Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

America

Lots of things were happening in the Islands around the time Columbus crossed the Atlantic in 1492 on the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria.

About that time, four major leaders ruled over various Islands in the Hawaiian Islands: Māʻilikūkahi on Oʻahu, ʻUmi-a-Līloa on Hawaiʻi, Piʻilani on Maui and Kukona on Kauai.

Early in his reign, Māʻilikūkahi moved to Waikīkī and was probably one of the first chiefs to live there (prior to that, Oʻahu chiefs typically lived at Waialua and ‘Ewa.)  Waikīkī remained the Royal Center of Oʻahu aliʻi, until Kamehameha I moved the seat to Honolulu.

What is commonly referred to as the “ahupuaʻa system” is a result of the firm establishment of palena (boundaries) that Mā’ilikūkahi set up around the Island.  This system of land divisions and boundaries enabled a konohiki (land/resource manager) to know the limits and productivity of the resources that they managed.

ʻUmi-a-Līloa (ʻUmi) from Waipiʻo, son of Līloa, also moved the Hawaiʻi Island Royal Center about this time, from Waipi‘o to Kona.  He, too, started to divide the lands following the mauka-makai orientation.

ʻUmi started a significant new form of agriculture in Kona; archaeologists call the unique method of farming in this area the “Kona Field System.” (These are long, narrow fields that ran along the contours, along the slopes of Mauna Loa and Hualālai; farmers then planted different crops, according to the respective rainfall gradients.

Piʻilani’s reign showed a boom in construction of heiau, fishponds, trails and irrigation systems.  Famed for his energy and intelligence, Piʻilani constructed the West Maui phase of the noted Alaloa, or long trail (also known as the King’s Highway;) his son, Kihapiʻilani laid the East Maui section and connected the island.

Missionaries Richards, Andrews and Green noted in 1828, “a pavement said to have been built by Kihapiʻilani, a king … afforded us no inconsiderable assistance in traveling as we ascended and descended a great number of steep and difficult paries (pali.)” (Missionary Herald)

Kukona, on Kauai became a symbol of the very highest ideals of chivalry in battle.  He once captured all four chiefs of Hawaiʻi, Oʻahu, Maui and Molokaʻi and had the opportunity to kill them all.  However, he preferred peace and allowed them to return safely home with a promise that they never again make war on Kauai.

As noted by Fornander: “The war with the Hawaii chief, and the terrible defeat and capture of the latter, as well as Kukona’s generous conduct towards the four chiefs who fell into his hands after the battle, brought Kauai back into the family circle of the other islands, and with an eclat and superiority which it maintained to the last of its independence.”

Back to Columbus and America …

Columbus wanted to find a new route to the Far East, to India, China, Japan and the Spice Islands. If he could reach these lands, he would be able to bring back rich cargoes of silks and spices.

Columbus called all the people he met in the islands Indians because he was sure that he had reached the Indies. When Columbus reached Cuba, he thought it was the mainland of Japan.

“At no time during the life of Columbus, nor for some years after his death, did anybody use the phrase ‘New World’ with conscious reference to his discoveries. … It was supposed that he had found a new route to the Indies by sailing west, and that in the course of this achievement he had discovered some new islands.”  (Fiske)

“At the time of his death their true significance had not yet begun to dawn upon the mind of any voyager or any writer.”  Still believing that he had found a new route to the East Indies, Columbus died in 1506.

It wasn’t until 1499, when an Italian an explorer, financier, navigator and cartographer, Amerigo Vespucci (March 9, 1454 – February 22, 1512,) sailed back to the area Columbus ‘discovered.’

Columbus found the new land; but Vespucci, by travelling down the coast, came to the realization that it was not India at all, but an entirely new continent.

What should they call it?

It wasn’t until a German clergyman and amateur geographer (Martin Waldseemüller) and his Alsatian proofreader (Matthias Ringmann) reportedly put the name “America” on the new land mass (April 25, 1507 – the first written use of America.)  (They made up the name, using a feminized Latin version of Vespucci’s first name.)

