Hawaiian Traditions | Page 16 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

October 12, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Moa

The first birds to be introduced into the Islands came with early Polynesians, who brought the Moa – Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) – for food.

“It is not clearly understood how this species interacted with the terrestrial native birds, how it competed for resources, and what diseases might have been introduced with it, but the introduction of this bird by the Polynesians as a domestic animal probably had some impact.”

“[T]he Red Junglefowl is found in numbers only on Kauai, which lacks the mongoose, but it was formerly established in the wild on all the main islands. Its reproductive potential is high, and it is omnivorous.”

“It seems very likely to us that this species in large numbers could have been a potent competitor to some species of ground-foraging native birds, such as the smaller rails, only one of which survived into historical times.” (Van Riper and Scott)

This “original chicken” is smaller than its domestic descendants and is widespread throughout South and Southeast Asia; can also be found as an introduced species in many regions around the world (especially prevalent on many Pacific Islands, including Hawaii). (eBird)

“Dr. Stanley C. Ball … has studied the Polynesian chickens (moa) and concluded that they were brought from Malaysia to Polynesia, where they were found in all the islands except New Zealand.”

“‘The wooden breast-plates carved by the natives of Rapanui (Easter Island) to represent the cock, and the few traditions which mention this bird, lend weight to the view that the fowl has long been associated with the inhabitants of even the easternmost islands of Polynesia.’”

“‘The Malaysian region, from which fowls were evidently brought to the Pacific islands, was very close to, if not actually the home of, the wild jungle fowl (Gallus gallus),’ Dr. Ball states.”

“It is found from the southern Himalayas, through India, Java, Timor, Lombok, the Philippines, Balabac, Palawan, and Hainan, into Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia.”

“Ball believed (and rightly, without doubt) that the chickens brought by Polynesian migrants were already domesticated, and that wild chickens to be found in the Marquesas, Tahiti, Hawaii, and elsewhere have reverted to the wild.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

As noted in Captain Cook’s journal, “The hogs, dogs, and fowls, which were the only tame or domestic animals that we found here, were all of the same kind that we met with at the South Pacific islands. There were also small lizards; and some rats, resembling those seen at every island at which we had as yet touched.”

“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 … They eat fowls of the same domestic kind as ours, but they are neither plentiful nor much esteemed by them.” (Cook’s Journal)

“Probably Hawaiians regarded their chickens as second-rate fare because chicken meat steamed in an imu is less flavorful for eating with poi than is good fish.”

“We may be sure, nevertheless, that the pioneering voyagers to these islands would not have taken the trouble to keep alive hens and roosters on their long voyages hither if they had not prized them.”

“Mrs. Pukui remembers, however, that even in her childhood older Hawaiians would not eat eggs. ‘It would be like eating the hen’s unborn baby,’ her grandmother said with distaste.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“Mrs. Pukui has, with the help of her mother, Mrs. Pa‘ahana Wiggin, recorded the following colors and names of a variety of native chickens in old Hawaii.”

“The moa of Hawai‘i were smaller than the haole (introduced) chicken, legs shorter, and bodies longer. A pure white moa was called moa-ke‘oke‘o, -Iawa, or -wakea. A black moa was called a hiwa or hiwa-pa‘a.”

“The moa nene were speckled like the Hawaiian goose (nene) . Those with yellowish-cream feathers were called pua-hau, for the yellow hau flower. Smoky gray ones were called lehu or nalehu. (ashy). Speckled with feathers of variegated colors were the ‘opule-pule (mixed-up-crazily).”

“With a ring of feathers around the neck like the plover, it was the moa ‘a‘i kolea. The ‘ulahiwa ranged in shade from a light red to a deep ocherous red. White with red feathers on the back was termed lawa a‘ea‘e (mixed).”

“(The Pukui-Elbert dictionary, 1957, adds two others: the completely black chicken, similar to the mud hen ‘alae, is called moa ‘alae; the black chicken with red feathers at neck and rump is moa ‘alae hulu ‘ula.)”

