Hawaiian Traditions | Page 61 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

December 26, 2018 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Kauō

Kauō (Laysan Island) is the second largest land mass in the NWHI (1,015 acres) just behind Sand Island at Midway Atoll. It is about 1 mile wide and 1-1/2 miles long and roughly rectangular in shape (shaped like a poi board).

Laysan Island is a member of the Hawaiian archipelago situated 790 sea miles to the northwest of Honolulu, latitude 25” 2’ 14” N, longitude 170” 44’ 06” W.

The island has a maximum elevation of about 30 feet. A fringing reef surrounds the island protecting its shores from violent wave action. (Baldwin)

Kauō (egg) describes both the shape of this island and, perhaps, the abundant seabirds that nest here. The island also previously harbored five Hawaiian endemic land birds, of which two, the endangered Laysan finch and the endangered Laysan duck, still survive. (PMNM Management Plan)

The Laysan Millerbird, along with the Laysan Rail and Laysan Honeycreeper, went extinct in the early 20th century when Laysan Island was denuded by non-native rabbits. (PMNM)

The island’s easy access and large number of seabirds made it a base for traders of guano (bird droppings used as fertilizer) and feather harvesters in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Although the practices were declared illegal, poachers killed hundreds of thousands of birds and caused dramatic changes in the island’s ecosystem. Remnants of guano piles remain from this era.

Rabbits released in the early 1900s devastated the island’s vegetation. These events caused a public outcry which led to the creation of the Hawaiian Islands Bird Reservation by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1909. (Dill)

The endangered Laysan duck, is the rarest waterfowl in the Northern hemisphere and has the smallest geographic range of any duck species in the world.

It once lived throughout the Hawaiian Archipelago but vanished from the main Hawaiian Islands with the arrival of rats around 800 years ago. They later disappeared from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands except for a small population that existed in isolation on Laysan Island for more than 150 years.

In 1911, only 11 ducks were observed on Laysan Island. Today, under present management operations, there are over 707 Laysan ducks – 40 on Kure, 290 on Midway and 377 on Laysan Island. (PMNM)

In addition, approximately two million seabirds nest here, including boobies, frigatebirds, terns, shearwaters, noddies, and the world’s second-largest black-footed and Laysan albatross colonies. (PMNM Management Plan)

Laysan has a large saltwater lagoon occupying about one-fifth of the island’s central depression. It is well vegetated (except for its sand dunes) and contains a hyper-saline lake, which is one of only five natural lakes in the State of Hawai‘i. (PMNM)

Laysan has been protected as a bird reserve since 1909, introduced mammals have been extirpated, and the island has no infrastructure besides a small field camp. (USGS)

“The Hawaiian Islands Reservation was established by Executive order in 1909 to serve as a refuge and breeding place for the millions of sea birds and waders that from time immemorial have resorted there yearly to raise their young or to rest while migrating.”

“In 1909 a party of feather hunters landed on Laysan, one of the twelve islands comprising the reservation, and killed more than 200,000 birds, notably albatrosses, for millinery purposes.”

“Through the prompt cooperation of the Secretary of the Treasury, the revenue cutter Thetis, under the command of Capt. W. V. E. Jacobs, was dispatched to the island and returned to Honolulu in January, 1910, with 23 poachers and their booty, consisting of the plumage of more than a quarter of a million birds.”

“In the spring of 1911 a cooperative arrangement was effected with the University of Iowa … whereby an expedition was sent to Laysan, the largest and most important island of the group, to ascertain the present condition of the bird rookeries and to collect a series of birds for a museum exhibit.” (Wilson & Henshaw, Expedition 1911)

Here’s a link to the Google ‘Street View’ on Laysan Island.

https://goo.gl/63WGFK

While I was Chair at DLNR, we created State Refuge rules whose intent is “To establish a marine refuge in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands for the long-term conservation and protection of the unique coral reef ecosystems and the related marine resources and species, to ensure their conservation and natural character for present and future generations.” Fishing is prohibited.

