Hawaii | Page 519 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

May 19, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Early History of the Judiciary

The early history of the Hawaiian Judiciary may be divided into three periods: the first, which may be briefly described as the period of absolute government, extending from the earliest migrations of Hawaiians to the Islands (about 1000 to 1840.)

Pā‘ao (CA 1300,) from Kahiki (Tahiti,) is reported to have introduced (or significantly expanded) a religious and political code in old Hawai‘i, collectively called the kapu system. This forbid many things and demanded many more, with many infractions being punishable by death.

Anything connected with the gods and their worship was considered sacred, such as idols, heiau and priests. Because chiefs were believed to be descendants of the gods, many kapu related to chiefs and their personal possessions.

While the social order defined very strict societal rules, exoneration was possible if one could reach a puʻuhonua (place of refuge) and be cleansed, as well as cleared by a kahuna (priest).

The puʻuhonua was especially important in times of war as a refuge for women and children, as well as warriors from the defeated side.

The second period of the early judicial system, a period that is referenced as the time of constitutional government, extending from 1840 to 1893; the third is a brief transitional time (through the Provisional government and Republic) leading to association with the United States (Territory and now State.)

During the first period, the system of government was solely through the actions of the high Chief. Under this system all functions of government, executive, legislative and judicial, were by the paramount chief (with advice from his council of chiefs, kahuna and other advisors.)

At the time of Cook’s arrival (1778-1779), the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

The Judiciary was established during the reign of Kamehameha I (1789-1819) with three grades of courts: the National or Supreme, presided over by the King; the Island or Superior, presided over by the respective Governors.

There were two classes of District or Inferior Courts, presided over by the under-Chiefs and the Tax Officers respectively, with concurrent jurisdiction as to territory but different as to subject matter.

The Judicial divisions were also established during this period: the Islands of Oahu (1st Circuit) and Hawaii (3rd Circuit) each constituting one and the Islands of Maui (2nd Circuit) and Kauai (4th Circuit) with their adjacent smaller islands, respectively, constituting the others.

These divisions remained unchanged until the Act of 1892 to reorganize the judiciary went into effect January 1, 1893, when the Island of Hawaii was divided into two circuits, the Third and the Fourth, and Kauai which formerly constituted, with its adjacent islands, the Fourth Circuit, was designated as the Fifth. (Lydecker) (Hawai‘i Island later consolidated into the 3rd Circuit and Kauai went back to being the 4th Circuit.)

The Constitution of 1840 provided for the Executive, Legislative and Judicial divisions of the government, but was not very clear as to the powers of each. Under it the Island Courts continued to be held by the respective Governors more by custom than by the express language of the Constitution.

The Constitution empowered the Governors to appoint the Judges, as was done by the Governors of Hawaii and Kauai in 1844, when special judges were appointed for foreign cases and by Governor Kekūanāoʻa of O‘ahu, when, on September 19, 1845, he appointed Lorrin Andrews to act as his substitute in all such cases.

The Supreme Court was established by the Constitution of 1840, which provided that the King should be the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court. Also ‘The Representative body shall appoint four persons whose duty it shall be to aid the King and Premier, and these six persons shall constitute the Supreme Court of the Kingdom.’

The Act of 1846 to Organize the Executive Departments provided that until the passage of an Act to Organize the Judiciary Department, there should be appointed one or more judges to sit at Honolulu, with original jurisdiction in cases involving over one hundred dollars in value, and appellate jurisdiction in all other cases from all the local courts of the Kingdom in cases involving less than one hundred dollars in value.

Under this act Lorrin Andrews was appointed June 24, 1846, as one of the judges, and on November 30 of that year William L Lee as another, the two to act jointly or severally. These appointments were to hold until the passing of the Act to Organize the Judiciary. This Court was the forerunner of the Supreme Court as now established.

The Supreme Court of the Hawaiian Islands was established by the Act of September 7, 1847 to Organize the Judiciary, and was first designated as the Superior Court. Previous to the establishment of Territorial Government, Justices of the Supreme Court held life commissions.

