Hawaiian Traditions | Page 82 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

March 21, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Timeline Tuesday … 1910s

Today’s ‘Timeline Tuesday’ takes us through the 1910s – Duke Kahanamoku is Hawai‘i’s first Olympic Champion, Outdoor Circle formed, Hawai‘i National Park is formed and Lili‘uokalani dies. We look at what was happening in Hawai‘i during this time period and what else was happening around the rest of the world.

A Comparative Timeline illustrates the events with images and short phrases. This helps us to get a better context on what was happening in Hawai‘i versus the rest of the world. I prepared these a few years ago for a planning project. (Ultimately, they never got used for the project, but I thought they might be on interest to others.)

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March 19, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Increased Population – Increased Production

Kohala on the Island of Hawai‘i was likely settled in its windward valleys about A.D. 1100–1200 and along the leeward shoreline between A.D. 1200 and 1400.

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

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

With such a small (but growing) population based on the family unit, society was not so complicated that it needed chiefs to govern or oversee the general population.

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

Ancient household units in Hawai‘i are represented archaeologically by clusters of small stone and earthen structures, including terraces, enclosures, and small semicircular stone shelters.

The mauka field system was likely established between A.D. 1200 and 1400.

Marion Kelly noted dryland field systems were one of the three noted subsistence production intensification techniques initiated by the early Hawaiians (along with walled fishponds and lo‘i kalo (irrigated, terraced pondfields for taro cultivation)).

Farmers found, farmed and intensified production on lands that were poised between being too wet and too dry. Archaeological evidence of intensive cultivation of sweet potato and other dryland crops is extensive, including walls, terraces, mounds and other features.

In the mauka field system, larger residential features are identifiable by constructed terraces with stout stone walls on the upslope (windward) side of these structures, which served as windbreaks and anchored the perishable thatch hale.

Natural bedrock outcrops were also used for habitation and were modified with abutting stone-faced terraces and stacked stone-wall enclosures.

Archaeological evidence indicates a chronology of household expansion (and, by inference, to population growth, as well as increased managerial presence and a desire to produce higher yields) spanning three temporal periods between A.D. 1400 and 1800.

The overall pattern is one of an exponential rate of increase in residential features, with the greatest number of such features existing in temporal period 3 (A.D. 1650–1800), just before European contact.

The pattern of early expansive construction (the phase 1 alignments and trails) indicates that the area was developed over time as farmers established new fields and farmsteads.

During phase 2, additional residential clusters were established, and the ahupua‘a was subdivided with new agricultural alignments inserted predominantly between the new residences and trails.

The lands were progressively subdivided with new trails and alignments (such as phase 3 constructions), as preexisting territorial segments were carved into smaller units.

This chronology fits well with the previously established chronology of agricultural system intensification which shows a pattern of late intensification (marked by increased field alignment construction) after A.D. 1650.

Archaeological evidence of intensive cultivation of sweet potato and other dryland crops is extensive, including walls, terraces, mounds and other features.

The fields throughout the Kohala system were oriented parallel to the elevation contours and the walls (and perhaps kō (sugar cane) planted on them) would have functioned as windbreaks from the trade winds which sweep down the slopes of the Kohala mountains.

Configured in this way, the walls would also have reduced evapotranspiration and – with heavy mulching – retained essential moisture for the crops. This alignment of fields also conserved water by retaining and dispersing surface run-off and inhibited wind erosion and soil creep.

The main development of the Kohala field system took place AD 1450-1800. By the late-1600s the lateral expansion of the field system had been reached, and by AD 1800 the system was highly intensified.

The process of intensification involved shortened fallow periods, and agricultural plots divided into successively smaller units.

The archaeological map of the Kohala field system depicts over 5,400-segments of rock alignments and walls with a total length of nearly 500-miles.

The fields begin near the north tip of the island very close to the coast. The western margin extends southward at an increasing distance from the coast, with the eastern margin at a higher elevation and also an increasing distance from the coast.

From north to south the field system is more than 12-miles in length. At its maximum, it is more than 2.5-miles in width.

Scientists speculate that this farming did not just support the local population, but was also used by Kamehameha to feed the thousands of warriors under his command in his conquest of uniting the islands under a single rule.

Based on experimental plantings, if only half of the Kohala Field System was in production in one year, it could be producing between 20,000 to 120,000-tons of sweet potato in one crop.

Archaeologists conclude that the higher frequency of residences within the core area of the field system, as well as the initial expansion of field system trails and alignments that demarcate major land divisions, suggests that this process was managed from the outset.

On the basis of ethnohistoric documents from the 18th and 19th centuries, they note that such management was performed by elites, who were required to generate surplus at the level of the ahupua‘a.