“The long, curving, irridescent tail feathers of the cocks are always present. These were prized in the Marquesas for warriors’ headdresses, and in Hawaii for making the tall feather-trimmed standards (kahili) that were emblems of rank.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“We have often heard the shrill crow of wild roosters in the forests around Koke‘e, above Waimea Canyon on the island of Kauai. These cocks are bright-hued. They have crossbred with Indonesian jungle fowl imported some years ago.”

“In the Marquesas the hours before dawn were named ‘first-cock’s-crow,’ ‘second-cock’s-crow,’ and ‘third-cock’s-crow’; in Hawaii likewise: ‘moa-kua-kahi,’ ‘moa-kua-lua,’ ‘moa-kua-kolu.’”

“In Hawaii, if a cock crew much too early it was a sign that canoes might be expected to make an appearance. If a cock came right to the house door to crow, it announced the imminent arrival of visitors and warned the family to make preparations.”

“The Hawaiian fowl is traditionally identified with the Lono-Pele migration, specifically with ‘Olopana, paramount chief of Ko‘olau on Oahu. The first predacious exploit of the doughty Kamapua‘a (‘Hog-child,’ a demigod) was killing jungle fowl belonging to his uncle ‘Olopana.”

“And it was Ka-wa‘u-hele-moa (The-fowl-scratching-as-it-goes), a native sprite in the form of a fowl, who saw the thievery and gave the alarm to ‘Olopana, thus precipitating notable warfare. Ka-wa‘u-hele-moa lived in Palolo Valley, above the southerly shore of Oahu, and plays an active role in several legends.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

“Cock-fighting (haka-moa) was a very fashionable sport with the aliis”. (Malo) Chickens were thought to be forms of the mo‘o (reptile) class of ancestral gods (‘aumakua).

“Their greatest importance to Hawaiians was their use as offerings to temple gods and to family gods. Often a chicken of a particular color was called for as an offering in a healing rite. Sacrificed chickens played an important part in any ritual performed to fend off black magic.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

October 11, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawai‘i Transportation Evolution

The canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi, extensive cross-country trail networks. Overland travel was on foot and followed the traditional trails.

Then, in 1803, American ship under Captain William Shaler (with commercial officer Richard Cleveland,) arrived with three horses aboard – gifts for King Kamehameha.

In the 1820s and 1830s, more horses were imported from California, and by the 1840s the use of introduced horses, mules and bullocks for transportation was increasing.

In 1825, Andrew Bloxam (naturalist aboard the HMS Blonde) noted in Honolulu that, “The streets are formed without order or regularity. Some of the huts are surrounded by low fences or wooden stakes … As fires often happen the houses are all built apart from each other. The streets or lanes are far from being clean …” (Clark, HJH)

By the 1830s, King Kamehameha III initiated a program of island-wide improvements on the ala loa, and in 1847, a formal program for development of the alanui aupuni (government roads) was initiated.

Sidewalks were constructed, usually of wood, as early as 1838. The first sidewalk made of brick was laid down in 1857 by watchmaker Samuel Tawson in front of his shop on Merchant Street.

It wasn’t until 1850 that streets received official names. On August 30, 1850, the Privy Council first named Hawaiʻi’s streets; there were 35-streets that received official names that day (29 were in Downtown Honolulu, the others nearby).

At the time, “Broadway” was the main street (we now call it King Street;) it was the widest and longest – about 2-3 miles long from the river (Nuʻuanu River on the west) out to the “plains” (to Mānoa).

It wasn’t until 1852 that the Chinese became the first contract laborers to arrive in the islands. At about that time, Honolulu had approximately 10,000-residents. Foreigners made up about 6% of that (excluding visiting sailors). Laws at the time allowed naturalization of foreigners to become subjects of the King (by about that time, about 440 foreigners exercised that right).

The majority of houses were made of grass (hale pili,) there were about 875 of them; there were also 345 adobe houses, 49 stone houses, 49 wooden houses and 29 combination (adobe below, wood above). In 1847, Washington Place was built by future-Queen Liliʻuokalani’s father-in-law.

The earliest public transit was the Pioneer Omnibus Line, with a horse-pulled vehicle serving parts of Honolulu for a few years beginning in the spring of 1868. (Schmitt)

In the quarter century from 1872 to 1896 the population just about doubled in the kingdom from 57,000 to 109,000; Honolulu doubled from 15,000 to 30,000.

In 1884, the legislature passed a law “granting to William R. Austin and his associates the right to construct and operate a street railroad upon certain streets of the city of Honolulu.” Later amended, the law granted authority the Hawaiian Tramways Company, Limited (from England.) (Kuykendall)

In 1888, the animal-powered tramcar service of Hawaiian Tramways ran track from downtown to Waikīkī. In 1900, the Tramway was taken over by the Honolulu Rapid Transit & Land Co (HRT).

That year, an electric trolley (tram line) was put into operation in Honolulu, and then in 1902, a tram line was built to connect Waikīkī and downtown Honolulu. The electric trolley replaced the horse/mule-driven tram cars.

The first automobiles appeared on the streets of Honolulu on October 8, 1899, the date on which both Henry P Baldwin and Edward D Tenney took possession of their newly arrived vehicles (both described as Wood electrics.) (Schmitt)

By 1900, Honolulu had a population of more than 39,000 and was in the midst of a development boom, creating tremendous need for more housing.

“[T]here were only four automobiles on Oahu in 1901 – you lived downtown because you worked downtown, you couldn’t live in Kaimuki or in Manoa.” (Star Bulletin)

The “first gas-engined automobile complete with steering wheel and tonneau,” acquired by CM Cooke in 1904, and the Honolulu Automobile Club later adopted this date for the “first real automobile” in the Islands. (Schmitt)

Spurring a boom, in 1903, Henry Ford officially opened the Ford Motor Company and five years later released the first Model T. In 1907, Henry Ford announced his goal for the Ford Motor Company: to create “a motor car for the great multitude.” (pbs)

“The automobile owner uses his car six days a week either in direct pursuit of his business or as a means of quickly transporting himself and others to and from that place of business.”

“The fact that he may take his family out on a Sunday is not a pleasure trip, but a necessary recreation in order, to ‘keep fit’ for his work.” (McAlpine, Schuman Carriage, Honolulu Star Bulletin, November 3, 1907)

“The census of 1908 gave 259 cars imported into the islands in that year, thus showing that the automobile is in use pretty generally, as it is now estimated that there are nearly seven hundred cars in the islands, an increase of more than 100 per cent in one year.” (Beringer, Overland Monthly, July 1909)

“The automobile is here to stay. If we had better roads there would be more automobiles sold, naturally.” (Gustav Schuman, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, June 24, 1916)

The first traffic lights in the Islands were installed at the intersection of Nuʻuanu Avenue and Beretania Street, Honolulu; an overhead signal was put into operation February 19, 1936.

On February 24 the overhead lights were “replaced by side bracket lights, flashing the green go and red stop light from a post at each corner.” The new lights were “operated by the flow of traffic itself.” (Schmitt)

In 1938 automobile registration stood at 43,785. In 1945 the number of automobiles on island had grown to 52,527; a dozen years later, in 1957, automobile registration stood at 159,227, a 329.8 percent increase since 1945.

This tremendous influx of automobiles resulted in myriad needs having to be addressed, ranging from the reduction of traffic congestion to improved parking, and enhanced traffic safety measures.

The Territory undertook two other major highway projects, the Mauka and Makai Arterials, to divert traffic off downtown streets. (HHS)

“‘A super highway through Honolulu, 120 feet wide and running mauka of the business district from Kalihi to Kaimuki … would be invaluable in solving Honolulu’s pressing traffic problem,’ engineer John Rush told the City Council in 1939.”

The 1945 Territorial Legislature enacted a liquid fuel tax in order to generate the funds necessary to match the federal funds available for the highway’s construction. This tax was increased to five cents a gallon in 1955 to help offset Hawaii’s match for the increasing federal dollars coming to the islands for highway construction.

