Place Names | Page 120 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

Hapaialii-Keeku-Heiau (Keauhou Resort)

Keauhou_to_Kailua-Aerial

Kailua-Kona with Hualalai, Hulihee Palace and Church, 1852-WLA_haa_James_Gay_Sawkins-WC

kamehameha_at_kamakahonu-(heberkane)

Ahuena_Heiau-Cloris-Sketch-1816

Kailua-Baker-Photo-1908

Pa_o_Umi-LSY

Hulihee_Kailua-WC

Princess Keelikōlani’s hale pili (grass house) in Kailua, Kona, Hawai‘i. ca 1883_Hulihee_Palace-WC

Mokuaikaua_Curch_Kona_1900-WC

Laniakea-LSY

Kamoa_Point,_Kona_Circa_1890-WC

King_Kalakaua_House_Kahaluu-WC

Holua

Kuamo’o_Burials_in_lava_rock-WC

DaughtersOfHawaii-KamIIIBirthday-03-17-11

Alii Drive Interpretive Sign

Royal_Footsteps_Map

May 25, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Aqua Marine

The area along the coast at the foot of Leahi (Diamond Head) between Waikiki and Kupikipiki (commonly called Black Point) is an area known as Kaluahole (‘the āhole fish cavern.’) Kaluahole is a noted place in several legends associated with the area.

In one story of Aiai, son of Kūulakai (a god who controlled all the gods of the sea,) following his father’s instructions “… traveled about the islands establishing fishing stations (ko‘a) at fishing grounds (ko‘a aina) …”

“… where fish were accustomed to feed and setting up altars (ku‘ula) upon which to lay, as offerings to the fishing gods, two fish from the first catch one for the male, the other for the female aumakua. Some accounts give Aiai a son named Puniaiki who is a fish kupua and trickster and helps his father set up fishing stations.”

“On Oahu, Aiai lands at Makapu‘u and makes the stone Malei the fish stone for the uhu fish of that place. Other stones are set up at grounds for different kinds of fish. The uhu is the common fish as far as Hanauma.”

“At Ka-lua-hole the ahole fish run. The fish still spawn about a round sandstone (called Ponahakeone) which Aiai placed outside Kahuahui …” (Beckwith)

Ponahakeone is offshore of Kaluahole … “In 1834, during the time of Kaomi, a malihini shark came to Waikiki in search of food. When he reached Kaʻalawai and Kaluaahole, he was refused by the guardian sharks of that place (ka poʻe kamaʻaina kiaʻi o ia wahi)…”

“… and then he came to Kapua, where the guardians of Waikiki were, and argued with them. They decided to kill him and to leave visible proof of it, so they forced his head into a cleft in the rocks at Kukaʻiunahi, makai of Kupalaha.” (Kamakau; Maly)

This is where Sanford B Dole had a beach bungalow – he called it Aqua Marine. (It’s about where the Le‘ahi Beach Park is situated.)

A portion of Royal Patent Grant 3219 was deeded in June 1879 to Kahololio. The grant consisted of all the land at Kaluahole and comprised 19 acres. In 1889 Kahololio sold +/- 15 acres of the grant lands to Sanford B. Dole.

Between 1892 and 1912, Dole deeded various parcels to George Beckley which eventually were subdivided into various lots and identified as portions of an estate known as “Aqua Marine” and the “Beckley Tract”. (Dye)

“Where the road leaves Kapiolani Park on the east, it passes a few houses and then comes out on an open space skirting the ocean. This is low and level at first, but further on rises to higher ground, whence the views seaward, south and west, are genuine Vistas of Hawaii.”

“The lapis-lazuli of the deep sea, starred with the sails of passing vessels, breaks into turbulent foam where it meets the outer reef, and ‘sliding its snow-white and swift avalanches’ into the inner lagoon …”

“… the waters, taking their tone from the corals below and the skies above, now break forth into an extravaganza of color as they hasten in subdued merriment to the shore of yellow sand.”

“‘In stillness far away, like phantoms, rise the bills of Waianae,’ while the bald-headed summit of Diamond Head looms up behind, almost over you, with startling distinct ness, but with a benignant and fatherly expression withal.”

“Besides this ideal environment, Aqua-Marine enjoys some substantial advantages as well. This strip of land between the road and the shore is divided into ten large lots, varying in size from half to three-quarters of an acre, each one fronting makai on the sea and mauka on the road for from 100 to 150 feet.”

