Hawaii | Page 400 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

June 14, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Churches

“Commodious houses for public worship have been erected by the principal chiefs, with the cheerful aid of the people, in the places of their residence; and when there is preaching, these chiefs regularly and seriously attend, and their example is followed by great numbers of their subjects.”

“Churches are gathered, as with us, wherever there are pastors to take the care of them, and accessions are made to them, from time to time, of such as we may reasonably hope will be saved.”

“In one small district, which, but a few years since, rung through all the length and breadth of it with the cries of savage drunkenness, a thousand people have associated on the principle of entire abstinence from the use of intoxicating liquors.”

“Moreover, in that same district and in two others, with a united population of perhaps 40,000, where the morals were as degraded, a few years ago, as anywhere on earth, a fourth part of the inhabitants have formed themselves into societies for the better understanding and keeping of God’s holy law, and require unimpeachable morals as a condition of membership in their several fraternities.”

“All these are believed to be facts. And they are traceable wholly to the blessing of God on the establishment of a Christian mission on those islands, a little more than eleven years ago.”

“But, to guard against misapprehension, it is necessary to take another view. A moment’s reflection is sufficient to show, that after all the work of evangelizing and civilizing those islands is but just commenced.”

“The nation is yet in its infancy. It is just beginning to understand the advantages of the social state. The elements of individual improvement, and domestic happiness, and national order and prosperity, have been introduced, and the contrast between the former and present condition and character of the nation, as such, is great in almost every respect.”

“Very few, however, have done more than merely to cross the threshold of knowledge. Three-fourths of those, who are capable of learning to read, have yet to acquire the art.”

“A collection of all the books in the language would not contain as much matter, as there is in one volume of the Missionary Herald.”

“Salvation through the Lamb that was slain, is brought within the reach of thousands, and many have fled and are fleeing to lay hold on the hope set before them; but how few are their helps, compared with those which we have, and with what they ought to possess.”

“The regular preaching of the gospel is enjoyed by not more than one-fourth of the inhabitants. The rest see only a few rays of heavenly light. Recently two small companies of idolaters have been discovered in obscure parts of Hawaii, and no doubt there are others who retain an attachment to their former superstitions.” (Monthly Paper, ABCFM, September 1832)

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period”,) about 184-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the 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.

As an example, in June 1823, William Ellis joined American Missionaries Asa Thurston, Artemas Bishop and Joseph Goodrich on a tour of the island of Hawaiʻi to investigate suitable sites for mission stations.

On O‘ahu, locations at Honolulu (Kawaiahaʻo,) Kāne’ohe, Waialua, Waiʻanae and ‘Ewa served as the bases for outreach work on the island.

By 1850, eighteen mission stations had been established; six on Hawaiʻi, four on Maui, four on Oʻahu, three on Kauai and one on Molokai.

Meeting houses were constructed at the stations, as well as throughout the district. Initially constructed as the traditional Hawaiian thatched structures; they were later made of wood or stone.

“All over the Islands, the Sabbath is remarkable for its stillness. Large congregations assemble for religious instruction in every district. Children are everywhere gathered into Sabbath schools. Adults are associated in Bible classes. Daily morning prayer meetings, and weekly or semi-weekly lectures and conferences are attended in most of the churches.”

“Most of the children of the nation, and most of the members of the churches, commit one verse of the Bible every day. Thousands ask the blessing of God on their daily food. As many observe morning and evening family worship.”

“If able, all members of churches give something for the support of the gospel, while at different times several religious associations are remembered in their prayers and benefactions. …”

“And according to their ability and numbers, it may be safely said that the Sandwich Islands churches are giving more for benevolent purposes than any other body of Christians on the globe. God alone knows their motives; we speak of facts only.”

“Among several hundreds of Hawaiians in this State a few are church members. Quite as many of these, in proportion to their numbers and advantages, have maintained their integrity as among other classes of professed Christians.”

“They brought with them their Bibles and hymn books. They took them to the mountains. In their encampments they have met for worship on the Sabbath. Two or three of them have acted as exhorters to the whole. …”

“… They are facts of great interest. They indicate a change in the mental, moral, social, political and religious condition of a people during a single generation, which may well strengthen the faith of the church in the practicability of the world’s conversion.” (Hunt)

“It is not claimed that this change has been wrought wholly by the American Mission. Various causes have conspired to accomplish the result.”

