Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ninika

The Cowardin Classification System is a descriptive method developed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service that categorizes and defines wetlands according to their landscape position and water source.

Within these broad classes fall types of wetlands known by common names, such as marshes, bogs, and swamps. (DLNR, FWS)

Hawaiian bogs occur primarily in montane zones (a mosaic of rainforest and shrublands) as isolated small patches on flat or gently sloping topography in high rainfall areas in cloud forests and other wet forests on all of the high islands between 3,500-5,500 feet elevation.

These bogs also occur in the subalpine zone 7,446 feet elevation on Maui, and as a low-elevation bog at 2,120 feet on Kauai. Soils remain saturated on a shallow to deep layer of peat (0.01-5 m), underlain by an impervious basal clay layer that impedes drainage.

A few sloping bogs occur on steeper terrain were precipitation is extremely high, such as in North Bog in the Wai‘ale‘ale summit region of Kauai, where soils remain saturated despite adequate drainage.

Two bogs are believed to have formed in former small lakes, one along the Wailuku River, Hawai`i (Treeless bog), the other the subalpine bog on East Maui (Flat Top bog). The low-elevation bog on Kauai occurs on shallow, poorly drained acidic peat. (NatureServe Explorer)

Bogs are one of the most distinctive kinds of wetlands. They are characterized by spongy peat deposits, acidic waters and a floor covered by a thick carpet of moss. They are typically treeless areas, surrounded by cloud forest.

Bogs receive all or most of their water from precipitation rather than from runoff, groundwater or streams. As a result, bogs are low in the nutrients needed for plant growth, a condition that is enhanced by peat mosses.

Bogs serve an important ecological function in preventing downstream flooding by absorbing precipitation. (EPA)

Hawaiian bogs are characterized by an extremely dwarfed growth of the species represented in the surrounding forest, and by a number of species practically endemic to the bogs.

Most of the plants are deeply embedded in cushions and hummocks (ground rising above a marsh) of mosses, hepatics, and turf-forming grasses and sedges. The area is saturated with water and there are often channels and pools. (Fosberg & Hosaka)

The more familiar bogs of the islands are those in Alakai swamp, Kauai; Kawela Swamp, Molokai; Puu Kukui, west Maui and northeastern Haleakalā, Maui; Kaala Bog, Kohala Mountains, Hawaii; and in the Koolau Mountains on Oahu. (Fosberg & Hosaka)

These marshes and bogs are found in depressions where rain or groundwater collects. Hawai‘i’s rare montane bogs take millions of years to form. (DLNR)

Ninika (a boggy region in the Laupāhoehoe-Maulua forest) (Maly) is at the seaward end of the Hakala Forest refuge in Honohina. This name was recorded by the surveyor D.H. Hitchcock (1874) based on information from his two informants.

Ku and Kalaualoha (both Boundary Commission witnesses for Piha and Honohina); he says “I found that most of the [coastal] gulches ended at Ninika, and [upland] gulches from mauka ended at swamp.”

Kalaualoha testified that from its upper point of origin “Nauhi gulch only runs a short distance into woods and there spreads out all around;” for the Honohina testimony, he states that the coastal “Nanue gulch ends at Ninika.” Kapou (witness for Hakalau Nui) also mentions Ninika: “I have heard that Kaiwiki reaches to the Ninika.”  (Tuggle)

The Waikaumalo/Piha boundary runs “up gulch to Ninika to where Puuohua ends and Mauluanui bounds it to the mountain. Bird catchers from these two lands used to catch in common … Ninika is at mauka end of Puuohua, Kumuohia is on Piha.” (Hawaiian Place Names)

When we think of Hakalau Forest Refuge, we typically think and see native ohia and koa forest and lots of forest birds. However, below where people go, but still within the Refuge, is a somewhat different story. As described by Myra Tomonari-Tuggle in a report she did for the Refuge:

“The wet ‘Ôhi‘a zone covers essentially the entire seaward half of the refuge and is characterized by a forest dominated by ‘Ôhi‘a trees. … The groundcover is primarily ferns.”