Waldseemüller and Ringmann were at work on a reproduction of Ptolemy’s treatise on geography, to which they were adding a preface entitled ‘Cosmographiae Introductio.’  They determined to incorporate the story of Amerigo Vespucci’s voyages into this work, and Ringmann, who was acting as editor, wrote an introduction.

“Now, these parts of the earth have been more extensively explored and a fourth part has been discovered by Amerigo Vespucci.  Inasmuch as both Europe and Asia received their names from women, I see no reason why any one should justly object to calling this part Amerige, i.e., the land of Amerigo, or America, after Amerigo, its discoverer, a man of great ability.” (Cosmographiæ Introductio of Martin Waldseemüller)

“(T)he name America was, for the time  being, restricted to the southern part of the  New World. After the lapse of three decades, however, another German cartographer applied the name America to the northern portion of the Western Hemisphere.”  (Cosmographiæ Introductio of Martin Waldseemüller)

But the new name didn’t completely catch on, at first.

The Pilgrims, in signing the Mayflower Compact (1620,) noted they were headed to Virginia.  The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1628) and its initial laws Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641) reference being in New England.  In the mid-1700s, the British Colonies were referenced into the New England Colonies (northern,) Middle Colonies and Southern Colonies.

The earliest recorded use of this term in English dates to 1648, in Thomas Gage’s The English-American: A New Survey of the West Indies.

It wasn’t until 1740, in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias (a fight between Britain and Spain in what is now known as Columbia,) that the British colonists on the continent were called ‘Americans’ for the first time (about 3,600-colonial troops supported the British effort – the Spanish won.)  (nih-gov)

The name ‘United States of America’ appears to have been used for the first time in the Declaration of Independence (1776.) (At least no earlier instance of its use in that precise form has been found.)  (Burnett)

Back to Columbus … President Franklin D Roosevelt created the first federal observance of Columbus Day in 1937; Richard Nixon established the modern holiday by presidential proclamation in 1972.  Columbus Day is observed the second Monday in October; it’s a federal holiday, it is not a State holiday in some states.

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lāhainā Banyan

“The places in the garden where I find myself lingering and staring with unsoundable pleasure are those where it looks to me as though, with the shafts of light reaching and dividing through the trees, it might be deep in the forest.” WS Merwin

“The Banyan (Ficus Indica) is indigenous to India only. I call it one of the ‘kings of the forest,’ because no other of the vegetable giants ever measured a tithe of five acres in circuit, or afforded shelter from the torrid sun at one time to one-tenth of an army of ten thousand men.”

“No one who ever spent the long noontide of an Indian day under the capacious shadow of a banyan-tree, or slept uninjured during successive nights under the protection from dews and rains of its shingled foliage, or strolled leisurely for hours along avenues and foot-paths bordered by flowering shrubs and cooled by gurgling streamlets …”

“… all within the boundaries of the repeating branches of a single tree, will be disposed to dispute the claims of the banyan to be counted as one of the three monarchs of the woods.” (Dodge, Alama News, Mar 19, 1873)

The word “banyan” comes from the Gujarati language meaning merchant. The Portuguese used the word for Hindu traders selling their wares under the shade of the tree. Then English writers adopted the word in starting in the 16th century, when “banyan” became the term for the trees themselves.

Banyan trees are unique in that they not only grow vertically, but also horizontally. Thin roots grow to the surface of the ground and then can extend forming a new trunk. Here, it can thicken and weave along the original trunk and continue to branch out. A banyan is a kind of fig tree. (Panda)

Some context to the Lahaina Banyan …

The 1806 “Haystack Prayer Meeting” by “the Brethren,” a group of several students at Williams College, Williamstown, MA is credited as the informal beginning of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM).

The Board was officially chartered June 20, 1812 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Four fields of missionary activity were identified: (a) peoples of ancient civilizations, (b) peoples of primitive cultures, (c) peoples of the ancient Christian churches, and (d) peoples of Islamic faith.

