Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Third Voyage

In 1768, when Captain James Cook set sail on the first of three voyages to the South Seas, he carried with him secret orders from the British Admiralty to seek ‘a Continent or Land of great extent’ and to take possession of that country ‘in the Name of the King of Great Britain’.

While each of his three journeys had its own aim and yielded its own discoveries, it was this confidential agenda that would transform the way Europeans viewed the Pacific Ocean and its lands. (State Library, New South Wales)

James Cook’s first Pacific voyage (1768-1771) was aboard the Endeavour and began on May 27, 1768. It had three aims; establish an observatory at Tahiti to record the transit of Venus (when Venus passes between the earth and the sun – June 3, 1769;) record natural history, led by 25-year-old Joseph Banks; and continue the search for the Great South Land.

Cook’s second Pacific voyage (1772-1775) aboard Resolution and Adventure aimed to establish whether there was an inhabited southern continent, and make astronomical observations.

Cook’s third and final voyage (1776-1779) of discovery was an attempt to locate a North-West Passage, an ice-free sea route which linked the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Cook commanded the Resolution while Charles Clerke commanded Discovery. (State Library, New South Wales)

The British Navy Board purchased the Marquis of Granby, a ship-rigged sloops-of-war that was built by Thomas Fishburn in 1770 at Whitby. Lord Rockford, Secretary of State, thought the name might offend the Spanish and consulted both the King and the Earl of Sandwich. The Earl advised him she be renamed the Resolution.

The Resolution impressed Cook greatly and he called her “the ship of my choice and as I thought the fittest for service she was going upon of any I have seen.” (Hough) She was 14 months old and her tonnage was 462. She had the same flat-floored, apple-cheeked hull.

Resolution’s lower deck length was 110 feet 8 inches, maximum beam was just over 35 feet. Her crew included 6 midshipmen, a cook and a cook’s mate, 6 quartermasters, 10 marines including a lieutenant, and 45 seamen.

She was fitted out at Deptford with the most advanced navigational aids of the day, including a Gregory Azimuth Compass, ice anchors and the latest apparatus for distilling fresh water from sea water.

Twelve carriage guns and twelve swivel guns were carried. At his own expense Cook had brass door-hinges installed in the great cabin.

The support vessel was the Discovery built by G&N Langborn for Mr. William Herbert from whom she was bought by the Admiralty.

She was 299 tons, the smallest of Cook’s ships. Her dimensions were: lower deck 91’5″, extreme breadth 27’5″, depth of hold 11’5″, height between decks 5’7″ to 6’1″. She cost £2,415 including alterations. Her complement was 70: 3 officers, 55 crew, 11 marines and one civilian.

Cook’s crew first sighted the Hawaiian Islands in the dawn hours of January 18, 1778. His two ships, the HMS Resolution and the HMS Discovery, were kept at bay by the weather until the next day when they approached Kaua‘i’s southeast coast.

On the afternoon of January 19, native Hawaiians in canoes paddled out to meet Cook’s ships, and so began Hawai‘i’s contact with Westerners. The first Hawaiians to greet Cook were from the Kōloa south shore.

The Hawaiians traded fish and sweet potatoes for pieces of iron and brass that were lowered down from Cook’s ships to the Hawaiians’ canoes.

On the afternoon of January 20, 1778, Cook anchored his ships near the mouth of the Waimea River on Kaua‘i’s southwestern shore.

As they stepped ashore for the first time, Cook and his men were greeted by hundreds of Hawaiians who offered gifts of pua‘a (pigs), and mai‘a (bananas) and kapa (tapa) barkcloth.

Cook went ashore at Waimea three times the next day, walking inland to where he saw Hawaiian hale (houses), heiau (places of worship) and agricultural sites.

At the time, the region was thriving with many thatched homes as well as lo‘i kalo (taro patches) and various other food crops such as niu (coconuts) and ‘ulu (breadfruit).