Population growth, coupled with increased management and tribute requirements, supported the increasingly hierarchical sociopolitical system of archaic states that emerged in Hawai‘i ca. A.D. 1600–1800

The system was abandoned shortly after European contact in the early- or mid-19th century. (Lots of information here is from Field and Kirch.)

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March 11, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Webster’s Way

Noah Webster (1758-1843) was the man of words in early 19th-century America. He compiled a dictionary which became the standard for American English; he also compiled The American Spelling Book, which was the basic textbook for young readers in early 19th-century America.

In the beginning part of his American Spelling Book, several signed a ‘Recommendation,’ stating, “Having examined the first part of the new Grammatical Institute of the English Language, published by Mr. Noah Webster we are of opinion, that it is far preferable, in the plan and execution, to Dilworth’s or any other Spelling Book, which has been introduced into [o]ur schools.”

“In these the entire omission of the rules of pronunciation is a capital defect, which very few of the parents, schoolmasters or mistresses, employed in teaching children the first rudiments have sufficient knowledge to supply.”

“The usual method of throwing together, in the same tables, and without any mark of distinction, words in which the same letters are differently pronounced, and the received rules of dividing syllables, which are wholly arbitrary, and often unnatural, seem calculated to puzzle the learner, and mislead the instructor into a vicious pronunciations.”

“These defects and mistakes are judiciously supplied in the present work, and the various additions are made with such propriety, that we judge this new Spelling Book will be extremely beneficial for the use of schools.”

The Speller’s Preface notes the priority in learning, “The syllables of words are divided as they are pronounced, and for this obvious reason, that children learn the language by the ear. Rules are of no consequence but to printers and adults. In Spelling Books they embarrass children, and double the labour of the teacher.”

“The whole design of dividing words into syllables at all, is to lead the pupil to the true pronunciation: and the easiest method to effect this purpose will forever be the best.” (Webster’s Speller)

And so it was with the American Protestant Missionaries teaching the Hawaiians to read and write their own language.

This exercise, as practiced in Hawai‘i, was described by Andrews, “The teacher takes a Piapa (i.e., speller, primer,) sits down in front of a row or several rows of scholars, from ten to a hundred perhaps in number, all sitting on the ground, furnished perhaps with Piapas, perhaps not.”

“The teacher begins: says A. The scholars all repeat in concert after him, A. The teacher then says E. They repeat all together, as before E, and so on, repeating over and over, after the teacher, until all the alphabet is fixed in the memory, just in the order the letters stand in the book; and all this just as well without a book as with one. The abbs and spelling lesson are taught in the same way.” (Andrews; Schultz)

Just as American schoolchildren spelled aloud by naming the letters that formed the first syllable, and then pronouncing the result: “b, a – ba,” so did Hawaiian learners. (However, back then, Webster used ‘y’ as a vowel; the missionaries did not.)

The Hawaiian version also used the names of the letters and the resultant syllable: bē ā – bā; by 1824, this had become the Hawaiian word for ‘alphabet’. However, after b had been eliminated from the alphabet, p took its place in this new name.

One result of applying this methodology to Hawaiian is that it produced a new word: Pi a pa. From that time on, the word for ‘alphabet’ has been pī‘āpā, first appearing with this spelling (minus the kahakō and ‘okina) in a book title in 1828.

The purpose of all these first exercises was to teach the mechanics of pronouncing words, one by one – syllable by syllable.

This is how Ka‘ahumanu learned … “Being invited to enter the house, we took our seats without the accommodation of chairs, and waited till the game of cards was disposed of, when the wish was expressed to have us seated by her.”

“We gave her ladyship one of the little books (Pi a pa – the speller,) and drew her attention to the alphabet, neatly printed, in large and small Roman characters.”

“Having her eye directed to the first class of letters – the five vowels, she was induced to imitate my voice in their enunciation, a, e, i, o, u.”

“As the vowels could be acquired with great facility, an experiment of ten minutes, well directed, would ensure a considerable advance.”

“She followed me in enunciating the vowels, one by one, two or three times over, in their order, when her skill and accuracy were commended. Her countenance brightened.”

“Looking off from her book upon her familiars, with a tone a little boasting or exulting, and perhaps with a spice of the feeling of the Grecian philosopher, who, in one of his amusements, thought he had discovered the solution of a difficult problem, leaped from the bath, exclaiming “Eureka! I have found,” the queen exclaimed, “Ua loaa iau! I have got it”, or, it is obtained by me.”

“She had passed the threshold, and now unexpectedly found herself entered as a pupil.”

“Dismissing her cards, she accepted and studied the little book, and with her husband, asked for forty more for their attendants.” (Bingham)

The image shows Webster’s way of learning to spell, starting with repeating the consonant ‘b’ with the respective vowels b, a – ba – just as the Hawaiians did as pi, a – pa.

