“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)