After trading for provisions, gathering water and readying for sail, Cook left the island and continued his search of the “Northwest Passage,” an elusive (because it was non-existent) route from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean.

“It is worthy of observation, that the islands in the Pacific Ocean, which our late voyages have added to the geography of the globe, have been generally found lying in groups or clusters …”

“… the single intermediate islands, as yet discovered, being few in proportion to the others; though, probably, there are many more of them still unknown, which serve as steps between the several clusters.”

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

On January 17, 1779, Cook returned to the Hawaiian Islands, sailing into Kealakekua Bay on the island of Hawai‘i. Less than one month later, on February 14, 1779, Cook and several of his men were killed in an encounter with the Hawaiians on the shoreline of Kealakekua Bay.

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Moment_of_Contact-(HerbKane)

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Ka Wai Ola a Kāne

‘Water of Life of Kāne’ (Lāna‘i Cultural & Heritage Center)

Wai (fresh water) is the most important resource for life. As such, wai must be considered a top priority in every aspect of land use and planning.

The kānaka maoli word for water is wai and the Hawaiian word for wealth is waiwai, indicating that water is the source of well-being and wealth.

The importance of the forest is that it plays a significant role in the water cycle, gathering moisture that is stored in the earth that ultimately finds its way to shore or the ocean, evaporated back into the sky to return as rain once again.

As such, the relationship between the wai and the forest is an infinite cycle.

“Fresh water as a life-giver was not to the Hawaiians merely a physical element; it had a spiritual connotation.”

“In prayers of thanks and invocations used in offering fruits of the land, and in prayers chanted when planting, and in prayers for rain, the ‘Water of Life of Kāne’ is referred to over and over again.”

“Kāne – the word means ‘male’ and ‘husband’ – was the embodiment of male procreative energy in fresh water, flowing on or under the earth in springs, in streams and rivers, and falling as rain (and also as sunshine,) which gives life to plants.”

“There are many prayers (referring to) ‘the Water of Life of Kāne” … We also hear occasionally of the “Water of Life” of Kanaloa, of Lono, and of Kū, and even of Hiʻiaka, sister of Pele, a healer”

“Lono was the god of rain and storms, and as such the “father of waters” (Lono-wai-makua).”

“The old priests were inclined to include in their prayers for rain and for fertility the names of the four major deities, Kāne, Kū, Lono, and Kanaloa, whose roles, while on the whole distinct, overlapped in many areas of ritualistic and mythological conceptions.”

The religion of the folk-planters and fishers – was sectarian to some extent; some worshiped Kāne, some Kū, some Lono, and some Kanaloa. Regardless of all such distinctions, life-giving waters were sacred. (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

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The Gods Who Brought the Plants

“In view of the myth that relates the origin and descent of taro, which was identified with the god Kāne, to that of the ali‘i, or chiefs, of Hawaii, it is surprising that in the pageantry of the Makahiki, or harvest festival, the reigning aIi‘i plays the role of Lono rather than of Kāne.”

“Lono does not have any part in the creation myths of the Hawaiian Islands. This would seem to imply that Lono, with whom were identified the sweet potato, the gourd, and the hog, was a chief who came to these islands after they were already settled.”

“Had Lono come first, we should expect him to appear as a mythological character, and to find Kāne remembered, or recorded genealogically, as subsequent and subsidiary.”

“On the contrary, Kāne is primordial in the creation lore describing the origination of gods and men out of the marriage of Sky and Earth.”

“The sweet potato and gourd were suitable for cultivation in the drier areas of the islands. The cult of Lono was important in those areas, particularly in Kona on Hawaii and ‘Ulupalakua on Maui. At both of these places there were temples dedicated to Lono. The sweet potato was particularly the food of the common people.”

“The festival in honor of Lono, preceding and during the rainy season, was essentially a festival for the whole people, in contrast to the war rite in honor of Kū which was a ritual identified with Kū as god of battle.”