From 1952 to 1962, Honolulu officials kept adding to the Mauka Arterial, described as the first road in the state “tailored to the flight patterns of people.”

The Lunalilo Highway project was expanded to become the H-1, a 28 mile roadway running from Palailai at Campbell Industrial Park to Ainakoa Avenue, with the Lunalilo Highway being the section running through Honolulu. (DOT)

A companion Makai Arterial that would have run past Waikiki, down Ala Moana and along an elevated roadway near the Honolulu waterfront never materialized as planned. (DOT)

Instead, the eight lane Makai Arterial, named Nimitz Highway, opened to traffic in November 1952, ten years after construction had commenced at the Pearl Harbor gate. (HHS)

A section of the Federal-Aid to Highways Act of 1959 required that a study be undertaken to consider the eligibility of Hawai‘i and Alaska for interstate highway funding.

As a result of the study, the Hawaii Omnibus Act, which President Eisenhower signed into law on July 12, 1960, removed the language in the Federal-Aid Highway Act which limited the interstate system to the continental US.

It also authorized three interstate highways for Hawaii, H-1, H-2 and H-3 to address national defense concerns, an allowed interstate highway justification which resulted from a 1957 amendment to the original act. (DOT)

An interesting remnant of apparently changed alignment (and probable interconnection of the Mauka and Makai Arterials) is a stub out to nowhere at the on/off ramps at Kapiʻolani Boulevard to H-1. (Lots of information here is from DOT, HHS and Leidemann.)

September 11, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Saddle Road

By the early 1800s, foreign visitors began making regular trips across the ‘āina mauna [mountain lands] and to the summit of Mauna Kea. Based on their accounts, travel in the region through the middle 1800s basically followed the old trails, or cut across new areas.

By the 1850s, the Kingdom of Hawai‘i entered into a program of improving ancient trails and identifying new routes, by which to improve travel between various locations and facilitate commerce. (Maly)

At its May 23, 1849 meeting, the Privy Council of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (a private committee of the King’s closest advisors to give confidential advice on affairs of state) sought to “facilitate communication between Kailua, the seat of the local government, and Hilo, the principal port.”

They resolved “that GP Judd and Kinimaka proceed to Kailua, Hawaiʻi, to explore a route from that place to Hilo direct, and make a road, if practicable, by employing the prisoners on that island and if necessary taking the prisoners from this island (Oʻahu) to assist; the government to bear all expenses”. (Privy Council Minutes, Punawaiola)

In planning the road, the words of the Privy Council’s resolution were taken literally, and the route selected ran to the high saddle between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on a practically straight line between the terminal points.

What became known as the “Judd Road” (or “Judd Trail”) was constructed between 1849 and 1859; construction began at the government road in Kailua (what is now known as Aliʻi Drive) and traversed through a general corridor between Hualālai and Mauna Loa. (Remnants of perimeter walls can still be seen at Aliʻi Drive.)

“This was the road that Dr. Judd … would have built from Kona in a straight line across the island of Hawaii. It was meant, of course, as a road for horsemen and pack animals. In the generation of Dr. Judd it was a great work, and the manner of its building showed that he meant it to be a monument to him for all time.” (Ford, Mid-Pacific, 1912)

In 1859, when the road had been built about 12-miles from Kailua into the saddle between Hualālai and Mauna Loa, the project was abandoned – a pāhoehoe lava flow from the 11,000 foot-level of Mauna Loa crossed its path. Though incomplete (it never reached its final destination in Hilo,) people did use the Judd Road to get into Kona’s mauka countryside.

This road was not the only attempt of linking East and West Hawaiʻi. The western section of the trail from Waimea to Kalai‘eha (Humu‘ula Sheep Station) had become a ‘cart road’ by 1873; it was only a dirt road through the pasture then and in rainy weather it turned to mud.

There were no automobiles in 1910 and very few in the 1920s, all transportation was by foot, horse, or by wagon, carriage and buggy. In 1920, the cart road left the Waimea/Kona road at Pu’u Nohona‘ohae and went through Waiki’i village to The Saddle.

The cart road initially began a little farther north, however, the manager of Parker Ranch, AW Carter, got the entrance of the road moved so that it passed between Pu‘u Nohona’ohae lki to the north, and Pu‘u Nohona‘ohae Nui to the south. (This is the alignment of the old Saddle Road where it meets the Waimea to Kona ‘Mauka Road.’)

In the saddle area, the old cart road ran directly east from Pōhakuloa to Kalai‘eha (Humu’ula Sheep Station). The eastern section, from Kalai‘eha down to Hilo, remained a trail until World War II, except at the Hilo end. ‘Kaumana Road’ was built (paved) up to the Countly Club Road intersection in Kaumana by the “FTRA” about 1936.

Because there was no road up from Hilo, to get to Kalai‘eha (near Pu‘u Huluhulu and the present Mauna Kea Access Road) and surrounding uses. From Hilo, you had to drive all the way along the Hāmākua Coast (Mamalahoa Highway) around through Waimea and back east through the Saddle. As described by Roy Blackshear, to get to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch (owned by his grandfather):

“The first time I went to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō was about 1931. But at that time, of course there was no Saddle Road there, and to get to Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō Ranch we left Kea‘au before sunrise in the morning, traveled north along the Hāmākua Coast, going through all the valleys and small bridges and so on and finally we reached Waimea and had lunch at Waimea.”

“And then we continued from Waimea along the Mamalahoa Highway. Out to where, I think it was just about where the present Saddle Road takes off. … And of course any car going up at that time would have to carry chains because they did run into mud.”

[They stopped first in Waiki‘i.] “And then we headed on east from there, climbing all the time. So then we continued on and we reach Humu‘ula sheep station. And they put more water in the radiator. And then we started from, there up towards the Keanakolu road …” (Blacksher; Rosendahl)

While ‘Kaumana Road’ was built (paved) up to the Country Club Road intersection in Kaumana by about 1936, from there it was an unpaved wagon road until World War II and above that a horse trail. Above Kaumana, the eastern section (from Kalai‘eha) remained a trail until World War II.

The Saddle Road was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the US Army Engineer District, Honolulu (USED, now called the US Army Corps of Engineers) during World War II in order to provide an access route in case of Japanese invasion.

Near the top of Kaumana, the army had a camp and barred everyone who didn’t work there from traveling up into the interior of the Island.

Henry Auwae ran the lead bulldozer to clear the road in 1943, coming up from Hilo on the 1881 and 1855 lava flows and choosing a route which kept to no more than a 6% grade. Cinders were then hauled down from Humu‘ula toward Kaumana by the CCC and later the USED, then oiled to make a narrow “gravel” road.

The west section of the road was paved right after the war. The east section of the road was not paved until later, about 1949. At that time the road was moved at several points to cut off some large loops. These old loops still exist, including one north of the road around milepost 9 and another around milepost 22.

Then, starting with an accepted EIS in 1999, what is now known as Daniel K Inouye Highway (renamed on what would have been his 89^th birthday) was realigned and widened. Starting in 2007, successive phases of the improved road have been opened up.

September 3, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kia Manu

“Feathers from certain birds were made into the highly-prized feather work artifacts of the alii – capes, cloaks, helmets, kahili, etc.” (Holmes)

“The plumage-birds, like everything else in Hawaii, were the property of the alii of the land, and as such were protected by tabu; at least that was the case in the reign of Kamehameha I, and for some time before.”

“The choicest of the feathers found their way into the possession of the kings and chiefs, being largely used in payment of the annual tribute, or land tax, that was levied on each ahupuaa.”

“As prerequisites of royalty, they were made up into full length cloaks to be worn only by the kings and highest chiefs. Besides these there were capes, kipuka, to adorn the shoulders of the lesser chiefs and the king’s chosen warriors, called hulumanu, not to mention helmets, mahiole, a most showy head-covering.”

“The supply needed to meet this demand was great, without reckoning the number consumed in the fabrication of lei and the numerous imposing kahili that surrounded Hawaiian royalty on every occasion of state.”

“It is, therefore, no surprise when we learn that in the economic system of ancient Hawaii a higher valuation was set upon bird feathers (those of the mamo and o-o) than upon any other species of property, the next rank being occupied by whale-tooth, a jetsam-ivory called palaoa pae, monopolized as a prerequisite of the king.” (Emerson)

“Bird-catching and feather gathering were frequently done by commoners in their ahupua‘a. These were people who were also farmers and fishermen, and not full-time specialist bird-catchers.” (Cordy)

“[M]en and women … are joined together in great numbers in climbing into the forests to snare birds [kapili manu; kawili manu]. And the number of birds caught by a person in a day is from six to thirty. The bird being caught is the Oo of the forests.” (Kuokoa, Mar 17, 1866) The bird-catchers were known as lawai‘a manu (those people who ‘fished for birds’) or kia manu.

“Initial bird-catching or feather-gathering was probably conducted by commoners (maka‘āinana) of each community land (ahupua‘a) as part of their tribute to chiefs, rather than exclusively by a special class of chiefly retainers (bird-catchers).”

“Wives of bird-catchers sometimes accompanied their husbands and plucked, sorted and fastened together feathers. Women probably wove the helmet and cloak fibre frameworks and nets (of ‘ie‘ie and ‘olonā fibers).”

“Women may have attached the feathers to cloaks and helmets – manufactured the cloaks and helmets. These cloaks and helmets were probably made in chiefly households by skilled female retainers.”

“Capes (cloaks) and helmets were probably not sacred and kapu until the finished products became identified with certain wearers.” (Cordy)

“The methods used by one hunter in the capture of the birds differed from those used by another. They also varied somewhat, no doubt, in different district, on the different islands, at different seasons of the year and seen in the different islands, at different hours of the day.”

“There could be nothing stereotyped in the way the hunter of birds practiced his art. While the method might remain essentially the same, it was necessarily subject to a wide range of modification, to suit the skill and ingenuity of each hunter in his efforts to meet the habits and outwit the cunning of the birds themselves.” (Emerson)

“A bird-hunting campaign was not an affair to be lightly entered upon. Like every other serious enterprise of ancient Hawaii, a service of prayer and an offering to the gods and aumakuas, must first be performed….”

“Having selected a camp, he erects the necessary huts for himself and his family. His wife, who will keep him company in the wilderness, will not lack for occupation. It will be hers to engage in the manufacture of kapa from the delicate fibers of the mamake bark, perhaps to aid in plucking and sorting the feathers.”

While some suggest, “‘When you take a bird do not strangle it, but having plucked the few feathers for which it was sought, set it free that others may grow in their place.’ They inquired, ‘Who will possess the bird set free? You are an old man.’ He added, ‘My sons will possess the birds hereafter.’” (Brigham)

Perez, however, notes. “Some authors prefer to disingenuously believe that birdcatchers plucked only a few feathers from each bird, then ‘set it free to raise its family and grow a new crop of feathers.’” (Perez)

This is substantiated in the first writing of Hawai‘i; Captain Cook’s Journal notes, “Amongst the articles which they brought to barter this day, we could not help taking notice of a particular sort of cloak and cap, which, even in countries where dress is more particularly attended to, might be reckoned elegant.”

“The first are nearly of the size and shape of the short cloaks worn by the women of England, and by the men in Spain, reaching to the middle of the back, and tied loosely before.”

“The ground of them is a network upon which the most beautiful red and yellow feathers are so closely fixed that the surface might be compared to the thickest and richest velvet, which they resemble, both as to the feel and the flossy appearance. …”

At the time of ‘Contact’, it was clear that when collection feathers birds were killed, as Cook’s Journal goes on to note, “We were at a loss to guess from whence they could get such a quantity of these beautiful feathers; but were soon informed as to one sort …”

“… for they afterward brought great numbers of skins of small red birds for sale, which were often tied up in bunches of twenty or more, or had a small wooden skewer run through their nostrils.”