“Idolatry had become superannuated, and that peculiar state of things had arrived when the nation were ready for a change. At that juncture God raised up an instrument to effect it. He sent forth the great Kamehameha on his career of conquest, to unite the warlike tribes in one. That revolution in the government gave the nation the first impulse.”

“Then succeeded the revolution in the religion of the people by his son and successor, Liholiho, by which the nation were delivered from the ancient system of tabu.”

“But these revolutions only partially removed the burdens of ages. They broke not the yoke of despotism. They robbed not superstition of its ghostly power. They cleansed not the people of their vileness. They only concentrated in one king the power of many. Still in the one there was less oppression than in many.”

“While, therefore, we rightly appreciate science, letters, commerce and the arts, we must assign them an inferior rank as instrumentalities in the elevation of the human race—We must give to christianity the preference above all others.”

“For while christianity fosters and employs all others, it does what no others can do. It changes the heart, the fountain of all desires and emotions, and so effectually breaks up superstitions and redeems from vice.”

“To the gospel, therefore, whose peculiar province is the human heart, we look for relief from all the sins and woes that degrade and distress the family of man.”

“To that gospel, as preached and taught from the pulpits and the press of the Sandwich Islands Mission must we mainly attribute whatever changes for the better have there been wrought during thirty years of labor for the instruction and admiration of the world.” (Hunt, 1853)

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Mission Stations – MissionHouses-Map

Hiram Bingham I preaching with Queen Kaahumanu at Waimea, in 1826, from his book A Residence of Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands.

A_Missionary_Preaching_to_Hawaiians_on_the_lava_at_Kokukano,_Hawaii,_sketch_by_William_Ellis-1822-24

Missionaries_preaching_under_kukui_groves,_1841

A_Missionary_Preaching_to_the_Natives,_under_a_Skreen_of_platted_Cocoa-nut_leaves_at_Kairua_by_William_Ellis-1823

First Kawaiahao Church Building-TheFriend-Oct 1925-400

June 13, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Beachcombers

“Who have burst all bonds of habit,
And have wandered far away,
On from island unto island,
At the gateways of the day.” (Chambers, 1881)

This is not a story about a happy couple strolling hand in hand, picking up shells along the sandy coast; the young enthusiast brandishing his newly purchased metal detector; nor the amateur artisan, bending and stooping for each hard-to-come-by scrap of sea glass which might one day become a one of a kind piece of jewelry. (Ruger)

While it is about ‘beachcomers,’ these were typically a motley crew of castaways, deserters, traders and escaped convicts. (Castaways may be defined as simply involuntary beachcombers: for the most part the victims of shipwreck, but including persons marooned by their captains or kidnapped by the islanders. (Maude))

The Oxford English Dictionary calls the beachcomber a resident “on the islands of the Pacific, living by pearl-fishing, etc., and often by less reputable means”.

“In the more precise terminology of the anthropologist he is a regional variety of the world-wide class of individuals called by Hallowell ‘transculturites’…

“… persons who, throughout history, ‘are temporarily or permanently detached from one group, enter the web of social relations that constitute another society, and come under the influence of its customs, ideas and values to a greater or lesser degree’.” (Maude)

“Beachcomber is a word of American coinage. Primarily, it is applied to a long wave rolling in from the ocean, and from this it has come to be applied to those whose occupation it is to pick up, as pirates or wreckers, whatever these long waves wash in to them.”

“Nothing comes amiss to the so-called beachcomber; he is outside of civilization – is indeed a waif and stray not only on the ocean of life, but on the broad South Pacific, and he is certainly not above picking up those chance crumbs of the world around him which may be washed within the circle of his operations.”

“If the average British colonist and capitalist has not since his boyhood’s days, when he may have dipped into Cook’s Voyages, given a thought to the islands of the great South Sea, other white men have; and these pioneers of the Pacific are chiefly of their own stock – English or American.” (Chambers, 1881)

“In the majority of cases, the beachcomber has been a seafaring man, who has become weary of a life of hard work, with but scant remuneration, on board of Whalers or trading craft; and having landed from his vessel on one of the Pacific islands, and becoming domesticated among the natives”.

