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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment
by Peter T Young Leave a Comment
In 1777, the thirteen colonies were fighting the Revolutionary War with England. Vermont was not one of the 13 Colonies; rather, in January of that year, delegates from towns around Vermont held a convention and declared their independence.
They called the new republic ‘New Connecticut;’ later that year, they changed the name to Vermont. (Vermont Secretary of State)
Although an independent republic, Vermonters fought with the Colonists against the British. A turning point in the revolution was at the Battle of Bennington, Vt. It was a major victory for the Americans and helped to convince France that the rebels were worthy of support.
Between 1777, when Vermont established its independence, and 1791 (when Vermont joined the Union as the 14th state,) Vermont was truly independent – as a republic it had its own coins and its own postal service. (Vermont Secretary of State)
At this same time (October 30, 1789,) Hiram Bingham was born to Calvin and Lydia Bingham in Bennington Vermont. Thirty years later (October 23, 1819,) Bingham led the Pioneer Company of Protestant missionaries to Hawaiʻi.
This is not the only tie Vermont has to the Islands. A lasting legacy is through descendants of another Hawaiʻi missionary, Peter Johnson Gulick, a member of the Third Company of missionaries to the Islands.
First of all, Hawaiʻi-born grandson Luther Halsey Gulick, Jr. MD and his wife Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Emily Vetter founded Camp Fire Girls (now known as Camp Fire.)
Another Hawaiʻi born grandson Edward Leeds Gulick and his wife Harriet Marie Gulick later settled in Vermont and started the “Aloha Camp” there in 1905. It started as a success and is still going strong today.
“Aloha began as a picnic. Three young couples, one summer day of 1898, were cycling around Lake Morey, seeking the loveliest spot at which to enjoy their lunch, brought from Hanover, NH. At just the very place where all agreed the views were most beautiful, stood a plain, substantial house, with no paint, no blinds, and a porch only big enough for two small chairs.”
“The sign, ‘For Sale; Inquire at the next house,’ fired the imagination, and while Mr. Gulick, ‘just for fun,’ went over to make inquiries, the rest ran around, peeking in at each window, and promptly imagining themselves spending a gay summer in that ideal spot.”
“July 1899 found the Gulicks with a new baby, Harriet, later known to campers as ‘Johnnie, the bugler,’ taking the long ride from New Jersey to their new summer home.”
“The name of the new cottage was a source of lively and humorous discussions. Aloha, meaning ‘Love to you,’ in Hawaiian, was finally chosen, for its euphonious sound, and its kindly meaning. Who better should name this cottage Aloha, than one who was son and grandson of men who had spent their lives in uplifting the natives of those beautiful Islands?”
“For six happy summers Aloha cottage housed the quartette of Gulick children, and their cousins and uncles and aunts and friends, filling it full from the attic down. But just when and how Aloha camp was thought of, it is hard to say.”
“Believing that girls and their parents would soon see the immense advantages of camp life, – the health, the beauty, the sanity, and the wholesome democracy of such a life, – we started bravely in.” (Harriet Farnsworth Gulick)
In 1905 – 15 years before women were allowed to vote, when floor length skirts and lace up boots were mandatory for playing any sport; when popular conduct books for girls encouraged a “retiring delicacy” and declared that “one of the most valuable things you can learn is how to become a good housewife” – Harriet and Edward Gulick created a world in which every girl could discover her most adventurous self.
That world, Aloha Camp on Lake Morey in Fairlee, Vermont, afforded young women the knowledge, skills and freedom to explore wild nature on foot and on horseback, by skiff and by canoe; to kindle campfires in the woods and cook meals in the open air; to pitch tents over rough ground and sleep out of doors under the stars.
“Imagination necessary. The very fabric of human civilization depends on it.” Harriet Farnsworth Gulick wrote these words in a notebook of ideas for assembly talks at Aloha Camp, a camp for girls.