“At the first, those that were bought consisted only of the skin from behind the wings forward; but we afterward got many with the hind part, including the tail and feet. The first, however, struck us at once with the origin of the sable formerly adopted, of the birds of paradise wanting legs, and sufficiently explained that circumstance. … (Cook’s Journal, Jan 1778)

August 14, 2024 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Ships versus Canoes

Humans have tended to live near water, and it is natural to make use of things that float. Logs or bundles of reeds were lashed together to form rafts; hollow trunks can be improved to become dugout canoes. (HistoryWorld)

In ancient marine times, people used rafts, logs of bamboo, bundles of reeds, air filled animal skins and baskets to traverse small water bodies. The first boat was a simple frame of sticks lashed together. (Karanc)

The earliest known boats were log-boats or dugouts, with examples from Holland and Denmark going back to the Middle Stone Age or Mesolithic. (Wright) Carbon dating of a Danish dugout canoe shows its age at between 8040 and 7510 BC.

Over five thousand years ago, in Mesopotamia (present day Syria and Iraq, between the Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf,) it is thought that the first sailing vessels were used (a square sail acted like a modern-day spinnaker to run with the wind.)

About 3000 BC, Greek ships had sails, and were pushed along by the wind. Small trading ships usually stayed close to the shore, so the sailors did not get lost. Greek warships had oars as well as sails – some as long as 115-feet.

The earliest plank-built boats (planks attached to a ribbed frame) are from Ancient Egypt and include the royal barge of Pharaoh Cheops, found dismantled in a rock-crypt in front of the great Pyramid and dated to about 2600 BC.

The invention of the sail was the greatest turning point in maritime history. The sails replaced the action of human muscles and sail boats could embark on longer trips with heavier loads. Earlier vessels used square sails that were best suited for sailing down wind. Fore and aft sails were devised later.

Egyptians take the credit for developing advanced sailing cargo ships. These were made by lashing together and sewing small pieces of wood. These cargo ships were used to transport great columns of stone for monument building. (Karanc)

Sea-going vessels followed and are depicted in bas-reliefs and wall paintings. In the Aegean a positive regatta of boats was depicted in fresco on the walls of a building destroyed by the great volcanic eruption of the island of Thera (Santorini) around 1400 BC.

In 1947, Thor Heyerdahl, departed from Peru on the balsawood raft Kon-Tiki, demonstrating that a vessel made of nine balsa tree trunks up to 45-feet long, 2-feet in diameter, lashed together, could have been carried people 5,000-miles across the Pacific Ocean out 1,500 years ago.

In 1970, using Ra II, a papyrus reed lashed boat, Heyerdahl showed such vessels could cross the Atlantic, from Morocco to Barbados.

As boat designed evolved, the Vikings (around the 8th – 12th centuries) incorporated a keel into the hull design. Sails evolved, too; most look to the development of the triangular sail as the significant innovation (called lanteen (Latin) found in the Persian Gulf. Combined, this is basically what we know as today’s sailboat.

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)

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)

In 1976, Hokuleʻa, the double-hulled Hawaiian voyaging vessel, demonstrated the Hawaiʻi – South Pacific sailing, when it left Hawaiʻi and reached Tahiti. (Hokuleʻa continues today on a worldwide voyage.)

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.

Fast forward to post-‘contact’ and the time of the Islands’ unification; a new style of boat was in the islands and Kamehameha started to acquire and build them.

The first Western-style vessel built in the Islands was the Beretane (1793.) Through the aid of Captain George Vancouver’s mechanics, after launching, it was used in the naval combat with Kahekili’s war canoes off the Kohala coast. (Thrum)

Encouraged by the success of this new type of vessel, others were built. The second ship built in the Islands, a schooner called Tamana (named after Kamehameha’s favorite wife, Kaʻahumanu,) was used to carry of his cargo of trade to the missions along the coast of California. (Couper & Thrum, 1886)

From 1796 until 1802 the kingdom flourished. Several small decked vessels were built. (Case) According to Cleveland’s account, Kamehameha possessed at that time twenty small vessels of from twenty to forty tons burden, some even copper-bottomed. (Alexander)