Place Names | Page 19 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 15, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Papaʻāpoho

Papaʻāpoho describes a flat area with a depression or hollow, which is how the island of Papaʻāpoho is shaped. It’s over 1,000-miles from Honolulu.

This 23.4-million-year-old island is over 1.2-miles across and has a land area of approximately 400-acres, making it the third largest island within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument (to the northwest of the Main Hawaiian Islands.)

Like its name, the island has an elevated rim (its highest point is a 40-foot-high sand dune) surrounding a broad central depression; its lowest point is a depression to the south that runs as a channel toward the ocean.

“This is a low, sandy island, elevated from 20 to 40 feet above the sea. It is about 1 1/4 miles long, and the northern part one mile wide; the surface is covered with green coarse grass.”

“There is what has been a lagoon near the southern part of the island, in the centre of which fresh water was found by digging 5-feet. Birds, fish, seal and turtle abound here, but not so plentiful as at Laysan Island.” (Paty, Polynesian, June 6, 1857)

At 10 pm, October 15, 1805, Urey Lisiansky (Yuri Fyodorovich Lisyansky,) an officer in the Imperial Russian Navy and commanding officer of the exploratory sloop-of-war Neva, ran aground on the island. Captain Lisiansky jettisoned some of the ship’s cargo to free themselves from the shallow waters.

“This island promises nothing to the adventurous voyager but certain danger in the first instance, and almost unavoidable destruction in the event. It stands in the middle of a very perilous coral bank, and, exclusive of a small eminence on the eastern part, lies almost on a level with the sea.” (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

“As there is no water, so neither are any trees to be seen on this island. We found, however, several large trunks of trees on the beach, which, no doubt, had been thrown up by the sea. … They were like the red-wood tree, that grows on the banks of the river Columbia in America. I am at a loss what conclusion to draw from the appearance of these trunks of trees in so remote a place.” (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

“I also found on the beach a small callabash, which had a round hole cut on one side of it. This could not have been drifted from a great distance, as it was fresh and in good preservation.” (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

Before leaving, Lisiansky named the island and shoal; “To the south-east point of the bank where the vessel grounded, I gave the name of Neva; while the island itself, in compliance with the unanimous wishes of my ship’s company, received the appellation of Lisiansky.” (A Voyage Round the World, Lisiansky, 1805)

The spelling Lisianski (not Lisyansky) was officially adopted by the US Geographic Board, October 1, 1924. Other names by which the island has been called include: Lisiansky, Lysianski, Lassion and Pell. (Thrum)

In 1857, King Kamehameha IV asked Captain John Paty to make a voyage of exploration to the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. In part, he was sent to investigate the possibility of guano deposits on islands there (for fertilizer for the growing agricultural economy back on the Main Hawaiian Islands.

In addition, he confirmed or corrected the existence (or not) of many islands noted on old charts; “A considerable portion of the time absent has been consumed in looking after islands and banks which do not exist, or are erroneously marked on Blunt’s charts.” (Paty, Polynesian, June 6, 1857)

In the course of his voyage on the schooner “Manuokawai,” on May 11, 1857, Paty took possession of Lisianski Island for the Hawaiian Kingdom (he had previously annexed Laysan, its nearest neighbor, on May 1, 1857.)

In 1890, George D Freeth, an Englishman who had visited the area as early as 1864, and George N Wilcox, who had previously managed a guano operation on Jarvis Island, formed the North Pacific Phosphate and Fertilizer Company.

March 31, 1893, the Provisional Government of the Hawaiian Islands adopted Act 22, confirming the contract between the Minister of Interior and North Pacific for a license for the removal of guano and phosphates from Lisianski (and Laysan.)

Guano mining (1890s,) the release of rabbits (1903) and mice caused ecological damage to Lisianski, as well as the loss of a breeding population of land birds (the Laysan duck was first reported on Lisianski Island in 1828.)

Feather collecting began on Lisianski about 1904. In response to public outcry about the feather trade, Theodore Roosevelt established the Hawaiian Island Bird Reservation, which included Lisianski, in 1909.

