Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Martin Luther King at the Hawai‘i Legislature

On Thursday, September 17, 1959, in the Hawaii House of Representatives, 1959 First Special Session, Dr. Martin Luther King addressed the members of the House as Follows:

“Mr. Speaker, distinguished members of the House of Representatives of this great new state in our Union, ladies and gentlemen:

It is certainly a delightful privilege and pleasure for me to have this great opportunity and, I shall say, it is a great honor to come before you today and to have the privilege of saying just a few words to you about some of the pressing problems confronting our nation and our world.

I come to you with a great deal of appreciation and great feeling of appreciation, I should say, for what has been accomplished in this beautiful setting and in this beautiful state of our Union.

As I think of the struggle that we are engaged in in the South land, we look to you for inspiration and as a noble example, where you have already accomplished in the area of racial harmony and racial justice, what we are struggling to accomplish in other sections of the country …

… and you can never know what it means to those of us caught for the moment in the tragic and often dark midnight of man’s inhumanity to man, to come to a place where we see the glowing daybreak of freedom and dignity and racial justice.

People ask me from time to time as I travel across the country and over the world whether there has been any real progress in the area of race relations, and I always answer it by saying that there are three basic attitudes that one can take toward the question of progress in the area of race relations.

One can take the attitude of extreme optimism. The extreme optimist would contend that we have come a long, long way in the area of race relations, and he would point proudly to the strides that have been made in the area of civil rights in the last few decades.

And, from this, he would conclude that the problem is just about solved now and that we can sit down comfortably by the wayside and wait on the coming of the inevitable.

And then there is the extreme, the attitude of extreme pessimism, that we often find. The extreme pessimist would contend that we have made only minor strides in the area of human relations.

He would contend that we have created many more problems than we have solved. He would look around and see the tensions in certain sections of the country; he would listen to the rhythmic beat of the deep rumblings of discontent; he would point to the presence of Federal troops in Little Rock, Arkansas …

… he would point to schools being closed in some states of the Union and from all of this, he would conclude that we have retrogressed instead of progressed.  And then he would go on later and contend that a monster human nature cannot be changed.

Sometimes he will turn to the realm of theology and talk about the tragic taint of original sin hovering over every individual, or he might turn to psychology and talk about the inflexibility of certain habit structures once they have been molded and from all of this …

… he would conclude that there can be no progress in the area of human relations because human beings cannot be changed once they have started on a certain road.

Now, it is interesting to notice that the extreme optimist and the extreme pessimist have at least one thing in common. They both agree that we must sit down and do nothing in the area of race relations. The extreme optimist says do nothing because integration is inevitable.

The extreme pessimist says do nothing because integration is impossible.

But I think there is a third position, a third attitude that can be taken, namely the realistic position. The realistic attitude seeks to reconcile the truths of two opposites while avoiding the extremes of both.

So the realist in the area of race relations would agree with the optimist that we have come a long, long way, but he would balance that by agreeing with the pessimist that we have a long, long way to go.

And so this is my answer to the questions of whether there has been any progress in the area of race relations. I seek to be realistic and say we have a long, long way to go.

Now, it is easy for us to see that we have come a long, long way.

Twenty-five years ago, fifty years ago, a year hardly passed that numerous Negroes were not brutally lynched in our nation by vicious mobs. Lynchings have about ceased today.

We think about the fact that just twenty-five years ago, most of the Southern states had a system known as a poll tax to prevent Negroes from becoming registered voters. The poll tax has been eliminated in all but four states.

We think about the fact that the Negro is voting now more than he has ever voted before. At the turn of the century, there were very few Negro registered voters in the South. By 1948 that number had reached to 750,000, and, today, it stands at about 1,300,000.

And even in the area of economic justice, we have seen a good deal of progress. The average Negro wage earner in the South today and over the nation makes four times more than the average Negro wage earner of ten years ago and the national income of the Negro is now $17 billion a year.

That is more than all of the exports of the United States and more than the national income of Canada. So, we’ve come a long, long way.

Then we’ve come a long, long way in seeing the walls of segregation gradually crumble.

