“It was the same from Hawaiʻi to Kauai –
no name was given without some reason.”
(Kamakau)
In old Hawaiʻi, it was the nature of ‘place’ that shaped the practical, cultural and spiritual view of the Hawaiian people. In ancient times, the naming of a place was not a task to be undertaken lightly, for the Hawaiians recognized the power inherent in a name.
In giving a name to a piece of land, whether it be an island, a hill or a rocky headland, the inhabitants of ancient Hawaiʻi were placing a part of themselves on the landscape. (Reeve)
Place names are a reaffirming link, not only to the land itself, but to all the events, both legendary and historic, which had taken place on that land and to the ancestors who had lived on and were now buried within it.
Place names are often descriptive of: (1) the terrain, (2) an event in history, (3) the kind of resources a particular place was noted for or (4) the kind of land use which occurred in the area so named. Sometimes an earlier resident of a given land area was also commemorated by place names. (Kepa Maly)
Place names matter, and depending on your spelling or diacritical notations, you may be speaking of different places, with the same letter sequence. Take, for instance,
Waikoloa (wai-kō-loa – the name of a wind (cold northwest wind; literally: water pulling far)
Waikoloa (wā‘i-ko‘-loā; wai-koloa) – literally: (wild) duck water
Honi aku i ke ala o ka mau ‘u
Ike ala o ke kupukupu,
E lino ‘ia ‘ana e ka Waikoloa
Sniff the scent of the grasses
The fragrance of the kupukupu ferns
That are twisted about by the Waikoloa wind (Kamakau)
“The region of Lālāmilo was named for the young chief Lālāmilo, grandson of Kanakanaka, an expert lawai‘a hī-‘ahi (deep sea tuna lure fisherman) and Pilia-mo‘o, a powerful priestess and ‘ōlohe. Kanakanaka and Piliamo‘o were the parents of Nē‘ula (a fishing goddess), and she married Pu‘u-hīna‘i a chief of the inlands, and they in turn were the parents of Lālāmilo.”
“Kanakanaka’s sister was the wind goddess, Waikōloa, for whom the lands are now named.” (Kepa Maly)
“Although the NEern part of the bay which (the whole or part) is call’d Toe-yah-ya [Kawaihae] looks green & pleasant, yet as it is neither wooded or hardly any signs of culture, & a few houses …”
“… it has certainly some defect, & does not answer the purposes of what the natives cultivate. The s part appear’d rocky & black, & partakes more of the nature of the land about Karakakooa [Kealakekua].” (Cook’s Journal by King, Feb 6, 1779; Maly)
In March 1779, while sailing north from Kealakekua, Cook’s ships passed the South Kohala shoreline and King compared the southern section of Kohala to the arid shore of Ka‘ū. He also reported that there appeared to be few residents in the area around Kawaihae. (Maly)
“We now come to Ko-Harra [Kohala] the NW & last district. It is bounded by two tolerable high hills, & the Coast forms a very extensive bay call’d Toe Yah-Yah, in the bottom of which is foul Corally ground, & there was no approaching it; in the head of the bay as far as we could judge distant the Country look’d tolerably, but the s side is partook of the same nature as Kao [Kau] …”
“… & along the NE side of the bay close to which we Sail’d, it is very little Cultivated, & we saw but few houses; the Peoples appearance shewd that they were the lowest Class that inhabited them…” (Cook’s Journal by King; Maly)
“The climate of this district is, upon the whole, unpleasant, particularly at Waimea, in consequence of the trade-wind, which is exceedingly strong, bringing with it a mist towards sunset. This wind rushes furiously down between the mountains which bound the valley of Waimea, and becomes very dangerous to shipping in the bay.”
“It is called by the natives ‘mumuku,’ and is foretold by them from an illuminated streak that is seen far inland. This is believed to be caused by the reflection of the twilight on the mist that always accompanies the mumuku.” (Wilkes, Vol IV, 1845)
Waimea is “a ‘Kalana’ or ‘‘Okana,’ a land division which in ancient times was treated as a sub-district, smaller than the moku o loko, yet comprised of a number of smaller lands that contributed to its wealth.”
“The lands and resources subject to the Kalana of Waimea included, but were not limited to, ‘Ōuli, Wai‘aka, Lālāmilo, Puakō, Kalāhuipua‘a, ‘Anaeho‘omalu, Kanakanaka, Ala‘ōhi‘a, Paulama, Pu‘ukalani (Pukalani), Pu‘ukapu, and Waikōloa.” (Kepa Maly)
“In the 1840s and 1860s, elder native witnesses described these various lands as ‘‘ili,’ or land divisions of lower status than ahupua‘a, which fell under the jurisdiction of the chiefs of Waimea.”
“Understanding this difference in the status of the land divisions of the Waimea region helps explain why lands such as ‘Anaeho‘omalu and Kalāhuipua‘a have no upland agricultural resources; and why Waikōloa and all the other lands extending north from it, except for Lālāmilo and ‘Ōuli, have no ocean frontage.” (Kepa Maly)
“Waikōloa and its smaller land areas shared a unique relationship with the Kalana of Waimea in ancient and early historic times.”
“In 1903, Parker Ranch, under the direction of A.W. Carter, purchased the land of Waikōloa, in which are situated the smaller land areas of Waiki‘i and Ke‘āmoku. By 1904, Parker Ranch began upgrading and developing the Waiki‘i and Ke‘āmoku stations.” (Kepa Maly)
“The Waiki‘i Village was under construction by 1909, and by 1918, over 2,000 acres of corn, hay, and other feed crops; and potato fields, tree farms and a fruit orchard had been planted.”
“The ranch also developed turkey, chicken and pig farms on the land. With the blossoming and fruiting of Waiki‘i upon the mountain landscape, there came also, people from the far corners of the earth.” (Kepa Maly)
Now head over to the east side of Mauna Kea … and you have Waikoloa (Duck Ponds).
The ‘pond’ reference helps identify this as the other translation and place name related to the Koloa – the Hawaiian Duck. This area has some shallow pools called the Duck-Ponds [Wai-koloa], from the quantity of these birds frequenting them. (Maly)
Koloa are medium-sized (20 inches long) ducks with variable mallard-like plumage. Male Koloa-maoli resemble male mallards in eclipse plumage but have a dark chestnut breast. Dusky green heads on male Koloa rarely appear on other than first-year birds.
Female Koloa-maoli are similar to female mallards but are ruddier and with green rather than blue speculums (colored patch on their secondary wing feathers).
Koloa-maoli, termed simply Koloa, differ chiefly from their nearest relative, the Laysan duck, by their larger size, less regularly barred retrices, less reddish color, and lack of white around the eye.
The first mention of Koloa on the island of Hawai‘i seems to be that of Wilkes who wrote under date of January 11, 1841 that members of the Wilkes Exploring Expedition observed “an open space in the woods, near some shallow pools called the Duck-Ponds, from the quantity of these birds frequenting them.” (Wilkes)
Some 35 years later, during a brief stop-over by the Challenger Expedition, one of the Expedition members, Campbell, wrote that they “started many a wild duck … every hollow being under water” . (Banko, 1987)
Observers before 1900 recorded the Koloa as common and widespread, though becoming scarcer, in freshwater habitats on all of the major Islands. (Banko)