The first mission of the ABCFM was in 1813 to Marathi of western India, headquarters in Bombay. (Congregational Library)  “If ever I see a Hindoo a real believer in Jesus, I shall see something more nearly approaching the resurrection of a dead body than anything I have yet seen.” (Henry Martyn, American Board in India and Ceylon, Bartlett)

“But God knows how to raise the dead. And it was on this most hopeless race, under the most discouraging concurrence of circumstances, that he chose to let the first missionaries of the American Board try their fresh zeal. The movements of commerce and the history of missionary effort naturally pointed to the swarming continent of Asia.” (Bartlett)

In 1870, the work of the American Board of Foreign Commissioners in western India was transferred to the Board of Foreign Missions. Thereafter, that field was known as the West India Mission.

In addition to the inherited station at Kolhapur, succeeding stations were opened at Ratnagiri in 1873, in Sangli in 1884, in Miraj in 1892, in Vengurla in 1900, in Kodoli in 1893, in Islampur in 1906 and in Nipani in 1910. (Gale)

The ABCFM mission to Hawai‘i …

In the Islands, over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the “Missionary Period,”) the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission (ABCFM) sent twelve Companies of missionaries – 184-missionaries; 84-men and 100-women – to the Hawaiian Islands.

By the time the Pioneer Company arrived (1820,) Kamehameha I had died (1819) and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished, through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho, his son,) with encouragement by his father’s wives, Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother.)) Keōpūolani later decided to move to Maui.

The Second Company of missionaries arrived in the Islands on April 27, 1823.  “On the 26th of May (1823) we heard that the barge (Cleopatra’s Barge, or “Haʻaheo o Hawaiʻi,” Pride of Hawaiʻi) was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen (Keōpūolani) and princess (Nāhiʻenaʻena;) and that the queen was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her”.

“A meeting was called to consult whether it was expedient to establish a mission at Lahaina. The mission was determined on, and Mr S (Stewart) was appointed to go: he chose Mr R (Richards) for his companion … On the 28th we embarked on the mighty ocean again, which we had left so lately.”  (Betsey Stockton Journal)

Keōpūolani is said to have been the first convert of the missionaries in the Islands, receiving baptism from Rev. William Ellis in Lāhainā on September 16, 1823.  Keōpūolani was spoken of “with admiration on account of her amiable temper and mild behavior”.  (William Richards)   She was ill and died shortly after her baptism.

Commemorating the mission in Lahaina …

On April 24, 1873, while serving as Sheriff on Maui, William Owen Smith (a missionary son) planted Lāhainā’s Indian Banyan to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first Protestant mission in Lāhainā. 

Later, when not filling public office, Smith had been engaged in private law practice and was affiliated with various law firms during his long career.  Smith and his firm wrote the will for Princess Pauahi Bishop that created the Bishop Estate.

As a result of this, Pauahi recommended to Queen Liliʻuokalani that he write her will for the Liliʻuokalani Trust (which he did.)  As a result, Liliʻuokalani and Smith became lifelong friends; he defended her in court, winning the suit brought against her by Prince Jonah Kūhiō. (KHS)

Speaking of his relationship with the Queen, Smith said, “One of the gratifying experiences of my life was that after the trying period which led up to the overthrow of the monarchy and the withdrawal of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the Queen sent for me to prepare a will and deed of trust of her property and appointed me one of her trustees”.  (Nellist)

Smith was also a trustee of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Estate from 1884-1886 and 1897-1929, the Lunalilo Estate, the Alexander Young Estate and the Children’s Hospital.

Back to the Lahaina Banyan …

The tree was apparently a gift from the missionaries in India to the missionary descendants in Hawai‘i; it was about 8-feet when it was planted.

 After settling in, the tree slowly sent branches outward from its trunk. From the branches, a series of aerial roots descended towards the earth. Some of them touched the ground and dug in, growing larger until eventually turning into trunks themselves.

Over the years, Lahaina residents lovingly encouraged the symmetrical growth of the tree by hanging large glass jars filled with water on the aerial roots that they wanted to grow into a trunk. In time, what was once a small sapling matured into a monumental behemoth. (Lahaina Restoration Foundation)

Today, shading almost an acre of the surrounding park and reaching upward to a height of 60 feet, this banyan tree is reportedly the largest in the US.

Its aerial roots grow into thick trunks when they reach the ground, supporting the tree’s large canopy. There are 16 major trunks in addition to the original trunk in the center.

Other notable Banyans in Hawai‘i include the Indian Banyan tree on the mauka side of the Iolani Palace grounds.  The tree was a gift from Indian Royalty to King Kalākaua.  Reportedly, Queen Kapiʻolani planted the tree there.  Cuttings from the tree were planted at each end of Kailua Bay in Kona.

Starting on October 24, 1933, notable politicians, entertainers, religious leaders, authors, sports figures, business people, adventurers and local folks planted Banyans along Hilo’s Walk of Fame.

Filmmaker Cecil B DeMille was in Hilo filming scenes for ‘Four Frightened People.’  The Hilo Park Commission asked him and some of the actors from the film (Mary Boland, William Gargan, Herbert Marshall’s wife (Edna Best Marshall) and Leo Carillo) to plant trees to commemorate their visit.  (Pahigian)

Shortly after (October 29, 1933,) George Herman ‘Babe’ Ruth added a tree; he was in town for an exhibition baseball game against the Waiākea Pirates.  In an earlier game in Honolulu, “Babe Ruth hit the first ball pitched to him for a home run when the visiting major league players defeated the local Wanderers here yesterday, 5 to 1.” (UP, El Paso Herald, October 23, 1933)

Initially, eight trees were planted in October 1933; there have been over 50-trees planted at what is now known as Banyan Drive on the Waiākea peninsula, traditionally known as Hilo-Hanakāhi.

At the time, Banyan Drive was a crushed coral drive through the trees. Forty trees were planted between 1934 and 1938, and five more trees were planted between 1941 and 1972. In 1991, a tree lost to a tsunami was replaced.  (Hawaiʻi County)

© 2023 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Oregon Trail

Radiocarbon tests of carbonized plant remains where artifacts were unearthed indicate that the sediments containing these artifacts are at least 50,000 years old, meaning that humans inhabited North American long before the last ice age (more than 20,000-years ago). (Science Daily)

From at least 10,000 years ago to approximately 1100, the North American Plains were very sparsely populated by humans. Typical of hunting and gathering cultures worldwide, Plains residents lived in small family-based groups, usually of no more than a few dozen individuals, and foraged widely over the landscape.

By approximately the year 850, some residents of the central Plains had shifted from foraging to farming for a significant portion of their subsistence and were living in settlements comprising a number of large earth-berm homes.

As early as 1100, and no later than about 1250, most Plains residents had made this shift and were living in substantial villages and hamlets along the Missouri River and its tributaries. (Britannica)

Because of the limitations inherent in using only dogs and people to carry loads, Plains peoples did not generally engage in extensive travel before the horse. However, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado’s expedition in 1541 reported encounters with fully nomadic buffalo-hunting tribes who had only dogs for transport.

By the mid-18th century horses had arrived, coming from the Southwest via trade with the Spanish and the expansion of herds of escaped animals. Guns were also entering the Plains, via the fur trade. (Britannica)

The Spanish were among the first Europeans to explore the New World and the first to settle in what is now the United States.  European nations (England, France and Spain) came to the Americas to increase their wealth and broaden their influence over world affairs.

By 1750, some 80 per cent of the North American continent was controlled or influenced by France or Spain. Their presence was a source of tension and paranoia among those in the 13 British colonies, who feared encirclement, invasion and the influence of Catholicism.

As the United States spread across the Appalachians, the Mississippi River became an increasingly important conduit for America’s West (which at that time referred to the land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi).

Since 1762, Spain had claimed the territory of Louisiana, which included 828,000-square miles. The territory made up all or part of fifteen modern US states between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains.

Following the American Revolutionary War, France acquired Louisiana from Spain in 1800 and took possession in 1802; the French planned expansion of their empire in the New World.

The fledgling United States saw Louisiana as an important trade/transportation area and feared that the French would seek to dominate the Mississippi River and access to the Gulf of Mexico.

On January 18, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent a secret message to Congress asking for $2,500 to send an officer and a dozen soldiers to explore the Missouri River, make diplomatic contact with Indians, expand the American fur trade, and locate the Northwest Passage (the much-sought-after hypothetical northwestern water route to the Pacific Ocean).

