Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kapaeloa

The literal translation for the moku (district) of Waialua is “two” (lua) “water(s)” (wai), which may be a reference to the pair of major streams that empty into its two main bays (Waialua and Kaiaka.)  An alternative interpretations of the meaning of Waialua suggest a particular lo‘i (irrigated taro patch,) a specific place called Kemo‘o and a cruel ancient chief named Waia.

Others suggest, “Waia, grandson of Wākea was said to be a cruel chief. He cared nothing of the gods or of doing good. He had men and women killed for the fun of killing them. When he saw a maiden with shapely legs, he ordered them cut off and if a man or a woman had beautiful tatooing he was put to death. … Waia lived and practised evil deeds at Waialua – as such, the place was named for him Waia-lua (Doubly disgraceful.)”  (Handy & Pukui)

“For the 28 generations from Hulihonua (the first man in the ancient Hawaiian past) to Wākea, no man was made chief over another. During the 25 generations from Wākea to Kapawa, various noted deeds are mentioned in the traditions and well-known stories.  Kapawa was the first chief to be set up as a ruling chief. This was at Waialua, Oʻahu; and from then on, the group of Hawaiian Islands became established as chief-ruled kingdoms”. (Kamakau)

Historic evidence indicates a fishing village, or a scattering of small fishing villages, extending from the west side of Waimea Bay back towards Waialua. This area along the coast and inland was known as Kāpaeloa (it’s in Waialua, and shares a boundary with Waimea ahupuaʻa that is in the moku of Koʻolauloa.)

In times past, Kāpaeloa may have been an ahupuaʻa; however, in later references (ie LCAs) Kāpaeloa is considered an ‘ili (land division smaller than an ahupua‘a) of either Kawailoa or (in the early-nineteenth century) Kamananui ahupua‘a.

The area is a relatively dry place, generally unsuitable for wet-taro cultivation, but ideal for its access to marine resources and deep-sea fisheries.  Any cultivation would have been limited to small gardens – families likely exchanged marine resources for other foodstuffs, such as taro, with farmers from nearby areas.

Here and in close proximity are four significant sites: Kūpopolo, a large heiau (temple;) Keahuohāpu’u, a fish-attracting shrine on a rocky point; Kaʻahakiʻi a tongue-shaped stone marking the ahupua‘a boundary between Waimea and Kawailoa; and Pu‘u o Mahuka Heiau at Pūpūkea.

This area, and some of the sites above are associated with Kaʻōpulupulu the last O‘ahu born Kahuna Nui (supreme spiritual leader) of the island.

In 1773, a leadership change was decided on Oʻahu where Kahahana would replace Kūmahana; this was the second chief to be elected (rather than conquest or heredity) to succeed to the leadership of Oʻahu, the first being Māʻilikūkahi who was his ancestor.  Kaʻōpulupulu was Waimea’s presiding priest and served Kahahana.

A story says Kahahana asked Kaʻōpulupulu to determine whether the gods approved of him, and whether the island of Kaua‘i would surrender if he invaded its shores. Kaʻōpulupulu requested that a temple be built where he could “speak to the great chief Kekaulike (of Kaua‘i) through the thoughts of the great akua Mahuka.”

At first, Heiau Kūpopolo was built on the beach of Waimea Bay; however, when Kaʻōpulupulu used it, he received no answer from Kaua‘i. It was thought the temple was in the wrong location.

Off shore of this area is Wānanapaoa, a small group of islets.  Several believe they were so named (Wānanapaoa literally translates to “unsuccessful prophecy”) because Kūpopolo heiau there did not live up to its intended function.

Because the kahuna believed that “thoughts are little gods, or kupua, that travel in space, above the earth … they fly freely as soaring birds,” he had another heiau, Puʻu O Mahuka built high on the cliffs. From there, Kaʻōpulupulu sent out thought waves, and the answer quickly returned – Kaua‘i wished for peace.  (Johnson; OHA)

“At that time, Kahekili was plotting for the downfall of Kahahana and the seizure of Oʻahu and Molokaʻi, and the queen of Kauaʻi was disposed to assist him in these enterprises.”  (Kalākaua)

Kahekili deceived Kahahana by having him believe Kaʻōpulupulu had offered the government and throne of Oʻahu to him (Kahekili), but that out of affection for his nephew he had refused; and he intimated strongly that Kaʻōpulupulu was a traitor to Kahahana.

Kahahana believed the falsehoods and it subsequently caused friction between Kahahana and Kaʻōpulupulu and the Oʻahu King turned a deaf ear to his kahuna’s advice and by the later part of 1782 or beginning of 1783, he arranged to have Kaʻōpulupulu killed.

Kahahana, who dispatched his best runners and trusted warriors to kill Kaʻōpulupulu and his son, Kahulupue … On the eve of the expected arrival of the messengers of death, Kaʻōpulupulu warned his son of their doom, saying: “I see in the sudden rise of dust that death will be here anon.”…Hardly had he given utterance to those words, when father and son were dragged out and speared.

Weakened, Kaʻōpulupulu commanded his wounded son, who had gained a point where a few steps would have placed him at the mercy of the angry sea: “E nui ke aho e kuʻu keiki a pa ke kino I ka ili kai a na ke kai ka ua ʻāina la” – Spend not your strength my son until your body strikes the surface of the ocean, for the land belongs to the sea.” This cryptic message culminated in the invasion of Oʻahu by Kahekili, aliʻi nui of Maui.  (Nui; Cultural Surveys)

Back to the sites of Kāpaeloa, Keahuohāpuʻu is believed to be either a koʻa (although fishing koʻa are characterized with coral, this one does not have coral in its construction) or a kūʻula associated with the fish (or shark) god Kāneʻaukai.  (The hāpuʻu is a kind of grouper fish.)

Kaʻahakiʻi was a “tongue-shaped stones, with only the tip protruding above the ground.”  It could still be seen in 1930s; when road construction occurred here, the workers worked abound the stone.

Another stone “in the vicinity” was blasted by railroad builders “apparently causing the death of three workmen.” A local Hawaiian referred to this stone as a kupua, “which he defined as a stone belonging to a particular region”.  (McAllister; Cultural Surveys)

During the Māhele in 1848, nearly the entire ahupua‘a of Kawailoa was awarded to Victoria Kamāmalu (LCA 7713.)  During the second half of the nineteenth century, following the death of Kamāmalu in 1866, Kawailoa Ahupuaʻa was passed on to successive members of the aliʻi (chiefs) eventually to Bishop Estate.

Today, Kūpopolo Heiau is used as an outdoor classroom for archaeological field training for the North Shore Field School (a cooperative effort of Kamehameha Schools and UH.)  Students and community volunteers learn how to identify, document and investigate archaeological artifacts, features and other cultural landscapes.  (Lots of information here from Cultural Surveys)

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by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Sailing to Waialua

French sea captain Auguste Dehaut-Cilly made round-the world travels between 1826 and 1829; all of the following is from his account of the Islands following his trip from California to Hawai‘i, in 1828.

“In Honolulu I traded what remained of the cargo in exchange for sandalwood. Stowing this wood on board is a long and careful task if one is to make full use of the space.”

“After ballasting the ship to a sixth of its tonnage, one begins stowing at both ends, stacking together the pieces of equal length, even under the deck, and then forcing into each stack as many other pieces as possible, driving them in with a mallet.”

“While this work was proceeding on board the Heros, I accepted the invitation of the English consul to make a short trip to the north of the island in a small schooner that belonged to him and was going to obtain sandalwood in a place called Waialua.”

“We left at three in the afternoon, and in order to double Koko Head and the eastern part of the island, we tacked until noon the next day when, finding ourselves sufficiently to windward, we let the ship falloff northwest toward our destination.”

“For some while the chain of mountains that appears to traverse the island from east to west and falls away on the side of Honolulu to form a number of fine valleys appeared from the north as a steep wall hemming in a plain of two or three leagues in width and stretching from this barrier to the edge of the sea.”

“But soon the mountains turning abruptly to the north, advanced to the water, leaving only a very small space between themselves and the shore, where a great number of huts stood everywhere.”

“We were less than a mile at sea, ranging along the coast in somber and rainy weather. The setting sun, about to go down on the opposite side of the mountain, left in the shade all that we could see. It is hardly possible to imagine anything more imposing than the spectacle before us that moment.”

“Three massive shapes, suspended over our heads, were composed of fearsome precipices, one towering over the other, of impenetrable forests rising in great steps above other forests, dark chasms of frightful depth, steep and slippery slopes, bare wet rocks mingling their dark color with the somber green of the old trees.”

