Hawaiian Traditions | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 19, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kauhale

ʻĀina is compounded from the verb “ʻai” (to eat,) referring specifically to vegetable foods, with the substantive suffix “na,” which makes it a noun. The word ʻāina (land,) then, means “that which feeds.”

In old Hawaiʻi’s subsistence society, the family farming scale was far different from commercial-purpose agriculture. In ancient time, when families farmed for themselves, they adapted; products were produced based on need. The families were disbursed around the Islands, as well as across regions on each island.

Traditional hale (‘house’, ‘building’) were constructed of native woods lashed together with cordage most often made from olonā. Pili grass was a preferred thatching that added a pleasant odor to a new hale. Lauhala (pandanus leaves) or ti leaf bundles called peʻa were other covering materials used.

Unlike our housing today, the single ‘hale’ was not necessarily the ‘home.’ The traditional Hawaiian home was the kauhale (Lit., plural house;) this was a group of structures forming the living compound – homestead – with each building serving a specific purpose.

The main structure within the kauhale household complex was the common house, or hale noa, in which all the family members slept at night. It was the largest building within a family compound and the most weatherproof. (Loubser)

Other structures included hale mua (men’s meeting/eating house,) hale ʻāina (women’s eating house,) hale peʻa (menstruation house) and other needed structures (those for canoe makers, others used to house fishing gear, etc.)

The terrain and the subsistence lifestyle and economy created the dispersed community of scattered homesteads. Typically a Hawaiian family’s homestead stood in relative isolation.

Where homesteads were assembled near each other, they were not communities held together either by bonds of kinship or economic interdependence.

“Go into any of these valleys, and you will see a surprising sight: along the whole narrow bottom, and climbing often in terraces the steep hillsides, you will see the little taro patches, skillfully laid so as to catch the water, either directly from the main stream, or from canals taking water out above.”

“Nearby or among these small holdings stand the grass houses of the proprietors, and you may see them and their wives, their clothing tucked up, standing over their knees in water, planting or cultivating their crop.” (Nordhoff, 1875)

Fishermen and their families living around the bays and beaches, or at isolated localities along the coast where fishing was practicable, led a life that was materially simpler than that of planters who dwelt on the plains.

Placement and occasional collection of kauhale was more of a functional pattern.

Kauhale means homestead, and when there were a number of kauhale close together the same term was used. The old Hawaiians had no conception of village or town as a corporate social entity; there was no term for village.

The kauhale were scattered near streams in valley bottoms; each family kauhale was right beside its lo’i. A spring (or springs) was sometimes the reason for a village-like conglomeration of homesteads – again, families focused on the water source.

Small bays and beaches generally had a cluster of houses where the families of fishermen lived – it was primarily because of the proximity to access to the ocean.

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

Because each ʻohana (family) was served by a parental haku (master, overseer) and each family was self-sufficient and capable of satisfying its own needs, there was no need for a hierarchal structure.

The Hawaiian concept of family, ‘ʻohana, is derived from the word ʻohā (fig., offspring, youngsters,) the axillary shoots of kalo that sprout from the main corm, the makua (parent.) Huli, cut from the tops of mauka, and ‘ohā are then used for replanting to regenerate the cycle of kalo production.

The true ‘community’ in which homesteads were integrated by socio-religious and economic ties was the dispersed community of the family (ʻohana,) relatives by blood, marriage and adoption.

Neighborly interdependence, the sharing of goods and services, resulted in the settling of contiguous lands by a given ʻohana within an ahupuaʻa (rather than in a scattering over an entire district.)

Kamakau states that there were no chiefs in the earliest period of settlement but that they came “several hundred years afterward … when men became numerous.”

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

As chiefdoms developed, the simple pecking order of titles and status likely evolved into a more complex and stratified structure.

While conquest and war resulted in periodic changes in leadership, there was a relative stability and permanence for the families and their kauhale. As a practical matter it was to the benefit of the chiefs to keep the farmers and fishers on the land they knew and cultivated.

Thus, the kauhale, the homesites of established ʻohana, were permanent features of the landscape, and the vested interest of any given family was equivalent to a title of ownership, so long as the landsman labored diligently to sustain his claim and was loyal to his chief. (Lots of information here from Handy and Pukui.)

August 9, 2026 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Common Hawaiian-sounding Words … But Are They Hawaiian?

