Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Sailing to Waialua

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

“In Honolulu I traded what remained of the cargo in exchange for sandalwood. Stowing this wood on board is a long and careful task if one is to make full use of the space.”

“After ballasting the ship to a sixth of its tonnage, one begins stowing at both ends, stacking together the pieces of equal length, even under the deck, and then forcing into each stack as many other pieces as possible, driving them in with a mallet.”

“While this work was proceeding on board the Heros, I accepted the invitation of the English consul to make a short trip to the north of the island in a small schooner that belonged to him and was going to obtain sandalwood in a place called Waialua.”

“We left at three in the afternoon, and in order to double Koko Head and the eastern part of the island, we tacked until noon the next day when, finding ourselves sufficiently to windward, we let the ship falloff northwest toward our destination.”

“For some while the chain of mountains that appears to traverse the island from east to west and falls away on the side of Honolulu to form a number of fine valleys appeared from the north as a steep wall hemming in a plain of two or three leagues in width and stretching from this barrier to the edge of the sea.”

“But soon the mountains turning abruptly to the north, advanced to the water, leaving only a very small space between themselves and the shore, where a great number of huts stood everywhere.”

“We were less than a mile at sea, ranging along the coast in somber and rainy weather. The setting sun, about to go down on the opposite side of the mountain, left in the shade all that we could see. It is hardly possible to imagine anything more imposing than the spectacle before us that moment.”

“Three massive shapes, suspended over our heads, were composed of fearsome precipices, one towering over the other, of impenetrable forests rising in great steps above other forests, dark chasms of frightful depth, steep and slippery slopes, bare wet rocks mingling their dark color with the somber green of the old trees.”

“High and gleaming cascades, after descending for hundreds of yards, threw themselves onto the tree tops, where they burst into foam only to reunite and fall again until some fissure in the rocks provided a channel for a gentler descent to the sea”

“ If I add that the progress of the ship was continuously changing and varying the scene for us, the reader may form an idea of this spectacle”

“But one must see it with one’s own eyes, see the heavy clouds, now motionless over the forests that they drench with their showers, now eddying swiftly, rising and falling at the will of the wind that was whirling around behind the mountains.”

“One must see this turbulent chaos of clouds, moving, dissipating, and reappearing in different form as the ship advances if one is to sense how magical and mysterious was this scene to us.”

“In the far distance the mountains opened up as if some great hand had torn them apart; narrow valleys, well peopled, wound among the openings.”

“A large number of fishing canoes could be seen close to us. And we called to one of these light craft for a pilot to show us the port of Waialua (place of two streams).”

“The pilot pointed it out, several miles ahead, and we lost no time in entering through the wide opening in the reef, where we found no less than four fathoms of water.”

“It was almost dark when we went ashore and were received by the village chief, who invited us to sup with him ad sleep in his house.”

“We had some provisions brought from on board along with some bottles of wine, and these we added to the excellent fish that he served.”

“Although the house was very large it barely sufficed to hold the numerous guests who were gathered there, for we were no fewer than forty men and women under this hospitable roof.”

“I and my companion, the English consul, stretched ourselves out on mats as did the others, but the night was far advanced before we could sleep.”

“In addition to the insects, flying, jumping and crawling, that tormented us, the chief, after reciting a Christian prayer in the language of the country, kept up a conversation with several others.”

“Although I did not understand a word, this eternal colloquy held me awake for a long time.”

“Even the sleep was not peaceful; with my imagination overwhelmed by the grandiose and sublime spectacle of the mountains, I dreamed that I was pursued by a torrent and took refuge under an overhanging rock that then broke loose and collapsed on me.”

“Awakening with a start, I found on my chest the two heels of a fat Sandwich Islander, my neighbor on the bed, who sept profoundly in that position and who had been the cause of my nightmare.”

”Day was breaking. Taking my gun I went for a walk, intending to shoot some birds, but could not reach the base of the mountains; the entire landscape was cut into a labyrinth of taro fields separated by slippery dikes covered with high, wet grass and difficult to walk on without tumbling into the muddy ponds.Z”

“After killing only a few plover and a duck, I returned to the port. Our little schooner was loaded early, and in the evening we set
sail for Honolulu.”

