Hawaiian Traditions | Page 89 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 16, 2016 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Simon Peter Kalama

Lahainaluna Seminary (now Lahainaluna High School) was founded on September 5, 1831 by the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions “to instruct young men of piety and promising talents”.

In December, 1833, a printing press was delivered to Lahainaluna from Honolulu. It was housed in a temporary office building and in January, 1834, the first book printed off the press was Worcester’s Scripture Geography.

Besides the publication of newspapers, pamphlets and books, another important facet of activity off the press was engraving. A checklist made in 1927 records thirty-three maps and fifty-seven sketches of houses and landscapes, only one of which is of a non-Hawaiian subject.

“It was stated last year that some incipient efforts had been made towards engraving. These efforts have been continued. It should be remembered that both teacher & pupils have groped their way in the dark to arrive even at the commencement of the business.”

“A set of copy slips for writing was the first effort of importance; next a map of the Hawaiian islands. For some time past a Hawaiian Atlas has been in hand & is nearly finished, containing the following maps Viz. the Globes, North America, South America, the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Hawaiian islands & the Pacific.”

“It is evident that if the business is to be carried on so as to be of any benefit to schools generally, some considerable expense must be incurred for fitting up a shop for engraving & a room for printing. Hithertoo, everything has been done at the greatest disadvantage. Some means for prosecuting the business have lately been received from the Board.” (Andrews et al to Anderson, November 16, 1836)

Andrews was fortunate to have real talent in his artisans. Simon Peter Kalama was one of the best. Nineteen when he became a scholar, Kalama arrived at Lahainaluna with a recognized skill in drafting.

Kalama compiled the first map of Hawaiʻi published in Hawaiʻi and executed most of the “views,” which are the only record we have of the true island landscape of that time.

Since they were intended for the use of the Hawaiian students, the place names were given either in the Hawaiian form of the name, or in a modified transcription in which vowels were added so the foreign words could be pronounced in the Hawaiian style. (Fitzpatrick)

Ho‘okano, an assistant to Dr Gerrit P Judd, was assigned in the 1830s to interview kahuna lapa‘au to gain information about their practice which Judd incorporated in treating his own patients.

When Ho‘okano died in 1840, his notes were transcribed by Kalama and published in Ka Hae Hawaii in 1858 – 1859. The serialization has been translated by Malcolm Chun as Hawaiian Medicine Book: He Buke La‘au Lapa‘au and is the best source of information on traditional kahuna lapa‘au that exists today. (Mission Houses)

During the Wilkes expedition on Hawai‘i Island, on January 16, 1841, Kalama saved Judd from death in the crater of the volcano Kilauea. (Twain)

“Dr. Judd volunteered to head a party to go in search of some specimens of gases, with the apparatus we had provided, and also to dip up some liquid lava from the burning pool.” (Wilkes)

“I went down into Kilauea on the 16th to collect gases, taking a frying pan, in hopes of dipping up some liquid lava. Kalama went with me to measure the black ledge, and I had five natives to carry apparatus and specimens.” (Judd)

“While thus advancing, he saw and heard a slight movement in the lava, about fifty feet from him, which was twice repeated; curiosity led him to turn to approach the place where the motion occurred.”

“(T)he crust was broken asunder by a terrific heave, and a jet of molten lava, full fifteen feet in diameter, rose to the height of about forty-five feet … He instantly turned for the purpose of escaping, but found he was now under a projecting ledge, which opposed his ascent, and that the place where he descended was some feet distant.” (Wilkes)

Although he considered his life as lost, he prayed God for deliverance, “and shouted to the natives to come and take my hand, which I could extend over the ledge so as to be seen. … Kalama heard me and came to the brink, but the intense heat drove him back. ‘Do not forsake me and let me perish,’ I said.” (Judd)

“(He) saw the friendly hand of Kalumo (Kalama,) who, on this fearful occasion, had not abandoned his spiritual guide and friend, extended towards him. … seizing Dr. Judd’s with a giant’s grasp, their joint efforts placed him on the ledge. Another moment, and all aid would have been unavailing to save Dr. Judd from perishing in the fiery deluge.” (Wilkes)

A few years later, as the Western concept of landownership began to alter the Hawaiian landscape, Kalama enjoyed a lucrative career as a surveyor. He served as konohiki (overseer) of the Kalihi Kai district on O‘ahu, as a member of the House of Representatives and eventually as privy councilor to two kings. (Wood)

“The Hon SP Kalama, a member of the Privy Council, died on the 2nd inst at his residence at Liliha Street, having been ill for some months.”