Are These ‘Traditional’ or New Words and meanings to the lexicon in Hawaiʻi?

While we use them in common language, and most often think of them as traditional Hawaiian words, it seems some words are relatively new to the islands and not part of the traditional Hawaiian language. Let’s take a look.

Lūʻau
To many, the lūʻau is the quintessential experience and expression of Hawaiian dining and hospitality. The reality is, it’s a relatively new word.

Traditionally, the ʻahaʻaina or pāʻina were the calls to feast and party together. These feasts marked special occasions — such as reaching a significant life milestone, victory at war, the launching of a new canoe or a great endeavor. They believed in celebrating these occasions with their friends and families.

In an April 1, 1850 story in ‘The Friend,’ the term lūʻau is used (possibly for the first time – in a translation of ‘Visit of the French sloop of war Bonite, to the Sandwich Islands, in 1836,’) stating, “At the King’s order the luau was served up. A gastronomic feast is called luau at the Sandwich Islands.”

“It takes its name from an indispensable dish of young taro leaves boiled, or cooked in fat. In an instant, the cloth was covered with young pigs, fowl, sweet potatoes, luau, etc – all these having been enveloped in leaves and cooked in the earth by the means of red hot stones.” (The Friend, April 1, 1850)

It’s also not clear if this is the first reference to “lūʻau;” but it predates what Pukui notes as the first use of the term ‘luau,’ where she says it goes back at least to 1856, when it was used in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser. The term “lūʻau” is mentioned again in references to the wedding celebration on Alexander Liholiho and Emma Rooke, when on June 19, 1856 they became known as King Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma. (This may be the reference Pukui was referring to.)

Palaka
It was a sad day when Arakawas in Waipahu (operating from 1909 to 1995) closed its doors. Gone was the assortment of colors and sizes of palaka wear (the shirts were originally only blue and white,) as well as the myriad needs filled by the diversity and depth of the merchandise in the store. Arakawas headed the growth of the palaka shirt.

Peter Young Kaeo (1836 – 1880), resident of the leprosy settlement at Kalaupapa, reported in a letter to his cousin Queen Emma, dated November 4, 1873, that he recently visited the settlement store and there bought several yards of cotton twill “to make me some frocks palaka” this is the first known use of the word palaka to describe the style of clothing: short cuts with no tail and meant to be worn outside of the pants. (Korn)

Scholars state that ‘palaka’ is a transliteration into Hawaiian of the English word ‘frock,’ the term used for the loose-fitting, long-sleeved work shirts worn by the sailors that came to Hawaiʻi. Gradually, the word came to describe a type and pattern of cloth; typically made into shirts (into plaid-like woven, not printed pattern.)

Pukui notes it is a checkered shirt; in the 19th century, a coarse work shirt worn by males, mentioned frequently in the literature and especially in Peter Kaʻeo’s letters in 1873–74 to his cousin, Queen Emma, and hence probably from English “frock” rather than from “block”. (Pukui)

Kaukau
Back to food; the notable reference was in a short note from Princess Kaʻiulani to Robert Louis Stevenson. In part she wrote, “Papa and I would like to have you come to our house on Tuesday next for dinner and Papa promises good Scotch “kaukau” for all you folks.” (She was referencing ‘food’ or ‘eats.’)

The Hawaiian term for food is ʻai. Kaukau in this context is not an Hawaiian word. Hawaiian dictionaries note ‘kaukau’ meant a heap of stones in a field used as a temporary altar on which the fruit of the field is laid as an act of worship or a snare to catch birds.

Pukui suggests that this term meaning to eat or drink, is probably local pidgin English derived from “chow chow,” Chinese for food. It is used by foreigners in conversation with natives, and vice versa. On the plantations, lunch break was “kaukau time.”

Hui
OK, this one is not as clear; the word is used in the Hawaiian language as “A coming together of two or more things; a uniting; an assembly. (In the Maori language, hui, means, come together.)” Today, in Hawaiʻi, a ‘hui’ is a partnership or association of folks cooperating in a common cause.

Hui is also a Chinese word, generally meaning ‘conference’, but which is sometimes used to refer to a secret society. The ‘Hui’ had special meaning in November 1894 when Sun Yat-sen, on his third trip in Hawaiʻi, established the Hsing Chung Hui (Revive China Society,) his first revolutionary society.