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Moku‘ula

Moku‘ula is the site of the private residential complex of King Kamehameha III from 1837 to 1845, when Lāhainā was the capital of the kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands.

The site is a traditional home for Maui royalty, noted as being the site of King Pi‘ilani’s residence in the sixteenth century.

Almost the entire site, which consisted of fishponds, fresh water springs, islands, causeways, retaining walls, beach berms, residential and mortuary buildings, was buried under a couple feet of coral and soil fill in 1914.

Under a County Park for over a century, the site is in the process of being uncovered and eventually restored by the Friends of Moku‘ula and others.

Although most widely associated with the period of Kamehameha III, the site appears to be a place of traditional Native Hawaiian cultural significance. The islet of Moku‘ula, located in the fishpond of Mokuhinia, was a sacred place protected by royal kapu (taboo).

According to Kamakau, it was considered a grotto of a royal protector deity named Kihawahine or Mokuhinia, who traditionally swam through the surrounding fishpond of Mokuhinia in the form of a giant lizard (mo‘o.)

The goddess was a deified princess, daughter of Maui king Pi‘ilani of the sixteenth century, whose family resided at the site.

Kamehameha I, upon his conquest of Maui in the late eighteenth century, adopted this deity. His sons and successors, Kamehameha II and III, were of the indigenous Maui royal family through their mother, Keōpūolani.

The lizard goddess Kihawahine ranked in no small part as the guardian of the succeeding Kamehameha dynasty that was in the process of unifying the archipelago.

A continuing association of religious function, as a shrine to Kihawahine, continued at this site from the days of Pi‘ilani to the establishment of the royal residence by Kamehameha III.

Archaeological and historical investigations demonstrate that the surrounding Loko Mokuhinia pond was the site of indigenous Hawaiian aquaculture and pondfield (taro lo‘i) agriculture.

The royal complex established by King Kamehameha III in the early nineteenth century consisted of a large (over 120-feet by about 40-feet,) two-story western style coral block ‘palace,’ “Hale Piula,” on the beachfront of the site (intact from 1840 to 1858).

Due to lack of funds, however, it was never entirely completed and only rarely used, and then only for state receptions or meetings of the legislature.

Located immediately to the east of this coral block building was the large fishpond Mokuhinia containing a one-acre island linked by a short causeway from Hale Piula.

On this sacred island of Moku’ula was a cluster of traditional grass houses (hale pili) that were used as a secluded, private residence for the king and his household from 1837 to 1845.

The island of Moku’ula was surrounded by a stone retaining wall, and the causeway to Hale Piula was guarded by a gate with sentries during this particular historic period.

The king’s beloved sister, Princess Nāhi‘ena‘ena, was buried at Moku‘ula in early 1837. Grief-stricken, the king decided to live next to his sister’s tomb for the next eight years.

Archaeological subsurface excavations have ascertained that portions, if not most, of the encompassing retaining wall of Moku’ula is still intact beneath about 3-feet of soil and coral fill.

Other important features discovered include a preserved wooden pier that extended from the eastern shore of the island into Mokuhinia pond, postholes that might date from the period of Kamehameha Ill’s residence, and cut-and-dressed basalt blocks from near the tomb area.

The focal point of the complex, however, was a large stone building used as a combination residence and mausoleum. It was built on Moku‘ula in 1837 to house the remains of the king’s sacred mother, sister, his children and other close members of the royal family.

Bernice Pauahi Bishop, last legal descendent of the Kamehameha dynasty, had the royal remains moved from Moku‘ula to the churchyard at adjacent Waine‘e Church (Wai‘oli Church) ca. 1884.

The Friends of Moku‘ula are in the process of restoring Moku‘ula, with the goal of eventually including a Native Hawaiian cultural center. It is becoming a reality.

This project has got to be one of the most exciting restoration efforts in a very long time, and a very long time to come. Beneath a County Park in Lāhainā is one of Hawai‘i’s most historical and sacred treasures.

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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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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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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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