“Mr Kalama was formerly a Government Surveyor, had served several terms in the Legislature as a Representative, and was a member of the Privy Council under Kamehameha V, Lunalilo and his present Majesty (Kalākaua.) He was about 60 years of age.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, December 4, 1875)

Here is a video of Moses Goods portraying Kalama (it was part of a Mission Houses event:)

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Na Mokupuni O Hawaii Nei-Kalama 1837

Mission_Houses,_Honolulu-Drawn_by_Wheeler_and_engraved_by_Kalama-_ca._1837

Maui from the anchorage of Lahaina-engraved by Kalama

Sheldon_Dibble_House_at_Lahainaluna,_engraved_by_Kalama

Kilauea-Wilkes-Expedition-1845

Palapala_Honua,_engraved_by_Kalama_and_Kepohoni,_1839

June 12, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Loyalty to Locality

Using stratigraphic archaeology and refinements in radiocarbon dating, studies suggest it was about 900-1000 AD that “Polynesian explorers first made their remarkable voyage from central Eastern Polynesia Islands, across the doldrums and into the North Pacific, to discover Hawai‘i.” (Kirch)

The motivations of the voyagers varied. Some left to explore the world or to seek adventure. Others departed to find new land or new resources because of growing populations or prolonged droughts and other ecological disasters in their homelands. (PVS)

Early settlement patterns in the Islands put people on the windward sides of the islands, typically along the shoreline. Settlement patterns tended to be dispersed and without major population centers.

Most of the makaʻāinana (common people) were farmers, a few were fishermen. Tenants cultivated smaller crops for family consumption, to supply the needs of chiefs and provide tributes.

Fishermen and their families living around the bays and the beaches, or at isolated localities along the coast where fishing was practicable, led a life that was materially simpler than that of planters who dwelt on the plains.

There was no term for village. The typical homestead or kauhale consisted of the sleeping or common house, the men’s house, women’s eating house, and storehouse, and generally stood in relative isolation in dispersed communities.

The terrain and the subsistence economy naturally created the dispersed community of scattered homesteads. It was only when topography or the physical character of an area required close proximity of homes that villages existed.

Where conglomerations of homesteads existed, they were not communities held together either by bonds of kinship or economic interdependence.

A spring (or springs) was sometimes the reason for a village-like conglomeration of homesteads. “But it is along and in the streams which rush through the bottoms of these narrow gorges that the Hawaiian is most at home.”

“Go into any of these valleys, and you will see a surprising sight : along the whole narrow bottom, and climbing often in terraces the steep hillsides, you will see the little taro patches, skillfully laid so as to catch the water, either directly from the main stream, or from canals taking water out above.” (Nordhoff, 1874)

The true community in which sundry homesteads were integrated by socio-religious and economic ties was the dispersed community of ʻohana. This word signifies relatives by blood, marriage, and adoption.

In the course of native settlement, as the early Hawaiians spread from fishing sites on the shore to inland areas and fanned out over the plains and hills from original centers of settlement, households with ties of relationship became scattered.

Some located on upland slopes (ko kula uka,) some on the plains toward the sea (ko kula kai,) and some along the shore (ko kaha kai.) Neighborly interdependence, the sharing of goods and services, naturally resulted in the settling of contiguous lands by a given ʻohana rather than in a scattering over an entire district.

In this way there came to be an association of particular ʻohana with the land units later designated as ahupua‘a. Within a given ahupua‘a the heads of the respective ʻohana were responsible for seeing that their people met the tax levy prescribed by the konohiki, the ali‘i’s land supervisor.

The heads of the ʻohana groups were called haku or haku ‘āina. So far as is known there was no formal procedure involved in the choice of a haku for an ʻohana.

He came by his responsibility through seniority and competence. His authority was a matter of common consent rather than formal sanction; he was not appointed, he was not elected.

There was a high degree of stability or permanence of tenure despite the general turnover of authority and titles to the land whenever a new aliʻi came into power, owing to the fact that particular ʻohana enjoyed the rights of occupancy and use and faithfully fulfilled their obligations.

In many cases their ancestors had pioneered the area and cultivated it since the earliest era of Hawaiian settlement. Actually it was to the advantage of an aliʻi to maintain the occupancy of diligent cultivators of the land.

