Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Three Volcano Pioneers of the Mid-19th Century Hawaii

“Keep and publish careful records, invite the whole world of science to co-operate, and interest the business man.” (Jaggar)

The efficiency of an institution which is essentially educational and not commercial, productive of ideas rather than dollars, must be measured by its effect on productive men of learning in stimulating them to production; that is, to new discovery, experiment investigation and publication.

The founding of the Volcano Observatory and the formation of the group of subscribers here called the “Research Association,” were themselves evolved productions of the inspiring work of early investigators, as well as of the natural intellectual stimulus created in man by the unexplained Kilauea lake of boiling nebulous flux.

Three names stand out above all others as recorders of the work of the Fire Goddess in Hawaii in the middle decades of the nineteenth century : Titus Coan, James Dwight Dana, and William Lowthian Green.

Coan the missionary, earnest seeker after truth, for more than a third of the century watched every detail of the evolution of the volcanoes, pondered their meaning, and moreover made truthful record in scores of letters which were promptly published.

This genius for recording is rare among men, and is an all-important requirement in science; many men are good observers, but millions of valuable observations are forever lost, because of a lack of appreciation of the value of a jotting down – day, hour, minute, event, stages, appearances.

All science is no more than a categoric jotting-down, and the grouping of facts into new categories, until some of these reach the dignity of “theory.”

Coan without apparatus or endowment was an institution, a first Hawaiian volcano observatory, and in actual output he was a better observer and recorder than some institutions which have been elaborately equipped.

Professor Dana of Yale, foremost American geologist, was with the Wilkes Expedition at Kilauea in 1840, revisited Hawaii later, and wrote in 1891 a book, “Characteristics of Volcanoes,” which stands preeminent among volcano memoirs.

It was inspired by Kilauea and Mauna Loa, but is broad and sane, and presents a most painstaking and thoughtful summary of the progress of Hawaiian volcanic events, and their bearing on geology. Dana published in New Haven Coan’s letters, and it was doubtless Dana who stimulated much of Coan’s recording.

Green, the man of business, in his leisure moments student of volcanic life and of the inspiring heights and depths of the globe, conceived: to scale, with its film of waters and its blanket of gas, wrote a remarkable book in two volumes, “Vestiges of the Molten Globe.”

His second volume deals especially with the volcanoes, which he visited many times, and of it Professor Daly of Harvard writes: “It is certainly a pity that the second part of Green’s work is not more generally known. The book is almost as remarkable a contribution to the philosophy of vulcanism as Part 1, ‘On the Tetrahedral Theory of the Earth,’ is important in cosmogonic philosophy.”

Green’s work foreshadowed theoretic conceptions which modem thought has fixed more firmly, and his interest, as a business man, in the affairs of pure science was forerunner of the wider interest of many business men (and intelligent women) of Hawaii who now make up the Hawaiian Volcano Research Association.

These three men, Coan and Green resident here, Dana from an eastern university, typify the reason for the creation of an Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, and their portraits should forever hang in honored place upon its walls.

Coan, the systematic observer, showed the value of record and system; Green, the merchant, fascinated by the spell of Pele and inspired by the problems of position of this mid-Pacific pinnacle, Hawaii, rising 37,000 feet above the ocean deep, adopted volcanology for avocation, and left monumental work to inspire specialist and layman alike.

While Dana the scholar, coming from a distant seat of learning, hospitably entertained in the islands by Coan, Green, Bishop, Brigham, Alexander and a host of kind friends, rewarded their kindness by making famous to the whole world the achievements of his Hawaiian scientific colleagues.

Dana added new volcano lore and illustrated what production may come from scientific hospitality. (All here is copied from Special Bulleting of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, 1913, as stated by Thomas Jaggar.)

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Amusements

The following is a portion of a letter from William Richards to Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition, dated March 15, 1841 in Lahaina.  The letter responds to questions raised by Wilkes.  It comes from editors Marshall Sahlins and Dorothy Barrere.

Richards arrived in Honolulu in April 1823 in the second company of American missionaries and was stationed soon thereafter in Lahaina, home of many of the chiefs. He remained in Lahaina throughout most of his missionary career.

His knowledge of Hawaiian is known to have been excellent—he is responsible for many translations of biblical and other works into Hawaiian—and as the letter to Wilkes documents, he was friend to the famous Hoapili and other chiefs.