This started a process where several others followed with similar protective measures. The BLNR unanimously adopted the State’s Refuge rules, President Bush declared it a Marine National Monument and UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site.

Some ask why we imposed such stringent limitations on use in this area. For me, it ended up being pretty simple; it is the responsibility we share to future generations, to allow them to see what it looks like at a place in the world where you don’t take something.

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Laysan-Island_Munro-June_1891-(DenverMuseum)

Laysan Albatross (Dan Maxwell)

laysan_duck_translocation_1

Laysan_Island_Coast_Guard_Cutter_Thetis-1913-(DenverMuseum)

Laysan_Island_Munro_June_1891-(DenverMuseum)

Laysan_Island_Munro_June-1891-(DenverMuseum)

Laysan_Island_Munro-June_1891-(DenverMuseum)

Laysan_Island-1911-(DenverMuseum)

Laysan_Island-1913-(DenverMuseum)

Gathering Albatross Eggs-Laysan

Laysan_Island-Alfred_M_Bailey_at_headuarters-1912-13-(DenverMuseum)

Laysan_Island-Munro-June_1891-(DenverMuseum)

Laysan_Island-or-Midway-Munro-June_1891-(DenverMuseum)

Laysan-Island-1911-(DenverMuseum)

Laysan-Island-Munro-June_1891-(DenverMuseum)

Papahanaumokuakea-Marine-National-Monument-Map

November 30, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Where do you ‘Go’?

“Lanikaula was a prophet of Molokai. He died and was buried at Puu-o-Hoku. The spot was named Lanikaula for him. It was said that he was a clever prophet in his day. While he was a prophet he could foresee the death of any chief or commoner through his wisdom as prophet, but when his own death drew near, he did not know.”

“This was the reason it is said that he did not know. One morning, one of the overseers of Keahi-a-Kawelo, of Lanai [and who had feigned friendship with Lanikäula], passed by.”

“He had a raw sweet potato in his hand and inside of the sweet potato he had placed the excrement of Lanikaula. He passed right in front of Lanikaula, and the priest did not say, ‘That is my excrement you are carrying away,’ he didn’t say a word.”

“The messenger got back to Keahi-a-Kawelo on Lanai. It was perhaps on the night of Kane (po Kane) when the fire was lighted by Keahi-a-Kawelo, and then Lanikaula knew from the smoke, that it was his excrement that was being burned.”

“It was in this way, that he knew that he was going to die. He asked the men of Molokai to make stone knives under which to bury him when he died. He was afraid to be buried with just plain earth lest he be dug up and his bones used for fish hooks …” (Bishop Museum; Maly)

“The disposal of the excreta, or refuse of the human body, is an unpleasant subject to consider; but it is a very important one, in connection with the care of health; and was so regarded by the inspired lawgiver, Moses, in his sanitary instructions to the children of Israel.”

“In the 23d Chapter of Deuteronomy, the following ordinance is declared: ‘Thou shalt have a place, without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad; and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon, and it shall be when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back, and cover that which cometh from thee.”

“(N)ow give heed to the simple, yet important ordinance of cleanliness, declared by the great lawgiver, so that when you walk alone, take care that no one shall have occasion to avoid, or regret going in the path you have trod.” (Gibson)

“In Hawai‘i each family lived upon or near the land it cultivated. Usually the cluster of grass-houses which formed a household, a kauhale, sheltered the members of a single family.”

“The minimum number of structures in a kauhale was four: an eating-house for the males, a hale mua, which was also the meeting place for them and their family gods; a separate eating-house for the females and infant boys, the hale ‘āina …”

“… a house for the women in their times of menstruation, the hale pe‘a; and a sleeping-house, the hale noa, the ‘house freed of taboos’, where the whole family met in social converse and where they slept.”

“A kauhale was established in a place chosen by a consultant authority, whose recommendation of site and orientation was thought to assure health and good fortune for the family which would live there.”

“Because his selection of a site was performed for the sake of each family which sought his advice, this consultant was not required to fit the new kauhale into a planned pattern with respect to the neighboring households.”

“(V)ery few people have paid any attention at all to the unromantic details of the business of living even in the years since (‘contact’ with) the islands.” (Bushnell)

The “kapus are excellent illustrations of ‘religious sanctions’ … ‘those motives in the individual for the regulation of his conduct in conformity with usage’ in his community. By observing these sanctions the individual Polynesian gained the approbation of his gods and of his fellows, the while he avoided the consequences of their disapprobation”.

“The kapus which were established by the priests for the disposal of body wastes had a double concern: the protection of the mana, the spiritual power, of the person from whom the wastes were derived; and respect for the mana of all of the gods …”

“Out of respect for the gods, the Hawaiian refrained from polluting their abodes. Out of fear for himself, he was most careful to keep his body’s parts, or its wastes, and his personal possessions from falling into the hands of the dreaded sorcerer, the kahuna ana‘ana, or into the keeping of an enemy who would give them to the sorcerer to use in his fell ritual.”

“No doubt the rewards of obedience to the laws of cleanliness were taken for granted by the people. But the consequences of disobedience were always present to frighten them into compliance, and their dread of the subtle punishments of the body or of the spirit was the goad that made them good.”

“Because of this fear it is unlikely that there was such a functionary as a sanitary inspector type of kahuna among the priestly ranks, numerous and varied as they were. With the kahuna ana‘ana around, there was no need to invent the sanitary inspector: each person became his own most careful bodyservant and bodyguard.” (Bushnell)

“When a man needed to relieve himself he went off into the bush or into the wasteland, apart from the others of his household or village; and there, as a Jew was enjoined to do by the Mosaic Laws …”

“… he dug a hole and buried in it the portions of himself that were so indubitably his, together with the leaves or small stones or wisps of grass with which he cleaned himself when he was done.”

“Because, even in the time of his need for privacy, he was well aware of the watching gods, he protected himself, front, flank, and rear, as it were, with a prayer of apology to the resident spirits for his action.”

“(H)e carefully covered the cat-hole he had dug and all traces of his visit, in order to hide its secrets from the searching eyes of the kahuna ana‘ana.”

“Others of his personal wastes were not casually thrown away; they were buried, as carefully as was his excrement, or they were burned. Nor were they cast into the sea, or into streams, pools, swamps, taro-patches, or other accumulations of fresh water.” (Bushnell)

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November 24, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

‘Riding the Surfboard’

The first article of the first volume of the first issue of Mid-Pacific Magazine, June 1911 was an article on surfing. It was written by ‘Duke Paoa’ – we knew him as Duke Kahanamoku. In part, he wrote:

“I have never seen snow and do not know what winter means. I have never coasted down a hill of frozen rain, but every day of the year, where the water is 76, day and night, and the waves roll high, I take my sled, without runners, and coast down the face of the big waves that roll in at Waikiki.”

“How would you like to stand like a god before the crest of a monster billow. always rushing to the bottom of a hill and never reaching its base, and to come rushing in for half a mile at express speed, in graceful attitude, of course, until you reach the beach and step easily from the wave to the strand?”

“Find the locality, as we Hawaiians did, where the rollers are long in forming. slow to break, and then run for a great distance over a flat, level bottom, and the rest is possible.”

“Perhaps the ideal surfing stretch in all the world is at Waikiki beach, near Honolulu, Hawaii. Here centuries ago was born the sport of running foot races upon the crests of the billows, and here bronze skinned men and women vie today with the white man for honors in aquatic sports once exclusively Hawaiian, but in which the white man now rivals the native.”

“I mastered the art of riding the surfboard in the warm Hawaiian waters when I was a very small child, and I never gaze out upon the ocean in any part of the island that I do not figure out how far each wave, as it comes rolling in, would carry me standing on its crest.”

