Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawaiian Woods – Hawaiian Royal Residences

Most houses at the time of Cook’s contact consisted of a framework of posts, poles and slender rods – often set on a paving or low platform foundation – lashed together with a coarse twine made of beaten and twisted bark, vines, or grassy fibers.  This was then covered with ti, pandanus or sugarcane leaves, or a thatch of pili grass or other appropriate material.

When covered with small bundles of grass laid side by side in overlapping tiers, these structures were described as resembling haystacks.  One door and frequently an additional small “air hole” provided ventilation and light, while air also passed through the thatching.  Grass or palm leaves covered the raised earth floors of these houses.

When a chief needed a house, his retainers assembled the materials and erected the structure under the direction of an individual (kahuna) expert in the art of erecting a framework and applying thatch.

Many of these more modern royal residences were named – some were named after the material they were made from.  Here are three such royal residences.

Hale Kauila (Downtown Honolulu – Queen Kīna‘u)

Hale Kauila (house built of kauila wood) once stood on the street in downtown Honolulu that still bears the name of this large council chamber or reception room (some refer to it as Kina‘u’s house.)

While the thatch is attached in the usual way, the posts are much higher than usual and have squared timber; but the most foreign touch, apart from the windows, are the cross braces at the top and between the posts and the plate (they were never used in genuine native work.)

The description by Captain du Petit-Thouars of this house (which he calls the house of the Queen Kīna‘u:) “This house, built in wood and covered with dry grasses, is placed in the middle of a fortification closed with a fence.”

“The platform on which it rests is high above the ground in the yard about 30 centimeters and it is surrounded, externally, a covered gallery which makes it more pleasant.”

“Its shape inside, is that of a rectangle lengthens; in one end, there is a flat shape by a wooden partition which does not rise to the roof.”

“This piece serves as a bedroom, in the remaining of the area, box, and at the other end, there is a portion of the high ground from 28 to 30 centimeters, which is covered with several mats: it is this kind of big couch that was placed the ladies and they are held lying on one side or stomach, or they stand to receive and to make room.”

Hale Lama (Waikīkī – King Kamehameha V)

King Kamehameha V’s Waikīkī home was built in 1866.  It was called Hale Lama.  As described by George Kanahele, the residence “was quite modest with only one bedroom, but was notable for its neo-Hawaiian architecture – a low, rectangular-shaped structure, with a high-pitched, hipped roof that was thatched and descended to the poles of the lanai that sounded three of the four exterior walls.”

“The design suited Waikiki’s climate perfectly.  The high pitched roof allowed for the upward expansion of warm air, thus cooling the inside of the house, and the wide overhanging eaves kept out both sun and rain, while inviting the serenity and beauty of the natural setting.”

“It has been mentioned that the lama wood was especially used for building houses of the gods, that is, the thatched houses within the enclosures of the heiau or luakini, and its use in building the house for King lot, Kamehameha V, gave an excuse for its reported use by an old kahuna in the King’s establishment, for a house of prayer, and I am assured by an old resident that prayers to the gods were frequently offered therein”.

After the Kamehameha V’s death in 1872, the house and property went to went to Princess Ruth who bequeathed the property to Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop.  The Princess and her husband Charles Bishop renovated and enlarged the house with servant quarters.

Hale Kamani (Lāhainā – Princess Nahiʻenaʻena)

When Keōpūolani returned to Maui to live her final years, she had a house on the beach in Lāhainā; her daughter, Nahiʻenaʻena, lived in her own home next door – Nahiʻenaʻena called her house Hale Kamani.

It had an early and convenient addition to the common grass house in a land where the people lived so generally in the open air, was the lanai, with extensions of the rafters at the same or a slightly reduced slope.

This verandah was, generally speaking, the most comfortable part of the house.  This lanai was often detached as in the Hale Kamani and was sometimes large with walls of coconut leaves intertwined, and a nearly flat roof of similar substance which was intended to furnish shade rather than shelter from heavy rain.

At least one other Royal Residence was named after a native wood ‘Āinahau (Princess Kapi‘olani’s home in Waikīkī;) however, it was named such because it was situated in a hau grove, not that its wood was used in the structure.

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Hālawa Shaft

The Hawaiian Islands are made up of one or more shield volcanoes that are composed primarily of extremely permeable, thin basaltic lava flows (within the flows are a few ash beds.)  Ordinarily, basalts are among the most permeable rocks on earth.

When rain falls on the Islands, it does one of three things: (1) wets the land surface, shallow infiltration saturates the uppermost soil layer and replaces soil moisture used by plants and then is absorbed by the vegetation and/or evaporates (evapotranspiration;) (2) runs off, eroding the land, forming valleys and gouges in the mountain slopes (and also creates some spectacular periodic waterfalls;) or (3) percolates into the ground (slowly sinks into the ground and becomes groundwater.)

The latter contributes to the groundwater recharge of the area (in the Koʻolau, it takes about 9-months for the rain, now groundwater, to seep down through cracks and permeable materials in the mountain.) Other recharge components include cloud drip (moisture condenses on the trees and leaves as clouds/fog drift through) and irrigation of an area helps add to the recharge.

Rainfall percolating through the ground may accumulate in three principal types of groundwater bodies: (1) high-level bodies perched on relatively impervious soil, ash or lava layers; (2) high-level bodies impounded within compartments formed by impermeable dikes that have intruded the lava flows; and (3) basal water bodies floating on and displacing salt water.

The principal source of fresh ground water in the Hawaiian Islands is the roughly lens-shaped basal water body floating on and displacing denser sea water.  (It varies by area, sometimes there is high-level confined water.)  Recharge of the basal water body results directly from percolating rain water or by underground leakage from perched-water bodies and bodies impounded by dikes.

The Ghyben-Herzberg principle applies to this basal water that suggests the top of fresh water above sea level should be balanced by a thickness of fresh water below sea level about 40 times as great.  That generally means, for every foot of fresh water above sea level, there is 40-feet of fresh water below it.)

Water resources were becoming a challenge in the growing Honolulu community. “From the outset it was the Board’s major problem to supply the City of Honolulu with water from sources within its own boundaries as long as that remained possible.”

“The Board’s long range plan, however, contemplated the eventual necessity of going outside the boundaries of the District of Honolulu for additional artesian water but it had been thought that the time when this would have to be done was far in the future. However, when the emergency arose it was possible to advance this phase of the program by deferring the infiltration projects.”

“Bond moneys that would have been applied to infiltration were transferred to a new project through which additional artesian water will be brought into the city from a 284-foot inclined shaft and electrically-operated underground pumping station in North Hālawa Valley.”

“War has delayed the completion of the North Hālawa project and has greatly increased its cost. Army and Navy authorities have given us splendid cooperation on this project, and, although we cannot be certain how soon all the materials and equipment required for completion of the installation will reach us, progress on its construction has been satisfactory, and it should be completed within the year 1943.”  (Report of the Board of Water Supply, Ohrt’s Report, January 28, 1943)

North Hālawa Valley overlies the Pearl Harbor aquifer, an important source of potable water for the island of Oʻahu. Freshwater in the Pearl Harbor aquifer is part of a large, lens-shaped body of ground water that is thickest in the central part of Oahu and thins toward the coastline.

This lens of freshwater, known as the ‘basal lens,’ floats on saltwater that penetrates from the ocean into the basalt flows of which the island is composed.  (Izuka, USGS)

In some early installations, vertical wells were drilled in the tunnels to develop additional water.  Hālawa was different; it is referred to as a skimming tunnel.  It’s commonly called the Hālawa Shaft.

Skimming tunnels consist essentially of a vertical or inclined shaft constructed from the ground surface down to about the water table and one or more horizontal, or nearly horizontal, tunnels constructed laterally at, or just below, the water level to collect water.  (Peterson)

The fundamental advantage of the skimming tunnels over conventional wells is their capability to produce large quantities of fresh water from lenses so thin that drilled wells would recover only brackish water.

For this reason, skimming tunnels are especially useful in some of the dry leeward coastal areas of Hawaiʻi, as well as on many small oceanic islands with extremely thin fresh-water lenses.

Owing primarily to economic considerations and also to the greater flexibility of modern deep-well pumping stations, no new major skimming tunnels have been constructed in Hawaiʻi since the early 1950s. (Peterson)

The Hālawa Shaft facility is at an elevation of 165 feet above sea level; it’s one of five main shafts operated by the Honolulu Board of Water Supply. (The other main shafts include Wai’alae, Kalihi, Makaha and Pearl City.)

Approximately 15-million gallons of pure water is pumped every day from the Hālawa shaft by three pumping units which have a capacity of 18 to 20-million gallons per day.

The water pool is a ‘hole’ at the top of a 919-foot long water development tunnel below. The Hālawa Shaft was put in operation on August 22, 1944.  (Papacostas)

The completion of the Hālawa Shaft made possible the importation of water from the Pearl Harbor area to Honolulu permitting a reduction in draft from the Honolulu aquifer.

This change in draft has raised the water levels in Honolulu to the extent that this aquifer now appears to be functioning well within the limits of its safe yield. (Ground Water Development, 1958)

While I was at DLNR, I had the opportunity to have a private tour of the Hālawa Shaft.  The lack of a key to unlock a gate on the stairs leading down the shaft caused quite an embarrassment to the Water staff.

Rather than turn back, we climbed over the gate and were able to view the shaft and water pool.  

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by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

City Mill

“The articles of incorporation of the City Mill Co, Ltd., were approved (June 13, 1899.) The names that appear are as follows: Wong Leong, CK Ai, WW Ahana, C Mun Kai, Pang Chong and Ho Fon. The capital stock is $60,000 to be divided into 60 shares at $100 per share.”

The officers were: Wong Leong, president; Chung Kun Ai, vice president, treasurer and manager; C Mun Kai, secretary; WW Ahana and Yeong Chee, auditors and Pang Chong, foreman.

“The company intends to carry on the business of rice millers, rice merchants, planing mill, builders and contractors, lumber merchants and dealers in builders’ and contractors’ supplies and any other business that can be carried on in connection therewith.”  (Evening Bulletin, June 14, 1899)

So it began; and it continues to provide much of the same core services it started with over a century ago.  Let’s look back.

In 1879, at 14 years of age, Zhong Wenyu (better known in later life as Chung Kun Ai or CK Ai and his father sailed for Hawaii on a three-masted German schooner from the port of Whang Poo near Canton, China. (Rhoads)

Chung Kun Ai’s father had been to Hawaiʻi eleven years earlier and was a merchant in Kona, Hawaiʻi. With a prospering business, he returned to China to bring his family to their new home.

As a young teenager, and speaking neither English nor Hawaiian, Chung Kun Ai enrolled in ʻIolani where he spent two years (his only formal schooling.)  It was here that Ai converted to Christianity, which was to remain the central force in his life.

It was also at ʻIolani where he met and developed a lasting friendship with a fellow student, Sun Tai-Cheong, later known to the world as Sun Yat Sen, father of the Chinese Republic.

Their friendship provided a foundation to formulate the principles of the Chinese Republic.  On his third trip in Hawaiʻi (on November 24, 1894) Sun established the Hsing Chung Hui (Revive China Society,) his first revolutionary society. Among its founders were many Christians, one of them being Chung Kun Ai.)

Years later, Chung Kun Ai received the highest medal of honor from the Chinese government for his recognition of the needs of the people.

Following his education at ʻIolani, at the age of 17, Ai’s father bought him a partnership in a tailor shop. However, the business did not appeal to Ai and he left the business in 1887.  That same year, at the age of 21, Ai joined the firm of James Isaac Dowsett as a secretary, clerk and bookkeeper.

Dowsett (said to have been the first white child, not of missionary parentage, born in Hawaiʻi) was engaged in a conglomerate of activities in the islands.

Dowsett had first worked for the Hudson Bay Company; then, in the early-1860s he entered the whaling business, owning a fleet of whaling ships.  Besides his whaling activities, Mr. Dowsett engaged in the lumber business and owned a fleet of schooners and small steamers operating between the islands.

Dowsett also had extensive ranching interests; properties now occupied by Schofield Barracks, Fort Shafter and Lualualei were once pastures for Dowsett’s cattle and horses.

Ai eventually became Dowsett’s protégé, earning his respect for his careful management skills. As a result, Dowsett allowed Ai to use a portion of his warehouse, and Ai started importing cigars, tea, peanut oil, shoe nails and other items.

Then, following Dowsett’s death, Ai and others started City Mill, a rice milling and lumber importing business in Chinatown, Honolulu.  Unfortunately, within 8-months after opening, it succumbed to the 1900 Chinatown fire.

Without insurance, they raised the necessary funds, rebuilt and added new product lines.   However, again, in 1919, a fire burned City Mill. Fortunately, this time, insurance covered the damage.

By the early 1920s, City Mill was so successful that Ai ventured into the pineapple business, and formed the Honolulu Fruit Company, which owned 5-pineapple fields and a cannery. (It did not survive the Great Depression of the 1930s.)

In 1926, City Mill took an interest in the Vigilant (a 244-foot sailing ship built in 1920) and placed her in service to carry lumber from Puget Sound to Hawaiʻi (it was capable of carrying 2,000,000-board feet of lumber each trip.)  (Gibbs; Caphoneirs)

Prior to World War II, in conjunction with its building supplies, City Mill had the distinction of having the only rice mill in Honolulu and having the largest rice mill in Hawaiʻi.

The war forced City Mill to abandon its rice operation and to concentrate on providing construction materials for the armed forces and civilians. By the war’s end, City Mill emerged as one of the largest building materials suppliers in the Pacific.

Along the way, Chung Kun Ai also ventured into other types of businesses with varying degrees of success in laundry, fishing, tobacco and oil drilling.

In 1950, Chung Kun Ai opened the present City Mill store on Nimitz Highway. The building was dedicated to James I. Dowsett, Ai’s mentor, friend and benefactor.

In 1956, in recognition of his exemplary family life, Chung Kun Ai was awarded “Father of the Year” by the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce. In 1957, Governor Samuel Wilder King bestowed upon Chung Kun Ai the “Order of the Splintered Paddle” for Ai’s outstanding service to mankind.

In the summer of 1980, after 81-years of operation, City Mill phased out its Wholesale Division; this allowed City Mill to concentrate its energies on the expansion of its retail home centers.

With the success of the retail home centers, City Mill expanded into the Honolulu suburbs. The first branch store opened in Kāneʻohe in 1960; then Waipahu (1967,) Waimalu Shopping Center (Pearl City)(1975,) Kaimuki (1984,) Hawaii Kai and Mililani Town Center (1993,) Waianae (1999,) and relocation of the Waipahu store to Laulani Village Shopping Center in Ewa Beach (2012.)  (Lots of information here from City Mill.)

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by Peter T Young 4 Comments

May Day

May 1 is a special day in many cultures. The Celts and Saxons and others in pre-Christian Europe celebrated the first planting and the beauty of spring.

These agrarian celebrations continued down through the centuries and remain today. In much of Europe, May 1 is also a labor holiday, honoring the labor workers. (Akaka)

The first of May, however, has a unique and very special significance to the people of Hawaiʻi. May Day is Lei Day in Hawaiʻi. (Akaka)

Lei making in Hawaiʻi begins with the arrival of the Polynesians. Polynesians, across the South Pacific, adorned their bodies with strings of flowers and vines.

When they arrived in Hawai`i, in addition to the useful plants they brought for food, medicine and building, they also brought plants with flowers used for decoration and adornment.

Lei throughout Polynesia were generally similar. Types included temporary fragrant lei such as maile and hala, as well as non-perishable lei like lei niho palaoa (whale or walrus bone), lei pupu (shell) and lei hulu manu (feather.)

“The leis of Old Hawaii were made of both semi-permanent materials – hair, bone, ivory, seeds, teeth, feathers, and shells; and the traditional flower and leaf leis – twined vines, seaweed and leaf stems, woven and twisted leaves, strung and bound flowers of every description.”

“Leis were symbols of love, of a spiritual meaning or connection, of healing, and of respect. There are many references to leis, or as the circle of a lei, being symbolic of the circle of a family, embracing, or love itself: “Like a living first-born child is love, A lei constantly desired and worn.” (Na Mele Welo, Songs of Our Heritage, (translated by Mary Kawena Pukui,) Gecko Farms)

Robert Elwes, an artist who visited the Hawaiian islands in 1849, wrote that Hawaiian women “delight in flowers, and wear wreaths on their heads in the most beautiful way.”

“A lei is a garland of flowers joined together in a manner which can be worn. There are many different styles of lei made of numerous types of flowers. The type of flower used determines the manner in which the lei is woven.” (Akaka)

Reportedly, Don Blanding, writing in his book ‘Hula Moons,’ explained the origins of Lei Day: “Along in the latter part of 1927 I had an idea; not that that gave me a headache, but it seemed such a good one that I had to tell some one about it, so I told the editors of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, the paper on which I worked.”

“They agreed that it was a good idea and that we ought to present it to the public, which we proceeded to do. It took hold at once and resulted in something decidedly beautiful.”

“… The custom of weaving and wearing flower leis originated with the Hawaiians so long ago that they have no record of its beginning. … When tourists discovered Hawaii, they loved the charming gesture and they spread the word of it until the lei became known around the world.”

“… Hawai`i observed all of the mainland holidays as well as those of a number of the immigrant nationalities in the Islands. But there was no day that was peculiarly and completely Hawaii’s own; that is none that included all of the polyglot population there.”

“So, the bright idea that I presented was, “Why not have a Lei Day?” Let everyone wear a lei and give a lei. Let it be a day of general rejoicing over the fact that one lived in a Paradise. Let it be a day for remembering old friends, renewing neglected contacts, with the slogan “Aloha,” allowing that flexible word to mean friendliness on that day.”

In 1929, Governor Farrington signed a Lei Day proclamation urging the citizens of Hawaiʻi to “observe the day and honor the traditions of Hawaii-nei by wearing and displaying lei.”‘ (Akaka) Lei Day celebrations continue today, marking May 1st with lei-making competitions, concerts, and the giving and receiving of lei among friends and family.

Reportedly, the “tradition” of giving a kiss with a lei dates back to World War II, when a USO entertainer, seeking a kiss from a handsome officer, claimed it was a Hawaiian custom.

In 2001, Hawaiʻi Senator, Dan Akaka, during a May 1 address, said, “’May Day is Lei Day’ in Hawaiʻi. Lei Day is a nonpolitical and nonpartisan celebration.”

“Indeed, its sole purpose is to engage in random acts of kindness and sharing, and to celebrate the Aloha spirit, that intangible, but palpable, essence which is best exemplified by the hospitality and inclusiveness exhibited by the Native Hawaiians — Hawaii’s indigenous peoples — to all people of goodwill.”

The lei of the eight major Hawaiian Islands become the theme for Hawai‘i May Day pageants and a lei queen chosen with a princess representing each of the islands, wearing lei fashioned with the island’s flower and color.

Hawai‘i – Color: ‘Ula‘ula (red) – Flower: ‘Ōhi‘a Lehua
Maui – Color: ‘Ākala (pink) – Flower: Lokelani
Kaho‘olawe -Color: Hinahina (silvery gray) – Flower: Hinahina
Lāna‘i – Color: ‘Alani (orange) – Flower: Kauna‘oa
Molokai – Color: ‘Ōma‘oma‘o (green) -Flower: Kukui
O‘ahu – Color: Pala luhiehu (golden yellow) or melemele (yellow) Flower: ‘Ilima
Kauai – Color: Poni (purple) – Flower: Mokihana
Ni‘ihau – Color: Ke‘oke‘o (white) – Flower: Pūpū (shell)

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May Day
May Day
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Lei sellers displaying lei and flowers on sidewalk-(HSA)-PP-33-8-021
Lei sellers displaying lei and flowers on sidewalk-(HSA)-PP-33-8-021
Lei sellers at the waterfront, Honolulu Harbor-(HSA)-PP-33-9-002
Lei sellers at the waterfront, Honolulu Harbor-(HSA)-PP-33-9-002
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Lei sellers at the waterfront, Honolulu Harbor-(HSA)-PP-33-8-005
Lei sellers at entrance to the Bank of Hawaii, King and Bishop Sts-(HSA)-PP-33-8-022
Lei sellers at entrance to the Bank of Hawaii, King and Bishop Sts-(HSA)-PP-33-8-022

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Oʻahunui

Robert Louis Stevenson suggested, “Cannibalism is traced from end to end of the Pacific, from the Marquesas to New Guinea, from New Zealand to Hawaii” (although he does state “Hawaiʻi is the most doubtful” and notes only a possible single circumstance.)

Beckwith, in forceful language, noted, “there is no proof that cannibalism was ever practised in the Hawaiian group.”  In addition, the story of Oʻahunui, by Mrs. EM Nakuina, which appeared in Thrum’s Hawaiian Folk Tales, attributes the introduction of cannibalism to a foreign source (“chiefs from the South Seas”) and recounts the rejection of the practice.

A few miles mauka of Kūkaniloko, to the east of Helemano, is Oʻahunui (“Great O’ahu,”) another historical place. This was the residence of the kings of the island.

When the Lo ʻAi-kanaka (“The people-eaters,”) as the last of the cannibal chiefs were called, were forced to take up residence in upper Helemano, a district just outside of the boundaries of those reserved for the royal and priestly residence, a young man called Oʻahunui was king.

They had been driven from Mokuleʻia and Waialua by the inhabitants of those districts; for the people had been exasperated by the frequent requisitions on the kamaʻāina (original inhabitants) by the stranger chiefs to furnish material for their cannibal feasts.

Oʻahunui was captivated by the suave manners of the ingratiating southern chief and his immediate retainers, and he invited them to a feast.  The southern chief returned this civility, and the King dined with the strangers. Here it was strongly suspected that the dish of honor placed before the King was human flesh, served under the guise of pork.

The King found the dish very much to his liking.  This went on for some time, until the unaccountable disappearance of so many people began to be connected with the frequent entertainments by the southern chief.

Oʻahunui’s subjects began to hint that their young King had acquired the taste for human flesh at these feasts, and that it was to gratify his unnatural appetite for the horrid dish that, contrary to all royal precedent, he paid his frequent visits to those who were his inferiors.

The people disapproved more and more openly of the relationship of Oʻahunui with his new friends. His chiefs and high priest became alarmed and begged him to discontinue his visits, or they would not be answerable for the consequences. The King, forced to heed their warnings, promised to keep away from the Lo ʻAi-kanaka, and did so for quite a while.  Then, things changed.

Since the king had been prevented from partaking of human flesh, he had compelled his servants to kill, cook and serve up his own nephews. In satisfying his depraved appetite, he had also gotten rid of two formidable rivals; for it was quite possible that the priests and chiefs might have deposed him and proclaimed one of the two young nephews his successor.

In retaliation, the boys’ father, Lehuanui, secured a stone adze and went to the King’s sleeping-house.  Lehuanui stood over Oʻahunui, adze in hand, and called him three times.  Enraged Lehuanui struck at Oʻahunui’s neck with his stone adze and severed the head from the body with a single blow.

Lehuanui avenged the death of his children by killing Oʻahunui and his wife, Kilikiliʻula, who had it within her power to save her children. It is said that Oʻahunui and Kilikiliʻula, and the attendants that participated in the killing and cooking of the children, were turned into stone and are still to be seen.

Oʻahunui, located a few miles east of Kūkaniloko, was the former residence of the ruling chiefs of Oʻahu. A stone in the shape of the island of Oʻahu is said to rest there. According to Nakuina’s story, the last Aliʻi to live at Oʻahunui was named Oʻahunui.

Oʻahunui and is described as a stone “whose outline is said to resemble that of O`ahu”. The location of the Oʻahunui stone is reportedly in the gulch near the Ewa-Waialua District boundary, presumably Waikakalaua Gulch.

The stone was formerly visited by the Hawaiians, for no one could say that he had been entirely around the island of Oahu, unless he had been around this stone. (Cultural Surveys)

While most reports note the stone’s specific location is unknown, general descriptions note its approximate location.  The stone, generally resembling the shape of Oʻahu, is said to be located in Waikakalaua Gulch, near the border of the ʻEwa/Waialua Moku boundaries and is within the approximate distance of other points noted by archaeologists.

The image shows what one has suggested may be the Oʻahunui Stone or one of the stones near it (Yee.)  (The indicated location is according to the general description noted above – however, I am not sure if this is the Oʻahunui stone.)

(This summary is from the story by Emma M Nakuina, that first appeared in Thrum’s Hawaiian Annual in 1897 (noted in hawaii-edu)) (The photos are not to suggest they are of the Oahunui Stone; a suspicion by others.)

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