The Organic Act fixed a stated term of four years, subject to removal by the President of the United States. Now Justices are appointed for an initial ten-year term; after initial appointment, the Judicial Selection Commission determines whether a justice will be retained in office. A justice may not serve past age 70.)

Under the Act of 1847 to Organize the Judiciary Department, the Circuit Courts, to some extent, took the place of the former Governors’ Courts. In each circuit there were to be two judges.

The Constitution of 1852 provided for their appointment of judges by the King with the approval of the Privy Council. Under the Constitution of 1864 (promulgated by the King upon his own authority) the appointing power was vested solely in the King.

The Attorney General’s Department was organized by the Act approved April 27, 1846. The Legislature of 1862 passed an Act providing that the King may appoint an Attorney-General, and the Constitution of 1864 made the appointment compulsory.

By 1866, the need for a new courthouse government building in the Hawaiian Kingdom was apparent. The old courthouse, completed in 1852, accommodated not only the judicial needs, but also served as the reception hall for diplomatic ceremonies and official social functions.

On February 19, 1872, Kamehameha V laid the cornerstone for the new building, Ali’iolani Hale. The use of concrete blocks, a fairly new building material, “infinitely superior for both durability and ornament,” was recommended and accepted by Public Works.

To increase the work force, convicts were brought from the prison and made to labor on the project. In 1874, during the reign of King Kalākaua, the building was finally completed.

Today, Ali’iolani Hale houses the Supreme Court of Hawai`i, the court administration offices, a law library, and the Judiciary History Center.

Open to the general public and welcoming visits from classroom students, the Judiciary History Center reflects the unique legal and judicial history of our islands from the days of kapu law to the present – from chiefs to monarchy to statehood.

The image shows Ali‘iolani Hale in 1875, shortly after it was completed. The King Kamehameha Statue that now stands in front of the building was unveiled on February 14, 1883, during the coronation ceremonies for King Kalākaua. (Lots of information here is from Thayer, Lydecker and Judiciary History Center.)

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8-Aliiolani_Hale-1875

May 18, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Alexander House Settlement

The Hawaiian settlement house movement was a smaller version of the American movement best represented by Chicago’s Hull House. Staffed by members of the middle class, these institutions sought to help immigrant families adapt to the language and customs of their new country.

The word ‘settlement’ had connotations of the frontier middle-class ‘settling’ in the inner city. Settlement houses in Hawai‘i and the US offered educational services, staged community events, build libraries and in general tried to enhance the lives of their neighborhoods.

Behind the settlement house effort was the progressive belief in the importance of social cohesion, the belief that individuals are not autonomous but part of a web of social relationships and that welfare of any single person is dependent on the welfare of society as a whole. (Castle)

“The ‘Settlement’ as developed both in England and the United States is concerned with the social and moral well-being of its community in both concrete and spiritual form.”

“But since its field is among people of many races and creeds and of widely different economic standing it cannot restrict itself by adhering to any channel of dogma or belief which represents only a portion of the community. Like any rule this one has its exceptions, but that is the general principle upon which a Settlement must work if it wishes to be a community organization.”

“The Settlement field is that of applied social science; what we might call the firing line of our social, political, and economic theory.”

“This field always represents the frontier between the great body of theory and principle and the great body of condition and fact – applying, adapting and proving or disproving the one to the other by concrete expression. That is the field and the fundamental principle adopted by the Alexander House Settlement.” (The Friend, December 1922)

The precursor of the Alexander House Settlement was a Chinese Mission located in Wailuku to which Miss Charlotte L Turner came to take charge in 1893.

After seven years of this work Miss Turner and Miss NG Malone, also formerly a mission worker on Maui, were on a vacation in the East and while visiting ‘Settlements’ in Chicago, New York and Boston conceived the idea of establishing a settlement on Maui. Both returned to Wailuku and went to work to put this idea into concrete form.

These two finally secured contributions enough to start building and also secured the land upon which to build. The land, about two acres, was deeded by the “Directors of the Wailuku Sugar Co. to the Hawaiian Board of Missions for Educational, and Christian work only,” reversion to the Sugar Company when no longer so used being a part of the deed.

In 1900 work was begun. No stone was left unturned to help along in the good work. Prison labor was given by the county. Even the Mission workers (Miss Turner and her assistants), literally “by the sweat of their brows” with hoes and other implements did a share of the work. (The Friend, December 1922)

The first building erected was known as the “Settlement Building” and was situated on the corner of Main and Market streets. It was completed and opened in 1900, its main use being for a kindergarten.

The name “Alexander House Settlement” was chosen as Miss Turner says because “It was customary to name them (settlements) after the men and women whose lives had been consecrated to the uplift of humanity, hence, the name ‘Alexander House’ after ‘William and Mary Alexander’ the influence of whose lives is still felt on Maui, and throughout the Islands and whose names we love to honor.”

The settlement house should not be confused with the former Alexander home of missionaries William and Mary Alexander farther up Main Street in Wailuku.

After the Settlement began functioning, it was found necessary to build a residence for the workers and the present residence was erected in 1901. In 1909 they added a gymnasium and swimming tank (pool) and bowling alley.

A reading room was finally opened, papers were subscribed, books were donated and finally a Library Association was formed which enlarged the library and each year raised enough money to keep the “Library” open at stated hours afternoons and evenings. From this effort has grown the Maui County Free Public Library.

In 1916 land was also acquired on which to build a tennis court; later a second court was constructed and then four more. In 1919, a new field, or rather a new organization of its field of endeavor, gave the Settlement a much larger scope.

At this time the plantations entered into an agreement whereby their welfare work was put under the general supervision of the Settlement. (The Friend, December 1922)

The Alexander Settlement served as the address of the Maui Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) recruitment office from 1934 to 1941; the CCC later changed to the “TH Employment Service, Wailuku, Maui.”

Throughout the years of its existence, Alexander House hosted concerts, parties and entertainments as fundraising events. Community outreach programs in health care and physical education were developed by Alexander House and the complex housed the Chamber of Commerce, the Red Cross, Community Chest and other public service groups.

Later, the Alexander House Settlement’s kindergarten and land was transformed into a United Service Organization (USO.) By 1950, Alexander House closed its doors and was replaced by the National Dollar Store and by American Security bank. (Later the corner bank site was redeveloped as an office building.)

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Alexander House Settlement

Alexander House, Kindergarten Class, Wailuku, 1903

Alexander House_Settlement

Alexander House

Alexander House Settlement-Sewing Class-1903

Alexander House Settlement-Kindergarten group-1903

Alexander House Settlement-Japanese Kindergarten group-1903

Alexander House Wailuku

Alexander House-Wailuku

Alexander House Settlement-Workers House-1903

Alexander House Settlement Church-Maui News

National Dollar Store 1960

May 17, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Salvaging Oklahoma

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was planned as the initial step of their Pacific campaign. Admiral Isoruku, then Commander-in-Chief, Combined Fleet, supposedly originated the plan in early-1941.

The force assembled 2 battleships, 6 carriers, 3 cruisers, approximately 20 destroyers and 5 submarines, including midgets which were carried by mother submarines.

The force departed at 6 am, November 26, Japan time, and set an indirect northern course for the next rendezvous, 200 miles north of Oahu. On December 6, when the force was still 800 miles north of O‘ahu; it received the long awaited code message to proceed with the attack.

When the Japanese attacked, 86 vessels, including 8 battleships, 7 cruisers, 28 destroyers and 5 submarines, plus the usual complement of small craft, were based in the harbor (there were no aircraft carriers moored at Pearl Harbor at the time.)

When the onslaught subsided, nearly every ship bore scars. One of the worst damaged, the Oklahoma, was salvaged by one of the most complex operations in history. (Morris) Salvage efforts concentrated on the least damaged ships first, the Oklahoma was one of the last ships to receive serious attention.