An armed party landed on the island in 1910. They arrested feather poachers and confiscated and destroyed about 1.4 tons of feathers, representing 140,400 birds. (NOAA)

Today, with poaching at an end, the rabbits exterminated, and the vegetation again spreading over its low sandy surface, Lisianski once more is becoming a populous bird sanctuary. (janeresture)

It is home to a large Bonin petrel colony (over three-quarters of the Bonin Petrels that nest in Hawaii nest here) and sooty tern colony, as well as a variety of other seabirds.

Lisianski has the only grove of Pisonia grandis trees in the entire Hawaiian Archipelago; this tree is dispersed by seabirds and is favored as a nesting site for many tree-nesting seabird species.

The reefs of Lisianski and surrounding Neva Shoals are called “coral gardens” by some scientists because of their abundance of coral and the variety of growth forms assumed by their colonies, including structures resembling spires, castles, and a variety of other shapes.

Hawaiian monk seals and green sea turtles are common visitors to Lisianski’s sandy white beaches. Migratory shorebirds seen on the island include the kolea (golden plover,) ulili (wandering tattler,) and kioea (bristle-thighed curlew.) The volcanic island is undergoing the slow process of erosion. (NOAA)

Click HERE for a link to a ‘street view’ of Lisianski.

October 14, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Boiling Pots

There are two rivers in the Hawaiian Islands bearing the name of Wailuku. One is on the Island of Maui, flowing out of a deep gorge in the side of the extinct volcano ‘Īao. The other Wailuku River is on the Island of Hawaii.

The Wailuku is the longest river in Hilo (twenty-six miles.) Its course runs from the mountains to the ocean. The Wailuku is the boundary between Hilo Palikū in the north and Hilo One on the south.

Hawaiians were impressed by this Wailuku and wove a dramatic tale around several interesting geologic features within the river.

Hina, the moon goddess and mother of Maui, lived in the cave beneath Rainbow Falls, concealed by the mist of the falls. Each day she beat and dried her kapa in the sun.

Far above the cave, in the bed of the river, dwelt Kuna. [Kuna is a variety of freshwater eel [or Mo‘o (dragon)] said to have been introduced from abroad. (Parker)] That portion of the river runs bears to this day the name ‘Waikuna’ or ‘Kuna’s river.’

Kuna often tormented Hina by sending over great torrents of water or by rolling logs and boulders down the stream. This would block the stream below the falls to dam the river and drown Hina.

Hina was frequently left with but little protection, and yet from her home in the cave feared nothing that Kuna could do. Precipices guarded the cave on either side, and any approach of an enemy through the falling water could be easily thwarted.

During a particularly intense storm, Mo‘o Kuna moved a huge boulder over the falls and into the river, where it fit perfectly and prevented water from flowing farther. Water level beneath the falls began to rise.

Hina, realizing her danger, signaled her son. With two powerful strokes, he paddled his canoe from Maui to the mouth of the Wailuku. He rushed upstream and split the damming boulder with a single blow, thereby saving his mother.

By this time, Kuna had fled upstream. Maui found Kuna hiding in a hole beneath the river. He tried to spear Kuna, but Kuna escaped. Finally, Kuna found deep hiding holes and thought to be safe.

Maui again found Kuna and called upon Pele to send lava into the river to drive out Kuna. The red-hot burning stones in the water made the pools boiling and the steam was rising in clouds – Kuna uttered incantation after incantation, but the water scalded and burned Kuna.

