Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

William L Lee

William Little Lee did not plan to go to Hawaiʻi, let alone spend his life there.  (Dunn)

Lee had received the best legal education available for an American of his time. He had been a law student at Harvard under US Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story and the renowned law teacher Samuel Greenleaf.  After a year’s practice in Troy, New York, his recurring illness caused him to leave.  (Silverman)

In February 1846, he sailed for the Oregon Territory with his friend and fellow adventurer, Charles Reed Bishop. After a long and stormy voyage, their ship (the Henry,) after about eight months at sea, arrived in Honolulu harbor October 12, 1846, needing extensive repairs.  (Dunn)

While waiting there, Lee was consulted by some American residents on a legal question.  He caught the attention of officials in the Hawaiian kingdom and was recruited by Attorney General John Ricord and Dr. Gerrit Judd, the Minister of Finance for Kamehameha III. Lee, then 26 years old, was only the second trained attorney in the Islands (after Ricord).  (Dunn)

After some persuasion, he consented to stay, provided his friend could also be provided with employment. This was done, and Lee and Bishop made their home in Honolulu.  (Bishop later married a Princess, Bernice Pauahi, founded Bishop & Company (what is now known as First Hawaiian Bank) and became a well-known financier and philanthropist.)

On December 1, 1846, Governor Mataio Kekūanāoʻa appointed Lee a judge in the newly organized court system.  The appointment of Lee marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the Hawaiian judiciary. His character and attainments were such that under his leadership the courts won and retained public confidence.  (Kuykendall)

The greater part of the Statute Laws of His Majesty, Kamehameha III was drafted by Attorney General Ricord before he resigned from the government; it was completed by Judge Lee. (Kuykendall)

The Act of 1847 expressly provided that the judges should be entirely independent of the executive department, and that the
King in his executive capacity should not control the decisions of the judges.

Following this, Lee presided over the Superior Court of Law and Equity (this court was later elevated to become the Supreme Court.)  Lee served as Chief Justice (the Islands’ first CJ,) Lorrin Andrews and John ʻĪʻi as associate justices.  The three justices heard all cases of original or appellate jurisdiction above the district court level.  Lee was appointed to the Privy Council.

He strenuously urged upon the king and chiefs the policy of giving up to the common people a third of their land, and when a law to that effect was passed, he was appointed president of the Board of Commissioners to Quiet Land Titles (the Land Commission) to carry out its provisions, but he declined to accept any compensation for his services.  (Ellis)

As much as anyone, Lee was responsible for carrying into effect the system of private property ownership. All of his deepest beliefs came together in his support of land ownership by commoners. He felt that “merely to preserve” their rights “would be no gain.” He wanted to go forward to “define their rights—to separate them from those of their chiefs.”

He sought “to give them what they have as their own, to inspire them with more self respect, more independence of character, and to lead them if possible to work, and labor, and cultivate, and improve their land.”  (Silverman)

In 1851, he was elected to the Legislature and became Speaker of the House of Representatives.  Among his labors were the framing of the revised constitution of the kingdom, and the task of drafting criminal and civil codes for the kingdom.  (Ellis)

Lee brought major areas of substantive Western law into the Hawaiian legal system by drafting legislation which was frequently passed without alteration.

He wrote the Masters and Servants Act (1850) which governed the terms of contract labor of thousands of Hawaiian and immigrant plantation workers. He drafted the Marriage and Divorce law (1853) which liberalized divorce grounds to include several causes, instead of adultery only. He undoubtedly drafted basic business legislation, such as the bankruptcy law (1848.)  (Silverman)

As Chief Justice, first of the Superior Court (1847-52) and then the Supreme Court (1852-57,) Lee administered the court system. He created the position of clerks in the Supreme and Circuit courts and placed them under centralized control.

By the time of the 1852 Constitution, aliʻi authority combined with Western precedents to create a Hawaiian judicial system that was Western in philosophy, structure and procedure.

