Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sugar, Growth Years

“The first successful sugarcane plantation was started at Kōloa, Kauai in 1835. Its first harvest in 1837 produced 2 tons of raw sugar, which sold for $200. Other pioneers, predominantly from the United States, soon began growing sugarcane on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu.”  (HARC)

Shortly thereafter, King Kamehameha III, seeking to encourage commercial cultivation of sugar by native Hawaiians offered the “acre system,” giving “out small lots of land, from one to two acres, to individuals for the cultivation of cane.”

“When the cane is ripe, the King finds all the apparatus for manufacturing & when manufactured takes the half. Of his half one fifth is regarded as the tax due to the aupuni (government) & the remaining four fifths is his compensation for the manufacture. These cane cultivators are released from all other demands of every description on the part of chiefs.”  (Armstrong (1839;) MacLennan)

About this time, the initial signs of commercial sugar are found on Maui, in Wailuku.  In 1840, the King ordered an iron mill from the US, and it was erected by August.  Hung & Co in 1841 advertised the sale of sugar and sugar syrup from its 150-acre plantation in Wailuku. More than likely, this was sugar from the King’s Mill.  (MacLennan)

Early plantations were small and didn’t fare too well.  Soon, most would come to realize that “sugar farming and sugar milling were essentially great-scale operations.”  (Garvin)

Then, King Kamehameha III sought to expand sugar cultivation and production, as well as expand other agricultural ventures to support commercial agriculture in the Islands.  In a speech to the Legislature in 1847, the King notes:

“I recommend to your most serious consideration, to devise means to promote the agriculture of the islands, and profitable industry among all classes of their inhabitants. It is my wish that my subjects should possess lands upon a secure title; enabling them to live in abundance and comfort, and to bring up their children free from the vices that prevail in the seaports.”

“What my native subjects are greatly in want of, to become farmers, is capital with which to buy cattle, fence in the land and cultivate it properly. I recommend you to consider the best means of inducing foreigners to furnish capital for carrying on agricultural operations, that thus the exports of the country may be increased …” (King Kamehameha III Speech to the Legislature, April 28, 1847; Archives)

Hawai‘i’s economy turned toward sugar in the decades between 1860 and 1880. These twenty years were pivotal in building the plantation system. Basic features of rural factory life were established.

This was a period of rapid growth for the sugar industry, building upon the momentum triggered by the Māhele of 1848, the Kuleana Act of 1850, and the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875.  Likewise, the Civil War virtually shut down Louisiana sugar production during the 1860s, enabling Hawai‘i to compete with elevated prices for sugar.

From January 27, 1848 through March 7, 1848 King Kamehameha III participated in what we refer to as the “Great Māhele” that was a reformation of the land system in Hawaiʻi and allowed private ownership; this fundamentally changed the land tenure system to a westernized paper title system through the Māhele.

The lands were formally divided among the king and the chiefs, and the fee titles were recorded in the Māhele book.  Deeds conveying land contained the phrase “ua koe ke kuleana o na kānaka,” or “reserving the rights of all native tenants,” in continuation of the reserved tenancies which characterized the traditional Hawaiian land tenure system.  (Garavoy)

The 1850 Kuleana Act allowed “native tenants” to claim fee simple title to the lands they worked.  Those who claimed their parcel(s) successfully acquired what is known as a kuleana.

The Kuleana Act did not allow the maka‘āinana to exercise other traditional rights, such as the right to grow crops and pasture animals on unoccupied portions of the ahupua’a. The court’s interpretation of the act prevented tenants from making traditional use of commonly cultivated land.  (MacKenzie)

The growth in the size and number of sugar plantations was further fueled by the Treaty of Reciprocity – 1875 between the United States and the Kingdom of Hawai‘i that eliminated the major trade barrier to Hawai‘i’s closest and major market.

A century after Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi, sugar plantations started to dominate the landscape.  Hawai‘i’s economy turned toward sugar in the decades between 1860 and 1880; these twenty years were pivotal in building the plantation system.

