaluanui; Brewer Plantation at Haliʻimalie; LL Torbert and Captain James Makee’s plantation at Ulupalakua; Haiku Plantation; and Hana.

In 1869, Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin became business partners and bought 12-acres in Hāmākuapoko (an eastern Maui ahupuaʻa (land division.)) (They later formed Alexander & Baldwin, one of Hawai‘i’s ‘Big Five’ companies – and the only Big Five still in Hawai‘i.)

“The early years of the partnership of Alexander & Baldwin, represented a continual struggle against heavy odds. Haiku plantation had to have water.” (Men of Hawaii)

Then, the government granted Haiku Plantation the right to use the water flowing in streams down the broad slopes of Haleakala to the east of the plantation, and work was at once commenced on a ditch.

“The line, some seventeen miles in extent, with the exception of a few miles near the plantation, passes through the dense forest that covers the side of the mountain, and in running the levels for the work many large ravines and innumerable small valleys and gulches were encountered.”

“In the smaller of these the ditch winds its way, with here and there a flume striding the hollow, while through nine of the larger the water is carried in pipes twenty-six inches in diameter.”

“The digging of the ditch was a work of no small magnitude. A large gang of men, sometimes numbering two hundred, was employed in the work, and the providing of food, shelter, tools, etc, was equal to the care of a regiment of soldiers on the march.”

“As the grade of the ditch gradually carried the work high up into the woods, cart-roads had to be surveyed and cut from the main road to the shifting camps.”

“All the heavy timbers for flumes, etc., were painfully dragged up hill and down, and in and out of deep gulches, severely taxing the energies and strength of man and beast, while the ever-recurring question of a satisfactory food supply created a demand for everything eatable to be obtained from the natives within ten miles, besides large supplies drawn from Honolulu and abroad.”

“At the head of the work many difficult ledges of rock were encountered, and blasting and tunneling were resorted to, to reach the coveted water.” (FL Clarke, Thrum’s Annual, 1878)

Then came Maliko Gulch.

Maliko Gulch was too wide (and it was too expensive) to pipe the water via a bridge. They installed an inverted siphon in order to cross Maliko Gulch. Maliko Gulch is a deeply incised stream valley with some sections of the valley floor more than 400 ft below the upland surface. (USGS)

“As the East Maui Irrigation Company report notes, Alexander planned to ‘pipe water across the gulch by means of a 1,110-foot-long inverted siphon.” (Witcher, Civil Engineering)

An inverted siphon uses a leakproof pipe that the ditch water flows into; the pipe is laid down, across and back up the Gulch ( and ends at a lower elevation than the where the ditch collects the water) – gravity pushes the water up the other side, into another ditch at the other side of the gulch.

“While work on the ditch was thus progressing, pipe makers from San Francisco were busied riveting together the broad sheets of iron to make the huge lengths of tube fitted to cross the deep ravines.”

“These lengths had each to be immersed in a bath of pitch and tar which coated them inside and out, preserving the iron from rust, and effectually stopping all minute leaks.”

“The lengths thus prepared being placed in position in the bottom of the ravines, the upright lengths were fitted to each other (like lengths of stove-pipe) with the greatest care, and clamped firmly to the rocky sides of the cliffs.”

“Their perpendicular length varies from 90 feet to 450 feet; the greatest being the pipe that carries the water down into, across, and out of Maliko gulch to the Baldwin and Alexander Plantations.”

“At this point every one engaged on the work toiled at the risk of his life; for the sides of the ravines are almost perpendicular, and a ‘bed’ had to be constructed down these sides.”

“Then each length of pipe was lowered into the ravine and placed carefully in position; after which the perpendicular lengths were built up to the brink.” (FL Clarke, Thrum’s Annual, 1878)

“When the ditch builders came to the last great obstacle, the deep gorge of Maliko, it became necessary in connection with the laying of the pipe down and up the sides of the precipices there encountered, for the workmen to lower themselves over the cliffs by rope, hand over hand.”

“This at first they absolutely refused to do. The crisis was serious.”

Just a few years before, “In 1876, while engaged in adjusting machinery at the sugar mill at the Pā‘ia plantation. Mr. Baldwin almost lost his life by being drawn between the rolls.”

“The engineer fortunately witnessed the accident and reversed the engine, but not before the right arm had been fearfully mangled almost up to the shoulder blade. The amputation was not followed by any serious results, but the handicap was a severe one to so energetic a worker as was Mr. Baldwin all his life.” (Mid Pacific, February 1912)

Back to the Maliko Gulch inverted siphon installation … while the workers initially refused, “[the one-armed] Baldwin met it by himself sliding down the rope, using his legs and his one arm, with which he alternately gripped and released the rope to take a fresh hold lower done.” (Arthur Baldwin)

“This was done before his injured arm had healed and with a straight fall of two hundred feet to the rocks below! The workmen were so shamed by this exhibition of courage on the part of their one armed manager, that they did not hesitate to follow him down the rope.”

