Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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Molokini

“Uluhina then was called upon,
The navel of the little one was cut,
The afterbirth of the child that was thrown
Into the folds of the rolling surf;
The froth of the heaving sea,
Then was found the loin cloth for the child.
Molokini the island
Is the navel string,
The island is a navel string.” (Fornander)

When Walinuu gave birth to Kahoolawe, Uluhina was called upon to come and cut the navel of the child Kahoolawe, and when he came and had cut the navel he took the placenta and girt it on as a loin cloth.

He then threw it into the sea and Molokini arose formed from the afterbirth of Kahoolawe and the loin cloth of Uluhina, the very name Molokini being a contraction of the words malo and Uluhina. (Fornander)

Molokini erupted about 230,000 years ago (90,000+/-;) it’s a tiny, crescent-shaped island in the ‘Alalakeiki Channel, 3-miles offshore of Haleakala volcano, East Maui.

The volcanic cone rises about 500-feet from the submarine flank of Haleakala to a summit of only 162-feet above sea level. The cone is capped by a 1770-foot crater, although the northern rim is below sea level and the crater is flooded by the sea.

Molokini is similar to cinder cones elsewhere along the southwest rift zone, except that it erupted through water. When magma erupts explosively in shallow water, the liquid water heats, expands rapidly, and changes to steam, adding to the eruptive force.

The extra force shatters the extruded lava, which exposes more hot material–and hence more steam and more force as the eruption grows. Near-shore eruptions are some of the most dangerous that Hawaiian volcanoes can produce.

Shallow marine eruptions have two consequences for the appearance of the resulting cone. The first is grain size (marine eruptions leads to finer-grained deposits;) the second is the abundance of volcanic glass (because the lava fragments are quickly cooled by water before crystals can form.)

Molokini deposits are basanite, a type of basalt with fairly low amounts of silicon and high concentrations of sodium and potassium. (USGS)

The shallow inner cove is the crater’s submerged floor. Black coral was once found in abundance in the deeper waters around Molokini, but was harvested extensively. (Harvesting is now restricted, and small colonies can be found on the islet’s back wall.)

There is no sand beach on Molokini. The cove area slopes off from the shoreline to a depth of about 100 feet before dropping off. The bottom consists of sand patches, coral and basaltic boulders

A shallow reef in less than thirty feet of water extends from the shoreline northward at the islet’s northwestern point. It is a very popular snorkeling area with tour boats packing people in.

It is part of a Marine Life Conservation District (MLCD.) The diversity of fishes and other marine life within the MLCD is among the most impressive in the state. Even humpback whales have been known to enter the cove. (DLNR-DAR)

Molokini was part of prior military training; in 2006 & 2007, a 250-pound bomb, a 105mm projectile and a 5-inch rocket were found during surface surveys by the Navy.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Russell Hubbard

Russell Hubbard was born in Hamden (then part of New Haven,) Connecticut on October 18, 1784, the eldest son of Deacon and General John and Martha Hubbard, of Hamden, Connecticut (and grandson of the Rev. John Hubbard of Meriden.)

He is said to have studied for the ministry after graduation from Yale, but a fondness for travel drove him abroad. (Dexter, Yale)

Hubbard had gone to sea following his graduation in 1806, hoping that a change of air and climate could resolve some unspecific health concerns.

In 1807, Hubbard, aboard the Triumph (Captained by Caleb Brintnall) anchored in Kealakekua Bay. There, ʻŌpūkahaʻia, a Hawaiian who had recently lost his parents in the island war that was waging, was contemplating his future.

“For some time I began to think about leaving that country, to go to some other part of the world. I did not care where I shall go to. I thought to myself that if I should get away, and go to some other country, probably I may find some comfort, more than to live there, without father and mother.”

“About this time there was a ship come from New York; – Captain Brintnall the master of the ship. As soon as it got into the harbour, in the very place where I lived, I thought of no more but to take the best chance I had, and if the captain have no objection, to take me as one of his own servants and to obey his word.”

“After supper the captain made some inquiry to see if we were willing to come to America; and soon I made a motion with my head that I was willing to go. This man was very agreeable, and his kindness was much delighted in my heart, as if I was his own son, and he was my own father. Thus I still continue thankful for his kindness towards me.”

“My parting with them (grandmother, aunt & uncle) was disagreeable to them and to me, but I was willing to leave all my relations, friends and acquaintance; expected to see them no more in this world.”