Next, the Gulicks turned their imagination to opportunities for women ‘age eighteen to eighty,’ opening Aloha Club in 1910 on the secluded shore of Lake Katherine in Pike, New Hampshire. The success of Aloha Camp and Aloha Club inspired the Gulicks to imagine how camp could benefit younger girls. Having purchased 400-acres of farmland on Lake Fairlee in Ely, Vermont, they developed Aloha Hive, which opened in 1915.
At the turn of the century (1900,) girls’ camps were rare. Then, the girl camper was about twelve to twenty. She usually came from a home of luxury and enjoyed the novelty of sleeping in tents, the unhampered opportunities for learning to swim, to row, to paddle – in short, to live close to friendly Mother Nature – through eight or nine happy weeks of the camp season. (Coale)
At Aloha Camp, girls received ‘Kanaka’ awards – “The little figure in bloomers is won by a camper whose tent and land adjoining it is perfect as to order and neatness for a week. If to that virtue is added punctuality at all the appointments of a week – meals, assembly, crafts, etc – the girl wins a Kanaka”. (Aloha Kanaka)
Every summer one whole camp has an opportunity to vote for just one girl. It is not the most popular girl; nor the most athletic; nor yet the best-looking. Not any of these. The highest honor the camp has to bestow is given for Camp Spirit – and it goes to the girl who has proved to be the most thoughtful, generous, and kind-in short, the best friend. (Worthington)
After launching Hive, the next question for the Gulick’s imagination was “what about all the little brothers of Aloha and Hive campers?” Far from the military camps that prevailed for boys in those days, they envisioned Camp Lanakila, a camp that promoted a spirit of adventure, discovery, creativeness, respect for others and individual growth.
After Edward Gulick’s death in 1931, Harriet Gulick continued for twenty years as the central, caring presence for all the camps. She passed away in February 1951 at the age of 86. In the mid-1960s, the camps faced a major challenge as members of the Gulick family’s next generation followed pursuits other than the management of Aloha (1905,) Hive (1915) and Lanakila (1922.)
The Aloha Foundation was formed as a nonprofit organization that continues operating the camps and endeavors to sustain the Gulick traditions.
In Hawaiʻi, one of the lasting legacies and reminders of the Gulick family in Hawaiʻi is heard in almost every morning’s Honolulu traffic report with reference to conditions at the Gulick Avenue overpass in Kalihi. (Lots of information here from Aloha Kanaka and Aloha Camp website.)
by Peter T Young Leave a Comment
This stone and mortar building, completed in 1837, is the oldest surviving Christian church in the state of Hawaiʻi, started by the first Protestant missionaries to land in Hawaiʻi.
With the permission of Liholiho (Kamehameha II), the missionaries built a grass house for worship in 1823 and, later, a large thatched meeting house.
Missionary Asa Thurston directed the construction of the present Mokuʻaikaua Church, then the largest building in Kailua-Kona. Its massive size indicates the large Hawaiian population living in or near Kailua at that time.
Mokuʻaikaua, with its 112-foot-tall steeple, is a reminder of the enthusiasm and energy of the first American missionaries and their Hawaiian converts.
Built of stones taken from a nearby heiau and lime made of burned coral, it represents the new western architecture of early 19th-century Hawaiʻi and became an example that other missionaries would imitate.
The original thatch church which was built in 1823 but was destroyed by fire in 1835, the present structure was completed in 1837. Mokuʻaikaua takes its name from a forest area above Kailua from which timbers were cut and dragged by hand to construct the ceiling and interior.
Mokuʻaikaua Church is centered in a small level lot near the center of Kailua. Its high steeple stands out conspicuously and has become a landmark from both land and sea.
Huge corner stones, said to have been hewn by order of King ʻUmi in the 16th century for a heiau, were set in place and offers evidence of the heavy labor which contributed to the Church’s construction.
The central core of the steeple is polygonal with alternating sections of wide and narrow clapboard. The wider sections are articulated with louvered arches. The 48 by 120 feet lava rock and coral mortared church is capped with a gable roof.
Construction beams are made from ʻōhiʻa wood. Pieces of the wooden structure were joined with ʻōhiʻa pins. The spanning beams are fifty feet long and are made from ʻōhiʻa timbers. Corner stones were set in place 20 to 30 feet above the ground.