“There are great, long, regular, sweeping billows, after a storm at Waikiki that have carried me from more than a mile out at sea right up to the beach; there are rollers after a big kona storm that sweep across Hilo Bay, on the Big Island of Hawaii, and carry native surfboard riders five miles at a run, and on the Island of Niihau there are even more wonderful surfboard feats performed.”

“A surfboard is easy to make. Mine is about the size and shape of the ordinary kitchen ironing board. In the old days the natives were wont to use cocoanut logs in the big surf of Diamond Head, and sometimes six of them would come in standing on one log, for, of course, the bigger and bulkier the surfboard the farther it will go on the dying rollers …”

“… but it is harder to start the big board, and, of course, on the big logs one man, the rear one, always had to keep lying down to steer the log straight with his legs.”

“At Waikiki beach, Queen Emma, as a child, had a summer home, and always went out surfing with a retainer, who stood on the board with her.”

“Today it is seldom that more than one person comes in before the wave on a single board, although during the past year some seemingly wonderful feats have been attempted.”

“I have tried riding in standing on a seven-foot board with a boy seated on my shoulders, and now I find it not impossible to have one of my grown companions leap from his board, while it is going full speed, to mine, and then clamber up and twine his legs about my neck.”

“Lately I have found a small boy, part Hawaiian, who will come in with me on my board, and when I stand, he stands on my shoulders, and even turns round. But all this is as nothing when we read in Thrum’s annual for 1896, of the feats of the old Hawaiians, and as this is about the best article ever prepared on ancient surfing, I shall quote from it:”

“Among the favorite pastimes of ancient Hawaiians that of surfriding was a most prominent and popular one with all classes. In favored localities throughout the group for the practice and exhibition of the sport …”

“… ‘high carnival’ was frequently held at the spirited contests between rivals in this aquatic sport, to witness which the people would gather from near and far; especially if a famous surf-rider from another district, or island, was seeking to wrest honors from their own champion.”

“Native legends abound with the exploits of those who attained distinction among their fellows by their skill and daring in this sport; indulged in alike by both sexes.”

“Necessary work for the maintenance of the family, such as farming, fishing, mat and kapa making and such other household duties required and needing attention, by either head of the family were often neglected for the prosecution of the sport.”

“Betting was made an accompaniment thereof, both by the chiefs and the common people. Canoes, nets, fishing lines, kapas, swine, poultry and all other property were staked, and in some instances life itself was put up as wagers, the property changing hands, and personal liberty. or even life itself sacrificed, according to the outcome of the match in the waves.”

“There are two kinds of boards for surfriding; one is called the olo and the other the a-la-ia, known also as omo. The olo was made of wiliwili – a very light, buoyant wood …”

“… some three fathoms long, two to three feet wide, and from six to eight inches thick along the middle of the board, lengthwise, but rounding toward the edges on both upper and lower sides.”

“It is well known that the olo was only for the use of the chiefs; none of the common people used it. They used the a-la-ia, which was made of koa, or ulu. Its length and width was similar to the olo, except in thickness, it being but of one and a half to two inches thick along its center.”

“The line of breakers is the place where the surf rises and breaks at deep sea. This is called the kulana nalu. Any place nearer or closer in where the surf rises and breaks again, as it sometimes does, is called the ahua, known also as kipapa or puao.”

“There are only two kinds of surf in which riding is indulged; these are called kakala, known also as lauloa, or long surf, and the ohu, sometimes called opuu. The former is a surf that rises, covering the whole distance from one end of a beach to the other.”

“This, at times, forms in successive waves that roll in with high, threatening crest, finally falling over bodily.”

“Surfboard riding is an art easy of accomplishment to the few and difficult to the many. It is at its best when the rollers are long in forming, slow to break, and, after they do, run for a great distance over a flat, level bottom, such as the coral beds at Waikiki,
which is perhaps the all-year-round ideal surfboarding bit of water in the whole world.”