Soon after the 1852 Constitution went into effect, Chief Justice Lee moved into the newly constructed coral block courthouse located near the harbor. This courthouse was the first structure in the islands built expressly for court purposes. It was built on the site of Halekauwila, a large Hawaiian house belonging to Kamehameha III, where earlier court sessions had been held.  (Silverman)

Judge Lee’s health, always delicate, gave way as a result of undue exposure in attendance upon sick natives during an epidemic of smallpox in 1853.

This brought on a return of his early malady, and in 1855, in order to obtain medical advice, he accepted an appointment as minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to negotiate a treaty with the US by which sugar from the islands was to be admitted free of duty, in return for the admission to the islands of lumber, fish and some other productions of the Pacific states.  (Ellis)

He went to the continent; however, his health did not improve and he returned to the Islands, where he died (May 28, 1857; he is buried as Union Cemetery, Fort Edward, Washington County, New York.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Plain of Numbering

At about the same time of Christopher Columbus crossing the Atlantic to America (he was looking for an alternate trade route to the East Indies,) exciting stuff was happening here in the Hawaiian Islands.

The political governance and land management system by Aliʻi-ai-moku, was expanding and developing after two centuries since its inception, and there was a wake of progress taking place on our shores.

It was a natural progression, which began with three brothers as the first Aliʻi-ai-moku in the 12th century; Kumuhonua on Oʻahu, Olopana on Hawaiʻi, and Moikeha on Kauai, as grandsons of Maweke.  (Yardley)

When they arrived from Tahiti with their new system, their first cousins were already serving as High Chiefs – “Laʻakona, High Chief of ʻEwa; Nuakea, Queen Consort of Molokai; Mōʻī, kaula (prophet) of Molokai; and Hinakaimauliawa, High Chiefess of Koʻolau.” (Beckwith, Yardley)

Then, in the time of Columbus, the new Aliʻi-ai-moku were: Māʻilikūkahi on Oʻahu, Piʻilani on Maui, ʻUmi-a-Līloa on Hawaiʻi and Kukona on Kauai.

ʻUmi-a-Līloa (ʻUmi) from Waipiʻo, son of Līloa, defeated Kona chief Ehunuikaimalino and united the island of Hawai‘i.  He then moved his Royal Center from Waipi‘o to Kona.

At about the time of ʻUmi, a significant new form of agriculture was developed in Kona; he is credited with starting it.  Today, archaeologists call the unique method of farming in this area the “Kona Field System.”

The Kona Field System was planted in long, narrow fields that ran across the contours, along the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualālai.  As rainfall increases rapidly as you go up the side of Hualālai, the long fields allowed farmers to plant different crops according to the rainfall gradients.

In lower elevations all the way to the shore, informal clearings, mounds and terraces were used to plant sweet potatoes; and on the forest fringe above the walled fields there were clearings, mounds and terraces which were primarily planted in bananas.

This intensive agricultural activity changed farming and agricultural production on the western side of Hawai’i Island; the Kona field system was quite large, extending from Kailua to south of Honaunau

In the lower reaches of the tillable land, at elevations about 500-feet to 1,000-feet above sea level, a grove of breadfruit half mile wide and 20 miles long grew.  Sweet potatoes grew among the breadfruit.  Above the breadfruit grove, at elevations where the rainfall reached 60-70 inches or more, were fields of dry land taro.

The Kona Field System was described as “the most monumental work of the ancient Hawaiians.”  The challenge of farming in Kona is to produce a flourishing agricultural economy in an area subject to frequent droughts, with no lakes or streams for irrigation.

The field system was not the only contribution of ʻUmi.

The history of data processing in Hawaii covers almost five centuries, from the legendary census of King ʻUmi (c. 1500) to the present time.

It embraces at least five forms of technology: pre-contact manual methods, post-contact manual methods (including the abacus and slide rule,) the adding machine and desk calculator, punched-card equipment and the modern computer.  (Schmitt)

No statistical record of pre-contact population still exists, unless you look at the legendary census of ʻUmi.  ʻUmi’s census, taken at the beginning of the 16th century, was an early example of data processing.

For this census, each inhabitant of the Island of Hawaiʻi was instructed to come to a place called the “Plain of Numbering” to put a rock on the pile representing his own district. The result, still visible today, was a three-dimensional graphic portrayal of population size and distribution.

ʻUmi collected all the people of Hawaiʻi at a small plain between the cones on the inner side of Hualālai.  Two small hills are said to have been the seats of the king and queen, with their retainers, while the census was being taken

Later all the people went down on the plain, where each deposited a stone, the strongest the largest, making huge stone-pile memorials around the heiau, one for each district and on the sides toward the districts.  (Baker)

Here are some early accounts getting there.  “… after a day’s travel they reached the site of the ancient temple … These ruins lie equally distant from three mountains, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and Hualālai.  This temple is said to be built by ʻUmi ….”  (Wilkes, 1841)

“Up the long slope of Hualālai we ascended to Kaʻalapuali, following the old Judd trail through fields of green cane, through grass lands, through primeval forests, over fallen monarchs, finally out on that semi-arid upland which lies between Hualālai and Mauna Loa.  Here we turned up the slope of Hualālai, climbing through a forest cover of ʻōhiʻa lehua and sandalwood carpeted with golden-eyed daisies – another picture of Hawaii, never to be forgotten.”

 “Farther up the Judd trail, we came to that unique “Plain of Numbering”, where King ʻUmi built his heiau over four centuries ago and called his people together from all the Island of Hawaiʻi. There is a romantic glamor hanging around those heaps of rocks which numbered the people who gathered at Ahu a ʻUmi that will remain as a fond memory throughout eternity.”  (Thrum, 1924)

 “… we unexpectedly fell upon an ancient temple of the Hawaiian gods, built in a dreary wilderness, far from the habitations of men. … (it) is a square, 100 feet on a side. Its walls, built of the fragments of ancient lava, were eight feet high, and four feet thick. … Around the principal structure, and at the distance of ten to twenty feet, there were eight pyramids, about twelve feet in diameter, and twelve to fifteen in height.”  (Hiram Bingham, 1830)

The piles (pyramids, as Bingham called them) showed the relative size of the population of the districts.  “Kona is the most populous of the six great divisions of Hawaiʻi.” (Kohala is next.)  (Lots of information here from Baker, Schmitt and Thrum.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Saint Didacus of Alcalá

For more than 10,000-years (over 600 generations,) the original inhabitants of the region were known as the Kumeyaay people.  Other native people there are known as the La Jolla.

The first European expedition known to visit the area was a Spanish sailing expedition led by the Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (in 1542.)

Later, the Mission Basilica Saint Didacus of Alcalá, on a site known as ‘Kosoi’ overlooking a bay, was the first Franciscan mission there (also the first in the broader region.) It was founded in 1769 by Spanish missionary Fray Junípero Serra.  It was not always successful and occasionally met with opposition from the native people.

Never-the-less, the mission and surrounding town grew.  A military installation was built nearby.  Captain George Vancouver visited in November 1793, and reported it “to be the least of the Spanish establishments.  … With little difficulty it might be rendered a place of considerable strength, by establishing a small force at the entrance”.  (NPS)

In 1810, the force numbered about 100 men, of whom 25 were detached to protect the four missions in the district.   The garrison level was maintained until about 1830.  After 1830, however, the military force soon declined rapidly.  The last of the troops were sent north in 1837, and the facility was completely abandoned as a military post. (NPS)

“In the town at that time the inhabitants, soldiers and citizens numbered between 400 and 500. Quite a large place. At that time there was a great deal of gayety and refinement here. The people were the elite, of this portion of the department of California. In the garrison were some Mexican, and not a few native Spanish soldiers.”  (Davis)

The site of the town was by no means favorable for a seaport town.  The military site (known as the Presidio) was located on the hill above the river, at the outlet of Mission Valley, merely because the place could be easily fortified and defended.  The town grew up upon the flat below Presidio Hill, because it was originally only an overflow from the garrison itself.

From 1830 onward, the town grew rapidly and was soon, for the time and country, an important commercial and social center.

When William Heath Davis first came in 1831, he found it quite a lively town.   Davis and his partners did a large business with the missions for many years. (Smythe)

William Heath “Kanaka” Davis, Jr. (1822 – 1909) was a merchant and trader.  Born in Honolulu in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to William Heath Davis, Sr (a Boston sea-faring ship-owner) and Hannah Holmes Davis, a daughter of Oliver Holmes (another Boston ship-master and a relative of Doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes.)

The shipping trade to the Coast and to Hawaiʻi was almost exclusively in the hands of Boston firms from its beginnings to the days of the Gold Rush. Davis’ grandmother on his mother’s side was a native of Hawaiʻi, and her husband, Oliver Holmes, in addition to his trading operations, was at one time Governor of Oʻahu.

Davis’ nickname “Kanaka” refers to his Hawaiian birth and blood; he was one-quarter Hawaiian.  He first visited California as a boy in 1831, then again in 1833 and 1838. The last time he joined his uncle as a store clerk in Monterey and Yerba Buena (now San Francisco). He started a business in San Francisco and became a prominent merchant and ship owner.

For many years, he was one of the most prominent merchants in San Francisco, and engaged in some of the largest trading ventures on the coast.  He moved to southern California in 1850, around the same time California became part of the United States.

In March 1850, Davis purchased 160-acres of land and, with four partners, laid out a new city (near what is now the foot of Market Street.)  He built the first wharf there in 1850.

The town took the name of the surrounding Mission Basilica Saint Didacus of Alcalá (the “Mother of the Alta California Missions”) – today, we call it San Diego.

Whenever a ship came to anchor, saddle-horses were at once dispatched from the Presidio to bring up the Captain and supercargo. Monterey being at that time the seat of government of California, and the port of entry of the department, all vessels were compelled to enter that port first. After paying the necessary duties, they were allowed to trade at any of the towns along the coast, as far south as Lower California.

Davis was one of the founders of “New Town” San Diego in 1850, though he did not live there for long (and the venture turned into a failure.) He believed that a town closer to the waterfront in San Diego would attract a thriving trade.

He later wrote “Messrs. Jose Antonio Aguirre, Miguel Pedrorena, Andrew B Gray, TD Johns and myself were the projectors and original proprietors of what is now known as the city of San Diego.”

An economic depression in 1851 put an end to their plans, and New Town rapidly declined.  Although these men had the judgment to choose the best spot for the city and the imagination to behold its possibilities, they lacked the constructive capacity required for its building. Hence, their effort goes into history as an unsuccessful effort to take advantage of a genuine opportunity.  (SanDiegoHistory)

For more than a hundred years Old Town was San Diego. It began with the founding of the fort and mission in 1769; it ended, as a place of real consequence, with the fire of April, 1872, which destroyed most of the business part of the town.

In 1867, Alonzo Horton arrived in San Diego from San Francisco. He also decided the best place for the city to develop was down by the waterfront and, determined to build a new downtown on the site of Davis’ failure, Horton purchased at auction land on the waterfront.  The new settlement which had sprung up was called Horton’s Addition, or South San Diego.  (now known as Downtown San Diego.) (Smythe)

San Diego’s William Heath “Kanaka” Davis House is the oldest surviving structure in the New Town area. It was one of the first houses built in 1850 in the New Town. A pre-framed lumber “salt box” family home; it was shipped to California by boat around Cape Horn.   (It was never the home of Davis, whose own home at State and F Streets was a duplicate of the surviving one.  By 1853, most of the houses constructed by Davis were moved to Old Town or used for firewood.)