When the Supreme Court rendered its decision in 1954, seventeen states and the District of Columbia practiced segregation in the public schools …

…but, today, most of these states have complied with the decision and just five states are left that have not made any move in the area of compliance and two of these states are now under orders to integrate – Atlanta, Georgia and New Orleans, Louisiana.

So after next September, that will only leave Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina as the states that have not complied with the Supreme Court’s decision.

So, you can see that we have come a long, long way. But before stopping –it would be wonderful if I could stop here – but I must move on for two or three more minutes and say that there is another sign.

You see, it would be a fact for me to say we have come a long, long way, but it wouldn’t be telling the truth. A fact is the absence of contradiction, but truth is the presence of coherence.

Truth is the relatedness of facts.

Now, it is a fact that we have come a long, long way, but in order to tell the truth, it is necessary to move on and say we have a long, long way to go. If we stop here, we would be the victims of a dangerous optimism. We would be victims of an illusion wrapped in superficiality. So, in order to tell the truth, it’s necessary to move on and say we have a long, long way to go.

Now, it is not difficult to see that. We know that the forces of resistance are rising at times to ominous proportions in the South. The legislative halls of many of our states ring loud with such words as ‘interposition’ and ‘nullification.’

While lynchings have ceased to a great extent, other things are happening. Churches are being bombed, homes are being bombed, schools are being bombed, synagogues are being bombed by forces that are determined to stand against the law of the land.

And although the Negro is voting more than ever before, we know that there are still conniving forces being used to keep the Negro from being a registered voter. Out of the potential 5,000,000 Negro registered voters in the South, we only have 1,300,000.

This means that we have a long, long way to go in order to make justice a reality there in the registration of voting. And although we have come a long, long way in the economic realm, we have a long, long way to there in order to make economic justice a reality.

And then segregation is still with us.

Although we have seen the walls gradually crumble, it is still with us. I imply that figuratively speaking, that Old Man Segregation is on his death bed, but you know history has proven that social systems have a great last-minute breathing power, and the guardians of the status quo are always on hand with their oxygen tents to keep the old order alive, and this is exactly what we see today.

So segregation is still with us.

We are confronted in the South in its glaring and conspicuous forms, and we are confronted in almost every other section of the nation in its hidden and subtle forms.

But if democracy is to live, segregation must die.

Segregation is a cancer in the body politic which must be removed before our democratic health can be realized. In a real sense, the shape of the world today does not permit us the luxury of an anemic democracy. If we are to survive, if we are to stand as a force in the world, if we are to maintain our prestige, we must solve this problem because people are looking over to America.

Just two years ago I traveled all over Africa and talked with leaders from that great continent. One of the things they said to me was this: No amount of extensive handouts and beautiful words would be substitutes for treating our brothers in the United States as first-class citizens and human beings. This came to me from mouth of Prime Minister Nkrumah of Ghana.

Just four months ago, I traveled throughout India and the Middle East and talked with many of the people and leaders of that great country and other people in the Middle East, and these are the things they talked about: That we must solve this problem if we are to stand and to maintain our prestige.

And I can remember very vividly meeting people all over Europe and in the Middle East and in the Far East, and even though many of them could not speak English, they knew how to say ‘Little Rock.’

And these are the things that we must be concerned about – we must be concerned about because we love America and we are out to free not only the Negro.

This is not our struggle today to free 17,000,000 Negroes. It’s bigger than that.

We are seeking to free the soul of America.

Segregation debilitates the white man as well as the Negro. We are to free all men, all races and all groups. This is our responsibility and this is our challenge, and we look to this great new state in our Union as the example and as the inspiration.

As we move on in this realm, let us move on with the faith that this problem can be solved, and that it will be solved, believing firmly that all reality hinges on moral foundations, and we are struggling for what is right, and we are destined to win.

We have come a long, long way. We have a long, long way to go. I close, if you will permit me, by quoting the words of an old Negro slave preacher.

He didn’t quite have his grammar right, but he uttered some words in the form of a prayer with great symbolic profundity and these are the works he said: ‘Lord, we ain’t what we want to be; we ain’t what we ought to be; we ain’t what we gonna be, but thank God, we ain’t what we was.’ Thank you.”

