Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Dealing with Outcasts, Desperadoes and Debt

A February 4, 1845 report by US Naval Captain Thomas ap Catesby Jones (and accompanying documents) to the US House of Representatives tells us a lot about the situation in the Islands in the early stages of whaling in the Pacific.

This involves petitions from ship owners, business people and others in the community to Presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams and resulted in Captain Jones being sent to the Islands to help make things right.

Several merchants and others engaged in whaling wrote to President Monroe saying, “They are fully persuaded that a naval force, properly distributed there, will have a powerful tendency to prevent such fatal occurrences, by deterring from acts of violence the unprincipled, who are inseparably connected with such a multitude of men as are required to navigate their ships.”

“These, which have till within a short time been confined to a small portion of the Pacific, now traverse the greater part of that ocean, which has increased the danger of which they complain to a very considerable degree.”

“Hence, they feel the necessity of a naval force stationed there, that shall visit the remote parts of it, and occasionally touch at those islands to which their ships resort for refreshments, &c. …”

New Bedford wrote the President Adams, “in prosecuting whaling voyages into the most distant parts of the Pacific ocean, it becomes necessary for ships so employed to touch at islands in that ocean for purposes of supplies and refreshment …”

“that the Sandwich islands, as affording convenient opportunities for this purpose, have of late years being very generally resorted to; that very nearly one hundred American whaling ships may be estimated to visit Oahu (a port in the Sandwich islands) in the course of every year, and it is not unfrequent that over thirty American whalemen are lying at that portal one time …”

“Experience has shown that, since the introduction of foreign habits and foreign vices among those distant islanders, their characters have undergone an essential depreciation: the purity of intent which characterizes man in his state of natural simplicity, is now scarcely to be traced among them …”

“outcasts and desperadoes have mingled with them, carrying into their habitations the seeds of iniquity, inciting among them a spirit of evil, and diffusing a skill in the purposes of vice, at once to be deplored and dreaded.”

“Upon a population thus prepared for acts of violence and outrage, the mere influence of a pacific habit cannot be safely trusted to as a restraining motive. The distance, also, at which these people (thus attempered to evil design) are placed from the effective operation of civil power, is a circumstance truly calculated to inspire apprehension and alarm.”

A subsequent petition to President Adams noted that “there were over one hundred and fifty seamen (principally deserters from the whale ships) prowling about the country, naked and destitute … their number was constantly increasing, and serious apprehensions existed that necessity would induce those lawless deserters to commit some act of a piratical nature.” (Petitions to John Quincy Adams)

Mr. Bayly, from the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, made the following remarks, “It appears, from memorials presented to Presidents Monroe and Adams by a large number of merchants and others, residents of Nantucket, engaged in the whale-fishery, that in 1824 and 1825 mutinies were taking place on board of American vessels …”

“and desertions of their crews, who took refuge in the Sandwich islands; which place, it was feared, would become, unless our government interfered, ‘a nest of pirates and murderers;’ and the government was asked to send a national vessel to apprehend the offenders, and to look generally after American commerce in the South Seas.”

In addition, there were debts due to our citizens by the people and government of the Sandwich islands … over $500,000 due by the late king Tamahamaha, of the Sandwich islands, to sundry citizens of the United States; (which debt the successors of Tamahamaha had refused to recognize)”.

“Captain Jones, upon his arrival at the Sandwich islands, found great obstacles to the success of his mission. The natives were a semi-barbarous people, just emerging from heathenism …”

“there were in the islands a great many lawless foreigners, long familiarized to living without the restraint of law, who insidiously opposed every effort to introduce law and order, and everything was in a state of great disorder and confusion.”

“In addition to this, the English government had contrived to possess itself of a very large share of the confidence of those islanders. … The influence thus acquired was not all which the British agents interposed to prevent Captain Jones’s success …”

“but the English consul general, residing at Oahu, in 1826, openly claimed for his king the right of sovereignty over those islands; and, in Captain Jones’s presence, at a general council convoked for conference with him, told the regency that they had no power to make treaties, or to enter into any stipulations with a foreign power, without the consent of Great Britain …”

“and even went so far as to warn the islanders that the steps they were then taking to establish a firm and lasting friendship with the United States, would assuredly bring upon them the wrath of the great and powerful nation which he represented.”

