Place Names | Page 88 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 31, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Māʻilikūkahi

Traditions on the island of O‘ahu provide the names of a dynasty of ruling chiefs beginning with Māʻilikūkahi, honored as the first great king of O‘ahu.

Māʻilikūkahi holds a prominent place in O‘ahu legends for his wise, firm, judicious government.

He was born ali‘i kapu at the birthing stones of Kūkaniloko; Kūkaniloko was one of two places in Hawai‘i specifically designated for the birth of high ranking children; the other site was Holoholokū at Wailua on Kauai.

Māʻilikūkahi, who ruled in the 1400-1500s (at about the same time Christopher Columbus ‘discovered’ America,) was raised partly in Waialua and is said to have maintained a kulanakauhale (village) there.

There is said to have been a mythical heiau (temple) called Kapukapuākea built by the menehune. Māʻilikūkahi was taken to Kapukapuākea (heiau) at Pa‘la‘akai in Waialua to be consecrated and installed as aliʻi there.

Kapukapuākea was to the Oʻahu aliʻi what Westminster Abbey is to the kings of England, the site of ritual acknowledgement of their divine right to rule (Kirch)

Soon after becoming aliʻi, Māʻilikūkahi moved to Waikīkī. The stories tell us that he was probably one of the first chiefs to live there. Up until this time the chiefs had typically lived at Waialua and ‘Ewa.

From that point on, with few exceptions, Waikīkī remained the seat of Oʻahu aliʻi, until Kamehameha I moved the seat to Honolulu.

Māʻilikūkahi was a religious chief, built several heiau, held the priests in honor and stopped human sacrifices. The island of Oʻahu is said to have become very populous during his reign, and thrift and prosperity abounded.

Land was considered the property of the aliʻi which he held in trust for the gods. The title of aliʻi ensured rights and responsibilities pertaining to the land, but did not confer absolute ownership.

The aliʻi kept the parcels he wanted, his higher chiefs received large parcels from him and, in turn, distributed smaller parcels to lesser chiefs. The makaʻāinana (commoners) worked the individual plots of land (kuleana.)

Māʻilikūkahi is noted for clearly marking and reorganizing land division palena (boundaries) on O‘ahu. Defined palena brought greater productivity to the lands; lessened conflict and was a means of settling disputes of future aliʻi who would be in control of the bounded lands; protected the commoners from the chiefs; and brought (for the most part) peace and prosperity.

Fornander writes, “He caused the island to be thoroughly surveyed, and boundaries between differing divisions and lands be definitely and permanently marked out, thus obviating future disputes between neighboring chiefs and landholders.”

Kamakau tells a similar story, “When the kingdom passed to Māʻilikūkahi, the land divisions were in a state of confusion; the ahupuaʻa, the ku, the ʻili ʻaina, the moʻo ʻaina, the pauku ʻaina, and the kihapai were not clearly defined.”

“Therefore, Māʻilikūkahi ordered the chiefs, aliʻi, the lesser chiefs, kaukau aliʻi, the warrior chiefs, puʻali aliʻi, and the overseers (luna) to divide all of Oʻahu into moku, ahupuaʻa, ʻili kupono, ʻili ʻaina, and moʻo ʻaina.”

What is commonly referred to as the “ahupuaʻa system” is a result of the firm establishment of palena (boundaries.) This system of land divisions and boundaries enabled a konohiki (land/resource manager) to know the limits and productivity of the resources that they managed – and increase its productivity.

Māʻilikūkahi is also known for a benevolent reign that was followed by generations of peace. He prohibited the chiefs from plundering the maka‘āinana, with punishment of death. His reign “ushered in an era of benign rule lasting for several generations.”

Māʻilikūkahi’s peaceful reign was interrupted by an invasion by chiefs from Waipi‘o. It was not considered as a war between the two islands, but rather as a raid by some restless and turbulent chiefs from the Islands of Hawaiʻi.

The invading force landed at first at Waikīkī, but, for reasons not stated in the legend, altered their mind and proceeded up the Ewa lagoon and marched inland.