“There are three surfs at Waikiki: the ‘big surf’ toward Diamond Head, in front of Queen Liliuokalani’s summer residence, where the most expert surf-board riders and the native boys disport themselves …”

“… the ‘canoe’ surf, nearly in front of the Moana Hotel, where the majority of those who stand on the board dispute rights with the outrigger canoes that come sliding in from a mile out at sea before the monster rollers …”

“… and the beginners, or cornu copia surf – a series of gentle rollers before the Outrigger Canoe Club’s grounds and the Seaside Hotel. Here, as a rule, beginners learn the art of balancing on the board.” (Kahanamoku, Mid Pacific Magazine, January 1911)

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Surfing illustration, LE Edgeworth

Hawaiin surfing-(culturemap-org-au)-early 1800s

Duke_Kahanamoku_at_Log_Angeles-(WC)-1920

Duke Paoa Kahanamoku with his surfboard-(WC)-c. 1910-1915

Diamond_Head-Surfers-1900

Surfing-Diamond_Head-(UH_Manoa)-1935

David_Kahanamoku,_Lord_Louis_Mountbatten,_Prince_Edward,_and_Duke_Kahanamoku,_c.1920

Hawaiian_with_surfboard_and_Diamond_Head_in_the_background-1890

November 17, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Makāluapuna

According to oral tradition, Piʻilani unified the entire island of Maui, bringing together under one rule the formerly-competing eastern (Hāna) and western (Wailuku) multi-district kingdoms of the Island. In the 1500s, Chief Piʻilani (“stairway to heaven”) ruled in peace and prosperity.

The traditional moku (district) of Kāʻanapali consisted of five major stream valleys Honokōwai, Kahana, Honokahua, Honolua and Honokōhau).

Six West Maui bays were a place Pi‘Ilani frequented. Collectively, these picturesque and productive bays are called Nā Hono A Piʻilani, The Bays of Piʻilani (aka Honoapiʻilani.)

From South to North they are: Honokōwai (bay drawing fresh water), Honokeana (cave bay), Honokahua (sites bay,) Honolua (two bays), Honokōhau (bay drawing dew) and Hononana (animated bay).

All were extensively terraced for wet taro (loʻi) in early historic and later times. Honokahua Valley has been described as having loʻi lands. Sweet potatoes were reportedly grown between the Honokohau and Kahakuloa Ahupuaʻa.

Oneloa and Honokahua Bays were once joined as one larger bay. However, during the time of Honolua eruptions (Pleistocene Period, 2.6-million to 11,700 years ago), lava formed Makāluapuna Point (Lit., spring hole (as for planting taro)), creating two bays. (Kyselka & Lanteman)

The pineapple plantation village of Honokahua was behind Makāluapuna Point. Farther up, the double lines of Norfolk pines was the plantation house of Pineapple Hill. (Kyselka & Lanteman)

Makāluapuna Point has an interesting lava formation that has earned the name, Dragon’s Teeth. It is a unique lava flow that was influenced by high waves as the ancient lava flow hit the ocean.

The wave energy at the time of the flowing lava was strong enough to curl up the edges of the lava before it cooled leaving these unique giant tooth-like structures.

In addition, there is a labyrinth. Labyrinths are tools for walking meditation and spiritual growth. They are based on patterns that date back thousands of years and have roots in many cultures and traditions.

What seems like a maze or simple ring of concentric circles is actually a pattern with a purpose. The many turns on the labyrinth’s one path reflect the journey of life, which involves changes of direction, transition, realization and attainment.

Makāluapuna Point on the Kapalua coast is the home of Maui’s largest labyrinth. Built by an anonymous builder, the white coral labyrinth was constructed as a peace project in 2005. (Schumacher, Lāhainā News)

In 1962, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. was formed when Baldwin Packers merged with Maui Pineapple Company. Maui Land & Pine created the wholly-owned subsidiary named Kapalua Land Company, Ltd., which conceived of and developed the master-planned Kapalua Resort featuring the Kapalua Bay Hotel at the shore of Honokahua ahupuaʻa.

