Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Ka-Imu-Hoku

“Fifty thousand years ago, a meteorite came crashing to Earth near what is now Winslow, Arizona, gouging a six-story-deep crater that is named for a Philadelphia mining engineer and Law School graduate, Daniel Barringer L’1882.”  (University of Pennsylvania)

Daniel Moreau Barringer was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, May 25, 1860. “It is generally recognized that my father, Daniel Moreau Barringer, by proving that Coon Butte, as it was then known, was caused by a collision between the earth and a celestial body, founded that branch of meteoritics dealing with craters.” (Brandon Barringer)

The Barringer Crater Company, founded in 1903 is a family-owned enterprise dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the Barringer Meteorite Crater.

The company is now in the sixth generation and continues to promote Barringer’s pioneering research of the Crater, becoming the first scientifically proven meteorite impact crater on Earth. (Barringer Crater Company)

“The United States Geological Survey Bulletin 1220 lists 110 impact craters or suspects. Included in Category 6, “Structures for which more data are required for classification”, is “Ka-imu-hoku, Hawaii”. This listing is based on John Davis Buddhue’s (1947) note “A Possible Meteorite Crater in the Hawaiian Islands”. This, in turn, is based on Dr. Kenneth P. Emory’s (1924) references.”

Barringer’s son, Brandon, “met Dr. Emory at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu and learned from him that the names Ka-hoku-nui (The Large Star) and Ka-imuhoku (The Star Oven) were among a hundred or so given him by Mrs. Awila Shaw, a blind native who was over seventy at the time and who had moved to Lahaina on the island of Maui.”

“Dr. Emory had been told that Ka-imu-hoku (The Star Oven) got its name because it was “a place where the meteor fell” and “a pit in the sand where a meteor fell”, while Ka-hoku-nui (The Large Star) was so named because “a meteor fell nearby” (Buddhue 1947, Emory 1924).”

“His map locates them on a beach on the northeast shore of the island, some 500 and 200 yards respectively west of the delta of the stream issuing from the great Maunelai gorge.”

“We flew to Lanai from Honolulu on January 31, 1967, in a small single-engine Cessna of the Royal Hawaiian Air Service. The pilot flew low over the beach on which Ka-hoku-nui is located, and we could see no trace of a circular formation anywhere in the reported vicinity of Ka-imu-hoku.”

“Later, we drove near the beach on a good road and covered its three-fourths of a mile carefully on foot. At Ka-hoku-nui, which seems to refer to a point rather than to the whole beach, there is a large Geodetic Survey marker. Twenty to thirty yards behind the beach from this marker to beyond the mouth of the Halulu gorge, 500 yards to the west, there is a dirt road.”

“Through Mr. and Mrs. Wallace Au, who run the Lanai Inn where we spent the night, we talked to Mr. Susumu Nishimura, who came to the island in 1915 and heard many stories from a blind native lay preacher named Alika, who was also well over seventy then, but gave no such account.” (Barringer)

The 1923 Geological Survey Map (scale 1/62500, 50-ft contour intervals), the 1936 Geologic and Topographic map of Harold T. Stearns (1940) and a current road map all show Ka-hoku-nui at this spot, but none show Ka-imu-hoku or any feature where it was supposed to be.”

“A survey by air and on the ground revealed no depression at the place supposedly called Ka-imu-hoku, Hawaiian for “The Star Oven,” on the island of Lanai. It had been reported as a “pit in the sand” or “the place where a meteor fell.” Reasons are given for believing the name was based on native observation of a nineteenth-century fireball.” (Barringer)

“The fact that we found no meteoric material nor any sign of impact may not be conclusive. The fact that none was found in constructing this road directly through the supposed location of the ‘crater’ would seem at least very significant.”

“So is, I feel, the naming of the beach or point for a ‘large star’. A meteorite would hardly be associated with a star by the natives.”

“It seems likely that the locality and the imagined depression got their names from a fireball thought to have been seen to fall there in the nineteenth century, but which actually fell, if it reached the surface of the earth, scores of miles to the north in the Pacific Ocean.”

“Our hope of promoting this ‘crater’ from suspected to proven impact origin was obviously disappointed. On the contrary, it should, we feel, be eliminated from any list of suspects. (Barringer)

But is that the end of the story?

Consider this … “Some say that should a person die and is buried at the edge of a river, or a spring, or a watercourse, then his soul will enter another body such as a shark’s, or an eel’s, or any other living body of the sea.”