“This low elevation area is cut by numerous streams and gullies and the ground surface is often bog-like, described by Stine as:”

“At the lowest elevation of the [Refuge] is the bog – ohia dieback community. This unit is actually a mosaic of open bog, matted fern and native shrub communities, and open to scattered wet ohia forest with many standing dead or partially defoliated trees.”

“The forest dieback in this area is believed to be a result of the poor rooting conditions found in this extremely wet habitat … The wet open boggy areas are dominated by introduced grass and sedge species with scattered native shrubs.” (Stine)

“Soil samples from the bog in the southern half of the refuge suggest that the bog may range from 8 to more than 12 feet deep; these samples were collected from six sites ranging in elevation from 4,405 to 5,040 feet asl.”

“A 19th century map of Honohina, one of the traditional Hawaiian land units within the refuge, gives the name ‘Ninika Swamp’ to this lower elevation bog.”

“This zone corresponds to the lower range of McEldowney’s montane rainforest zone, which she describes as an area largely used as a source of specialized forest resources such as a forest birds for feathers and dry or mesic hardwood species for crafts or construction.”

“Historically, the bog at the seaward edge of the refuge was called Ninika Swamp; it is probable that this swamp extends at this elevation across all of the ahupua‘a in the refuge.”

“A multitude of stream channels enter from the upper slopes, dissipate in the bog, then exit as new channels to the lower coastal slopes.”  (Tomonari-Tuggle)

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Before the Marine Base

O‘ahu used to be nearly twice as big as it is now.  (Thompson) The Island consists of two major shield volcanoes: Waiʻanae and Koʻolau; the eroded remnants of which are the Waiʻanae Range and the Koʻolau Range.

Koʻolau volcano started as a seamount above the Hawaiian hotspot around 4-million years ago. It broke sea level some time prior to 2.9-million years ago.

About 2-million years ago, much of the northeast flank of Koʻolau volcano was sheared off and material was swept onto the ocean floor (named the Nuʻuanu Avalanche) – one of the largest landslides on Earth.

The Pali is the remaining edge of the giant basin, or caldera, formed by the volcano. At its base are the towns of Kāne’ohe, Kailua and Waimānalo – beyond that, open ocean. The other half of the caldera, an area the size of Brooklyn, tore away and tumbled into the ocean.  (Sullivan)

Mōkapu Peninsula (where Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i is situated) is evidence of subsequent secondary volcanic eruptions that formed Ulupaʻu Crater (the large hill on the Kailua side of the peninsula,) Pu‘u Hawaiiloa (the central hill that originally had the base control tower, now has radar (‘the hill’,)) Pyramid Rock and the nearby Moku Manu (Bird Island.)

Coral reefs and marine terraces were formed at different elevations due to the changing sea levels over time.  There are some broad lowland areas in the lower reaches of deeply alluvial valleys. (Moberly)

Mōkapu Peninsula is part of two ahupua’a in the district of Ko‘olaupoko: He‘eia and Kāne‘ohe. He‘eia ahupua’a encompasses the western third of the peninsula (called the ‘iii of Mōkapu) and extended inland; Kāne‘ohe ahupua‘a is on the eastern two-thirds of the peninsula.

Hawaiians lived on Mōkapu Peninsula for at least 500 to 800 years before Western Contact. Farmers cultivated dryland crops like sweet potato for food, and gourds for household utensils.

They tended groves of hala (pandanus) trees for the lauhala (leaves) to weave into mats and baskets, and wauke plants for kapa (paperbark cloth). The highly prized wetland taro might have been grown in the marshy area at the center of the peninsula.

Mōkapu people fished in the protected waters of Kāne‘ohe Bay, in Kailua Bay, and in the deep ocean to the north; and took advantage of the rich shore resources.