The US was negotiating to acquire New Orleans and West Florida for $10-million.  Instead, Napoleon decided to give up his plans for Louisiana and offered the entire territory to the US.  (State Department)

The proposed trip took on added significance on May 2, when the United States agreed to the Louisiana Purchase.  Jefferson asked his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead the expedition.  As his co-commander he selected William Clark, who had been his military superior during the government’s battles with the Northwest Indian Federation in the early 1790s.

Over the duration of the trip, from May 14, 1804, to September 23, 1806, from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Ocean and back, the Corps of Discovery, as the expedition company was called, traveled nearly 8,000 miles. (Britannica)

American Indians had traversed this country for many years, but for European Americans it was unknown territory. Lewis and Clark’s expedition was part of a US Government plan to open Oregon Country to settlement. However, the hazardous route blazed by Lewis and Clark was not feasible for families traveling by wagon. An easier trail was needed.

Robert Stuart of the Astorians (a group of fur traders who established Fort Astoria on the Columbia River in western Oregon) became the first white man to use what later became known as the Oregon Trail. Stuart’s 2,000-mile journey from Fort Astoria to St. Louis in 1810 took 10 months to complete; still, it was a much less rugged trail than Lewis and Clark’s route.  (NPS)

The Oregon Trail is an overland trail between Independence, Missouri, and Oregon City, near present-day Portland, Oregon, in the Willamette River valley. It was about 2,000-miles long and crossed through the States of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and Washington

It was one of the two main emigrant routes to the American West in the 19th century (the other being the southerly Santa Fe Trail from Independence to Santa Fe (now in New Mexico)).

It wasn’t until 1836 that the first wagons were used on the trek from Missouri to Oregon. A missionary party headed by Marcus and Narcissa Whitman set out to reach the Willamette Valley. Though the Whitmans were forced to abandon their wagons 200 miles short of Oregon, they proved that families could go west by wheeled travel.

In the spring of 1843, a wagon train of nearly 1,000 people organized at Independence, Missouri with plans to reach Oregon Country. Amidst an overwhelming chorus of naysayers who doubted their success, the so-called “Great Migration” made it safely to Oregon. (NPS)

Interest in the East for the Oregon country had begun to grow.  By 1846, thousands of emigrants who were drawn west by cheap land, patriotism or the promise of a better life found their way to Oregon Country.

With so many Americans settling the region, it became obvious to the British that Oregon was no longer theirs. They ceded Oregon Country to the United States that year.  (NPS)

Crucial to the success and well-being of travelers on the trail were the many forts and other settlements that sprang up along the route. (Britannica)   The forts were manned by troops of cavalry who were there to protect the emigrants traveling west and to also provide supplies for the wagon trains. (NPS)

Fort Laramie grew to become the largest and most important military post on the Northern Plains. It served emigrants as post office, resupply point and protection on the trail. Fort Laramie is now a NPS National Historic Site. (NPS)

As a result of the 1849 Gold Rush, the 1847 Mormon exodus to Utah and the thousands who moved west on the Oregon Trail starting in the 1840s, the need for a fast mail service beyond the Rocky Mountains became obvious.

The Pony Express, although it lasted only about 19-months (April 1860 and November 1861), generally followed the Oregon Trail and used some of the Forts as part of the horseback relay mail service. (NPS) There were approximately 190 relay stations located approximately 15 miles apart. (U of Nebraska)

Likewise, some of the forts served as telegraph stations and the forts protected the stations and helped to repair the telegraph lines. (The telegraph effectively eliminated the need for the Pony Express.)

The trail had several break-offs that were used by the Mormon pioneers, the California Gold Rush miners and many people who found what they were looking for or simply broke down along the way and decided to homestead the land they ended up on. (Post Register)

The Overland Trail and Stagecoach Line was an alternate wagon route off the Oregon Trail. Pioneers crossed this area as they headed westward in the late 1800s. (Laramie)

Possibly a half million traversed the Oregon Trail, covering an average of 15 to 20-miles per day; most completed their journeys in four to five months.  (Britannica)

Settlers who traveled the Oregon Trail spent roughly $800 to $1200 to be properly outfitted. Many of the pioneers raised their capital by selling their farms and possessions.