“The beachcomber is therefore stalwart, smart, and lively; and some of them can lift a kedge-anchor and carry two hundred cocoanuts or more upon their shoulders.”

“As a rule, they can climb trees like apes, and dive for fish to feed their families. They rarely, or never, wear shoes, but go barefooted at all times on beaches of sharp gravel and reefs of prickliest coral.”

“Beachcombers generally marry native women and as a rule have large families. Their sons are often like bronze statues; and their daughters are models of beauty and strength.”

“While it is true that their intellect is of a low order, and that they know little or nothing of ordinary morality, as we understand it, it yet must be borne in mind that the race of half-castes thus produced is likely to form a prominent factor in the future civilisation of Polynesia.” (Chambers, 1881)

“What really differentiated the beachcombers from other immigrants was the fact that they were essentially integrated into, and dependent for their livelihood on, the indigenous communities …”

“… this source of maintenance might occasionally be supplemented by casual employment, with payment usually in kind, as agents and intermediaries for the captains or supercargoes of visiting ships, but to all intents and purposes they had voluntarily or perforce contracted out of the European monetary economy.” (Maude)

“Historically beachcombing is as old as European contact itself, for the first beachcombers came from Magellan’s own Trinidad, deserting at one of the northern Marianas.”

“(N)ot more than a handful of Europeans settled in the islands, either voluntarily or as castaways, in all the two and a half centuries of the age of discovery, which may be said to have lasted roughly to the founding of New South Wales.”

“The basic pre-requisite for a beachcombing boom – commercial shipping – was in fact absent … while discipline on the exploring ships was in general too strict to permit successful desertion, and stops were usually too short for plans to be perfected.”

“Desertion was attempted, of course; even Cook, on his last voyage, had difficulty in recovering a midshipman and two others who deserted at Raiatea, and he recorded that they were ’not the only persons in the ships who wished to end their days at these favourite islands’.” (Maude)

“(I)t was the north-west fur trade between America and China, stemming direct from Cook’s last voyage and having nothing to do with Australia, which brought the first voluntary beachcombers to be landed from commercial shipping.”

“In 1787, or less than ten years after the death of Cook, the Irish ship’s surgeon John Mackey, formerly in the East India Company’s service, was landed in Hawai‘i from the Imperial Eagle, en route to China, at his own request.”

“Within a year he had been joined by three deserters – Ridler, carpenter’s mate of the Columbia; Thomas; and a youth named Samuel Hitchcock …”

“… while by 1790 the Hawaiian beachcombers numbered 10, including John Young, kidnapped at Kealakekua, and Isaac Davis, spared at the cutting off of the Fair American, both of whom were destined to leave their mark on Hawaiian history.” (Maude)

“In 1791 Captain Joseph Ingraham in the brig Hope, while cruising off Maui, was hailed by a double canoe in which were three white men, besides natives. These men were dressed in malos (loin cloths), being otherwise naked.”

“They were so tanned that they resembled the natives. They told Captain Ingraham that they had deserted Kamehameha, who had maltreated them, after the arrival at Kailua of the boatswain of the Eleanora.”

“These men were I Ridler, James Cox and John Young (an American, not the boatswain of the Eleanora). They begged Ingraham to take them to China with him, which he did in the summer of 1791.” (Cartwright)

“Most of the early Europeans congregated on Hawai‘i itself, around the chief Kamehameha, who was quick to realise their importance to his plan for conquering the other islands; there were at least 11 with him in 1794.”

“A minority, however, settled on O‘ahu, including the American Oliver Holmes, who after the death of Isaac Davis was considered the most influential foreigner in the islands.”

“After the conquest of O‘ahu in 1795 these joined Kamehameha’s entourage and with the development of Honolulu as the main shipping port and Kamehameha’s transfer there in 1804 this became the principal beachcomber centre, though a rival group settled on Kauai round the independent chief Kaumuali‘i, at least until his voluntary submission to Kamehameha in 1810. “

“In 1806 there were estimated to be 94 whites on O‘ahu alone, but by 1810 departures had reduced the total to about 60; these were nearly all beachcombers and included at least seven escaped convicts from New South Wales. Eight years later there were said to be as many as 200 in the whole group of islands.”