On another visit to Hawaiʻi (in 1903,) Sun reorganized the Hsing Chung Hui into Chung Hua Ke Min Jun (The Chinese Revolutionary Army) in Hilo. In 1905, in Tokyo, Sun reorganized the Hsing Chung Hui and other organizations into a political party called the Tung Meng Hui. Likewise, the Chinese Revolutionary Army was reorganized and all of its members Tung Meng Hui members.

This party spread all over China and rallied all the revolutionists under its wings. He then made his last visit to Hawaiʻi to form the Hawaiʻi Chapter of Tung Meng Hui. The revolutionary movement in China grew stronger and stronger. Tung Meng Hui members staged many armed uprisings, culminating in the October 10, 1911 Wuhan (Wuchang) Uprising which succeeded in overthrowing the Manchu dynasty and established the Republic of China. (Hmmm, was he using Hawaiian of Chinese in his organizational formation?)

Lomi Lomi Salmon
Back to food; lomi lomi salmon … but Hawaiʻi’s waters don’t teem with salmon; so, how did this become a lūʻau staple and into a compartment of our lūʻau plates?

Near the turn of the last century, the most valuable commercial fisheries in the world, excepting only the oyster and herring fisheries, were those supported by salmon. Of these the most important, by far, were the salmon fisheries of the Pacific coast of North America (California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, including also British Columbia.)

Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had its regional headquarters was in the Pacific Northwest in the mid-1800s. Salmon was a mainstay of life of the Northwest Coast Indians. Fresh or preserved salmon, in turn, became a staple food for HBC posts west of the Rocky Mountains.

By 1830, the HBC was preserving salmon on the Columbia River and at Fort Langley on the Fraser River as well, mainly to feed Company personnel, but with some 200 to 300 barrels of Columbia River salmon exported that year, presumably all to Hawai’i. Preserved salmon found a ready market on O’ahu, particularly among native Hawaiians.

Just when that notable dish, lomi lomi salmon, first made its appearance is unknown, but if it was in fashion by the 1830s, the HBC can take credit for being the main provider of its principal ingredient. During the 1830s, HBC sold several hundred barrels of salmon a year in Honolulu. The 1840s saw a major increase in sales; the peak year was in 1849, with 2,610 barrels exported to Honolulu.

Lomi Lomi salmon, not a traditional Hawaiian dish (however, Hawaiian salt was used in preserving the salmon destined for Hawaiian consumption.) The source of the salt shipped by HBC to the Northwest Coast could have come from the Moanalua salt lake on Oʻahu, whose salt was considered the best for salting provisions and as a table salt in Honolulu.

August 7, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Parker Ranch Manager’s House

“The early Waimea inhabitants resided typically within a pā hale (fenced house lot) with a sleeping house and adjacent protected cooking facility. The pā pōhaku (stone wall) surrounded the pā hale, and likely included within was a kīhāpai (garden).”

“The farming plot (‘apana) of the householder was located elsewhere within the agricultural zone of the respective ahupua’a. (Bergin; Windy McElroy)

“[I]n the Native Register, a man named Paukeaho lists a claim (#4513) for his house lot, and upland garden (‘āina mahi mauka) in Keanuiomano, an `ili near Haleaha.”

“In his claim Paukeaho states that are two gardens of taro ‘in the forest of this land (Native Testimony LCA 4513)’. In the Native Testimony, the konohiki William Beckley testified that he has seen the house lot in his `ili land at Keanuiomano …”

“… and, while he agrees to ‘give’ Paukeaho the land that he has previously cultivated, Beckley testifies that he has ‘never known its boundaries (Native Testimony).’” (Michael Vitousek)

“The impacts of cattle on the habitation structures is shown indirectly in Paukeaho’s claim (Native Register #4513) which states that the house lot he has acquired from the konohiki William Beckley is enclosed in a stone wall (pa pohaku). The stone wall was likely built to prevent damage from free-ranging herds of cattle.”

“There are numerous accounts in the Native Testimony and Native Register about fenced off, walled off house lots, or the desire on the part of the native tenants to fence or wall off their house lots in the future”. (Michael Vitousek)

A modern structure was built here. The oldest part was built around 1885 and was first used as an Episcopal Church. (Wai‘ula‘ula Watershed Management Plan) Since the turn of the century this white house was the Parker Ranch manager’s house.