During the Civil War boom period, the typical 1860s plantation was two hundred to three hundred acres in size, with about one hundred acres in cane, employing around one hundred workers year-round.

Hawai‘i’s government committed extensive resources to the success of sugar export. Honolulu’s merchants and financiers came to dominate sugar production. The Islands turned a corner during these decades – Hawai‘i’s dependence upon sugar began.

The fastest growth occurred on Maui, which in 1866 had twelve plantations, compared to Hawai‘i’s eight, O‘ahu’s six, and Kauai’s four.  Production on Hawai‘i Island, was just under a third of the total.

The island of Hawai’i had become the major sugar producer. Plantation statistics for the Hawaiian government in 1879 shows Hawai‘i with twenty-four plantations, Maui with thirteen, Kauai with seven, O‘ahu with seven, and Molokai with three – a total of fifty-four operations.

At the heart of this transformation was the plantation center. Unlike the commercial sugar mill, which drew on existing communities of Hawaiian workers, the plantation center represented a new clustering of population and technology.

Specifically, it was characterized by a sizable increase of foreign population, government recognition of the area as a vital economic region with distinct political needs, and by public and private investment in a shared physical infrastructure (e.g., stores, wharves, harbors) established specifically to trade with the West.

An important development in Hawai‘i’s history, the plantation center created new social institutions of dependency.  The Hawaiian government also had a significant hand in the rise of plantation centers.

The decline of whaling, collapse of the native vegetable trade, and a rapidly decreasing native population left the government with huge expenditures and little source of income.

In response, it applied public funds and assets toward the sugar trade in hopes of increasing Hawai‘i’s wealth. The Board of Immigration was established in 1866 to recruit workers for plantations. (MacLennan)

Five plantation centers changed the surrounding landscape and altered nearby Hawaiian communities. Plantations in Līhu‘e, Wailuku, Makawao, Hilo and Kohala brought an invasion of agricultural practices, technologies and repeopled the land with foreigners (from China, Portugal and Japan) and Hawaiians from other islands.

Characteristics of the five developing plantation centers separate them from the smaller sugar ventures of the period.  Plantation centers comprised several separate sugar mills and fields of different owners. Schools, stores, and worker villages sprang

up around these centers, serving the plantations.

By 1880 there were several other very new centers in Ka‘ū and Honoka’a on Hawai‘i, Lahaina on Maui, Princeville on Kauai, and several scattered plantations on O‘ahu. (MacLennan)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ahupua‘a – Maybe It’s Also A People Management System

Most writers romanticize the “ahupua‘a system” solely in the context of ecology and resource management – there is minimal (almost no) discussion that the sociological aspect of the separation and distribution of people may have also played a part in the ahupua‘a.

“(I)n the earliest times all the people were alii … it was only after the lapse of several generations that a division was made into commoners and chiefs” (Malo)

Kamakau noted, in early Hawaiʻi “The parents were masters over their own family group … No man was made chief over another.” Essentially, the extended family was the socio, biological, economic and political unit.

“In very ancient times, the lands were not divided and an island was left without divisions such as kalana, ʻokana, ahupuaʻa, and ʻili, but in the time when the lands became filled with people, the lands were divided, with the proper names for this place and that place so that they could be known.” (Kamakau)

As the population increased and wants and needs increased in variety and complexity (and it became too difficult to satisfy them with finite resources,) the need for chiefly rule became apparent.

The arrival of Pā‘ao from Tahiti in about the thirteenth century resulted in the establishment (or, at least expanded upon) a religious and political code in old Hawai`i, collectively called the kapu system.

Pā‘ao reportedly initiated a lineage of kings, starting with Pili Ka‘aiea (the 1st “Aliʻi ʻAimoku” for the Big Island – the first ruler (sometimes called the “king”) of the island.)