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March 6, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

‘The Hope of the Nation’

“On the eve of the 14th inst, at 7:30 o’clock Frank James Woods and Eva Kalanikauleleiaiwi Parker were married at the Parker residence at Mana by the Rev CH Tompkins, the parson of the Anglican Church of Hāmākua.”

“Members of the families of the contracting parties and a few intimate friends had been invited to attend the ceremony and the fine residence was filled with the guests who were cordially welcomed by the genial host and hostess.”

“Among the guests were noticed the Princess Kaʻiulani, Prince Cupid and wife, Prince David J H Wodehouse, Captain John Ross, Miss K Vida, and a few other Honolulu friends. …”

“It was nearly 6 o’clock in the morning and the dawn was breaking when the young couple bade good bye and drove away among showers of rice, tears, laughter, flowers and old shoes.”

“At Waimea Mr and Mrs Woods stopped at the Parker residence at Puopelo to see the venerable Mrs Hauai Parker and after a short rest they proceeded on their journey to their beautiful home at Kahua. …

“The bridegroom is the second son of the late James Woods a prominent rancher and planter on Hawaii. He is the owner of the Kahua ranch in the Kohala district and is a worthy young man an honor to his race and to his family.”

“The bride is the oldest daughter of the Hon Samuel Parker who since her return from England where she received her education has been a favorite in society in Honolulu as well as in San Francisco.” (Independent, December 19, 1898)

The future seemed uncertain for Princess Kaʻiulani when she headed to the Island of Hawai‘i for the wedding of her friend Eva Parker.

Disillusioned by life in Americanized Honolulu, saddened by the injustice of circumstance, she expressed herself in letter to Lili’uokalani, written as 1898 drew to a close, feelings alive in most Hawaiian hearts.

“They have taken away everything from us and it seems there is left but a little, and with that little our very life itself. We live now in such a semi retired way, that people wonder if we even exist any more. I wonder too, and to what purpose?” (Kelley)

Even with Kaʻiulani’s attempts to gain support for the monarchy, the US Congress voted for annexation, and on August 12, 1898, Hawai‘i officially became an American territory.

Then, the sad news, “Princess Ka‘iulani is dead.”

“Her young life went out at two o’clock this morning (March 6, 1899,) at her residence, Waikiki. The sad event had been feared for more than a month, and deemed hourly imminent for a week past.”

“It was about four months ago that the Princess was first attacked with the illness that has cut her off in the springtime of life. Rheumatism induced by exposure to rain upon an excursion into a valley near Honolulu, undertaken for a short visit to a country retreat there, was the malady.”

“Relief was sought in change to the dry mountain air of Hon Saml Parker’s residence on Hawai‘i, and was gained in some degree when a fresh cold from bathing caused a relapse.”

“Ultimately, about a month ago, it was deemed necessary to have the Princess brought home. Her father and Dr St DG Walters attended her on the trip.”

“Alarming reports came from her bedside a week before the end. She was constantly attended by Dr. FL Miner and Dr Walters, but the disease had advanced beyond the power of medical skill to check.”

“Still there was hope of a favorable turn until close to the last hour. The fact that the affection was threatening the heart, however, made the case critical.”

“Half an hour before the end it was certain the Princess was dying, and intimate friends were called in to join the stricken father at the bedside. There were present in the death chamber the following:”

“Hon. AS Cleghorn, Mr. and Mrs. Jas. W. Robertson, Mr. and Mrs. Jas. H Boyd, Miss Kato Vida, Miss Helen Parker, Col. S Parker, Dr. St D. G. Walters and wife, Dr. FL Miner, Prince David Kawānanakoa, Lumaheihei, Miss EIsie Robertson and Kaʻiulani’s maid.”

“Princess Victoria Kawekiu Kaʻiulani Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa was the daughter of Hon AS Cleghorn and Princess Miriam Likelike.”

“The mother was a sister of King Kalākaua and Princess Liliuokalani afterward Queen, and died in 1887 when Kaʻiulani was but eleven years and four months old.”

“Here, from her cradle to the end of the monarchy, Princess Kaʻiulani was regarded as ‘the hope of the nation.’ Appreciating the responsibility attaching to her expectations, her widowed father sent her to England at fourteen years of age for higher education.”

“From her infancy she was known as the heir presumptive to the throne of Hawaii, and at the accession of Queen Lili‘uokalani was proclaimed as the Heir Apparent.” (Evening Bulletin, March 6, 1899)

“As a little girl here, Kaʻiulani was considered bright and beautiful and was a favorite with all the young people, of her circle. … Cultivated and charming in every way she at once gained a place in the hearts or all with whom she came in contact.”

“She was a patroness and active worker for every charitable, society and took the deepest interest in the welfare of the lowly and the afflicted. In the society here she was a bright light, was welcomed everywhere, received with the highest honors and often entertained at her home.”

“Always gracious, always thoughtful of others, she gained the strongest affection of all. She was idolized by her own people and was held in the highest esteem by the foreign population.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 14, 1899)

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March 1, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Blending Traditional and Modern Medicine

In the Islands, “Medicine is generally practiced by the priests (kahuna la‘au lapa‘au,) whose contemplative way of life has led them to acquirement of some knowledge of botany …”

“… they understand the use and application of vomits and clysters, which are drawn from the vegetable reign, and sometimes exhibited with success.”

“Topical bleedings is also in use, but a larger share of priestcraft and mummery enters into their practice. Fortunately the good constitutions and temperance of these islanders prevents their having often occasion for the skill of their physicians.” (Shaler, 1804)

The medical practice in the 1820s and 1830s was not as advanced as many people might assume. The end result of treatments by Western doctors and Hawaiian doctors were the same: purging, vomiting, sweating or managing pain.

Disease was not well understood and was attributed to a mixture of outside influences and physical influences of the afflicted person. Climate, age, temperament, gender, lifestyle, and “constitution” (a subjective idea of how susceptible to disease people were) were thought to cause disease.

Remedies included changes of climate, cupping or bloodletting (in order to weaken the disease you had to weaken the patient), changes in diet, herb or plant based ingestible medications, external topical plasters, and chemicals were all part of the Western pharmacology.

Dr Gerrit P Judd was one of the very few Western doctors in Hawai‘i that was interested in learning about Hawaiian medical practices and remedies. He hired Native Hawaiian assistants and apprentices. (Mission Houses)

Judd’s fairness would not let him condemn everything about the native materia medica. No doubt other haole physicians had indulged a curiosity about kahuna medications, might even have tested or used some of them.

But Dr. Judd was the only haole physician of the 19th century who has left evidence that he knew from personal experience the properties of at least some of the native medicines.

Always inquisitive, always sympathetic to the good things his adopted people could offer, and genuinely fond of them as individuals, Judd investigated their pharmacopoeia very early in his career as a physician among them. (Bushnell)

“It has been an object with me not to oppose the practice of the native physicians in mass, but to endeavor by the best means in my power to correct and modify their practice so that it shall save, not kill, the people.”

“It is my intention, if possible, the coming year to make Ho‘ohano (his assistant) acquainted with the native practices as it now exists and make him the agent for collecting facts on the subject.”

“It is out of the question for us to think of putting down the native practice unless we will attend all the sick ourselves, since it is not human nature to be sick & die without seeking some means of alleviation.”

“The idea of improving the native doctors has therefore suggested itself to me as an exceedingly important one demanding immediate attention.” (Judd, Report to Sandwich Islands Mission, 1839)

“At the commencement of the year (1839) I took a young man who had been at the Seminary six years, with a view to giving him instruction in the Medical art.”

“I commenced the investigation of the native practice and by the aid of these two assistants (Ho‘ohano & Kalili) obtained from several native Drs the various doctrines and practices of the art which have come down through the legalized channels mai ka wa kahiko mai (from ancient times.)”

“These investigations occupied several weeks in the early part of the year and have been continued as opportunity afforded.”

“We also instituted a series of experiments on native medicines which resulted pretty much as all experiments of the kind usually do.”

“We found we could prepare from the native Gourd alone, or combined with Koali (morning glory) or Pipa (Japanese plum) and extract which would physic most delightfully & like Brandreths Pills to any amount which might be desirable.” (Judd, Report to Sandwich Islands Mission, 1839)

Over the years Dr Judd modified his practice to include Native Hawaiian ingredients in his treatments. He also published the first medical textbook in 1838, Anatomia, and founded the first medical school in the Kingdom of Hawai‘i in 1870. (Mission Houses)

Anatomia is the only medical textbook written in the Hawaiian language. Dr Judd, for a time the only medical missionary in the Islands, wrote the text in 1838 to teach basic anatomy to Hawaiians enrolled at the Mission Seminary (Lahainaluna.)

Working from a standard elementary textbook of the time, Judd provided his students with more than a simple, straight translation. He devised a new vocabulary and explained medical functions and practices in words that would be understood by a Hawaiian.

Judd’s use of Hawaiian terms and descriptions gives us insights into native cultural and healing practices in the early decades of the nineteenth century.

Anatomia is a valuable addition to the growing collection of translations on native health and will be greatly appreciated by linguists, historians, and students of Hawaiian language and culture. (Mission Houses) The image shows the Judd Dispensatory at Mission Houses.

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