“Most of these, however, were mere transients, for hardly a ship called without adding its quota of deserting or discharged seamen, anxious to sample the supposed delights of life on a South Sea island, while there were always plenty of others who had had their fill and were anxious to get away.”

By the 1830s, “the geographical distribution of beachcombing had changed. The beachcomber had ceased to be a factor of political importance in Hawai‘i, Tahiti and Tonga, and civilization with all its attendant restrictions – governmental sanctions, missionary disapproval and consular action – was driving them from earlier centres to the remoter islands”. (Maude)

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June 12, 2018 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Hawaiian Fertilizing Company

The first sugar to be made in Hawai‘i is credited to a man from China. The newspaper Polynesian, in its issue of January 31, 1852, carried this item attributed to a prominent sugar planter on Maui, LL Torbert:

“Mr. John White, who came to these islands in 1797, and is now living with me, says that in 1802, sugar was first made at these islands by a native of China, on the island of Lānaʻi.”

“He came here in one of the vessels trading for sandalwood, and brought a stone mill and boilers, and after grinding off one small crop and making it into sugar, went back the next year with his fixtures, to China.”

In 1825 an English agriculturist named John Wilkinson arrived at Honolulu on the frigate Blonde. He had made some arrangement with Governor Boki, while the latter was in England, to go out and engage in cultivating sugar cane … and, probably, rum. (Kuykendall)

Although sugar cane had grown in Hawaiʻi for many centuries, its commercial cultivation for the production of sugar did not occur until 1825. In that year, Wilkinson and Boki started a plantation in Mānoa Valley. Within six months they had seven acres of cane growing and processing. The sugar mill was later converted into a distillery for rum. (Schmitt)

The first commercially-viable sugar plantation, Ladd and Co., was started at Kōloa on Kaua‘i in 1835. It was to change the face of Hawai‘i forever, launching an entire economy, lifestyle and practice of monocropping that lasted for well over a century.

Over the years, sugar‐cane farming soon proved to be the only available crop that could be grown profitably under the severe conditions imposed upon plants grown on the lands which were available for cultivation. (HSPA 1947) A century after Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi, sugar plantations started to dominate the landscape.

“After the experiment station of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association was started in 1895, analysis of soils and fertilizers became one of its major functions. On the basis of the chemical analyses. fertilizers were prescribed, and when necessary specially compounded to suit the requirements of each plantation.”

From 1890 two local fertilizer companies started: The Pacific Guano and Fertilizer Company (when first organized in 1890 by George N Wilcox); and The Hawaiian Fertilizer Company (started by Amos F Cooke). (Kuykendall)

Amos Francis Cooke was born December 23, 1851 in Honolulu, son of Amos Starr and Juliette (Montague) Cooke, early missionaries to Hawaiian Islands. He organized Hawaiian Fertilizing Co. of Honolulu, 1889, selling out in 1898. The company primarily serviced the sugar and pineapple plantations in the ‘Ewa plains.

The Hawaiian Fertilizing Company was organized by the present proprietor and manager, A. Frank Cooke, in 1888, and has grown from a struggling enterprise, furnishing to plantations two thousand tons of stable manure annually, to one of the largest fertilizing works on the Islands, the grounds and buildings covering nearly five acres of land at Iwilei.

When he conceived the plan of supplying plantations with fertilizers he engaged the old bone mill at Kalihi Kai, formerly owned by GJ Waller.

But by economy and rare managerial ability the business soon outgrew the accommodations and facilities to supply the demand made upon it.

Land was leased at Iwilei and the company, yielding to the pressure brought by a growing clientele, the lines were extended until Mr. Cooke bought more land.

Besides consuming yearly hundreds of tons of bones gathered here, the company was the first among the largest importers of nitrates and phosphates in the country.

It has business connections in the United States, Europe and South America, who supply the home factory with the highest grade fertilizers for compounding purposes.

From the United States and Germany sulphate of ammonia, double super-phosphates and potash is secured, while the nitrates used are from the famous banks in Chile.

At the industry’s peak a little over a century later (1930s,) Hawaii’s sugar plantations employed more than 50,000 workers and produced more than 1-million tons of sugar a year; over 254,500-acres were planted in sugar.