Mokuʻaikaua Church is the first and one of the largest stone churches in Hawaiʻi, outstanding for its simple, well-proportioned mass and construction.
The interior open timber structure with high galleries is a fine architectural and engineering design. The architectural interest is further enhanced by the church’s historical significance (it is on the Register of Historic Places.)
In 1910, a memorial arch was erected at the entrance to the church grounds to commemorate the arrival of the first missionaries.
Congregationalist missionaries from Boston crossed the Atlantic Ocean, rounded Cape Horn, aboard the Brig Thaddeus. A replica of the Thaddeus is in Mokuʻaikaua Church.
On the morning of April 4, 1820, 163 days from Boston, the Congregational Protestant missionaries, led by Hiram Bingham, aboard the Thaddeus, came to anchor off the village of Kailua.
They came ashore at the “Plymouth Rock” of Hawaiʻi, where Kailua Pier now stands. Christian worship has taken place near this site since 1820. Mokuʻaikaua is known as the “First Christian Church of Hawaiʻi.”
Inspired by the dream of Hawaiian Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia, seven couples were sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity.
Two Ordained Preachers Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; Two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; A Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; A Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; A Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.
The Thurstons remained in Kailua, while their fellow missionaries went to establish stations on other Hawaiian islands.
by Peter T Young Leave a Comment
Did the Missionaries Really Stop Surfing in Hawaiʻi?
Open any book or read any article about surfing in Hawaiʻi and invariably there is a definitive statement that the missionaries “banned” and/or “abolished” surfing in Hawaiʻi.
OK, I am not being overly sensitive, here (being a descendent of Hiram Bingham, the leader of the first missionary group to Hawaiʻi;) actually, I believed the premise in the first line for a long time.
However, in taking a closer look into the matter, I am coming to a different conclusion.
First of all, the missionaries were guests in the Hawaiian Kingdom; they didn’t have the power to ban or abolish anything – that was the prerogative of the King and Chiefs.
Anyway, I agree; the missionaries despised the fact that Hawaiians typically surfed in the nude. They also didn’t like the commingling between the sexes.
So, before we go on, we need to agree, the issue at hand is surfing – not nudity and interactions between the sexes. In keeping this discussion on the sport and not sexuality, let’s see what the missionaries had to say about surfing.
I first looked to see what my great-great-great-grandfather, Hiram Bingham, had to say. He wrote a book, A Residence of Twenty-One Years in the Sandwich Islands, about his experiences in Hawaiʻi.
I word-searched “surf” (figuring I could get all word variations on the subject.) Here is what Bingham had to say about surfing (Bingham was leader of the 1st Company of missionaries to Hawaiʻi, arriving in 1820 – these are his words:)
“(T)hey resorted to the favorite amusement of all classes – sporting on the surf, in which they distinguish themselves from most other nations. In this exercise, they generally avail themselves of the surf-board, an instrument manufactured by themselves for the purpose.” (Bingham – page 136)
“The inhabitants of these islands, both male and female, are distinguished by their fondness for the water, their powers of diving and swimming, and the dexterity and ease with which they manage themselves, their surf-boards and canoes, in that element.” (Bingham – pages 136-137)
“The adoption of our costume greatly diminishes their practice of swimming and sporting in the surf, for it is less convenient to wear it in the water than the native girdle, and less decorous and safe to lay it entirely off on every occasion they find for a plunge or swim or surf-board race.” (Bingham – page 137)
“The decline or discontinuance of the use of the surf-board, as civilization advances, may be accounted for by the increase of modesty, industry or religion, without supposing, as some have affected to believe, that missionaries caused oppressive enactments against it. These considerations are in part applicable to many other amusements. Indeed, the purchase of foreign vessels, at this time, required attention to the collecting and delivering of 450,000 Ibs. of sandal-wood, which those who were waiting for it might naturally suppose would, for a time, supersede their amusements.” (Bingham – page 137)
Most people cite the first sentence in the above paragraph as admission by Bingham that the missionaries were the cause, but fail to quote the rest of the paragraph. In the remaining sentences of the same paragraph Bingham notes that with the growing demand to harvest sandalwood, there is less time for the Hawaiians to attend to their “amusements,” including surfing. These later words change the context of the prior.