John Palmer Parker married Kipikane, the granddaughter of King Kamehameha. They had two sons, John II and Ebenezer, and a daughter, Mary Ann Kaulalani Parker. (Tracy)

When John died in 1868, he willed half of the Parker property each to son John II and grandson Samuel Parker (son of Ebenezer – Ebenezer died in 1855). In 1879, John II purchased the “Hawaiian Victorian” mansion, Puuopelu.

Originally built in 1862 by Englishman Charles Notley, Puuopelu became the heart of Parker Ranch. (This is not the white house that is the subject of this summary.) (Paniolo Preservation Society)

John II adopted Samuel’s son John III to be heir of his half of the Ranch; John III married Elizabeth Jane Lanakila Dowsett but died shortly after his daughter, Annie Thelma Kahilu‘onāpua‘api‘ilani Parker, was born and his half of the estate was put in trust for their daughter, Thelma. (Tracy)

In 1879, John II purchased the “Hawaiian Victorian” mansion, Puuopelu. Originally built in 1862 by Englishman Charles Notley, Puuopelu became the heart of Parker Ranch. (Paniolo Preservation Society)

“[F]ollowing the death of JP Parker II in 1891, there was growing tension between Samuel Parker, estate trustees, and JP Parker III. The latter Parker died in 1894”. (Maly)

“On September 25, 1899, [Alfred Wellington] AW Carter was appointed guardian and trustee of Thelma Parker … In accepting the appointment as guardian and trustee, AW relinquished several opportunities that other men would have found difficult to abandon …”

“… a lucrative law career in the burgeoning city of Honolulu, president of Charles R. Bishop Trust, an executive career with Bishop Bank, deputy attorney general, judge of the First Circuit Court, and trusteeship of Bernice Pauahi Bishop’s estate.” (Bergin)

“When AW assumed the reins of the ranch, the combined total of fee simple land owned by Thelma K Parker and her natural grandfather Sam Parker amounted to only some 34,000 acres, with large parcels under lease.” (Bergin)

The AW Carter moved into the home (the 1885 structure referenced above that had been used as an Episcopal Church) – it was painted white (but the name Hale Kea (White House) did not take hold until a subsequent owner).

“It served as a home for Carter and his family for 60 years and included bunk houses on site for ranch hands. Many of the current gardens were originally pastureland and corrals.” (Landry Fuller, West Hawaii Today, Dec 10, 2018)

“Mr. Carter – AW was very strict for the good, you know. And people respected him for that. He was a father to the employees, and their families. And he just didn’t want to see anything go wrong within the families.”

“(Though) he was soft within himself, he was (a strict person). (However,) he was an easy man to talk to. He would give you a straight answer.” (Elizabeth Kimura, Oral History Interview)

“I saw the home when occupied by Hartwell Carter, AW’s son. It was very well kept,” historian and Waimea resident Billy Bergin said.” (Landry Fuller, West Hawaii Today, Dec 10, 2018)

In 1906, Sam Parker sold his interest to Thelma Parker’s trust, and she became the sole heir to the Parker Ranch. Thelma Parker married Henry Gaillard Smart when she was eighteen.

In 1913, Richard Palmer Smart was born to Thelma and Henry (a daughter died young). In 1914, both Thelma and Henry Smart died before Richard was two years old. (South Kohala CDP)

Then, on his 20th birthday, Richard became the sole owner of Parker Ranch. He entrusted AW Carter with ranch operations while he followed his heart to the footlights of Broadway and fashionable clubs in New York and Paris.

Over the years, AW and his son Hartwell Carter developed the ranch and increased land holdings to about 500,000 acres. (Paniolo Preservation Society)

Richard came back to the island in 1960 and set about making Puuopelu into his grand estate. … In 1986, Richard decided to move his ancestral home, Mana Hale, to the grounds at Puuopelu. Walls, floors and ceilings were taken down, numbered and reassembled into a replica of the original home. (Paniolo Preservation Society)

Richard Smart, last remaining heir to the Parker Dynasty, took over Ranch operations from Hartwell Carter, son of AW Carter during the middle of the 20th century. (South Kohala CDP)

Then, a new proposed use of the white house was reported in the papers … “Mauna Kea Hunting Lodge will offer a quarter-million acres of land and a boundless sea to its members when it open in September, in time for the finest hunting season in the Pacific.”

“Pacific Resorts, Inc., yesterday announced final plans on the construction of the $1-million sportsman’s hunting club at Waimea, Hawaii in the heart of the famed Parker Ranch.” (Adv, Apr 3,1960)

“Plans are being made in cooperation with the State Department of Agriculture and Forestry to establish a Hawaiian Hahai – a big game shoot to rival the international fame of the African safari or the Indian shikar.” (Adv, Apr 3,1960)

“Focal point of the club’s extensive grounds at Waimea will be the Parker Ranch manager’s home. The century-old white house will be the clubhouse with dining facilities, a bar, gaming and trophy rooms.” (Adv, Apr 3,1960)

“An initial 20 cottages … will dot the grounds so situated to take advantage of the exhilarating view of a waterfall that cascades and forms two pools on the property.”

Shortly after, “[Laurance] Rockefeller, an American philanthropist and businessman, purchased the property in the mid-1960s and lived there while building the Kohala Coast’s first hotel – Mauna Kea Beach Hotel.”

“During that time the property was expanded and grew to its present size. Some of his personal guests included Jackie Kennedy and Henry Kissinger.” (Landry Fuller, West Hawaii Today, Dec 10, 2018)

“In the 1970s and ‘80s, Waimea rancher and businessman William White owned the property and used it as his private residence. … [I]t was Bill (White) who gave it the name ‘Hale Kea’ [White House].” (Landry Fuller, West Hawaii Today, Dec 10, 2018)

“In 1989, developers from Kauai [operators of Kilohana plantation estate] opened the estate to the public with shops and a popular restaurant named Hartwell’s.” (Landry Fuller, West Hawaii Today, Dec 10, 2018)

White sublet the property and its name was changed to Jacaranda Inn. That operated for a number of years. Tax office records note that in April 2021, the lease/or subleases over the property were cancelled and the property is held by Parker Ranch Foundation Trust.

Also here was “Waimea’s rain rock, Manaua, named for the resident moo wahine – guardian lizard of Kohakohau stream.” (WHT, Aug 22, 2017) “In times of drought, the elders in Waimea remember the mo‘o wahine, or female water spirit, and the comfortably sloped rock where the old stories say she comes to sun herself.”

“The rock is known as Manaua, and after the long drought … Hawaiian cultural practitioners began leaving … offerings there in a tradition that is supposed to bring rain.”

“According to local legend, the mo’o wahine lives at a pond some distance from the rock, and when she sees the offerings at Manaua, she realizes the people remember her. … Then the rains resumed in some mauka areas, and after the offerings were made, the water reserves climbed”. (Adv, July 6, 2007)

“‘When AW Carter lived, he knew the story about the rain god. The rain god is the stone.’ said [Anna] Perry-Fiske, sitting in her pristine ranch house amid cowhide throw rugs and bouquets of roses from her lush garden. AW Carter, she explained. was an important honcho of Parker Ranch in the old days.”

“When Parker Ranch sold Hale Kea to Rockefeller, said Perry-Fiske, they held onto the small hunk of property where the rain stone lies. ‘Whenever there was a drought, there’d be a lei made. It would be put on the rain stone. And there would be rain,’ said Perry-Fiske.”

“‘Well, I don’t believe. But I said, people who do believe, they should hurry up quick and do it.’ So last week the ranch folks cleared off the stone.”

“‘They put on a real big lei,” said Perry-Fiske. ‘The next day it rained. And my friends called and said, ‘Maybe this will make you believe.’ And it stopped raining. And I said, quick, go put another lei on. …” Then it started raining.

“And as it rained, Perry-Fiske said ‘you’d have thought I was at a football game, because I was chanting ‘a little bit more, a little bit more.’” (Adv, Feb 11, 1981)

August 6, 2026 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hālawa

“Early the next morning, with a pleasant breeze from the NE, we stood over towards the east point of Mororoi (Molokai.) … we sailed to the westward … In this the land rises rather abruptly from the sea, towards the lofty mountains in the center of the east part of Morotoi …”

“… and though the acclivity was great, yet the face of the country, diversified by eminences and vallies, bore a verdant and fertile appearance. It seemed to be well inhabited, in a high state of cultivation, and presented not only a rich but a romantic prospect.” (Captain George Vancouver, March 19, 1793)

“… a beautiful deep valley….watered by a large and delightful stream of fresh water which falls from the mountains…in two grand and beautiful cataracts one of which rushes over a perpendicular decent of more than five hundred feet into a deep…and crystal lake”.