“Those that are buried by a body of fresh water will enter that stream and become a large okuhekuhe or tailed-lizard; and if buried on dry land, then they will enter the body of an owl, and such like.”

“These things which are entered by the souls of men become guides to their friends who are living. This is what the soul which has entered these things would do: It would proceed and enter his friend, and when it has possessed him, the soul would eat regular food until satisfied, then go back. And he would repeatedly do that.”

“And this friend, should he have any trouble on land, such as war, then the owl would lead him to a place of safety; and if in fresh water, the lizard and such like would keep him safe; and if the trouble is in the ocean, the shark and such like would care for him. This is one reason why a great many people are prohibited from eating many things.”

“Another thing: The soul also lives on a dry plain after the death of the body; and such places are called ka leina a ka uhane (the casting-off place of the soul). “

“This name applies to wherever in Hawaii nei people lived. Following are the places where the souls live … for the Lanai people, at Hokunui … All these places are known as the casting-off places of souls.  Should a soul get to any of these places it will be impossible for it come back again.” (Fornander V)

And, more directly to the prospect of a crater (Kaimuhoku) at Kahokunui … “It is said in the traditions of these islands from before, that there were many people, and that there were many battles which destroyed them in those days. There was much destruction in the time of Kahekili, here on Oahu.”

“It was the battle called Poloku, of which it is said that the waters of Niuhelewai were clogged to the uplands because of the great numbers of people who died in the battle.”

“It is from the battle that the house of Kaualua at Moanalua was built the bones of the people were the posts of the house, and the fence around it was all bones. It was the same with the battle at lao Wailuku, that battle was called Kepaniwai as the waters of lao were clogged with the men killed there.”

“It was the same at Kahokunui on Lanai. The deep pit was filled with many men killed in the battle called Kalaehohoma …” (Maakuia, Kaopuaua, Honolulu Mar. 18. 1862. [Maly translator; Hanohano Lanai])

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Honolua, Maui

In northwest Maui, the district the ancients called Kaʻānapali, there are six hono (bays,) which are legendary:  from South to North, Honokowai (bay drawing fresh water), Honokeana (cave bay), Honokahua (sites bay,) Honolua (two bays), Honokohau (bay drawing dew) and Hononana (animated bay).

This area was likely settled between 600-1100 AD. By about the 15th century, all of Nā Hono were under the realm of Pi’ilani, the ruling chief of Maui, Kahoʻolawe, Molokai and Lānai.

During his reign, Piʻilani gained political prominence for Maui by unifying the East and West of the island, bringing rise to the political status of Maui.

Piʻilani’s power eventually extended from Hāna on one end of the island to the West, in addition to the islands visible from Honoapiʻilani – Kahoʻolawe, Molokai and Lānai.

Piʻilani (“stairway to heaven”) unified West Maui; his territory included the six West Maui bays (Nā Hono A Pi‘ilani,) a place he frequented with his court to relax, fish and surf.

One of these, Honolua, is the subject of this summary.

Settlement patterns of Honolua followed patterns elsewhere, permanent habitation around the coastal and near shore lands, as well as the inland Honolua valley land. The forested and ridge-top lands were used for gathering forest products, and for forest plantings of various utilitarian Hawaiian plants.

Ancient Hawaiian villages on Maui were generally placed at the mouths of the larger gulches or at least within sight of the sea. Both pre-contact and historic features have been identified in the coastal and nearshore lands region. It can be inferred that the coastal lands were settled since the pre-contact period and extensively used during the historic period.  (Cultural Surveys)

Piʻilani had two sons, according to legend, one of whom, Kihaʻaʻpiʻilani, surfed at Honolua Bay.

Kekaulike, a descendant of Piʻilani, later became chief. He had two sons, Kauhiʻaimoku a Kama and Kamehamehanui, who engaged in civil war.

Honolua Bay was a landing site for Peleʻioholani, ruling chief of Kauai and Oʻahu (mid- to late-1700s,) an ally of Kauhiʻaimoku a Kama. Warriors would convene at Honolua Valley, prior to traveling to Honokahua Bay.

Through the Māhele, the bulk of Honolua was awarded to William C Lunalilo (later King Lunalilo) on June 19, 1852.  In addition, kuleana lands were awarded to native tenants.

After Lunalilo’s death, his will established a trust to build a home to accommodate the poor, destitute and inform people of Hawaiian (aboriginal) blood or extraction, with preference given to older people.

Eventually, the land subsequently transferred several times, culminating with HP Baldwin in 1889.