Here is a bit of poetic support Bingham shows for the sport, “On a calm and bright summer’s day, the wide ocean and foaming surf, the peaceful river, with verdant banks, the bold cliff, and forest covered mountains, the level and fertile vale, the pleasant shade-trees, the green tufts of elegant fronds on the tall cocoanut trunks, nodding and waving, like graceful plumes, in the refreshing breeze; birds flitting, chirping, and singing among them, goats grazing and bleating, and their kids frisking on the rocky cliff, the natives at their work, carrying burdens, or sailing up and down the river, or along the sea-shore, in their canoes, propelled by their polished paddles that glitter in the sun-beam, or by a small sail well trimmed, or riding more rapidly and proudly on their surf-boards, on the front of foaming surges, as they hasten to the sandy shore, all give life and interest to the scenery.” (Bingham – pages 217-218)
Likewise, I did a word search for “surf” in the Levi Chamberlain journals and found the following (Chamberlain was the mission quartermaster in the 1830s:)
“The situation of Waititi (Waikīkī) is pleasant, & enjoys the shade of a large number of cocoanut & kou trees. The kou has large spreading branches & affords a very beautiful shade. There is a considerable extension of beach and when the surf comes in high the natives amuse themselves in riding on the surf-board.” (Chamberlain – Vol 2, page 18)
“The Chiefs amused themselves by playing on surfboards in the heart of Lahaina.” (Chamberlain – Vol 5, page 36)
Another set of Journals, belonging to Amos S. Cooke, also notes references to surfing (Cooke was in the 8th Company of missionaries arriving in 1837:)
“After dinner Auhea went with me, & the boys to bathe in the sea, & I tried riding on the surf. To day I have felt quite lame from it.” (Cooke – Vol 6, page 237) (Missionaries and their children also surfed.)
“This evening I have been reading to the smaller children from “Rollo at Play”–“The Freshet”. The older children are still reading “Robinson Crusoe”. Since school the boys have been to Waikiki to swim in the surf & on surf boards. They reached home at 7 o’clk. Last evening they went to Diamond Point – & did not return till 7 1/2 o’clock.” (Cooke – Vol 7, page 385)
“After dinner about three o’clock we went to bathe & to play in the surf. After we returned from this we paid a visit to the church which has lately been repaired with a new belfry & roof.” (Cooke – Vol 8, page 120)
James J Jarvis, in 1847, notes “Sliding down steep hills, on a smooth board, was a common amusement; but no sport afforded more delight than bathing in the surf. Young and old high and low, of both sexes, engaged in it, and in no other way could they show greater dexterity in their aquatic exercises. Multitudes could be seen when the surf was highest, pushing boldly seaward, with their surf-board in advance, diving beneath the huge combers, as they broke in succession over them, until they reached the outer line of breakers; then laying flat upon their boards, using their arms and legs as guides, they boldly mounted the loftiest, and, borne upon its crest, rushed with the speed of a race-horse towards the shore; from being dashed upon which, seemed to a spectator impossible to be avoided.” (Jarvis – page 39)
In 1851, the Reverend Henry T. Cheever observed surfing at Lāhaina, Maui and wrote about it in his book, Life in the Hawaiian Islands, The Heart of the Pacific As it Was and Is, “It is highly amusing to a stranger to go out to the south part of this town, some day when the sea is rolling in heavily over the reef, and to observe there the evolutions and rapid career of a company of surf-players. The sport (of surfing) is so attractive and full of wild excitement to the Hawaiians, and withal so healthy, that I cannot but hope it will be many years before civilization shall look it out of countenance, or make it disreputable to indulge in this manly, though it be dangerous, exercise.” (Cheever – pages 41-42)
Even Mark Twain notes surfing during his visit in 1866, “In one place we came upon a large company of naked natives, of both sexes and all ages, amusing themselves with the national pastime of surf-bathing. Each heathen would paddle three or four hundred yards out to sea, (taking a short board with him), then face the shore and wait for a particularly prodigious billow to come along; at the right moment he would fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon the board, and here he would come whizzing by like a bombshell! It did not seem that a lightning express train could shoot along at a more hair-lifting speed. I tried surf-bathing once, subsequently, but made a failure of it. I got the board placed right, and at the right moment, too; but missed the connection myself.–The board struck the shore in three quarters of a second, without any cargo, and I struck the bottom about the same time, with a couple of barrels of water in me..” (Mark Twain, Roughing It, 1880)
Obviously, surfing was never “banned” or “abolished” in Hawaiʻi.