The original plaza for New Town is not today’s Horton Plaza, but New Town Plaza, which still exists and is bounded by F, G, Columbia and India Streets.  Davis eventually settled in San Leandro. He died in Hayward, California on April 19, 1909. (Lots of information is from San Diego History Center.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lā Kū‘oko‘a

King Kamehameha III recognized the need for his kingdom to be recognized internationally and he decided to send abroad a delegation. “In the month of April 1842, (Haʻalilio) was appointed a joint Commissioner with Mr. (William) Richards (and Sir George Simpson) to the Courts of the USA, England and France.”  (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

Timothy (Timoteo) Haʻalilio was born in 1808, at Koʻolau, Oʻahu.  His parents were of respectable rank, and much esteemed. His father died while he was quite young, and his widowed mother subsequently married the Governor of Molokai (after his death, she retained the authority of the island, and acted as Governess for the period of some fifteen years.)

“Haʻalilio was a man of intelligence, of good judgment, of pleasing manners, and respectable business habits. Few men are more attentive to neatness and order, at home, on shipboard, or in foreign climes, than he; and few public officers possess integrity more trustworthy.”  (Bingham)

“The proofs of his piety appeared in his love for the Scriptures, for secret and social prayer, for the Sabbath, and for the worship of the sanctuary. He was gratified by what he saw of the regard for the Lord’s day in the United States and England, and was shocked in view of its desecration in France and Belgium.”  (Anderson)

“The Kings and Chiefs could not fail to see the real value of such a man (Haʻalilio,) and they therefore promoted him to offices to which his birth would not, according to the old system, have entitled him.”

“He was properly the Lieutenant Governor of the Island of Oahu, and regularly acted as Governor during the absence of the incumbent.  He was also elected a member of the council of Nobles.”  (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

William Richards was ordained in New Haven, Connecticut, on September 12, 1822; on October 30, 1822, Richards married Clarissa, daughter of Levi Lyman, of Northampton, Massachusetts.  On November 19, he, with his wife, joined the Second Company of American Protestant missionaries to Hawai‘i; they arrived in the Islands on April 27, 1823.

In the spring of 1838, the king and chiefs, who felt the need for reform in their government, asked missionary Richards to become their teacher, chaplain and interpreter.  With the consent of the ABCFM, he accepted this position and resigned his appointment as missionary and then spent his time urging the improvement of the political system.

Richards gave classes to King Kamehameha III and his Chiefs on the Western ideas of rule of law and economics. Richards prepared a book No Ke Kalaiaina, based on Wyland’s, Elements of Political Economy. This book and Richards’ interaction with the king and chiefs helped shape the initial Hawaiʻi Constitution (1840).

“The Hawaiian people believed in William Richards (Rikeke), the foreigner who taught the king to change the government of the Hawaiian people to a constitutional monarchy and end that of a supreme ruler, and his views were adopted.”  (Kamakau)  (Later, in 1845, Richards was appointed minister of public instruction and, as such, took over most of the educational work of the missionaries and commenced the organization of the public school system.)

Sir George Simpson was governor in charge of North American operations of the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC had established its first post at Honolulu in 1834).

In April 1842, Simpson left for England; Ha‘alilio and Richards sailed from Lāhainā, July 18, 1842, and arrived in Washington on the fifth of December.

While on the continent, a newspaper noted a note Haʻalilio passed to a friend: “We are happy that our Christian friends have so much reason to congratulate us on our success in the prosecution of our official business at Washington.”

“May the cause of righteousness and of liberty, and the cause of Christ every where be prospered. (Signed) T. Haalilio, William Richards.”  Boston Harbor, Feb. 2.  (The Middlebury People’s Press, Vermont, February 15, 1843)

“The Sandwich Island chief, Ha‘alilio, now on a visit to this part of our country, in company with Rev. Mr Richards, has been treated with attention by many of our citizens, and has made a very favorable impression by his general appearance and address.”

“He speaks English tolerably well, is a great of men and things, and observer evidently possesses a cultivated mind. On Tuesday he will proceed to New York with Mr. Richards, and will return to this city on the following week, with the intention of proceeding to Liverpool in the steam packet of the 4th of February.”