“To keep the heart in them and to watch the progress of the work, Mr. Baldwin day after day went through this dangerous performance.” (Arthur Baldwin)

“Straining their financial resources almost to the breaking point, the young partners [Alexander and Baldwin] succeeded in bringing to completion the Hāmākua-Haiku ditch, the first important irrigation project in the islands.”

“The eventual enormous success of this enterprise made possible the great future of Alexander and Baldwin. Pā‘ia plantation was started and other extensive acreages were added to the partners’ holdings.” (Men of Hawaii)

August 31, 2025 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Lahilahi

“Nearly in the middle of this side of the island is the only village we had seen westward from Opooroah (Puʻuloa, Pearl Harbor.) In its neighbourhood the bases of the mountains retire further from the sea-shore, and a narrow valley, presenting a fertile cultivated aspect, seemed to separate, and wind some distance through, the hills.” (Vancouver, March 1793)

The ahupuaʻa of Makaha extends from the coastline to the Waiʻanae Range. Pukui noted Mākaha means “fierce;” Roger C. Green suggests it relates to “fierce or savage people” once inhabiting the valley.

Green refers to “…the ʻOlohe people, skilled wrestlers and bone-breakers, by various accounts (who) lived in Makaha, Makua and Keaʻau, where they often engaged in robbery of passing travelers.” (Cultural Surveys)

Waiʻanae Ahupuaʻa within the Waiʻanae District was its Royal Center in the late-1600s to the 1700s. The ahupuaʻa had numerous important heiau and the largest population of the district at European contact.

The Waianae Coast received its name from the mullet that was once farmed here. Wai means water, and ʻanae means large mullet (perhaps from mullet in the muliwai, or brackish-water pools, that were once common in the backshore on many Waiʻanae beaches.) These fish were once produced in large amounts.

Ahupuaʻa served as a means of managing people and taking care of the people who support them, as well as an easy form of collection of tributes by the chiefs.

A typical ahupuaʻa (what we generally refer to as watersheds, today) was a long strip of land, narrow at its mountain summit top and becoming wider as it ran down a valley into the sea to the outer edge of the reef. If there was no reef then the sea boundary would be about one and a half miles from the shore.

Palena (place boundaries) demarcated the boundaries between ahupuaʻa; this lessened conflict and was a means of settling disputes of future aliʻi who would be in control of the bounded lands; protected the commoners from the chiefs; and brought (for the most part) peace and prosperity. (Beamer, Duarte)

“The shore here forms a small sandy bay. On its southern side, between the two high rocky precipices, in a grove of cocoanut and other trees, is situated the village…”

“… in the center of the bay, about a mile to the north of the village, is a high rock, remarkable for its projecting from a sandy beach. At a distance it appears to be detached from the land.” (Vancouver, March 1793)

That ‘rock’ noted by Vancouver is Mauna Lahilahi (thin mountain – referred to by some as the ‘world’s smallest mountain’) is the palena, or boundary marker between the Makaha and Waianae ahupuaʻa (the hill itself is within the ahupuaʻa of Makaha.)

“The few inhabitants who visited us from the village, earnestly intreated our anchoring, and told us, that if we would stay until the morning, their chief would be on board with a number of hogs, and a great quantity of vegetables; but that he could not visit us then because the day was (kapu.)”

“The face of the country did not however promise an abundant supply; the situation was exposed, and the extent of anchorage was not only very limited, but bad; under these circumstances, having, by eleven at night, got clear of the shores, I deemed it most prudent to make the best of our way, with a light S.E. breeze towards Attowai (Kauai.)” (Vancouver, March 1793)

The village Vancouver saw was Kamaile, “with the beach and fishery in front and the well watered taro lands just behind.” A fresh water spring, Kekoʻo, gave life to this land and allowed for the existence of one of the largest populations on the Waiʻanae Coast. (Cultural Surveys)

Mauna Lahilahi inspired at least two songs. One, by Kaʻiulani, “I Mauna Lahilahi ko Wehi,” was probably inspired by a royal visit to the Holt estate in those golden days of Makaha Ranch. From about 1887 to 1899, the Holt Ranch raised horses, cattle, pigs, goats and peacocks.

It opens by offering Kaʻiulani a lei of “pua mamane melemele”: “Here at Mauna Lahilahi is your adornment; it is made of the golden blossoms of the mamane tree.”

The second verse shifts its focus from flower to princess and from beauty to status: “You are anointed with coconut water whose fragrance is wafted by the gentle Kaiaulu breeze.”

Verse three brings flower and natural action together in the drenching of the māmane in the Naulu rain: “The Naulu comes this way to soak the māmane blossom.” (deSilva)

“I Mauna Lahilahi ko Wehi”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcyuLccG25g

A later song, “Maunalahilahi” by Mary Robbins speaks of the love for Maunalahilahi and appreciation to its later owner, Jack Waterhouse.

“Affection for Maunalahilahi; Lingers in my heart; You are a treasure to us; As you approach my presence; It is as if we are in the presence of royalty ; Where many gather often; … This is my praise of Jack; You are a beloved person to all of us.”

Jack Waterhouse had his house at the foot of Mauna Lahilahi (on the Makaha side of the hill.)