The sugar industry is at the center of Hawaiʻi’s modern diversity of races and ethnic cultures. Of the nearly 385,000 workers that came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix.

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June 11, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

La Ho‘o-mana‘o O Kamehameha I

Kamehameha Day was first proclaimed by Kamehameha V as a day to honor his grandfather, Kamehameha I, and was first celebrated on December 11, 1871 (Kamehameha V’s birthday.) It later changed to June 11.

“The celebration of Kamehameha Day on June 11 came about in the following way.”

“On December 11, 1871, the birthday of Kamehameha V who was at that time ruling king, a public celebration was held with horse-riding and other sports.”

“It was agreed to make this celebration an annual event, but because of the uncertain weather in December to change the date to June.”

“Kamehameha V died soon after, and the holiday remained as a ‘Day in Commemoration of Kamehameha I,’ (La Ho‘o-mana‘o o Kamehameha I.)” (Kamakau)

So, while linked to Kamehameha V’s birth date, it boils down to having a celebration when the weather is better (6-months from King Kamehameha V’s birthday.) The date does not have any direct connection to Kamehameha I.

The 1896 legislature of the Republic of Hawaiʻi declared it a national holiday.

“Kamehameha Day was generally observed by the people. Elaborate preparations were made for the celebration of the day, with sumptuous feasts and sports, and every effort was brought to bear in order to insure the success of the occasion.”

“It might well be said that, in the language of the poet, its observance was usually attended with:
‘The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beaut’, all that wealth e’er gave.’”

“The celebration itself was characterized by a cheerful spirit and good-fellowshlp. ‘Aloha,’ the watchword that opened every heart and brightened every soul, was greeted on every side, and hospitality, unalloyed and unbounded, was displayed at every door. There was no distinction in race, color or creed.” (John C Lane, Mayor, 1916)

In 1939, Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes under the Territorial Legislature of Hawai‘i created the King Kamehameha Celebration Commission – that law remains in effect, today.

State law notes: §8-5 King Kamehameha celebration commission … “The commission shall have charge of all arrangements for the celebration each year generally observed throughout Hawai‘i Nei on June 11, to commemorate the memory of the great Polynesian Hawaiian warrior and statesman King Kamehameha I, who united the Hawaiian Islands into the Kingdom of Hawai‘i”. In 1978 the legislature renamed this holiday King Kamehameha I Day.

Almost from its first observance this day was celebrated chiefly by horse races in Kapi‘olani Park; but the races eventually gave way to today’s parades of floats and pāʻū riders.

On February 14, 1883, the Kamehameha statue was unveiled at Aliʻiōlani Hale during the coronation ceremonies for King Kalākaua.

The stance of the statue, with spear in left hand and right outstretched with open palm, showed the “successful warrior inviting the people … to accept the peace and order he had secured.”

At the request of the monument committee, statue designer Thomas R Gould modified the features to make the king seem about 45-years old. The intent was a bronze statue of ‘heroic size’ (about eight-and-a-half-feet tall.)

‘Boston Evening Transcript’ of September 28, 1878, noted “It has been thought fitting that Boston, which first sent Christian teachers and ships of commerce to the Islands, should have the honor of furnishing this commemorative monument.”

While Gould was a Bostonian, he was studying in Italy, where he designed the statue; ultimately, the statue was cast in bronze in Paris.

It was shipped on August 21, 1880, by the bark ‘GF Haendel,’ and was expected about mid-December. On February 22, 1881, came word that the Haendel had gone down November 15, 1880, off the Falkland Islands. All the cargo had been lost.

About the time it was lost, King Kalākaua was on a royal tour of the island of Hawai‘i. He made a speech in front of the Kohala Post Office.

There, the King was reminded the Kamehameha Statue was destined for Honolulu, yet Kohala, the birthplace of Kamehameha, was overlooked as a place for his statue. Kohala residents then raised funds and a replica was ordered.

It turns out, however, that the original statue had been recovered and was in fair condition. The right hand was broken off near the wrist, the spear was broken and the feather cape had a hole in it. It was taken to a shed at Aliʻiolani Hale to be repaired.

Meanwhile, on January 31, 1883, the replica ordered by Kohala arrived. On February 14, 1883, the replica statue was unveiled at Aliʻiolani Hale during the coronation ceremonies for King Kalākaua.

As for the original statue (which had been repaired,) it was dedicated on May 8, 1883 (the anniversary of Kamehameha’s death) and is in Kapaʻau, North Kohala outside Kohala’s community/senior center.

There are now four different statues of similar design of Kamehameha:
• The first replica stands prominently in front of Aliʻiolani Hale in Honolulu
• The initial (repaired) casting of the statue is at Kapaʻau, North Kohala
• Another replica is in US Capitol’s visitor center in Washington DC
• Another statue is at the Wailoa River State Recreation Area in Hilo

The customary draping of the Kamehameha Statue with lei dates back to 1901. As far as the parade goes, in 1903, the Territory of Hawaiʻi, Chamber of Commerce and Merchants’ Association created the Hawaiʻi Promotion Committee (forerunner to the Hawaiʻi Visitors and Convention Bureau.) Supported by a legislative appropriation, it was mandated to provide better publicity to encourage tourism to Hawaiʻi.

The early years of the Territorial era saw the creation of a series of public celebrations. Beginning with the Mid-Pacific Carnival in 1904, a series of multiethnic public celebrations and parades were created to attract tourists and showcase Hawaiʻi’s multi-ethnic culture.

The Mid-Pacific Carnival, held in February as a celebration in honor of Washington’s birthday, had spectacular and historic pageants and military parades featured. During the winter season, the Mid-Pacific Carnival was at ʻAʻala Park in downtown Honolulu. Circus acts, sideshows and hula dancers entertained the public.

The carnival had an annual Floral Parade. By the early-1900s, the automobile made its appearance and soon reduced the need and use of horses. Then, a group of women made a society to keep the culture going and Pāʻū clubs were formed.

The Hawaiian Star, February 22, 1906, headlined the “Floral Parade a Great Success.” “It was a great day for Honolulu. The Promotion Committee’s inauguration of what is intended to be an annual event in celebration of Washington’s birthday, could have asked no better day, no greater success …”

“… no more wide spread interest in all classes of the population, no greater enthusiasm among those who participated In the parade, and no more unique, striking, or picturesque a feature to individualize the celebration in Honolulu, and make it separate, and apart from the pageant of other places than the Pa-u riders.”

“The Pa-u riders, of course, were the magnet and center of attraction. This revival of an old custom, picturesque and under the conditions that gave rise to it, strikingly useful, was a happy thought of the Promotion Committee.”

“It appealed to dormant but when aroused, pleasing associations, among the older residents, especially the Hawaiians. It appealed to the love of oddity and the striking costume in the younger generation.” (The Hawaiian Star, February 22, 1906)

In 1916, Mid-Pacific Carnival merged into the Kamehameha Day Parade.

Next time you are at the original or replicas of the Kamehameha Statue, look closely at Kamehameha’s sash; there is an error in the arrangement of the sash. Traditionally, a sash is worn by first draping the sash over the left shoulder to where it falls between the knees.

Then the remaining length is wrapped around the waist and over the front flap of the sash to around the back, fed behind the part over the shoulder, and the remaining hangs down in the back (at knee length.) (San Nicolas) After that, you put the cape on over it all.

“In the statue the cordon passes from the pendent end up behind the portion used as a waist-band, over the left shoulder, outside the cloak, instead of returning down the back to form the belt as it should have done with the end tucked in to tighten the band, it leaves this belt as an independent member and passes down over the cloak to trail on the ground!” (Brigham)

“The final arrangement must be based on esthetic rather than historical grounds. In fact, the decorated end of the sash drags on the ground behind the figure. The other end has had to be supplemented with a fictitious terminal band to be presentable in front.”

“If you look closely, the final arrangement is impossible without two sashes: a long one from malo front over the shoulder and down to the ground, and a short, separate belt.” (Later noted by Charlot.)

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June 10, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kamehameha Takes A Walk

“The subject of interest which engrossed attention this week, was the question of the location of the second statue of Kamehameha the Conqueror, which we were officially (or rather Royally) informed is designed for Kohala, and very rightly so, as this was his birth-place.”

“At the request of the Governess, who has recently been paying us a visit, a committee was selected to decide upon the site upon which the statue shall be erected upon its arrival.”

“This committee, consisting of twenty-four members, met on the 22d, at the Court-house, in Kapaau, to discuss the question of location. Among the members were the following foreigners: Messrs. Vida, Woods. Chapin, Kenton, Holmes, Atkins, Smith, Sheldon, Ewart, and others who did not put in an appearance.”

“The native members consisted of the Police Magistrate, who acted as chairman, native lawyers, and sugar planters. Various locations were suggested and their claims and advantages warmly advocated.”

“Among others, the respected birth-place of the grand old King, near Kohala Plantation, called Halaula; Hapuu, near Halawa. where he was raised, and his favorite dwelling place, on the bluff near which he stood and marshalled the fleet of war canoes for the expedition which resulted in the final conquest of Maui; and Niulii, at the Eastern end of the District.”

“It was finally decided by an almost unanimous vote, that the statue shall be placed at a point nearly central of the District, on an elevation in the land of Ainakea, near the Government road, and almost equidistant from the Star Mill and that of Kohala Plantation.”

“If placed on a high pedestal it can there be seen front a long distant in every direction.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 31, 1883)

Initially, “On the grounds of the Ainakea school, near by, is a statue of the first Kamehameha.” (Anglo-American Magazine, September 1901)

Later, attempts were made to relocate the Kohala statue. “Kaniho presented an amendment providing $500 for the removal of the statue of Kamehameha from its present location in Kohala to the Court house yard. He said the statue was now in a neighborhood where nobody lived and the people of Kohala had petitioned for its removal as they had to deck it with wreaths.”

“Lewis opposed the scheme saying the statue was in a school yard where children could see it and would always be reminded who their great chief was.”

“Chillingworth asked if the statue was not on the birth place of Kamehameha, and replied that It was ten
miles distant.”

“Aylett disputed the statement, saying he was present when the statue was unveiled and it was said at that time that this was Kamehameha’s birth place.”

“Keliinoi moved an amendment to move the statue to Lahaina. Pulaa said the statue had already traveled a good deal; when it was on the way out it fell overboard and when recovered the statue was minus an arm.”

“‘If the money appropriated the statue will be on the move again,’ he said. Both Home Rulers and Republicans voted in favor of the removal.”

“‘The birth place of Kamehameha was in Kohala,’ said Pulaa. ‘I was not there, but my grandmother told me so.’”

“Kealawaa said the statue should not be disturbed. ‘It is not right to remove the statue,’ said he, ‘what is placed there should remain. It is just like this building. It should not be moved.’ Kaniho and Oili talked some more but the interpreter did not consider their remarks worth translating.”

“The motion lost 13 to 12.” (Hawaiian Gazette, July 3, 1903)

A year later, the newspaper noted in a page 1 headline, “Kamehameha To Take A Walk.”

“Kamehameha I’s statue in Kohala is going to be moved, not out of the district but to a position where it may be seen by the visitor.”

“By a relocation of the main road, involving a deep cut through a hill, the statue has been left out of sight of the passing way farer.”

“It is proposed therefore to remove it from its old site in front of the schoolhouse to a position in front of the courthouse.”

“As the statue is Territorial property the Board of Supervisors of Hawaii county asked the permission of the Superintendent of Public Works for Its removal. Mr. Holloway has compiled with the request.”

“The Kohala statue is the original. It was sunk at sea near Cape Horn in the vessel bringing it out from Europe.”

“After a replica, from the sculptor’s mould, had been procured to set up in Honolulu the original was fished out of the depths, brought to the islands and set up in Kohala, amidst the scenes of the great monarch’s earlier military exploits.” (Sunday Advertiser, March 24, 1904)

“To Move Statue Of Kamehameha – Relocation Of Main Road In Kohala Bars Attraction From View Of Visitors. The statue of Kamehameha the Great in Kohala is going to be moved to a position where It can be seen by visitors.”

“By a relocation of the main road the statue is cut off from the observance of wayfarers. The Public Works Department has granted the Hawaii Supervisors the right to move the attraction.” (Hawaiian Star, March 25, 1907)

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