Hawaii | Page 389 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

November 2, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Overboard

“On our way towards China my poor friend Thomas fell overboard. He was so careless, not knowing what he was about, he went outside of the ship and drew salt- water to wash plates with (for he was a cabin’s boy.) When the ship rolled he got in the water.” (‘Ōpūkaha‘ia)

“It was early in the morning, while my Captain was fast asleep in the cabin. But while I was in the water, longside of the ship, I called to one of my shipmates, who stood on the helm, ‘Mix, Mix’.”

“He heard me. Then he cried out, ‘Thomas is overboard.’ (Hopu)

“The Captain calls all hands upon the deck, and ordered to have all the sails pull down in order to let about-While we were working upon our sails, my friend Thomas was out of sight.” (‘Ōpūkaha’ia)

“At this time, the wind blew very high, so that the waves roared, and the ship was going at about nine knots an hour. It was a considerable time before the necessary orders could be given, to put the ship about for my rescue. In the mean time, I lost sight of the ship, after which I was swimming in the water.”

“In this situation, though I was an expert swimmer, I gave myself up for lost.” (Hopu)

“While he was in the water he pulls all off his clothes in order to be lighter. We turned our ship and went back after him.” (‘Ōpūkaha’ia)

“Then I cried to my god, Akooah, for help, and made my vow to him, in the hour of trouble, that if he would save me out of the great and mighty waters, and I might reach the ship, I would devote to my god, Akooah, a fine jacket, which I had received from my Captain, as a present.”

“And I also made several short prayers to the great Spirit, while I was swimming in the water, before that I could see the ship. I considered myself in the greatest danger of being swallowed up in the mighty ocean.”

“I expected to die before the ship would reach me. While the waves of the sea were breaking over my head, every moment, I then thought that it must be a very hard thing for me to die, in the full strength of this mortal body.”

“While I was thinking in this situation, I saw a bird come from God, as I thought, out of the clouds, down to me, on the water. I was very glad to behold him flying over my head, and I was greatly rejoiced to see such a messenger sent down to me from the great Spirit.”

“I then talked to him in these words, ‘If you are a bird of God, please to go back to your master, and tell him that I have already given a jacket to your master and come quickly and save me, that I perish not in this deep water, where is no bottom.’”

“Then the ship again reached me …” (Hopu)

We found him almost dead. He was in the water during the space of two and a half hours. O how glad was I then to see him for he was already gone.” (‘Ōpūkaha’ia)

“ … and I was taken on board: but I could not speak a word to any one of my shipmates, because I was almost dead when I got on board the ship.”

“Immediately after I got on board, a great shark came alongside of the ship. I suppose the shark followed my track.”

“O! What a wonderful mercy of God is this, that God who is infinite in kindness to so unworthy a creature as I am; and whose hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear.”

“When the poor cry for help, in their troubles, he is always near to save them.” (Hopu)

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November 1, 2017 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Liljestrand

Howard Liljestrand was born in Iowa in 1911. The child of medical missionaries, he was raised in Sichuan, China. He graduated from Harvard Medical School and met his wife, Helen Betty Horner, at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Cape Cod.

In 1937, Betty and Howard Liljestrand arrived in Hawaii as honeymooners and medical missionaries en route to China – they came to Hawaii so Howard could complete his residency at Queens Hospital.

The two had planned to return to China, but the country’s growing political tensions of the coming Communist revolution delayed and, ultimately, diverted them and kept them in the Islands. He worked at a plantation hospital near Pearl Harbor, where the couple raised four kids. (Quill)

When Howard and Betty Liljestrand decided to move from their Plantation Style cottage in Aiea to a neighborhood closer to Honolulu.

Knowing that they wanted to build a house, the Liljestrands spent a decade looking for the ideal plot of land. It was on a hike in the rain forest on Tantalus that they decided that this was where they wanted to build their home.

While hiking they met George Coulter sitting on his porch watching the sunset. They struck up a casual conversation, telling George about their desire to move to the mountain. Realizing how much they loved it, George offered to sell them a portion of his land.