The hotel opened in 1978, beginning the change of the former ranch and pineapple lands of Honokahua into a world-class destination resort complex.

Mauka of Makāluapuna Point, starting in 1987, to prepare for proposed ocean-side construction of the Ritz Carlton at Kapalua more than 900 ancestral native Hawaiian burials were excavated from sand dunes at Honokahua, Maui. When the extent of the burials became more widely known, native Hawaiians from around the state staged protests.

Eventually a plan was devised in September 1989 for the proper reburial of the native Hawaiian remains disinterred. Associated with that, the state paid $6-million for a perpetual preservation easement and restoration of the burial site. A 14-acre site is now a historical and cultural landmark.

In addition, as a result of this, Hawaiʻi’s burial treatment law, passed in 1990, gives unmarked burials, most of which are native Hawaiian, the same protection as modern cemeteries. The law:
• Burial Sites Program was set up within DLNR’s Historic Preservation Division
• Burial Councils were set up at Kaua’i-Ni’ihau, O’ahu, Maui-Lānaʻi, Molokaʻi and Big Island
• Procedures to deal with the inadvertent discovery of human skeletal remains were established
• If human remains are found during a construction project, construction, there stops and if the remains appear to have been buried 50 or more years, procedures were established to preserve them in place or relocate them
• Provided penalties for unauthorized alteration, excavation or destruction of unmarked burial sites

“Honokahua changed the history of Hawaiʻi. They have set precedent that we will never ever go back to this complacency and complete disregard for the iwi of our kupuna.”

“Honokahua has created the laws, Honokahua is the law, this stands as the kahili (feather standard, a sign of royalty) for all burial sites from here on to perpetuity. This is the battleground, this is the piko (navel, umbilical cord) of these new laws.” (Naeole, DLNR)

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Dragons Teeth-marinebio

Dragons Teeth-okunomichi

dragons-teeth-prayer-walk-hawaiipictureoftheday

Labyrinth-okunomichi

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Dragons Teeth-Labyrinth-BrianPowers

Makaluapuna_Labyrinth-GoogleEarth

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Makaluapuna-GoogleEarth

November 7, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Waiakue Kaikuono

“Waiakue Kaikuono (Waiakue Bay), as it is called by the natives, comprises a spacious harbour, formed by a reef of coral rocks, of about half-a-mile in breadth, through which there is a channel three-quarters of a mile wide, with a depth of water throughout, of about eleven fathoms.” (Hill, 1856)

“Incidently, Hilo Bay was once almost called Vancouver Bay. Vancouver, whose name was given to the great island in British Columbia, and to a fine city in BC and another in southern Washington, was a visitor to Hawaii on several occasions.”

“The men of his party wanted to give Vancouver’s name to Hilo Bay. But somehow it didn’t take.” (Edwards; Honolulu Advertiser, April 29, 1951) It was later referred to as Byron’s Bay and ultimately, Hilo Bay.

“Hilo is a famous sea-shore resort on this island, and from Honolulu by a direct sea route the distance is estimated to be almost one hundred and ninety-two miles, and a steamer of moderate speed can accomplish the trip in almost twenty-four hours.”

“On the map Hilo Bay is frequently marked Byron’s Bay, after Captain Lord Byron, who was the first to make an accurate survey of it, which he did in 1825.” (Hall, 1898)

“Lord Byron, the cousin and successor of the poet (George Gordon Byron), and a very different man, commanding HBM Frigate Blonde, was commissioned by his majesty to convey the bodies of the king and queen (Liholiho and Kamamalu) and the survivors of their suite back to their country.” (Bingham)

“During the voyage Liliha and Kekuanaoa were baptized at their own request by the chaplain, Lord Byron standing as sponsor.” (Taylor)

Actually some suggest its traditional name is Waiakea Bay. “The proper native name for Hilo Bay is Waiakea, but as is quite natural, it is called from the town itself.” (Hall, 1898) “The best landing is at Waiakea, which gives its name to the bay, although it has been called Hilo and Byron’s Bay.”

“The latter name was conferred on it, in compliment to Lord Byron, by Kaahumanu; but the native appellation cannot be set aside, and the bay is now scarcely known among the natives when called Byron’s.” (Wilkes, 1845)

“Excellent water is to be had in abundance, and with great ease, within the mouth of the Wailuku river; but it requires some care in passing in and out the river when the surf is high.” (Wilkes, 1845)

“Lord Byron, with his scientific corps, visited Hila, the great crater of Kilauea, and Kealakahua Bay, and caused accurate surveys to be made of Waikiki Bay, Honolulu harbor, and Hilo Bay, which has since been often called Byron’s Bay.” (Bingham)

“Hilo Bay has an excellent harbor, and if commerce needs it, can be rendered safe and commodious by a breakwater which runs out from the shore to Cocoanut Island. There is room for a whole navy here, if necessary, and the water is deep enough for the largest ship afloat.”

“The town is well laid out and very pretty. One can see great stretches of cane fields all yellow and green, and the tall, graceful cocoa palms with their plumy branches. As the roads in Hilo are not very good, one must either go about on foot or on horseback.” (Hall, 1898)

“Lord Byron drew up the first laws printed and published in Honolulu, being regulations for the harbor of Honolulu. … and by his advice the chiefs began more active measures for suppression of vices which were destroying their race, and for promoting education.”

“The American missionaries, who were still more or less under suspicion, were indebted to him for removing the last doubts as to their mission and motives; telling the natives that these people taught the same religion as that recommended to them by Vancouver, teachers of which he had promised to send them on his return to England, if possible.” (Taylor)

“Before leaving the islands, Lord Byron set up a memorial of Capt. Cook, almost half a century from the time of his death. On the hill of ancient lava, at the head of Kealakekua Bay, and one hundred and fifty rods from the place where that navigator fell …”

“… and near where he was dissected, he erected, on a heap of rough, volcanic stones, a small shaft, or pillar of wood, with a small plate attached”. (Bingham)

In the late 19th century, the growing sugar industry in East Hawai‘i demanded a better and more protected port, and a breakwater was constructed on Blonde Reef to shield ships from rough waters as they entered Hilo Harbor.

In 1908, construction began on a breakwater along the shallow reef, beginning at the shoreline east of Kūhīo Bay. The breakwater was completed in 1929 and extended roughly halfway across the bay. In 1912, contracts were awarded to construct Kūhiō Wharf, to dredge the approach to the new wharf, and to lay railroad track into the new harbor facility.

Work was completed at Kūhiō Wharf, Pier 1 in 1916. Pier 1 was a 1,400-foot long by 150-foot wide wharf with a wooden storage shed. By 1917, a mechanical conveyor for bagged sugar with derricks for loading ships, was constructed.

In 1923, Pier 2 was constructed just west of Pier 1. Additional dredging was conducted in Kūhiō Bay as part of the construction. By 1927, Pier 3 was added on the west side of Pier 2.

Between 1927 and 1928, the approach to Pier 3 was dredged and the pier was widened. In 1929, the 10,080-foot long rubble mound breakwater was completed.

Contrary to urban legend, the Hilo breakwater was not built as a tsunami protection barrier for Hilo; it was built to dissipate general wave energy and reduce wave action in the protected bay, providing calm water within the bay and protection for mooring and operating in the bay.

In fact, in 1946, Hilo was struck by a tsunami generated by an earthquake in the Aleutian Islands; it was struck again in 1960 by a tsunami generated by the great Chilean earthquake – both tsunami overtopped the breakwater and Hilo sustained significant damage, including to the breakwater.

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Hilo_illustration,_c._1870s