Chiefs | Page 2 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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September 15, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

I aliʻi nō ke aliʻi i ke kānaka

A chief is a chief because of the people who serve him (Pukui 1983:125, verse 1150))

McGregor and MacKenzie (2014:96-105) provide a general description of governance at the Island, moku (district), ahupuaʻa and family scale.

“Although the ruling chiefs and their land stewards enjoyed certain appropriation rights over the land and the people, … this was a system of mutual obligation and benefit between the chiefs and the people.”

“The aliʻi nui (paramount chief) and aliʻi ʻai moku (district chiefs) controlled the land that was distributed among the makaʻāinana (common people).”

“The aliʻi nui (paramount chiefs) and aliʻi ʻai moku (district chiefs) were obligated to manage and oversee the production on the land in a manner that provided for the well-being of all the people through pono or balanced and judicious rule.”

“They regulated the use of scarce resources; apportioned these resources among the people according to principles of fair usage; regulated the use of water, which was the most valued resource of the land …”

“… assured that the irrigation systems were properly maintained; conducted proper rituals to the gods who embodied nature; and conserved the resources of the land through restriction and replacement policies.”

“In return, the families of commoners were obliged to provide labor service and products of the land to the aliʻi (chiefs) and konohiki (land stewards).”

“Functionally, the stratified structure for land utilization and stewardship followed this following basic hierarchy:
• aliʻi nui (paramount chief) of the island
• aliʻi ʻai moku (district chiefs) to oversee each moku
• aliʻi ʻai ahupuaʻa (land division chiefs) overseeing the ahupuaʻa
• konohiki (land chief, headman) who resided in the ahupuaʻa
• luna (and stewards) who assisted with specific issues (i.e. luna wai was responsible for the fresh water flow and irrigation system)
• makaʻāinana (common people) never owned or ruled land”

“While Native Hawaiian oral traditions record cases of arbitrary, irresponsible, and self-serving ruling chiefs who abused the people, they were clearly exceptional cases and such chiefs were quickly replaced with responsible chiefs who cared for the well-being of the people.”

The Hawaiian proverb (‘ōlelo no‘eau), “I aliʻi no ke aliʻi i ke kānaka,” “A chief is a chief because of the people who serve him,” reflects the Hawaiian attitude that the greatness of a chief was judged according to the welfare of the people under him. (McGregor 2007:29)

The Hawaiian historian David Malo wrote, “In former times, before Kamehameha, the chiefs took great care of their people. That was their appropriate business, to seek the comfort and welfare of the people, for a chief was called great in proportion to the number of his people”.

As the Native Hawaiian society became more stratified, kapu (sacred restrictions) were employed to elevate and separate the aliʻi nui (paramount chiefs) from the lesser aliʻi (chiefs) and the makaʻāinana (commoners). (Art by Herb Kane.)

Royalty-(HerbKane)

June 3, 2018 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Bates’ View of the Tabu

“The will of the high chief was a law from which there was no appeal. He could decide all cases of disputation, levy taxes, and proclaim war, just as best suited his purposes, and none but the royal counselors were permitted to take the least exception.”

“During their life, they were approached with the most absolute veneration; and after death, they were deified and worshiped.”

“A system of landlordism existed, decreasing in subserviency until it reached the monarch, whom it left an absolute lord. This system was originated and sustained by war.”

“The victors always seized the lands of the vanquished, and then gave them their followers. If a king, or chief, or sub-landlord, when passing through his district, happened to see a fine taro-patch, a hog, a mat, or a calabash, that suited his ideas, he had only to claim it, and it became his own.”

“If they wished to build a house, cultivate a tract of land, turn a water-course, or erect a temple for the gods, they had only to summon the people from a district, the entire island, or a neighboring island, and the work was speedily accomplished.”

“To refuse to obey the summons was to insure instant death. There were no courts of justice, no trials by jury, no fixed law, either oral or written.”

“The property, the services, the life, and almost the souls of the people, were claimed by their rulers.”

“But the broadest and most gloomy page of their past history is that which records their religious condition. It was a unity of Church and State.”

“The two heads of the nation were the king and priest, but the hierarch was paramount. There was a reciprocity of sacerdotal and kingly power: the first promised the favor of the gods, the latter the support of the spears hurled by banded warriors.”

“The paramount claims of the hierarch soon found a solid support in the foundation of the most hellish system … that has ever cursed fallen humanity. This was the tabu system.”

“As the tabu system expanded and strengthened, it imposed restrictions on every act, word, and thought; it covered every article of food, and related to every act of religious worship; it was so framed, that it was absolutely impossible not to violate its bloody requirements; its mandates even entered the sanctuaries families, and imposed a heavy restriction upon the rights of men and women.”

“When a couple entered the marriage state, the man must build an eating-house for himself, another for his god, another for a dormitory, another for his wife to eat in, and another in which to beat kapa: these four the men had to build.”

“In addition to this, he had food to provide; then he heated the oven and baked for his wife; then he heated the oven and baked for himself; then he opened the oven containing his wife’s taro, and pounded it; then he performed the same operation on his own.”