“High and gleaming cascades, after descending for hundreds of yards, threw themselves onto the tree tops, where they burst into foam only to reunite and fall again until some fissure in the rocks provided a channel for a gentler descent to the sea”

“ If I add that the progress of the ship was continuously changing and varying the scene for us, the reader may form an idea of this spectacle”

“But one must see it with one’s own eyes, see the heavy clouds, now motionless over the forests that they drench with their showers, now eddying swiftly, rising and falling at the will of the wind that was whirling around behind the mountains.”

“One must see this turbulent chaos of clouds, moving, dissipating, and reappearing in different form as the ship advances if one is to sense how magical and mysterious was this scene to us.”

“In the far distance the mountains opened up as if some great hand had torn them apart; narrow valleys, well peopled, wound among the openings.”

“A large number of fishing canoes could be seen close to us. And we called to one of these light craft for a pilot to show us the port of Waialua (place of two streams).”

“The pilot pointed it out, several miles ahead, and we lost no time in entering through the wide opening in the reef, where we found no less than four fathoms of water.”

“It was almost dark when we went ashore and were received by the village chief, who invited us to sup with him ad sleep in his house.”

“We had some provisions brought from on board along with some bottles of wine, and these we added to the excellent fish that he served.”

“Although the house was very large it barely sufficed to hold the numerous guests who were gathered there, for we were no fewer than forty men and women under this hospitable roof.”

“I and my companion, the English consul, stretched ourselves out on mats as did the others, but the night was far advanced before we could sleep.”

“In addition to the insects, flying, jumping and crawling, that tormented us, the chief, after reciting a Christian prayer in the language of the country, kept up a conversation with several others.”

“Although I did not understand a word, this eternal colloquy held me awake for a long time.”

“Even the sleep was not peaceful; with my imagination overwhelmed by the grandiose and sublime spectacle of the mountains, I dreamed that I was pursued by a torrent and took refuge under an overhanging rock that then broke loose and collapsed on me.”

“Awakening with a start, I found on my chest the two heels of a fat Sandwich Islander, my neighbor on the bed, who sept profoundly in that position and who had been the cause of my nightmare.”

”Day was breaking. Taking my gun I went for a walk, intending to shoot some birds, but could not reach the base of the mountains; the entire landscape was cut into a labyrinth of taro fields separated by slippery dikes covered with high, wet grass and difficult to walk on without tumbling into the muddy ponds.Z”

“After killing only a few plover and a duck, I returned to the port. Our little schooner was loaded early, and in the evening we set
sail for Honolulu.”

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Waialua Female Seminary

Education in the US at the beginning of the 19th-century was primarily triggered by the need to train the people to help grow the relatively new nation.

Back then, it was believed that women should be educated to understand domestic economy, because they were to play the major role in educating the young, primarily in their homes, and later (as the school population grew and there was a shortage of teachers) as school teachers.  (Beyer)

Although schools for upper-class women were in existence prior to the 19th-century, the female seminary for middle-class women became the prevailing type of institution from 1820 until after the Civil War. The most prominent female seminaries were Troy Seminary (1821,) Hartford Seminary (1823,) Ipswich Seminary (1828,) Mount Holyoke Seminary (1837) and Oxford Seminary (1839.)

The seminary’s primary task was professional preparation: the male seminary prepared men for the ministry; the female seminary took as its earnest job the training of women for teaching and motherhood.  (Horowitz, Beyer)

The founders of the female seminaries were at first men who were committed to providing education for women, but as time went by, more of the founders were women. The financial backing for these seminaries was typically from private sources and the tuition charged the students. Their enrollment varied between 50 to 100-students; they preferred girls between the ages of 12 and 16.  (Beyer)

Western-style education did not begin in Hawai’i until after members of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) arrived in 1820.

Because the primary educators responsible for developing the education system of Hawai’i were Americans, the educational practices for Hawaiian girls tended to mirror, but not necessarily duplicate, what was taking place on the continent.  (Beyer)

In 1835, at the general meeting of the Mission, a resolution was passed to promote boarding schools for Hawaiians; several male boarding schools and two female boarding schools were begun (Wailuku Female Seminary on the island of Maui and the Hilo School for Girls on the island of Hawai’i.)  Before the 1850s, both of these schools had closed.

Wailuku Female Seminary (or the Central Female Seminary, as it was first called) was the first female school begun by the missionaries. It received support at a time when the missionaries were experimenting with both boarding schools and a manual labor system.

The first female seminary to be established on the island of Hawaiʻi was the Kaʻū Seminary. In 1862, Orramel Hinckley Gulick and his wife, Ann Eliza Clark Gulick (a graduate of Mount Holyoke Seminary,) began the school. Both were the children of missionaries (Peter Johnson Gulick and Fanny Hinckley Thomas Gulick; Ephraim Weston Clark and Mary Kittredge Clark.)

Due to the isolated location of the seminary, it was difficult to attract many students to the school. As a consequence, tuition and board were free, as long as the girls were placed under the parental care of the teachers of the school until the girls were married or obtained employment.

In 1865, after struggling to fill the school, it was decided to move the school to Waialua, Oʻahu, on the Anahulu Stream.  It opened there on August 7 with 50-students, ranging in age from 11 to 15.  As with other schools at the time, the students were instructed in the Hawaiian language.

The girls are selected by the pastors, from among the most promising girls of the parishes; and every major district in the islands had one or more representatives in the school. It was hoped that this institution would raise up a class of educated women, who might make teachers, and suitable partners for native Hawaiian ministers and missionaries.  (The Missionary Herald)

The large two-story building, surrounded by a veranda, housed the girls, their four teachers, one temporary assistant and two children of the teachers. A second large building was the school-house, the lower floor of which was a spacious school-room, while the upper story was divided into recitation rooms. (The Missionary Herald)

The girls at Waialua Female Seminary came from families where the traditional Hawaiian culture was still practiced. However, at school the girls were dressed in calico, as opposed to their usual holoku; they slept in beds, rather than on mats on the floor; and they ate at a table with silverware, instead of on the floor using their fingers.

The schedule for the day began with breakfast, followed by each girl reading from the Hawaiian Bible; after the principal offered a prayer in Hawaiian, they were dismissed to begin the routine work, which included all the work necessary to maintain the school (except for carting and carrying firewood and baking and pounding the taro for poi.)

The older girls put the food away, washed the dishes and swept the floor. The younger girls did various tasks, which included sweeping and dusting the parlor, the sitting-room or the schoolroom, gathering up the litter of leaves and branches from the yard and garden paths, or putting the teachers’ rooms in order. Some of the girls were involved with preparing the meals; all the girls washed and ironed clothes once a week.

The academic work took place between 9 am and noon and 1 pm and 4 pm.  The curriculum included geography, arithmetic, surveying, astronomy, singing, Bible history and the Bible in general. Manual training consisted of instruction in cutting and sewing dresses, in washing, ironing, cooking, cleaning house and painting; an hour and a half was spent on gardening and farming.

The school kept the girls until they graduated (40 percent of the enrollment,) married (34 percent of the enrollment,) were employed (4 percent of the enrollment,) left for health reasons (6 percent of the enrollment) or were dismissed for not applying themselves or for bad behavior (16 percent of the enrollment.)

In December of 1870, the school closed when the Mission sent the Gulicks to evangelize in Japan.  Waialua Female Seminary reopened on April 3, 1871, under the direction of Miss Mary E Green (another missionary descendent and graduate of Punahou and Mount Holyoke Seminary.)

Miss Green ran the school until 1882, when she became ill and could no longer run the school. The property was sold and the money was given to the trustees of Kawaiahaʻo Seminary in Honolulu to make further improvements there.  (Lots of information here from Beyer and Missionary Herald.)

The school was called ‘Hale Iwa’ by the girls (the first use of the name for this area.)  Later, that name came back to this area when OR&L opened the Haleiwa Hotel (1899;) when the hotel closed (1943,) the name of the area remained as Haleiwa, and it continues to be called that today.

The image shows Waialua Female Seminary (1865.)  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Waialua High and Intermediate School

Waialua (two waters) may refer to the two large stream drainages (Anahulu and Helemano-Poamoho-Kaukonahua) that were once used to irrigate extensive taro fields in the ahupua‘a of Kamananui, Pa‘ala‘a and Kawailoa, the more populous ahupua‘a on the eastern side of the district.  The ahupua‘a of Keālia, Kawaihāpai, and Mokulē‘ia, on the western side of the district, were more arid, and were not as well-watered as the three eastern ahupua‘a. (Cultural Surveys)

In 1813, Waialua was described by John Whitman, an early missionary visitor, as: “…a large district on the NE extremity of the island, embracing a large quantity of taro land, many excellent fishing grounds and several large fish ponds one of which deserves particular notice for its size and the labour bestowed in building the wall which encloses it.”  (Cultural Surveys)

Later (1826,) Levi Chamberlain noted, “The whole district of Waialua is spread out before the eye with its cluster of settlements, straggling houses, scattering trees, cultivated plats & growing in broad perspectives the wide extending ocean tossing its restless waves and throwing in its white foaming billows fringing the shores all along the whole extent of the district.”  (Cultural Surveys)

In 1865, Levi and Warren Chamberlain started a sugar plantation in Waialua that ultimately failed, and Robert Halstead bought the Chamberlain plantation in 1874 under the partnership of Halstead & Gordon.

Gordon died in 1888, and the plantation was managed by the Halstead Brothers, Robert and his two sons, Edgar and Frank. In 1898, Castle & Cooke formed the Waialua Agricultural Company and purchased the plantation from the Halstead Brothers.  (The mill stayed in operation up until 1996.)

By 1898, the OR&L railroad was constructed along the coast through the Waialua District, with stations in both Kawaihāpai and Mokulēʻia.  By the early-1900s, sugarcane plantations and large ranches came to dominate the lands of western Waialua.

“Waialua is reached either by railroad, a distance from Honolulu of 58 miles, or wagon road, 28 miles. The plantation lands extend along the seacoast 15 miles and 10 miles back toward the mountains. The plantation has a good railway system.”  (Louisiana Planter, 1910)

To serve the growing population, in 1914, Waialua had a one room school known as Mokulēʻia School with Miss Eva Mitchell as principal. The school served students from Waialua, Haleiwa, Mokulēʻia, Pupukea and Kawailoa. Then, on May 1, 1924, Waialua Agricultural Co. donated five-acres of land where six new classrooms were built.

In 1927, the school was renamed the Andrew E Cox School (Intermediate) in memory of the benefactor who gave the 15-acre tract of land on which Waialua High and Intermediate now stands.

When the County governance structure was adopted in the Territory of Hawaiʻi (1905,) Cox was the first member of the County Board of Supervisors, representing Waialua.  He also served as Deputy Sheriff.  (Andrew Cox died January 29, 1921 after an illness of several years at the age of 53.)

For a while, Leilehua High School was the only high school in this part of the Island had.  Then, in 1936, the Cox Intermediate School was enlarged to include a high school division and the school was renamed Waialua High and Intermediate School.

Charles Nakamura attended Waialua Elementary, Andrew E. Cox Intermediate, and Waialua High Schools. He was Waialua High’s first student body president and member of its first graduating class in 1939.  (UH)

Waialua resident Charles Nakamura said high school graduation has been a major event in the Oʻahu community of fewer than 4,000 since the first commencement at the old Andrew E. Cox Auditorium on June 7, 1939.  (Honolulu Advertiser)

By 1950, the school enrollment reached 745 students, with a staff of 30 teachers.  Today, enrollment is approximately 600 (grades 7-12.)

Waialua High School is an accredited school and offers a curriculum comparable to any high school in the island. Students who are preparing for college have courses such as physics, chemistry, biology, plain and solid geometry, trigonometry, algebra and three language courses to choose from.

For students who are interested in entering the business field, the school offers courses such as shorthand, typing, business math, bookkeeping, office practice and general business. If a student is interested in the technical or vocational field, he/she has shop, agriculture and homemaking to help further his studies.

Waialua High and Intermediate is recognized nationally as one of 11-medal-winning schools from Hawaiʻi (recognized by US News, for performing well on state exit exams, based on students’ mastery of college-level material – all 11-schools received Bronze medals.)

For the last dozen+ years, Waialua has had an award winning robotics team (Na Keiki O Ka Wa Mahope (The Children of the Future) aka Hawaiian Kids.)  The team motto is “It’s not about winning … It’s about teamwork, commitment and responsibility.”

The image shows Waialua High and Intermediate School logo.  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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