Along the way they found inflated prices for scarce commodities at trading posts and ferries. Once arriving in Oregon, there were scarce supplies available for purchase, requiring ability to work in exchange for goods and services (than cash for purchasing). (BLM)

Overwhelmingly, the journey was made by wagons drawn by teams of draft animals. Some people did not have wagons and rode horseback, while others went west with handcarts, animal carts, or even the occasional carriage.  (Britannica)

It is estimated that as many as 1 in 10 emigrants died on the trail – between 20,000 and 30,000 people (an average of ten graves per mile). The majority of deaths occurred because of diseases caused by poor sanitation. Cholera and typhoid fever were the biggest killers on the trail.

Another major cause of death was falling off a wagon and getting run over. This was not just the case for children; many adults also died from this type of accident.

Other deaths on the trail are recorded in dairies as: stampeding livestock, attack by emigrants on other emigrants, lightning, gunpowder explosion, drowning at river crossings and suicide. (BLM)

Most Native Americans tolerated wagon trains passing through their territories. Many pioneers would not have made it if it had not been for trading with the tribes along the trail.

There were conflicts between Native Americans and emigrants along the trail, but, when compared to the number of people traveling the Oregon Trail, deaths by Indians attacks were very rare. (BLM)

The completion of the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah, in 1869 marked the beginning of the end for the great overland migration routes to the West. (Britannica)

© 2024 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Environmentalist Myth

“[T]he great enemy of truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived and dishonest – but the myth – persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the clichés of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” (John F Kennedy, June 11, 1962)

“The noble savage myth stated that mankind is intrinsically good at the primitive state but that civilization degrades him/her. This myth, which raised many debates about man’s true nature, served as a concealed critic of Western society from the 17th century onward and was based on the dichotomy between man at the state of nature and man in civilisation.”

“Although the origins of the term are attributed to Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the term ‘Noble Savage’ was coined by the French explorer and lawyer Marc Lescarbot in his New World writings in 1609. Today, … this myth is still prevalent in conservation.” (Rodrigue-Allouche)

“There is a widespread myth that ‘primitive’ people are ‘natural conservationists’ and live in a state of ‘ecological balance’ without any appreciable effect on the environment.”

“The impact of prehistoric people on island biota is a convincing rebuttal of this myth. The effect has invariably been highly destructive, not only to birds but to most types of organisms.” (Milberg and Tyrberg)

“Milberg and Tyrberg argue that there is still a pervasive notion – the ‘environmentalist myth’ – that ‘primitive’ people are ‘natural conservationists’ living in a state of ‘ecological balance,’ without causing any significant deleterious effects to their environment …”

“… this naive view, derived from a romanticized concept of the ‘noble savage’ … is simply untenable in the 21st century.”  (Perez)

Kirch noted that “the popular orthodoxy of indigenous peoples in symbiotic ‘harmony’ with nature should not go unquestioned.” (Kirch)

“Evidence obtained from archaeological and ancillary studies of paleoenvironment suggests that the prehistoric Polynesians had a far greater impact on the Hawaiian ecosystem than has heretofore been realized. Such impact began with the introduction, by Polynesians, of exotic plants and animals.”

“The cumulative effects of forest clearance and habitat modification through the use of fire led to major changes in lowland ecology. Among the consequences of this transformation of the Hawaiian landscape were the extinction of endemic species, alteration of vegetation communities, and erosion.” (Kirch)

“Although it is believed that native Hawaiian avifauna was affected by several interdependent factors, the extensively documented bird overkill by humans must have played a crucial role in their decline.”

“The extent to which humans contributed to bird demise may be unclear; however, as Berger argues, some birds – such as the ‘ō‘ō – went extinct in other islands, whereas the sole surviving ‘ō‘ō species in Kauai has ‘fewer yellow feathers than any of the other species’; this possibly helped it escape being overhunted.” (Perez)

“It is known that Hawaiians exploited birds both for meat and for their plumage, and predation was doubtless one of the factors leading to the massive avifaunal extinctions.” (Kirch)

“The ‘ō‘ū [honeycreeper] was at one time ‘ … common to all the larger Hawaiian islands’; ‘Next to [‘I‘ìwi], it is perhaps the most noticeable bird of the forest-birds of the islands’; however, its ‘… conspicuous bright yellow head and neck plumage’ were eagerly used for highly valued leis. Now the bird is gone.”

“Humans avidly consumed ‘ua‘u (petrel) meat, severely restricting the distribution of one of the most abundant birds in the Hawaiian Islands into just a minute fraction of its former range. Now the ‘ua‘u is an endangered bird, likely to become extinct in the near future.”

“That is the undeniable legacy of overexplotation and disregard of ancient Hawaiians toward their magnificent avifauna.” (Perez)

“The Hawaiian Islands have the dubious distinction of leading the world in numbers of historically extinct and currently endangered bird species; sadly, this unfortunate situation is not a recent phenomenon.”

“Bird extinctions after European discovery were extensive and are now well documented; however, native Polynesians caused extinctions of an even greater magnitude. Fossil evidence shows at least 50% of the original avifauna became extinct after Polynesians arrived in Hawai’i”.  (Perez)

“Feathers were important symbols of power for Polynesians; in Hawai‘i, feathers were more highly prized than other types of property.”

“Feathers used for crafts were obtained from at least 24 bird species, however, the golden feathers of ‘ō‘ō and mamo birds made them primary targets for birdhunters; both birds became extinct by the late 1800s.”

“Feathers were utilized for many items, including ‘ahu‘ula [cloaks], mahiole [war helmets], and kāhili [standards]. Most garments utilized a considerable number of feathers; a cloak for Kamehameha consumed the golden feathers of 80,000 mamo birds.”

“Bird meat was an important food item for native Hawaiians. It is believed that most birds were killed after being plucked; historical sources mention ~30 bird species were consumed. The ‘ua‘u, a currently endangered seabird, was ruthlessly hunted and avidly eaten.”  (Perez)

“Some authors prefer to disingenuously believe that birdcatchers plucked only a few feathers from each bird, then ‘set it free to raise its family and grow a new crop of feathers.’” (Perez)

In the first writing of Hawai‘i, Captain Cook’s Journal notes, “Amongst the articles which they brought to barter this day, we could not help taking notice of a particular sort of cloak and cap, which, even in countries where dress is more particularly attended to, might be reckoned elegant.”

“The first are nearly of the size and shape of the short cloaks worn by the women of England, and by the men in Spain, reaching to the middle of the back, and tied loosely before.”

“The ground of them is a network upon which the most beautiful red and yellow feathers are so closely fixed that the surface might be compared to the thickest and richest velvet, which they resemble, both as to the feel and the flossy appearance. …”

At the time of ‘Contact’, it was clear that when collection feathers birds were killed, as Cook’s Journal goes on to note, “We were at a loss to guess from whence they could get such a quantity of these beautiful feathers; but were soon informed as to one sort …”

“… for they afterward brought great numbers of skins of small red birds for sale, which were often tied up in bunches of twenty or more, or had a small wooden skewer run through their nostrils.”

“At the first, those that were bought consisted only of the skin from behind the wings forward; but we afterward got many with the hind part, including the tail and feet. The first, however, struck us at once with the origin of the sable formerly adopted, of the birds of paradise wanting legs, and sufficiently explained that circumstance. … (Cook’s Journal, Jan 1778)

“The scarlet birds, already described, which were brought for sale, were never met with alive; but we saw a single small one, about the size of a canary-bird, of a deep crimson colour; a large owl; two large brown hawks, or kites; and a wild duck.”  (Cook’s Journal, Feb 1778)

“It is certainly true that various resource management measures (such as the imposition of a kapu, or ban, on certain fish) were enacted at times to reduce the impact of exploitation on certain resources. But the existence of a conservation ethic and its effectiveness are two different things; the former does not automatically imply the latter.”