“He has taken up his residence, for the present, with James Hunnewell of Charlestown.  From Europe he will return to this country previous to taking his departure for the Sandwich Islands. (New York Herald, January 25, 1843)

On February 18, 1843, they arrived in London and within six weeks “after accomplishing the object of his embassy to England, he proceeded to France, where he was received in the same manner as in England, and … “

“… succeeded in obtaining from the French Government, not only a recognition of independence, but also a mutual guarantee from England and France that that independence should be respected.  (Similar responses were made from Belgium.)”  (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

While in London, Haʻalilio commissioned the College of Arms in London to prepare the Hawaiʻi Coat of Arms (following his design;) a May 31, 1845 story in the Polynesian newspaper reported that the National Coat of Arms was adopted by the Legislative Assembly.

“… the 28th of November, was the day that the Nation of Hawaii gained its independence from the other power of the nations of Britain and France.”

“On that day in the year 1843, the great powers of Britain and France joined together to discuss the bestowing of independence on this Nation, and the two of them agreed to this and we gained this independence.” (Kuokoa, 12/1/1866, p. 3)

The agreement states, “Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and His Majesty the King of the French, taking into consideration the existence in the Sandwich Islands of a government capable of providing for the regularity of its relations with foreign nations …”

“… have thought it right to engage, reciprocally, to consider the Sandwich Islands as an Independent State, and never to take possession, neither directly or under the title of Protectorate, or under any other form, of any part of the territory of which they are composed.”

“The undersigned, Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs, and the Ambassador Extraordinary of His Majesty the King of the French, at the Court of London, being furnished with the necessary powers, hereby declare, in consequence, that their said Majesties take reciprocally that engagement.” (Hawaiian Journal of Law & Politics)

“The great island of Australia under the power of Great Britain, but as for us, we are overjoyed, and can boast that we are amongst the few Independent Nations under the sun.”

“There are many islands like us, who live peacefully under the powers over them, but Hawaii lives clearly without any power placed above its head.”

“Therefore the commemoration by the Hawaiian hearts from the East to the West of these islands on this day, is not a small thing, but it is important, and we know by heart the foundational words of our Nation. ‘E mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono.’”

“The gaining of this Independence, was not by the point of a sword or the mouth of a gun, but was gotten peacefully, and upon He who sits on the great Throne is our efforts and great trust, and so let us not be mistaken that the drinking of intoxicating drinks is what preserves our Independence, that is not the case.”   (Kuokoa, 12/1/1866, p. 3)

After fifteen months in Europe, they returned to the US and prepared to return to the Islands.  “On his arrival in the western part of Massachusetts, (Ha‘alilio) was attacked by a severe cold, brought on by inclemencies of the weather, followed by a change in the thermometer of about sixty degrees in twenty-four hours.”  (Polynesian, March 29, 1845)

“On Sabbath evening, just before his death, he said; ‘This is the happiest day of my life. My work is done. I am ready to go.’  Then he prayed; ‘O, my Father, thou hast not granted my desire to see once more the land of my birth, and my friends that dwell there …”

“… but I entreat Thee refuse not my petition to see thy kingdom, and my friends who are dwelling with Thee.’”  (Anderson) Timothy Haʻalilio died at sea December 3, 1844 from tuberculosis. He was 36 years old.

Lā Kū‘oko‘a, Hawaiian Independence Day, was widely celebrated with pride as Hawaii became an emerging power in the Pacific among the global powers of that time. In 2023, La Kū‘oko‘a, Hawaiian Independence Day was enacted and “November 28 of each year shall be known and designated as La Kuokoa, Hawaiian Independence Day …”

“… to celebrate the historical recognition of the independence of the Kingdom of Hawaii. This day is not and shall not be construed to be a state holiday.” (Act 011)

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Salting Pigs for the Sea-Store

A ship’s stores are the supplies and equipment required for the operation and upkeep of a ship. (Merriam-Webster) Sea-stores are supplies needed while you are out in the ocean sailing.