At the conclusion of his address, there was much applause.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Gilberts and Marshalls

“During more than a century and a half (1606-1762), the South Pacific was almost empty of ships. Europeans preferred to trade with the Far East by way of the Cape of Good Hope. … Interest in the broad reaches of the Pacific revived after 1762.”

“Twenty years elapsed, in which important discoveries were made in the South Pacific by three French navigators, Bougainville, La Perouse and D’Entrecasteaux, and by the great Captain James Cook. …” (Morison, Life, May 22, 1955)

“Europeans’ knowledge of the central Pacific developed most rapidly after the establishment of a penal colony at Botany Bay [Australia], and the adoption of the ‘outer passage’ for the return voyage to Europe via Canton.”  (Macdonald)

“Then came two obscure English seamen, not otherwise known to fame, who have left their names, probably for all time, on the Gilberts and Marshalls.”

“William Marshall was master of the Scarborough, and Thomas Gilbert of the Charlotte. Both sailed from England as part of the convoy under Captain Arthur Phillip, RN, first governor of New South Wales, which brought the first convict settlement to Australia.”

“Their vessels, the Charlotte and Scarborough, were English merchant ships chartered by the Honourable the East India Company to take 334 convicts with a Royal Marine guard, and the marines wives, to Botany Bay, Australia, and thence to Canton in order to load tea for England.  The convoy arrived at Botany Bay Jan. 18, 1788.” (Morison, Life, May 22, 1955)

“With their prisoners discharged and their holds empty, the ships of the First Fleet disbanded and struck north for Canton to pick up cargoes of oriental goods for the return voyage to England a practice that came  to be followed by most British convict vessels in succeeding years.” (Hezel)

Two of the more enterprising captains, Gilbert and Marshall, after discharging their unwilling passengers at Botany Bay, viewing the foundation of Sydney, and taking in wood, water, jerked kangaroo meat and such other provisions as aboriginal Australia afforded, sailed for Canton on May 6, 1788. (Hezel and Morison)

They “brought their ships well around to the east on a course that took them through the archipelagoes that now bear their names.”  (Hezel)

Gilbert was the first European to name and describe what is now Kiribati, arriving on June 20, 1788: “The southernmost island of the chain, I left first for Captain Marshall to name, which he thought proper to name Gilbert’s Island …”

“… the middle, I named Marshall’s Island; and the northernmost, Knox’s Island; – to the large island with the cluster, I gave the name of Mathews’s Island, in honour of the owner of the Charlotte; – the bay, I called Charlotte’s Bay …”

“… the south point, which terminates the beautiful cluster of islands, I have named Charlotte’s Point; and the north point of the island, which forms the bay, Point William.” (Gilbert, Voyage from New South Wales to Canton)

Mathews’s Island, now known as Tarawa, is part of sixteen coral atolls in the part of the Pacific known as Micronesia (the region of “small islands”). Lying across the equator, they form the middle of a long chain which includes the Marshall Islands to the northwest and the Ellice Islands to the southeast.

They are typical atolls (An atoll is a ring-shaped coral reef, island, or series of islets. The atoll surrounds a body of water called a lagoon. (National Geographic)), with few notable features: “the low horizon, the expanse of the lagoon, the sedge-like rim of palm-tops, the sameness and smallness of the land, the hugely superior size and interest of sea and sky.”

“The atoll, like the ship, is soon taken for granted; and the islanders, like the ship’s crew, become soon the centre of attention.  The isles are populous, independent, seats of kinglets, recently civilised, little visited.”

“In the last decade many changes have crept in; women no longer go unclothed till marriage; the widow no longer sleeps at night and goes abroad by day with the skull of her dead husband; and, fire-arms being introduced, the spear and the shark-tooth sword are sold for curiosities.” (Robert Lousi Stevenson)

After making a number of discoveries in the Gilbert Islands, Gilbert and Marshall crossed the equator at 175 degrees east and cruised up along the eastern chain of the Marshalls. (Hezel)

The Marshall Islands, north of the equator and west of the International Date Line, include 29 coral atolls and over 1200 islands and islets, situated in two island chains extending over 800 miles in length. (Kwajalein Atoll is the largest atoll in the Marshall Islands, and the world.)

While their total land area is about 70 square miles, barely larger than Washington, DC, the Marshall Islands have the largest portion of territory made of water of any sovereign state, at over 97%. (NPS)

When Gilbert and Marshall headed to Canton, their route “was probably the first time that anyone had attempted to sail from Australia to China. It may seem strange that the two captains should make such a wide sweep to the eastward as to encounter the Marshalls”. (Morison)

“But the passage through the Torres Strait was one that baffled even Cook; the Moluccas were full of pirates; China Strait between New Guinea and the Louisiades was not discovered until 1873 by Captain Moresby.”

The “captains probably figured on making a good easting in the westerly winds of south latitudes, in order to enjoy a fair slant in the northeast trades to Canton.” (Morison, Life, May 22, 1955)

They made Macao; “The city of Macao, which is situated on an island, at the entrance of the river of Canton, belongs to the Portuguese. It was formerly richer, and more populous than it is at present, and totally independent of the Chinese; but it has lost much of its ancient consequence …”

“… for though inhabited chiefly by the Portuguese, under a governor appointed by the King of Portugal, it is entirely in the power of the Chinese, who can starve or dispossess the inhabitants whenever they please. …”  (Gilbert)

“No occurrences worthy of insertion happening during my stay in China, I shall only add, by way of conclusion, that I was dispatched with the same regularity and expedition as the established Indiamen usually are …”

“…  and proceeded to England with a valuable cargo of teas and china-ware. And here I must not omit to mention, with grateful remembrance, the repeated civilities and attention I received from the supercargoes of the East- India Company, resident there.” (Gilbert)

“When Otto von Kotzebue sailed from Russia in 1813 on the brig Rurick with instructions to search for the Northeast Passage that hypothetical waterway from the Bering Sea into the Atlantic he was ordered to spend the winter months exploring the little-known Marshall Islands.”

“For almost three months in early 1817 he did just this, visiting many of the islands in the Ratak or eastern chain. He returned late in the same year for a shorter visit to the islands before sailing westward on his homeward voyage to Kronstadt.”

“Eight years later, Kotzebue was back in the Pacific on a second voyage of exploration with a higher rank and a larger ship, the Predpriatie. [H]e found time to spend a few weeks in the Marshalls on two separate occasions in 1824 and 1825, renewing old acquaintances and observing the progress of the people there.”

“Culturally speaking, the Marshall Islands were still virgin territory when Kotzebue first visited them in 1817. The people recalled a couple of old stories of ships passing the islands and showed the Russian commander a few scraps of iron that they had presumably salvaged from driftwood washing ashore, but otherwise they were altogether untouched by Western influence.”

“Kotzebue very swiftly learned that he could quickly dispel the initial fear of the islanders with small presents of iron, and he was soon on friendly terms with the people wherever he went.” (Hezel)

“In the 1820s Adam von Krusenstern, the Russian explorer and cartographer, brought together all known information on the Pacific in an atlas and a series of commentaries that were the best of their day.  It was he who named the archipelago stretching  from Makin to Arorae in the Gilbert Islands in recognition of the 1788 sightings by Gilbert and Marshall.” (Macdonald)

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

It Wasn’t ‘Bloodless’

Many references to the overthrow of Hawai‘i’s constitutional monarch on January 17, 1893 say it was ‘bloodless,’ suggesting no one was injured.

However, that is not the case; “A policeman named Leialoha was shot in the breast by John Good about 2:30 o’clock this afternoon on Fort street.” (Daily Bulletin, January 17, 1893)

Let’s look back …

At 2 pm, January 17, 1893, the members of the Executive and Advisory Councils of the Committee of Safety proceeded on foot to the Government building, most of them up Merchant Street and the rest up Queen Street.

That morning, John Good had been appointed ordnance officer, and with three assistants had been collecting arms and ammunitions from various stores. (Kuykendall)

“Good and four or five others were driving around the corner by H McIntyre & Bro’s store when the horse stumbled.”