In 1838, Richards left the mission to become political counselor to the Monarchy. In 1842 with T. Ha‘alilio he undertook a mission to America and Europe to negotiate recognition of Hawaii’s independence. Richards was commissioned Minister of Public Instruction in 1846. He died in Honolulu in November 1847. All of the following is from that letter:

Their amusements were pretty numerous, and many of them of an athletic kind, though not requiring the severest trials of strength.

A favorite amusement of the chiefs was sliding down hill on a long narrow slead, upon which they prostratrated themselves, and then having the slead ballanced on the edge of a very steep hill they started it with the foot and were precipitated down the hill with immense velocity often to a distance of half or even a whole mile.

Thus they went from the top of Diamond Hill far out upon the plane of Honolulu, and at other places to a much greater distance.

Rolling a smooth round stone was another favorite amusement and one which tended to strengthen the arms more than any other with which I have been acquainted.

On ground where the descent was scarcely perceptable I have seen the stone rolled a hundred and thirty rods.

Throwing the spear and various other exercises with it was also an amusement as well as a military exercise. With this weapon they were very expert.

Playing on the surf board has always been and continues to be a very favorite amusement. As you have doubtless seen this, I need not describe the process.

The dance was an amusement which was practiced perhaps to a greater extent than any other. There was a great variety of dances. Some of them consisted mainly in the recital of songs accompanied with much action as was calculated to give them force. Other seemed to consist mainly in action.

Sometimes a single girl was the actress, again, a large number united. Their motions were anything but graceful. Their motions were regulated by music, which consisted of a kind of drumming on various hollow vessels, as calabashes, tubs, and a kind of drum made by drawing a piece of shark skin over a short piece of a hollow log. . . .

Every variety of song was rehearsed and acted on these occasions, from the most sentimental to the most lascivious, and the action always echoed to the sense.

Sometimes a single voice rehearsed the song—sometimes a number chanted in unison.

The first summer I spent in Lahaina scarcely a night passed in which I did not hear the noise of these assemblies, and they were uniformly scenes of lewdness and vice.

But the most numerous class of all their amusements was their games of chance.

Of these they were specially fond. These games were peculiar to themselves. The one most practiced by the chiefs was that of placing several bunches of kapas in a row, and then one man took a stone and hid it under one of the tapas. His antagonist guessed the place of the stone, and the one who was oftenest right won the game.

They never played at games of chance without a wager, nor indeed at any game of skill. The wager seemed to constitute the charm of most of their amusements. It was an accompanyment of their down hill slides – their play in the surf – their plays with the spear their rolling the stone – their flying the kite &c. . . .

They gambled away their property of every kind – their clothes – their food – the crops upon their land – the lands themselves – their wives – their husbands – their daughters, and even the very bones of their arms and legs.

At present cards is a common amusement and it is accompanied with its usual evils.

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Hiwauli (Sarai) and ‘Ī‘ī

“Formerly, capital punishments were usually inflicted secretly in the night. The kings and some of the chiefs had a particular class of servants, called ‘ilamuku’, or executioners, to whom the business of punishing capitally was usually entrusted.”

“This class of men was much feared by the people, for there were no public trials, nor public sentence pronounced, and there fore whenever the executioner was seen abroad, there was general consternation, especially among those who were conscious of having committed offences, or incurred the displeasure of the king.”

“They usually went in the night and attacked their victims with clubs or stones, without giving him any warning. If the executioner were discovered by the friends of the criminal they neither dared to give him warning, nor resist the executioner, lest they should incur the displeasure of the king.”

“After the introduction of edged tools, and especially axes into the country, beheading secretly in the night became a rather common form of execution. The last instance of this took place in the year 1822”. (Richards to Wilkes)

In early 1822, Liholiho (Kamehameha II) had five official wives but took other women to his bed. When the court stopped in Hilo, Liholiho met Sarai Hiwauli, who became his “ano wahine” [a kind of formal partner].

She also slept with Ha‘alo‘u, a member of Liholiho’s entourage, and when the court returned to O‘ahu, Ha‘alo‘u brought her with him.

At some point, Liholiho discovered that Ha‘alo‘u had also slept with one or more of his ali‘i wahine. (Marin claims that it was Pauahi.)