“Government water is laid on along the fronts of these lots on the road. The sea-bathing is not very good as regards the footing on account of the coral, but can be improved by dynamite; as regards the sea-water it is first-class.”

“The trade winds are not shut out by Diamond Head, but, sweeping around the south east side of the bluff, blow freshly across these lots from the sea, the wind being perceptibly cooled by its passage over the water and carrying with it the tonic quality of the salt spray.”

“The reef is a famous fishing ground, and the fish are free to those who can circumvent them. Shellfish are abundant and ambrosial.”

“The road skirting these lots is being extended by the Park Association, and further on has been carried high up along the face of the bluff, giving a wide and beautiful outlook. It is to be continued around Diamond Head returning to the Park on its mauka side and when finished will be one of the most picturesque drives near Honolulu, abounding in a great variety of delicious views.”

“The tramway is to be extended through the Park, which will bring it within a live minutes’ walk from Aqua Marine. If the Oahu Railroad is extended in this direction according to its preliminary surveys, it will come within a few rods of these lots, which would bring them within fifteen minutes of Honolulu.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, February 5, 1892)

“‘Aqua Marine’ at Diamond Head is one of the prettiest places on the Island. Situated on high ground, one is enabled to command a magnificent view of the picturesque landscape and the lighthouse in the distance only adds fresh beauty to an entrancing spot.”

“The Doles are thinking of living at their bungalow all the year round, for the sea air agrees so well with the Judge’s health. The Emma street house is large and comfortable, but little ‘Aqua Marine’ is always occupied the greater part of the year.”

“If the family conclude to live there permanently many changes will be made to the home. The grounds are rapidly being improved and the large trees already planted by Judge Dole are making a fine showing.” (Evening Bulletin, January 14, 1905)

Sanford Dole beach house at Kaluahole, Diamond Head-1905

Downtown_Honolulu-Map-1892-portion

Honolulu_Harbor_to_Diamond_Head-Wall-Reg1690 (1893) – Waikiki_portion-portion

Honolulu_Harbor-Diamond_Head-Monsarrat-Reg1910 (1897)-portion

May 20, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pele and the Missionaries

“Had Vulcan employed ten thousand giant Cyclops, each with a steam engine of one thousand horse-power, blowing anthracite coal for smelting mountain minerals, or heaving up and hammering to pieces rocks and hills, their united efforts would but begin to compare with the work of Pele here.”

“Though our mission had now been in the islands nearly four years, yet some of the people of Puna and Hilo were as much afraid of the palapala, as they had been of Pele. Some retained their superstitious regard to the volcanic deities.”

“Some, in their self-complacency, questioned or doubted whether any benefit equal to the trouble, could be obtained by attention to missionary instruction.” (Hiram Bingham)

“Tho’ we do not dispair of benefiting the adults, many of whom are susceptible of religious and moral impressions, & some of whom we hope have already been brought into the kingdom of our Lord, yet generally speaking …”

“… this class of persons are so inveterately addicted to their ancient customs, and so deeply immersed in low and vicious habits, that it is to the rising generation we principally look for the subjects of the transforming grace of God.” (Thurston & Bishop, 1825)

“So far from renouncing their belief in the former Gods of Hawai‘i, it is supposed that more than two thirds adhere to them in some measure, and sacrifice unto them in private.”

“This is more especially the case in the remote parts of the island, where Pele, the god of Volcanoes, has a great number of votaries. Such in brief is the present condition of this people among whom we dwell.” (Thurston & Bishop, 1825)

“Many of the natives still believe that a deity exists in the volcano by the name of Pele. Some tried to dissuade Kapiʻolani from going up to the volcano. They told her that Pele would kill her & eat her up if she went there. She replied that she would go, & if Pele killed & ate her up, they might continue to worship Pele; but if not, i.e., if she returned unhurt, then they must turn to the worship of the true God.”

“Nothing very material occurred during the remainder of the way, except that at every place where they encamped for the night, Kapiʻolani’s first request would be to unite in prayer, to express her gratitude to the Most High for his loving kindness to her through the day. (Goodrich & Ruggles, 1825)

“Taking my field as a whole it has not differed much the past year in its general characteristics from previous years. Perhaps the long spell of warm & pleasant weather may be an exception. For this some believe, right or wrong, we are indebted to Madame Pele who has been most lavish even to prodigality of her warming & burning influences.” (Lyons, 1857)

“The volcano of Kīlauea is always in action. Its lake of lava and brimstone rolls and surges from age to age. Sometimes these fires are sluggish, and one might feel safe in pitching his tent upon the floor of the crater.”