“Two native policemen were standing at the corner and seeing a number of boxes on the wagon thought they were ammunition and caught the horse by the head.” (Eye witness account; Daily Bulletin, January 17, 1893)

It is not clear why the police chose this moment to interfere with a wagon loaded with ammunition that was leaving EO Hall & Son’s store on King Street for the armory. (Kuykendall)

As the driver kept on, a policeman blew his whistle, and four or five more policemen came running up. A Fort street car had just crossed King Street, and together with a passing dray, blocked the way for a few moments. As the wagon turned to go up Fort Street, a struggle ensued. (Alexander)

“Good leveled a pistol at the officer when the latter dodged. The other officer made a jump for the horse again, when Good shot him in the breast, lacerating it badly.” (Eye witness account; Daily Bulletin, January 17, 1893)

The wagon was then driven at full speed up Fort Street, pursued by two policemen on horseback, who were kept at a distance by rifles leveled at them from the wagon.

Good and his men continued on up Fort Street to School Street, and then down Punchbowl Street to the Armory. (Alexander)

“An officer was despatched for Good, but returned without him. He stated that Good had hid himself in the Skating Rink, along with others.” (Eye witness account; Daily Bulletin, January 17, 1893)

Leialoha was assisted by another officer and Mr PM Rooney to the Station house, where he was attended to by Dr. Peterson. (Alexander)

At the sound of the shot, all the police ran toward Fort and King, thus enabling the Committee of Safety to proceed almost unobserved to the government building. (Kuykendall)

All were unarmed. Only one of the volunteer riflemen had arrived, and none of the Queen’s forces were in sight. The house was nearly ‘empty, swept and garnished.’

Leialoha was afterwards taken to the hospital, and in time entirely recovered from his wound. (Alexander) He was “presented with a purse of $200 made by citizens. President Dole forwarded the money yesterday.” (Daily Bulletin, January 19, 1893)

“On January 18th Mr J Emmeluth handed me a letter and $200 with the request to place same in the Hospital safe and give it to Leialoha when Dr Wood should consider him out of danger.”

“About a week later, the man being out of danger, I told Leialoha that I had the money and letter, and would give him both any time he wished me to do so.”

“He asked me to keep them for him until he should leave the Hospital; he was discharged on March 11th, and I paid him two hundred dollars in United States gold coin and handed him the letter at the same time.” (John F Eckardt, Purveyor Queen’s Hospital; Hawaiian Star, August 5, 1893)

It appears Good may not have been prosecuted for shooting the police office. He was, however, Court Martialed a few years later for “conduct(ing) himself in a manner unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, speaking to his men in a highly disrespectful manner of his commanding officers”. (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, July 22, 1896 & May 6, 1898)

Queen Lili‘uokalani suggested John Smith Walker also was a victim of the revolution, noting, “friends (who) expressed their sympathy in person; amongst these Mrs JS Walker, who had lost her husband by the treatment he received from the hands of the revolutionists. He was one of many who from persecution had succumbed to death.” (Lili‘uokalani)

However, Walker’s obituary suggests a long illness noting, “Hon John S Walker died at 8 o’clock this morning after a long and painful illness, at the age of about 73 years. … The departed gentleman was universally respected for his qualities of head and heart and will he generally lamented.”

“Mr Walker was a member of the House of Nobles under the old Constitution … Mr Walker was elected for the six-year term in 1890. He was President of the Legislature for the sessions of 1886, 1890 and 1892, in which position he evinced … the strictest impartiality.” (Daily Bulletin, May 29, 1893) The image is the gun and bullet used by Good.

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Universal Remedy

“For ka poʻe kahiko (the people of old) the sea was the remedy upon which all relied, from Hawaiʻi to Kauai.”

“When people took sick with stomach upsets (ʻinoʻino ma ka ʻopu), griping stomach aches (nahu), fever (wela), grayish pallor (hailepo), squeamishness (nanue na ʻopu), nausea (polouea), or dizziness (niua,) …”

“… the usual ailments caused by a change of regular diet from sweet potatoes to taro – or from taro to sweet potatoes – a drink of sea water was the universal remedy employed.”

“Those who live on lands that grow sweet potatoes have foul stools (ua ʻeka ko lakou lepo) when they change to taro lands, and are subject to worms (ua ulu ka ilo maloko.)”

“It is the same with those from lands where taro is grown when they go to lands where sweet potatoes are grown. Their custom therefore was to drink sea water.”

“In the early morning they lighted an imu for sweet potatoes and put them in to bake with a chicken and a dried fish.”

“Then they fetched a large container full of sea water, a container of fresh water to wash away the salty taste, and a bunch of sugar cane.”

“They would drink two to four cupfuls of sea water, then a cupful of fresh water, and then chew the sugar cane.”

“The sea water loosened the bowels, and it kept on working until the yellowish and greenish discharges came forth (puka pu no ka lena a me ke pakaiea.)”

“Then the imu was opened, and the sweet potatoes and other foods eaten (without resulting discomfort.) The stomach felt fine, and the body of the elderly or the aged was made comfortable.”

“Another good use for sea water was to secure forgiveness (huikala.) When someone in the family broke an oath sworn against another (hoʻohiki ʻino) – a man against his wife, a mother against her children, relatives against relatives, “cousins” against “cousins” (hoahanau), and so on …”

“… then the pikai, or sprinkling with salt water, was the remedy to remove (the repercussions from the breaking of the oath.)”

“This is how it was done. A basin or bowl of real sea water, or of water to which salt had been added, in which were laced ʻawa rootlets (huluhulu ʻawa) and olena, was the water to absolve and cleanse (kalahala e huikala) the family for the defilement (haumia) caused by the one who had broken his oath.”

“Any defilement pertaining to the house, to fishing, tapa printing, tapa beating, farming, or wauke cultivation, from which trouble had resulted, could be cleansed with pikai; it purified and caused an end to defilement. Implements of labor could also be cleansed of their defilement by pikai.”

“Another way to purify the family was this. In the evening, after dark, a ‘canoe procession’ was formed (waʻa huakaʻi, in which the participants lined up in single file, as in a canoe.)”

“The person at the head of the procession had a pig, another had tapa garments and ninikea tapas, and another held in his hands bunches of kohekohe grass.”

“The last person in the line offered the prayers for forgiveness and carried the basin for the ritual procession to cleanse the defilement (ka poʻi kaʻi huikala.)”

“The ritual procession (kaʻi) had to be perfect, with the voices responding in unison in the prayers for forgiveness and purification, and their steps exactly alike as they went in the procession and entered the mua, the ‘family chapel.’”

“They lighted the imu for the pig and continued their praying until the pig was cooked and eaten.”

“The rewards (uku) they received were health, blessings, material prosperity, and other benefits of this kind to them all…” (Kamakau)

Seawater is 96.5% water by weight. The remaining 3.5% is composed of salts; there are small amounts of organic material and microorganisms.

It could be classified as a medicinal mineral water due to its content of mineral ions such as Na+, Cl-, Mg++, Ca++, and K+, which are present as salts and attached to organic molecules.

With current technology a total of 95 elements have been found in seawater, including trace elements such as I, Fe, Cu, and Zn. About a third of these elements have also been detected in the human body; regardless of the amount, most of them are essential elements. (Valencia) (The image is Surfer Magazine’s photo of the year, 2011.)

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by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Aiʻenui

“The foreigners came to these resorts to find women”. (Kamakau)

“It had been the custom, from time immemorial, on the death of any great chief, especially of the king, for the people to give themselves up to universal licentiousness; – to the indiscriminate prostitution of females; – to theft and robbery; – to revenge and murder.”

“The first stand against these heathenish practices, was made by Keōpūolani, the first native convert, herself a chief woman of the highest distinction, who, in expectation of her own death, strictly charged her children and attendants to have her funeral conducted upon Christian principles.” (ABCFM Annual Report)

In the early nineteenth century, makaʻāinana women flocked to the European ships and port towns in large numbers to partake in the lucrative trade in sexual services. This was one of the few ways that makaʻāinana could acquire foreign goods since the aliʻi controlled other forms of trade. (Merry)

Many Hawaiian women boarded the ships coming to port here. They did not think that such associations were wrong … The husbands and parents, not knowing that it would bring trouble, permitted such association for foreign men because of the desire for clothing, mirrors, scissors, knives, iron hoops from which to form fishhooks and nails. (ʻIʻi; Merry)

The first attempt to change the sexual behavior of Hawaiian women was an attack on prostitution with European seamen. This endeavor earned the missionaries the undying hostility of the small but growing mercantile community and the visiting shipping community while failing to eliminate the sex trade. (Merry)

“One of the few chiefs who opposed the missionaries and their preaching, Boki fought against Kaʻahumanu’s new laws that prohibited the practice of the old religion”. (Kanahele)

In December, 1827, drafted by Kaʻahumanu and scrutinized for Christian propriety by Hiram Bingham, the crimes proscribed were murder, theft, adultery, prostitution, gambling, and the sale of alcoholic spirits. Boki opposed actively the passage of any such laws.