Thus the kauhale, the homesites of established ʻohana, were permanent features of the landscape, and the vested interest of any given family was equivalent to a title of ownership, so long as the landsman labored diligently to sustain his claim and was loyal to his aliʻi.

People identify themselves not just with the chiefdom (moku,) but with the ahupua‘a which was their homeland. This was true throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

This loyalty to locality, the identification of persons with family or ʻohana and with the ‘āina that nourished the ʻohana is an attitude that was ingrained. (The information here is from Handy & Handy with Pukui.)

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Kauhale-Hale Pili-DMY

Pre-contact Footprint-Hawaiian Islands-GoogleEarth-OHA-TNC

Pre-contact Footprint-Kauai-Niihau-GoogleEarth-OHA-TNC

Pre-contact Footprint-Oahu-GoogleEarth-OHA-TNC

Pre-contact Footprint-Maui Nui-GoogleEarth-OHA-TNC

Pre-contact Footprint-Hawaii Island-GoogleEarth-OHA-TNC

June 5, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Mahiole

The love of personal decoration appears very early in the history of the human race. (Brigham)

Hawaiian featherwork consists first of lei or strings of feathers worn in the hair, or in later times the neck; Kāhili used as royal insignia; ahuʻula cloaks or capes worn by chiefs; mahiole helmets; images of the god Kūkaʻilimoku, the war-god of Kamehameha; and a few other items. Brigham)

The Hawaiians were a close observer of nature. The hunters know the haunts of birds they sought and the season when the plumage was at its best.

The rare birds were never killed, but captured alive and released, after the feathers desired were plucked.

When the British ships Resolution and Discovery entered Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii, in January 1779, they were greeted by thousands of people in canoes.

They had arrived during the Makahiki festival, dedicated to the god of peace and productivity, Lono. Presentations of cloaks and helmets were made to Captain Cook. (British Museum)

In contrast to the feathered cloak, which was also found in Tahiti and New Zealand, the feathered helmet is peculiar to Hawai‘i. Together with the feathered cloak, the crested helmet belonged to the insignia of the high chiefs, or later the king. (National Museum of Australia)

In the Hawaiian Islands, feathered cloaks, capes and helmets were worn by male chiefs to signify their status. These were worn during ceremonial occasions, which often took place at heiau (temple areas,) as well as during makahiki.

All of a chief’s garments were considered kapu, having a divine or sacred power, and would not be worn by anyone else.

It was a custom to cut the hair close at the sides of the head leaving a ridge of still, erect hair, like a mane on the top of the scalp, and this mane-like ridge was called mahiole, the same name given to the helmet. (Brigham)

Mahiole were constructed of the aerial roots of the ʻieʻie vine, woven into a basketry frame. They were perfectly fitted to an individual, and protected the most sacred part of the body, the head.

A net of olona fibers was laid over the framework, and feathers attached in bundles in the same way as for the cloaks. The featherwork starts from the bottom, so each new row conceals the quills of the feathers below. (Museum of New Zealand)

Small feathers of a uniform size were attached. Red feathers were gathered by specialist bird-catchers from the ‘i‘iwi bird, a honeycreeper, and the black and yellow feathers from honeyeaters. Garments made of these feathers were reserved for particularly high-ranking chiefs.

The shape of the crest echoes the crescent designs found on cloaks, and in men’s hairstyles and tattoo designs. The Hawaiian word for crescent, hoaka, means to ‘frighten away’, but also indicates brightness, splendor and glory.

The mahiole represented the political status of male chiefs who had various authority.

There are many different kinds of mahiole that can be seen today found in museums around the world from the mahiole haka (short crested helmet,) mahiole pōheoheo (knobbed helmet,) mahiole haka kahakaha (striped short crest helmet,) spoked crescent helmet and others.

On the island of Hawaii, helmets with a high crest were favored. Other helmets, which had mushroom-like ornaments on top, or which were decorated with human hair, were worn by warriors or lesser chiefs. (National Museum of Australia)

Kaumuali‘i’s mahiole is consists of red ‘i‘iwi, yellow and black feathers and knotted a million times into a lacy filigree. The mahiole was a gift from Kamehameha I in 1810 after Kaumuali‘i stepped down as high chief of Kauai. It is the only feathered mahiole whose owner can be confirmed. (Bishop Museum)

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Mahiole-British Museum

Gorro de príncipe hawaiano (M. América, Madrid) 01

Arago_–_Guerrier_des_Iles_Sandwich-1819

Kaiana_(PP-96-7-001)-1787

Mahiole_British_Museum

Mahiole_of_Kaumualii,_1899

Mahiole-British_Museum

Mahiole-BritishMuseum

Mahiole-British-Museum

Mahiole-ieie-BritishMuseum

Mahiole-ieie_vine-Vancouver-1791-1795

‘Man_Wearing_Feather_Cloak_and_Helmit’,_attributed_to_Rembrandt_Peale-c. 1805-1810

Aniheneho._L’un_des_Premiers_Officiers_de_Tahmahamah-Jacques_Arago,_1819

‘A_Man_of_the_Sandwich_Islands_with_His_Helmet’_c._1800

Portrait_of_Kaneena,_a_chief_of_the_Sandwich_Islands_in_the_North_Pacific-between 1778 and 1779

John_Webber’s_oil_painting_’A_Chief_of_the_Sandwich_Islands’,_1787

Tianna_a_Prince_of_Atooi,_c._1787

May 28, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kōkua Aku, Kōkua Mai

The following moʻolelo was told by Mary Kawena Pukui and published in the book titled, Tales of the Menehune – Help and be Helped.

This moʻolelo perpetuates the Hawaiian proverb, “kōkua aku, kōkua mai” (help and be helped.) In addition, it also brings attention to the importance of maintaining the resources of both land and sea. This moʻolelo is given below.

“Keoha, a canoe-maker of Hilo, had come to Puna. The trail was long, the day hot, and now Keoha stood looking longingly at a bunch of coconuts in a treetop.”

“‘Aloha, stranger! What are you looking at?’ A fisherman had stopped beside Keoha.”

“‘Those coconuts. Their cool milk would moisten my dry throat, and the meat of a tender young nut would taste very good.’”

“‘Come with me,’ the Puna fisherman invited. “’I have many coconuts and shall give you all you want. Come to my home.’”

“Keoha went gladly. The walk was long, but the Hilo man thought eagerly of the good food and drink that he could find. He hurried.”

“At last the fisherman stopped beside tall coco palms. ‘There are coconuts, stranger,’ he said smiling. ‘Help yourself.’”

“There they were indeed! High in the treetops! Years ago Keoha could have climbed one of those coco palms, but not now. ‘Thank you. I am no longer thirsty,’ he answered as he walked away.”

“A little later as he passed a group of houses the canoe-maker was called in. Boys climbed trees for coconuts, and Keoha and his hosts ate tender young nuts and drank cool milk. The stranger was refreshed and very grateful. These men became his friends.”

“The canoe-maker, however, did not forget the fisherman. ‘Someday I shall repay his kindness,’ he told himself.”

“Years later his chance came. The Puna man walked into the shed where Keoha was polishing a canoe. ‘My small fishing canoe was injured in a storm,’ he said. ‘I need another. Have you one?’”

“Keoha looked around. ‘Not here. These are all promised,’ he answered, speaking truly. ‘But there is one in the forest. Meet me early tomorrow, and I shall show you.’”

“Carrying food and water the two took the trail. The day grew hot, but they climbed on for the fisherman was eager to see his new canoe. “

“At last they reached the part of the forest where tall koa trees grew – the strong trees whose trunks can stand the beat of waves and scratch of pebbles.”

“Keoha looked from one to another of the great trees as he said, ‘Here are many canoes. Help yourself.’”

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Kokua Aku, Kokua Mai-koa trees – canoes-HWAP

May 23, 2016 by Peter T Young 6 Comments

William Francis James

“Dear Doctor (James) – I have taken this opportunity to express my heartiest appreciation and many thanks for the good treatment that I received at your hands while at the hospital for the last past three months.”

“I am enjoying sound health at present owing to your skilful medical attention given me and which I never, will forget.” (Hawaiian Star, December 7, 1909)
On the continent, the idea of unified, correlated national health services had been germinating slowly since the epidemic of yellow fever in 1793. Fast forward about a century … State Boards of Health were being organized in rapid succession.

In 1874 the National Association of State Health Commissioners was formed, and the obvious need for a central federal health agency became more and more apparent. Then in 1879, a National Board of Health was created.

In 1872, the small island off Iwilei in Honolulu Harbor – “Kamokuʻākulikuli” – became the site of a quarantine station used to handle the influx of immigrant laborers drawn to the islands’ developing sugar plantations.