Kuna leaped from the pools and fled down the river. The waters of the pools are no longer scalding, but they have never lost the tumbling, tossing, foaming, boiling swirl which Maui gave to them when he threw into them the red-hot stones with which he hoped to destroy Kuna, and they are known today as the ‘Boiling Pots.’ (Westervelt, USGS)

Despite the name, the water is not normally hot. The only time in the modern history of the river that the water was heated was in 1855 and 1856 when a lava flow from Mauna Loa advanced across the Saddle between that volcano and Mauna Kea. Lava flowed into the Wailuku River channel, but did not cross it, about 4 miles above the Boiling Pots. (BIVN)

The Boiling Pots is about 1.5 miles upstream from Rainbow Falls and is a succession of eroded, hollowed out terraced pools that fill with the flow of the river. When the river is engorged with storm runoff, the ‘pots’ fill to the brim, become turbulent and appear to ‘boil.’ (HawaiianAir)

The Wailuku River is an important landmark to geologists, because it marks the approximate boundary between the lava flows of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. It is the state’s longest river and the southernmost that carries water all year.

According to the USGS, the river was formed by at least two lava flows coming from Mauna Kea, the oldest, the ‘Anuenue flow (as old as 10,500 years), is the same flow that formed the thick lip of Rainbow Falls and most of the rounded, gray boulders at Boiling Pots.

Tracing the flows up and down the Wailuku tells a geologic story of a river that had already deeply cut into Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa flows when it was filled by the ‘Anuenue flow over 10,000 years ago. Many of these boulders are frozen into a younger pahoehoe flow, named after the Punahoa ahupua‘a and about 3,100 years old.

The filling caused the river to shift in many places and resume its erosional downcutting before lava again ventured into the river 3,100 years ago. (The Hawaiian and the geologic versions of the Wailuku River story have many similarities, including the pools – ‘pots.’ (USGS)

The pots, each about 50-feet in diameter, are eroded into the 10,500 year old Mauna Loa lava flow. When the water is low, the river does not flow over some of the pot rims but it continues to flow through them. (USGS)

An average of 275-million gallons of water flows through the Wailuku to Hilo daily – during intense storms, the discharge can be more than 20 times greater. On average, the Wailuku transports approximately 10 tons of suspended sediment into Hilo Bay each day.

About a half mile up the river from the boiling pots is Peʻepeʻe Falls. Waiānuenue Avenue (rainbow (seen in) water) is named for the most famous waterfall, Ka Wailele ʻO Waiānuenue, Rainbow Falls on the Wailuku River.

DLNR operated the Wailuku River State Park, here. There are two separate park areas, Boiling Pots and Rainbow Falls. Flash flooding is common, and because there are no lifeguards, many have perished in the river by getting sucked into the water and becoming trapped within concealed lava tubes and caves.

The best way to experience this beautiful and deadly natural phenomena is from a cement overlook, just a short walk from the paved parking lot.

October 8, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Last House on the Beach

“In the latter post-contact period (ca. post 1850), the area [along Waikiki Beach] has been used for private residences: in the early portion of this period it was the domain of the royal family and the high ali‘i.”

“Foreign born businessmen and the children of missionaries began to acquire property along the beach in the late nineteenth century. They built large beach houses, which were used on weekends and holidays. The Young, Wilder, and Macfarlane families had house lots within and adjacent to the project area by 1897.”

Alexander Young was born in Blackburn, Scotland, December 14, 1833, the son of Robert and Agnes Young. His father was a contractor. When young, he apprenticed in a mechanical engineering and machinist department.

One of his first jobs included sailing around the Horn in 1860 to Vancouver Island with a shipload of machinery and a contract to build and operate a large sawmill at Alberni.

He left Vancouver Island for the distant “Sandwich Islands,” arriving in Honolulu February 5, 1865; he then formed a partnership with William Lidgate to operate a foundry and machine shop at Hilo, Hawaiʻi, continuing in this business for four years.

Moving to Honolulu, Young bought the interest of Thomas Hughes in the Honolulu Iron Works and continued in this business for 32 years. On his retirement from the iron works he invested in sugar plantation enterprises. He became president of the Waiakea Mill Co.

During the monarchy he served in the House of Nobles, 1889, was a member of the advisory council under the provisional Government and was a Minister of the Interior in President Dole’s cabinet.

With the new century he started a new career, when in 1900 he started construction of the Alexander Young Hotel, fronting Bishop Street and extending the full block between King and Hotel streets in downtown Honolulu. The 192-room building was completed in 1903.

In 1905, Young acquired the Moana Hotel and later the Royal Hawaiian Hotel (the ‘old’ Royal Hawaiian in downtown Honolulu that was later (1917) purchased for the Army and Navy YMCA.)

The Honolulu businessman whose downtown hotel that bore his name helped him became known as the father of the hotel industry in Hawaiʻi.

“Even before the Waikīkī coast became a tourist attraction, rich haole businessmen built their own beach houses along the shore. West of the Seaside were three houses, according to the recollections of Elizabeth Kinau Wilder, who grew up in their Waikīkī home in the 1910s. She recalled:”

“‘A narrow driveway, which faced the length of our front yard, led to the Youngs. Mr. Young didn’t have enough room for his carriage to turn around, so S.G. [Samuel Gardner Wilder, Elizabeth’s grandfather] let him use some of his property as a friendly gesture, never dreaming that he would never get it back! And when the Macfarlanes’ house was found to be fifteen feet on our land, S.G gave it to him rather than have the house torn down!’”

A 1914 Fire Insurance map, shows to the west of the Seaside dining room (with a semicircular rotunda), the “Seaside Hotel Rooms” partially over the water, which is the old Hawaiian Annex. Adjacent to this is a series of bathhouses and then a large family residence (labeled with a “D” for dwelling).

“This house is identified in several historic photographs as the ‘Bertha Young’ house. Bertha was a playmate of Elizabeth Wilder, who remembers many pleasant days spent at the adjacent Seaside Hotel.”

“During the 1920s, the Waikīkī landscape would be transformed when the construction of the Ala Wai Drainage Canal, begun in 1921 and completed in 1928, resulted in the draining and filling in of the remaining ponds and irrigated fields of Waikīkī.”

“The muliwai or lagoonal backwater of ‘Āpuakēhau Stream that reached the sea between the present Royal Hawaiian and Moana Hotels was filled in between 1919 and 1927. The filling in of ‘Āpuakēhau Stream and the excavating of the Ala Wai canal were elements of a plan to urbanize Waikīkī and the surrounding districts:”

“‘The [Honolulu city] planning commission began by submitting street layout plans for a Waikīkī reclamation district. In January 1922 a Waikīkī improvement commission resubmitted these plans to the board of supervisors, which, in turn, approved them a year later.’”

“The Royal Hawaiian Hotel was formally opened on February 1, 1927 and with a maximum height of 150 feet was the tallest privately owned building in the Territory at that time.” (Cultural Surveys).

“At the Ewa end of the Royal was the Bertha Young property. Bertha Young was part of the family who started the Young Hotel. Bertha Young’s place fronted on the ocean right next to the Royal.” (Fred Hemmings Sr. OCC)

The Bertha Young home survived the demolition of the Seaside Hotel in the 1920s and the construction of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in 1927. (Cultural Surveys) “Miss Young attended Punahou School and was graduated from Oakland High School in California. … During World War II, Miss Young worked with the Red Cross.” (SB, June 12, 1963)

Bertha Young, “who refused to surrender to the concrete jungle of Waikiki,” (SB June 12, 1963) died June 11, 1963. “[S]he lived in the last privately owned beachfront home in Waikiki.” (SB, June 13, 1963)

She built the house in 1927, designed by Dickey & Wood, for $13,400. (SB, Nav 12, 1927) “She lived for more than 50 years on the property given to her by her mother, Ruth.” (SB, June 12, 1963)

The Bertha Young property was sold in 1963 for $600,000 to the Von Hamm-Young Company. (SB, Aug 20, 1963) Her sister was Bernie Von Hamm and brother-in-law was Conrad C Von Hamm.