Honolua (and neighboring Līpoa Point) was used in a variety of ways, coffee and cattle (Honolua Ranch, starting in late-1880s,) pineapple (Baldwin Packers and later Maui Land and Pineapple, starting in 1912,) an alternative airplane landing field (1920) and West Maui Golf Club (1926.)  Later, portions were included in the Kapalua Resort area (Kapalua Land Company, 1974.)

In 1946, a tsunami was generated by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in the Aleutian Islands.  This tsunami struck Hawaiʻi on April 1st.  Wave run-up at Honolua was recorded at 24-feet, destroying coastal improvements.

Honolua Bay was the historic starting point for the Hōkūleʻa’s first trip to the South Pacific.  As part of the US Bicentennial, on May 1, 1976, Captain Kawika Kapahulehua and Navigator Mau Pialug, departed Honolua Bay for Papeʻete, Tahiti.

Mau navigated the leg to Tahiti with only his traditional knowledge and skills while the return leg was navigated using modern methods and tools.

Following the ill-fated 1978 capsizing of Hōkūleʻa, Nainoa Thompson successfully navigated a second voyage to Tahiti – a 6,000 mile round trip – with Mau on board in 1980.

In 1979, the Honolua-Mokulēʻia Marine Life Conservation District was established to conserve and replenish marine resources in Mokulēʻia and Honolua Bays.

With the protections and management through the Marine Life Conservation District, Honolua has some of the best snorkeling on Maui.

Today, on a good day, Honolua is reportedly one of the best surfing spots in the world.  Breaking wave heights associated with the largest north and northwest swells range between 10-20-feet near Honolua Bay.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

1919 Alika Eruption

“Alika was a man and Hina was his wahine, and their occupation was farming. Before they would begin farming, they would vow that should their crops mature, they would consume it along with Pele, the god. But when the crops reached maturity, the two of them didn’t carry out their promise, and the day that they ate of their crops, that was when they soon died.”

“This is how it happened: Hina urged Alika to eat sweet potato, and so Alika went to dig up some, and after finding some, he baked it in the umu¹ until done and then they ate it all; then the forest began to speak as if it were a man, echoing all about them.”

“During which time, the man soon thought of their vow. Alika said to Hina, “We will die because of you,” and before he was done speaking, lava soon flamed forth and they perished.”

“And it is for this man that this land is called by that name until this day; if you look at the aftermath of the lava, in this area, the burnt homes of Kaupo stand jagged because of the spreading flames²; the land is horrid in appearance in every way; but the kamaaina love it here, and it is only the malihini who disparage it.” (Zalika, South Kona, Kuokoa, 8/7/1886)

“The greatest volcanic event in Hawaii for the year 1919 was the activity of Mauna Loa itself. It was no surprise to the unsleeping keeper of Kilauea and the Long Mountain.”

“That autumn, with its unruly flock of seismic disturbances, was a busy one for Professor Jaggar, who made more than one lofty ascent to the flaming pastures of his charge.”

“Back at Kilauea observatory, [Jaggar] noticed the fume and glow from Mauna Loa’s 13,675-foot crater, Mokuaweoweo, spreading to the southward along a route he knew well.”

“By telephone he warned Kapapala and the other districts in the course the flow would take. Many is the account I have listened to from residents of those sections who saw destruction looming far above, and who hurried to pack their belongings in preparation for flight.” (Charmian London)

On September 26, 1919, a vent high on Mauna Loa’s Southwest Rift Zone erupted for just a few hours. Three days later, a breakout lower on the rift zone erupted fountains of lava up to 400 ft high and sent a river of lava down the volcano’s forested slopes.

Within about 20 hours, an ‘a‘ā flow several hundred meters (yards) wide crossed the circle-island “Government Road” (predecessor of Highway 11), burying the small village of ‘Ālika (north of Miloli‘i). This flow can be seen today at Highway 11, mile markers 90–91. (USGS)

“Some thought they would go grey in a night, through the freaks played by the fluid avalanche, which would seem to skirmish in avoidance of an obviously doomed home. And I noticed a hesitance among these, as well as other island visitors who rushed to the ten-days’ wonder, about telling what they had seen.”  (Charmian London)

“‘It’s like this,’ they faltered. ‘We saw things that nobody would believe. How do we know? We tried it out when we got home. The thing was too big, too terrible, to impress those who had not seen it – in spite of the great smoke and glare that hid Hawaii from the other islands for days and days.”

