“Feathers from certain birds were made into the highly-prized feather work artifacts of the alii – capes, cloaks, helmets, kahili, etc.” (Holmes)
“The plumage-birds, like everything else in Hawaii, were the property of the alii of the land, and as such were protected by tabu; at least that was the case in the reign of Kamehameha I, and for some time before.”
“The choicest of the feathers found their way into the possession of the kings and chiefs, being largely used in payment of the annual tribute, or land tax, that was levied on each ahupuaa.”
“As prerequisites of royalty, they were made up into full length cloaks to be worn only by the kings and highest chiefs. Besides these there were capes, kipuka, to adorn the shoulders of the lesser chiefs and the king’s chosen warriors, called hulumanu, not to mention helmets, mahiole, a most showy head-covering.”
“The supply needed to meet this demand was great, without reckoning the number consumed in the fabrication of lei and the numerous imposing kahili that surrounded Hawaiian royalty on every occasion of state.”
“It is, therefore, no surprise when we learn that in the economic system of ancient Hawaii a higher valuation was set upon bird feathers (those of the mamo and o-o) than upon any other species of property, the next rank being occupied by whale-tooth, a jetsam-ivory called palaoa pae, monopolized as a prerequisite of the king.” (Emerson)
“Bird-catching and feather gathering were frequently done by commoners in their ahupua‘a. These were people who were also farmers and fishermen, and not full-time specialist bird-catchers.” (Cordy)
“[M]en and women … are joined together in great numbers in climbing into the forests to snare birds [kapili manu; kawili manu]. And the number of birds caught by a person in a day is from six to thirty. The bird being caught is the Oo of the forests.” (Kuokoa, Mar 17, 1866) The bird-catchers were known as lawai‘a manu (those people who ‘fished for birds’) or kia manu.
“Initial bird-catching or feather-gathering was probably conducted by commoners (maka‘āinana) of each community land (ahupua‘a) as part of their tribute to chiefs, rather than exclusively by a special class of chiefly retainers (bird-catchers).”
“Wives of bird-catchers sometimes accompanied their husbands and plucked, sorted and fastened together feathers. Women probably wove the helmet and cloak fibre frameworks and nets (of ‘ie‘ie and ‘olonā fibers).”
“Women may have attached the feathers to cloaks and helmets – manufactured the cloaks and helmets. These cloaks and helmets were probably made in chiefly households by skilled female retainers.”
“Capes (cloaks) and helmets were probably not sacred and kapu until the finished products became identified with certain wearers.” (Cordy)
“The methods used by one hunter in the capture of the birds differed from those used by another. They also varied somewhat, no doubt, in different district, on the different islands, at different seasons of the year and seen in the different islands, at different hours of the day.”
“There could be nothing stereotyped in the way the hunter of birds practiced his art. While the method might remain essentially the same, it was necessarily subject to a wide range of modification, to suit the skill and ingenuity of each hunter in his efforts to meet the habits and outwit the cunning of the birds themselves.” (Emerson)
“A bird-hunting campaign was not an affair to be lightly entered upon. Like every other serious enterprise of ancient Hawaii, a service of prayer and an offering to the gods and aumakuas, must first be performed….”
“Having selected a camp, he erects the necessary huts for himself and his family. His wife, who will keep him company in the wilderness, will not lack for occupation. It will be hers to engage in the manufacture of kapa from the delicate fibers of the mamake bark, perhaps to aid in plucking and sorting the feathers.”
While some suggest, “‘When you take a bird do not strangle it, but having plucked the few feathers for which it was sought, set it free that others may grow in their place.’ They inquired, ‘Who will possess the bird set free? You are an old man.’ He added, ‘My sons will possess the birds hereafter.’” (Brigham)
Perez, however, notes. “Some authors prefer to disingenuously believe that birdcatchers plucked only a few feathers from each bird, then ‘set it free to raise its family and grow a new crop of feathers.’” (Perez)
This is substantiated in the first writing of Hawai‘i; Captain Cook’s Journal notes, “Amongst the articles which they brought to barter this day, we could not help taking notice of a particular sort of cloak and cap, which, even in countries where dress is more particularly attended to, might be reckoned elegant.”
“The first are nearly of the size and shape of the short cloaks worn by the women of England, and by the men in Spain, reaching to the middle of the back, and tied loosely before.”
“The ground of them is a network upon which the most beautiful red and yellow feathers are so closely fixed that the surface might be compared to the thickest and richest velvet, which they resemble, both as to the feel and the flossy appearance. …”
At the time of ‘Contact’, it was clear that when collection feathers birds were killed, as Cook’s Journal goes on to note, “We were at a loss to guess from whence they could get such a quantity of these beautiful feathers; but were soon informed as to one sort …”
“… for they afterward brought great numbers of skins of small red birds for sale, which were often tied up in bunches of twenty or more, or had a small wooden skewer run through their nostrils.”
“At the first, those that were bought consisted only of the skin from behind the wings forward; but we afterward got many with the hind part, including the tail and feet. The first, however, struck us at once with the origin of the sable formerly adopted, of the birds of paradise wanting legs, and sufficiently explained that circumstance. … (Cook’s Journal, Jan 1778)
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