“The common people were called the maka‘ainana, literally ‘on-the-land [folk] .’ According to native genealogical history, they were of the same stock as the ali‘i but without claim to noble status or rank. This was because no strict rules governed their unions, as in the case of the nobility, with respect to genealogical equality or precedence.”

“They were the planters, the fishermen, and the craftsmen. Whether they were planters or fishers, they were tenants, not freeholders. As long as they were loyal to the ali‘i on whose land they dwelt, their land holdings, homesites, and fishing rights were secure.”

“Theirs was the right, if they pleased, to leave their home district or island and settle elsewhere under another chief.” (Pukui and Handy)

Life in the ahupua‘a was not idyllic … “The condition of the common people was that of subjection to the chiefs, compelled to do their heavy tasks, burdened and oppressed, some even to death. The life of the people was one of patient endurance, of yielding to the chiefs to purchase their favor.  The plain man (kanaka) must not complain.”

“If the people were slack in doing the chief’s work they were expelled from their lands, or even put to death. For such reasons as this and because of the oppressive exactions made upon them, the people held the chiefs in great dread and looked upon them as gods.”

“Only a small portion of the kings and chiefs ruled with kindness; the large majority simply lorded it over the people.”

“It was from the common people, however, that the chiefs received their food and their apparel for men and women, also their houses and many other things. When the chiefs went forth to war some of the commoners also went out to fight on the same side with them.”

“It was the makaainanas also who did all the work on the land; yet all they produced from the soil belonged to the chiefs; and the power to expel a man from the land and rob him of his possessions lay with the chief.”  (Malo)

As populations grew, so did potential for rivalry amongst family and Chiefs.

Just as the ‘divide and rule’ (or, divide and conquer) strategy to create physical divisions among the subjects to prevent alliances that could challenge the ruler helped rulers across the globe centuries prior, it s plausible that was also part of the motivation in dividing the Hawai‘i lands and dispersing the people.

As chiefdoms developed, the simple pecking order of titles and status likely evolved into a more complex and stratified structure.  The actual number of chiefs was few, but their retainers attached to the courts (advisors, konohiki, priests, warriors, etc) were many.

In addition to the expanded demand to provide food for the courts, commoners were also obliged to make new lines of products for the chiefs – feather cloaks, capes, helmets, images and ornaments.

Likewise, as challenges were made between chiefly realms, warfare and the resultant demand for services in combat increased.  “Maka‘āinana … certainly did march with chiefly retinues on some occasions. The degree to which maka‘āinana were mobilised varied according to the nature of the undertaking, or the seriousness of the threat posed.”

“Kamakau relates that, when an O‘ahu army invaded Moloka‘i in the mid-part of the 18th century, it was not until the fifth day of fighting that every able-bodied man within range of the battlefield came out of his house to fight.”

“Maka‘āinana levies were almost certainly more useful defending their own localities than bolstering forces invading other polities or other islands for logistical reasons. Practice varied.” (D’Archy)

When you look at it (without the influence of the repeated/glamorized descriptors, i.e., it’s all (and only) about resource protection) you can see that the ahupua‘a may also be about sociology (not just ecology).

Yes … because the population was distributed around each of the islands and not concentrated into villages, impacts to the resources are minimized. However, because of the dispersal of people, that also meant potential opponents had a harder time organizing dispersed people against you.

It was not always a peaceful time.  Island rulers, Aliʻi or Mōʻī, typically ascended to power through familial succession and warfare. In those wars, Hawaiians were killing Hawaiians; sometimes the rivalries pitted members of the same family against each other.

Going back to Pi‘ilani (generally, about the time Columbus was sailing across the Atlantic) … Pi‘ilani died at Lāhainā and the kingdom of Maui passed to his son, Lono-a-Piʻilani. Pi‘ilani had directed that the kingdom go to Lono, and that Kiha-a-Piʻilani (Lono’s brother) serve under him. In the early years of Lono-a-Piʻilani’s reign all was well; that changed.