On February 26, 1969, “a bulldozer jazzed up with the flower leis dug the first spade of earth … for the Sheraton-Waikiki in an era full of memories for many kamaainas.” (SB, Feb 27, 1969)

October 5, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pūlaholaho

In former times, the area we now call downtown Honolulu was not called Honolulu; instead, each land section had its own name. (A map in the album notes many of the different areas and their respective place names. )

‘Kou’ was later used to describe the district roughly encompassing the present day area from Nuʻuanu to Alakea Streets and from Hotel to Queen Streets Street (Queen Street was, then, only a pathway along the water’s edge.)

The harbor was known as Kuloloia. It was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the English ship Butterworth, in 1794. He named the harbor “Fair Haven.” The name Honolulu (meaning “sheltered bay” – with numerous variations in spelling) soon came into use.

Kamehameha I, who had been living at Waikīkī since 1804, moved his court here in 1809. His immediate court consisted of high-ranking chiefs and their retainers.

In 1815, Kamehameha I granted Russian representatives permission to build a storehouse near Honolulu Harbor. Instead, directed by the German adventurer Georg Schaffer (1779-1836,) they began building a fort and raised the Russian flag. When Kamehameha learned of this, he sent several chiefs to remove the Russians.

The partially built blockhouse was finished by Hawaiians; they mounted guns protected the fort. Its original purpose was to protect Honolulu by keeping enemy or otherwise undesirable ships out.

By 1830, the fort had 40 guns mounted on the parapets; it was called Fort Kekuanohu (literally, ‘the back of the scorpion fish,’ as in ‘thorny back,’) because of the rising guns on the walls. (Fort Street is so named, because of the fort on the waterfront.)

One of the areas nearby was called Pūlaholaho (it is down near the old waterfront, ʻEwa side of where the fort was. (In today’s perspective, it runs from Merchant, Nuʻuanu, Queen Streets and up through the breezeway of the Harbor Court project (this used to be the location of Kaʻahumanu Street.)

April 25, 1825, Richard Charlton arrived in the Islands to serve as the first British consul. A former sea captain and trader, he was already familiar with the islands of the Pacific and had promoted them in England for their commercial potential (he worked for the East India Company in the Pacific as early as 1821.)

Charlton had been in London during Kamehameha II’s visit in 1824 and secured an introduction to the king and his entourage. By the time he arrived in Hawai‘i in 1825, instructions had already arrived from Kamehameha II that Charlton was to be allowed to build a house, or houses, any place he wished and should be made comfortable. This apparently was due to favors Charlton had done for the royal party. (Hawaiʻi State Archives)

Charlton didn’t play well with others. A report by Thrum noted, “July 13th (1827) – Last evening the English consul, in conversation with Boki told him he would cut Kaahumanu’s head off and all the residents were ready to join in it. Guards were ordered out in all parts of the village. Mr. Charlton may be ready to take up arms against the chief but few, if any, I believe would follow or join with him.” (Thrum)

In spite of that, Charlton did receive land for his home and for Consular offices. The records suggest that the land under the present Washington Place premises were part of a grant from the chiefs to Charlton in 1825-26 to provide a permanent location for a British Consulate. (HABS)

(Charlton later sold that property to Captain John Dominis (December 26, 1840,) who later built Washington Place. … By the way, Beretania Street was so named because of the British Consulate there.)

Charlton claimed this and other lands as his personal property. He also claimed land down by the waterfront. There was no disagreement over a small parcel, Wailele, but the larger adjoining parcel he claimed (Pūlaholaho) had been occupied since 1826 by retainers and heirs of Kaʻahumanu.

In making his claim for Pūlaholaho, Charlton showed a 299-lease dated October 5, 1826 issued to him by Kalanimōku. That claim, made in 1840, however, was made after Kalanimōku and Kaʻahumanu had died.

Following Charlton’s presentation of his claim to rights of the entire land section of Pūlaholaho, Kamehameha III sought a means of providing security for the native residents on the land, and claimed that Pūlaholaho belonged to the crown. (Maly)

In rejecting Charlton’s claim, Kamehameha III cited the fact that Kalanimōku did not have the authority to grant the lease. At the time the lease was made, Kaʻahumanu was Kuhina Nui, and only she and the king could make such grants. The land was Kaʻahumanu’s in the first place, and Kalanimōku certainly could not give it away. (Hawaiʻi State Archives) The dispute dragged on for years.