Part of the stores are food items.  Fresh meat doesn’t last long; folks started salting meat to extend their useful life.

“Salt is effective as a preservative because it reduces the water activity of foods. The water activity of a food is the amount of unbound water available for microbial growth and chemical reactions.” (National Library of Medicine)

“Native Hawaiians used sea salt, pa‘akai (“to solidify the sea”), to season and preserve food, for religious and ceremonial purposes, and as medicine. Preserving food like i‘a (fish) and he‘e (octopus) was essential not just for storage on land, but also to provide nourishment during ocean voyages.” (UH, Sea Earth Atmosphere)

Salt “has ever been an essential article with the Sandwich Islanders, who eat it very freely with their food, and use much in preserving their fish.”  (Ellis, 1826)

During Cook’s visits to the Islands, King’s journal noted “the great quantity of salt they eat with their flesh and fish. … almost every native of these islands carried about with him, either in his calibash, or wrapped up in a piece of cloth, and tied about his waist, a small piece of raw pork, highly salted, which they considered as a great delicacy, and used now and then to taste of.”

“Their fish they salt, and preserve in gourd-shells; not, as we at first imagined, for the purpose of providing against any temporary scarcity, but from the preference they give to salted meats.”  (King, 1779)

“The surplus … they dispose of to vessels touching at the islands, or export to the Russian settlements on the north-west coast of America, where it is in great demand for curing fish, &c.” (Ellis, 1826)

“The salting of hogs for sea-store was also a constant [by the Hawaiians], and one of the principal objects of Captain Cook’s attention.”

“As the success we met with in this experiment, during our present voyage, was much more complete than it had been in any former attempt of the same kind, it may not be improper to give an account of the detail of the operation.”

“It has generally been thought impracticable to cure the flesh of animals by salting, in tropical climates; the progress of putrefaction being so rapid, as not to allow time for the salt to take (as they express it) before the meat gets a taint, which prevents the effect of the pickle.”

“We do not find that experiments relative to this subject have been made by the navigators of any nation before Captain Cook.”

“In his first trials, which were made in 1774, during his second voyage to the Pacific Ocean, the success he met with, though very imperfect, was yet sufficient to convince him of the error of the received opinion.”

“As the voyage, in which he was now engaged, was likely to be protracted a year beyond the time for which the ships had been victualled, he was under the necessity of providing, by some such means, for the subsistence of the crews, or of relinquishing the further prosecution of his discoveries.”

“He therefore lost no opportunity of renewing his attempts, and the event answered his most sanguine expectations.”

“The hogs, which we made use of for this purpose, were of various sizes, weighing from four to twelve stone. [a stone is 14 pounds].”

“The time of slaughtering was always in the afternoon; and as soon as the hair was scalded off, and the entrails removed, the hog was divided into pieces of four or eight pounds each, and the bones of the legs and chine taken out; and, in the larger sort, the ribs also.”

“Every piece then being carefully wiped and examined, and the veins cleared of the coagulated blood, they were handed to the salters, whilst the flesh remained still warm.”

“After they had been well rubbed with salt, they were placed in a heap, on a stage raised in the open air, covered with planks, and pressed with the heaviest weights we could lay on them.”

“In this situation they remained till the next evening, when they were again well wiped and examined, and the suspicious parts taken away.”

“They were then put into a tub of strong pickle, where they were always looked over once or twice a day, and if any piece had not taken the salt, which was readily discovered by the smell of the pickle, they were immediately taken out, re-examined, and the sound pieces put to fresh pickle. This, however, after the precautions before used, seldom happened.”

“After six days, they were taken out, examined for the last time, and being again slightly pressed, they were packed in barrels, with a thin layer of salt between them.”

“I brought home with me some barrels of this pork, which was pickled at Owhyhee in January 1779, and was tasted by several persons in England, about Christmas 1780, and found perfectly sound and wholesome.” (Cook’s Journal)

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