Hawaii | Page 365 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

March 29, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Wai‘oli Mission

In 1834, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) sent Reverend William P Alexander to scout the north coast of Kauai for a suitable location for a second station (the first started in 1820 at Waimea.)

A pole and thatch meetinghouse was constructed by Hawaiians on the Mission Hall site, in anticipation of the arrival of the missionaries.

Alexander chose the Hanalei area because of its harbor, fertile soil, and needs of the people. The site was called Waioli, ‘Singing Waters.’

Deborah Kapule, the dowager Queen of Kauai and earnest convert, assisted in establishing the Mission. Governor Kaikioewa of Kauai provided the land, and encouraged the Mission in many ways.

The first thatch church was destroyed by fire in 1834, just prior to the arrival of the Alexanders. He immediately built another similar structure.

Alexander and his wife and son began work immediately, preaching to hundreds of islanders in a huge thatched meeting house while living in a small grass hut. They began their secular teaching also, and could soon report that 1,232 of their students could read and 257 could write.

The Alexanders carried on alone with their work until 1837 when the Board of Commissioners sent a teaching couple, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Johnson, to the mission. In the meantime, the Alexanders built a frame house for their growing family.

The Johnson’s took over the bulk of the teaching duties and began to place more of an emphasis on educating the children rather than the adults. (Alexander had earlier noted a drop in enthusiasm for schooling among the older parishioners.)

To help make ends meet, the mission planted crops in land donated by the Governor of Kauai. The students helped cultivate the crops, and by so doing, learned agricultural techniques. Cotton was tried without much success. Sugar cane proved much more suitable.

In 1838, a frame house was built for the Johnsons, as their grass hut had fallen victim to the elements. Plans were also made for the construction of a frame church/meeting house. Materials were collected, and the sugar crop was earmarked to help pay construction costs. (NPS)

In 1841, Rev. Alexander dedicated the present old Waioli Hui‘ia Church. Shortly after the church was dedicated, a belfry was constructed behind the main structure. Its architecture is similar, and it stands twenty-four feet in height.

The old Church is an imposing structure, with a main interior space of 35 by 70 feet. An open lanai (porch) surrounds the building on three sides, with wood posts supporting the eaves of the tall, high-pitched roof.

The pitch is broken over the plate line with a lesser slope above the lanai. This type of roof is a modified copy of the type of roof used in early Hawaiian structures. The original roof was thatch, later replaced by shingles then galvanized iron, then back to shingles, which now cover it.

In 1843, the Alexanders were transferred to the Lahaina station due to illness, and Rev. and Mrs. George Rowell took their place. In the meantime, Mr. Johnson, concerned about the slowness of the Lahainaluna High School in turning out native teachers, began classes of his own to train them.

Additional land was cultivated to meet expenses. Shortly after this, the Hawaiian government began to take more control of education, and Wai‘oli Mission School became a ‘select school.’

One feature of this was that the most promising students were taught English. Wai‘oli sent several students to the Lahainaluna High School for advanced education, and many trained by Mr. Johnson took over teaching duties in the common schools on Kauai.

In 1846, Rowell and his wife were transferred to Waimea and Johnson was licensed to become the minister at Wai‘oli. Mr and Mrs Abner Wilcox and their four boys were sent from O‘ahu to take over the teaching duties.

Wilcox was to “raise up teachers for the common schools of the island and to prepare those who may go from our Island to the High School”.

While carrying out his teaching duties, he also managed the growing agricultural enterprises of the mission, which by now included taro, yams, potatoes, beans, corn, and bananas. The produce was sold to passing vessels to help the mission meet expenses.

By mid-century, most of the people in the Islands had received some sort of Christian instruction, and they were further advanced in the eyes of the missionaries than any other Pacific islanders.

Because of this, the ABCFM began to withdraw support of the Hawaiian Missions. In 1863, they transferred the Sandwich Islands Mission to the Hawaiian Evangelical Association. (NPS)

As the center of mission activities on the Hanalei side of Kauai, Wai‘oli Church and Mission House played an important role in the history of that part of the island.

Presently, the old Waioli Church is the oldest (1841) church on the Island of Kauai and the whole mission complex is retained in excellent, livable condition despite its age and the deteriorating effects of the weather on Kauai. It was later used as a social hall.

In 1912, a new Wai‘oli Church building was given by three sons of Abner Wilcox; Sam, George and Albert. This shingled church, built in the American Gothic architectural style, has a belfry tower which houses the old Mission Bell.

This bell was rung throughout the years, calling people to worship. In 1921 the Wilcox descendants restored the Mission House and the Mission Hall.

The Wai‘oli Church grew under the guidance of the Hawaiian ministers. By 1945, the Wanini Church and the Ha‘ena Church had joined the Wai‘oli Church to form the Wai`oli Hui‘ia Church. (Hanalei Church)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Waioli-Huiia-Church-7-themes

Old Waioli Church

Waioli-Huiia-Church

Waioli-Huiia-Church-in-Hanalei-Kauai

waioli-huiia-church-lansing

Waioli-Huiia-Church-interior-WC

March 28, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Alfred Preis

“I do believe deeply that the arts (reside) in the truly human area, where each individual is going to do something he or she does because he or she wants to do something well and does it better and better and better until he or she is gratified; that this is the essence of a successful life. Because you can do that as a cook, you can do that by making beds.” (Alfred Preis)

“I hoped to be interned! I wanted America to win the war, and if I hadn’t been picked up, I would have lost confidence in the authorities.” (Pries; Clarke)

Whoa … let’s look back …

Alfred Preis was one of 112 Germans and Italians – both aliens and naturalized citizens – who were interned in Hawai‘i on December 8, three days before the US went to war. (Clarke)

Preis “was born February 2, 1911, in Vienna, Austria. That was before the outbreak of the First World War. I lived at that time in a working-class district. My grandfather, whom I never knew, was a furniture maker and had his workshop there.”

“And my father was in the army and sent his wife to live somewhere near the grandmother, so that she would be sheltered and protected and have help. I lived in that area for three years and got ill, because the living conditions in Vienna at that time were dreadful. The apartments were not worth anything.”

“My grandmother lived in a suite composed of a large kitchen and one room, and to get into the room you had to walk through the kitchen. The only illumination at that time was kerosene lamps, which absorbed all the oxygen in the room.” (Preis; SFCA)

“But the situation in Vienna at that time-already before the outbreak of the war – was so that tuberculosis was all-prevalent. And when I was four years old, I got a touch of [tuberculosis] on my lungs.”

“The war broke out in 1914. [The sanatorium] was administered by the wives and daughters of Austrian aristocrats. It was a little chalet – a hunting chalet – up on the foothills of the Alps. I was dropped there by my mother, and she was advised, evidently, to leave me (without saying goodbye).”

“I (was released) after about half a year, not only hale but a different person. They planted seeds in me of curiosity-of (love for) literature (and good German). But the sheer interest these women had in us left an imprint on me which I still cherish. It was very important (for my future education).”

“I (grew up) in Catholicism. My father, however, was Jewish. Under the Nazi’s law I would have been considered half Jewish or Jewish, which (in effect) is the same thing. I was in danger.”

“My future wife also was in danger, although she was Catholic. She came as a refugee from the Russian Revolution and had to leave, as a child at that time, without a passport. So she had no citizenship, and she was vulnerable therefore.”

“The Nazis announced that they will put into concentration camp gypsies and loafers. And we were afraid that something would happen to her. We knew the Nazis would come. We still never talked about marriage or of intentions like that. After graduating from high school in 1929, he traveled throughout Europe and later returned to Vienna to study architecture.” (Preis; SFCA)

“We got our papers. But then we had to have a valid passport, which we had originally. But every time the Nazis reorganized the status of Austria, it meant that it had to be a different passport. So I think we had about five passports. The fina passport was a Nazi passport.”

“(W)e found out that the Queen Mary – an English ship, (and the fastest liner at the time) – that they (sold with the tickets) board money. That means (we) could pay with German money and get scrips. And (what we didn’t spend on board), they will (refund) them then in (dollars).”

“We arrived on April the 6th, 1939, in New York, before Easter – we saw an Easter parade on the 5th Avenue – and left on the 28th of May. Now before we could do that, we had to find contacts. I still wanted to go to Hawai’i. We had a letter [from] the priest who married us to a Catholic refugee organization in New York, which we presented.”

“(T)here was a priest – his name was Father Ostermann – and he was very different from the Austrian clerics. He was a very worldly man, experienced, had a sense of humor. I suspect he was skeptical, but certainly he was frivolous. And he said, “What do you want?”

“And we showed him our letter. ‘We would like to go to Hawaii’ (a destination they chose after seeing movies about the South Seas. (Clarke)) Father Ostermann looked at it and said, ‘Let me try.’ He obtained a waiver of a particular prohibition that people could [not] travel from an American port to another American port on a freighter.”

“Maybe Hawai’i was, to them, still a foreign port. He had to get that waiver. So we actually were then booked as a passenger on a 9,000 ton ship (of the Pioneer Line), a freight boat called the Sawoklah. And we were supposed to go through the [Panama] Canal to Hawai’i. … Then we left.” (Preis; SFCA)

Upon arrival in the Islands, he went to work with an architectural firm; “I did (design) a great number of (buildings) and residences, predominantly for Chinese.”

Then, that fateful day that changed the Islands and the world … “(we heard shooting and felt the impact of bombs or shots. And I turned to my wife and said, ‘That’s a very realistic maneuver today.’”

“At ten-thirty we … turned it to radio. KGU every Sunday at ten-thirty had a symphony concert, which we turned on. There was no symphony. There was a man who said, ‘This is not a maneuver. This is the real McCoy.’ We couldn’t believe it. We were all prepared for it, but we couldn’t believe it.”

“About seven o’clock in the evening … (following) the attack (on Pearl Harbor) – two men in civil[ian dress] came and said, ‘We have to ask you to come with us. We have to ask some questions. You will be back very soon.’”

“But it was seven o’clock in the evening. Somehow my upbringing under the Nazis made me skeptical. I said, ‘Do you mind if we take some toothbrushes along?’ ‘Well, you don’t need them, but okay, if you want to.’ We were the only people with toothbrushes.”

“We drove very, very slowly at that time (through the) darkened streets. The headlights were blue – later on red – (painted) with a tiny slit (for) the light (to shine through). And so the cars were creeping. I recognized – it was dark already, it was December – that we (were driving) to the immigration station.”

“We came to a one-story building which used to be a part of the quarantine station for immigrants. (The) man in charge, a major (who was originally) a customs officer, was (evidently) overanxious (and) strict. He (made us strip off) our (wedding) rings, which made me break down. Not even the Nazis took my wedding ring.”

“I was very nervous. I was worried about my wife. I made such a scene there that he returned all of our rings to all of us. With that man we had other (troubles). We were moved to an open area. There was a bunch of rolled up tents, and they said, ‘Erect them.’ So we built tents.”

“We were guarded by people from the national guard, local people. Some of them we were befriended with (from before). They were tired, and they didn’t have any sleep, (so) they begged us to (let them) sleep in our tent and that we would watch them so they wouldn’t get caught, which we did.”

“There were two camps side by side, separated by about (a) twenty-feet (wide maze) of barbed wire. We, the Haoles, were about fifty men. The Japanese camp had about 2,500”.

“The difference between the Japanese camp and ours was striking. Every tent – they had tents, as we did – (was adorned with tiny) pebbles, shells, and coral (splinters). They picked (them) up, and they made patterns like stone gardens out of it – neat, beautiful, clean, (with an innate genius) compared to us. We (at most) picked up cigarette butts (which our men just) threw away.”

“We saw that (from our) fifty people-Germans, Norwegians, Italians, (Austrians, and) Hungarians, all people (whose countries) were invaded and occupied by the Nazis and therefore (suspect) – small groups were leaving the camp.”

“The others, we later learned, were shipped to the Mainland. My wife and I and two others were left over. But eventually we were released on parole on March 28, 1942.” (Preis; SFCA)

Preis returned to his architectural practice. A notable, now iconic, structure was the USS Arizona Memorial.

The USS Arizona Memorial, located at Pearl Harbor, marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day.

The memorial, which was dedicated in 1962 and spans the sunken hull of the battleship Arizona, without touching it. The memorial visually floats above the water like an out stretched white sail hovering above the waters of the harbor.

The memorial was designed by Honolulu architect Alfred Preis, his design set out to create a bridge that would float above the battleship with room for approximately 200 visitors at a time. (Johnston)

Critics of the memorial’s design have likened it to a “squashed milk carton,” but the USS Arizona Memorial’s design is a little more complex than that. Preis had a clear idea in mind when he designed the memorial and everything about it serves a purpose.

The structure is about 184 feet long, and at both ends, it rises. The peaks are connected to a sag in the middle of the structure. This was no random design choice. It’s a metaphor for the United States at the time of World War II.

On one side, the first peak represents the country’s pride before the war. In the middle, the sag represents the shock and depression the country faced just after the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor.

One the other side of the structure, the second peak represents the might and power of the US after the war. Together, all three components tell a story. (Visit Pearl Harbor)

In 1963, Preis became state planning coordinator. While serving in that position, he helped draft the bill that established the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts [SFCA] in 1965. Preis served as acting executive director of the SFCA until July 1, 1966, when he was formally appointed executive director. He retired from the position in 1980. (SFCA)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

USS_Arizona_Memorial_(aerial_view)

A;fred and Jana Preis on way to Islands-HanaHou

Alfred-Preis-HanaHou

Arizona-before-Arizona_Memorial-1957

USS_Arizona_(BB-39)_wreck_in_the_1950s

Arizona Memorial under construction

USS Arizona Memorial under construction. The memorial opened in 1962

US_Navy_031206-N-3228G-001_The_UArizona_Memorial-WC

USS_Missouri_and_USS_Arizona_Memorial_12-07-10

Arizona Memorial-Missouri

Blueprint-Arizona Memorial

March 27, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mokapu

The Hawaiian name for Mokapu is believed to be a contraction of Moku kapu, or ‘sacred island.’

Mokapu is a roughly 10-acre island located approximately 0.7 miles off the north coast of Molokai just east of the Kalaupapa Peninsula.

Mokapu rises steeply out of the water to 360-feet above sea level, ending in a narrow summit ridge.

Like the nearby islands of Okala and Huelo, Mokapu supports some of the most diverse native coastal plant communities in Hawai’i. For example, Mokapu contains 29 native plant species; several of these species are rare and vulnerable to extinction.

The island is dominated by native shrubs, but retains small groves of native lama trees, some native palm trees, which dominate
nearby Huelo, and 11 of the last 14 individuals of the shrub hoawa that is endemic to Molokai.

Mokapu is one of the many offshore islets that form the Hawai‘i State Seabird Sanctuary, created to protect the thousands of seabirds who seek refuge in and around the main Hawaiian Islands.

The majority of seabird-nesting colonies in the main Hawaiian Islands are located on the offshore islands, islets and rocks.

The sanctuary, administered by DLNR’s Division of Forestry and Wildlife, exists to protect not only seabirds but also endangered native coastal vegetation.

These sanctuaries protect seabirds, Hawaiian Monk seals, migrating shorebirds, and native coastal vegetation.

These small sanctuary areas represent the last vestiges of a once widespread coastal ecosystem that included the coastlines of all the main Hawaiian Islands. (DLNR)

“It is prohibited for any person to land upon, enter or attempt to enter, or remain in any wildlife sanctuaries …” Regardless, landing by boat is nearly impossible due to the lack of a safe beach.

Like the nearby islands of Okala and Huelo, Mokapu supports some of the best native coastal plant habitat in Hawai‘i, with 29 native plant species, several of which are rare and vulnerable. (DOFAW)

Historical uses of the island are unknown although rock mound structures are present on the ridgeline of Mokapu. However, the nature and source of these rock structures are unknown.

The difficulty of accessing Mokapu by water and the steepness of its slopes make it unlikely that it was visited often in the past and there are no known human uses of terrestrial areas today.

However, there is fishing along the north shore of Molokai, including areas near Mokapu. Fishing is primarily during the summer since winter seas are often very rough. (DOFAW)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Mokapu (right)-AMNWR

Mokapu_AMNWR

Mokapu AMNWR

Mokapu Island, Okala Island, and Leina o Papio Point (from left to right)-Suominen

Huelo Okala Mokapu Islets Waikolu Valley North Shore, Molokai-Forest & Kim Starr

Mokalu, Huelo Okala Islets Waikolu Valley North Shore, Molokai-Thomas

Mokalu, Huelo Okala Islets Waikolu Valley North Shore, Molokai-Forest & Kim Starr

March 25, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Princes to America

Most are aware that Humehume, some of Kauai’s King Kaumuali‘i was sent to America, at least, in part, to receive a formal education. Kaumualii suggested he be called George (after King George of England) when he went abroad. (Warne)

George was about six years old when he boarded the Hazard that ultimately sailed into Providence, Rhode Island on June 30, 1805 after a year-and-a-half at sea. Over the next few years he made his way to Worcester, Massachusetts.

Humehume was “discovered” and taken under the wing of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). He was sent, along with Henry Ōpūkaha’ia and other Hawaiian youths, to be educated at the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall, Connecticut. (Warne)

“We thank Providence that I have fallen into the hands of Christians. I hope it will be provided so that I can go back to my country and do good among the people.” (Tamoree (Humehume;) Stauder)

Humehume left the Islands as a young child and spent years around English speakers; he lost the knowledge of speaking Hawaiian.

With this interaction with the Hawaiians at the school, He began “learning the Owhyhee language. This friend that lives here with me is a great benefit to me, for he can learn me the Owhyhee language. I can learn him the English language.” (Tamoree (Humehume;) Stauder)

Three years later, on October 23, 1819, the Thaddeus carried the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries to Hawai‘i. There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company. With them were four Hawaiian, including Humehume. They arrived in Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820.

After the Thaddeus departed, George remained in Kailua-Kona and took Betty Davis, the half-Hawaiian daughter of Isaac Davis, as his wife, or his “rib” as he described her. In a short time they rejoined the missionary party in Honolulu. (Spoehr)

On May 3, 1820, Humehume returned to Kauai and was reunited with his father after many years apart. “At 11 o’clock came to anchor at Wimai opposite the fort. A canoe came off to us with several of the king’s men, one of whom could speak English.”

“George had kept himself concealed in the cabin, until we told him that one of his father’s favorite men was on board, and we thought best that his arrival should be made known to him.”

“We then introduced him to the young prince; he embraced him and kissed him, and then without saying a word, turned round and immediately went on deck, and into his canoe, telling his companions they must go on shore, for their young master had come.”

“A salute of 21 guns was soon fired from the brig, and returned from the fort. … When we arrived at the house, Tamoree and his Queen were reclining on a sofa; as soon as George entered the door, his father arose, clasped him in his arms, and pressed his nose on his son’s after the manner of the country; both were unable to speak for some time.”

“The scene was truly affecting, and I know not when I have wept more freely. When they had become a little more composed, Tamoree spoke and said his heart was so joyful that he could not talk much till to-morrow …” (Ruggles Journal)

He was not the only early prince who was sent to America. It appears Kamehameha also sent Liholiho – although his travels were not as extensive or as long as Humehume’s.

We learn of Liholiho’s travels through references by and about Ōpukahaia and Hopu. As noted by Hopu, “Captain Brintnall of New Haven, Connecticut, in the year 1807, touched and tarried sometime in Owhyhee, one of the Sandwich Islands.”

“Kummahamaah, the principal King of the Sandwich Islands, proposed that one of his sons, a youth about 12 years of age, should accompany Captain Brintnall to America, to receive an education.”

Liholiho was born in about 1797 in Hilo; so, in 1807, Hopu’s estimated age of Kamehameha’s son corresponds with the approximate age of Liholiho at the time.

Hopu further notes, “Two of us, Obookiah and myself, were selected to be the attendants of the young prince: and both of us were immediately received on board the ship. I, as a cabin boy, and Obookiah as a sailor.”

“Then Captain Brintnall made a voyage to the northwest coast of America, to take their seal skins, before he came to Owhyhee, and returned to the Sandwich Islands.”

“In our absence to the northwest coast of America, the King had changed his mind, because he feared that some evil would befall the prince, and he would never return to his father again: So that he stayed in Oahhoo, one of the Sandwich Islands.”

“Both of us, however, who were to have been the attendants of the young prince, having our expectations excited, and having a strong curiosity to see America, we both of us continued in the ship, expecting to return to our native island, by the first favorable opportunity, after gratifying our curiosity of seeing America.” (Hopu)

‘Ōpūkaha’ia does not go into as much detail about Liholiho, but he notes that after leaving the Islands, “We set out on our Journey towards the Seal Islands, on the NW part of America.”

“We continued on these islands during six months, then took our course towards Owhyhee. Two of my countrymen were with me in the ship. One of them concluded to stay at Owhyhee, and the other to proceed on the voyage.” (‘Ōpūkaha’ia)

Lots later, other princes traveled for education. In 1885, brothers Kūhiō, Koa and Edward schooled at St Matthew’s Hall in San Mateo, California. (Even Princess Kaʻiulani was sent to boarding school in England in 1889 at the age of 13.)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Kamehameha_II

George_Prince_Kaumualii-Morse-1816

King_Kamehameha_II

Tamehameha_2d,_His_Majesty_the_King_of_the_Sandwich_Islands,_drawn_on_stone_from_life_by_John_Hayter-1824

David Kawananakoa (1868-1908) Edward Keliiahonui (1869-1887) and Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole (1871-1922)-PP-97-17-008

Hawaiian Surfers-BridlingtonFreePress

Prince Edward-and_Duke_Kahanamoku_go_Surfing

Princess_Kaiulani-1889-S00016

Kaiulani-age-11-HSA

March 24, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Loko

The beginning date for the construction of fishponds in ancient Hawaii is unknown. The builder of the first pond is traditionally reputed to be Ku’ula-kai, “who lived in an undated period of heroes and gods”.