There were at least two small villages on the peninsula, as well as scattered houses along the coastline. With walls up to six feet wide, the massive fishponds of Mōkapu are an indication of political significance since only chiefs could command the labor to build such monuments. They were being used from as early as the 15th or 16th centuries.

British Captain James Cook made landfall in Hawai‘i in 1778, the first documented Western contact with the islands. He was followed in short order by European and American explorers and traders.

In the first decades after Western Contact, Honolulu was the focus of interactions between Hawaiians and foreigners. On remote Mōkapu Peninsula, separated from urban Honolulu by the high, sheer Pali, life continued in the cycle of subsistence farming.

Mōkapu, and Kāne‘ohe, in general, were far from the attentions of foreigners. It was not until the US Exploring Expedition of 1840-1841 that Kāne‘ohe Bay and its environs were documented in detail.

Under King Kamehameha III, the most important event in the reformation of the land system in Hawai‘i was the separation of the rights of the King, the Chiefs and the Konohiki (land agents) through the Great Mahele in 1848.

The King retained all of his private lands as his individual property; one third of the remaining land was to be for the Hawaiian Government; one third for the Chiefs and Konohiki; and one third to be set aside for the tenants, the actual cultivators of the soil.

Paki (father of Bernice Pauahi Bishop) received the ahupua‘a of He‘eia, including the ‘ili of Mōkapu. Kamehameha III kept the ‘ili of Kuwa‘ahohe in the center of the peninsula, as well as Halekou and Kaluapūhi ponds; Kalama, his wife, received most of the ahupua‘a of Kāne‘ohe including Nu‘upia Fishpond.

Following Paki’s death in 1855, the Sumner brothers, John and William, bought the ‘Ili of Mōkapu.  In 1885, John Sumner became sole owner when his brother died. In 1892, John left Mōkapu in a trust to his nephew, Robert Wyllie Davis (the son of Sumner’s younger sister Maria).

In the first half of the 20th century, truck farms and commercial plantings replaced the traditional subsistence gardens on almost all of the tillable land of the peninsula, including inside Ulupa‘u Crater.

Watermelon thrived in the hot and sunny, loamy soil of the peninsula – papaya, sweet potato, Irish potato, pumpkins, squash, and sweet corn were also grown.   The Japanese farming community was about where the MCBH runway is today .

One of the earliest commercial efforts was Albert van Clief and Addie Gear’s cotton plantation. “Strange as it may seem our cotton pickers are Hawaiian. … We have three Hawaiian women and one Hawaiian man and a Korean couple.” (Hawaiian Gazette, Dec 10. 1910)  But hard times for the Gears quickly followed.

Chinatown was the primary market for the Mōkapu farmers.  The Maui News of June 21, 1918, reported that Mōkapu farmer N. Ewasaki won second place for “Best ten-pound any white variety” of Irish potatoes at the annual Maui County.

As early as 1890, Joseph Paul Mendonça and his partner Christel Bolte had been leasing the former Kāne‘ohe Ahupua‘a lands of Queen Kalama. A journal entry on June 1, 1893, noted “We commenced today doing business under the name of Kāneʻohe Ranch”.

They started with the herd with imported Angus cattle, purchased from James I Dowsett, one of the founders of the ranching industry in Hawai‘i. Horses, sheep, and goats rounded out the livestock assets.

Then, Mendonça was ready for a change; the Ranch ledger entry for December 31, 1899 stated, “Joe Mendonça is ‘pau ke aloha’ with Kaneohe, he wants to sell out or do something, he does not exactly know what ….” (MCBH) By 1905, James B.Castle was a shareholder in the Ranch.

In 1917, Castle’s son, Harold KL Castle, purchased the ranch. Harold Castle and his family spent weekends at their beach home on the ocean side of the high Heleloa Dune.

