Ahuula | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 22, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

500,000 Feathers

In the dawn hours of January 18, 1778, on his third expedition, British explorer Captain James Cook on the HMS Resolution and Captain Charles Clerke of the HMS Discovery first sighted what Cook named the Sandwich Islands (that were later named the Hawaiian Islands.)

Cook continued to sail along the coast searching for a suitable anchorage. His two ships remained offshore, but a few Hawaiians were allowed to come on board on the morning of January 20, before Cook continued on in search of a safe harbor.

On the afternoon of January 20, 1778, Cook anchored his ships near the mouth of the Waimea River on Kauai’s southwestern shore. After a couple of weeks, there, they headed to the west coast of North America.

After the West Coast, Alaska and Bering Strait exploration, on October 24, 1778 the two ships headed back to the islands; they sighted Maui on November 26, circled the Island of Hawaiʻi and eventually anchored at Kealakekua Bay on January 17, 1779.

At the time, the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokai, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and (4) Kauai and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Kalaniʻōpuʻu was on the island of Maui. Kalaniʻōpuʻu returned to Hawaiʻi and met with Cook on January 26, 1779, exchanging gifts, including an ʻahuʻula (feathered cloak) and mahiole (ceremonial feather helmet.) Cook also received pieces of kapa, feathers, hogs and vegetables.

In return, Cook gave Kalaniʻōpuʻu a linen shirt and a sword; later on, Cook gave other presents to Kalaniʻōpuʻu, among which one of the journals mentions “a complete Tool Chest.”

“For Native Hawaiians, the ʻahuʻula, mahiole, and all other featherwork were reserved exclusively for the use of their ali‘i (royalty), symbolizing their chiefly divinity, rank and power.”

“It embodied the life essence of a thriving abundant environment which are the telltale signs of leadership, as it takes a healthy forest ecosystem to produce enough bird feathers and cordage to make these regal pieces.” (OHA)

The construction of featherwork in ancient Hawai‘i required an incredible amount of labor and craftsmanship. The ‘ahu‘ula of Kalaniʻōpuʻu has 500,000 feathers (lashed one-by-one) from about 20,000 birds.

“Skilled trappers caught the birds by employing various techniques such as snaring their prey midair with nets, or using decoy birds to lure them onto branches coated with a sticky substance.”

“They often harvested only a few feathers from each bird before releasing them back into the wild so they could produce more feathers. Skilled workers belonging to the aliʻi class crafted the olonā cordage backing, a netting used as the foundation for the cloak, onto which the bundles of feathers were attached, creating bold designs.”

“After the ‘ahu‘ula and mahiole left on Cook’s ship, both were taken to England and passed through the hands of various museum owners and collectors.”

“They eventually came under the care of the Lord St Oswald, who unexpectedly presented his entire collection in 1912 to the Dominion Museum in New Zealand, the predecessor of Te Papa Tongarewa. The cloak and helmet have been in the national collection ever since.”

“In 2013, discussions began among the Bishop Museum, Te Papa Tongarewa, and OHA to bring these treasures back to Hawai‘i, culminating in this significant homecoming.” (OHA)

In a partnership between the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), The National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, the ‘ahu‘ula and mahiole of Kalani‘ōpu‘u came back in March 2016 and are displayed at Bishop Museum on long-term loan.

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January 21, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lawaiʻa Manu

When Cook anchored off Waimea, Kauai, in 1778, he and his officers at once noticed the feather robes and helmets. The account is as follows:

“Amongst the articles which they brought to barter this day (January 21, 1778) 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 in England, and by the men of Spain, reaching to the middle of the back and tied loosely before.”

“The ground of them is a net-work, 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 feel and glossy appearance.”

“The manner of varying the mixture is very different, some having triangular spaces of red and yellow alternately; others a kind of crescent, and some that were entirely red, had a yellow border which made them appear, at some distance, exactly like a scarlet cloak edged with gold lace.”

“The brilliant colours of the feathers, in those that happened to be new, added not a little to their fine appearance, and we found that they were in high estimation with their owners, for they would not, at first part with one of them for anything we offered, asking no less a price than a musket.”

“However some were afterward purchased for very large nails. Some of them as were of the best sort, were scarce, and it would seem that they are only used on the occasion of some particular ceremony or diversion, for the people who had them always made some gesticulations which we had seen used before by those who sung.”

“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 (i‘iwi) for sale, which were often tied up in bunches of twenty or more, or had a small wooden skewer run through their nostrils.” (Cook, 1778; Brigham)

“The birds which supplied the feathers, at least the choicer yellow, red and green, were inhabitants of the mountain regions into which as the abode of evil spirits the Hawaiian did not like to go.” (Brigham)

“‘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)

A “company of twenty-five athletic men, trained to bird-catching on the beetling crags of these mountains …. Their toe and finger nails, never cut, grow like claws.”

“Their sole business is to catch the little black birds called the o‘o, each producing a few yellow feathers under the wings ….” (Judd; Handy)

Feathers for these amazing works were procured by bird catchers, who often lived deep in the wao kele (upland forest) habitat of the birds that they sought.

“The old Hawaiian was a close observer of nature. Having neither books nor the modern curse of newspapers, his memory was strengthened and his eye sharpened.”

“He had a name for every tree and plant and not less for every bird. It is true that he did not always conjoin the two sexes when they, as is not infrequently the case, differ greatly in coloration ; but ornithologists of education have failed in the same way.”

“The hunters knew well enough the haunts of the birds they sought and the seasons when the plumage was at its best. They knew the habits of the birds, their food and other matters that might facilitate their quest.”

“For example, they recognized the curiosity of the birds and planted strange trees in the open places in the forests, and in these new trees placed the sticks smeared with bird-lime which would entangle the prying birds.”

“Bows and arrows would have been of no avail, if they had possessed them, for the rarer birds were seldom killed but captured alive and when the few feathers desired were plucked, released to renew their plumage at the next moulting.” (Brigham)

When bird-lime made of the viscid juice of the ‘papala’ could be obtained it was preferred, although other kinds were known and snares and throwing nets were frequently used. (Brigham)

Another technique called kahekahe, involved pruning branches of the ‘ōhi‘a tree of most of its flowers and gumming the branch near the remaining flowers with the sticky sap of the ‘ulu (breadfruit).

When the bird, attracted by the nectar of the ‘ōhi‘a blossom, alighted on the branch it became stuck and easy to catch. Care was often taken in removing the feathers from the bird, and salve applied to help the bird heal. (Hawaii Alive)

Another approach was to take a stone with a hole though it to form a snare; “A loop of fine cord is passed through the central hole and covered with bait, while the snarer leads the cord to some cover near by. A pull at the right time may catch the leg of the bird in the loop and the weight of the stone prevents flight.” (Brigham)

The common sorts were often killed and eaten. Rare birds especially were seen as a sacred resource.

David Malo wrote in the Hawaiian–language newspaper Ka Hae Hawaii that Kamehameha himself had forbidden bird-catchers from taking the life of the birds so as to allow his children in the future to experience the beauty of these wonderful birds. (Hawaii Alive)

Rain capes, worn by the bird-catchers (lawai‘a manu (those people who ‘fished for birds’) or kia manu) in the rain forest, were made by tying dried ti leaves singly, and overlapping, onto a net made of olona, fiber.

These men also thatched their upland shelters with dried ti leaves (sometimes with tree bark), and such temporary shelters were called hale la‘i (ti-leaf house). (Handy)

“(W)here there were no trails paved with smooth waterworn stones as in most areas in olden times, sandals made of dried ti leaves were a great help in crossing rough lava beds, even some that were only partly cooled.”

“‘A person accustomed to going to and fro on foot knew just how many pairs he would need for his journey and he carried them along with him. As one pair wore out it was thrown away and another put on.’ These sandals were called kama‘a la‘I (literally ‘the-bound-ti-Ieaf,’ from ma‘a ‘to bind’).”

“A fairly strong rope could be made by braiding dried ti leaves together along with their very stout stems. ‘When my grandmother needed a rope for a temporary purpose, this was what she did – a relic of old-time wisdom.’” (Pukui; Handy)

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October 2, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The King’s Cape

“Centuries ago, when the rest of the world went to battle in iron clothing, the great seven-foot warriors of Hawaii donned gay war capes, fashioned of thousands of colorful feathers.”

“The principal colors used were red and yellow. The more yellow, the higher the rank of the wearer. … The first kings maintained a corps of trained ‘birdmen’ who lived in the forests and hunted these creatures.”

“They learned to imitate the call of the male and thus lure the birds close to their hiding place where they previously ‘doctored’ a flower particularly delectable to the bird they wished to catch.”

“Then they waited until the bird thrust his bill into the flower … Then the birdmen carefully removed the desired feathers and released the bird.” (Oakland Tribune, July 21, 1929)

Hawaiian featherwork consists of leis (or strings of feathers worn in the hair or around the neck,) kāhili (plumes of feathers used as royal insignia,) ahuʻula (cloaks or capes,) mahiole (helmets,) images of the god Kūkaʻilimoku (war god of Kamehameha,) or mat-like objects and other temple objects.) (Brigham)

The ‘ahuʻula (cloak or cape) was durable and comparatively small in bulk. Olonā (a fiber) was universally the basis of the Hawaiian feather capes. The Hawaiian had not looms, so a fiber net was formed as the foundation of the cape.

It was a common custom to net bands of a width from 8 to 12 inches and this was cut and joined. Regular and irregular pieces were put together to form the cape. (Brigham)

Hawaiian feather capes and cloaks were constructed by tying bundles of small feathers, usually 6-10 per bundle, to a foundation of netting. The ‘ahu‘ula of Kamehameha consists of approximately 450,000 feathers. (Bishop Museum)

To fasten feathers to this net much finer thread, often single fibers, was used and the feather was bound by 2 or 3 turns of the thread on the shaft of the feather. On the reverse, the feather did not show.

As in medieval Europe the vanquished knight was despoiled of his armor by the victor, so the chief who killed or captured his enemy took as spoils his feather cloak, helmet or lei. Generous Hawaiian chiefs often gave ‘ahuʻula as token of their friendship. (Brigham)

During the British warship Calypso’s three-and-a-half-month stay in Hawai‘i beginning on Oct. 2, 1858, its surgeon, WH Sloggett, was presented with a royal feather shoulder cape by King Kamehameha IV in gratitude for medical service he’d rendered the seriously ill King. (Soboleski)

“Sir Arthur Sloggett, surgeon-general of the British Expeditionary Forces during the World War, has presented, through a nephew who resides in the islands, the cape of Kamehameha IV, given to Sloggett’s great grandfather by the monarch.” (Oakland Tribune, July 21, 1929)

On occasion, the ship would carry King Kamehameha IV and his retinue to Hawai‘i Island. Taking advantage of the presence of the surgeon, the King requested an examination by Sloggett.

Sloggett declined to accept a fee. He felt he already was paid by the Navy so he didn’t need to be paid by the King for doing his job. (Faye)

However, as a gift Kamehameha IV delivered to the Calypso on its departure an ‘ahuʻula (red and yellow feather cape.) He hung it at his home in England. The King also gave him a small portrait of Queen Emma. (Faye, KauaiGold)

The Sloggett cape measures 15.5 inches in depth, 33 inches across at its widest width, and is made of the yellow and black feathers of the ‘o‘o (a now extinct black bird with one yellow feather indigenous to Hawai‘i), with yellow used as the background and black as ornamentation.

‘I‘iwi (a scarlet honeycreeper also indigenous to Hawai‘i) feathers also appear as ornamentation, while a network of olona fiber, intricately knotted, forms the foundation. The cape’s outside surface gleams like satin and its texture is as smooth as velvet.

Dr. Sloggett took the cape home to England, where he framed and hung it upon a wall in his house. Then in 1926, his son, Sir Arthur Sloggett, removed it from the drawing-room wall of his home in England and gave it to his nephew, Grove Farm Plantation director Henry Digby Sloggett, who returned it to Hawai‘i.

Henry Digby Sloggett passed the cape on to his son, Richard Henry Sloggett Sr, and for a time it was on loan to Honolulu’s Bishop Museum. The Sloggett cape can now be seen in the Kaua‘i Museum. (Soboleski) (Lots of information here is from Chris Faye and Kauai Museum. The image shows the Kamehameha IV ahuʻula given to Sloggett. (Faye – Kauai Museum))

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May 10, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Olonā

The ancient Hawaiians made use of a considerable range of fiber plants. Some of these they brought with them; others were discovered in the new island home.

Naturally available to the Hawaiians were a variety of vines, grasses, and tree barks that could be used as cord with little or no modification, but they found that, with a bit more effort, they could produce string, twine, or rope that was easier to handle and lasted a longer time.

First among the Hawaiians’ cordage resources, however, was an endemic forest plant, olonā. Its excellence made olonā cordage a highly valued item, not only among the Hawaiians themselves but also, later, among Western sailors, and its virtues enabled Hawaiians to create some of the finest pre-contact handcraft in the Pacific. (Abbott)

“Olonā was a thing highly prized by one and all. It was very valuable and planters raised it extensively. … There were, however, few places where olonā would grow and hence, not all people cultivated.”

The ancient Hawaiians undoubtedly discovered the valuable fiber of this plant at a very early time. They were intimately familiar with the local flora and its economic utilization. The olonā is mentioned in many of the old songs and legends.

“It grew in rainy districts and in marsh lands and in those parts of the mountain which were saturated with moisture; it did not grow on bare mountain sides but on those ridges where bananas grew and water ran constantly and where there was plenty of moisture. It throve on the windward side of the islands and few places besides.”

“When people in old days planted olonā they first looked for a good place in the mountains to plant, a valley where it was fertile and flat, perhaps below a cliff in the bed of a stream.”

“Here they cut down the pulu ferns, chopped down the trees and cleared out the weeds. The planting was done like the planting of the wauke from the young shoots or cuttings from the ground stem.”

“A field of olonā that grew uniformly with every stalk and every leaf alike was the planter’s delight, and if it grew on a level, two or three acres or more of it, his joy knew no bounds. It all grew up like the hairs on the head, with straight stalks and rounded leaves. In a year or more it was full-grown and the leaves began to turn yellow.” (Kamakau; Bishop Museum)

Special interest is attached to the olonā fiber as it is generally recognized to be the strongest and most durable fiber in the world. No other fiber is recorded to exceed it in these two important characteristics.

This fiber is the best of all fibers known at the present time. The three dominant features are (1) the great tensile strength (about three times the strength of commercial Manila – about eight times as strong as hemp;) (2) its great resistance to deterioration in salt water; and (3) its pliability, and thus its adaptability for spinning by hand.

Among the Hawaiians it was put to a great variety of uses. All fishing lines and nets of the best quality were invariably made of olonā, because of its high resistance to the action of salt water. (MacCaughey, 1918)

Fishing lines and nets made from this fiber by expert Hawaiians present an appearance of so uniform a caliber and twist that it would lead one to believe that the fiber had been made by the most intricate machinery.

Olonā lines and nets which have been in more or less constant use for over a century are almost as good as new, and are handed down from generation to generation as precious objects. Most of the natives are very unwilling to part with any of their fishing gear that is made of olonā.

The very serviceable carrying-nets, koho, in which the wooden calabashes and other objects were borne, were commonly made of olonā fiber. Olonā was not used for making the bark-cloth or kapa itself, but threads and cords of olonā were used for sewing the kapa.

A stout cord of olonā was usually attached to the wooden war-clubs and dagger-like swords, for suspending the weapon from the wrist. This prevented the loss of the weapon during the fray. For fastening the stone adz, ‘o‘o, to its wooden handle, olonā was always the preferred fiber.

It was used for the very fine and pliable netting which served as a groundwork for the feathers, in the construction of the splendid garments and insignia of the ancient royalty and ali‘i. The brilliant scarlet and yellow feathers were skillfully woven by the women upon the imperishable framework of olonā. (MacCaughey, 1918)

“Olonā is so universally the basis of Hawaiian feather cloaks, that feathers mounted on any other substance would be at once classed as foreign to the group.” The fineness of the net varies as does the size of the thread used for cloaks.

In featherwork, feathers are mounted and tied with olonā cordage to nets made of well twisted, closely netted olonā. Feathers are inserted in rows and bound by two or three turns of the olonā threads. (Brigham)

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