“It seems likely that the four chief gods of Hawaii, with each of whom particular plants and animals that were introduced were identified, represent distinct eras of colonization.”

“Because of Kāne’s place in the religion, his primordial role in the creation mythology, his pantheistic character, and his role as life-giver, it is logical to say that the first colonizers were worshipers of Kāne. With Kāne are identified the taro, sugar cane, and bamboo.”

“Our inference is, therefore, that these were introduced by the first settlers, and that it was these colonizers who established systematic agriculture in those areas that were capable of systematic development by means of irrigation …”

“… in other words, primarily the windward coasts and the valley areas on leeward sides of Kauai, Oahu, and West Maui, where stream systems coming down out of rain-drenched highlands made irrigation feasible.”

“This would have been an era of relative quiet, one of fairly isolated tribalism, before dynastic patterns and aristocratic traditions of ambitious warrior chieftains had become established.”

“Kanaloa perhaps came next after Kāne. The banana is identified with Kanaloa, as it is also in Tahiti. In Tahiti, and in Samoa and Tonga, Tangaloa (or Ta’aroa as the name is there pronounced) was the supreme god, the creator, and the ancestor of the ali‘i.”

“There is no reminiscence of this in Hawaii.”

“In all the southern islands, and as far as New Zealand, this deity is god of the ocean; and this is true also in Hawaii.”

“Here there is an interesting traditional association of Kāne and Kanaloa, in connection with the opening up of springs. Also in the mythological account of the creation of man, Kanaloa is associated with Kāne, although he does not appear at the dawn of creation as does Kāne.”

“It is because of the close association of Kanaloa with Kāne that we infer that Kanaloa and the banana came into the islands next after Kāne.”

“In New Zealand and tropical Polynesia, marine life and reptiles are identified with Tangaroa. In Hawaii this is true of marine life, but not of reptiles.”

“In Hawaii there is more lore relating to reptiles (mo‘o) than in any other island, yet there is no recollection of the relationship of reptiles to Kanaloa.”

“With the god Kū are identified the coconut tree and the breadfruit. Neither of these was planted or utilized, within historic times in Hawaii, nearly as extensively as would probably have been the case had they been in the islands for a long time.”

“It is for this reason that we have concluded that the Kū people were late comers. Kū, although not here regarded as lord of the ocean or particularly identified with it in any other way, was the patron of fishing.”

“Fishing as an organized enterprise was a prerogative of the ali’i, and everywhere in the Pacific the ali’i pre-empted the best fishing localities.”

“On the other hand, they did not by any means pre-empt the best farming localities; instead they depended upon the common people for their vegetable provender.”

“War rituals, in Hawaii as also in New Zealand, Tahiti, and the Marquesas, seem to have been derived from fishing rituals, and Kū was god of war as well as of fishing.”

“What probably happened was that as the worshipers of Kū became numerous, and rivalry over the best fishing localities such as Kona and Ka‘u brought about predatory wars, the chieftains came to realize that power depended upon population, and that population was a matter of food supply.”

“The epithet for Kū as a war god was Kū-the-Iand-snatcher, and this epithet became the symbol of conquest and the means of reduction of the farmers to the status of serfs.”

“The only one of the four major deities in Hawaii who was traditionally a human being is Lono. His apparent historical existence lends credence to the idea that he was the last of the four to come to Hawaii.”

“With Lono, as we have said, are identified the sweet potato, the gourd, and the hog. The sweet potato was taken to New Zealand by the Maori in the 14th century, and there likewise is identified with Rongo (Lono).”

“The hog was not taken to New Zealand, nor was the gourd; or at least if they were, neither survived.”

“The fact that the sweet potato went to New Zealand in the 14th century does not imply that it may not have been in Hawaii at an earlier date. It is possible that it was transported from Hawaii to New Zealand.” (Handy, Handy & Pukui)

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Planter-Herb Kane

by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Morai

Immediately after Captain Cook first landed at Waimea Kauai in January 1778, he and others were taken inland for an ‘excursion of the country’. They had seen ‘pyramids’ or ‘obelisks’ as they passed in their ships. What follows are descriptions of what they saw, as noted in Cook’s Journal.

“A numerous train of natives followed us; and one of them, whom I had distinguished for his activity in keeping the rest in order, I made choice of as our guide.”

“This man, from time to time, proclaimed our approach; and every one whom we met fell prostrate upon the ground, and remained in that position till we had passed. This, as I afterward understood, is the mode of paying their respect to their own great chiefs.”

“As we ranged down the coast from the east, in the ships, we had observed at every village one or more elevated white objects, like pyramids or rather obelisks; and one of these, which I guessed to be at least fifty feet high was very conspicuous from the ship’s anchoring station, and seemed to be at no great distance up this valley.”

“To have a nearer inspection of it, was the principal object of my walk. Our guide perfectly understood that we wished to be conducted to it. But it happened to be so placed that we could not get at it, being separated from us by the pool of water.”

“However, there being another of the same kind within our reach, about half a mile off, upon our side of the valley, we set out to visit that.”

“The moment we got to it, we saw that it stood in a burying ground, or morai (heiau;) the resemblance of which, in many respects, to those we were so well acquainted with at other islands in this ocean … could not but strike us …”

“… and we also soon found that the several parts that compose it, were called by the same names. It was an oblong space, of considerable extent, surrounded by a wall of stone, about four feet high.”

“The space inclosed was loosely paved with smaller stones ; and at one end of it stood what I call the pyramid, but, in the language of the island, is namea henananoo; which appeared evidently to be an exact model of the larger one, observed by us from the ships.”

“It was about four feet square at the base, and about twenty feet high. The four sides were composed of small poles interwoven with twigs and branches, thus forming an indifferent wickerwork, hollow or open within, from bottom to top.”

On each side of the pyramid were long pieces of wickerwork, called hereanee, in the same ruinous condition; with two slender poles, inclining to each other, at one corner, where some plantains were laid upon a board, fixed at the height of five or six feet. This they called herairemy ; and informed us that the fruit was an offering to their god”.

“Before the henananoo were a few pieces of wood, carved into something like human figures, which, with a stone near two feet high, covered with pieces of cloth called hoho, and consecrated to Tongarooa, who is the god of these people, still more and more reminded us of what we used to meet with in the morals of the islands we had lately left.”

“Adjoining to these, on the outside of the morai, was a small shed, no bigger than a dog-kennel, which they called hareepahoo; and before it was a grave, where, as we were told, the remains of a woman lay.”

“On the farther side of the area of the morai, stood a house or shed about forty feet long, ten broad in the middle, each end being narrower, and about ten feet high.”

“This, which though much longer, was lower than their common dwelling-places, we were informed, was called hemanaa. The entrance into it was at the middle of the side, which was in the morai.”

“On the farther side of this house, opposite the entrance, stood two wooden images cut out of one piece, with pedestals, in all about three feet high; neither very indifferently designed nor executed.”

“These were said to be Eatooa no Veheina, or representations of goddesses. On the head of one of them was a carved helmet, not unlike those worn by the ancient warriors; and on that of the other, a cylindrical cap, resembling the head-dress at Otaheite, called tomou; and both of them had pieces of cloth tied about the loins, and hanging a considerable way down.”

“At the side of each was also a piece of carved wood with bits of the cloth hung on them in the same manner; and between or before the pedestals lay a quantity of fern in a heap. It was obvious that this had been deposited there piece by piece, and at different times; for there was of it, in all states, from what was quite decayed to what was still fresh and green.”

“In the middle of the house, and before the two images, was an oblong space, inclosed by a low edging of stone, and covered with shreds of the cloth so often mentioned. This, on enquiry, we found was the grave of seven chiefs, whose names were enumerated, and the place was called Heneene.”

“We had met already with so many striking instances of resemblance between the burying-place we were now visiting and those of islands we had lately come from in the South Pacific, that we had little doubt in our minds that the resemblance existed also in the ceremonies practised here, and particularly in the horrid one of offering human sacrifices.”

“Our suspicions were too soon confirmed, by direct evidence. For, on coming out of the house, just on one side of the entrance, we saw a small square place, and another still less near it; and on asking what these were ? …”

“… our guide immediately informed us that in the one was buried a man who had been sacrificed; a Taata (Tanata or Tangata, in this country) taboo (tafoo, as here pronounced); and in the other a hog, which had also been made an offering to the divinity.”

“It was with most sincere concern, that I could trace on such undoubted evidence, the prevalence of these bloody rites throughout this immense ocean, amongst people disjoined by such a distance, and even ignorant of each other’s existence, though so strongly marked as originally of the same nation.”

“The island seemed to abound with such places of sacrifice as this which we were now visiting, and which appeared to be one of the most inconsiderable of them; being far less conspicuous than several others which we had seen as we sailed along the coast, and particularly than that on the opposite side of the water in this valley …”

“… the white kenananoo, or pyramid, of which we were now almost sure, derived its colour only from pieces of the consecrated cloth laid over it.”

“In several parts within the inclosure of this burying ground, were planted trees of the cordia sebestina (kou,) some of the morinda citrifolia (noni,) and several plants of the elee, or jejee of Tongataboo, with the leaves of which the hemanaa was thatched; and as I observed that this plant was not made use of in thatching their dwelling-houses, probably it is reserved entirely for religious purposes.”

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Heiau_at_Waimea_by_John_Webber-1778-79

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Hale Mua

Fishing, the making of fishing gear and canoes, the care and housing of canoes and fishing gear, fighting, and the making of weapons were essentially men’s activities (although there are accounts of famous women warriors).

Every aspect of taro economy and culture was man’s work; the making and tending of fields and irrigated terraces and irrigation ditches, planting, cultivating and harvesting taro, steaming it in the ground oven, peeling it, and pounding the steamed corms to make poi for the womenfolk, as well as for men and boys.

The erection of every kind of house and shed was man’s work. For most family rituals the male head of the family functioned as family priest, just as in the greater rituals of community and state the professional priests were men. (Handy & Pukui)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

‘At the age of 3 or 4, (a high ranking male child) was placed in the mua and his eating made kapu (or taboo) …’ Non-elite male children were also consecrated in hale mua after birth. (Dixon)

Archaeological investigations conducted on hale mua have identified evidence of presumed male food consumption (bones from pig and some large pelagic fish, species taboo to women) and male domestic activities (stone tool making).

The daily implementation of the kapu in non-elite Hawaiian family life was presumably more complex, as were gender specific activities such as tool making. (Dixon) Near it was the imu or oven in which the men cooked their food.

The mua or menʻs eating house was a sacred place from which women were excluded. It was the place where the men and older boys ate their meals and where the head of the family offered the daily offerings of ʻawa to the family ʻaumakua. Here men and family gods ate together; women, were not allowed to enter here.

The daily offering was never omitted and if the head of the family was unable to perform his duty, he appointed some one to do it. The prayers were for the welfare of the ruling chief and for the family itself.

When a serious problem arose, such as a new venture to be attempted or sickness in the family, the head of the family slept in the Mua, where the family gods would give him directions as to what to do.

Thus the Mua served both as a place for the men to eat and a meeting place with the family gods. At one end of the mua was an altar (kuahu) dedicated to the family ʻaumakua whose effigies stood there.

Here the head of the household prayed and performed necessary rites sometimes without, sometimes with the aid of a kahuna pule, when came the time for the rites of the life cycle such as birth, cutting the foreskin, sickness and death. (Handy & Pukui)

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