This, and other grievances purported by Charlton and the British community in Hawai‘i, led to the landing of George Paulet on February 11, 1843 “for the purpose of affording protection to British subjects, as likewise to support the position of Her Britannic Majesty’s representative here”.

Following this, King Kamehameha III ceded the Islands and Paulet took control. After five months of British rule, Queen Victoria, on learning the injustice done, immediately sent Rear Admiral Richard Darton Thomas to the islands to restore sovereignty to its rightful rulers.

On July 31, 1843 the Hawaiian flag was raised. The ceremony was held in area known as Kulaokahuʻa; the site of the ceremony was turned into a park, Thomas Square.

On November 26, 1845, legal title to Charlton’s land claim was secured and was sold to British businessman, Robert C Janion (of Starkey, Janion and Co – that company later became Theo H. Davies & Co and one of Hawaiʻi’s ‘Big 5.’) (Liber 3:221; Maly) Charlton stayed in Honolulu until February 19, 1846, when he left Hawai’i for the last time.

Pūlaholaho was subdivided and Janion auctioned off the properties in 1846. Captain Heinrich (Henry) Hackfeld opened a store on one of them in October 1849. His company, H Hackfeld & Co, later became American Factors, Amfac, another Hawaiʻi ‘Big 5’ company.

A lasting legacy is the Melchers Building, the oldest commercial building in Honolulu, erected in 1854, at 51 Merchant Street, built for the retail firm of Melchers and Reiner. Its original coral stone walls are no longer visible on most sides, under its layers of stucco and paint (check the makai side of the building to see the coral blocks.)

October 4, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kahikinui

Ku ka moku i Kahiki; o Kahiki nui ka moku
i olelo ia ilaila i poohina ai ka makani.

The district that resembles Kahiki, is to Kahiki-nui, the district which is said to be made silvery by the winds (descriptive of the winds bearing salty sea-spray from the ocean.) (Ka Hoku o Hawaii, March 11, 1915; Maly)

Archaeologists and historians describe the inhabiting of these islands in the context of settlement which resulted from voyages taken in canoes, across the open ocean. Some believe the first Polynesians to arrive at Hawaii came ashore at Kahikinui.

They have proposed that early Polynesian settlement happened with voyages between Kahiki (Tahiti – the ancestral homelands of the Hawaiian gods and people) and Hawai‘i, with long distance voyages occurring fairly regularly through at least the thirteenth century.

It has been generally reported that the land-sources of the early Hawaiian population – the Hawaiian “Kahiki” – were the Marquesas and Society Islands. The moku (district) of Kahikinui is named because from afar on the ocean, it resembles a larger form of Kahiki, the ancestral homeland. (Maly)

Some suggest place names illustrate the historical ties between Kahikinui (Great Tahiti) and the islands of Tahiti. Some believed there were navigational ties between the two places and that they had ancestral ties to Tahiti.

Other place names in Kahikinui include: Manawainui (The big water/river) for a big gulch where a lot of water is generated there during heavy rain; Kanaloa for a place where Kanaloa may have landed: Manamana which refers to spiritual powers: and Mahamenui which refers to Mahame trees, a hard wood, and probably prolific through the area at one time.

Some believe that along Kahikinui were given names that referred to Hawaiʻiloa, an ancient navigator. These included fishing koʻa, and astronomical and navigational sites on the mountain. (Matsuoka)

There are eight named subdivisions within Kahikinui (ahupuaʻa and/or ʻili;) from west to east, these named land units are: Auwahi, Lualaʻilua, Alena, Kāpapa, Nakaohu, Nakaaha, Mahamenui, and Manawainui. Most maps indicate that the eastern boundary of Kahikinui was Wai‘ōpai Gulch. (Pacific Legacy) However, today, most of these get joined together into a single reference to Kahikinui.

The first written description of the region was made by La Pérouse in 1786 while sailing along the southeast coast of Maui in search of a place to drop anchor:

“I coasted along its shore at a distance of a league (three miles) …. The aspect of the island of Mowee was delightful (Hāna to Kaupō.) We beheld water falling in cascades from the mountains, and running in streams to the sea, after having watered the habitations of the natives, which are so numerous that a space of three or four leagues (9 – 12 miles) may be taken for a single village.” (La Pérouse, 1786; Bushnell)

“… the sea beat upon the coast with the utmost violence, and kept us in the situation of Tantalus, desiring and devouring with our eyes what it was impossible for us to attain … After passing Kaupō no more waterfalls are seen, and villages are fewer.” (La Pérouse, 1786; Bushnell)

Then, as they passed Kahikinui, “We saw no more waterfalls, the trees were fairly sparsely planted along the plain, and the villages, consisting only of 10 or 12 huts, were quite distant from each other.”

“Every moment made us regret the country which we were leaving behind, and we only found shelter when we were faced with a frightful shore, where the lava had once run down as waterfalls do today in the other part of the island.” (La Pérouse, 1786; Kirch)

Handy observed that, “In … Kahikinui, the forest zone was much lower and rain more abundant before the introduction of cattle. The usual forest zone plants were cultivated in the lower upland above the inhabited area.”

Kahikinui was arid along the coast but well-forested above the cloud line. Fishing was good along its rugged shores. Hawaiians lived in isolated communities on the broken lava, scattered from one end of the district to the other close to the sea or slightly
inland, wherever potable water was found in a brackish well or a submarine spring offshore.

The Hawaiians of Kahikinui developed garden holes also, but their primary cultivation area was upland, just below the forest zone and where the rainfall was plentiful. There, they developed upland plots or dry taro and other edible plants. (Handy; Matsuoka)

“From…Kahikinui … the sweet potato was the staple food for a considerable population, supplemented with dry taro grown in the low forest zones. This is the greatest continuous dry planting area in the Hawaiian islands.” (Handy; Maly)

“The district was populated largely by makaʻāinana, common folk, who were derided by officials of the nineteenth-century Hawaiian Kingdom as ‘ili ulaula, “red skins,” a reference to their sunburned bodies, reflecting long hours of toil in the sweet potato patches.” (Kirch)

The ocean off Kahikinui is a wealth of marine resources that remain available for education, traditional practices, subsistence lifestyles and recreation. As its name implies Kahikinui means big Tahiti and points to ancestral directions and paths to ancestral places over the ocean. It is an important wayfinding place for places beyond the island chain. (DHHL)

“The fishermen along the coasts of Kahikinui and Honua’ula used to exchange their fish for sweet potatoes and taro grown by those living up on the kula; Hawaiian tradition gives ample evidence that the population of this now almost depopulated country was considerable…” (Handy; Maly)

As time went on, due to climate change, ranching, goats and other animals had caused the dry-land forest to recede far in-land. The Southside on Maui has now turned to mostly dust, cinder, invasive trees, cattle and a population of about less than a hundred people. Only 5% of the dry-land forest is left in the state, which can be found only on Maui and the Big Island. (KUPU)

Kahikinui is “most remote and undeveloped region;” it constituted an entire moku, an ancient political district, which had never suffered from the effects of Westernized ‘development’ … lacking in freshwater or rich soils, Kahikinui was spared the effects of sugarcane or pineapple plantations”. (Kirch)

Kahikinui is 7 miles long and 6 miles wide and ranges in elevation from sea level to 10,000-feet. Its slope at the 3,000-foot level in the forest reserve was greater than 20%, and between 10% to 20% closer to the shoreline. The land section contains several Puʻu (cinder cones.) (Matsuoka)

In 2012, the Auwahi Wind project (in the westernmost ahupua‘a of Kahikinui) installed an 8-turbine, 21-MW wind farm, with battery storage.