“In contrast with the exalted opinion which the Sandwich islanders held of the English nation, was the poor opinion which they had been taught to entertain of the United States.”

“[T]hey had been taught to believe ‘that the Americans were destitute of maritime force. The English,’ they say, ‘have men-of-war, but the Americans have only whalers and trading vessels.’”

“Under these circumstances, Captain Jones thought it indispensable to his success so to demean himself as to elevate, in the eyes of those islanders, the American character; and he was compelled to resort to expensive entertainments and presents, the invariable means of facilitating negotiations with an unlettered people …”

“Notwithstanding the difficulties which he had to encounter, Captain Jones was entirely successful. He negotiated a commercial arrangement with the authorities of the Sandwich islands, eminently beneficial to us, and he prevailed upon them to adopt a plan of raising a revenue to satisfy claims of our citizens, as novel and curious as it was successful.”

“These two measures were the first essay of those islanders in negotiation and legislation; and it is believed the success of them tended to no small extent to generate in them a feeling of independence and self-reliance; which alone, it is more than probable, has prevented these islands from being numbered, by this time, among the colonial possessions of Great Britain.”

“The one has ever been regarded by all nations having intercourse with these islanders as a solemn treaty; has been respected as such; and been made the basis of all similar arrangements entered into with them.”

“The other was so efficient as to secure to our citizens some $500,000, the recovery of which, until it was adopted, had been despaired of.”

(In an agreement between Jones and Kaahumanu (as Regent), Kalanimoku (as Prime Minister), Boki, Hoapili and Namahana, the debt was paid off via a tax where,

“Every man is to deliver half a pecul of good sandal-wood to the governor of the district to which he belongs [and] Every woman of the age of thirteen years or upwards, is to pay a mat, 12 feet long and 6 wide, or tapa of equal value, (to such a mat,) or the sum of one Spanish dollar”.

“After the public debts are paid, the remainder of the amount of this tax to be divided between the king and governors—one half to the regency, for the use of the king; and the other half to be divided between the governors, in proportion to the amount collected from each island.”)

“The importance of the Sandwich islands as a place of refuge for the refreshment and repair of our marine, is understood by all commercial men, and cannot well be overrated; and …”

“the services of Captain Jones, the pioneer in making those arrangements which have kept them open to our shipping, cannot be too highly estimated.”

“He deserves the gratitude of every man who values our South Sea commerce; and ought not to be permitted to suffer from pecuniary losses sustained in rendering such important services to his country.” (US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, 28th Congress, 2d Session, Report No. 92)

He “secured for himself among the people the designation of ‘the kind-eyed chief’ – a compliment falling on the ear of many of different classes”.  (Hiram Bingham)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

William Ellis’ Account of ‘Contact’ and the Initial Days of Western Experiences in Hawai‘i

William Wade Ellis was a surgeon’s mate during Captain James Cook’s third voyage, first on the Discovery and later on the Resolution, and gives quite a good history of this expedition. Ellis wrote a book and added illustrations.  Here is his account of ‘Contact’ and description of what he saw.

Just prior to reaching Hawai‘i, they landed at Christmas Island – Ellis reminds us of signs of land … “we observed a greater number of birds than usual, which increased as we continued our course; and most of them being such as never fly very far from land, we concluded ourselves to be in the neighbourhood of some.”

“Orders were given to keep a good look out; and we stood on, the birds (which were boobies, men of war birds, egg birds, and tropic birds) becoming more numerous … This place … we called Christmas Island (having spent that anniversary there)”.

They left Christmas Island and “Our course from hence was nearly north; we had a fine steady breeze, and the weather was fine and pleasant. … The next day (Jan. 18, 1778) … we saw land to the eastward … but night coming on, we tacked and stood off till morning (Jan. 19th), when we proceeded to trace the coast [of Kauai] in a SW and W direction.”