“Boki’s obstructionism may be traced to the fact that he had something of a vested interest in all but the first two of the offensive activities.” (Daws)

“The latter prohibition especially aggrieved (Boki) because drinking was one of his pleasures and he himself owned and operated several grog shops in Honolulu.” (Kanahele)

“(H)e speculated in local and foreign trade, sugar-making, tavern-keeping, and commercialised prostitution. None of these businesses except the last was profitable.” (Daws)

“By 1828, he had become openly allied to the two chief elements of antagonism to the regent and the missionaries.”

“The leading one of these elements was the combination of lewd and intemperate whites, headed by the British and American consuls, in order to break down the new laws against prostitution and drunkenness.” (Missionary Herald, 1905)

“Boki … became the friend of … foreigners and they would ply him with liquor and when he was intoxicated give him goods on credit.”

“Thus he would buy whole bolts of cloth and boxes of dry goods and present them to the chiefs and favorites among his followers, and these flattered him and called him a generous chief.”

“In this way he became even more heavily indebted to the foreigners for goods than the King (himself, through his) purchases.” (Kamakau)

For a time, Kamehameha I lived at Pulaholaho (later called Charlton Square,) later high chief Boki, built a store through which to sell/trade sandalwood near Pakaka, where Liholiho also built a larger wooden building. (Maly)

“Boki also established several stores in Honolulu where cloth was sold, ‘Deep-in-debt’ (Aiʻenui) they were called because of his heavy debts.”

“At Pakaka was a large wooden building belonging to Liholiho. Boki’s was a smaller building which had been moved and was called ‘Little-scrotum’ (Pulaholaho.)”

“The foreigners, finding Boki friendly and obliging, proposed a more profitable way of making money, and both Boki and Manuia erected buildings for the sale of liquor, Boki’s called Polelewa and Manuia’s Hau‘eka.” Boki’s place was also called the Blonde Hotel.

“Since Liholiho’s sailing to England, lawlessness had been prohibited, but with these saloons and others opened by the foreigners doing business, the old vices appeared and in a form worse than ever.”

“Polelewa became a place where noisy swine gathered. Drunkenness and licentious indulgence became common at night …. The foreigners came to these resorts to find women”.

“In 1826 the cultivation of sugar was begun in Manoa valley by an Englishman. Boki and Kekuanao‘a were interested in this project and it was perhaps the first cane cultivated to any extent in Hawaii. “

“When the foreigner gave it up Boki bought the field and placed Kinopu in charge. A mill was set up in Honolulu in a lot near where Sumner (Keolaloa) was living.” (Kamakau)

Boki incurred large debts and, in 1829, attempted to cover them by assembling a group of followers and set out for a newly discovered island with sandalwood in the New Hebrides. Boki fitted out two ships, the Kamehameha and the Becket, put on board some five hundred of his followers, and sailed south.

Just prior to Boki’s sailing in search of sandalwood, the lands of Kapunahou and Kukuluaeʻo were transferred to Hiram Bingham for the purpose of establishing a school, later to be known as Oʻahu College (now, Punahou School.)

These lands had first been given to Kameʻeiamoku, a faithful chief serving under Kamehameha, following Kamehameha’s conquest of Oʻahu in 1795. At Kameʻeiamoku’s death in 1802, the land transferred to his son Hoapili, who resided there from 1804 to 1811. Hoapili passed the property to his daughter Kuini Liliha (Boki’s wife.)

Sworn testimony before the Land Commission in 1849, and that body’s ultimate decision, noted that the “land was given by Governor Boki about the year 1829 to Hiram Bingham for the use of the Sandwich Islands Mission.”

The decision was made over the objection from Liliha; however Hoapili confirmed the gift. It was considered to be a gift from Kaʻahumanu, Kuhina Nui or Queen Regent at that time.

Boki and two hundred and fifty of his men apparently died at sea.

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