“Again the ponderous masses of hardened lava, in appearance like vast coal-beds, are broken up by the surging floods below, and tossed hither and thither, while the great bellows of Jehovah blows upon these hills and cones and ridges of solidified rocks, and melts them down into seas and lakes and streams of liquid fire.” (Titus Coan)

“There is a remarkable variety in the volcanic productions of Hawaii, – a variety as to texture, form and size, from the vast mountain and extended plain, to the fine drawn and most delicate vitreous fibre, the rough clinker, the smooth stream, the basaltic rock, and masses compact and hard as granite or flint, and the pumice or porous scoria, or cinders, which, when hot, probably formed a scum or foam on the surface of the denser molten mass.” (Hiram Bingham)

“Steam and gases are constantly issuing from a thousand holes and fissures over the crater, but scarcely a spark of fire is to be seen by day or night. In fact Mother Pele has buried her fires, stopped her forges, extinguished her lamps and retired within the deep recesses of her infernal caverns.”

“Is she dead? Does she sleep? or has she only closed her adamantine doors, and with Pluto and Vulcan descended to the fiery bowels of the earth to prepare with deeper secrecy her magazines of wrath which shall one day burst forth with more desolating terror?”

“To us it is a lonely idea that the volcano should become extinct; for we confess that her mutterings, her thunderings, her flashings, the smoke of her nostrils and the shaking of her rocky ribs are music, beauty, sublimity and grandeur to us. They seem so like the voice of Almighty God, so like the footsteps of Deity.” (Lydia Bingham Coan)

“A mighty current instantly overflowed, and they ran for their lives before the molten flood, and ascended from the surface of the abyss to the lofty rim with heartfelt thanksgiving to their great Deliverer. This proves the real danger of meddling with Pele’s palace and trifling with her power.”

“Had this occurred in the days of unbroken superstition, it would doubtless have been ascribed to the anger of that false deity, and multiplied her worshippers.”

“But now such a deliverance was justly ascribed to the care and power of Jehovah, the knowledge of whose attributes displayed in the works of creation, providence, and grace, has introduced the Hawaiian race into a new life.” (Hiram Bingham)

‘Kilauea_Volcano’,_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_William_Pinkney_Toler,_c._1860s

May 19, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Environmental Zones

Traditionally in Hawai‘i, environmental zones were perceived and determined by various natural features and resource criteria. The following is a summary of Handy and Handy description of the terrestrial environmental zones:

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). 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. Kekaha in Kona, Hawaii, was one so named, and Kekaha on Kauai another.

The ko kaha kai was not without its own verdure of a sort, however. In fact the terrain just above the sandy stretches (pu‘eone) was often called ‘ilima, because of the low-growing, gray-foliaged, golden-flowering ‘ilima bushes found in abundance there.

Pohuehue, the beach morning-glory, also had its natural habitation there, along with ‘auhuhu., whose leaves yielded a juice used to stupefy fish for ready catching in the inlets and sea pools. In fact most of the varied low growth of the ko kaha kai found use in the planter’s or fisher’s economy.

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). 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.

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.

This word kula, used by Hawaiians for sloping land between mountain and sea, really meant plain or sloping land without trees. There is a large land area in the southerly kula slopes of East Maui that is named Honua‘ula (Red-earth.)

Typically, on all the islands the kula lands are covered with red soil, both on leeward and windward coasts. This is the soil in which sugar cane and pineapples flourish today. It is soil in which sweet potatoes grow well. (In contrast, dark soil, rich in humus washed down from the forests, is what wet taro requires.)

Some kula lands, such as those of southern and eastern Hawaii and the southern slopes of Haleakala on Maui, were covered with lava or soil evolved from the dust of recent volcanic eruptions.

The red soil is oldest geologically, having evolved from decomposed basalt oxidized by sun, rain, and air. Next in age is the humus of valley bottoms.

Most recent is decomposed lava, such as is typical of Kona, Ka’u, Hilo, and Puna on Hawaii, and of some areas on the southern slope of Haleakalā on East Maui.

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 indicating his habitation and his favored type of subsistence.

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.

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.

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.

Two other descriptive terms applied to land areas, one belonging to the kahawai and one not. The first was pahe‘e, meaning a wet, soft, or slippery area; and the other was apa‘a, meaning arid or dry. From its derivative (pa‘a) meaning firmly bound, the latter became a term of affection for land long lived upon.

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 Hawai‘i.

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. 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; 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.

The term for mountain or mountain range – a mountainous region – is kuahiwi (backbone). Kuamauna is the mountain top, and kualono the high reaches just below it. Mauna is the term for a specific mountain mass, and may have a descriptive designation following, as Mauna Loa (Long Mountain.) The term mauka is directional, and means toward the mountains or uplands, or merely inland. (All here is from Handy.)

May 18, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Camp POW

According to the Convention of 1929 relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 118 LNTS 343, entered into force June 19, 1931, prisoners of war were subject to “internment” and may “be interned in fenced camps.” The Geneva Convention of 1949 also used “internment” as the definition for incarcerating prisoners of war. (NPS)

On July 7, 1937, Japan invaded China to initiate the war in the Pacific; while the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, unleashed the European war.

World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that was underway by 1939. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and the US entered the conflict.

American entry into World War II necessitated a rapid expansion of facilities in dealing with enemy prisoners. Following the transfer of 50,000 German POWs from the British in September 1942, Civilian Conservation Corps camps were secured to house the first arrivals; more camps were constructed throughout the war.

By mid-1945, the American POW camp system consisted of 155 base camps in 44 states, Alaska, and Hawai‘i. At its height, the system held 371,683 German, 50,571 Italian, and 5,413 Japanese POWs. (Encyclopedia)

Of the 50,000 Italian captured soldiers and sailors, 5,000 Italian prisoners of war were sent to Hawaiʻi and held at Schofield, Kāneʻohe, Kalihi Valley and Sand Island.

Japanese Americans were also incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaiʻi. On December 8, 1941, the first detention camp was set up on Sand Island.

The Sand Island Detention Center held war captives as well as civilians of Japanese, German or Italian ancestry who were under investigation.

Another prisoner of war facility was in Hilo; it was simply known as Camp POW. It was in Ponahawai, up Kaumana Drive.

Land use in Ponahawai Ahupua‘a was used as homestead lands. The ahupua‘a of Ponahawai appears to have been given by Kamehameha to Keawe-a-Heulu, one of his trusted warriors.

At the start of the Māhele, Ponahawai was given up by Keawe-a-Heulu’s nephew Kinimaka. The ahupua‘a became Crown Lands during the Māhele and in the following years numerous, small Land Grants were awarded within the ahupua‘a.

Following the Māhele, the population of Hilo grew and scattered upland habitation gave way to other activities. Visits by ships representing foreign governments, whaling, the establishment and development of American Protestant missions in the Hilo area and the foreign sandalwood trade brought changes in long-established patterns of settlement and land-use patterns. (Escott)

Hilo became the center of population and settlements in outlying regions declined or disappeared. Sugar cane plantations dominated the uplands, displacing traditional farming, and processing and shipping facilities were established near the shore.

Commercial sugar production lasted in Ponahawai until the mid-twentieth century, at which time many of the fields were converted to pasturage associated with cattle ranching.

In 1894, the government opened the Ponahawai Homestead Lots. Road improvements over the next six years gave access to more lots and spurred development in the area. In 1901 Antone Carvalho bought 110 acres on the upland agricultural zone above Hilo. Carvalho sold the property to Charles Chong who subdivided it into house lots.

During WWII the Army’s 27th Infantry division was housed and trained on the property. Later, the Marines were stationed there and Japanese prisoners of war were confined there.

The camp became known as Camp POW.

After the war, Chong converted the camp buildings into rental properties. For safety reasons the buildings were eventually demolished in the 1980s.

In an archaeological survey of the area in 2012, two concrete foundations were identified – they are in close proximity to each other. It was determined these were from a modern (1940s to 1970s) structure, most recently used as a residential rental, based on household refuse that dates to that era.

An archaeologist concluded the site is likely part of the remains of the Camp POW buildings used by the military during WWII. (Lots of information is from Escott) Camp POW appears to have been in, or in the immediate vicinity of Kaumana Lani County Park.

Many of the photos in the album are from Raymond W McCracken’s son’s post on flickr. McCracken was with the 5th Marine Division spent time in three camps on Hawai‘i Island. The photos were taken during his stay between April 13, 1945 and August 25, 1945.

Camps Tarawa and Banyan were camps where they were trained for the attack on Iwo Jima and Camp POW was the camp they were at after Iwo Jima preparing for the invasion of Japan until the war ended.