“The husband ate in his house, and the wife ate in hers. They did not eat together, lest they should be slain for violating the tabu.”

“A tabu existed in relation to idols. The gods of the chiefs and common people were of wood. If one made his idol of an apple-tree, the apple-tree was afterward tabu to him. So of all the trees of which idols were made.”

“So, too, of articles of food. If one employed taro as an object of his idolatry, to him the taro became sacred, and might not be eaten by him. Thus it was with every object of which a god was made.”

“Birds were objects of worship. If a hen, the hen was to him sacred. So of all the birds which were deified. Beasts were objects of worship. If a hog, the hog was sacred to him who chose it for his god. So, too, of all quadrupeds of which gods were made.”

“Stones were objects of worship, and tabu, so that one might not sit on them.”

“Fish were idolized. If one adopted the shark as his god, to him the shark was sacred. So, also, of all fish; so of all things in heaven and earth: even the bones of men were transformed into objects of worship.”

“A tabu was imposed on such accidental events as it was impossible for the common people to avoid. Hence, if the shadow of a common man fell on a chief-if he went into a chief’s yard-if he put on a kapa or malo of the chief, or wore the chief’s consecrated mat, or if he went upon the chief’s house, it was death!”

“So, if he stood when the king’s bathing-water, or kapa, or malo were carried along, or when the king’s name were mentioned in song, or if he walked in the shade of a chief’s house with his head besmeared with clay, or with a wreath round it, or wearing a kapa mantle, or with his head wet, it was certain death!”

“There were many other offenses of the people which were made capital by the chiefs and priests. H a woman ate pork, cocoanuts, bananas, a certain kind of fish, or lobster, it was death. To be found in a canoe on a tabu, day was death.”

“If a man committed a crime, he died; if he was irreligious, he died; if he indulged in connubial pleasures on a tabu, day, or if he made the slightest noise while prayers were saying, he had to die.”

“While the common people could commit no crime under penalty of death, the priests did as they pleased.”

“When one deemed it desirable that a temple should be built, he applied to the king, who commanded the natives to construct it; which being done, the king and priest were sacred; and on the day when a log of wood was obtained for a god, a man was sacrificed in order to impart power to the wooden deity.”

“When sacrifices were offered, men were slain and laid upon the altar with swine; if a fish proper for an offering could not be obtained, a man was sacrificed in its stead; and human victims were required on other occasions.”

“The king and the priest were much alike, and they constituted the main burden of the nation.” (All here is from Bates.)

Hikiau_Heiau_illustration-William_Ellis_(Captian_Cook’s_Crew)-1782

April 10, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Aliʻi Letters John Papa Ii to Amos Cooke April 10, 1843

Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives (Mission Houses) collaborated with Awaiaulu Foundation to digitize, transcribe, translate and annotate over 200-letters written by 33-Chiefs.

The letters, written between 1823 and 1887, are assembled from three different collections: the ABCFM Collection held by Harvard’s Houghton Library, the HEA Collection of the Hawaii Conference-United Church of Christ and the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society.

These letters provide insight into what the Ali‘i (Chiefs) were doing and thinking at the time, as well as demonstrate the close working relationship and collaboration between the aliʻi and the missionaries.

In this letter, John Papa ʻĪʻī writes to Amos and Juliette Cooke at the Chief’s Children’s School in Honolulu, informing them about things in Lahaina, where he and Dr. Judd are traveling with students from the school.

John Papa ʻĪʻī began his service in the royal court when he served as an attendant to Liholiho, Kamehameha II. Īʻī later became a trusted advisor and chief in the court of Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III and continued to serve the sovereigns of Hawaiʻi until his death in 1870. At the time of this letter, he is escorting the boys from the Chiefs’ Children’s School as they travel in Lahaina.

Mr. Amos Starr Cooke was a missionary with the eighth company. He and his wife, Juliette Montague Cooke, ran the Chiefs’ Children’s School. Sarai, the wife of John Papa ‘Ī‘ī at the time of this letter, assisted at the Chiefs’ Children’s School.

In part, the letter notes:

“Wainee, April 10, 1843”

“Greetings to you two, Mr. and Mrs. Cooke,”

“Because we are apart these days, unable to converse one mouth to another, it is necessary to clarify by letter the various aspects of our stay. Because of that, I am informing you about us and the boys of ours.”

“From the first day of our stay here until now, it has been as it is when we all stay together, either there or here. They do not resist, and they are not a burden; our stay here is pleasant.”

“The domicile is peaceful, staying here at the house and going to the ocean to swim last Saturday, horseback riding that evening, and going to church yesterday.”

“The boys went to English-language services twice, all of us in the morning and then just Dr. Judd and the four boys went again.”

“And that night we sailed to the ship, the four boys and the two of us. Dr. Judd took over Sunday School. We saw someone talking with Dr. Judd, possible help for all of us, however it was not clear. …”

“We miss you folks very much and pray to God on your behalf, to help you folks and us as well. Much affection to the two of you and the young girls”.

Here’s a link to the original letter, its transcription, translation and annotation (scroll down):
https://hmha.missionhouses.org/files/original/77b4e4f2532453409fd570f4b9a498c5.pdf

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US, led by Hiram Bingham, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) They arrived in the Islands and anchored at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”,) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in the Hawaiian Islands.

One of the earliest efforts of the missionaries, who arrived in 1820, was the identification and selection of important communities (generally near ports and aliʻi residences) as “stations” for the regional church and school centers across the Hawaiian Islands.

Hawaiian Mission Houses’ Strategic Plan themes note that the collaboration between Native Hawaiians and American Protestant missionaries resulted in the
• The introduction of Christianity;
• The development of a written Hawaiian language and establishment of schools that resulted in widespread literacy;
• The promulgation of the concept of constitutional government;
• The combination of Hawaiian with Western medicine, and
• The evolution of a new and distinctive musical tradition (with harmony and choral singing).

Ii to Cooke April 10, 1843-1

Ii to Cooke April 10, 1843-2

February 19, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Dinner with the Chiefs

Sir George Simpson was governor in charge of North American operations of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC had established its first post at Honolulu in 1834).

The following is a portion of an account by Simpson of his journey around the world – this snippet focuses on his description and impressions at a dinner with the chiefs in Honolulu, in February 1842.

“Ledyard and Cochrane, to the best of the author’s knowledge and belief, were the only travelers that ever attempted before himself to accomplish an overland journey round the world; they both followed an easterly direction; and they both returned, the former from Irkutsk and the latter from Kamschatka, without having even seen the American Continent.”

“In offering this remark, the author wishes merely to state the fact, for he has much pleasure in admitting, that, if either of those enterprizing individuals had enjoyed his peculiar advantages, the task would not have been left for him to achieve.”

“In one respect, however, he has performed more than either Cochrane or Ledyard contemplated, for, in addition to the Russian Empire and British America, he has embraced within his range Upper California and the Sandwich Islands.” (Preface)

Now for Kekūanāo‘a’s supper …

“Over and above what may be considered as necessaries for the table, the group in general, and Honolulu in particular, is supplied, in an eminent degree, with nearly all the luxuries of every clime.”

“At the feasts of the foreign residents, champagne and claret flow with lavish hospitality, while the lighter and rarer viands of every name are brought direct from the richest countries on the globe, from. England and France, from the United States and Mexico, from Peru and Chili, from India and China.”

“In fact, such sumptuousness of living, as we experienced, day after day, from our numerous friends, is perhaps not to be found anywhere out of London, and even there is seldom found in all its unadulterated genuineness.”

“Nor are the principal natives of Honolulu far behind the respectable foreigners in this matter. In proof of their advance in material civilization, let me contrast an instance of royal gastronomy, recorded by the Rev. Mr. Stewart twenty years ago, with an evening in my own banqueting experience, spent at Governor Kekūanāo‘a’s.”

“We were received by the Governor in his Hall of Justice, an apartment large enough for the church of a considerable parish, being sixty feet long, thirty broad, and about thirty-five or forty feet high to the ridge pole of the roof.”

“The chiefs were all handsomely attired in the Windsor uniform, their clothes fitting to a hair’s breadth: so particular, indeed, are the aristocracy in this respect, that they have imported a tailor from England for their own exclusive benefit.”

“Supper being announced, the chiefs, each taking one or two of our party by the arm, conducted us across an open area to another apartment of considerable size, built in the European fashion and handsomely furnished with tables, buffets, chairs, sofas, &c., the whole, or nearly the whole, being of native wood and native workmanship.”

“The main table would have done no discredit to a London mansion, covered, as it was, with glass and plate, and lighted with elegant lamps.”

“The fare was very tempting. It consisted of fruits of all kinds, sweetmeats, pastry, Chinese preserves, &c., with excellent tea and coffee, the latter, which had been grown in Woahoo by the governor himself, being fully equal to Mocha.”

“Our plates, by the by, had been marked with our names; and we had been told to take our seats accordingly, His Excellency sitting at one side among his guests.”

“In fact the whole proceedings blended the most punctilious regard to etiquette with the cordiality of natural politeness, beating out and out and over again, all that we had seen in California, in every respect, in room, in furniture, in equipage, in viands, in cookery, in attendance and in dress.”

“Nor were our native companions themselves so decidedly inferior as civilized vanity might fancy. The chiefs, especially our host, were men of excellent address …”

“… and, as they spoke English enough to be understood, we soon forgot that we were sipping our coffee in a country, which is deemed uncivilized, and among individuals who are classed with savages.”

“During our sojourn the governor and his chiefs favored us with their company at dinner. They conducted themselves with ease and propriety …”

“… having now laid aside the habits of intemperance, in which their order was wont to indulge, as also the peculiar style of conversation to which such habits generally led.” (Simpson)

Simpson left the Islands in March 1842 and sailed to Sitka, intending to continue his trip round the world by way of Russia and Europe.

The last phase of Simpson’s journey took him across Siberia back to Europe and London, where he arrived on October 21, 1842. The entire trip had taken only 19 months and 19 days.