Lono-a-Piʻilani became angry, because he felt Kiha-a-Piʻilani was trying to seize the kingdom for himself.  Lono sought to kill Kiha; so Kiha fled in secret to Molokaʻi and later to Lānaʻi. When Kiha, with chiefs, warriors and a fleet of war canoes, made their way to attack Lono; Lono trembled with fear of death, and died. (Kamakau)

The same happened when Liloa from Waipio died; Liloa named his son Hakau as heir to his kingdom, Umi, Liloa’s other son was given the Hawaiian god of war Kūkaʻilimoku.  The brothers didn’t get along and Umi killed Hakau and took control of the kingdom.

Fast forward to Kamehameha’s time, sibling (and cousin) rivalries continued … Following Kalaniʻōpuʻu’s death in 1782, the kingship was inherited by his son Kīwalaʻō; Kamehameha (Kīwalaʻō’s cousin) was given Kūkaʻilimoku.

Dissatisfied with subsequent redistricting of the lands by district chiefs, civil war ensued between Kīwalaʻō’s forces and the various chiefs under the leadership of his cousin Kamehameha.

In the first major skirmish, in the battle of Mokuʻōhai (a fight between Kamehameha and Kiwalaʻo in July, 1782 at Keʻei, south of Kealakekua Bay on the Island of Hawaiʻi,) Kiwalaʻo was killed by Kamehameha’s forces.

With the death of his cousin Kiwalaʻo, the victory made Kamehameha chief of the districts of Kona, Kohala and Hāmākua, while Keōua, the brother of Kiwalaʻo, held Kaʻū and Puna, and Keawemauhili declared himself independent of both in Hilo.  (Kalākaua)  Keōua was later killed by Kamehameha Chiefs.

“It is supposed that some six thousand of the followers of this chieftain (Kamehameha,) and twice that number of his opposers, fell in battle during his career, and by famine and distress occasioned by his wars and devastations from 1780 to 1796.” 

“However, the greatest loss of life according to early writers was not from the battles, but from the starvation of the vanquished and consequential sickness due to destruction of food sources and supplies – a recognized part of Hawaiian warfare.”  (Bingham)

And, shortly after Kamehameha’s death … King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) declared an end to the kapu system.  Kekuaokalani, Liholiho’s cousin, opposed the abolition of the kapu system and assumed the responsibility of leading those who opposed its abolition. These included priests, members of his court and the traditional territorial chiefs of the middle rank.

After attempts to settle peacefully, the two powerful cousins engaged at the final battle of Kuamoʻo Liholiho had more men, more weapons and more wealth to ensure his victory. He sent his prime minister, Kalanimōku, to defeat his cousin.  Kekauaokalani was killed, as was his wife Manono and his forces were routed.

Dividing the Land

“According to Hawaiian traditions, the system of ahupua‘a divisions was created by rulers who unified or centralized governance of their respective islands, such as Ma‘ilikukahi on O‘ahu and ‘Umi on Hawai‘i Island.” (Gonschor and Beamer)

On Maui, Kalaihaʻōhia, a kahuna (priest, expert,) is credited with the division of Maui Island into districts (moku) and sub-districts, during the time of the aliʻi Kakaʻalaneo at the end of the 15th century or the beginning of the 16th century.  (McGerty)

“The people of old gave names for the island’s different parts through their observing until their ideas became clear and precise, there are two names used on an island, moku is a name, ‘aina is another name, lands that were separated by the sea were called moku, lands where people resided were called moku.”

“The island (moku that is surrounded by water) is the main division, like, Hawai‘i, Maui and the rest of the island chain. (Islands) were divided up into sections inside of the island, called moku o loko, like such places as Kona on Hawai‘i island, and Hana on Maui island, and such divisions on these islands.”

“There sections were further divided into subdivision called ‘okana, or kalana; a poko is a subdivision of a ‘okana. These sections were further divided into smaller divisions called Ahupua’a, and sections smaller than an Ahupua‘a were called ‘ili ‘aina.”

“Divisions smaller than ‘ili ‘aina were mo‘o ‘aina and pauku ‘aina, and smaller than a pauku ‘aina was a kihapai, at this section the smaller divisions would be multiple Ko‘ele, Hakuone, and kuakua.” (Malo)

“An ali‘i nui (high chief) ruled the mokupuni. He appointed an ali‘i ‘ai moku (lower chief) to rule each moku. The ali‘i ‘ai moku chose a chief of lesser rank, an ali‘i ‘ai ahupua‘a, to rule the ahupua‘a. Often the ali‘i ‘ai ahupua‘a was not a resident of the ahupua‘a when selected and the title was not hereditary.”

“Sometimes the ali‘i ‘ai ahupua‘a also served as the konohiki (headman) and ran the day-to-day operations of the ahupua‘a.  The konohiki managed land use, assisted by luna who were experts in different specialties.” (Kamehameha Schools Press)

The ahupua‘a narrative doesn’t match reality … Look at ahupua‘a mapping and you will see that the ‘watershed’ ‘from the mountain to the sea’ divisions are really anomalies and not the norm for the ahupua‘a in the islands.

“One of the most persistent myths in popular narratives is the idea that ahupua‘a are usually stream drainages bounded by watersheds.  Equating ahupua‘a to watersheds is problematic … Furthermore, empirical evidence clearly shows that most ahupua‘a do not correspond to a watershed.” (Gonschor and Beamer)

“Even if applying the most liberal interpretation of the concept, only 98 ahupua‘a (5.4%) can be regarded as bounded by watersheds.  Of these there are none on Hawai‘i Island, 15 on Maui, i.e. 2.4% of Maui’s total of 636 ahupua‘a, and 8 of a total of 85 (9.4%) on Moloka‘i.”

“Only O‘ahu with 46 out of a 100 total ahupua‘a (46.0%) and Kaua‘i with 28 out of 82 (34.1%) have significant percentages of watershed-ahupua‘a.  The vast majority of ahupua‘a throughout the islands, are regularly shaped (mauka to makai) but not watershed-bounded.”  (Gonschor and Beamer)

“We caution … against generalizing the theory of economic self-sufficiency as well. Some, if a relatively small percentage, of the ahupua‘a could clearly not sustain themselves economically but would need to trade with neighboring ahupua‘a, for example, for fish and other marine materials in the landlocked ahupua‘a, and for agricultural products and possibly even fresh water in some of the smaller-sized ahupua‘a in leeward areas.” (Gonschor and Beamer)

So, maybe it’s not all about ecology; maybe sociology played a role, as well.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Molokai Waterfalls

 

There is something about falling water that fascinates a human being.

“The glimpses of Molokai which one obtains from a steamer’s deck while passing to Honolulu from San Francisco or in passing to and from Maul (along its south shore,) give the impression that the island is bleak, mountainous and desolate.”

“Skirting its (north) shores on the Hālawa, Wailua and Pelekunu sides on Wilder’s fine steamer Likelike, gives a far different picture.  For miles sheer precipices rise from the sea and tower 1,500 feet into the air.”

“Now and then, and sometimes in groups, beautiful waterfalls are seen on the face of the cliff, now falling in clear view for a couple of hundred feet, now hidden under denses masses of foliage, only to reappear further down, another silvery link In the watery thread which ends In a splash and scintillating mist in the breakers below.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, March 31, 1905)

In the eastern half of Kamalō is the large, amphitheater-headed Kamalō Gulch.  Along the steep back wall of the gulch are a series of waterfalls that are known locally as “The Seven Sisters.”

Three of the waterfalls are named on USGS maps (Hina Falls, Moʻoloa Falls, and Haha Falls) and are mentioned in the song Wahine ʻIlikea, by Dennis Kamakahi (1975.)  (McElroy)

Nani wale nō nā wailele ‘uka
‘O Hina ‘o Haha ‘o Moʻoloa
Nā wai ‘ekolu i ka uluwehiwehi
‘O Kamalō i ka mālie.

Beautiful waterfalls of the upland
Hina, Haha and Moʻoloa
The three waters in the verdant overgrowth
Of Kamalō, in the calm.

The fourth-highest waterfall in the world, Oloʻupena Falls is located on this isolated north shore of the Island.  At 2,953 feet, Olo’upena Falls is a tiered, ribbon-thin stream plunging over the side of one of the world’s tallest seaside cliffs, Haloku Cliffs.

Surrounded by huge mountains on either side, the waterfall is so remote that there are no access trails to reach it; it is only accessible by air or sea. If you can get there, the best time to view the falls is during the rainy season – November through March.

These are not the only waterfalls on Molokai – unfortunately, all listed here are relatively hard to get to.  Rather than words – look through the album at the images of the falls.

Haha Falls
About a 700-foot tall fall, one of seven tall waterfalls at the upper rim of Kamalo Canyon.

Haloku Falls
About 2,100-feet high seasonal waterfall, falling directly into Pacific Ocean.

Hina Falls
About a 1,200-foot tall fall, one of seven tall waterfalls at the upper rim of Kamalo Canyon.

Hipuapua Falls
Approximately 450-foot tall horsetail falls with a single drop.

Kahiwa Falls
About 1,900-foot high waterfall with 6 drops, falling almost directly into Pacific Ocean. Strong winds can rise the waterfall up in the air.

Moaʻula Falls
Picturesque horsetail fall with at least 7 drops.

Moʻoloa Falls
1,300-foot tall fall, one of seven tall waterfalls at the upper rim of Kamalo Canyon.

Oloʻupena Falls
About 2,953-feet high seasonal waterfall, falls directly into Pacific ocean. One the highest known waterfalls in the world.

Papalaua Falls
1,500-foot high waterfall with 5 drops. Located at the far end of the deep valley.

Puʻukaʻoku Falls
About 2,756-feet high seasonal waterfall, falling directly into Pacific Ocean.

Wailele Falls
About 1,700-foot high seasonal waterfall, falling almost directly into Pacific Ocean.

Waimanu Falls
Approximately 1,700-foot high waterfall.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waipuhia

Huli ae au e nana ia Waipuhia, ua moni ia kona mau huna wai e ka makani ; me he lauoho kalole la i luhe i ka makani, i kiaweawe makalii i ka lau o ke kawelu, ka puaki i ka pua o ka ahihi o Malailua. (Kamakau, Ka Nūpepa Kū‘oko‘a, July 13, 1865)

I turned and looked at Waipuhia; its fine droplets of water were being absorbed by the wind. Like straight hair drooping in the wind, it streamed finely down the leaves of the kawelu grass and gathered on the blossoms of the ‘āhihi of Malailua.  (Kamakau; Cultural Surveys)

A story is told in the legend of two children who lived on two hills, one in Nuʻuanu and one in Kalihi.

The boy would visit his playmate on the neighboring hill.

When the girl’s godmother, who was the mist of the valley, saw how happy this made the girl, she enveloped the boy in a mist so he could not leave and return home.

The boy’s parents thought that the boy was dead and went on with their lives.

However, the parents angered the “Lady of the Ferns” a goddess of Kalihi Pass, when they collected lehua, sacred to this goddess, for their lei and forgot to make an offering.

The goddess summoned a horrendous storm to strike the family on its hill.

The cries of his family woke the boy from his spell and he tried to return home, but the lady created a great wind that picked him up and killed him. When the boy did not return, the girl began to weep.

“… lo! Her tears were wafted into the air. They rose in a silvery mist, and to this day the maiden weeps and the mist of her tears rises to caress the spirit voice of her youthful love.”  (Raphaelson; Cultural Surveys)

Waipuhia (blown water,) near the mauka boundary of Nuʻuanu Valley, are more commonly called the “Upside Down Waterfalls.”

At normal times (with typical tradewinds,) the falls only appear after a rain, and the water from the falls never reaches the base of the cliff; it is “blown” up by the winds and “in midair, it suddenly changes its course and rises upward to a cloud of mist”.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mākao

Macao, also spelled Macau, is one of the two Special Administrative Regions of the People’s Republic of China, the other is Hong Kong.

Macao lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta across from Hong Kong to the east, bordered by Guangdong Province to the north and facing the South China Sea to the east and south.

Macao was the gateway for all Americans going to China to trade legally.  It was the first stop upon arriving in China and the last stop before returning home.  Macao became the center for agents arranging American trade.  (Hao, Wang)

Shortly after the arrival of Captain James Cook and his crews in 1778, the Chinese found their way to Hawaiʻi.  Some suggest Cook’s crew gave information about the “Sandwich Islands” when they stopped in Macao in December 1779, near the end of the third voyage.

In 1788, British Captain John Meares commanded two vessels, the Iphigenia and the Felice, with crews of Europeans and 50-Chinese.  Shortly thereafter, in 1790, the American schooner Eleanora, with Simon Metcalf as master, reached Maui from Macao using a crew of 10-Americans and 45-Chinese.  (Nordyke & Lee)

Crewmen from China were employed as cooks, carpenters and artisans, and Chinese businessmen sailed as passengers to America. Some of these men disembarked in Hawai’i and remained as new settlers.

The growth of the Sandalwood trade with the Chinese market (where mainland merchants brought cotton, cloth and other goods for trade with the Hawaiians for their sandalwood – who would then trade the sandalwood in China) opened the eyes and doors to Hawaiʻi.

Macao links to Kamehameha I and Hawaiʻi’s first flag.  Hawaiʻi was gradually pulled into the international trading networks, and it was not long before it was discovered that sandalwood there sold well in China. Large qualities of that wood were consumed in China each year for the making of incense.  (Hao, Wang)

A few years after Kamehameha consolidated his rule over the Islands, vessels engaged in trade with Manila and Macao started to arrive (whose captains assured Kamehameha and the chiefs that the fragrant sandalwood was of great value, and was much in demand in Macao and all other parts of China.)

Therefore, Kamehameha quickly commanded that the mountains of Oʻahu be searched for it, and on being found and brought in it was declared by the foreigners that Hawaii possessed the fragrant wood.

Traders took the sandalwood to Canton and Macao, and brought back various kinds of cloth prints, cotton, mixed piece goods and clothing.  (Kamakau, Thrum)

“The King, wanting a ship to sail to China to sell Sandalwood, searched along with John Young, Isaac Davis, and Captain Alexander Adams of Kalihi, who is still living, for a Flag for the ship. It was a man-o-war, called the Forrester, carrying sixteen guns. Kamehameha I owned the ship.”    (Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, January 1, 1862)

“When the Flag was completed, the ship sailed to Macao. The Flag was puzzled over, and was not accepted as a National Flag. The ship was charged exorbitantly for harbor fees, the Sandalwood was sold for a loss, and the ship returned to Hawaiʻi.”

“The King learned of this loss, and he said that a tax should be placed on the harbor of Honolulu like those of foreign lands. That is when duty was first charged for the harbor.  (Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, January 1, 1862)

Hawaiʻi has further links to Macao – an ahupuaʻa in Koʻolauloa on Oʻahu is named such – however, it’s spelled Mākao.

Ships traveling from China to Hawaiʻi often sailed out of Macao near Canton, and the name was associated with the former Chinese farming community.  Chinese farmers lived and grew rice there.  (Ulukau)

The earliest written account found was recorded in 1828 by Levi Chamberlain, who journeyed around the island of O‘ahu to inspect the newly forming school system in the Kingdom. Chamberlain noted:

“… I commenced the examination of the schools belonging to Punaluʻu & the two adjoining districts, three in number; which occupied the whole of the forenoon. At one o’ clock pm we were ready to set forward.”

“The first place at which we stopped was Kaluanui, where was a small school which we examined. Here the burdens of our baggage-carriers were increased by the present of a baked pig, some potatoes & taro.”

“Leaving this place we walked on to Mākao a place so named from the town of Macao in Canton, as the head man told me, on account of its being a place where much tapa is made.”  (Chamberlain, HHS)

“Canton & the Chinese empire is by the natives called Mākao, for this reason: Vessels which arrive here from Canton usually anchor at Macao and there take in their cargo which is sent down from Canton.”

“As the ships are commonly spoken of as having come from Macao, the natives, therefore, from the facility with which they can pronounce the word, it being similar to one which they have in their own language, have given the name of Macao to the whole country.” (Chamberlain, HHS)

As trade expanded, Hawaiians went to Macao and Canton, and Chinese went to Hawaiʻi and the US from Macao, which impacted both places. Hawaiʻi became a major provisioning depot for ships sailing the Pacific, as well as a source of sandalwood to market in China.

By the 1830s, American missionaries were active in both Hawaiʻi and Macao.  Macao, Hawaiʻi and Sino-American trade were so intertwined to each other that a change in one could have a corresponding affect on the others.  (Hao, Wang)

By the mid-1850s, the Chinese population in Koʻolauloa was growing, and many of the landowners and lessees leased their lands to Chinese for portions of their lo‘i kalo and kula, on which rice could be planted and irrigated. Between the 1870s to 1900, rice was the primary product of the land, followed by kalo.  (Maly)

In the late-1890s, Mākao was owned by Dr Albert B Carter (land in Mākao was previously owned by WC Lane.)  Carter had “retired from active practice as a physician and occupies nearly all of his time in practical scientific agriculture and systematic research.”

“… On his little plantation – it consists altogether of some five or six hundred acres of good, fertile land – the doctor raises almost everything imaginable ….”  (Hawaiian Gazette, July 17, 1900)

“There are enough papaias (papayas) grown in Mākao to supply Honolulu steadily.  This refreshing fruit or vegetable is eaten as a melon, boiled as a squash, cooked into pies, fried into fritters, stewed into jam or preserved as sweet or sour pickles.  What the doctor’s family cannot devour proves a most fattening food for the porkers.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 17, 1900)

When Carter’s wife died in 1903, Supreme Court Records (1908) note that about 45-acres of rice land (under lease to Wing Chong Wai Co,) 105-acres of kula and mountain land mauka of the rice land and about 26-acres known as the homestead at Mākao were in her estate.

“Mākao with its long low buildings and grove of cocoanuts, (is) the place looking as though it were going rapidly to rack and ruin. Here it was that Dr. Carter, scholar, dreamer and experimentalist, made his home until overtaken with the affliction which necessitated his movement elsewhere.”

“He sunk a fortune in Mākao and watched the complicated network of his schemes raveled and finally blown away by the gusts of fate.”  (Hawaiian Star, December 4, 1909)

“Adjacent to Mākao is Hauʻula, considered by many to be the prettiest spot on the Island of Oʻahu. Here are the government homesteads, peopled by happy families of Hawaiians, here are the famous falls of Kaliwaʻa, and here is as fine bathing as can be found In the Territory.”  (Hawaiian Star, December 4, 1909)

“The extension of the railway from Kahuku to Kahana has helped the district wonderfully. New houses are springing up, old ones have been repaired and houses long deserted are again peopled by families who forsook the country for town and who have come back to the land again.”

“There is a very good store at Hauʻula today and visitors can be put up very comfortably and at a reasonable rate by Mr Aubrey, the station agent and proprietor of the store.”  (Hawaiian Star, December 4, 1909)

DBEDT GIS data notes Mākao ahupuaʻa (and another small ahupuaʻa Kapaka) is a sliver between Hauʻula (N) and Kaluanui (S.) (Today, a Mormon Church is in the center of the coastal area of the Mākao ahupuaʻa – Hauʻula Elementary School is just to the north of Mākao.)

The image shows the Mākao ahupuaʻa in Koʻolauloa (Google Earth)

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