The site is described as “little more than a raised platform of sand and pilings to house the station, with walkways leading to the harbor edge wharf, where a concrete sea wall had been constructed” and as “a low, swampy area on a reef in the harbor”. (Hawaiian Gazette, March 23, 1881)

By 1888, Kamokuʻākulikuli Island had been expanded and was known as “Quarantine Island.” If vessels arrived at the harbor after 15 days at sea and contagious disease was aboard, quarantine and disinfecting procedures were required at Quarantine Island. (Cultural Surveys)

At the request of the Territorial authorities an officer of the United States Public Health Service was detailed for duty as sanitary adviser to the Governor of Hawaii. (Journal of Public Health, 1913)

The work of the Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service in Hawaii was divided into four sections: quarantine operations; plague-preventive measures; immigration inspection; and marine-hospital relief.

“At Honolulu the service has a first-class quarantine and disinfecting station with a wharf capable of accommodating vessels of 35 feet draft. The quarantine station has accommodations for 75 cabin and 600 steerage passengers in the regular quarters and barracks.”

“In addition there are tent platforms of United States Army Regulation, 14 by 15 size, which can be made available at short notice for 1,280 soldiers, with the cooperation of the Quartermaster Department of the Army or of the Hawaiian National Guard. There is also tentage capacity on the island for at least as many more troops or other persons.”

“At Hilo the service maintains a second-class quarantine and disinfecting station with facilities for fumigating vessels by the sulphur-pot method. There is as yet no provision for handling numbers of persons in quarantine except on shipboard or by arrangement with the board of health for use of its quarters temporarily.”

“At the subports of Mahukona, Kahului, Lāhainā, Port Allen and Kōloa acting assistant surgeons of the service board and inspect incoming vessels.” (Surgeon General Annual Report, 1911)

Dredged materials from improvements to Honolulu harbor had enlarged Quarantine Island again and by 1906 the island was encircled by a seawall and was 38-acres. By 1908 the Quarantine Station consisted of Quarantine Island and the reclaimed land of the Quarantine wharf (with a causeway connecting the two.)

Quarantine Island (what is now referred to as Sand Island) became the largest United States quarantine station of the period, accommodating 2,255-individuals. This facility included two hospitals and a crematorium. (Cultural Surveys)

One of its residents was William Francis James. James was born in Darwhar, Bombay Presidency, India, November 11, 1860, the son of Cornelius Francis and Caroline Sophia James.

Dr William Francis James was married to Sarah Ellen “Helen” Robinson in San Antonio, Texas on June 16 1886. The couple were parents to eight children: William Walter James, Francis “Frank” Leicester James, Stella James, Caroline Ella “Cherie” James Morren, Sophie Ethel James Fase, Gracie James, Naomi James Jacobson Hart and Ruth James Lord. (Schnuriger)

James was a graduate physician (Tulane, 1893) and surgeon in private practice since 1888 in San Antonio Texas. He enlisted in the US Army in the Rough Riders, 1st Volunteer Cavalry during Spanish American War in 1898 and then came to the Islands in 1903 to work for the Public Health Service; his salary was $200 per month.

His duty as Acting Assistant Surgeon required him to board vessels wanting to enter the port of Honolulu and examine their passengers and crew and ascertain if there are any diseases there among that would prevent the vessel from entering the port. (US Circuit Court of Appeals)

“(W)e treat free of charge all sailors on United States boats, and also hospital treatment and outdoor patients treatment, and boarding vessels for the purpose of examining the crew and passengers on board the boats as to their health, and contagious diseases especially.” (James)

His services went beyond medicine … “Voicing the unanimous sentiment of the Japanese community, the members of the Japanese Hotel Union of Honolulu desire to express their deep appreciation of the heroic act …”

“… by which a Japanese woman, Sei Shibata, was saved by you from drowning in Honolulu harbor on the 23rd of September, 1912.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, October 3, 1912)

“Plunging into waters infested with sharks, Acting Assistant Surgeon WF James, of the public health service, stationed at Honolulu, rescued a Japanese woman from drowning on September 23.”

“The Young brothers’ launch Water-witch with visiting newspapermen was soon at the scene, and the woman and her brave rescuers were hauled aboard. From the launch they were transferred to the ‘Korea.’ Drs Trotter and James worked over the woman for some time before she was restored to consciousness.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 24, 1912)

“(James) was lauded for bravery by Secretary of the Treasury MacVeagh, who yesterday called attention to his ‘humanitarian and unselfish action.’ Dr James was formerly a Roosevelt Rough Rider.” (Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 4, 1912) He died May 23, 1944 in Honolulu.

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