The Oklahoma was, at the time of the attack, located outboard of the battleship Maryland, which was moored alongside Ford Island. She was struck on the port side by four to nine torpedoes, which caused the ship to capsize quickly and come to rest on the bottom at an angle of over 150-degrees from upright.

The righting and refloating of the capsized battleship Oklahoma was the largest of the Pearl Harbor salvage jobs, and the most difficult. Because the Oklahoma was old and very badly damaged, future active service was not seriously contemplated. The salvage effort focused on clearing an important mooring berth for further use.

Refloating operations were commenced by installing four independent patches in breaches of the hull, the largest of which consisted of five sections and was 130 ft long by 57 ft high.

The external structure served to reinforce the patch, which consisted of 4-in. thick siding sealed with packing materials. The sections were secured to the sides by means of hook bolts installed in holes burned by divers through the damaged shell of the ship. The patches were sealed by means of concrete poured into forms along the bottom and up both ends.

Fuel oil, ammunition and some machinery were removed to lighten the ship. Coral fill was placed alongside her bow to ensure that the ship would roll, and not slide, when pulling began.

Oklahoma’s port side had been largely torn open by Japanese torpedoes, and a series of patches had to be installed. Divers worked in and around her to make the hull as airtight as possible; their work was critical to the salvage success.

They wore deep-sea diving dresses weighing 185-lbs, and worked for many hours several hundred feet from access openings. All of this was done in total darkness, underwater lamps being of no use because of the excessively murky water.

All in all, about 6000-individual dives were made, during salvage operations at Pearl Harbor, averaging approximately four hours per dive.

An extensive system of righting frames (or “bents”) and cable anchors was installed on the ship’s hull, twenty-one large winches (the winches were powered by motors from Honolulu street cars) were firmly mounted on nearby Ford Island, and cables were rigged between ship and shore. (Navy)

The Oklahoma capsized in a position parallel to the shore. Righting operations involved the use of 21 five hp DC motor-driven winches, each of which, through two 17-part tackles, applied an approximately horizontal force transverse to the ship.

To allow turning moments, pendants extending from the outer blocks were secured to the tips of 21 40-ft-high “A” frames mounted on the above-water portion of the starboard bilge.

The first pull began on March 8, 1943, the final pull was on May 20, 1943 – it took 74-days to turn the ship over. She was floated by pumping air into air-tight compartments and pumping water out of the hull.

The ship came afloat in early November 1943, and was drydocked in late December. Once in Ship Yard hands, Oklahoma’s most severe structural damage was repaired sufficiently to make her watertight.

Guns, some machinery, and the remaining ammunition and stores were taken off. After several months in Drydock Number Two, the ship was again refloated and moored elsewhere in Pearl Harbor

The Oklahoma was later sold to the Moore Drydock Co of Oakland, California, for scrapping. On May 17, 1947, while under tow, the Oklahoma sank 540-miles out of Pearl Harbor with no one on board.

In the attack on Pearl Harbor, there were 2,402 US deaths from the attack. 1,177 of those deaths were from the USS Arizona, while 429 of the deaths were from the USS Oklahoma (14 Marines and 415 Sailors.)

Thirty-five crew members were positively identified and buried in the years immediately after the attack. By 1950, all unidentified remains were laid to rest as unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Recently, the Defense Department recovered for identification and return to families the last of 388 sailors and Marines killed on the battleship USS Oklahoma on December 7, 1941, and later buried as “unknowns” in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. (Lots of information here is from Navy, Morris and USSOklahoma-com.)

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USS_Oklahoma-_Salvage._Aerial_view_toward_shore_with_ship_in_90_degree_position-03-19-43

Capsizing of Oklahoma-illustration

Ship righted to about 30 degrees-29 March 1943

Backstay connections on the starboard hull. Cables attached here were connected to winches ashore

Ship righted to about 30 degrees, on 29 March 1943

Beginning of salvage operations, with righting bents and cables installed

View from off the port side, 24 December 1943, more than a month and a half after refloating and four days before the ship entered drydock

Installation of #1 and #2 righting bents on the capsized hull of the battleship

Oklahoma righted using Honolulu Street Car Motors-1943

Hauling blocks and tackles under preliminary tension, viewed from aft of the capsized battleship

Commencement of righting operations on the capsized battleship, at Pearl Harbor, 8 March 1943

Aerial view from off the port side, 6 November 1943, after the ship had been refloated

Refloated battleship enters drydock-12-28-1943

May 12, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

‘Ulumalu

After Kāne created the spring at Kapunahou, Kanaloa suggested that they return to their home at Kōnāhuanui. They traveled through Mānoa over ‘Aihualama to the heights of Pu‘u o Mānoa (Rocky Hill) onto the plains to the land of Kulumalu (also Kaulumalu or Ka ‘Ulumalu) “the shade of the breadfruit.”

Kulumalu was oʻioʻina o nā akua, the rest temple of the gods and the place where the food for the gods was cooked. According to legends, the menehune built a fort and a temple at the top of the hill ‘Ulumalu.

A hill labeled “Ulumalu” was plotted on the 1882 Baldwin map of Mānoa Valley on the west side of Mānoa Road. This map also shows that the hill was part of Grant 4166 to Mrs. Mary Castle.

In the late-nineteenth century, the Castles (descendants of an early missionary family) built a large estate on this hill, called Puʻuhonua. (Cultural Surveys)

‘Mother’ Castle was 81 when she moved into the great house with two middle-aged daughters. Her children, who by now all had homes of their own, thought to “add to the happiness of her few remaining years by building her a beautiful home.”

The 8.16 acres had been purchased at auction on May 12, 1898, for $6,250. A government survey station on the site had already been given a name from the past, Ulumalu. Many stone walls had to be erected.

One at the mauka end was built by a young engineer named John Wilson (long-time mayor of Honolulu), on his first job in Hawaii after graduating from Stanford. (In this same year he would be engineer in charge of the first carriage road over the Nuʻuanu Pali.) (Robb & Vicars)

One of the Castle sons, George (1851-1932), recalled “there being a beautiful grove of breadfruit and ʻōhia trees where native birds congregated in great numbers. The man who planted the grove was very old and I was a boy. Sand (volcanic cinders) came down … and choked the trees.”

Another son, William (1849-1935), gave the name Puʻuhonua to the property. Pu‘u (hill or protuberance) and honua (of earth; but also meaning a place set apart for refuge and safety.) (Robb & Vicars)

“The story is told that way back in the late-nineties when the Castle brothers were building the magnificent edifice as home for their mother, Mary Castle, the Hawaiian workmen digging the foundations had their picks snatched from their hands by the Pueos (owls) and at once ceased work on the sacred spot.”

“Mr George Castle, who remembers the incident, believes that the picks struck into (an) old cave”. (Bulletin of the Pan Pacific Union, April 1925)

A large roomy barn was constructed first (“room enough for three carriages”), and here Mrs Castle with her daughters Harriet and Caroline, and Isabella Fenwick, their housekeeper, moved from the Castle homestead at Kawailoa (610 S King Street) in March 1899 while the Manoa house was being built. (Robb & Vicars)

Built as home for ‘Mother’ Castle, they moved into the big house in the early part of 1900; it was the first building in the islands in which passenger elevator was installed.

There were a porte-cochere, an entrance way, a great hall, a library (15 by 21 feet,) a music room (19 by 26), and a lanai (20 by 20). The dining room (15 by 20) had its own fireplace. And also on the ground floor were sewing room, bath, laundry, pantry, kitchen, and storage rooms.

The hydraulic elevator rose to the second floor, where there were six bedrooms, a sitting room, linen closets and one supportive bathroom. A third floor had two bedrooms (16 by 19), a third (19 by 21), and a loggia to the east. This comes to more than 6,000 square feet, without counting the balconies.

“The outlook from Puʻuhonua (high above what is now Cooper Road) has always been called the millionaires’ view, and it is, for there is probably no such view in the islands as that from the lanais of the big building.”

“Looking mauka are the mountains of Upper Manoa, Konohua Nui and Olympus, towering 3000 feet, and ever may be seen the tumbling cascades and waterfalls over the evergreen precipices. In the foreground is hedge of night blooming cereus second only to that at Punahou, and beyond the great level taro patches of the valley.”

“Looking makai is majestic Diamond Head and the shimmering water of Waikiki seen over the waving tufts of the coconut trees, some of which, it is said, Kamehameha planted with his own hands when he landed for the first time on Oahu Island to subdue and rule it.” (Bulletin of the Pan Pacific Union, April 1925)

‘Mother’ Castle’s tenure of the Manoa house was not long. She died March 13, 1907, at 88 years. The next and different life of the house and area now commenced. It became the ‘Castle Home for Children’ on May 7, 1907.

Several cottages had been built on the property, with such names as Lodge, Gables, Chalet, Lanai (in one of these lived Miss Frances Lawrence, who was superintendent of “Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association” (FKCAA) for many years.)

Mrs. Harriet Castle Coleman headed the FKCAA. She died in 1924 and FKCAA was told to close the orphanage. Percy M Pond, a well-known realtor, bought the property on May 23, 1924, and put in two new streets parallel to and above Manoa Road, the top street named Puʻuhonua, the other Kaulumalu (this eventually became an extension of Ferdinand Street.)

Pond made 40 lots on 3.2 acres on the lower portion. That became called Castle Terrace. The Castle home (Pu‘uhonua) then became the research center for the Pan-Pacific Union.

Alexander Hume Ford, director of the Pan-Pacific Union (who had also organized the Outrigger Canoe Club and the Trail and Mountain Club,) intended the property is to be used solely as the home of Pan-Pacific research institute, or college of graduates to “tackle the scientific problems of the Pacific peoples, especially those of food production, protection and conservation.”

“The assistant students will, it is expected, attend the University of Hawai‘i, where they will take their degrees. Two such students from the mainland now with scientific party here, are expected to be the first of such entries in the University of Hawaii with others to follow from lands across the Pacific.” (Bulletin of the Pan Pacific Union, September 1924)

In the following 16-years the Pan-Pacific Union became a sort of early “think tank” capable of providing “perfect quiet for study, remote from disturbances, with ample room for visiting scientists to live and work.”

Many other institutions were happy to cooperate. The Bishop Museum lodged research fellows there, often for a year at a time. There was one charge for the lodgers: a visitor was expected to give at least one of the weekly public lectures.

A Junior Science Council was added. In 1933 Ford wrote that “twenty students of all races and from many localities, members of the Pan-Pacific Student’s Club who are attending the University of Hawai‘i, are occupying the barn and carriage house in a cooperative housekeeping arrangement and working out in their own way ideas which may promote happier international relations.” (Robb & Vicars)

The big house was finally torn down in 1941. The other associated structures lay empty, and gradually they disintegrated. Termites had long been a problem.

Today, 79 owners share the original and lasting wonders of the legendary area: mountain and ocean views, a cool climate, just enough rain, frequent rainbows and sun-glinted waterfalls—all that Mother Castle had come to live with and enjoy in her last years. (Robb & Vicars)

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Castle’s Manoa Home-PP-46-4-003-1886

Puuhonua-Castle_Manoa_home-Robb&Vicars

Puuhonua and Castles on June 20, 1903-Robb&Vicars

Orphans at Puuhonua, about 1910-Robb&Vicars

Orphans at Puuhonua about 1910-Robb&Vicars

Manoa_Valley-Baldwin-(DAGS)-Reg1068-1882-portion

May 10, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Olonā

The ancient Hawaiians made use of a considerable range of fiber plants. Some of these they brought with them; others were discovered in the new island home.

Naturally available to the Hawaiians were a variety of vines, grasses, and tree barks that could be used as cord with little or no modification, but they found that, with a bit more effort, they could produce string, twine, or rope that was easier to handle and lasted a longer time.

First among the Hawaiians’ cordage resources, however, was an endemic forest plant, olonā. Its excellence made olonā cordage a highly valued item, not only among the Hawaiians themselves but also, later, among Western sailors, and its virtues enabled Hawaiians to create some of the finest pre-contact handcraft in the Pacific. (Abbott)

“Olonā was a thing highly prized by one and all. It was very valuable and planters raised it extensively. … There were, however, few places where olonā would grow and hence, not all people cultivated.”

The ancient Hawaiians undoubtedly discovered the valuable fiber of this plant at a very early time. They were intimately familiar with the local flora and its economic utilization. The olonā is mentioned in many of the old songs and legends.

“It grew in rainy districts and in marsh lands and in those parts of the mountain which were saturated with moisture; it did not grow on bare mountain sides but on those ridges where bananas grew and water ran constantly and where there was plenty of moisture. It throve on the windward side of the islands and few places besides.”

“When people in old days planted olonā they first looked for a good place in the mountains to plant, a valley where it was fertile and flat, perhaps below a cliff in the bed of a stream.”

“Here they cut down the pulu ferns, chopped down the trees and cleared out the weeds. The planting was done like the planting of the wauke from the young shoots or cuttings from the ground stem.”

“A field of olonā that grew uniformly with every stalk and every leaf alike was the planter’s delight, and if it grew on a level, two or three acres or more of it, his joy knew no bounds. It all grew up like the hairs on the head, with straight stalks and rounded leaves. In a year or more it was full-grown and the leaves began to turn yellow.” (Kamakau; Bishop Museum)

Special interest is attached to the olonā fiber as it is generally recognized to be the strongest and most durable fiber in the world. No other fiber is recorded to exceed it in these two important characteristics.

This fiber is the best of all fibers known at the present time. The three dominant features are (1) the great tensile strength (about three times the strength of commercial Manila – about eight times as strong as hemp;) (2) its great resistance to deterioration in salt water; and (3) its pliability, and thus its adaptability for spinning by hand.

Among the Hawaiians it was put to a great variety of uses. All fishing lines and nets of the best quality were invariably made of olonā, because of its high resistance to the action of salt water. (MacCaughey, 1918)

Fishing lines and nets made from this fiber by expert Hawaiians present an appearance of so uniform a caliber and twist that it would lead one to believe that the fiber had been made by the most intricate machinery.

Olonā lines and nets which have been in more or less constant use for over a century are almost as good as new, and are handed down from generation to generation as precious objects. Most of the natives are very unwilling to part with any of their fishing gear that is made of olonā.

The very serviceable carrying-nets, koho, in which the wooden calabashes and other objects were borne, were commonly made of olonā fiber. Olonā was not used for making the bark-cloth or kapa itself, but threads and cords of olonā were used for sewing the kapa.

A stout cord of olonā was usually attached to the wooden war-clubs and dagger-like swords, for suspending the weapon from the wrist. This prevented the loss of the weapon during the fray. For fastening the stone adz, ‘o‘o, to its wooden handle, olonā was always the preferred fiber.

It was used for the very fine and pliable netting which served as a groundwork for the feathers, in the construction of the splendid garments and insignia of the ancient royalty and ali‘i. The brilliant scarlet and yellow feathers were skillfully woven by the women upon the imperishable framework of olonā. (MacCaughey, 1918)

“Olonā is so universally the basis of Hawaiian feather cloaks, that feathers mounted on any other substance would be at once classed as foreign to the group.” The fineness of the net varies as does the size of the thread used for cloaks.

In featherwork, feathers are mounted and tied with olonā cordage to nets made of well twisted, closely netted olonā. Feathers are inserted in rows and bound by two or three turns of the olonā threads. (Brigham)

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