At Waikakalaua (Wahiawa or Waipahu) they met Māʻilikūkahi with his forces, and a battle ensued. The fight continued from there to the Kīpapa gulch. The invaders were thoroughly defeated, and the gulch is said to have been literally paved with the corpses of the slain, and received its name, “Kīpapa,” (placed prone.)

Māʻilikūkahi’s wife was Kanepukaa. They had two sons, Kalonanui and Kalona-iki, the latter succeeding his father as Aliʻi Aimoku of Oʻahu.

In the past, MAʻO Organic Farms created and facilitated ‘Āina Ho‘ōla o Māʻilikūkahi, the annual statewide Hands Turned to the Soil conference. The word ho‘ōla means to restore/give life.

The conference’s name therefore reflects an understanding that our ‘āina must itself be healthy in order to feed us and that ‘aina, kanaka and kaiaulu (land, people and community) work in concert to provide and maintain sustenance for all living things.

In 2018, the University of Hawai‘i – West Oahu Sustainable Community Food Systems Program, the Sustainable Agriculture Education Association, the University of Hawai‘i System Office of Sustainability and key community partners hosted the 2018 Sustainable Agriculture Education Association Conference and the Hoʻōla ʻĀina O Māʻilikūkahi Youth Food Sovereignty Congress.

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August 30, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

View of Hawaiians in 1828

“Almost all travelers have been pleased to endow with surpassing beauty the women of the different archipelagos of the South Seas. I cannot speak of those in the Marquesas or Society Islands, but if one may judge by the Sandwich Islanders, on whom they have heaped the same praises, I am obliged to say that they are far from living up to this portrait.”

“But I must agree that they possess a natural grace that, without matching the fine and regular features of a white and delicate skin has nevertheless an almost irresistible attraction. Their movements are smooth and supple, their postures enchanting and easy, and their glances, more than anything, are indescribably alluring.”

“The freedom they enjoy means that they are strangers to anxiety or constraint, and this state of tranquility is reflected in all their bodily manners.”

“If they suffer storms of the heart these must be of a passing nature because there is no need for these to persist. Their ways appear to be based on inconstancy; they need never suffer the boredom of an ill-matched union.”

“Amused by the veriest trifles, they wear only smiles on their lips, and their mouths never open to say no. It is surprising that that the stranger, finding such an easy welcome among them, lets himself pain =t them with flattering praise if only to enlarge on and embellish his own conquests.”

“When, several days after our arrival, the young king wished to visit the Heros, we prepared a small collation, and he came on board with the regent and a numerous suite.”

“Kauikeaouli drank with pleasure our best liquors and ate our cakes with eagerness. We noticed that he did not touch the poi that he always has brought along wherever he goes; he preferred our good bread.”

“When he got into his boat to return we saluted him with thirteen guns, a courtesy that he found quite flattering. On the quay his bodyguard awaited: a score of fine young men fitted out simply but uniformly in blue pantaloons, short blue jackets, round hats, guns, bayonets, and ammunition pouches.”

“The king’s house is located in the same compound as that of the regent and is of the same style and size. It has a very high roof supported by low sidings that incline to the inside.”

“This shape imparts to these dwellings of wood and straw more strength than if the sustaining walls were perpendicular. The king has another house built according to the rules of our architecture but he never lives in it, preferring this one of thatch.”

“In fact, this sort of dwelling is better suited to their mode of life. They love to stretch out on mats, letting themselves drop wherever the fancy strikes them, and there they spend the greatest part of the day lying together helter-skelter on their rush carpets. This could not be done in lodgings furnished like ours, where they would need a sofa for each person.”

“The young king sleeps in his thatched great house only in bad weather; when the night is fine he stays in a small hut that has to be entered on hands and knees and that is barely large enough for four people sitting or stretched out.”

“Those of his young court follow his example; each constructs a small hut close to his, all of them together forming a sort of camp around the principal house, which hardly serve for more than to store the furniture.”

“The king and the regent are not the only principal authorities in the archipelago. A wife of the famous Kamehameha I, Queen Kaahumanu, exercises much power in fact if not legally.”