“The land at first presented rather a barren appearance, but upon a closer view it improved upon us, particularly on the western side, which consisted of a large tract of fine level plains, and beyond them a double range of hills, which were covered with trees.”

“Upon the shore we saw a few clusters of coco nut trees, but by no means so abundant as at the Society Isles. As we drew nearer in-shore, some of the inhabitants put off in their canoes, and very readily came along side.”

“Their colour was more of the copper cast than that of the natives of Taheitee, and they wore their hair long, and of different hues, like the people of the Friendly Isles. Their dress was nothing more than a narrow slip of cloth round their middle, and they were marked or tattowed in different parts of their body.”

“Their cloth was stamped or printed in various patterns, not much unlike our printed linens; their language nearly resembled that of Taheitee. They were easily persuaded to come on board, and, like all other Indians soon began to thieve, but nothing of any consequence was lost.”

“We saw no weapons among them, nor did they behave abruptly or disagreeably, but in their disposition seemed friendly and good natured. We purchased a few pigs and sweet potatoes of them, for which we gave them a hatchet or two, and a few small nails, with which they appeared very well satisfied. In the evening we stood off, intending to examine the place more closely the next day.”

“In the morning (Jan. 20th) at six, captain Cook made a signal for the Discovery’s fix-oared cutter, which, accompanied with the Resolution’s pinnace and large cutter, was sent to look for a safe place for the ships to anchor, and to try what soundings were to be found nearer in shore.”

“During their absence, we stood off and on, being fearful of venturing too near. The natives came off as yesterday, and we bought a few hogs, tarrow, sweet potatoes, and sugar cane, of all which they appeared to have plenty, and excellent of their kind.”

“At three in the afternoon the boats returned, having found a tolerable birth, and at four both vessels came to. Soon after captain Cook went on shore in the pinnace, attended by the Discovery’s cutter, both well-armed.”

“He was received on shore very cordially by the natives, who treated him during his stay with great respect and attention , and brought many small hogs, potatoes, tarrow, or eddoes, and sugar-cane, all which were purchased at a very easy rate.”

“The women were rather ordinary, and in general masculine, and will scarce bear a comparison with the fair dames of Taheitee.”

“Their dress is the same as that of the men, only the cloth is wider, and reaches down to the knees. Their hair is cut short behind, and long before, but turned back like our toupees, which mode of wearing it does not set them off to the greatest advantage.”

“Many, who were along-side in their canoes, pleaded hard to come on board, but captain Cook had given strict orders, previous to his anchoring, not to suffer a single woman to be admitted into the ships, as there were several people in both, who still had the venereal disease.”

“But, notwithstanding every precaution, many of our men contrived to have connexions with them, in consequence of which we found this terrible disorder raging among them when we arrived there the second time.”

“The next day (Jan. 21st), the launches were sent to fill water, which could be procured without much difficulty, from a fine river at no great distance from the ships, and parties were dispatched to the shore to trade with the natives, while others were to superintend the market on board the ships.”

“They supplied us with abundance of every thing the island produced, and in the evening our trading parties returned with abundance of fine hogs, potatoes, sugar-cane, &c.”

“The 22d was very windy, with much rain, which prevented our boats from landing, as a heavy surf broke upon the shore. Our friends however came off in the midst of it, and a brisk trade was carried on, on board.”

“We also purchased many of their ornaments, such as fans, necklaces, bracelets, cloaks, and caps, composed of red and yellow feathers, which were very curious, the latter being made in form of helmets.”

“They also brought off some spears, which were about ten feet long, admirably polished, and the end intended for execution was about eight or ten inches in length, had many barbs, and was pointed.”

“Early the next morning (Jan. 24th,) … About nine, the king of the island came alongside in a double canoe; captain Clerke, understanding who he was, requested him much to come on board, which he appeared willing to do, but his attendants were so fearful of his receiving some hurt or other, that they intreated him not to do it.”

“He ventured however as far as the gangway, where he sat down, and presented the captain with a curious carved bowl; in return for which he received some large nails, a cut-glass bowl, and some other trifles, which pleased him exceedingly. After a short stay; his attendants bore him in their arms to his canoe, and he went ashore.”

“His name was Tomahana; he appeared to be about thirty years old, and was above the middle size; he was clothed in the same manner as the meanest of his subjects, and could only be distinguished by the great respect they paid him. Soon after his departure, the queen arrived in another canoe, and in the same manner was permitted to go no farther than the gangway.”

“She likewise made captain Clerke a present of some elegant ruffs made of various coloured feathers, for which he gave her some beads, looking glasses, and a piece of scarlet cloth; after which she was carried into her canoe, and proceeded to the shore. She was young, and had a pleasing countenance, but her dress was not remarkable.”

They then headed to Ni‘ihau. “This island was considerably smaller than the other, and had rather a wretched appearance; the south point of it is terminated by a high bluff rock, the interior parts are low, with here and there a small elevation, and not a tree is to be seen.”

“In the morning (30th), our new acquired friends came off with sweet potatoes, yams, and salt; in the two latter articles they seemed to abound. The yams were large, and the salt was equal to any we ever saw, both for colour and quality.”

“The boats were sent on shore to trade as usual, but they found the landing far more difficult than at the last place, on account of a very heavy surf, which, when the wind varies in the least to the westward, rolls in at so terrible a rate, as totally to cut off all communication with the shore.”

“In the evening, they brought off what few articles they conveniently could, but left two or three of the gentlemen behind, who superintended the market, till the weather should be more moderate.”

“This morning (Feb. 1st), the weather being more moderate, the boats were sent on shore, and in the afternoon brought off the gentlemen, with some yams and salt, but were obliged to leave the principal part of their purchases behind.”

“A number of the natives came off to the Discovery the next day (Feb. 2d), with their canoes laden with salt, yams, sweet potatoes, and fish dried and salted, of the roots, a sufficient quantity were purchased to supply the ship’s company two months at least.”

“A’towi, which is the name of the largest island, is composed, on the NW side, of a large tract of level land, the interior parts, as has been observed, before, consisting of a double range of hills.”

“The houses of the natives are in general situated near the shore, and placed in clusters, so as to form small towns or villages.  Their external appearance greatly resembles the top of a barn placed upon the ground, with a small entrance in the middle.”

“Some of them were elevated upon posts about three feet high, particularly those nearest the sea; from which we may conclude, that they are, during some parts of the year, subject to inundations. They are well thatched on the outside with dry grass, so as totally to prevent the entrance of rain.”

“The floor is also well strewed with dry grass, upon which mats of various sizes and dimensions are placed. These mats are of a very close, compact texture, and made of different patterns, some of which are really elegant. They vary greatly in their degree of fineness.”

“Their canoes or boats are the neatest we ever saw, and composed of two different coloured woods, the bottom being dark, the upper part light, and furnished with an out-rigger.”

“Besides these, they have another mode of conveying themselves in the water, upon very light flat pieces of board, which we called sharkboards, from the similitude the anterior part bore to the head of that fish.  Upon these they will venture into the heaviest surfs, and paddling with their hands and feet get on at a great rate. Indeed, we never saw people so active in the water, which almost seems their natural element.”

“O’neehow, which is the westernmost island, is very small, and rather low.  It produces sugar-cane, plaintains, sweet potatoes, yams, and salt; in the two latter articles it exceeds A’towi. The inhabitants are not numerous; their houses, &c. are exacty like those of the above mentioned isle.”

“In the afternoon of the 2d of February, the Discovery joined her consort, and proceeded in a NNE and NE direction for the coast of America.”