These words from prominent missionaries and other observers note on-going surfing throughout the decades the missionaries were in Hawaiʻi (1820 – 1863.)
Likewise, their comments sound supportive of surfing, at least they were comfortable with it and they admired the Hawaiians for their surfing prowess (they are certainly not in opposition to its continued practice) – and Bingham seems to acknowledge that he realizes others may believe the missionaries curtailed/stopped it.
So, Bingham, who was in Hawaiʻi from 1820 to 1841, makes surprisingly favorable remarks by noting that Hawaiians were “sporting on the surf, in which they distinguish themselves from most other nations”. Likewise, Chamberlain notes they “amuse themselves in riding on the surf-board.”
Missionary Amos Cooke, who arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1837 – and was later appointed by King Kamehameha III to teach the young royalty in the Chief’s Childrens’ School – surfed himself (with his sons) and enjoyed going to the beach in the afternoon.
In the late-1840s, Jarvis notes, “Multitudes could be seen when the surf was highest, pushing boldly seaward, with their surf-board in advance”.
In the 1850s, Reverend Cheever notes, surfing “is so attractive and full of wild excitement to the Hawaiians, and withal so healthy”.
In the mid-1860s Mark Twain notes, the Hawaiians were “amusing themselves with the national pastime of surf-bathing. Each heathen would paddle three or four hundred yards out to sea, (taking a short board with him), then face the shore and wait for a particularly prodigious billow to come along; at the right moment he would fling his board upon its foamy crest and himself upon the board, and here he would come whizzing by like a bombshell!”
Throughout the decades, Hawaiians continued to surf and, if anything, the missionaries and others at least appreciated surfing (although they vehemently opposed nudity – likewise, today, nudity is frowned upon.)
And, using Cooke as an example, it is clear some of the missionaries and their families also surfed.
Of course, not everyone tolerated or supported surfing. Sarah Joiner Lyman notes in her book, “Sarah Joiner Lyman of Hawaii–her own story,” “You have probably heard that playing on the surf board was a favourite amusement in ancient times. It is too much practised at the present day, and is the source of much iniquity, inasmuch as it leads to intercourse with the sexes without discrimination. Today a man died on his surf board. He was seen to fall from it, but has not yet been found. I hope this will be a warning to others, and that many will be induced to leave this foolish amusement.” (Lyman – pages 63-63 – (John Clark))
“No Ka Molowa. Ua ’kaka loa ka molowa. Eia kekahi, o ka lilo loa o na kanaka i ka heenalu a me na wahine a me na keiki i ka lelekawa i ka mio.” (Ke Kumu Hawaii – January 31, 1838 – page 70 – (John Clark))
“Laziness. It is clear that they were lazy. The men would spend all their time surfing, and the women and children would spend all their time jumping and diving into the ocean.”
“No Ka Palaka. No ka palaka mai ka molowa, ka nanea, ka lealea, ka paani, ka heenalu,ka lelekawa, ka mio, ka heeholua, ka lelekowali; ka hoolele lupe, kela mea keia mea o ka palaka, oia ka mole o keia mau hewa he nui wale.” (Ke Kumu Hawaii – January 31, 1838 – page 70 – (John Clark))
“Indifference. Indifference is the source of laziness, relaxation, enjoyment, play, surfing, cliff jumping, diving, sledding, swinging, kite flying, and all kinds of indifferent activities; indifference is the root of these many vices.”
Let’s look some more – could something else be a cause for the apparent reduction of surfers in the water? What about affects the socio-economic and demographic changes may have had on the peoples’ opportunity to surf?
Remember, in 1819, prior to the arrival of the missionaries, Liholiho abolished the kapu system. This effectively also cancelled the annual Makahiki celebrations and the athletic contests and games associated with them.
Likewise, the Chiefs were distracted by new Western goods and were directing the commoners to work at various tasks that took time away from other activities, including surfing.
Between 1805 and 1830, the common people were displaced from much of their traditional duties (farming and fishing) and labor was diverted to harvesting sandalwood.
Between 1819 and 1859, whaling was the economic mainstay in the Islands. Ships re-provisioned in Hawaiʻi, and Hawaiians grew the crops for these needs: fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, cattle, white potatoes and sugar.
With the start of a successful sugar plantation in 1835, Hawai‘i’s economy turned toward sugar and saw tremendous expansion in the decades between 1860 and 1880.
From the time of contact (1778,) Hawaiians were transitioning from a subsistence economy to a market economy and the people were being employed to work at various industries. (Even today’s surfers prefer to surf all the time, but in many cases obligations at work means you can’t surf all the time.)
In light of the demands these industries have in distracting people away from their recreational pursuits, let’s look at the Hawaiian population changes.
Since contact in 1778, the Hawaiian population declined rapidly after exposure to a host of diseases for which they had no immunity. In addition, many Hawaiians moved away or worked overseas.
The Hawaiian population in 1778 is estimated to have been approximately 300,000 (estimates vary; some as high as 800,000 to 1,000,000; but many writers suggest the 300,000 estimate – a higher 1778 estimate more dramatically illustrates the change in population.)
Whatever the ‘contact’ starting point, by 1860 the Islands’ population drastically declined to approximately 69,800. Fewer people overall means fewer people in the water and out surfing.
My immediate reaction in reading what the missionaries and others had to say is that the purported banning and/or opposition to surfing may be more urban legend, than fact.
It is easy to blame the missionaries, but there doesn’t seem to be basis to do so.
Rather, I tend to agree with what my relative, missionary Hiram Bingham, had to say (rather poetically, to my surprise,) “On a calm and bright summer’s day, the wide ocean and foaming surf … the green tufts of elegant fronds on the tall cocoanut trunks, nodding and waving, like graceful plumes, in the refreshing breeze … the natives … riding more rapidly and proudly on their surf-boards, on the front of foaming surges … give life and interest to the scenery.”
Surf’s up – let’s go surfing!
by Peter T Young Leave a Comment
On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM in this first company.
These included two Ordained Preachers, Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; a Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; a Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; and a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.
By the time the Pioneer Company arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by former Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.
One of the first things the missionaries did was begin to learn the Hawaiian language and create an alphabet for a written format of the language. Their emphasis was on teaching and preaching.
The first mission station was at Kailua-Kona, where they first landed in the Islands, then the residence of the King (Liholiho, Kamehameha II;) Asa and Lucy Thurston manned the mission, there.
Liholiho was Asa Thurston’s first pupil. His orders were that “none should be taught to read except those of high rank, those to whom he gave special permission, and the wives and children of white men.”
James Kahuhu and John ʻlʻi were two of his favorite courtiers, whom he placed under Mr. Thurston’s instruction in order that he might judge whether the new learning was going to be of any value. (Alexander, The Friend, December 1902)
In 1820, Missionary Lucy Thurston noted in her Journal, “The king (Liholiho, Kamehameha II) brought two young men to Mr. Thurston, and said: ‘Teach these, my favorites, (John Papa) Ii and (James) Kahuhu. It will be the same as teaching me. Through them I shall find out what learning is.’”
“To do his part to distinguish and make them respectable scholars, he dressed them in a civilized manner. They daily came forth from the king, entered the presence of their teacher, clad in white, while his majesty and court continued to sit in their girdles.”
“Although thus distinguished from their fellows, in all the beauty and strength of ripening manhood, with what humility they drank in instruction from the lips of their teacher, even as the dry earth drinks in water!”
“After an absence of some months, the king returned, and called at our dwelling to hear the two young men, his favorites, read. He was delighted with their improvement, and shook Mr. Thurston most cordially by the hand – pressed it between both his own – then kissed it.” (Lucy Thurston)
Kahuhu was among the earliest of those associated with the chiefs to learn both spoken and written words. Kahuhu then became a teacher to the chiefs.
In April or May 1821, the King and the chiefs gathered in Honolulu and selected teachers to assist Mr Bingham. James Kahuhu, John ʻĪʻi, Haʻalilio, Prince Kauikeaouli were among those who learned English. (Kamakau)
On October 7, 1829, it seems that Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) set up a legislative body and council of state when he prepared a definite and authoritative declaration to foreigners and each of them signed it. (Frear – HHS) Kahuhu was one of the participants.
King Kamehameha III issued a Proclamation “respecting the treatment of Foreigners within his Territories.” It was prepared in the name of the King and the Chiefs in Council: Kauikeaouli, the King; Gov. Boki; Kaʻahumanu; Gov. Adams Kuakini; Manuia; Kekūanāoʻa; Hinau; ʻAikanaka; Paki; Kīnaʻu; John ʻIʻi and James Kahuhu.
In part, he states, “The Laws of my Country prohibit murder, theft, adultery, fornication, retailing ardent spirits at houses for selling spirits, amusements on the Sabbath Day, gambling and betting on the Sabbath Day, and at all times. If any man shall transgress any of these Laws, he is liable to the penalty, – the same for every Foreigner and for the People of these Islands: whoever shall violate these Laws shall be punished.”
It continues with, “This is our communication to you all, ye parents from the Countries whence originate the winds; have compassion on a Nation of little Children, very small and young, who are yet in mental darkness; and help us to do right and follow with us, that which will be for the best good of this our Country.”
The Hawaiʻi State Archives is the repository of significant historic documents for Hawaiʻi; reportedly, the oldest Hawaiian language document in its possession is a letter written by James Kahuhu.
Writing to Chief John Adams Kuakini, Kahuhu’s letter was partially in English and partially Hawaiian (at that time, Kuakini was learning both English and written Hawaiian.)
Below is a transcription of Kahuhu’s letter. (HSA)
Oahu. Makaliʻi 12, 1822.
Kawaiahaʻo.
My Dear Chief Mr. John Adams Kuakini. I love you very much. This is my communication to you. Continue praying to Jehovah our God. Keep the Sabbath which is God’s holy day. Persevere in your learning the good Gospel of Jehovah. By and by perhaps we shall know the good word of Jesus Christ. Then we shall know the good word of God.
A few begin to understand the good word of God. I am very pleased with the good word of God which has been brought here to enlighten this dark land. Who will save our souls and take them up to heaven, the place of eternal life. I am presently teaching Nahiʻenaʻena. I am teaching seven of them. Nahienaena, Kauikeaouli, Halekiʻi, Ulumāheihei Waipa, Ulumāheihei a Kapalahaole, Nakapuai and Noaʻawa are the students I am teaching. I may have more in the future. You must obey your good teacher, Hopu. Persevere with him and don’t give up.
Keliʻiahonui has learned to write quite well, he sent a letter to Oahu. Tell Hopu that Keliʻiahonui misses him. The King is learning to write from Mr. Bingham. Kalanimōku, Kīnaʻu and Kekauōnohi are learning to write Hawaiian. Mr. Thurston is their teacher. Here is another word to you, if you see Kalapauwahiole tell him to come to Oahu as I would like very much for him to come to Oahu.
James Kahuhu
(Makaliʻi was the name of a month: December on Hawai‘i, April on Moloka’i, October on Oʻahu. (Malo))
The image shows the first page of the Kahuhu letter to Kuakini (HSA.)