“She has her private court and her own coterie of followers. She lives in the city during the winter but passes the summer in a pretty valley a league to the east of Honolulu.”

“Along with the English consul I went one day to see her at her residence, which consisted of two main houses and a number
of huts.”

“We found her seated on a mat and leaning back on cushions covered in silk. Although she was not much interested in us, she received us in a dignified way. A woman of forty-two, she appeared to have once had much embonpoint, but bad health, caused by her well-known excesses, had brought on premature old age, which left her little hope of a long life.”

“Thus the adherents of the young king were being patient while awaiting the death of Kaahumanu, which they expected soon and believed would deliver him from a feminine yoke.”

French sea captain Auguste Dehaut-Cilly made round-the world travels between 1826 and 1829; all of the above is from his account of the Islands following his trip from California to Hawai‘i, in 1828.

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Alphonse_Pellion,_Sandwich Islands-Houses of Kalanimoku, Prime Minister of the King_(c._1819)
Alphonse_Pellion,_Îles_Sandwich;_Maisons_de_Kraïmokou,_Premier_Ministre_du_Roi;_Fabrication_des_Étoffes_(c._1819,_detail)

August 27, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Āliapa‘akai

Hawaiians called it Āliapa‘akai, (salt pond or salt-encrusted.)

The exceptionally fine salt became a coveted commodity, and Hawaiians mined it to sell to sea captains and others. By the mid-19th century, the salt’s popularity as an ingredient for incense in China left the lake depleted.

Hawaiian mythology connects the Pele myths with the naming of Āliamanu and its sister crater, Āliapa‘akai (Salt Lake). Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, sought a home on one island after another.

After leaving Kaua‘i, Pele and her faithful sister, Hi‘iaka, settled in Āliapa‘akai by digging into the ground. According to one story in Fornander, the red dirt and salt they brought from Kauaʻi was deposited in their new home, giving the craters the names Kealiapa‘akai and Ke‘aliamanu .

Fornander also offers another version of the story. In this version, Pele and Hi‘iaka carried from Kaua‘i a bird and salt. While digging a home at Āliapa‘akai, the bird and salt were dropped or lost, giving the craters the names of Āliamanu (Salt-Encrusted (Bird)), and Āliapa‘akai (Salt-Encrusted (Salt.))

The name referred to the salt-loaded soil around the water, which produced white, crystallized blocks along the shore and at the lake bottom, a delicate sight praised by one Western visitor as “the principal natural curiosity that this island affords.”

Two missionary visitors in 1822 described “plants, sticks, and tufts of grass, scattered on the beach … delicately frosted with spangles of salt.”

Oʻahu’s nearly 50-acre Salt Lake (Āliapaʻakai) is in a low crater a little over a mile inland between Pearl Harbor and Honolulu.

Legend held that it was “fathomless,” a belief persisting until recent years despite soundings made by the US Exploring Expedition in 1840 that proved it was “no deeper than 18 inches.”

Originally, Salt Lake was an evaporation basin fed by seawater seepages at highest tides and producing large quantities of crustal salt for domestic use. Because the lake had no outlet, water loss was largely by evaporation, concentrating the salt.

Analysis of its water in 1891 indicated hyper-saline water and an unusual ionic content with low sulphate, and dominant sodium, magnesium and chloride.

At the turn of the century, the railways were built and Oʻahu Rail and Land Company (OR&L) sent its 1st train from Honolulu to ‘Aiea in 1889.

In describing the Salt Lake region, Hitchcock (1900) notes a cut along the Oʻahu Railroad less than one-half mile west of Moanalua Station which from bottom to top consisted of: “the main coral reef; thin layer of tuff; coral reef or limestone; decomposed rock sustaining a soil covered by forest; eruption of tuff from Aliapakai [Salt Lake Crater]…”

At the time of the Great Māhele, Moanalua ahupua‘a was controlled by Lot Kapuāiwa (he later became King Kamehameha V.) After Lot’s death, Moanalua was passed on to Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani and then to Bernice Pauahi Bishop.

Upon her death in 1884, the ahupua‘a was willed to Samuel Mills Damon (Damon was a business partner of Pauahi’s husband, Charles Reed Bishop.)