“[W]e need to be clear [though,] that the arrival of Europeans in the islands led to far greater impacts on the ecosystems than anything that the Hawaiians wrought – with the introduction of ungulates and other invasive species, massive water diversion, vast plantation monocropping, and so forth”.  (Kirch)

© 2024 Ho‘okuleana LLC

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Lānai – Lāhainā Ferry

In ancient times, the windward coast of the island of Lānai was home to many native residents.  Maunalei Valley had the only perennial stream on the island and a system of loʻi kalo (taro pond field terraces) supplied taro to the surrounding community.

Sheltered coves, fronted by a barrier reef, provided the residents with access to important fisheries, and allowed for the development of loko iʻa (fishponds), in which various species of fish were cultivated, and available to native tenants, even when the ocean was too rough for the canoes to venture out to sea.  (Lānai Culture and Heritage Center)

The history of Lānai is rich and diverse, spanning first, some 800 years of native Hawaiian residency and subsistence practices (ca. 1000 – 1800 A.D.). Then following 1800, there was a decline in the native population as foreign influences began to grow.

In 1861, Walter Murray Gibson came to Hawaiʻi after joining the Mormon Church the year before; he was to serve as a missionary and envoy of the Mormon Church to the peoples of the Pacific.

The experience with the Church was relatively short-lived; in 1864, he was excommunicated for selling priesthood offices, defrauding the Hawaiian members and misusing his ecclesiastical authority (in part, he was using church funds to buy land in his name.)

By the 1870s, Gibson focused his interests at Koele, situated in a sheltered valley in the uplands of Kamoku Ahupuaʻa. As the ranch operation was developed, Koele was transformed from an area of traditional residency and sustainable agriculture to the ranch headquarters.  (Lānai Culture and Heritage Center)  In 1872, Gibson moved from Lānai to Lāhainā and then to Honolulu.

After Gibson’s death in 1888, the ranch was turned over to his daughter and son-in-law, Talula and Frederick Hayselden.  As early as 1896, the Gibson-Hayselden interests on Lānai, which held nearly all the land on the island in fee-simple or leasehold title, began developing a scheme to plant and grow sugar on Lānai.

They chose the ancient fishing community of Keōmuku for the base of operations.  However, before completing the construction of the mill and associated facilities, and prior to the first harvest being collected for processing, the Maunalei Sugar Company went bankrupt.

In the period between 1899 to the 1920s, Keōmuku served as the hub of residency and commerce. Several motor-driven boats were engaged in providing transportation of people and goods between Lānai and Lāhaina. (Lānai Culture and Heritage Center)

Navigating the rough seas and near shore reef waters took exceptional skill. With names like “Akamai” (Smart,) “Naheihei” (The Racer,) “Mikioi” (Skillful,) “Lokahi” (Unity) and “Manukiiwai” (Bird That Fetches Water,) the boats regularly made runs to Lāhainā from Halepalaoa.

The return trip from Lāhainā brought back the mail, various food supplies, along with poi, rice and flour, fresh water in bottles, and passengers – including family members and visitors to the island.

Kupuna, Venus Leinaala Gay Holt, born at Keomoku in 1905 recalled that: “No matter how rough, Noa Kaopuiki knew how to wait. He would keep the engine running and everything. He’d wait. He knew how to count the waves. And we would all hold right there, see everything. And all the sudden, he’d go! He was gone. Right through the channel, gone. And the big waves are coming right after that. Gone on his way to Lāhaina.”

“Our boats ran twice a week to Lāhainā. They always came back with a barrel of poi, bags of flour, or whatever, whatever, whatever. We had sort of a store room with all the things in it… The boat went over and we bought most of our supplies from Lāhainā.”

“We brought in large supplies, by cases. Case of corned beef, case of canned salmon… Every Wednesday and every Saturday, they bought fresh supplies, poi, a whole barrel of poi once a week. We always had rice, and we grew a lot of things down here. We grew a lot of vegetables. We grew sweet potatoes, even down at the beach house. Lots of sweet potatoes were grown for the pigs…” (Venus Leinaala Gay Holt, January 28, 2006; Lānai CHC)

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC