Tahiti | Page 2 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

November 16, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Auna

Auna was trained to the priesthood by his father, a Raiatean chief, and that as a youth he became a well-known priest, warrior and member of the Arioi Society. Like many others from the Leeward Islands he joined Pomare’s forces during the latter’s exile on Moorea, fighting in the Tahitian campaigns of 1812 and at the battle of Feipi in 1815.

After Pomare’s successful reconquest of Tahiti Auna, by now a professing Christian, returned to Moorea and attended the school at Papetoai. In 1818 he accompanied the European missionaries to Huahine, the first mission station to be established in the Leewards; baptized a year later, he became one of the first four deacons of the Huahine church.

During the visit of the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, the deputation sent by the London Missionary Society to visit the missions in the Pacific and elsewhere, to Huahine in 1822 it was decided to send Auna and another deacon Matatore, with their wives, to preach the gospel to the Marquesans. (Maude)

Then, “the Tahitian missionary Auna … came to Hawaii with a visiting English delegation of missionaries in 1822.” (Barrere & Sahlins)

“As (Ellis) landed here with his little band of Tahitians, the wife of Auna met with her brother who is attached to the chiefs, – Jack, or Moa, of the Ship Bounty, Capt. Bligh) & who gladly introduced her and her husband to Kaahumanu, & procured for them a lodging at her house.”

“Finding them interesting and agreeable, an on acquaintance of three weeks becoming attracted to them, she & Taumuare, gave them a pressing invitation to remain here. Nor is Auna less desirous to stay but wishes that his beloved pastor Mr. (Ellis) may remain also.”

“The invitation, seconded by the other principal chiefs is extended to Mr. E. and his family — so that on the part of the government the way is perfectly open for his entrance here.” (Journal of the Sandwich Island Mission, May 9, 1822)

The American Mission saw benefit in working with Ellis and The Tahitians … “of bringing the influence of the Tahitian mission to bear with more direct and operative force upon this nation; trembling under the too great responsibility of the spiritual concerns of the whole nation, & looking with hesitating awe at the great and difficult work of translating the bible & continually casting about for help …”

“… we feel the need of just such talents and services as Brother (Ellis) is able to bring to the work, whose general views of Christian faith practice, & of missionary duty, which accord so well with ours, whose thorough acquaintance with the Tahitian tongue so nearly allied to this …”

“… & which it cost the mission almost a 20 years’ labor fully to acquire, & whose missionary experience, among the South Sea Islands’ kindred tribes, enable him to cooperate with us, with mutual satisfaction, and greatly to facilitate our acquisition of this kindred language …”

“… & the early translation of the sacred scriptures, & thus promote the usefulness, rather than supersede the labors, of all who may come to our aid from America.” (Journal of the Sandwich Island Mission, May 9, 1822)

“Auna is a chief from the Society Islands, of a tall commanding figure, placid & benignant countenance, intelligent, sober, discreet, & humbly devoted to the cause of missions; prays in his family & in the family of Kaahumanu, keeps a journal neatly written in his native language, & carefully takes & preserves sketches of the sermons he hears.”

“He was with Pomare in the battle at Tahiti in the last struggle to exterminate Christianity, witnessed the triumphs of the Lord of hosts, & the downfall & destruction of the ‘foolish Idols that Tahiti worshipped.’”

“His wife is in some respects like him as to the degree of civilization to which she has advanced -She is short, but rather above the midling stature of American females.” (Journal of the Sandwich Island Mission, May 11, 1822)

“It is a pleasure to hear this happy Christian pair converse, or sing together the songs of Zion in their native tongue, but it is pretty to see then how unitedly devoted to the work of converting this nation to Christianity.” (Journal of the Sandwich Island Mission, May 11, 1822)

“Auna, a Tahitian Raatira, who, as a teacher, had been designated to the Marquesas, was, with his wife, Auna wahine, hospitably received at Honolulu by Kaumuali‘i and Kaahumanu, and even invited to remain.”

“Auna was regarded as pious and exemplary. He was of a tall, commanding figure, placid and benignant countenance; sober, discreet, and courteous; and soon capable of imparting rudimental instruction, and making known the Christian doctrine.”

“He gave important testimony respecting the course of events at the Society and Georgian Islands. He had been with Pomare in a battle at Tahiti, in the last struggles of the heathen party there to keep off or exterminate Christianity, when the king and the Christian party, standing on the defensive …”

“… and calling on the name of the Lord of Hosts, proved triumphantly successful in resisting and repelling their attacks and maintaining his ascendency.”

“Having witnessed the success of the Gospel among those of his countrymen who had received it, and the downfall of the foolish gods that Tahiti worshipped, and having, with many others, shouted the triumphs of Jehovah there …”

“… he was now willing to devote himself, for a time, to the business of acquainting the Hawaiians with what he knew, so far as he could make their language available. For this purpose he and his wife, who was a help-meet, tarried a year before they returned home.” (Bingham)

“Auna, the Tahitian chief, led the exercises of the afternoon, before embarking on board the Waverley to return to the Society Islands, on account of the health of his wife. He is a noble example of the power of the Gospel on the heart and character of a pagan.”

“His wife is a very handsome woman; and in her general appearance and manners remarkably like one of the most polished females I ever saw.” (Stewart)

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Sketch of Auna’s house in Honolulu

August 30, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tahitians to Hawai‘i

Archaeologists and historians describe the inhabiting of the Hawaiian Islands in the context of settlement which resulted from canoe voyages across the open ocean. Some believe the first Polynesians to arrive at Hawai‘i came ashore at Kahikinui, Maui.

They have proposed that early Polynesian settlement happened with voyages between Kahiki (Tahiti – the ancestral homelands of the Hawaiian gods and people) and Hawai‘i, with long distance voyages occurring fairly regularly through at least the thirteenth century.

It has been generally reported that the land-sources of the early Hawaiian population – the Hawaiian “Kahiki” – were the Marquesas and Society Islands. The moku (district) of Kahikinui is named because from afar on the ocean, it resembles a larger form of Kahiki, the ancestral homeland. (Maly)

Some believe that along Kahikinui were given names that referred to Hawaiʻiloa, an ancient navigator. These included fishing koʻa, and astronomical and navigational sites on the mountain. (Matsuoka)

Kealaikahiki channel is the channel between Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe. It literally means “the road to Tahiti;” if one takes a bearing in the channel off of Kealaikahiki Point on Kahoʻolawe and heads in that direction, you arrive, more or less, in Tahiti.

One of the important cultural sites on Kahoʻolawe is located at the center point or piko of the island at Moaʻula iki; here, kahuna conducted training in astronomy and navigation. Moaʻula is a place name associated with a place in Tahiti. (Aluli/McGregor)

Lae O Kealaikahiki, the western-most point of Kahoʻolawe, is located on the Kealaikahiki Channel. Just above the high water mark, inland from Lae O Kealaikahiki, is a traditional compass site comprised of four large boulders. The lines formed by the placement of the stones are paved with coral and mark true north, south, east and west.

Jutting out from the shoals, just south of Lae O Kealaikahiki, is another key traditional and contemporary navigational marker, Pōhaku Kuhi Keʻe I Kahiki (“the rock that points the way to Tahiti;” now, generally referred to as Black Rock.)

Two known accounts also place Kealaikahiki as a point of landing in Hawaiʻi after the long journey from Kahiki. Placing Kealaikahiki as a point of arrival would coincide with the oral tradition related in the chant from Harry Kunihi Mitchell, “Oli Kuhohonu O Kahoʻolawe Mai No Kupuna Mai.” (Aluli/McGregor)

The Tahitian connection to the Islands is not just associated with the early migration of Polynesians to Hawai‘i. Several Tahitians collaborated with the American Protestant missionaries at the early part of the 1800s.

Toketa, a Tahitian, arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1818; he probably landed on the island of Hawaiʻi. He was a member of the household of the chief (Governor) John Adams Kuakini, at that time a prominent figure in the court of Kamehameha I in Kailua, Kona.

A convert to Christianity (he likely received missionary instruction in his homeland – the first Europeans arrived in Tahiti in 1767; in 1797 the London Missionary Society sent 29 missionaries to Tahiti,) he became a teacher to Hawaiian chiefs. (Barrere)

Shortly after (February 8, 1822,) “Adams (Kuakini) sent a letter to Mr B (Bingham) written by the hand of Toleta the Tahitian, which Mr. B answered in the Hawaiian language. – ‘This may be considered as the commencement of epistolary correspondence in this language.’” (Missionary Herald, 1823)

Kuakini’s interest in learning to read had not stopped, and he continued to study under Toketa. Kuakini later requested that the missionaries send him more books and teachers. In response, Elisha Loomis was sent to Kailua-Kona in mid-October to organize a school.

By early November 1822, that school had fifty students under Kuakini and Toketa, the latter being “sufficiently qualified to take charge of it for a season till a teacher could be sent from Honolulu.” Within a few weeks Thomas Hopu, a Hawaiian youth trained as a teacher by the American missionaries and part of the Pioneer Company, was sent to Kailua and put in charge of the school. (Barrere)

Later, Toketa moved to Maui and entered the service of Hoapili, a high chief of great note and foster father of the princess Nahiʻenaʻena (sister to Liholiho and Kauikeaouli.)

While on Maui Toketa taught classes for the chiefs and helped in the translating of the Scriptures. Early in 1824, “The most interesting circumstance of the day, is an application for baptism from Kaikioewa and wife, from another chief and wife, Toteta, a Tahitian in the family of our patron Hoapili …”

“Every thing in the characters of these persons, as far as we can ascertain, sanctions the hope, that, through the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, they have been turned from darkness to light … and are proper subjects for the administration of the ordinance, the benefits of which they are desirous of receiving.” (Stewart, February 24, 1824)

On April 16, 1822, the schooner Mermaid, arrived at Honolulu from Tahiti; on board were William Ellis and other English missionaries and Auna and Matatore, Tahitian chiefs and teachers. After providing support for a few months to the American missionaries in the Islands, they returned to Tahiti.

William Ellis of the London Missionary Society returned on February 4, 1823, travelled from Tahiti to Hawai‘i, bringing his wife with him as well as Tahitian teachers, including Tauʻā.

Tauʻā, originally known as Matapuupuu, was born in about 1792 and was by birth a raʻatira or landowner. He had been a principal Arioi (secret religious order of the Society Islands,) and succeeded his elder brother as chief priest of Huahine. (Gunson)

In August 1813 Tauʻā joined John Davies’s school at Papetoʻai, and later accompanied Ellis to Huahine, where he became a prominent church member and was appointed deacon. He was also appointed first Secretary of the Huahinean Missionary Society. His speeches at prayer meetings and May meetings were reported with some pride. (Gunson)

Shortly after Ellis and Tauʻā arrived in Hawaiʻi, the Second Company of American missionaries arrived, bringing the Reverend William Richards and the Reverend Charles Stewart (April 1823.)

About this time, Queen Mother Keōpūolani (mother of Kamehameha II and III) began to accept many western ways. She wore western clothes, she introduced western furniture into her house and she took instruction in Christianity.

But her health began to fail, and she decided to move her household from the pressures of the court circle in Honolulu to the tranquility of Waikīkī. With her she took Hoapili (her husband) and Nahiʻenaʻena (her daughter.) Keōpūolani asked that a religious instructor be attached to her household. Her choice was Tauʻā; the mission approved. (Sinclair)

In May of 1823, Keōpūolani decided to make her last move, this time back to the island of her birth, Maui. She chose Lāhainā, with its warm and sunny climate – another place traditionally a favorite with the chiefs. (Sinclair)

Before leaving, Keōpūolani requested the Americans to assign teachers to go with her. She wanted a mission established in Lāhainā, and further instruction in reading and writing for herself; she also wished to have a man of God to pray with her. The Honolulu mission selected Charles Stewart and William Richards to accompany the queen. (Sinclair)

Immediately on their arrival in Lāhainā, she requested them to commence teaching, and also said, “It is very proper that my sons (meaning the missionaries) be present with me at morning and evening prayers.” (Memoir of Keōpūolani)

She became more attentive to the Gospel as she was resting. It was Tauʻā who became the teacher she relied on as perhaps they were able to converse with each other in the Polynesian language. (Mookini)

Tauʻā proved a faithful teacher, and he did much to establish her in the Christian faith. He answered several of her questions on the subject of Christianity. After her death, Tauʻā joined the household of Hoapilikane and remained with that chief until his death in 1840. He then joined the household of Hoapiliwahine. (Tauʻā died in about 1885.)

Another Tahitian teacher of Christianity in Hawaii was Tute (Kuke), who came in 1826 as a missionary upon the request of the prime minister Kalanimoku. In 1827 he became the tutor and chaplain of the young king Kauikeaouli and remained as such until the latter’s death in 1854. Tute died in 1859 after 33 years of service to the Hawaiian chiefs. (Barrere & Sahlins)

Among others, “eight (American Protestant) missionaries translated the Bible into Hawaiian – Messrs. Bingham, Thurston, Richards, Bishop, Andrews, Clark, Green, Dibble.”

“(They would) translate from the original Hebrew the Old Testament, and from the original Greek the New Testament, into the Hawaiian language.” (Judd; Bible Society Record, October 17, 1889) Instrumental in that process were Ellis and the Tahitian converts to Christianity that came to the Islands.

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Hiram Bingham I preaching to Queen at Waimea, Kauai, in 1826

February 5, 2017 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

London Missionary Society

Captain James Cook made three Pacific voyages, which, with those of Byron and Wallis, covered a continuous period of British exploration in the south Pacific from 1764 to 1780.

Cook’s first expedition (1768-1771) was under the auspices of the British Admiralty and the Royal Society, primarily to observe the transit of Venus from the newly found island of Tahiti. Cook was given command of the bark Endeavour.

Cook’s second voyage (1772-1775) was for the purpose of searching for the south continent. He had two ships, the Resolution, and the Adventure. The ships the Antarctic between the meridians of the Cape of Good Hope and New Zealand. On this trip, Omai, a Tahitian, was taken on board the Adventure and sailed with Cook back to Britain.

Cook’s third voyage (1776-1780) was for the purposes of returning Omai to his home in the Society Islands and seeking a northern passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic. The Resolution was refitted for her second voyage and the Discovery, under Captain Clerke, was added to the expedition. At the end of Cook’s last voyage, nearly all the important islands in Polynesia had been found.

The Pacific made a particular impression on the British imagination. The revelation of the Polynesian culture, entirely cut off from any exterior force of civilization, touched a chord with Cook’s compatriots.

Britain’s new fascination with the Polynesians was fueled by the arrival in London of a Polynesian – Omai. Joseph Banks, botanist on Cook’s ship the Endeavour, dressed Omai in tailor-made suits, the portraitist Joshua Reynolds painted him.

King George III himself eventually requested a meeting. Omai cheerfully shook hands when the meeting took place, saying `How do, King Tosh,’ to the King’s reported delight. (Hiney; NY Times)

Cook’s Pacific finds later led to questions for the Evangelicals. Why did British Christianity, with the means at hand, lack a missionary history? When had there last been a serious missionary movement among Christians anywhere?

The empire was in place to trade. In 1793 an India Bill went before parliament which renewed the royal license of the East India Company. There was a call for an amendment allowing Christian missions and native schools to be opened in India, but the bid was resisted.

It was in this climate that the London Missionary Society was formed. A meeting was called; on the first day, 200 Evangelicals gathered at the Castle and Falcon, paid the guinea membership, and proceeded to elect from among themselves thirty-four regional directors to meet once a year, and a London-based board of twelve to meet monthly. (Hiney; NY Times)

On August 9, 1796, a service was held for the inaugural mission at Surrey Chapel. Just four of the chosen thirty were ordained ministers. All four were in their late twenties: it was vital that they should be young and healthy.

The other, non-ordained missionaries had been chosen for their skills as much as their conviction; among them were six carpenters, two bricklayers, two tailors, two shoemakers, a gardener, a surgeon and a harness maker.

They sailed at six the next morning, on August 10, 1796. Nearly seven months later they anchored off the island of Tahiti, after a voyage via Gibraltar and Cape Horn. Seventeen missionaries were to disembark here, including all those who were married.

The first known Christian missionaries in Polynesia came from the London Missionary Society, an ecumenical Protestant organization; they landed in Tahiti, the Marquesas, then Tongatapu in Tonga. (PCC)

The missionaries soon saw an unforeseen problem. Since Cook’s voyages, other ships of exploration and whaling (Russian, French, British and American) had paid visits to the islands. Rum and firearms were now a part of life, as were disagreements and occasional violence between crews and islanders. Over the years, more London missionaries were sent.

One London Missionary Society member was William Ellis. Born in England, William and Mary Mercy Ellis went to Tahiti in 1817 as part of a new group of highly educated workers. They brought with them the first press and set it up in Moorea. They soon moved to Huahine, where William Ellis helped draft the code of laws. (Boston University)

Then the mission sent them to Hawai‘i. “The time for her departure at length came, and on the 31st of December, 1822, accompanied by her four children, she embarked, with her husband, on board the Active, for the Sandwich Islands.”

“The voyage to the Sandwich Islands, about three thousand miles distant, was safe, and not unpleasant, and by the tender mercy of their heavenly Father, they reached Oahu on the 5th of February, 1823.”

“Here Mrs. Ellis received on landing, a cordial welcome from many of the chief women of the settlement, and from the esteemed American Missionaries, of whose plain but hospitable and comfortable dwelling, she became for several weeks an inmate, and received every attention and kindness as a beloved sister in the Lord.”

“All the affection professed in the invitations they had so kindly forwarded, was practically manifested; and every hope of tenderness and sympathy which they excited, was fully realized. Mrs. Ellis found that the prospects of greater usefulness …”

“In Huahine the influence of the Missionaries could bear on a comparatively small number, but here the town of Honolulu contained not fewer than 8,000, while the population of the island amounted to 20,000, and the influence of the Missionaries was brought to bear indirectly upon 150,000 or 180,000 persons.” (Mary Mercy Ellis Memoirs)

Ellis and the others who joined him from the London Missionary Society (including Tahitians who came with them) worked well with the American Protestant missionaries who arrived in Hawaii in 1820.

In 1823, Ellis and three of the American missionaries, Asa Thurston, Artemas Bishop and Joseph Goodrich, toured the Island of Hawaii to learn more of the country and people, with a view to establishing mission stations there. They were the first white men to accomplish this, being also the first white men to visit the volcano of Kilauea. (Thurston)

Ellis remained in the Islands for eighteen months, but returned to England, due to illness of Mary (she died in 1835.) Ellis later remarried and continued mission work in the Madagascar. Ellis died in 1872.)

British mission activity started in the South Seas, with the first overseas mission to Tahiti in 1796. British missionary work expanded into North America and South Africa. Early mission activities also centered in areas of eastern and southern Europe including Russia, Greece and Malta.

During the 19th century, the main fields of mission activity for the London Missionary Society were China, South East Asia, India, the Pacific, Madagascar, Central Africa, Southern Africa, Australia and the Caribbean (including British Guiana, now Guyana.) (Guide to Council for World Mission) (Lots of information here is from Hiney; NY Times and Mary Mercy Ellis Memoirs.)

Because of the positive role of the London Missionary Society in assisting the Hawaiian mission, any descendant of a person sent by the London Missionary Society who served the Sandwich Island Mission in Hawaii is eligible to be an Enrolled Member in the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society.

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London Missionary Society-Tahiti

Revd._William_Ellis

Mary_Mercy_Moor_Ellis

London Missionary Society-Jubilee Coin

Ruins_of_an_ancient_Fortification,_near_Kairua,_sketch_by_William_Ellis

November 25, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tahitian Influence on Christianity in Hawai‘i

By the time European explorers entered the Pacific in the 15th century, almost all of the habitable islands had been settled for hundreds of years and oral traditions told of explorations, migrations and travels across this immense watery world.

Double-hulled canoes were seaworthy enough to make voyages of over 2,000-miles along the longest sea roads of Polynesia, like the one between Hawai‘i and Tahiti. (Kawaharada)

A convert to Christianity (he likely received missionary instruction in his homeland – first Europeans arrived in Tahiti in 1767; in 1797 the London Missionary Society sent 29 missionaries to Tahiti,) he became a teacher to Hawaiian chiefs, made a visit to Honolulu with Kuakini in January-February of 1822. (Barrere)

On February 4, 1822, “Adams (Kuakini) sent a young Tahitian to us (Toketa,) to obtain for him that part of the spelling book which is printed, with a view to commence learning to read his own language. … This young Tahitian is one of the three, whom we have found here from the Society Isles, able to read and write their native language.”

“He, with one hour’s instruction, is able to read the Hawaiian (Owhyhean) also, and to assist the chief to whom he is attached.” (Missionary Herald, 1823) Toketa then began to teach Kuakini to read and write.

William Ellis was with the London Missionary Society in Tahiti. Born in England, William and Mary Mercy Ellis went to Tahiti in 1817 as part of a new group of highly educated workers. They brought with them the first press and set it up in Moorea. They soon moved to Huahine, where William Ellis helped draft the code of laws. (Boston University)

Then the London Mission sent Ellis and some others to Hawai‘i. “(T)he colonial government-cutter Mermaid arrived in Fare harbour, on her way to the Sandwich Islands, with a small schooner, the Prince Regent, as a present from the British government to the king of those islands.”

“The captain intimated his intention of touching at the Marquesas on his return from Hawaii, and politely offered a passage to any of us who might be desirous of visiting these islands.”

“We had long been anxious to attempt the establishment of Christianity among the inhabitants of the former, and as the present appeared a favourable opportunity, we communicated the same to the deputation, and it appeared to them desirable to visit these places.” (Ellis)

“The arrangements for the voyage being completed, we assembled at the chapel about ten o’clock on the forenoon of the 25th of February: the native Christians were animated by kind and appropriate addresses from the church, and were affectionately encouraged by Mr. Barff and Mr. Orsmond, the latter being on a visit with us.”

“The native Missionaries then took leave of their fellow-Christians in a most solemn and impressive manner; and, as it had been arranged by Mr. Barff and myself that I should accompany them, to aid in the commencement of their labours, I addressed the people, and, recommending Mrs. Ellis and our dear children to their kind attentions under God, I also bade them farewell.”

“The meeting was peculiarly impressive and affecting; and, after mutually committing each other, under deep intensity of feeling, to the guidance and the keeping of the God of all our mercies, the whole congregation walked from the chapel to the sea-shore, where we exchanged our last salutations.”

“The deputation, the two native Missionaries and their wives, five other natives and myself, now embarked, and the Mermaid stood out to sea.” (Ellis)

“The time for her (Mrs Ellis) departure at length came, and on the 31st of December, 1822, accompanied by her four children, she embarked, with her husband, on board the Active, for the Sandwich Islands.”

Ellis and the others who joined him from the London Missionary Society (including Tahitians who came with them) worked well with the American Protestant missionaries who arrived in Hawaii in 1820.

The American Mission immediately saw benefit in working with Ellis and the Tahitians … “of bringing the influence of the Tahitian mission to bear with more direct and operative force upon this nation …”

“… trembling under the too great responsibility of the spiritual concerns of the whole nation, & looking with hesitating awe at the great and difficult work of translating the bible & continually casting about for help …”

“The earliest, and model for the rest, was the Tahitian missionary Auna who came to Hawaii with a visiting English delegation of missionaries in 1822.”

“At the urgent request of the Hawaiian chiefs Auna was permitted to remain, and for well over a year Auna and his wife lived in the household of Ka’ahumanu, teaching reading and writing and explaining Christian doctrine to the king and chiefs.”

“Auna left a school of sixty pupils when the couple returned to Tahiti in 1824. His school was taken over by Kaomi, the son of his wife’s brother Moe, a Tahitian long in the service of Ka’ahumanu’s brother Ke’eaumoku the governor of Maui.” (Barrere & Sahlins)

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A_Missionary_Preaching_to_the_Natives,_under_a_Skreen_of_platted_Cocoa-nut_leaves_at_Kairua_by_William_Ellis-1823