In 1902, Damon leased Āliamanu Crater to the Honolulu Plantation Company. The US Government started purchasing land in and around Āliamanu in 1914 and shared use of the crater with the Honolulu Plantation Company.

Reliable transportation and viable soil soon brought sugar cane to the fishpond boundaries. Damon maintained much of Moanalua as pasture, with portions leased to rice, sugar and banana growers.

Up until 1910, the lake was regularly so salty that salt deposits formed around the shore. In that year, an artesian well was dug to bring the water level higher (and salt content lower.)

A tunnel, dug through the southeast rim of the crater (1894-1895,) controlled water level and provided an outlet. This act and later construction of a larger drainage outlet, eventually removed the salt from Salt Lake. Thereafter, it was used as a commercial fishpond for mullet and milkfish.

The Damon estate sold much of Moanalua to commercial and residential developers in 1956.

In 1966, most of the lake was filled in; all that’s left is a pond on the golf course at the Honolulu Country Club.

Today, the region is part of Honolulu’s primary urban center and is characterized as a residential community with portions in mid- and high-density uses, surrounded by higher-intensity military, airport and industrial uses.

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August 24, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiʻoli Mission District

The first mission station on Kauai was established at Waimea on the more accessible south coast in 1820. In 1834, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sent the Reverend William P. Alexander to investigate the north coast of Kauai for a suitable location for a second station.

He chose the Hanalei area because of its harbor, fertile soil and needs of the people. The actual site was called Waiʻoli, “Singing Waters”.

The Waiʻoli Mission District consists of the main Waiʻoli Mission Residence (1836,) the old Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church (1841,) the new Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church (1912) and related improvements.

Rev. Alexander and his wife and son moved there in 1834 and began work immediately, preaching to hundreds of islanders in a huge thatched meeting house, while living in a small grass hut.

The Alexanders carried on alone with their work until 1837 when the Board of Commissioners sent a teaching couple, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Johnson, to the mission. In the meantime, the Alexanders built a frame house for their growing family.

To help make ends meet, the mission planted crops in land donated by the Governor of Kauaʻi. The students helped cultivate the crops, and in so doing, learned agricultural techniques. Cotton was tried without much success. Sugar cane proved much more suitable.

As the center of mission activities on the Hanalei side of Kauai, Waiʻoli Church and Mission House played an important role in the history of that part of the island.

Deborah Kapule, the dowager Queen of Kauai and an earnest convert, assisted in establishing the Mission. Governor Kaikioewa of Kauai provided the land and encouraged the Mission in many ways.

The Old Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church is actually the third church built on its site. The first was a huge thatch structure built by the local populace when they heard that a permanent missionary was to be sent to them.

It was constructed in 1832, but destroyed by fire in 1834, just prior to the arrival of the Rev. William Alexander. He immediately built another similar structure, but it was destroyed by a storm in 1837.

In 1841, Rev. Alexander dedicated the present Old Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church; it is the oldest church on the Island of Kauai.

In 1843, the Alexanders were transferred to the Lāhainā station due to illness and the Rev. and Mrs. George Rowell took their place.

In 1846, Rev. Rowell and his wife were transferred to Waimea. Mr. and Mrs. Abner Wilcox and their four boys were sent from Oʻahu to take over the teaching duties. Mr. Wilcox was to “raise up teachers for the common schools of the island and to prepare those who may go from our Island to the High School”.

In 1853, the American Board finally transferred the Sandwich Islands Mission to the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, which had the status of a “home mission”. To round out the missionaries’ pensions, the American Board divided mission lands among them.

In this manner, the Waiʻoli home was deeded to the Wilcox family. They had decided to make their home in Hawaiʻi rather than return to the mainland. However, in 1869, while on a visit to relatives in New England, Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox suddenly fell ill and died.

The sons took over the Waiʻoli property, managing the farm operation and keeping the buildings in good repair. Albert Wilcox was the last to live in the frame house, moving out in 1877.

The sons went on to become some of the most prominent figures in Hawaii. George N. Wilcox became a highly successful sugar planter on Kauai and entered politics.