“We set out on our journey …” (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

“Among these men I found a very desirable young man, by name Russell Hubbard, a son of Gen H of New Haven. This Mr Hubbard was a member of Yale College.”

“He was a friend of Christ. Christ was with him when I saw him, but I knew it not. ‘Happy is the man that put his trust in God!’ Mr Hubbard was very kind to me on our passage, and taught me the letters in English spelling-book.” (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

After travelling to the American North West, then to China, they landed in New York in 1809. They continued to New Haven, Connecticut. ʻŌpūkahaʻia was eager to study and learn – seeking to be a student at Yale.

“In this place I become acquainted with many students belonging to the College. By these pious students I was told more about God than what I had heard before … Many times I wished to hear more about God, but find no body to interpret it to me.”

“I attended many meetings on the sabbath, but find difficulty to understand the minister. I could understand or speak, but very little of the English language.” (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

ʻŌpūkahaʻia “was sitting on the steps of a Yale building, weeping. A solicitous student stopped to inquire what was wrong, and Obookiah (the spelling of his name, based on its sound) said, ‘No one will give me learning.’”

The student was Edwin Dwight, distant cousin of the college president. “(W)hen the question was put him, ‘Do you wish to learn?’ his countenance began to brighten and … he served it with eagerness.” (Haley)

ʻŌpūkahaʻia latched upon the Christian religion, converted to Christianity in 1815 and in 1817 became the first student at the Foreign Mission School established at Cornwall, by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.

Unfortunately, ʻŌpūkahaʻia died in 1818. A story of his life was written (“Memoirs of Henry Obookiah”.) This book was put together by Edwin Dwight (after ʻŌpūkahaʻia died.) It was an edited collection of ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s letters and journals/diaries. This book inspired the New England missionaries to volunteer to carry his message to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaiʻi.)

ʻŌpūkahaʻia is also associated with another book. It is believed ʻŌpūkahaʻia classmates (and future missionaries,) Samuel Ruggles and James Ely, after ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s death, went over his papers and began to prepare material on the Hawaiian language to be taken to Hawaiʻi and used in missionary work.

The work was written by Ruggles and assembled into a book – by Herman Daggett, principal of the Foreign Mission School – and credit for the work goes to ʻŌpūkahaʻia.

Just as Russell Hubbard used an English spelling book to start ʻŌpūkahaʻia with his studies aboard the Triumph, ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s “work served as the basis for the foreign language materials prepared by American and Hawaiian students at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Connecticut, in the months prior to the departure of the first company of missionaries to Hawai’i in October 1819.” (Rumford)

In his journal, ʻŌpūkahaʻia first mentions grammar in his account of the summer of 1813: “A part of the time (I) was trying to translate a few verses of the Scriptures into my own language, and in making a kind of spelling-book, taking the English alphabet and giving different names and different sounds. I spent time in making a kind of spelling-book, dictionary, grammar.” (Schutz)

But his spelling was unique …

References to Webster’s ‘Spelling’ book appear in the accounts by folks at the New England mission school. As you know, English letters have different sounds for the same letter. For instance, the letter “a” has a different sound when used in words like: late, hall and father.

Noah Webster devised a method to help differentiate between the sounds and assigned numbers to various letter sounds – and used these in his Speller. (Webster did not substitute the numbers corresponding to a letter’s sound into words in his spelling or dictionary book; it was used as an explanation of the difference in the sounds of letters.)

The following is a chart for some of the letters related to the numbers assigned, depending on the sound they represent.

Long Vowels in English (Webster)
..1…..2…..3……4…….5……6……..7…….8
..a…..a…..a……e…….i…….o……..o…….u
late, ask, hall, here, sight, note, move, truth

It seems ʻŌpūkahaʻia used Noah Webster’s Speller in his writings and substituted the numbers assigned to the various sounds and incorporated them into the words of his grammar book (essentially putting the corresponding number into the spelling of the word.)

Some believe this manuscript is the first grammar book on the Hawaiian language. However, when reading the document, many of the words are not recognizable. Here’s a sampling of a few of the words: 3-o-le; k3-n3-k3; l8-n3 and; 8-8-k8.

“Once we know how the vowel letters and numbers were used, ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s short grammar becomes more than just a curiosity; it is a serious work that is probably the first example of the Hawaiian language recorded in a systematic way. Its alphabet is a good deal more consistent than those used by any of the explorers who attempted to record Hawaiian words.” (Schutz)

Using ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s odd-looking words mentioned above, we can decipher what they represent by substituting the code and pronounce the words accordingly (for the “3,” substitute with “a”(that sounds like “hall”) and replace the “8” with “u,” (that sounds like “truth”) – so, 3-o-le transforms to ʻaʻole (no;) k3-n3-k3 transforms to kanaka (man;); l8-n3 transforms to luna (upper) and 8-8-k8 transforms to ʻuʻuku (small.)