Kāne‘ohe Ranch was the main cattle operation (on the eastern portion of the peninsula); Robert Davis and later Arthur H. Rice, Sr., had their own smaller herds in the former ‘ili of Mōkapu. Scattered wild lands were covered in kiawe, hau, and haole koa trees, and lantana and feral tomatoes were rampant.

In 1921, the Territory of Hawai‘i established a game farm on Mōkapu Peninsula. The farm contained about 350-acres, which included Halekou and Kaluapūhi fishponds.  As a part of the farm program, the Territory also initiated a reforestation program at Mōkapu in which about 5,000 trees had been planted by the end of 1930, and about 2,000 coconuts in 1932.

The tract of land that Mōkapu Game Farm was developed on was described in 1929 as “an arid waste, barren, silent, almost desolate” (Honolulu Star Bulletin Oct. 31, 1929). At the end of 1930, 185 acres of the land had to be fenced to protect it from “wandering stock” (Hawaii, Terr., Bd. Comm. Ag. & For. 1931:118) (Maly)

The Mōkapu Game Farm raised and released many types of game birds, including: Pheasants (the primary bird raised and released); California quail, Gambel’s quail, and Japanese quail; Chukars; Guinea fowl; Ducks; and others. The birds were raised and released to benefit hunters and to increase agricultural yield by preying on plantation pests.

Folks at the Game Farm apparently also raised Japanese oysters in the nearby mud flats by the old Wilson Pier, used by the Territorial Game Farm that was situated near the location of the present H-3 interchange. (George Davis; Maly)

In the 1920s, the peninsula was a private holding with no access to the general public, and there were few permanent residents. Wally Davis and the Date family lived at Davis Point in southwestern Mōkapu. Some Japanese farmers had homes on the peninsula, but many lived in Kailua or Kāne‘ohe and came to the peninsula only to work their fields.

Dr. George Straub and members of the Kawainui Shooting Club were periodic visitors to their places along the Kailua Bay frontage. The supervisor of the Territorial Game Farm had a residence at Halekou Fishpond.

The ‘ili of Mōkapu became the “Fisherman’s Paradise” with development of the Mōkapu Tract Subdivision – “A private sea fishery is an appurtenant to the land, in which lot owners are given the privilege of fishing for personal.”

Beach lots were offered for sale from $1,000 and up; and second tier lots with rights of way to the beach for $500 and up.  “Put on the market in 1932, Mōkapu has met with exceptional success.”  (Maly)

In 1934, a radio facility was built by Pan American Airways on the crest of He‘eia Dune, roughly between Pyramid Rock and the north end of the present Runway 4/22. It was used as a link for Pan Am trans-Pacific flights, that started in 1935.

In 1918, through Executive Order 2900, President Woodrow Wilson designated 322 acres in the central portion of Mōkapu Peninsula as the Army’s Kuwa‘ahohe Military Reservation. Deactivated at the end of World War I, the reservation was leased for ranching until 1939, when it was reactivated as Fort Kuwa‘aohe.

In December 1940, Fort Kuwa‘aohe was renamed Fort Hase, in honor of Major General William F Hase, who served as Chief of Staff of the Army’s Hawaiian Department from April 1934 to January 1935. It served as headquarters of the Harbor Defenses of Kāne‘ohe Bay.

On the western side of the peninsula, Naval Air Station (NAS) Kāne‘ohe was established in 1939; a base for squadrons of seaplanes to support the Pearl Harbor fleet was developed.

The work included dredge and fill operations that added 280 acres to the Kāne‘ohe Bay side of the peninsula, as well as filled low-lying areas for runway and hangar construction.

The great bulk of all reef material dredged in Kāne‘ohe Bay was removed in connection with the construction at Mōkapu of the Kāne‘ohe Naval Air Station (now Marine Corps Base Hawai‘i) between 1939 and 1945.

Dredging for the base began on September 27, 1939, and continued throughout World War II.  A bulkhead was constructed on the west side of Mōkapu Peninsula, and initial dredged material from the adjacent reef flat was used as fill behind it.

In November 1939, the patch reefs in the seaplane take-off area in the main Bay basin were dredged to 10-feet (later most were taken down to 30-feet.)

Other early dredging was just off the northwest tip of the peninsula, near the site of the “landing mat” (runway.)  It appears that a fairly reliable total of dredged material is 15,193,000 cubic yards.

(Do the Math … Let’s say the common dump truck load is 10 cubic yards … that’s a million and a half truckloads of dredge material.)  The runway was about half complete at the time of the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. (Lots here is from Tomonari-Tuggle & Arakaki)

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ʻAlekoko Fishpond (Menehune Fishpond)

ʻAla ke kai o ka ʻanae.
Fragrant is the soup of a big mullet.
(A prosperous person attracts others. (ʻŌlelo Noʻeau))

‘Anae (ʻamaʻama – mullet) and awa (milk fish) were popular fish raised in Hawaiian walled fishponds.  The cultivation of fish took place in Hawaiian agricultural pondfields, as well as in specialized fresh and brackish water fishponds.

Ponds were built to catch and hold fish; the ponds grew algae that fed the fish.  A natural food chain can be expected to produce a ratio of 10:1 in terms of the conversion of one link by another (10,000-kg of algae make 1,000-kg of tiny crustaceans, which in turn make 100-kg of small fish.  (Kelly)

The Hawaiian walled fishpond stands as a technological achievement unmatched elsewhere in island Oceania.  Hawaiians built rock-walled enclosures to raise fish for their communities and families.  It is believed these were first built around the fifteenth century.  (Kelly)

These fishponds were symbols of chiefly status and power, and usually under the direct control of aliʻi or konohiki. The fish from these ponds often went to feed chiefly households. (Handy)

One significant fishpond on the southeast side of Kauaʻi is known as ʻAlekoko Fishpond (one of the rarest and most significant cultural and archaeological sites on Kauaʻi.)

Just outside Līhuʻe and Nāwiliwili Harbor on the Hulēʻia River, a Scenic Overlook is located just off of Hulemalu Road, about ½-mile from the entrance to the Nāwiliwili small boat harbor.

The fishpond is located in the Hulēʻia National Wildlife Refuge, 238-acres of river valley that is a habitat for thirty-one species of birds, including endangered Hawaiian birds: aeʻo (Hawaiian stilt,) ʻalae keʻokeʻo (Hawaiian coot,) ʻalae ʻula (Hawaiian moorhen,) nēnē (Hawaiian goose) and koloa maoli (Hawaiian duck.)

Although you can see the fishpond and the refuge from the road, the area is not open to the public. Small boats, kayaks, jet skis, windsurfers and water-skiers use the river.

ʻAlekoko Fishpond is located near the mouth of the Hulēʻia River, in the ahupuaʻa of Niumalu; it was formed by walling off a large bend in the river; the stone-faced, dirt wall is over 900-yards long.

The dirt wall is 5-feet above the water level, 4-feet wide on top and the dirt slants out on both sides. The facing wall begins with a single row of stones and then becomes double-thickness as it gets further out into the river and the current.

The stones also become larger until the double layer is 2-feet thick. The stone facing on the outside is five feet high in most places and is quite perpendicular. The stones are very carefully fitted together; the stone facing runs for about two-thirds of the total length of the wall. (NPS)

“That pond, of course, is monumental, monumental stone work.  To me this is the ultimate fishpond.  What makes it kind of special here on Kauaʻi is the way the stones are fitted.” (David Burney, paleoecologist; star-bulletin)

Ancient Hawaiians often used lava rock to build walls, but they typically shaped them to fit together instead of cutting them into blocks.  “Hawaiians didn’t typically cut rock to build something, (as they did at ʻAlekoko).” (Michael Graves, US archaeology professor; star-bulletin)

The pond did not just hold fish.  In the 1800s, two of the three gaps in the levee were filled in and the pond was used by rice farmers.

In the 1940s, after a tidal wave, the wall was repaired by the man who had the lease at the time. He put bags of cement in the weak spots and now longish “rocks” are visible where the bags deteriorated and the cement hardened.

According to legend, Chief ʻAlekoko asked the Menehune to build two ponds – one for him and one for his sister Hāhālua.  (Menehune, while small in size, were the mythical masters of stone work and engineering; they agreed to build the ponds – with one stipulation: neither should look out of their houses on the night of construction.)

Hāhālua, content with the idea of being able to eat fish from her own pond, did not look; however, her brother could not stand the temptation and he peered out.  Immediately, the Menehune stopped work and washed their bleeding hands in the water – hence the name of the pond, ʻAlekoko (bloody ripples.)

Built by the Menehune, it is also known as Menehune Fishpond.

“Today the lush vegetation on the wall and banks of the pond and the calm blue waters of the Hulēʻia River combine to make Menehune Fishpond an impressive sight, an ideal picture of Polynesia.”

“It is an important historical reminder of the past and a contemporary source of pride for the people of Kauaʻi.”  It was added to the National Register in 1973.  (NPS)  (Unfortunately, it has also been overgrown with invasive plants and silt has filled parts of the pond.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Volcanic Glass

Because “obsidian” is a generic term for dark-colored volcanic glass, people sometimes refer to the dense, glassy crust that forms on some Pāhoehoe flows here in Hawaiʻi as obsidian.

Most geologists and archeologists, however, prefer to make a distinction between the thin, glassy rind on an otherwise crystalline lava flow and the glass that erupts as thick flows or domes. We refer to the former as “volcanic glass,” reserving the term obsidian for the latter.

According to the International Association for Obsidian Studies, the sole source of obsidian in the state of Hawaiʻi is Pu`u Wa‘awa‘a, a broad, dome-shaped cone on the north flank of Hualālai Volcano.

The cone consists of layers of gray pumice, some containing blocks of black obsidian, that were deposited during explosive eruptions about 114,000 years ago. (USGS)

Obsidian is dense volcanic glass, usually rhyolitic (the fine-grained equivalent of granite) in composition and black in color. Glass, be it volcanic or manmade, cools quickly from a molten liquid without forming crystals, the building blocks of the minerals that make up most rocks.

In nature, erupting a glass flow requires an unusually viscous magma, one that has both a high silicon dioxide (silica) content and a very low water content. When viscosity is high and heat loss is rapid, crystallization is inhibited.

Crystals impart a regular structure to materials. Without this structure, glass fractures in conchoidal, or smoothly curved, shapes, leaving edges that are sharper than the finest steel blades.

Walking on an obsidian flow can be a nerve-wracking experience-wear gloves! Native Americans, of course, prized obsidian for arrowheads, and obsidian was traded hundreds of miles from its source.

Volcanic glass is rich in iron and magnesium, and tiny crystals of iron oxide give the glass its dark color. Different oxidation states of iron can tint the obsidian red, brown, or green.

Obsidian is commonly banded or streaked, because the high viscosity of molten obsidian prevents impurities or bubbles from easily mixing with the surrounding magma.

Obsidian is short-lived relative to most crystalline rocks. Most obsidian is younger than 20 million years, because any obsidian older than that has devitrified, or changed from glass to crystalline rock. Over eons, the silica molecules within the glass slowly rearrange into organized crystal structures.  (USGS)

Since the raw material is quite small, there is no tradition of formal tool manufacture as in other parts of the world where obsidian is a preferred resource for manufacturing flake blades and a range of bifaces (e.g., arrow and spear points).

Based on retouch, microscopic edge damage, step flake scars, and crushing, most researchers have assumed that small sharp flakes were used for light or fine cutting and scraping tasks.  Some have speculated that volcanic glass flakes may have been used for circumcision.  (Weisler in Liritzis and Stevenson)

Volcanic glass was used by Hawaiians to make cutting tools like knives for butchering birds and other animals as well as for doing fine wood work. (NPS)  They appear to have been used for short periods of time then discarded. (McCoy et al)

Volcanic glass was limited to a few small, informal tools types, typically scrapers or multi-purpose cutting tools. Basaltic volcanic glass, sometimes referred to as tachylite, forms by the rapid cooling of lava, and has few, if any, crystals and no corresponding internal crystal structure. Rarer in Hawai‘i is high silica volcanic glass from trachyte cones.  (Lundblad, et al)

Another form of volcanic glass are thin strands drawn out from molten lava that have long been called Pele’s hair, named for Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes.

Scientists say Pele’s hair is “volcanic glass that has been stretched into thin strands by the physical pulling apart of molten material during eruptions. Most commonly it forms during fire fountain activity.”  (Batiza)

Missionary Titus Coan describes Pele’s Hair: “All at once the scene changes, the central portion begins to swell and rise into a grayish dome, until it bursts like a gigantic bubble, and out rushes a sea of crimson fusion …”

“… which pours down to the surrounding wall with an awful seething and roaring, striking this mural barrier with fury, and with such force that its sanguinary jets are thrown back like a repulsed charge upon a battle-field, or tossed into the air fifty to a hundred feet high, to fall upon the upper rim of the pit in a hail-storm of fire.”

“This makes the filamentous vitrification called ‘Pele’s hair.’”

“The sudden sundering of the fusion into thousands of particles, by the force that thus ejects the igneous masses upward, and their separation when in this fused state, spins out vitreous threads like spun glass.”

“These threads are light, and when taken up by brisk winds, are often kept floating and gyrating in the atmosphere, until they come into a calmer stratum of air …”

“… when they fall over the surrounding regions, sometimes in masses in quiet and sheltered places. They are sometimes carried a hundred miles, as is proved by their dropping on ships at sea.”

“This ‘hair’ takes the color of the lava of which it is formed. Some of it is a dark gray, some auburn, or it may be yellow, or red, or of a brick color.”  (Titus Coan)

A single strand, with a diameter of less than 0.5 mm (~0.02 inch), may be as long as 2 m (~6.5 feet). The strands are formed by the stretching or blowing-out of molten basaltic glass from lava, usually from lava fountains, lava cascades, and vigorous lava flows (for example, as pāhoehoe lava plunges over a small cliff and at the front of an ‘a’a flow.)

Pele’s hair is often carried high into the air during fountaining, and wind can blow the glass threads several tens of kilometers from a vent.  (USGS)

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Newton Kulani Purdy

“The ‘Polynesian Registry’ is a kind of who’s who and where of Hawaiians in New York”. (Lois Taylor, SB, Jan 9, 1963)

“In 1958 [Newton Kulani Purdy] founded the Polynesian Registry to help locals and expats keep up with each other, and has watched it grow from 50 names to more than 1,000, and his newsletter, which started out at two pages, is now more than 30.” (Donnelly, SB Dec 13, 2002)

“Newton Kulani Purdy was born Oct. 15, 1928, in Kalaupapa, Molokai. His father, Robert Waipa Purdy, was a leprosy patient who lived in Kalaupapa with Kulani’s mother, Marcy Kepalai Kinney. Kulani’s mother did not have leprosy but had volunteered to accompany his father to Kalaupapa to care for him as a family helper.”

“State law at the time required the separation of all children at birth from their parents. Most of the children grew up with other relatives or were taken to an orphanage. Immediately after Kulani was born, he was taken from his parents and was raised outside the Kalaupapa settlement by an aunt.”