While at Pu‘uloa, Liholiho ordered Koli‘i and Kahalai‘a to kill Ha‘alo‘u. On October 16, 1822, they killed him while he was sleeping next to Sarai. (Marie Alohalani Brown)

“It was in the reign of Kamehameha II and was for the same crime as the above. The king sent an ilamuku in the night, who found the criminal fast a sleep, his wife lying by his side.”

“The executioner gently pulled the woman’s head one side, and then with a broad axe instantly severed the head of her husband from his body.”  (Richards to Wilkes)

This victim was Ha‘alo‘u (whose wife was Sarai Hiwauli).

Sarai Hiwauli was born in Kahalu‘u, Ko‘olaupoko (O‘ahu); she was taken to Hilo, Hawai‘i to be raised, along with her parents and her kupuna.

Because the chiefs of the time knew the kupuna of her father, she was not seen as some stranger, and so she lived amongst them; but those who did not know, they questioned here her living with and dining with the ali‘i.

She was enrolled into the school of John Honoli‘i by Chiefess Kamāmalu to learn the alphabet, because she enrolled all her people with Honoli‘i to learn the alphabet.

After Ha‘alo‘u’s death, Sarai lived without a husband for maybe a month, then John Papa ‘Ī‘ī took her as a wife. The two of them were not separated from the time they were married. (Hae Hawaii, 10/1/1856, p. 156)

John Papa ʻĪʻī began his service in the royal court when he served as an attendant to Liholiho, Kamehameha II. ʻĪʻī later became a trusted advisor and chief in the court of Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III.

When Kamehameha III formed the Chiefs’ Children’s School in 1839 under the direction of Amos and Juliette Cooke, John Papa ‘Ī‘ī joined the school on May 14, 1840 and served as kahu, or vice-principal, while his wife Sarai helped care for the students.

“John Ii and his estimable wife, Sarai, are attached to the institution, and exercise an important and useful guardianship over these royal and noble pupils. The parents of the pupils are highly satisfied with the management and success of the school.” (Bingham)

Sarai [or Sarah] died at Nawiliwili, Kauai, August 29, 1856; she was travelling with the Ali‘i who were circuiting the land, and she got paralysis (possibly a stroke/ heart attack) and died. (Hoku Loa o Hawaii, 9/11/1856) She is buried in Kawaiahaʻo Cemetery. They had no children.

Sarai Hiwauli was a loving, benevolent, and respectable woman. She was highly regarded by all for her righteousness and her piety.

She will be mourned from Hawaii to Niihau by her fellow church members and mostly her people. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” (Hoku Loa o Hawaii, 9/11/1856)

‘Ī‘ī then married Maleka Kaapa of Hilo on August 1st, 1861. She died “of consumption” (the common name for tuberculosis in that era) September 12, 1861, aged 19 years.

‘Ī‘ī’s third wife was Maraea Kamaunauikea Kapuahi; they married on January 1, 1862. Honolulu. By her he had Irene Kahalelaukoa, who married C. Brown and then Carl Holloway.

He was raised under the kapu system and his life ended with him in service of the Christian ministry.

Upon the arrival of the missionaries in Hawai‘i in 1820, John ʻĪʻī was among the first Hawaiians to study reading and writing with the missionaries, studying under the Reverend Hiram Bingham.

As time passed, John ʻĪʻī divided his time between the ruling Kamehamehas and the missionaries, particularly Reverend Bingham. John soon became an assistant to Bingham and a teacher at the latter’s school.

Mary A. Richards in her “Chiefs’ Children’s School” says, “Through the perspective of a century, John ʻĪʻī stands as one of the most remarkable Hawaiians of his time.”

The Reverend Richard Armstrong had this to say about him, “John ʻĪʻī, a man of high intelligence, sterling integrity and great moral worth.”

ʻĪʻī received training at Lahainaluna Seminary, where the Rev. Sheldon Dibble and others encouraged Native Hawaiians to record their history.

With rare insight into the workings of the monarchy as well as the common people, ʻĪʻī did just that, contributing regularly to the Hawaiian language publication Ka Nupepa Ku‘oko‘a from 1866

He lived in an old-fashioned cottage about where the Judiciary building now stands in downtown Honolulu.  His home was named “Mililani,” which means exalted or lifted heavenward.  At nearly seventy years of age, after a life devoted to the furtherance and development of Christianity in Hawai‘i and the development of a democratic form of government, he died there on May 2, 1870.

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