The Liljestrands purchased 2.5 acres from Coulter in 1946: a 2 acre square parcel on one side of Coulter’s house lot, and a half acre parcel on the other side that was just below a ridge-line overlooking the city. The half-acre parcel didn’t have the entire view they wanted, the other side of the ridge was conservation land owned by the Territory of Hawaii.

They made an even trade with the Territory; they would deed the 2 acre square parcel to the Territory for conservation land in exchange for the half acre parcel on the other side of the ridge-line from their own. This secured the view of the city that they wanted, and created the house lot for their new home. (NPS)

Given their lifestyle, they had an extensive list of programmatic needs. First and foremost, the wanted a home of unusual quality and livability. They firmly believed in the ‘emotional power of architecture to give meaning to life’ and pursued a ‘spirit lifting’ quality in their home. (Penick; Pace Setter Homes)

They wanted “morning sun in the kitchen, no morning sun in the bedroom (Howard was a late sleeper), a single loaded corridor, views from every room, no rooms as passageways, lots of storage, a front door easily and naturally accessible, places where work can be left out, and a circular drive.” (Liljestrand House)

They hired Vladimir Ossipoff to design their 6,700-square-foot dream house, with Betty, who was clearly ahead of her time, serving as general contractor. The Liljestrands moved into the house, which was nearly complete, in 1952. (Quill)

The house has an irregular H-shaped floor plan, with one wing set at a 45 degree angle, instead of perpendicular to the middle wing. The house is constructed of redwood which throughout has been managed with a variety of treatments to fit the feeling and flow of the floor plan. (NPS)

The house is set far off the street, down a private road with a security gate. The road services two residences, and divides after 50 yards or so, with the left driveway leading to the Liljestrand property.

Ossipoff designed the house to showcase the view from the ridge. The house was situated on the ridge to extend the view from Diamond Head in one direction to the airport in the other.

The natural beauty around the house was an important element incorporated into the design. The use of floor to ceiling windows and walls that slide away, entirely open the house to the outside world. The long driveway and forested area provide privacy.

Between 1946 and 1965, House Beautiful named 17 Pace Setter houses for the post–World War II years. The Liljestrand House was selected in 1958, commanding the cover and 53 pages of the magazine.

The Pace Setters were not designated to impress the fine-arts world but to translate high design for a postwar nuclear family. Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses could be too dark, and Le Corbusier’s roofs leaked, but the Pace Setters were livable. (Departures)

The Liljestrand House typifies a romantic vision of midcentury life, with a kitchen that includes work stations for flower arranging, sewing, typing and gift wrapping.

The living and dining rooms have an open plan for parties, with conversational seating areas for intimacy. Recreational activities are relegated to the downstairs – with billiards, Ping-Pong, movie screenings and a kidney-shaped pool outside.

The house builds on aspects of previous Hawaiian architecture, the low, simple front façade draws from earlier Craftsman and the vernacular Plantation Style of houses. Ossipoff’s vision embraces key concepts of life in Hawaii, such as the expansion of the living area to include the outdoors. (NPS)

Almost fifty years after its publication in House Beautiful, the Liljestrand House appeared in Western Interiors and Design, on the cover of Metropolis, and in the book, The Hawaiian House Now.

In 2007 and 2008, respectively, The Liljestrand House was listed on the Hawaii State and the United States National Registers of Historic Places.

In 2009, the Liljestrand House received a Preservation Award from the Historic Hawaii Foundation. In a letter to the Liljestrand Family the Historic Foundation called the house “one of the most, if not the most, intact historic structures in the state.”

They also recognized that the furniture, built-in interiors, and contents – all designed or selected by the architect – remain in original condition; the architectural source materials – notes, memos, letters, drawings, materials lists, invoices, and even the building permit – exist; and that film and photos of the construction exist.

The Liljestrand family has created the Liljestrand Foundation. The mission of the Foundation is to preserve the house and to make that preservation purposeful by opening the house to the public for tours and for charitable, cultural, and educational activities. (Liljestrand House)

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October 31, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Pohoiki

Early settlement patterns in the Islands put people on the windward sides of the islands, typically along the shoreline. However, in Puna, much of the district’s coastal areas have thin soils and there are no good deep water harbors. The ocean along the Puna coast is often rough and windblown.

As a result, settlement patterns in Puna tend to be dispersed and without major population centers. Villages in Puna tended to be spread out over larger areas and often are inland, and away from the coast, where the soil is better for agriculture. (Escott)

This was confirmed on William Ellis’ travel around the island in the early 1800s, “Hitherto we had travelled close to the sea-shore, in order to visit the most populous villages in the districts through which we had passed.”

“But here receiving information that we should find more inhabitants a few miles inland, than nearer the sea, we thought it best to direct our course towards the mountains.” (Ellis, 1826)

Dry land farming was practiced in coastal Puna during the late prehistoric and early historic period. Table-land areas aong the lower slopes of Hawaii Island were used for cultivation of un-irrigated taro, sweet potatoes, yams, bananas, breadfruit, olona, sugarcane and wauke (paper mulberry.) (Lantinis)

“The whole population of this section of the country was by the wayside, which gave me an opportunity of judging of their number; this is much larger than might be supposed from the condition of the country, for with the exception of the point at Kapoho, very little ground that can be cultivated is to be seen.”

“The country, however, is considered fruitful by those who are acquainted with it, notwithstanding its barren appearance on the road sides. The inhabitants seemed to have abundance of bread-fruit, bananas, sugar-cane, taro, and sweet-potatoes.”

“The latter, however, are seen to be growing literally among heaps of stones and pieces of lava, with scarcely soil enough to cover them; yet they are, I am informed, the finest on the island.”

“At Puna, there is a large church; but no appearance of a village, the houses being much scattered. The church, it is said, will contain two or three thousand persons.” (Wilkes, 1845)

“Our stopping place for the night was at Pohoiki (‘small depression’) … The natives bro’t us the Ki or Ti root baked. It is very sweet and juicy. There are fine groves of cocoa nut trees and the situation of a hamlet on an inlet of the sea is very pleasant.” (Chester Lyman, 1846)

In August of 1878, Robert Henry Rycroft stated that he made improvements to the Pohoiki landing and wanted to buy property here. The original landing was destroyed by a tsunami in August 1885. (DLNR)

The improvements to Pohoiki landing allowed the Puna Sugar Company to ship in their seed cane to Kapoho around 1898. The landing was the only means of transportation. The railroad and roads from Hilo came later. (Red Road CMP)

“This district presents some features which are well worth the exertion which the traveler will have to make in order to see them. The general appearance from the road is sterile, especially in the southern part, where there are considerable tracts covered with lava rock supporting the scantiest of vegetation.”

“Some eighteen miles from Hilo the country begins to improve, and away from the main road, upon the slopes of the mountain, there are many acres of excellent land, suitable for coffee and fruit growing.”

“The south-eastern part of Puna has some celebrity for its groves of coconuts, the trees being more abundant here than in any other part of the islands. The traces of volcanic action are extremely prominent in this district.”

“The tourist who plans to go through Puna, should obtain letters for either Kapoho or Pohoiki, where the first night would be spent … A number of coffee planters have located in this vicinity, and groves of coffee trees may be seen every few miles.” (Whitney, 1895)

In the Puna District in 1880, Hawaiians maintained small-scale traditional farms, and other settlers invested in commercial properties like coffee plantations on approximately three dozen land grants. (ORNL)

Rycroft constructed a coffee mill in 1891 to process the coffee then being planted in Puna. One serious difficulty of coffee growing was that it required a large work force only when the coffee was to be picked. Keeping men employed when not picking coffee was a serious economic drain on the fledgling industry. (Matsuoka, ORNL)

However, for some unknown reason, the coffee boom ended in 1899, leaving the mill basically without a product to process. Then, probably, the Rycrofts had to find an alternate crop to process in the new coffee mill.

Presumably, then, the Rycroft guava business in Puna was started in about 1900 to use the coffee mill, and possibly was abandoned after 1910.

Rycroft and his son, Walter, should be credited with the first commercial production of guava at Pohoiki in Puna; they produced guava jam and jelly in the ‘coffee mill.’ (Shigemura & Bulloock)

The Pohoiki area has remained mostly undeveloped except for the 23-year period of commercial development under Robert Rycroft. Rycroft’s ventures between 1877 and 1899 included ‘awa, cattle, sawmill, coffee and guava. The Pohoiki commercial activity appears to have ended when Rycroft moved to Honolulu in 1899. (DLNR)

This area was used as a whaling port and was always a fishing village. Many families in the area would contribute to the sharing of fish with other families. It has been said that if you even touched the canoe you would get some fish.

Old fishing practices included using the canoes. One practice that is documented in this area is opelu fishing. The families would take out the canoe and feed the opelu koʻa (house) with the ʻopae ula (red shrimp.) This was done to ensure that there was always fish and the fish were well taken care of. The families of these areas were subsistence fisherman.

Pohoiki is a small 1,000-foot long bay located approximately three miles south of Kapoho. During the thirties fewer canoes went out to catch opelu. Eventually a boat ramp was constructed at Pohoiki and the canoes were replaced by motorboats. (Matsuoka, ORNL)

By 1940, the wharf at Pohoiki had been abandoned as a commercial stop, but the bay was used as a canoe landing by local fishermen. (Clark)

World War II had a profound effect on Hawai’i. In Puna, those who remained behind were made to fear a Japanese invasion by sea. The coastline were watched and guarded by soldiers stationed, in the Kalapana area.

There were 100 to 150 soldiers stationed in Kalapana and they were rotated every three months. Some camped in tents on Kaimu beach and Kalapana beach, some lived in the school cafeteria, and others in the gym and the priest’s house at the Catholic Church.

Other forms of subsistence production continued after the war, such as pole-fishing from shore, gathering limu and opihi, and crab and raising stock. Hunting of wild pigs remained an important source of meat. Native plants were gathered for herbal teas and medicine. (Matsuoka, ORNL)

Here is the “Isaac Kepoʻokalani Hale Beach Park.” It was established in 1951 to honor Isaac Hale who was a soldier killed in the Korean War.

Traditional fishing practices started to dissipate in the 1950s with the introduction of fishing boats. Families began to start fishing with boats during these times. (Red Road CMP)

During the 1950s, boating traffic from outside the area began to increase substantially as commercial and recreational fishers began buying smaller boats that could be trailered to parts of the Island. (Clark)

Pohoiki Warm Spring is a natural hot pond in the jungle near a popular Pohoiki surfing beach. It’s a couple hundred yards from the Park to the pool, which is only about 20 yards from the ocean.

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August 7, 2014 – Pohoiki, Hawaii: A spectator watches Hurricane Iselle generated surf pound the Puna shoreline at Pohoiki this afternoon. Waves were ranging in 10-12 foot range and increasing.

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October 30, 2017 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

How did the missionaries feel about Hula?

“Hula is the language of the heart, and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people.” (attributed to Kalākaua)

“Their dances … are prefaced with a slow, solemn song, in which all the party join, moving their legs, and gently striking their breasts, in a manner, and with attitudes, that are perfectly easy and graceful … .” (Captain Cook Journal, 1779)

“Hula is not just a dance, but a way of life, an ancient art that tells of Hawaiʻi’s rich history and spirituality.” (attributed to many)

Did the Missionaries really stop Hula in Hawaiʻi, as we are most often led to believe?

In taking a closer look into the matter, most would likely come to a different conclusion.

First of all, the missionaries were guests in the Hawaiian Kingdom; they didn’t have the power to ban or abolish anything – that was the right of the King and Chiefs.

Most will agree the missionaries despised the fact that hula dancers were typically topless; they also didn’t like the commingling between the sexes.

So, before we go on, we need to agree, the issue at hand is hula – not nudity and interactions between the sexes. In keeping this discussion on the actual activity and not sexuality, let’s see what the missionaries had to say about hula.

As hula is the dance that accompanies Hawaiian mele, the function of hula is therefore an extension of the function of mele in Hawaiian society. While it was the mele that was the essential part of the story, hula served to animate the words, giving physical life to the moʻolelo (stories.) (Bishop Museum)

Hula combines dance and chant or song to tell stories, recount past events and provide entertainment for its audience. With a clear link between dancer’s actions and the chant or song, the dancer uses rhythmic lower body movements, mimetic or depictive hand gestures and facial expression, as part of this performance. (ksbe-edu)

So what did the missionaries really think?

As Hiram Bingham once noted, they “were wasting their time in learning, practising, or witnessing the hula, or heathen song and dance.” (Remember, heathen simply means ‘without religion, as in without God.’)

Others were more supportive.

“The hula was a religious service, in which poetry, music, pantomime, and the dance lent themselves, under the forms of dramatic art, to the refreshment of men’s minds. Its view of life was idyllic, and it gave itself to the celebration of those mythical times when gods and goddesses moved on the earth as men and women and when men and women were as gods.” (Emerson, son of missionaries)

“(W)hen it comes to the hula and the whole train of feelings and sentiments that made their entrances and exits in the halau (the hall of the hula) one perceives that in this he has found the door to the heart of the people.” (Emerson, son of Missionaries)

In describing a hula danced before Keōpūolani and her daughter Nāhiʻenaʻena, in Lāhainā in 1823, Missionary CS Stewart wrote:

“The motions of the dance were slow and graceful, and, in this instance, free from indelicacy of action; and the song, or rather recitative, accompanied by much gesticulation, was dignified and harmonious in its numbers. The theme of the whole, was the character and praises of the queen and princess, who were compared to everything sublime in nature, exalted as gods.” (Missionary Stewart)

And how did Hiram Bingham feel (again, the one most often accused of a Hula ban?)

“This was intended, in part at least, as an honor and gratification to the king, especially at Honolulu, at his expected reception there, on his removal from Kailua. Apparently, not all hula was viewed as bad or indecent.” (Missionary Hiram Bingham)

“In the hula, the dancers are often fantastically decorated with figured or colored kapa, green leaves, fresh flowers, braided hair, and sometimes with a gaiter on the ancle, set with hundreds of dog’s teeth, so as to be considerably heavy, and to rattle against each other in the motion of the feet.” (Hiram Bingham)

“They had been interwoven too with their superstitions, and made subservient to the honor of their gods, and their rulers, either living or departed and deified.” (Hiram Bingham)

The missionaries most often opposed nudity, drinking and ‘wasting’ time. Even today, laws forbid nudity in public; frown on excessive drinking and, likewise, we tend to encourage people to be productive members of their community (kind of like the concerns expressed by the early missionaries.)

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October 28, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Aliʻi Letters Kalanimōku to Hiram Bingham October 28, 1826

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, Kalaimoku (Kalanimōku) writes to Rev. Hiram Bingham dismissing the blame placed on the missionaries for other foreigners’ misconduct. He encourages their goodness and their teachings and professes his own faith in God.

Kālaimoku, also known as Kalanimōku and William Pitt Kalanimōku, was a trusted advisor of Kamehameha I. During the travels of Liholiho and Kamāmalu to Great Britain, he co-ruled with Kaʻahumanu, maintaining a leadership role during the first reigning years of the new king, Liholiho’s younger brother, Kauikeaouli.

In part, the letter notes:

“Honolulu, Oahu October 28, 1826”

“Greetings to you, Mr. Bingham,”

“Here is my message to all of you, our missionary teachers. I am telling you that I do not see your wrongdoing. If I should see you to be wrong, I would tell you all.”

“No, you should all just be good.”

“Give us literacy and we will teach it; and give us the word of God, and we will heed it.”

“Our women are restricted, for we have learned the word of God.”

“Then foreigners come, doing damage to our land, foreigners of America and Britain.”

“Do not be angry, for it is we who are to blame for you being faulted, and not you foreigners.”

“Here is my message according to the words of Jehovah. I have given my heart to God and my body and my spirit. I have devoted myself to the church for Jesus Christ.”

“Have a look at my message, Mr. Bingham and company, and if you see it and wish to send my message to America, to our chief, that is up to you.”

“Greetings to our chief in America. Regards to him. From Kalaimoku”

Here’s a link to the original letter, its transcription, translation and annotation (scroll down):

https://hmha.missionhouses.org/files/original/48a090b14ab39c3e64644c9a03b6b1dd.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).

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