“Why, I stood on the hot bank of that burning cascade, and saw bowlders as big as houses, I tell you, perfectly incandescent, go rolling down to the sea; and-but there I go. I don’t think you’d believe the things I could tell you.’” (Charmian London)

“The lava is creeping very slowly, but it is wiping out the koa forests and the ohia in its path; and the fine grazing lands are being covered, and the ranch land where the animals of a Portuguese man of Keei are kept, and whose name is John Deniz, is half covered over by blazing lava; the land owned by Mrs. Carrie Robinson of Honolulu also is land greatly covered by blazing lava.”

“In the estimation of Tom White and those who went up with him, the branch flowing to the sea of Opihali is almost 13 miles from the government road, and the branch flowing to the sea of Kaapuna is about eight miles from the government road, and the branch flowing to the sea of Papa of Honomalino perhaps has not at all reached the area called Puu Keokeo.”

“Because of the branching of the lava flow into three branches is one of the reasons for the great weakening of the flow, even if the flow from the caldera from the mountain side is very powerful.” (Hoku o Hawaii, 10/23/1919)

When the flow reached the ocean, “Noises were heard underwater of seething and of tapping concussions. The uprush of steam where the lava made contact with the sea carried up rock fragments and sand and built a black sand cone.”

“The lava ‘rafts’ or blocks of bench magma which rolled down the live channel, were seen to bob up, make surface steam, and float out some distance from the shore without sinking at first, as though buoyed by the hot gas inflating them. Lightnings were seen in the steam column.”

“There was much muddying of the water and fish were killed in considerable number…. For 50 or more feet out to sea from the base of the great column of vapor which was rising opposite the lava channel somewhere beyond …”

“… the water was dotted with small jets and sometimes a swirling “steam spout” or tornado effect, a foot or two in diameter, would rise from the water a few feet away from the main steam column and join the cloud above.”

“Sometimes a shower of small rock fragments each two or three inches in diameter would be jetted up from a place in the water close to shore, each projectile followed by a tail of vapor, to heights 15 or 20 feet above the sea.” (Jaggar, Moore & Ault))

“… the high fountains of lava, the great detonations of explosions, the lake of fire on the mountain, and the final plunge of the melt over old lava bluffs into the sea in a river speeding five to ten miles an hour. This red torrent coursed for ten days.”

“The heat of the stilled lava was not yet gone when, four months afterward, I motored upon it where it had crossed, a hundred yards wide, the highway in Alika district – a waste of aa as upstanding as the wavelet of a tide-rip, kupikipikio.”

“It had swept everything in its path, causing suffering, fear and death among the herds.”

“A temporary restoration of the highway was begun as soon as the heat had sufficiently cooled; but it made one nervous, in an inflammable vehicle, to see how a light shower caused the lava to steam, and to feel warmth still rising from crevices. ….”

“During the eruption there was a succession of short-period, shallow tidal waves ranging from three to fourteen feet in height.  These kept in trepidation the passengers on vessels of all classes that swarmed off shore.”

“An authentic tale is told of the wife of an islander being swept some distance off-shore by a subsiding tidal wave. Fortunately she was a swimmer.”   (Charmian London)

The 1919 ‘Ālika lava flow advanced 11 mi in about 24 hours, reaching the sea north of Ho‘ōpūloa, where it poured into the ocean for 10 days. The eruption then slowly waned until November 5, when all activity ceased. (USGS)

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Kīpahulu

The south-eastern section of the island of Maui, comprising the districts of Hāna, Kīpahulu, Kaupo and Kahikinui, was at one time a Royal Center and central point of kingly and priestly power.

This section of the island was prominent in the reign of Kekaulike, and has Maui’s largest heiau (Piʻilanihale Heiau – near Hāna.)  Others also seated their power here.

Long before the first Europeans arrived on Maui, Kīpahulu was prized by the Hawaiian aliʻi for its fertile land and abundant ocean.

The first written description of Kīpahulu 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.  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, about the distance from Hāna to Kaupō) may be  taken for  a single village.” (Bushnell)

“But all the huts are on the seacoast, and the mountains  are so near, that the habitable  part of the island appeared to be less than half a league in depth.  The trees which crowned the mountains,  and the verdure of the banana plants that surrounded the habitations, produced  inexpressible  charms to our senses …”

“… but 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.” (Bushnell)

With the development of the whaling industry on the island in 1880s Kīpahulu population started to decline as people moved to main whaling ports, such as Lāhainā.

In the early-1900s, one of the regular ports of call for the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company was Kīpahulu. Steamships provided passenger service around Maui and between the islands.

Kīpahulu Landing also provided a way for growers and ranchers to ship their goods to markets. Today the land where Kīpahulu Landing existed is private but protected with a conservation easement, overseen by the Maui Coastal Land Trust (now part of the Hawaiian Islands Land Trust.)

A famous Kīpahulu resident was Charles Lindbergh.  He was the first to make a solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.  Other pilots had crossed the Atlantic before him; but Lindbergh was the first person to do it alone nonstop.

“Early in the morning on May 20, 1927 Charles Lindbergh took off in The Spirit of St. Louis from Roosevelt Field near New York City. Flying northeast along the coast, he was sighted later in the day flying over Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.”

“From St. Johns, Newfoundland, he headed out over the Atlantic, using only a magnetic compass, his airspeed indicator, and luck to navigate toward Ireland.”  (New York Times, May 21, 1927)

“On the evening of May 21, he crossed the coast of France, followed the Seine River to Paris and touched down at Le Bourget Field at 10:22 pm. … A frenzied crowd of more than 100,000 people gathered at Le Bourget Field to greet him. ”  (New York Times, May 21, 1927)

Lindbergh was introduced to Maui by his friend Sam Pryor, a Pan American Vice President and supporter of his flight across the Atlantic.  Having first visited Pryor’s home near Hana, Lindberg later acquired land next to him and built his house.

Lindbergh died of cancer on Aug. 26, 1974, in his home on Maui.  He was buried on the grounds of the Palapala Hoʻomau Church.  (Pryor died in 1985 and is buried there, too – as well as Sam’s six gibbons.)

Kīpahulu’s Palapala Hoʻomau Church started construction in 1857 and was completed in 1862; it was restored in 1965 (with a lot of help from Lindberg and Pryor.)

In January 2012, the Palapala Hoʻomau Preservation Society was created to care for the Church.  For many years, an endowment administered by the Hawai‘i Conference Foundation, set up by the Lindbergh and Pryor families, provided funds for maintenance and upkeep of the property.  (hcucc)

In recent years, the need for restoration work on the church has gone beyond what the endowment fund can provide.  Although there is no regular worshipping community at Palapala Hoʻomau, the historical significance of the church and graveyard, as well as the number of visitors who come to the property each year, led the Hawai‘i Conference Foundation to find a solution.  (hcucc)

Mike Love of the Beach Boys later bought the Lindberg home, a 5-acre estate, down a twisting, scenic road a few miles from Hāna.  Love also purchased the Pryor’s 14-acre adjacent site and house.  (Los Angeles Times, December 31, 1989)

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David Douglas

“David Douglas was born at Scone, near Perth, in 1799, being the son of John Douglas and Jean Drummond, his wife. His father was a stone mason, possessed of good abilities and a store of general information, rarely surpassed by persons in his sphere of life.”

“His family consisted of three daughters and as many sons, of whom, the subject of this notice was the second. At about three years of age he was sent to a school in the village … At the parish school of Kinnoul, kept by Mr. Wilson, whither he was soon sent, David Douglas evinced a similar preference to fishing and bird-nesting over book leaning …”

“His boyish days were not remarkable for any particular incidents. Like others at his time of life he was lively and active, and never failed of playing his part in the usual sports of the village. A taste for rambling, and much fondness for objects of natural history being, however, very strongly evinced.”

“From his earliest years nothing, it is said, gave Douglas so much delight as conversing about travelers and foreign countries, and the books which pleased him best were Sinbad the Sailor and Robinson Crusoe.”

“In the gardens of the Earl of Mansfield, he served a seven years’ apprenticeship, during which time it is admitted by all who knew him, that no one could he more industrious and anxious to excell than he was …”

“… his whole heart and mind being devoted to the attainment of a thorough knowledge of his business … he acquired the taste for botanical pursuits which he so ardently followed in after life.”

“Having completed the customary term in the ornamental department, he was moved to the forcing and kitchen garden, in the affairs of which he appeared to take as lively an interest as he had previously done in those of the flower garden.”

“Lee’s Introduction to Botany and Don’s Catalogue, his former text books, if they may be so termed, were now laid aside, and Nicol’s Gardener’s Calendar taken in their stead.”

Douglas was recommended “to Joseph Sabine, Esq., the Honorary Secretary of the Horticultural Society, as a botanical collector; and to London he directed his course accordingly in the spring of 1823.”

“His first destination was China, but intelligence having about that time been received of a rupture between the British and Chinese, he was despatched in the latter end of May, to the United States, where he procured many fine plants, including a large number of specimens of various oaks, and greatly increased the society’s collection of fruit trees.”  (Sir William Jackson Hooker; Wilson)

“David Douglas has no rival as a collector of Northwest plants. He introduced thousands of them to Europe, some 215 of which were new, and many were named for him. He noted 7,032 in totaling his mileage for the two years of his first expedition, April 1825-April 1827, and another time mentioned adding some 7,000 distinct species of flowering plants to the collection—a plant a mile, it might be said.”

Of note, “He laid in specimens of pinus taxifolia (Douglas fir) with pine cones which were eventually distributed to nurserymen and to fellows of the Horticultural Society to plant on their estates. He even sent samples (two planks 20 feet long) of this durable, tough, straight-grained wood that is unsurpassed in the qualities that render lumber most valuable.”

“It has become on the one hand, the world’s greatest structural timber—the most important tree in the American lumber trade—and on the other, the favorite Christmas tree in millions of homes.”

“Upon his return to London, (1827-1829) Douglas was feted and honored, and made a fellow of several learned societies. He wrote a number of professional papers and was given a “handsome offer” by John Murray for a book of his travels; his portrait was painted by Sir Daniel Macnee and hung at Kew.”

“For a time he enjoyed being a celebrity and the distinguished plant hunter, Mr. David Douglas. One of his great pleasures was to walk about the gardens of the Horticultural Society and see his flourishing seedlings.”

“But Douglas was soon impatient to be back at work, so the summer of 1830 he spent once more botanizing along the Columbia. The Indians these days were surly and becoming more war-like as they realized the white men had come to take their thousand-year-old homeland from them.”

“In December, Douglas went on to California, where he remained for 19 months. But in spite of much travel he had to note, ‘my whole collection this year (1830) in California was about 500 species, a little more or less. This is vexatiously small.’” (Gould; Vassar)

“It was while he was at Monterey that he acquired the title ‘Doctor.’ A boy had been injured, and there was no medical person in the area. Douglas was able to set the boy’s broken arm and so earned the title ‘Doctor.’” (Greenwell)

“In the summer of 1833 he went with a brigade to the Fraser River country and there had a disaster which seriously affected his eyes and his health. He had in mind a trip across Russia, botanizing byway of Sitka, but returning to Fort Vancouver he had an accident.”

“At the Stoney Islands (now Fort George Canyon) on the Fraser, his canoe was dashed to pieces while shooting the rapids. Douglas was in the whirlpool an hour and forty minutes before being washed unconscious onto the rocky shore.”

“He lost everything—notes—specimens and equipment. Sick and discouraged he took a ship via California for Hawaii.” (Gould) “In Hawai‘i, he was called kauka, the Hawaiian word for doctor.” (Greenwell)

“As Douglas recuperated from his rheumatism and eye troubles in Hawaii, he botanized again. In 10 days he had a ‘truly splendid collection’ of some 50 species. The giant ferns especially awakened his admiring comment.  In the crater of a volcano he found the Silver Sword plant which is named for him.”

“In his enthusiasm for Hawaii he wrote, ‘One day here is worth a year of common existence.’ It was while waiting for a ship to take him to England that Douglas met the Rev. John Diell. They enjoyed climbing and botanizing together and early in July agreed to meet in Hilo on the Island of Hawaii.”

“The morning of July 12, 1834, he was crossing the north side of Manna Kea, when about six in the morning he appeared at the hut of Ned Gurney who was an English runaway convict from Botany Bay.”

“After breakfast, Douglas walked for about three quarters of an hour along the path. Gurney claimed he had warned Douglas to watch out for three bull pits ahead.”

“It was a native custom to trap the wild long-horned Spanish cattle by digging pits and covering them with brush. Douglas passed safely by the three pits, then retraced his steps to the third pit. When some natives came by later in the morning, they first saw the feet of a man sticking out of a mass of rubbish and stones.”

“A bull was already entrapped in the pit and the angry beast was standing on the chest of the young plant-hunter. … A suspicion of murder became so strong that it was eventually decided to pack the body in salt and take it to Consul Charlton at Honolulu, on Oahu. There was considerable evidence. The horns of the bullock were blunt and could not make such deep gashes.”

“Thus ended 9 years of botanical adventure along the Pacific for David Douglas. His death at 35 is one of the tragedies of botanical history. But in his short span of life, as one scientist wrote …

“‘No other explorer personally made more discoveries, or described more genera or species. No other collector of rare plants ever reaped such a harvest or associated his name with so many economically useful and beautiful plants as David Douglas.’” (Gould; Vassar)

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