Since fishponds were commonplace in legendary literature attributed to the 14th through the 19th centuries, it is conjectured that they were developed sometime prior to AD 1400.

The Hawaiian fishpond was primarily a grazing area in which the fishpond keeper cultivated algae for his fish; much in the way a cattle rancher cultivates grass for his cattle.

A natural food chain can be expected to produce a ratio of 10:1 in terms of the conversion of one link by another. 10,000-kg of algae make 1,000-kg of tiny crustaceans, which in turn make 100-kg of small fish. These 100-kg of small fish then produce 10-kg of large fish, which when eaten by humans make 1-kg of human flesh.

Hawaiian ponds “are closer to the following: 10,000 pounds of algae and detritus make 1,000 pounds of herbivorous fish; 1,000 pounds of herbivorous fish make about 100 pounds of carnivorous fish, or man”. (Hiatt; Kelly)

Thus, herbivorous fish produced in Hawaiian fishponds provided man with protein 100-times more efficiently than the natural food chain.

Patient observation by Hawaiian fishermen of the habits of herbivorous fish (what and where they ate) was undoubtedly part of the great fund of knowledge held by Hawaiians about the sea and the plants and animals, which inhabit it.

‘Ama‘ama (grey mullet) was the most popular fish raised in Hawaiian walled seashore fishponds (awa (milk fish) was another).

Certainly, the Hawaiians recognized the value of walled fishponds and built them wherever conditions permitted. (Kelly) Pond types include:

Loko kuapa whose main characteristic is a seawall as its artificial enclosing feature and which usually contains one or more sluice gates.

Loko puʻuone (sometimes called loko hakuʻone), an isolated shore pond usually formed by a barrier beach building a single elongated sand ridge parallel to the coast.

Loko wai, a freshwater fishpond located inland from the shore.

Loko i’a kalo, another inland fishpond which utilized an irrigated taro plot (fish were grown in the waters flowing among the earth mounds planted with taro corms).

Loko ʻume ʻiki is similar in shape and construction to loko kuapa, however, it is a fishtrap characterized by numerous stone flanked lanes which led fish into netting areas with the ebb and flow of the tide. This last type is also the only pond where women were permitted to net.

The first three types were royal fishponds in the sense they were owned exclusively by the ruling chiefs and managed by a caretaker, or kiaʻi loko, or in some cases by a lesser chief, the konohiki, who served as a managerial overseer of both the pond and the adjacent agricultural lands.

The latter two types of ponds, while technically owned by the ruling chiefs, were the domain of families with makaʻāinana (commoner) access. Commoners’ rights to the harvest, however, were never independent of the chief’s.

The most important of the shore ponds was the loko kuapa which consisted of an arc-shaped wall extending out from the shore onto a reef flat and back again; these ranged in area from one acre to over 500 acres.

The mortar less walls were constructed of basalt cobbles and blocks, and coral fragments. These were usually several yards thick and projected about one yard above the highest tide level. Only a high chief could command the labor necessary to construct such monumental structures.

The spaces in the mortarless masonry walls made them permeable and served to reduce stress from tidal, wave, and current energy. The construction of seaward versus interior pond wall flanks was equally sophisticated.

Seaward flanks were inclined slopes which further permitted the seawall to withstand wave energy and to absorb, per square inch, more energy than a more vertical alignment.

In 1848, when King Kamehameha III pronounced the Great Māhele, or land distribution, Hawaiian fishponds were considered private property by landowners and by the Hawaiian government.

This was confirmed in subsequent Court cases that noted “titles to fishponds are recognized to the same extent and in the same manner as rights recognized in fast land.”

Because of their location in the coastal zone, Hawaiian fishponds are controlled by a regulatory framework where County, State and Federal agencies each exercise some degree of control over activities associated with the pond.

There is a separate chapter in the State laws (Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes – HRS §183B) that deal with fishponds. Under certain circumstances, reconstruction, restoration, repair or use of any Hawaiian fishpond are exempt from the requirements of chapter §343 (environmental review laws.) (Information her is primarily from Kelly and NPS.)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger