Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mabel Leilani Smyth

Pālama, a sleepy neighborhood of neat little cottages and taro patches, was home to mostly working-class Hawaiian families; on June 1, 1896, a chapel was built and presented to Central Union Church.

Social worker James Arthur Rath, Sr and his wife, Ragna Helsher Rath, turned Pālama Chapel into Pālama Settlement (in September 1906,) a chartered, independent, non-sectarian organization.

The Raths established a day-camp for children with tuberculosis, a pure milk depot, a day nursery, a night school, low-rent housing and the Territory’s first public nursing department.

Public health nursing was started in Hawaiʻi by the Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Association in 1897, when Mrs. Alice (Haviland) Thompson, nurse at Kamehameha School, volunteered her services to work in the Kindergartens in Honolulu.

In 1900, as Honolulu health officials attempted to rid the nearby Chinatown area of bubonic plague, fire destroyed a four-block section. The Pālama chapel’s staff located housing for many of the displaced and took care of the injured and children. It also ministered to the needs of immigrants who moved into the Pālama area soon after arriving in the Islands.

In 1908 the College Club (a voluntary civic association) became interested in the tuberculosis problem and employed a nurse to do tuberculosis work in the City of Honolulu. Because it was thought that the nurse would have easier access to the district homes, she was given a Board of Health badge.

When the Tuberculosis Bureau was established in the Board of Health in 1910, the College Club nurse worked under the direction and supervision of that bureau until the latter part of 1910, when Pālama Settlement established itself as the centralized organization for public health nursing activities in Honolulu.

Shortly after, Pālama assumed the direction and supervision of all nurses and nursing activities in the city, including the two nurses employed in the Board of Health to do tuberculosis nursing.

By 1910, nine nurses were employed in the city: two by the Legislature, or Board of Health, one by the College Club, one by the Chinese Consul, one by the United Chinese Society, and four by Pālama Settlement.  (Smyth; The Friend, September 1, 1932)

Mabel Smyth, sometimes referenced as “Hawaiʻi’s Florence Nightingale” was Hawaiʻi’s first native Hawaiian public health nurse in the territory of Hawaii.

The daughter of a part-Hawaiian mother, Julia Goo Smyth (1867-1948,) and an Irish Ship Captain father, Halford Hamill Smyth (1851-1907,) Mabel was born in 1882 in Kona (some say she was born in Honolulu.) Halford Smyth died in 1907 leaving his wife with 5 children ranging in age from 8 to 16 (Mabel, the second oldest, was 15 at the time.)  (Connerton)

The family then moved to Honolulu where Smyth was involved with the Pālama Settlement, and she worked as a helper in the home of Pālama Head Worker, James Rath.

In 1912 Smyth traveled to the mainland with the Rath family, and in Springfield, MA she left them to begin her nursing training at the Springfield Hospital Training School.   (Connerton)

Smyth graduated from the Springfield Hospital training school in 1914, and returned to Hawaiʻi to begin work at the Pālama settlement in 1915.

When she applied for her position on the Pālama nursing service she explained her interest in district health nursing “One can do more good for humanity by working among the people district nurses do, and I naturally like to work among that class of people.”

In 1917 when the Board of Nursing established a licensure requirement – Smyth was #52 granted on August 30, 1917.

When Smyth took over as Pālama’s head nurse in 1918 there were seven Pālama dispensaries in the city, each with a nurse assigned to that district.  Nurses spent about 45-minutes of their day in the office, and the rest was divided between school visits, home visits and dispensary hours.  (Connerton)

Smythe went on to lead two of the most influential public health nursing services in the territory.  She was a charter member of the Hawaiʻi Nursing Association (called the Honolulu Nurses’ Club).  She joined the Honolulu chapter of the American Red Cross, and she served on the Hawaiʻi Board of Nursing.

In 1923, by act of the Legislature, the title of all nurses employed by the Board of Health, who were known as tuberculosis or school nurse, was changed to “public health nurse.” (Smyth; The Friend, September 1, 1932)

What is public health nursing?  “Public health nursing is an organized community service rendered by graduate nurses to the individual, family and community.  This service includes the interpretation for the correction of defects, prevention of disease and the promotion of health, and may include skilled care for the sick in their homes.”

“Our service is divided into four distinct divisions, namely, maternity, health supervision, morbidity (which includes non-communicable and communicable diseases) and social service.” (Smyth; The Friend, September 1, 1932)

In 1926, Smyth joined with other public health nurses to initiate the University of Hawaiʻi course on public health nursing.  This program was vital for local nurses whose only other option for public health training was to go to the mainland to study.  (Connerton)

When the Bureau of maternal and Child Health was organized in 1926, the nurse services expanded island wide.  Miss Claira Figely was the first supervisor of nurses, followed by Mabel Smyth who was Director of the Bureau of Maternal and Infant Hygiene.

Hawaiʻi was the first, and at times the only, US Territory or State that required formal Public Health training for employment as Public Health nurse.  (Tabrah)

In 1936 Smyth was scheduled for a small surgery.  She prepared her staff for a planned absence, but she never returned.  Smyth died at age 43, after 21 years of service to the public health community of Hawaii.

Smyth was widely mourned in the territory, and after her death a committee formed to establish a memorial to the “Hawaiian Florence Nightingale.”  Over $110,000 raised for her memorial building, with over 4,000-people making contributions.

On January 4 1941, the CW Dickey-designed ‘Mabel Smyth Memorial Building’ was dedicated on the Queens Hospital grounds at the corner of Punchbowl and Beretania Streets in Honolulu.  The new building was the headquarters for Hawaii’s professional nursing and medical organizations.

In 1991, ownership of the building and property passed from the Queen’s Medical Center to the State of Hawaiʻi, in an exchange for nearby undeveloped land (Miller Street Triangle) that was needed by the hospital expansion.

In 1998, DLNR sold the building and adjacent grounds at a public auction for $5 million to the Queen Emma Foundation.  (PBN) Queen’s later renamed it ‘Queen’s Conference Center’ and relegated the Smyth name to the ‘Mabel Smyth Auditorium.’

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

He ‘Āina Momona ‘O Punaluʻu

The island of Oʻahu is divided into 6 moku (districts), consisting of: ‘Ewa, Kona, Koʻolauloa, Koʻolaupoko, Waialua and Waiʻanae. These moku were further divided into 86 ahupua‘a (land divisions within the moku.)

Punaluʻu (approximately 4,215-acres) is one of the 32 ahupua‘a that make up the moku of Koʻolauloa on the windward and north shore side of the island. It extends from the top of the Koʻolau mountain (at approximate the 2,700-foot elevation) down to the ocean.

After Kamehameha conquered Oʻahu (1795,) his nephew, Kekuaokalani, was reportedly raised by the priest Kahonu (kahuna of the Kaʻumakaulaula Heiau) in the upland forests of Punaluʻu. (Maly)

(Following the death of Kamehameha (1819,) King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) declared an end to the kapu system. Kekuaokalani, Liholiho’s cousin, opposed the abolition of the kapu system and assumed the responsibility of leading those who opposed its abolition. The two powerful cousins engaged at the final Hawaiian battle of Kuamoʻo. Liholiho won.)

One of the earliest written accounts noting Punaluʻu is by Levi Chamberlain, who journeyed around the island of O‘ahu in 1828 to inspect the newly forming school system: “… I commenced the examination of the schools belonging to Punaluʻu & the two adjoining districts, three in number; which occupied the whole of the forenoon.” (Chamberlain, HHS)

Chamberlain, further noted Chinese in the region: “Leaving this place we walked on to Mākao (an ahupuaʻa just up the coast from Punaluʻu) a place so named from the town of Macao in Canton (China) …” (Chamberlain, HHS)

“Vessels which arrive here from Canton (and) usually anchor … . Canton & the Chinese empire is by the natives called Makao, for this reason: Vessels which arrive here from Canton usually anchor at Macao and there take in their cargo….” (Chamberlain, HHS) (later, more Chinese came.)

The ahupuaʻa of Punaluʻu was later awarded to William Leleiōhoku in the Māhele ‘Āina of 1848, and in 1883, was inherited by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop.

Since traditional times, the native tenants of Punalu‘u worked closely with the native tenants of neighboring lands, as the Punalu‘u stream also crossed or bounded those lands. The earliest native land records of Punalu‘u and vicinity document that extensive lo‘i kalo (taro pond fields) and ʻauwai (irrigation ditches) were developed on the land. (Maly)

Then, much of the former loʻi were converted for rice cultivation. Many of the immigrant Chinese population, having fulfilled their labor contracts to work at the sugar plantations (starting in 1852,) came to Koʻolauloa to grow rice; initially as laborers, then taking control.

By 1862, the ali‘i owners of the land, entered into partnerships and leases with foreigners – initially, Caucasians – for the development of rice plantations. Between the 1870s to 1900, rice was the primary product of the area, followed by kalo. (Maly)

In 1882 the US Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act; then, Japanese workers were brought in to take their place. Within only five years the Japanese constituted more than forty-two percent of the plantation work force and one-seventh of the total population.

“Punaluʻu – 26-miles from Honolulu, is reached within a short time of leaving Kahana. Here is a very large rice plantation, extending a considerable distance up the valley, and occupying all the lower land at its mouth.”

“The population at this place is almost exclusively Chinese, large numbers being settled here with their wives. Quite a considerable village extends along the shore, and houses are to be seen far away up the valley.” (Whitney, 1890)

The resources at Punalu‘u were developed into significant business interests, including the development of mills and water distribution systems; and a pier and warehouses, which were situated in the vicinity of the present-day park facility.

There were two rice mills, one gas-powered facility in Kaluanui and the other, located in Punaluʻu Valley, was water-powered. A large part of the rice grown in the region was processed at these mills. (Chang)

In the early 1900s, “there are five lines of railway within the Territory of Hawaiʻi. The Oʻahu Railway & Land Company operating between Honolulu and Kahuku, 71.3-miles, with a branch some 11-miles in length, running from Waipahu to the pineapple plantation, of Wahiawa.”

“At Kahuku, a connection is made with the Koʻolau railway, adding some ten miles to the length of the road (into Koʻolauloa.) This railway system has opened up thousands of acres of rich sugar lands and handles a very large freight. (Hawaiian Forester and Agriculturalist, 1908)

“The extension of the railway from Kahuku to Kahana (put in by James B Castle, passing through Punaluʻu) has helped the district wonderfully. New houses are springing up, old ones have been repaired and houses long deserted are again peopled by families who forsook the country for town and who have come back to the land again.”

“There is a very good store at Hauʻula today and visitors can be put up very comfortably and at a reasonable rate by Mr Aubrey, the station agent and proprietor of the store.” (Hawaiian Star, December 4, 1909)

Some of the rice crop was shipped to Honolulu was shipped on the Koʻolau Railway to Kahuku, then on OR&L the rest of the way (around Kaʻena Point.) (Chang)

Castle was also interested in his own agricultural ventures. In 1906, he leased and acquired large and smaller parcels for the Koʻolau Agricultural Company. Under Castle’s tenure, hundreds of acres of Punalu‘u land were leased to Japanese tenants for the cultivation of taro and pineapples.

By the 1920s, it was getting too costly to grow rice and there was growing competition coming from Florida, Texas and California; so, most of the rice planters had given up agriculture and moved from Punaluʻu and other areas to Honolulu. Rice production, once the 2nd-largest industry (after sugar) passed into history.

Castle’s interests in the Koʻolau Agricultural and Koʻolau Railway Companies were later (1926) absorbed by Zion Securities of Lāʻie, and later transferred to the Kahuku Sugar Plantation (1931.) (Maly) Sugar was planted in Punaluʻu until the 1970s.

In 1994, the Punaluʻu Community Association (formed 50-years prior to protect and enhance the rural Hawaiian lifestyle in the area) submitted a petition to designate the ahupuaʻa of Punaluʻu as a surface water management area to the State Water Commission.

They and others later formed the Punaluʻu Watershed Alliance (2005; through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Water Commission, Punaluʻu Community Association, Kamehameha Schools, Honolulu Board of Water Supply and the USGS.)

The Punaluʻu Watershed Alliance is working on a stream restoration and flood mitigation plan, an agricultural plan, the expansion of irrigation systems for diversified agriculture and aquaculture (including restoration of taro loʻi.)

Part of the work includes modernizing the old plantation irrigation system that served various agricultural users in Punaluʻu. The old ditch delivery system leaked, wasted water, clogged easily and required extensive maintenance to clear obstructions.

The old ditch delivery system was replaced with a new pipe delivery system, resulting in more efficient and reliable operation, as well as lower maintenance. With this, folks are also restoring the old loʻi that once grew kalo (taro,) then rice – back to kalo.

The associated KSBE Punaluʻu Ahupuaʻa Plan has as its mission statement: “Punaluʻu is a place of abundance. (He ‘Āina Momona ‘O Punaluʻu) Our relationship to the ‘āina and our Hawaiian values sustain the traditions and productivity of the ahupua’a, stimulate learning opportunities, nurture a healthy community, and perpetuate its rural character.”

 

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

The “Japanese Problem”

Race, Ethnicity, Nationality, Culture, Heritage, Identity … some have suggested that about 100-years ago, folks used “racial” referring more specifically to nationality rather than ethnicity. In other words, the concern then was that a foreign nation was gradually supplanting parts of another.

Never-the-less, at the time, folks were concerned with the growing numbers of foreign nationals, especially Japanese; racial conflicts were developing and the military feared Japanese expansion.  Growing immigrant population, including those from Japan started to concern some in the Islands, as well as on the continent.

In response, the Commission of Relations with Japan, appointed by the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America retained Professor HA Millis of the University of Kansas who authored the “Japanese Problem in the United States” (1915.)

He “believe(d) in restriction in numbers and in keeping the laborers from immigrating to this country.  But once here, the Japanese should not be discriminated against.”  (Millis; New York Times)

However, a later incident in Hawaiʻi (1920) is viewed as a catalyst to actions that resulted in The Japanese Exclusion Act to address what were real, as well as imagined conceptions, misconceptions and opinions.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves; let’s look back.

The early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.

Since it was a crop that produced a choice food product that could be shipped to distant markets, its culture on a field and commercial scale was started as early as 1800 and it continued to grow.

The first commercially-viable sugar plantation, Ladd and Company, was started at Kōloa on Kaua‘i.  On July 29, 1835, Ladd obtained a 50-year lease on nearly 1,000-acres of land and established a plantation and mill site in Kōloa.

It was to change the face of Hawai‘i forever, launching an entire economy, lifestyle and practice of monocropping that lasted for over a century.  Sugar gradually replaced sandalwood and whaling in the mid-19th century and became the principal industry in the Islands.

Sugar was the dominant economic force in Hawaiʻi for over a century, other plantations soon followed Kōloa.  A century after Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi, sugar plantations started to dominate the landscape.

Hawai‘i’s economy turned toward sugar in the decades between 1860 and 1880; these twenty years were pivotal in building the plantation system.  By 1883, more than 50-plantations were producing sugar on five islands.

A shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge; the answer was imported labor.  Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants” (providing the legal basis for contract-labor system,) labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

The first to arrive were the Chinese (1852.)   Between 1852 and 1884, the population of Chinese in Hawaiʻi increased from 364 to 18,254, to become almost a quarter of the population of the Kingdom.  The US Chinese Exclusion Law of 1882 (effective in Hawaiʻi in 1902) closed further immigration of persons of Chinese ancestry to Hawai’i, except for the few individuals who could qualify for an exempt status.

In 1868, approximately 150-Japanese came to Hawaiʻi to work on sugar plantations and another 40 to Guam. This unauthorized recruitment and shipment of laborers, known as the gannenmono (“first year men”,) marked the beginning of Japanese labor migration overseas.  (JANM)

In March 1881, King Kalākaua visited Japan during which he discussed with Emperor Meiji Hawaiʻi’s desire to encourage Japanese nationals to settle in Hawaiʻi; this improved the relationship of the Hawaiian Kingdom with the Japanese government. (Nordyke/Matsumoto)

The first 943-government-sponsored, Kanyaku Imin, Japanese immigrants to Hawaiʻi arrived in Honolulu on February 8, 1885.  Subsequent government approval was given for a second set of 930-immigrants who arrived in Hawaii on June 17, 1885.  More followed.

In 1919, in commemoration of the coronation of Emperor Yoshihito (and a sign of good Japanese-Hawaiian relations,) Japanese in Hawaiʻi offered to construct a modified duplicate of the fountain in Hibiya Park Tokyo in Kapiʻolani Park.

The official presentation of the “Phoenix Fountain” was conducted by Consul General Moroi who announced the fountain was a “testimonial of friendship and equality of the Japanese residing in the Hawaiian Islands.”

One Japanese speaker noted, “We are assembled here to mark a spot of everlasting importance in the annals of the history of the Japanese people of Hawaiʻi.”  (It was later replaced and is now known as the Louise Dillingham Memorial Fountain.

But discord was imminent.

Growing immigrant population, including those from Japan, started to concern some, in the Islands, as well as on the continent.  Many Americans had begun to look at Japan and the Japanese with deep suspicion.

In 1920, demanding increases in pay, Japanese sugar workers on Oʻahu struck the plantations – approximately 6,000 workers, over three quarters of the labor force, walked off the job (only Oʻahu workers walked off, they relied on neighbor island for support.)

Though the strike was on Oʻahu, its impact was felt across the Islands.

At about this time, Olaʻa Sugar Company was established in Puna on the Island of Hawaiʻi; Juzaburo Sakamaki was hired as the company’s only regular interpreter.

As interpreter, Sakamaki was the only pipeline between the company and the Japanese immigrants who made up the majority of the labor force at Olaʻa Plantation.  Sakamaki had sided with management during the labor dispute.

Then, a small item in the June 4, 1920 Honolulu Star Bulletin noted, “The home of a Japanese eight miles from Olaa was blown up with giant powder last night.” The newspaper did not give the name of the victim, but it reported that the man was in a back bedroom at the time and was not killed, even though the front of the house was destroyed.  (UC Press)

It turns out the attack was on Sakamaki’s home.

The Territory of Hawaiʻi charged leaders of the Federation of Japanese Labor with conspiracy to assassinate Sakamaki in order to intimidate opponents of the strike and alleged, further, that the strike was part of a concerted effort to take over the Islands by Japan.

It took the jury less than five hours to reach a verdict on the fifteen defendants.   Judge Banks then sentenced all the defendants to “be imprisoned in Oʻahu prison at hard labor for the term of not less than four years nor more than ten years.”  (UC Press)

Some suggest it was the catalyst for legislation restricting immigration into the US.

On December 5, 1923, Rep. Albert Johnson, chairman of the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization, had submitted to the House a new immigration quota bill. Having heard about the “Japanese conspiracy” over and over from Hawaiian representatives, Johnson finally decided to propose a new law prohibiting the immigration of all Asians.

The subsequent Johnson Reed Immigration Quota Act ((Immigration Act of 1924) limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States in 1890 (down from the 3% cap set by the Immigration Restriction Act of 1921.)) It passed both houses of Congress with overwhelming majorities: in the House 308 to 58 and in the Senate 69 to 9.

I am reminded of the simple question, “Can we, can we all get along … can we, can we get along?”  (Rodney King)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Maunawili

While the valley is known as Maunawili, the word itself is a contraction of “twisted mountain.”

Archaeologists tell us that inland migration in the eleventh and twelfth centuries generally followed Maunawili and Kahanaʻiki streams into Maunawili valley with population concentrated at Kukanono (around the Castle Hospital area) and Maunawili, where fresh water was plentiful in both places.

In ancient times, the natural springs of Maunawili fed a network of streams that laced the valley: Makawao, furthest back in the valley; Ainoi, Maunawili, Omao and Palapu, all of which flowed into a common tributary to Kawainui.  A separate branch further toward the Pali, Kahana’iki, also fed the marsh.

Irrigated loʻi – interspersed with ti and popolo (black nightshade herb) plantings – stretched to Kawainui’s fishponds. There the streams fed nutrient-rich water into the ponds to nurture limu (algae) for the fish as well as to sustain lepo’ai’ai, edible mud the color of poi and the texture of haupia.

James Boyd, a British seaman (and Kamehameha confidant) is believed to be the first white landowner in the Kailua area. He and his descendants operated the Maunawili Ranch until it was acquired by William G. Irwin, a sugar factor.

The ranch was one of the largest cattle operations on Windward Oahu in the 19th century.  Irwin bought up the valley in the early-1890s as watershed to irrigate a Waimanalo sugar plantation.

In addition, he and others experimented with other crops.  At first, rice paddies replaced the taro lo’i (starting in about the 1860s.)  In 1894, Irwin’s Maunawili ranch manager, George Gibb, began planting coffee.

He expanded his planting each year thereafter until 1900, by which time over 110-acres were planted in Liberian beans (a coffee mill was later added.)  Gibb’s records show he planted “300 Carica papaya” in December of 1902, suggesting he was the first to plant solo papayas in Hawai’i.

Avocado and cacao were planted the following year.  In 1904, Kona oranges were attempted along with Eucalyptus Robusta; more Kona oranges and mangosteen, possibly for the first time in Hawaii, were tried in 1905. Koa and Chinese banyan were planted in 1906 and Kola nut in 1910.

Some of these early plantings took decades to mature. In April of 1939, the ranch manager reported fruits on trees dating back to 1905. But by then he had lost hope for Brazilian Cherries dating to 1903, an Apple variety of approximately the same time, and several other trees going back as far as 1900.

All this experimentation was a sideline to Maunawili’s value as the only promising water source for the perpetually-parched Waimanalo plantation. In 1900, to explore that promise Irwin retained M. M. O’Shaughnessy, a civil engineer celebrated for building early dams and tunnels in California and Hawaii.

O’Shaughnessy learned that, in addition to 43 inches of average annual rainfall, the plantation was irrigated by Maunawili spring “and all springs and streams east of it to the Ranch boundary, amounting in all to 1.5 million (gallons) in ordinary times and in dry seasons to one million gallons.”

If Maunawili could be tapped for another four million gallons during a four-month dry season, plantation manager George Chalmers forecast another 1,000 tons in annual sugar production.

C Brewer acquired a stake in the valley in 1910 when the sugar factor acquired Irwin’s business when he retired.  In a June 27, 1924 report, the ranch was described as “sparsely forested foothills close to the mountain wall” with indigenous Hawaiian trees: koa, kukui and some lehua.

The remaining area was largely “overrun with staghorn fern, and lower portions have a substantial growth of low guava.”

The report continued: “Here and there Java plum, waiawi, a few eucalyptus, iron wood, coffee and rubber trees are apparently thriving.”

A forest reserve line was proposed that would take in ranch land then used for pasturage, “a large portion of which . . . suitable for pineapple cultivation.” But the benefits of a reforestation program to stabilize water flow for the summer months at Waimanalo out-weighed this consideration.

Under Brewer, from 1924 through 1926, there was a massive cultivation effort with nearly 80,000 trees in the three year period. Juniper, Mahogany, Australian cedar and tropical ash were among them.

From 1927 through 1932 a total of 45 different varieties of fruit trees were introduced to the valley by Brewer ranging from Allspice to water apple. By 1931, a large number of solo papaya trees and many varieties of banana were growing plus a total of nearly 11,000-cashew trees.

The cashew plantings had resulted in “excellent growth” but a serious blight affected the blossom “if the blossom season occurs during wet weather;” the cashew nut crops had been poor.

Australian Macadamia plantings were placed between the solo papaya trees in 1936; at that time, avocados, limes, banyan and coconut trees also were carried on the ranch’s rolls.

In the summer of 1939 the UH College of Agriculture advised Brewer to embark on the cultivation of papaya at Maunawili on a large scale and the ranch manager was instructed to give the proposal serious evaluation.

That fall, the Territorial Board of Agriculture & Forestry asked for Hayden mango tree branches for propagation and permission to release pheasants in the valley.

The ranch manager was against introducing any further pheasants because they damaged young growing plants, especially papaya, and suggested doves as a better choice because they fed on weed seeds rather than plants.

Lili‘uokalani used to visit friends at the Boyd estate in Maunawili.  She and her brother King David Kalākaua were regular guests and attended parties or simply came there to rest.  Guests would walk between two parallel rows of royal palms, farewells would be exchanged; then they would ride away on horseback or in their carriages.

On one trip, when leaving, she witnessed a particularly affectionate farewell between a gentleman in her party and a lovely young girl from Maunawili.

As they rode up the Pali and into the swirling winds, she started to hum a melody weaving words into a romantic song.  The Queen continued to hum and completed her song as they rode the winding trail down the valley back to Honolulu.

She put her words to music and as a result of that 1878 visit she wrote “Aloha ‘Oe.”  (Lots of info here from Maunawili Community Association.)  The image shows ‘Maunawili Peaks (Olomana) from Kailua’ by D Howard Hitchcock (1910s.)

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Honolulu Described in the First Decade of the Unified Hawaiian Islands

1810 marked the unification of the Hawaiian Islands under single rule when negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i of Kauai and Kamehameha I at Pākākā took place.  Kaumuali‘i ceded Kauai and Ni‘ihau to Kamehameha and the Hawaiian Islands were unified under a single leader.  There was peace in the Islands.

On the American and European continents, war was waging.  Twenty-nine years after the end of the American Revolution, conflict between the new US and Britain flared up, again – it lasted until 1815.

A lasting legacy of the War of 1812 was the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the US national anthem. They were penned by the amateur poet Francis Scott Key after he watched American forces withstand the British siege of Fort McHenry, Baltimore (named for James McHenry, Secretary of War, 1796 – 1800.)

In Europe, in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of France.  In 1815, as part of ongoing series of conflicts and wars in Europe, African and the Middle East, Napoleon was defeated by the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo (in what is now present-day Belgium.)

Back on the American continent, later in the decade (1818,) the US and Canada came to an agreement on their common boundary and used the 49th parallel to mark their border.  The next year, Spain ceded Florida to the US.

In the Islands, Kamehameha I, who had been living at Waikiki, moved his Royal Residence to Pākākā at Honolulu Harbor in 1809.

That year, Archibald Campbell described the Honolulu surroundings:  “Upon landing I was much struck with the beauty and fertility of the country … The village of Hanaroora (Honolulu,) which consisted of several hundred houses, is well shaded with large cocoa-nut trees.”

“The king’s residence, built close upon the shore, and surrounded by a palisade upon the land side, was distinguished by the British colours and a battery of sixteen carriage guns …”

“This palace consisted merely of a range of huts, viz. the king’s eating-house, a store, powder magazine, and guard-house, with a few huts for the attendants, all constructed after the fashion of the country.”

Kamehameha’s immediate court consisted of high-ranking chiefs and their retainers.  Those who contributed to the welfare and enjoyment of court members also lived here, from fishermen and warriors to foreigners and chiefs of lesser rank.

Today, the site is generally at the open space now called Walker Park at the corner of Queen and Fort streets (there is a canon from the old fort there) – (ʻEwa side of the former Amfac Center, now the Topa Financial Plaza, near the fountain.)

ʻEwa side of Pākākā (where Nuʻuanu Stream empties into the harbor) was the area known as Kapuʻukolo.  This is “where white men and such dwelt.”  Of the approximate sixty white residents on O‘ahu at the time, nearly all lived in the village, and many were in the service of the king.

Among those who lived here were Don Francisco de Paula Marin, the Spaniard who greatly expanded horticulture in Hawaiʻi, and Isaac Davis (Welch,) friend and co-advisor with John Young (British) to Kamehameha.

Campbell noted, “(Isaac Davis’) house was distinguished from those of the natives only by the addition of a shed in front to keep off the sun; within, it was spread with mats, but had no furniture, except two benches to sit upon. He lived very much like the natives, and had acquired such a taste for poe (poi,) that he preferred it to any other food.”

In those days, this area was not called Honolulu.  The old name for what is now the heart of downtown Honolulu was said to be Kou, a district roughly encompassing the present day area from Nuʻuanu to Alakea Streets and from Hotel to Queen Streets.

Honolulu Harbor, also known as Kuloloia, was entered by the first foreigner, Captain William Brown of the English ship Butterworth, in 1794.  He named the harbor “Fair Haven.”  The name Honolulu (meaning “sheltered bay” – with numerous variations in spelling) soon came into use.

A large yam field (what is now much of the core of downtown Honolulu – what is now bounded by King, Nuʻuanu, Beretania and Alakea Streets) was planted to provide visiting ships with an easily-stored food supply for their voyages (supplying ships with food and water was a growing part of the Islands’ economy.)

A couple years later, John Whitman noted in his journal (1813-1815,) “… Honoruru is the most fertile district on the Island. It extends about two miles from the Harbour where it is divided into two valleys by a ridge of high land. The district is highly cultivated and abounds in all the productions of these Islands.”

“The village consists of a number of huts of different sizes scattered along the front of the Harbour without regularity and the natives have lost much of the generous hospitality and simplicity that characterize those situated more remotely from this busy scene.”

Whitman goes on to note, “… everything necessary for the subsistence and comfort of man is found in the (Nuʻuanu) valley, watered by a rivulet it produces the best taro in great abundance, the ridge dividing the taro patches are covered with sugar cane.”

“The high ground yields sweet potatoes and yams and all the other productions of the Island are found in the various situations and soils adapted to their nature.”

In 1816-1817, Otto Von Kotzebue in command of a Russian exploratory expedition spent three weeks in the “Sandwich Islands.”  He gave a description of the loʻi kalo in the Nuʻuanu area:

“The valley of Nuanu (Nuʻuanu,) behind Hanarura (Honolulu,) is the most extensive and pleasant of all. … The cultivation of the valleys behind Hanarura is remarkable.  Artificial ponds support, even on the mountains, the taro plantations, which are at the same time fish-ponds; and all kinds of useful plants are cultivated on the intervening dams.”

In 1818, Peter Corney, who resided on O‘ahu as a representative of the Northwest Company and engaged in the sandalwood and other trade, noted:

“The Island of Woahoo (Oʻahu) is by far the most important of the group of the Sandwich Island, chiefly on account of its excellent harbours and good water. It is in a high state of cultivation; and abounds with cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, horses, etc., as well as vegetables and fruit of every description.”

“The ships in those seas generally touch at Ohwhyhee, and get permission from Tameameah (Kamehameha,) before they can go into the harbor of Woahoo.”

“He sends a confidential man on board to look after the vessel, and keep the natives from stealing; and, previous to entering the harbor of Honorora (Honolulu), they must pay eighty dollars harbor duty, and twelve dollars to John Harbottle, the pilot…”

“The village consists of about 300 houses regularly built, those of the chiefs being larger and fenced in. Each family must have three houses, one to sleep in, one for the men to eat in, and one for the women, – the sexes not being allowed to eat together.”

“Cocoanut, bread-fruit, and castor-oil-nut (kukui) trees, form delicious shades, between the village and a range of mountains which runs along the island in a NW and SE direction.” (Corney)

Jacques Arago, who visited Hawai‘i in 1819 with Captain Louis Claude de Saulses de Freycinet on the French ships L’Uranie and L’Physicienne, described some of the daily activities:


“At sunrise, men, women, and children quit their dwellings; some betake themselves to fishing (chiefly the women) on the rocks, or near the shore; others to the making of mats …”

“… the rest offer their little productions to, or solicit employment from, strangers, in exchange for European articles; while the masters of families repair to the public square, to witness or participate in amusements, of which they are astonishingly fond…”

The first decade of the Islands under single rule ended with the death of Kamehameha.  Prior to his death (May 8, 1819,) Kamehameha decreed that that his son, Liholiho, would succeed him in power; he also decreed that his nephew, Kekuaokalani, have control of the war god Kūkaʻilimoku.

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