“The stream which issues from the lake … is so situated as to be easily drawn off by sluices into the taro plots…. the valley is principally laid out in these small rectangular plots …” (Hitchcock, 1833; NPS)

In 1877, a native Hawaiian described Hālawa “as a very fertile valley, with wild fruits, mountain shrimps, and much water in the streams…. There were nine hundred and thirteen taro patches and with the hundred and nine others that I hadn’t counted, they totaled a thousand and thirty-two patches. Most of the land is covered in taro”. (NPS)

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

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

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

The windward valleys developed into areas of intensive irrigated taro cultivation and seasonal migrations took place to stock up on fish and precious salt for the rest of the year. Kalaupapa was well known for its bountiful ʻuala (sweet potato) crops and its fine-grained, white salt which was preferred over that from the salt ponds of Kawela and Kaunakakai. (Strazar)

John FG Stokes, who was Curator of Polynesian Ethnology at Bishop Museum, was sent to Molokai in 1909 to survey the remains of the ancient Hawaiian temples (heiau) found there. Stokes recorded thirteen medium-sized heiau distributed along the lower slopes and two large luakini heiau.

Molokai used to be referred to as ʻAina Momona (the bountiful land,) reflecting the great productivity of the island and its surrounding ocean.

It is about 38-miles long and 10-miles wide, an area of 260-square miles, making it the 5th largest of the main Hawaiian Islands (and the 27th largest island in the US.)

The island was formed by two volcanoes, East and West, emerging about 1.5-2-million years ago. The cliffs on the north-eastern part of the island are the result of subsidence and the “Wailua Slump” (a giant submarine landslide – about 25-miles long that tumbled about 120-miles offshore – about 1.4-million years ago.)

Hālawa Valley is the easternmost valley at the edge of Molokai’s north shore; four other major valleys span the coastline, from Hālawa westward toward Kalaupapa: from east to west they are Papalaua, Wailau, Pelekunu and Waikolu.

Archeological surveys indicate that by the 1300s, Hālawa Valley’s population had expanded inland, and small irrigation systems were developed along the streams.

By the 1600s, an extensive taro irrigation system dominated the valley’s settlement pattern. At that time, the lower valley was entirely covered in large rectangular fields watered by long irrigation ditches (taro loʻi made up about 55-acres of land.)

Hitchcock who established the first permanent Mission Station at Kaluaʻaha in 1832, gave a census figure of 6,000 for the island. (Strazar)

These early counts were generally taken in the field by both native school teachers and missionaries. During this period, the Reverends Hitchcock and Smith preached once a week at seven different stations from Kamaloʻo to Hālawa, and in 1833 they estimated the population of the entire island to be about 3,300. (Strazar)

August 4, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kamakahonu

“The view of the king’s camp was concealed only by a narrow tongue of land, consisting of naked rocks, but when we had sailed round we were surprised at the sight of the most beautiful landscape.”

“We found ourselves in a small sandy bay of the smoothest water, protected against the waves of the sea; on the bank was a pleasant wood of palm-trees, under whose shade were built several straw houses …”

“… to the right, between the green leaves of the banana-trees, peeped two snow-white houses, built of stone after the European fashion, on which account this place has the mixed appearance of a European and Owhyee village”.

“(T)o the left, close to the water, on an artificial elevation, stood the morai (heiau) of the king, surrounded by large wooden statues of his gods, representing caricatures of the human figure.” (Kotzebue, visiting in 1816)

Several large and densely populated Royal Centers were located along the shoreline between Kailua and Hōnaunau. One such center was located along the north end of Kailua Bay at Kamakahonu.

Kamakahonu (lit. turtle eye) was possibly established as early as the sixteenth century by ʻUmi-a-Līloa. It was during the early nineteenth century that Keawe a Mahi, a kahu of Keaweaheulu presided over Kamakahonu, and upon the death of Keawe a Mahi, Kamakahonu became the residence of Kamehameha I.

During Kamehameha’s tenure at Kamakahonu several structures were erected using both traditional materials and techniques and more “modern” materials and techniques.

Kamehameha first moved into the former residence of Keawe a Mahi. He then built another house on the seaward side of that residence, that was referred to as hale nana mahina ‘ai.

This house was built high on stones and faced directly upland toward the planting fields of Kūāhewa. Like an observation post this house afforded a view of the farm lands and was also a good vantage point to see canoes coming from South Kona and from the Kailua vicinity. (Rechtman)

Much of the following is from John Papa ‘Īʻi’s book, ‘Na Hunahuna no ka Moʻolelo Hawaii’ (Fragments of Hawaiian History;) he was a member of the Kamehameha household.

‘I‘i describes that the “King erected three houses thatched with dried ti leaves,” a sleeping house (hale moe) and separate men’s (hale mua) and women’s (hale ‘āina) eating houses. The hale ‘āina belonged to Kaʻahumanu, and as ‘I‘i described:

“This house had two openings in the gable end toward the west, and close to the second opening was the door of the sleeping house. A third opening was in the end toward the upland.”

“There were three openings in the sleeping house. The one in the middle of the west end, one which served as a window on the upland side of the southwest corner, and one mauka of the window. This window lay beyond the men’s house (mua) on the south. The door mauka of the window was the one entered when coming from the men’s house.”

“The door of the men’s house closest to the sleeping house was the one used to go back and forth between these two houses. There was also a door in the end wall on the west side of this house, and two small openings in the south seaward corner, one in the upper side and one on the lower side of the corner.”

“These faced the many capes of Kona and took in the two extremities of this tranquil land and the ships at anchor. However, should the ships be more to the ocean side, only the masts were visible.”

“A fifth opening was a little on the seaward side of the northeast corner, where the upland side of the men’s house extended a little beyond the sleeping house, and it was only through this entrance that the men went in and out. It was near the door that was used to enter from the sleeping house.”

“Near the door facing westward in the mua, was the king’s eating place. On the upper side were large and small wooden containers that served as bowls and platters, together with a large poi container always filled with poi from the king’s lands.”

“The men’s eating house, the sleeping house, and the women’s eating house were at the end of a 7- to 8-foot stone wall that ran irregularly from there to the shore at the back of the hale nana mahina ‘ai. Outside of the wall was the trail for those who lived oceanward of Kamakahonu. Immediately back of the wall was the pond of Alanaio, where stood some houses.”

“Two eating houses were built for Kaheiheimālie and her daughter, Kekāuluohi, opposite the three houses thatched with ti leaves. They stood back of the kou trees growing there at Kamakahonu, both facing northwest.”

“Kaheiheimālie’s eating house had two doors, but Kekāuluohi’s had but one door. In front of her house was a bathing pool, at the upper bank of which were some small houses and that of the king.”

“A stone house was built between the three houses thatched with ti and those of these chiefesses. Its builder was either a Frenchman or a Portuguese named Aikona. He was skilled in such work…”

“When Aikona began building the end and side walls of the house at Kamakahonu he built a third wall between them and arranged stones in the center of this middle wall to from a door.”

“The walls rose together until the house, from one end to the other, was finished. When Aikona later removed the stones set up in the doorway of the center wall, the doorway looked like the fine arched bridge of Pualoalo at Peleula in Honolulu.”

“As he removed the stones, Aikona explained that had they been piled inexpertly, the whole house might have collapsed. This house was well completed.”

“In the stone house were stored the king’s valuables and those of Aikona’s. These valuables were kegs of rum and gunpowder and guns, of which the guns and powder were placed on the inside near the inner wall. “

“Later, another storehouse was built in Kamakahonu, on the north side of the hale nana mahina ‘ai. It had stone walls and was constructed like a maka halau. The upper of its two stories was for storing tapa, pa‘u, malos, fish nets, lines, and olona fiber; and all other goods went into the lower story.”

“The thatching was of sugar-cane leaves, the customary thatching on the house along that shore. Dried banana trunk sheaths were used for the inside walls and were cleverly joined from top to bottom. Banana trunk sheaths were also used in the hale nana mahina ‘ai.”

“After these houses were built, another heiau house, called Ahuʻena, was restored (ho‘ala hou). This house stood on the east side of the hale nana mahina ‘ai, separated from it by about a chain’s distance.”

“The foundation of Ahuʻena was a little more than a chain from the sand beach to the westward and from the rocky shore to the eastward. Right in front of it was a well-made pavement of stone which extended its entire length and as far out as the place where the waves broke.” (ʻĪʻi, Na Hunahuna no ka Moʻolelo Hawaiʻi’ (Fragments of Hawaiian History))