He was elected to the legislature. In 1887, he was elected to the House of Nobles, and after Kalākaua’s death, was appointed Minister of the Interior by Queen Liliuokalani.

After the fall of the monarchy, he served the Republic of Hawaiʻi in the constitutional convention, and later, in the Senate. All the while, he continued his sugar operations at the Grove Farm Plantation on Kauai, as well as participating in various other enterprises. The other Wilcox boys also played important parts in monarchy, Republic and Territorial commerce and politics.

In 1912, the current church building was built with donations from Sam, George and Albert Wilcox (sons of the missionary couple who were born at the station). The old 1841 church was used as the Mission Hall. The old mission bell was used in the belfry.

In 1921, Wilcox descendants funded architect Hart Wood to restore the Mission House and the Mission Hall. By 1945, it merged with the Anini Church and the Haʻena Church to become the Huiʻia Church.

Having survived two previous hurricanes, Hurricane Dot and Hurricane Iwa, both the Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church Sanctuary and the Waiʻoli Mission Hall were restored after sustaining significant damage from Hurricane Iniki in 1992. Both buildings are listed on the state and national registers of historic places.

The Waiʻoli Huiʻia Church has had a continuous record of service since 1834, first as a Congregational Church and since 1957 as a United Church of Christ.

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Old Waioli Church
Old Waioli Church
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August 23, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hiʻilawe

Under natural conditions, Lālākea Stream, its tributary and Hakalaoa Stream flow over the pali above Waipiʻo Valley as the famous Hiʻilawe Twin Falls. The twin falls are Hiʻilawe Falls to the west and Hakalaoa Falls to the east.

The twin falls converge in a huge plunge pool at the bottom of the pali to form Hiʻilawe Stream, one of two primary waterways that flow through Waipiʻo Valley to the ocean.

Hiʻilawe Stream supports loʻi kalo, native stream life, productivity in nearshore waters, fishing, gathering and other traditional and customary Hawaiian practices.

Hiʻilawe Waterfall is one of the tallest waterfalls in Hawaiʻi dropping about 1,450-feet, with a main drop of 1,201-feet into Waipiʻo Valley on Lālākea Stream.

In the early-1900s, the streams feeding the falls were diverted so the water could be used for irrigation of sugar cane plantations, like many other streams in Hawaiʻi.

A concrete barrier, or “diversion”, had been built at the 2,000-foot elevation, high above the valley. With the reduction of water, there were no longer two waterfalls at Hiʻilawe, typically only one waterfall had water flowing.

The diverted water was last used by the Hāmākua Sugar Company in 1989.

In 1994, Kamehameha Schools (KS) obtained the Lālākea Ditch when it acquired Hāmākua Sugar Company land. The ditch continued to divert an average of 2.5-million gallons of water a day from the streams to the Lālākea Reservoir, where the unused water flowed into a dry gully.

In lieu of a hefty fine for failing to provide evidence of long-term use of water diverted by the Lālākea Ditch, KS was required to fund studies or other stream-related projects of comparable value.

When I served as Chair of the State Commission on Water Resource Management (Water Commission,) KS submitted and we approved a plan to fully restore flows to three streams that feed the famous Hiʻilawe Twin Falls.

The restoration of Lālākea and Hakalaoa streams and a tributary of Lālākea Stream was only the second stream restoration in the history of the State Water Code, which was enacted in 1987. (The first stream restoration under the code was the partial restoration of Waiāhole, Waianu and Waikāne streams in Windward O`ahu.)

Not only was there less water flowing, but it flowed slower and was warmer which affected the plants and animals that live in the stream. Abandoning the Lālākea Ditch and restoring the streams is necessary to support native stream life and the traditional and customary practices that rely on Hiʻilawe Stream.

In addition, KS prepared the Waipiʻo Valley Stream Restoration Study, the first-ever study of completely restoring a Hawaiian stream to natural flow conditions.

Stream restoration effects studied by KS include: water quality, stream flow, habitats and biota. This study was conducted by scientists from Bishop Museum and other institutions, with student scientists from the Island of Hawaiʻi collaborating and contributing to data collection and analysis.