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Moananuiākea

Moananuiākea is the domain of Kanaloa, god of the ocean.  It is the ancestral home of the Hawaiian people.  Kealaikahiki is the name of an ancestral sea road that forms a heritage corridor connecting Hawaiʻi and the Kahiki Homeland. (KSBE)

“Kahiki” or “Kahiki Homeland” is a specific reference to the ancestral region that includes the Society Islands, Tuamotu Archipelago, and the Marquesas Islands, and may generally refer to other closely-related island groups.  (He Kama Na Kahiki Symposium)

Kahoʻolawe (Kanaloa) is an important ancestral marker for the Kealaikahiki pathway. The ʻili, the point, and the channel known as Kealaikahiki, as well as the island of Kahoʻolawe itself, constitute these markers. (He Kama Na Kahiki Symposium)

“Polynesian explorers first made their remarkable voyage from central Eastern Polynesia Islands, across the doldrums and into the North Pacific, to discover Hawai‘i.”  (Kirch)

“Most important from the perspective of Hawaiian settlement are the colonization dates for the Society Islands and the Marquesas, as these two archipelagoes have long been considered to be the immediate source regions for the first Polynesian voyagers to Hawai‘i. …”

“In sum, the southeastern archipelagoes and islands of Eastern Polynesia have a set of radiocarbon chronologies now converging on the period from AD 900–1000.”  (Kirch)

Research indicates human colonization of Eastern Polynesia took place much faster and more recently than previously thought. Polynesian ancestors settled in Samoa around 800 BC, colonized the central Society Islands between AD 1025 and 1120 and dispersed to New Zealand, Hawaiʻi and Rapa Nui and other locations between AD 1190 and 1290.  (Hunt; PVS)

“There is also no question that at least O‘ahu and Kauai islands were already well settled, with local populations established in several localities, by AD 1200.”  (Kirch)

On November 28 1520, Ferdinand Magellan was the first European to enter “Sea of the South” (which he later named the Pacific (meaning peaceful)) and thereby open up to Spain the possibility of an alternative route between Europe and the spices of the Orient.”  (Lloyd)

Ferdinand Magellan is often credited as being the first person to have circumnavigated the globe; his expedition of five ships and crew of 270 set sail on September 20, 1519 as part of an attempt to find a western route to the spice-rich East Indies in modern-day Indonesia.

Some history books still say Ferdinand Magellan “is most known for being the first explorer to circumnavigate the world.” (The Brave Magellan: The First Man To Circumnavigate The World – Biography 3rd Grade Children’s Biography Books)

However, although he had masterminded the first expedition to sail around the world, he didn’t complete the voyage.  Along the way, Magellan was killed on April 27, 1521 on Mactan Island, Cebu, Philippines.

The first European to complete the circumnavigation was Magellan’s second-in-command, Juan Sebastian de Elcano, who took over after his death. At that point, the final crew had only 18 men. (Royal Museums Greenwich and PennToday)

Almost 50 years after the death of Christopher Columbus, Manila galleons finally fulfilled their dream of sailing west to Asia to benefit from the rich Indian Ocean trade.

Starting in 1565, with the Spanish sailor and friar Andrés de Urdaneta, after discovering the Tornaviaje or return route to Mexico through the Pacific Ocean, Spanish galleons sailed the Pacific Ocean between Acapulco in New Spain (now Mexico) and Manila in the Philippine islands.

Once a year, gold and silver were transported west to Manila in exchange spices (pepper, clove and cinnamon), porcelain, ivory, lacquer and elaborate fabrics (silk, velvet, satin), collected from both the Spice Islands (Indonesia) and the Asian Pacific coast, in European markets.

The galleons leaving Manila would make their way back to Acapulco in a four-month long journey.  The goods were off-loaded and transported across land to ships on the other Mexican coast at Veracruz, and eventually, sent to European markets and customers eager for these exotic wares.  (GuamPedia) The Manila Galleon Trade lasted for 250 years and ended in 1815 with Mexico’s war of independence.

“The English circumnavigations by Drake (1577-1580) and Cavendish (1586-1588) were not rich in discoveries. The Dutch merchant Isaac Ie Maire, with Willem Corneliszoon Schouten, reached the Pacific in 1615 via Cape Horn (which they named)”.

“Sailing from there, the Dutch had made several sightings of the coast of Australia, north, west and south, in the early seventeenth century, and Anthony van Diemen, governor-general of the Dutch East Indies from 1631 to 1645, was responsible for a number of expeditions”.

“[L]ater, another Dutch expedition, under Jacob Roggeveen, left the Netherlands in 1721 in search of the southern continent.  Roggeveen went through the Strait of Le Maire and found Easter Island and Samoa before reaching Batavia after a year’s voyage.”

“The English had now come strongly on the scene, with the expeditions of Narborough up the South American coast (1669-1671), a mixed assembly of buccaneers, adventurers and privateers, including Dampier, Wafer, Cowley, Ringrose, Woodes, Rogers and Shelvocke, followed by the grand naval expedition of 1740-1744 under Anson.”

“As far as discoveries go, the most important of these men was the remarkable amateur William Dampier, whose painfully assembled New Voyage Round the World (1697) set alight the imagination of eighteenth-century England.”

“On this first voyage Dampier had touched on Australia (New Holland), ‘a very large Tract of Land’, and had thought the inhabitants ‘the miserablest People in the World’. He returned on his second voyage but was only able to make a cursory investigation of the north-western and northern coasts.”

“The major period of English exploration in the Pacific followed the ending of the Seven Years War with France in 1763. The Earl of Egmont, First Lord of the Admiralty from 1763 until 1766, sent out John Byron in the Dolphin in 1764, and on its return from a speedy circumnavigation in 1766, sent the ship out again under Samuel Wallis, with Philip Carteret in the Swallow as consort.”

“James Cook, thirty-nine years of age, a master in the Navy engaged on the survey of Newfoundland, was proposed by the Navy, and during April and May 1768 it was agreed that he should become leader of the expedition.” (The Journal; Edwards)

In the dawn hours of January 18, 1778, on his third expedition, British explorer Captain James Cook on the HMS Resolution and Captain Charles Clerke of the HMS Discovery first sighted what Cook named the Sandwich Islands (that were later named the Hawaiian Islands.)

Hawaiian lives changed with sudden and lasting impact, when western contact changed the course of history for Hawai‘i.

Following the American Revolutionary War, American Captain John Kendrick was among the first citizens of the new nation to sail into the Pacific. The new nation needed money and a vital surge in trade.

In 1787, a group of Boston merchants decided to send him on a two ship mission around Cape Horn and into the Pacific Ocean, to establish new trade with China, settle an outpost on territory claimed by the Spanish and find the legendary Northwest Passage.

The maritime fur trade focused on acquiring furs of sea otters, seals and other animals from the Pacific Northwest Coast and Alaska. The furs were to be mostly sold in China in exchange for tea, silks, porcelain and other Chinese goods to be sold in the US.

Kendrick visited Hawai‘i a number of times and is credited for initiating the sandalwood trade (Hawai‘i’s first commercial export). He died at Honolulu Harbor, December 12, 1794.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

First Descriptions of the Islands and the People

“On the 19th (of January, 1778,) at sunrise, the island first seen, bore east several leagues distant. … At this time, we were in some doubt whether or not the land before us was inhabited; but this doubt was soon cleared up, by seeing some canoes coming off from the shore, toward the ships”.

“In the course of my several voyages, I never before met with the natives of any place so much astonished, as these people were, upon entering a ship. Their eyes were continually flying from object to object …”

“… the wildness of their looks and gestures fully expressing their entire ignorance about every thing they saw, and strongly marking to us, that, till now, they had never been visited by Europeans, nor been acquainted with any of our commodities except iron …”

” Of what number this newly-discovered Archipelago consists, must be left for future investigation. We saw five of them, whose names, as given to us by the natives, are Woahoo (O‘ahu,) Atooi (Kauai,) Oneeheow (Ni‘ihau,) Oreehoua (Lehua) and Tahoora (Ka‘ula.)”

“Besides these … which we can distinguish by their names, it appeared, that the inhabitants of those with whom we had intercourse, were acquainted with some other islands both to the eastward and westward. I named the whole group the Sandwich Islands, in honour of the Earl of Sandwich.”

“The inhabitants are of a middling stature, firmly made, with some exceptions, neither remarkable for a beautiful shape, nor for striking features, which rather express an openness and good-nature, than a keen, intelligent disposition.”

“Their visage, especially amongst the women, is sometimes round; but others have it long; nor can we say that they are distinguished, as a nation, by any general cast of countenance.”

“Their colour is nearly of a nut-brown, and it may be difficult to make a nearer comparison, if we take in all the different hues of that colour; but some individuals are darker.”

“They are vigorous, active, and most expert swimmers; leaving their canoes upon the most trifling occasion; diving under them, and swimming to others though at a great distance.”

“It was very common to see women, with infants at the breast, when the surf was so high that they could not land in the canoes, leap overboard, and without endangering their little ones, swim to the shore, through a sea that looked dreadful.”

“They seem to be blest with a frank, cheerful disposition; … They seem to live very sociably in their intercourse with one another; and … they were exceedingly friendly to us.” “(T)hey spoke the language of Otaheite, and of the other islands we had lately visited.”

Men wore a ‘maro’ (malo,) “pieces of cloth tied about the loins, and hanging a considerable way down.” “The only difference in (women’s) dress, was their having a piece of cloth about the body, reaching from near the middle to half-way down the thighs, instead of the maro worn by the other sex.”

“The habitations of the natives were thinly scattered about … (part of Cook’s crew) had an opportunity of observing the method
of living amongst the natives, and it appeared to be decent and cleanly.”

“Though they seem to have adopted the mode of living in villages, there is no appearance of defence, or fortification, near any of them; and the houses are scattered about, without any order, either with respect to their distances from each other, or there position in any particular direction.”

“Their amusements seem pretty various; for, during our stay, several were discovered. The dances … from the motions which they made with their hands, on other occasions, when they sung, we could form some judgment that they are, in some degree at least, similar to those we had met with at the southern Islands”.

“They did not, however, see any instance of the men and women eating together; and the latter seemed generally associated in companies by themselves.”

“They eat off a kind of wooden plates, or trenchers; and the women, as far as we could judge from one instance, if restrained from feeding at the same dish with the men … are at least permitted to eat in the same place near them.”

“It was found, that they burnt here the oily nuts of the doee dooe for lights in the night, … and that they baked their hogs in ovens”.

“They met with a positive proof of the existence of the taboo (or as they pronounce it, the tafoo), for one woman fed another who was under that interdiction.”

“They also observed some other mysterious ceremonies; one of which was performed by a woman, who took a small pig, and threw it into the surf, till it was drowned, and then tied up a bundle of wood, which she also disposed of in the same manner. The same woman, at another time, beat with a stick upon a man’s shoulders, who sat down for that purpose.”

“They have salt, which they call patai; and is produced in salt ponds. With it they cure both fish and pork; and some salt fish, which we got from them, kept very well, and were found to be very good.”

“Fish, and other marine productions were, to appearance, not various; as, besides the small mackerel, we only saw common mullets; a sort of a dead white, or chalky colour; a small, brownish rock-fish, spotted with blue; a turtle, which was penned up in a pond; and three or four sorts of fish salted. The few shellfish that we saw were chiefly converted into ornaments”.

“Of animal food, they can be in no want; as they have abundance of hogs, which run, without restraint, about the houses ; and if they eat dogs, which is not improbable, their stock of these seem to be very considerable. The great number of fishing-hooks found among them, showed, that they derive no inconsiderable supply of animal food from the sea.”

“Judging from what we saw growing, and from what was brought to market, there can be no doubt that the greatest part of their vegetable food consists of sweet potatoes, taro, and plantains; and that bread-fruit and yams are rather to be esteemed rarities.”

“(T)he vale, or moist ground, produces taro, of a much larger size than any we had ever seen; and the higher ground furnishes sweet potatoes, that often weigh ten, and sometimes twelve or fourteen pounds; very few being under two or three.”

(This summary comes entirely from the Journals of Captain Cook, explaining what he saw immediately after contact.)

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View of the Sandwich Islands_Webber-Achorage at Atooi
View of the Sandwich Islands_Webber-Achorage at Atooi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Voyaging Canoes

Before European open ocean exploration began, Eastern Polynesia had been explored and settled.  (Herb Kane)

More than three thousand years ago, the uninhabited islands of Samoa and Tonga were discovered by an ancient people. With them were plants, animals and a language with origins in Southeast Asia; and along the way they had become a seafaring people.

Arriving in probably a few small groups, and living in isolation for centuries, they evolved distinctive physical and cultural traits. Samoa and Tonga became the cradle of Polynesia, and the center of what is now Western Polynesia.  (Herb Kane)

By the time European explorers entered the Pacific in the 15th century almost all of the habitable islands had been settled for hundreds of years and oral traditions told of explorations, migrations and travels across this immense watery world.  (Kawaharada)

Because of the great distances, these must have been sailing double-hulled canoes, with paddling as auxiliary power used only for brief periods-to launch or land canoes, or keep off a dangerous lee shore.

Changes in the primary power mode of the larger canoes of the Hawaiian Islands from sail to paddling, followed by a return to sail.

Voyaging vessels were double-hull; hulls were deep enough to track well while sailing across the wind or on a close reach into the wind. The round-sided V hulls provided lateral resistance to the water while under sail.  (Herb Kane)

The most widely distributed and presumably most ancient sail was a triangle made up of strips of fine matting sewn together and mounted to two spars, one serving as a mast; the other, as a boom, usually more slender and either straight or slightly curved.

Throughout Eastern Polynesia, the same basic design probably persisted throughout the era of long distance two-way voyaging. (Herb Kane)

The double-hulled voyaging canoes were seaworthy enough to make voyages of over 2,000 miles along the longest sea roads of Polynesia, like the one between Hawai‘i and Tahiti.

And though these double-hulled canoes had less carrying capacity than the broad-beamed ships of the European explorers, the Polynesian canoes were faster: one of Captain Cook’s crew estimated one could sail “three miles to our two.”  (Kawaharada)

Voyaging between Hawaiʻi and the South Pacific appears to have ceased several centuries before European arrival. No explanation is found in the traditions.  (Herb Kane)

As long distance voyaging declined, the need shifted from voyaging canoes to large canoes for chiefly visits and warfare within the Hawaiian Islands, resulting in changes in canoe design.

For these short coastal and inter-island trips, paddling replaced sailing as the dominant power mode. Never certain when hospitality might turn sour, chiefs prudently traveled with bodyguards.  (Herb Kane)

Throughout the years of late-prehistory, AD 1400s – 1700s, and through much of the 1800s, the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi.  Canoes were used for interisland and inter-village coastal travel.

Most permanent villages initially were near the ocean and at sheltered beaches, which provided access to good fishing grounds, as well as facilitating convenient canoe travel.

In the 1970s the Polynesian Voyaging Society built and launched a Polynesian voyaging canoe with the intention of sailing it from Hawai‘i to Tahiti using only traditional techniques. The canoe, christened Hōkūle‘a, was piloted by Mau Piailug, a navigator from the Caroline Islands.

The goal of the project was to show that, although no such voyage had been made for hundreds of years, ancient Polynesian voyagers had been able to navigate distances of more than 2,500 miles using nothing more than their knowledge of the wind, sea, and stars.

On May 1, 1976, the Hōkūle‘a set sail from the island of Maui. Just before their departure, Mau addressed the crew, telling them how to behave while they were at sea.

“Before we leave,” he told them, “throw away all the things that are worrying you. Leave all your problems on land.” On the ocean, he said, “everything we do is different.”

At all times, the crew would be under the captain’s command: “When he says eat, we eat. When he says drink, we drink.” For three, maybe four weeks, they would be out of sight of land. “All we have to survive on are the things we bring with us…. Remember, all of you, these things,” he concluded, “and we will see that place we are going to.” (PopularScience)

Almost 50-years later, the Hōkūle‘a sailed on the Moananuiākea Voyage. (Moananuiākea refers to the vast waters of the earth’s largest ocean.) (MauiNow) (Art of Voyaging Canoe by Herb Kane.)

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