“It might be said that the first formal writing system for the Hawaiian language, meaning alphabet, spelling rules and grammar, was created in Connecticut by a Hawaiian named Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia. He began work as early as 1814 and left much unfinished at his death in 1818.” (Rumford)

I encourage you to review the images in the folder; I had the opportunity to review and photograph the several pages of ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s grammar book. (Special thanks to the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives and the Hawaiian Historical Society.)

Back to Russell Hubbard, who first taught ʻŌpūkahaʻia the letters … “in November or December, 1810, in his 27th year, (he was) lost at sea, with his next younger brother, on board the brig Triton, on a voyage from New Haven to the West Indies.” (Dexter, Yale)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaʻau

“Go hence to your father,
‘Tis there you find line and hook.
This is the hook-‘Made fast to the heavens’
‘Manaia-ka-lani’ – ‘tis called.
When the hook catches land
It brings the old seas together.
Bring hither the large Alae,
The bird of Hina.”

(Queen Liliʻuokalani, in a translation of the Kumulipo, Hawaiʻi’s creation chant, speaks of Hina’s advice to her son Maui.)

The demi-god Maui is the subject of extraordinary stories throughout Polynesia. In many of the accounts he is a mischievous trickster, stealing the secret of fire and helping his mother to dry kapa by lassoing the sun to slow its progression across the sky. (Bishop Museum)

“The most audacious terrestrial undertaking of the demigod Maui was his attempt to rearrange the Islands of the group and assemble them into one solid mass.”

“Having chosen his station at Kaʻena Point, the western extremity of Oʻahu, from which the island of Kauai is clearly visible on a bright day, he cast his wonderful hook, Mana-ia-ka-Iani, far out into the ocean that it might engage itself in the foundations of Kauai.”

“When he felt that it had taken a good hold, he gave a mighty tug at the line. A huge boulder, the Pōhaku O Kauai, fell at his feet.”

“The mystic hook, having freed itself from the entanglement, dropped into Pālolo Valley and hollowed out the crater, that is its grave.” (Manaiakalani, therefore, formed Kaʻau Crater.)

“This failure to move the whole mass of the island argues no engineering miscalculation on Māui’s part. It was due to the underhand working of spiritual forces.”

“Had Maui been more polite, more observant of spiritual etiquette, more diplomatic in his dealings with the heavenly powers, his ambitious plans would, no doubt, have met with better success.” (Emerson)

Another story of Kaʻau relates to how Helumoa at Waikiki got its name. It involves Kakuhihewa, Maʻilikukahi’s descendent six generations later, ruling chief of O‘ahu from 1640 to 1660 (Maʻilikukahi is honored as the first great Chief of O‘ahu and legends tell of his wise, firm, judicious government.)

It is said that the supernatural chicken, Kaʻauhelemoa one day flew down from his home in Kaʻau Crater in Pālolo and landed at Helumoa.

Furiously scratching into the earth, the impressive rooster then vanished. Kākuhihewa took this as an omen and planted niu (coconuts) at that very spot.

Helumoa (meaning “chicken scratch”) was the name he bestowed on that niu planting that would multiply into a grove of reportedly 10,000-coconut trees.

This is the same coconut grove that would later be called the King’s Grove, or the Royal Grove, and would be cited in numerous historical accounts for its pleasantness and lush surroundings.

Kamehameha and his warriors camped near there, when they began their conquest of O‘ahu in 1795. Later, he would return and build a Western style stone house for himself, as well as residences for his wives and retainers in an area known as Pua‘ali‘ili‘i.

Kamehameha I resided at Helumoa periodically from 1795 to 1809. He ended Waikīkī’s nearly 400-year reign as O‘ahu’s capital when he moved the royal headquarters to Honolulu (known then as Kou) in 1808 (to Pākākā.)

Here’s a little geological background on Kaʻau Crater …

The Hawaiian Islands were formed as the Pacific Plate moved westward over a geologic hot spot. Oʻahu is dominated by two large shield volcanoes, Waiʻanae and Koʻolau that range in age from two to four-million years old.

The younger volcanic craters formed after Oʻahu had moved well off the hot spot and the main shield volcanoes had gone dormant for at least two-million years.