“Though Kulani was born in Kalaupapa, his birth certificate listed his place of birth as Honolulu. This was a common practice by the Health Department for birth certificates of the children born in Kalaupapa.  At the time it was done to spare children born at Kalaupapa the stigma of having a parent or parents with leprosy.” (Machado)

“Kulani attended Roosevelt High School but left before graduating to join the Army. He was in the Army for seven years, serving as an infantry soldier, military police officer and Army Signal Corps. At one point during his service in the Army, he served under Gen. “Ike” Eisenhower.”

“His final Army assignment was in New York City, where he was honorably discharged. He decided to stay in New York and ended up living there for more than 50 years.” (Machado)

“The Registry took five years to prepare and was originally the brain child of Honolulu born Kulani Purdy, 31, who combined his job as a cutter in New York’s garment district with his love – being with other Hawaiians and collecting lore about the Islands.”

“Kulani accidentally bumped into a cousin, Everett R Kinney, one night in New York and discovered that Everett was living nearby on Long Island.  The encounter so impressed Purdy, that he deserted his collection of more than 200 books about Hawaii and set out to compile the Registry.”

“He enlisted a number of other Island ‘exiles’ in the endeavor, principally Cousin Everett and Ed Kenney, now one of the principals in Broadway’s ‘Flower Drum Song.’ … they want no profit and plan to plough any extra receipts back into enlarging the Registry”.  (Adv, Dec 26, 1959)

“How often have you stood alone in the midst of a strange city and speculated about the people milling about you? And as you walked aimlessly along the streets, you suddenly bumped into a familiar face and miraculously, the city no longer seemed cold and unfriendly.  Or, have you idly sat alone with your thoughts, wondering if per chance your unknown neighbors could be Islanders?”

“We believe that Islanders away from home sooner or later begin a quest for people and things that serve to make them feel a little more in Hawaii-foods, Island talk, an exchange of memories. Our cultural heritage is unique and we somehow like to be able to express it wherever we may be.”

“Who can be listed in this book? Anyone who comes from Polynesia. Island Friends throughout the world or anyone in the business world who deals with things typical of Island culture and interest.”

“Those who want their names to appear in the Registry need only notify the Registry of this intention, for there is no fee attached to this privilege.” (Polynesian Registry Inro by Edward Mana Keeney, SB Feb 2, 1960 )

“Intended basically to permit homesick Islanders to locate each other, the 44-page volume contains the names and ‘off-island’ addresses of 800 individuals and a listing of scores Polynesian clubs, restaurants, gift shops and service establishments.  (SB, Dec 26, 1959)

Purdy’s newsletter, “The Polynesian Registry, kept Hawaiians who were living in the Big Apple in touch with one another. Hawaiians performing in the Hawaiian Room of the Lexington Hotel belonged to Kulani’s network. “

“They included: Mahi Beamer, Ray Kinney, Manu Kanemura Bentley, Mona Joy, Leilani Kaleikini, Betty Makia, Momi Kai Gustafson, Lei Becker, Joyce Ontai, Io Cabanos, Tutasi Wilson and Te Moana Makolo.”

“His newsletter also reached Hawaiians in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland. ‘He also was an integral part of organizing Hawaiian luau in Central Park every May Day, and later held on June 1 as it was too cold in May,’ Hale Kaohu Rowland said.”

“‘The luaus are still being held. Kulani would have us gather at Nainoa and Pat Brett’s little restaurant called The Poi Bowl on 71st Street. Later on, we all met at Janu Cassidy’s shop called Radio Hula, in Soho, and also at The Symphony Cafe, a restaurant on 56th and 8th that my husband, Manny, and I had part-ownership,’ Hale said.” (Ben Wood)

“Kulani was a confirmed bachelor, and his ‘ohana consisted of all the ‘local’ expats in and around the New York area, extending into New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.”

“He was known as the glue that held everyone together and was the first to reach out to homesick Hawaiians in Manhattan. Everyone knew him for his kindness and generosity.” (Machado)

Purdy left New York in 2006 to return home to Molokai; he died February 11, 2012 at the in Leahi Hospital at the age of 83.

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