Somewhat more than half of the craters of southeast Oʻahu are arranged in linear groups, those dominated by the craters Tantalus, Diamond Head and Koko Crater. In the Diamond Head group is the main Diamond Head vent, Kaimuki crater and Mauʻumae crater. Kaʻau is an extension of this line of craters up into the Koʻolau range.

The Koko group crater line extends for a distance of about six miles, through the Koko Crater vent and from Mānana Island to Koko Head. It includes no less than fourteen separate vents and dikes, of which most are distant from a straight line but a few yards. (Bishop Museum)

“The Kaʻau tuff and basalt flows were erupted during a high stand of the sea (probably during plus 95-foot (Kaʻena) stand of sea)” (about 1-million years ago – a ‘youthful’ volcanic outburst.) (USGS)

Rising magma encountered groundwater and generated steam explosions. Kaʻau crater was probably blasted out by the explosions. Its walls are Koʻolau basalt, overlain by tuff and mudflow debris.

Toward the end of the eruption, lava rose in Kaʻau crater, probably forming a lava lake. Slight recession of the lava in the crater at the end of the eruption left a poorly drained hollow forming a swamp that sometimes contains an open pond. (Volcanoes in the Sea)

(Kaʻau Crater is reached from the end of the Pālolo valley. The trail (muddy and wet) is a closed trail and is not open to the public – news reports note people are repeatedly rescued from there and a couple people recently died on the trail (portions of the trail involve ascending the waterfalls along the way.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

250 Years Ago … New York Provincial Company of Artillery is Formed

New York Provincial Company of Artillery was authorized on January 6, 1776; it is the oldest Regular Army unit on uninterrupted active duty and the only active Regular Army unit with credit for Revolutionary War service, and one of the few with credit for War of 1812 service. (Army)

It was commanded by Captain Alexander Hamilton. In 1772, Hamilton arrived in New York City. He began preparing for college at Eizabethtown Academy in New Jersey. He later studied at King’s College (now Columbia University).

At the outbreak of the war, Hamilton joined other students in a volunteer militia regiment called the Corsicans. This regiment was later named the Hearts of Oak.

Hamilton showed great potential as a leader through hard work and study. In 1776, he accepted the rank of captain of the New York Provincial Company of Artillery.

With two six-pound guns, 25 men and a wealth of revolutionary fervor, Hamilton joined Gen. George Washington’s Continental Army.

Hamilton and his company crossed the Delaware River on that freezing Christmas night in 1776, commandeering an iron-ore barge, better known as a Durham Boat, which was nine feet wide and 60 feet – long to accomplish the task and confront the Hessians at Trenton.

Today, 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery traces its lineage to this unit. It is the only active Regular Army unit with credit for Revolutionary War service, and one of the few with credit for War of 1812 service. Soldiers refer to themselves as ‘Hamilton’s Own’.

Following the war, President Washington appointed Hamilton as the first Secretary of the Treasury. He was instrumental in the creation of the US Mint, stock and bond markets, and the First Bank of the United States.

As tensions rose against France, Hamilton returned to the Army in July 1798 as a Major General and served as the Army’s inspector general and second in command to Washington. He also became the de facto head of one of America’s first political parties, the Federalists.

Hamilton’s life came to an end on July 12, 1804, when he was mortally wounded in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr, a political rival.

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Tree-named Hotels

Edward Payson Irwin was born in DeWitt, Iowa, May 7, 1875; he graduated from the University of Kansas in 1897.  After enlisting and serving in the US Army during the Spanish-American War, he came to Hawai‘i in 1906 to be a reporter for the Bulletin. (HSA)

“Irwin was an accomplished newsman who acted as a gadfly over many years against the establishment and its press and against the fiscal ‘extravagance’ of the government. Progressive in politics and social issues.” (Guide to newspapers of Hawaiʻi, 1834-2000, Chapin)

Irwin served as City Editor and later Editor for the Advertiser. He later founded and was editor for the Weekly Times (also called the Honolulu Times). (Hawai‘i Sate Archives) He worked at other publications.

Irwin developed an interest in Waikīkī.  Historically, Waikīkī encompassed fishponds, taro lo‘i, coconut groves and a reef-protected beach that accommodated Hawaiian canoes.

Waikīkī shifted from agricultural to residential uses, with private residences for the Hawaiian royalty and the well-to-do.  Near the turn of the 20th century, some of these homes were converted into small hotels and eventually into world-class resorts.

Robert Lewers (whose firm Lewers & Cooke supplied much of the lumber for O‘ahu homes) built a two-story wooden frame bungalow with an open veranda overlooking a coconut grove in 1883. 

In 1907, Irwin leased the Lewers’ house and converted the structure into a small hotel called the Hau Tree, in honor of the many trees that shaded the beachside lawn. (Halekulani)

Irwin had another tree-named hotel; this time in central O‘ahu.

“Wahiawa is 25 miles from town by rail. It is the original pineapple district founded by a colony of American agriculturists in 1899. It is a small village surrounded by pineapple fields, and being of an elevation of 1000 feet offers to pleasure-seekers and those seeking the cool atmosphere, recreation and rest.” (Aloha Guide, 1915)

It “also (has) several stores, markets, shops, laundry, etc., and two pineapple canneries. Now that the mails come twice a day by rail instead of twice a week by stage from Pearl City, as was the case formerly, a number of Honolulu people have built country houses.”  (Paradise of the Pacific, Oct/Nov 1905)

Mr and Mrs Henry C Brown converted their Wahiawa home into the “Malukukui, their home-hotel among the pineapples at Wahiawa.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, September 29, 1909)

“(I)ll health sent them to seek a quiet country life. They settled in Wahiawa, the largest pineapple country in the world, where they bought several acres of ground and built their home, evolving from it a small country inn in which they are now able to accommodate some fifty guests.”

“Every room has a fine view either over the restful pineapple fields or down the deep ravine on the edge of which the house is built. In the distance can be seen magnificent mountain ranges and glimpses of the Pacific ten miles distant.”  (The Craftsman, 1909)

Then, in 1911, Trent Trust Co placed advertisements offering the Malukukui and its 10-acres of land for sale or lease. This was followed by, “The lease giving EP Irwin the control of the Wahiawa country resort formerly the Malukukui Hotel was signed yesterday by the trustees of the Atherton estate and the new proprietor took possession at once.”

“Numerous expensive additions and repairs about the place have been already planned and will be immediately executed increasing the capacity of the hotel and making it cosier and nearer the standards of the comfort in city hostelries.”

“An automobile will meet the trains at Wahiawa from the hotel and in its off moments act as a link between the Hau tree Irwins Waikiki Hotel and his new Wahiawa enterprise.” (Hawaiian Gazette, March 7, 1911)

“The Kukui Tree, formerly known as Malukukui, at Wahiawa, is now open and ready to receive guests. Extensive Improvement are under way and will soon be completed. No place in Hawaii is as suitable to spend a week end at as the Kukui Tree.”

“Run up today or tomorrow and stay over Sunday and see if this is not true. If you try it once, The Kukui Tree will become a habit with you. The table is excellent, as are the accommodations. Inquiries may be made of EP Irwin, at the Hau Tree, phone 1389.” (Hawaiian Star, March 24, 1911)

“The necessity for a place such as Mr Irwin has reopened exists and he deserves all the patronage his enterprise should bring him. As managers of the Hau Tree at Waikiki, Mr and Mrs Irwin have demonstrated the fact that they know how. (Hawaiian Gazette, March 24, 1911)

However, “The Kukui Tree would pay big in the hands of anyone who could get a liquor license, or who would run a blind pig. … EP Irwin has decided to close the Kukui Tree, at Wahiawa. …”

“The place has not been paying. Mr. Irwin will devote all his attention now to his Waikiki place, the well known Hau Tree.”  (Hawaiian Star, July 17, 1911) 

However, Irwin’s Waikīkī enterprise also faltered, his lease expired, and the landowners ran an ad for new tenants. (Halekulani)

 “Despite its location and modest rent, the business they took over was little better than a boarding house. There were three guests the day they moved into their 40-guest capacity hotel.” (From “Hali‘a Aloha o Halekulani”; Halekulani)

Nearby, the J Atherton Gilman family bought 3-acres and built a two-story house from a man named Hall.  La Vancha Maria Chapin Gray rented the Gilman house in 1912 and converted it into a boarding house and named it Gray’s-by-the-Beach.  The sandy area fronting it was soon referred to as Gray’s Beach.

In 1917, Clifford and Juliet Kimball acquired the Hau Tree Inn near Gray’s Beach and, in the late 1920s, they decided to expand and bought the Gilman property, including Gray’s-by-the-Sea and an adjacent parcel belonging to Arthur Brown.

When their expansion project was completed, the Kimballs had acquired over five acres of prime Waikīkī beachfront for their resort, which they named Halekūlani, or “house befitting heaven.” 

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