Totem Poles

At about age 15, George Vancouver joined the navy and spent seven years under Captain James Cook when Cook commanded the first European exploring expedition to visit the Hawaiian Islands, on Cook’s second (1772-74) and third (1776-80) voyages of discovery.

Later, captaining his own expedition and charged with exploring the Pacific region of the North American continent, Vancouver surveyed what we now know as British Columbia, including Vancouver Island (named after him.)

During those expeditions, Captain George Vancouver returned to Hawaiʻi three times, in 1792, 1793 and 1794.  There, he completed the charting of the Islands begun by Cook and William Bligh.

He met with Kamehameha and exchanged gifts.  When Kamehameha came aboard the ship, taking Vancouver’s hand, he “demanded, if we were sincerely his friends”, to which Vancouver answered in the affirmative.

Kamehameha then said “he understood we belonged to King George, and asked if he was likewise his friend.  On receiving a satisfactory answer to this question, he declared the he was our firm good friend; and according to the custom of the country, in testimony of the sincerity of our declarations we saluted by touching noses.”  (Vancouver, 1798)

In the exchange of gifts, after that, Kamehameha presented four feathered helmets and other items, Vancouver gave Kamehameha the remaining livestock on board, “five cows, two ewes and a ram.”

The farewell between the British and the Hawaiians was emotional, but both understood that Vancouver would be returning the following winter.

Just before Vancouver left Kawaihae on March 9, 1793, he gave Isaac Davis and John Young a letter testifying that "Tamaah Maah, with the generality of the Chiefs, and the whole of the lower order of People, have conducted themselves toward us with the strictest honest, civility and friendly attention." (Speakman, HJH)

During these trips, Captain George Vancouver visited Maui; he first landed in Māʻalaea Bay on the Kihei shoreline.

Vancouver described the area surrounding Māʻalaea Bay (March, 1793:)  “The appearance of this side of Mowee was scarcely less forbidding than that of its southern parts, which we had passed the preceding day.”

“The shores, however, were not so steep and rocky, and were mostly composed of a sandy beach; the land did not rise so very abruptly from the sea towards the mountains, nor was its surface so much broken with hills and deep chasms…”

“… yet the soil had little appearance of fertility, and no cultivation was to be seen. A few habitations were promiscuously scattered near the waterside, and the inhabitants who came off to us, like those seen the day before, had little to dispose of. “ (Vancouver)

Fast forward to the 1960s; the 100-room Maui Lu was the only resort on Maui's south shore.  It was built by Canadian James Gordon Gibson and named after his boat (which was named after his wife, Louise.)

Gibson (November 28, 1904 - July 17, 1986 - nicknamed the "Bull of the Woods") was a lumberman, politician, seaman, hotelier and author.  In the 1920s, he and his brothers ran the Gibson Lumber and Shingle Company.

He was born in a cabin in the Yukon; at the time, his father was looking for the elusive gold.  “Cash was virtually unknown to my family at this time.”  (Gibson)

Gibson left school at the age of 12; “when I left school I was told I was such a dog that someone would have to feed me for the rest of my life or I would surely starve to death.  It was then I determined in my mind that I would never again be at the bottom.”  (Gibson)

He went to work at hand-logging, shingle milling and commercial fishing on the coast of Vancouver Island.  Eventually, he made millions in lumbering.  (Calgary Herald)

Later, he visited Maui and built a home in Kihei - he called it Fort Vancouver.

"As the palms grew, so did the number of guests at Fort Vancouver, as we loved to share our sunny home with our friends from the West Coast."  (Gibson)  (Friends from Canada were his frequent guests.)

Planning a guest house, he arranged for sufficient lumber (5,000 board feet) to be shipped from Vancouver to Maui.  When it arrived, "to my astonishment, I found not the 5,000 board feet I had expected but 50,000."  (Gibson)

This was the beginning of the Maui Lu resort.  Gibson "figured that we might as well build ten guest houses, which later became known as the Maui Lu cottages in tribute to Louise.  Instead of plain sloped roofs, they were built with upswung gables and peaked Polynesian eaves to salute the many Japanese Americans in Maui."  (Gibson)

By 1967, the Maui Lu Hotel was becoming very popular and Gibson built four four-plexes, naming them the Quadras as a reminder of Captain George Vancouver's meeting on Vancouver Island with sen͂or Quadra.  (Gibson)

Reportedly at his resort, Gibson had a totem pole which he had arranged to fly out from Nootka Sound, Canada to Maui. At its base was an inscription written in concrete that claimed that it was the first totem pole to fly the Pacific.

Gibson built a memorial to Vancouver near Vancouver’s reported initial Maui landing site, beachside of the entrance to the Maui Lu.  (Spokane Daily Chronicle, December 19, 1969)

“The monument is an ancient boarding cannon recovered off Vancouver Island, and a giant clam shell.  It is guarded by two totem poles from Vancouver Island.”  (Vancouver Sun, December 19, 1969)

The totem poles are no longer at the makai memorial; they were damaged in a storm and not repairable (they are stored under one of the buildings at the hotel.)

The hotel property is for sale (while the hotel is still operating, part of the complex has been abandoned and management expects a buyer will rebuild a new, larger structure in its place.)

The image shows the Vancouver Memorial at a time that it had the Canadian Totem poles.   In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Māʻalaea

The name Māʻalaea may be a contraction of Maka-‘alaea, which means “ocherous earth beginning,” a reference to ‘alaea, a red clay commonly used for coloring sea salt.  Other place names found on old maps include Kalae‘ia, Palalau and Kanaio.    (Engledow)

Māʻalaea is part of the land division called Waikapū, which originates in one of four valleys created by streams known as Nā Wai Eha - The Four Waters. Those famous streams carved the steep ridges and gullies of four valleys of the West Maui mountains - Waikapū, ‘Īao, Waiehu and Waiheʻe.

The Waikapū district covers approximately half of the isthmus known as Kama‘oma‘o, reaching the south shore and including the shoreline from near Māʻalaea to Kïhei Püko‘a.  (Engledow)

After Kamehameha conquered Maui in 1795, the district of Waikapū was given to Ke‘eaumoku, one of the “four Kona Uncles” who had been his main supporters. When Ke‘eaumoku died in 1804 it went to his son, Kahekili Ke‘eaumoku, and on his death in 1824 to Kuakini, then to Leleiōhoku in 1844. During the Great Māhele of 1848, some Land Commission Awards (LCA) were granted in Kamaʻalaea.

“On the south side of western Maui the flat coastal plain all the way from Kihei and Māʻalaea to Honokahua, in old Hawaiian times, must have supported many fishing settlements and isolated fishermen's houses, where sweet potatoes were grown in the sandy soil or red lepo near the shore. For fishing, this coast is the most favorable on Maui, and although a considerable amount of taro was grown, I think it reasonable to suppose that the large fishing population which presumably inhabited this leeward coast ate more sweet potatoes than taro with their fish.” (Handy)

One product of the area was salt. In an entry dated February 1, 1817, an early voyager describes arriving at “Mackerey (Māʻalaea) Bay; here we lay until the 6th, and took on board a great quantity of hogs, salt, and vegetables. This bay is very deep and wide and nearly divides the island, there being but a narrow neck of land and very low, keeping the two parts of the island together."

"There is good anchorage; and the only danger arises from the trade winds, which blows so strong at times as to drive ships out of the bay with two anchors down; it lies NE and SW and is well sheltered from every other wind. The neck of land is so low, and the land so high on each side, that the NE trade comes through like a hurricane. On this neck of land are their principal salt-pans, where they make a most excellent salt.”  (Engledow)

During the California Gold Rush, between 1848 and 1850, Māʻalaea Bay functioned as a major port for transporting Hawaiian-grown goods, such as Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, pumpkins, oranges, coffee and molasses. Such goods were then shipped to San Francisco and elsewhere along the west coast of the continent.  (Engledow)

Much of the region of Waikapū was converted for agriculture during the mid-1800s, with sugar cane as the primary crop. Eventually the entire ahupuaʻa was sold to Henry Cornwell in 1885. Cornwell, along with his brother-in-law James Louzada, of Waimea, Hawaiʻi, began the Waikapū Plantation. The plantation fell under the control of the Wailuku Sugar Company in 1894.  (Engledow)

Two traditional sayings, or ‘ōlelo no‘eau, referred to this area, and both have to do with its famous winds. “Ka makani kokololio o Waikapū, The gusty wind of Waikapū,” is referred to in the song “Inikinikimālie” by James Kahale. Another is “Pā kamakani o ka Moaʻe, hele ka lepo o Kaho‘olawe i Māʻalaea, When the Moa‘e wind blows, the dust of Kaho‘olawe goes toward Māʻalaea." (Pukui)

The area of Kapoli Spring, at the western end of Māʻalaea, is traditionally said to be the site where the high chiefs landed by canoe and been a landing point for centuries.  Two large boulders are nearby; one is known as Pōhaku O Maʻalaea, situated along Kapoli Spring. One stone is recorded as a pōhaku piko, while the other stone, known as the “Kings Table,” was used for either food preparation or adze grinding. Both stones have been moved from their original locations.

Stories tell of Kihapiʻilani landing here on his return to Maui, after he had fled Lānaʻi following a fight with his brother Lonoapiʻilani. Kihapiʻilani and his wife supposedly met people with bundles “going down makai to the shore to trade some food” at “Kamāaʻalaea,” another name for Māʻalaea.

In 1736, Kapoli in Māʻalaea was the landing place to take the remains of Kekaulike, the ruling chief of Maui, by land to Wailuku in the ʻĪao Valley.  “Then, fearing the arrival of Alapaʻi bent on war, the chiefs cut the flesh from the bones of Kekaulike in order to lighten the load in carrying the body to ʻĪao [for burial]."  (Kamakau)

In the early-1790s, Captain George Vancouver visited Maui and brought the first cattle and root vegetables to the island.  A memorial, with Canadian totem poles, to Vancouver was erected by Canadian J Gordon Gibson near the initial landing site, across the bay at Kihei.

The main mauka/makai trail followed Kealaloloa Ridge.  Because of the steep terrain in the area, there was no coastal trail between Olowalu and Māʻalaea, so “from ‘Olowalu travelers were ferried by canoe to Māʻalaea, thence to Makena”.  (Rechtman)

One of the places they passed along that route was a promontory that has a modern name of McGregor Point.  Here, the wind was so strong at times, that it would shred the sails of vessels trying to traverse the coastline by sea (as noted in Nūpepa Kūʻokoʻa, 1868:)

Ke holo nei ka moku a kūpono i Ukumehame, nānā aku i ka makani wili ko‘okai i ka moana, kahea mai ‘ia ke Kāpena i nā sela a pū‘ā i nā pe‘a, e hao mai ana ka makani pau nā pe‘a i ka nahaehae.   (The ship sailed on until reaching just outside of Ukumehame, watching the strong whirling winds whipping the seas, the captain called out to the sailors to furl the sails, the wind was gusting and the sails were torn.) (Rechtman)

McGregor ordered the anchor dropped for the night.  With the light of the morning, McGregor awoke to find that he had discovered an excellent cove with a protecting point.  The point, just over a mile southwest of Māʻalaea Bay, continues to bear his name.  In 1877, Wilder Steamship Company initiated passenger and freight service between the Hawaiian Islands.  At that time, there were few navigational aids, so the steamship company was forced to erect lighted beacons for the safety of its own vessels.

One of these private aids was placed at Māʻalaea Bay in the 1880s and was an ordinary lantern, fitted with red glass and displayed from a post.  In 1903, land was acquired on McGregor Point and a light was placed on the point to replace the one at Māʻalaea.  This was later upgraded in 1915.

The area is known for another famous landing.  On February 18, 1881, The “Beta” under the command of Captain Christian L’Orange, an early plantation owner who, under a commissioned from King Kalākaua, landed 600-Scandinavian immigrants who had signed on to work in the booming sugar plantations.

Sometime before 1825, a hand-built trail for horseback and foot travel connected Wailuku and Lāhainā (the alignment is referred to as the Lāhainā Pali Trail;) it served as the most direct route across the steep southern slopes of West Maui Mountain.  Laura Fish Judd, in 1841, described it as, “A new road had been made around the foot of the mountain, the crookedest, rockiest, ever traveled by mortals. Our party consisted of five adults and five children. We had but two horses. One of these was in a decline on starting; it gave out in a few miles.”

Around 1900, the Lāhainā Pali Trail fell out of use when prison laborers built a one-way dirt road along the base of the pali. In 1911, a three-ton truck was the first vehicle to negotiate this road, having a difficult time making some of the sharp, narrow turns.  Over the years, the road was widened and straightened until 1951, when the modern Honoapiʻilani Highway cut out many of the 115-hairpin curves in the old pali road and a tunnel cleared the way through a portion of the route.

This was the first tunnel ever constructed on a public highway in Hawaiʻi - built on the Olowalu-Pali section of the Lāhainā-Wailuku Road (now Honoapiʻilani Highway,) completed on October 10, 1951. The tunnel is 286-feet long, 32-feet wide, and more than 22 feet high.  (Schmidt)  Today, a remnant of the old trail is a recreational hike – five-miles long (from Māʻalaea to Ukumehame (the ahupuaʻa adjoining Waikapū)) and climbs to over 1,600-feet above sea level.

Māʻalaea was the site of Maui's first commercial airport. “In late 1929, Interisland Airways (which later became Hawaiian Airlines,) Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar, and the Kahului Railroad cooperated in building a paved airstrip near Māʻalaea,” but the airport closed in 1938-39. It was troubled by high winds, was too close to the West Maui Mountains and was inadequate for the larger airplanes that had come into use.   (Engledow)

In May 1944, training for the assault on Saipan were held at Māʻalaea Bay and Kaho‘olawe.   The Fourth and Fifth Marine Divisions also used the area for joint ship-to-shore training and amphibious landing practice before the 1945 battle of Iwo Jima.  The Māʻalaea Bay area furnished an antitank moving-target range, a close-combat range, and a 20-point rifle range. The beach at Māʻalaea Bay was fortified with pillboxes and emplacements modeled after the Tarawa Beach.

Today, Māʻalaea remains as a boat landing area.  The present Small Boat Harbor facilities were first developed by the Territory in 1952 and improved in 1955 and 1959.  The harbor, under the control of DLNR-DOBOR, has approximately 30-berths, 61-moorings, boat ramp, a harbor office, a dry dock, a restaurant and a boat club.

Within the Harbor is the Māʻalaea Ebisu Kotohira Jinsha (completed in 1999, it is a replica of the original shrine built in 1914.)  Ebisu is one of the seven lucky deities and the guardian god of fisherman and merchants; kotohira means 'fishermen'; and jinsha means 'shrine.' This traditional Shinto fishing shrine on the shore of Māʻalaea Small Boat Harbor was originally located on the site of the Maui Ocean Center.

McGregor Point Lookout is a popular vantage point for seeing humpback whales from land. From this vantage point you have a sweeping view of the ocean.  Humpback whales arrive in Hawaiʻi over a six-month period, with the best viewing months from mid-December through mid-April.

The image shows Māʻalaea.  In addition, I have added related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Hawaiʻi – 1820s

In the dawn hours of January 18, 1778, on his third expedition, British explorer Captain James Cook on the HMS Resolution and Captain Charles Clerke of the HMS Discovery first sighted what Cook named the Sandwich Islands (that were later named the Hawaiian Islands.)  Hawaiian lives changed with sudden and lasting impact, when western contact changed the course of history for Hawai‘i.

Forty years after Cook’s death, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM)) set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (on October 23, 1819.)  There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company.  Missionaries arrived first at Kailua-Kona on April 4, 1820; they then went to Honolulu and arrived there on April 14, 1820.

Captain Cook estimated the population at 400,000 in 1778. When Vancouver, who had been with Cook, returned in 1792, he was shocked at the evidences of depopulation, and when the missionaries arrived in 1820, the population did not exceed 150,000.  (The Friend, December 1902)

By the time the missionaries arrived, Kamehameha I had died and the centuries-old kapu system had been abolished; through the actions of King Kamehameha II (Liholiho,) with encouragement by former Queens Kaʻahumanu and Keōpūolani (Liholiho’s mother,) the Hawaiian people had already dismantled their heiau and had rejected their religious beliefs.

But how were our ears astonished to hear the voice devine proclaim, "in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God"! How were our hearts agitated with new & various & unexpected emotions, to hear the interesting intelligence, "Tamahemaha is dead," - "The Taboos are broken" - "The Idols are burnt" - "The Moreahs (heiau) are destroyed" - and the priesthood abolished.   (Hiram Bingham and others in a letter to the ABCFM)

So, what was Honolulu like forty-years after the first arrival of foreigners?  The following, from books, journals and letters, helps to paint the picture of Honolulu.

This village (Honolulu,) which contains about two hundred houses, is situated upon a level plain extending some distance back from the bay part of which forms the harbour, to the foot of the high hills which abound throughout the Island. The little straw-huts clusters of them in the midst of cocoanut groves, look like bee-hives, and the inhabitants swarming about them like bees. In passing through the midst, in our way to the open plain, it was very pleasant to hear their friendly salutation, Alloah (Aloha,) some saying, e-ho-ah, (where going?) We answered, mar-oo, up yonder. Then, as usual, they were pleased that we could num-me-num-me Owhyhee (talk Hawaiian.)  (Sybil Bingham)

Here we dropped anchor in the peaceful waters of this safe and commodious harbor, the best in this part of the world. It is sufficiently large to admit 150 sail, of the capacity of 100 to 700 tons. The depth of water at the bar, or mouth of the harbor, being little more than twenty feet, and little affected by the tide, the largest class of ships could not pass in and out with safety, without under-girders, or camels, to buoy them up.  (Hiram Bingham)

Ships lying at harbor whose officers were interesting themselves in our object, and whom we sought to entertain at our little dwelling as much after the manner of our own country as we could— a respectful attention also to the chiefs and their suite whenever they came in and spread themselves around upon our mats.  (Sybil Bingham)

Passing through the irregular village of some thousands of inhabitants, whose grass thatched habitations were mostly small and mean, while some were more spacious, we walked about a mile northwardly to the opening of the valley of Pauoa, then turning south-easterly, ascended to the top of Punchbowl Hill an extinguished crater, whose base bounds the north-east part of the village or town.  (Hiram Bingham)

On the east were the plain and grove of Waikiki, with its amphitheater of hills, the south-eastern of which is Diamond Hill, the crater of an extinct volcano, in the form of a cone, truncated, fluted, and reeded, larger, higher, and more concave than Punchbowl Hill, but of much the same model and general character.  (Hiram Bingham)

Below us (below Punchbowl,) on the south and west, spread the plain of Honolulu, having its fish-pond and salt making pools along the sea-shore, the village and fort between us and the harbor, and the valley stretching a few miles north into the interior, which presented its scattered habitation and numerous beds of kalo (taro) in it various stages of growth, with its large green leaves, beautifully embossed on the silvery water, in which it flourishes.  (Hiram Bingham)

Through this valley, several streams descending from the mountains in the interior, wind their way, some six or seven mile watering and overflowing by means of numerous artificial canal the bottom of kalo patches, and then, by one mouth, fall into the peaceful harbor.  (Hiram Bingham)

The soil is of the best kind, producing cocoanuts, bananas, and plantains, bread fruit, papia, ohia, oranges, lemons, limes, grapes, tamarinds, sweet potatoes, taro, yams, watermelons, muskmelons, cucumbers and pineapples, and I doubt not would yield fine grain of any kind.  (Ruggles, The Friend)

There are large droves of wild cattle in the mountains, and a herd of about fifty fine ones on a large plain near this village, owned by a Spaniard who neither makes any use of them himself, nor will he permit us to, yet. There are also immense numbers of goats both wild and tame. They supply us with milk, and are excellent meat. Hogs are numerous in the mountains. Dogs abound in great numbers. I have counted 250 brought in one day to King Tamoree. They are esteemed by the natives as the best food.  (Ruggles, The Friend)

From Diamond Hill, on the east, to Barber’s Point and the mountains of Waianae, on the west, lay the sea-board plain, some twenty-five miles in length, which embraces the volcanic hill of Moanalua, two or three hundred feet high, and among them, a singular little lake of seawater, abounding in salt crystalized through evaporation by the heat of the sun, the ravine of Moanalua, the lagoon of Ewa, and numerous little plantation and hamlets, scattered trees, and cocoanut groves, range of mountains, three or four thousand feet high, stretches aero the south-western part of the island, at the distance of twenty-five miles.  (Hiram Bingham)

Another range, from two to four thousand feet high stretches from the north-western to the eastern extremity of the island. Konahuanui, the highest peak, rises back of Punchbowl Hill and north by east from Honolulu, eight miles distant, and four thou and feet high, often touching or sustaining, as it were, a cloud.  (Hiram Bingham)

We were sheltered in three native-built houses, kindly offered us by Messrs. Winship, Lewis and Navarro, somewhat scattered in the midst of an irregular village or town of thatched huts, of 3,000 or 4,000 inhabitants.  (Hiram Bingham)  “(O)ur little cottage built chiefly of poles, dried grass and mats, being so peculiarly exposed to fire, beside being sufficiently filled with three couples and things for immediate use, consisting only of one room with a little partition and one door.”  (Sybil Bingham)

In addition to their homes, the missionaries had grass meeting places, and later, churches.  One of the first was on the same site as the present Kawaiahaʻo Church.  On April 28, 1820, the Protestant missionaries held a church service for chiefs, the general population, ship's officers and sailors in the larger room in Reverend Hiram Bingham's house.  This room was used as a school room during the weekdays and on Sunday the room was Honolulu's first church auditorium.  (Damon)

The image shows a view of southern Oʻahu, from ʻEwa (Bingham.)  More images are added to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Captain George Vancouver

George Vancouver was born on June 22, 1757 at King's Lynn, Norfolk, England, the youngest of five children of John Jasper Vancouver (collector of customs) and his wife Bridget.

At about age 15, Vancouver joined the navy and spent seven years under Captain James Cook on Cook’s second (1772-74) and third (1776-80) voyages of discovery (the latter was when Cook commanded the first European exploring expedition to visit the Hawaiian Islands.)

The story of Cook's death at Kealakekua Bay, on February 14, 1779, has been often described, but the small part played by midshipman George Vancouver is not widely known.

The day before Cook's death, for the second time in one day, a Hawaiian took some tools from the Discovery and escaped in a canoe.  Thomas Edgar, master of the Discovery, and midshipman Vancouver were part of the chase to retrieve the stolen tools -  a scuffle later occurred, which included Edgar marooned on a rock close to shore.

As Edgar later reported the incident in his journal: “I not being able to swim had got upon a small rock up to my knees in water, when a man came up with a broken Oar, and most certainly would have knock'd me off the rock, into the water, if Mr. Vancover, the Midshipman, had not at that Inst Step'd out of the Pinnace, between the Indian & me, & receiv'd the Blowe, which took him on the side, and knock'd him down.”  (Speakman, HJH)

That same night the cutter itself was taken, setting off the events which culminated in Cook's death on the beach.  The following day, Vancouver was again involved in momentous events when Lieutenant King chose him to accompany the armed party ashore to recover Cook’s body.  (Speakman, HJH)

In 1791, Captain George Vancouver entered the Pacific a dozen years later in command of the second British exploring expedition.  (HJH)

In the introduction to Vancouver’s journals of his voyage to the Pacific, his brother John wrote, "that from the age of thirteen, his whole life to the commencement of this expedition, (to the Pacific) has been devoted to constant employment in His Majesty's naval service."

Vancouver visited Hawaiʻi three times, in 1792, 1793 and 1794. He completed the charting of the Islands begun by Cook and William Bligh.

On the first trip, Vancouver’s ships “Discovery” and “Chatham” first rounded the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, and traveled to Tahiti, via Australia and New Zealand, and then sailed north to the Hawaiian Islands.

Arriving off South Point, on March 1, 1792, the Discovery and the Chatham sailed close to the western coast of the island of Hawaiʻi.  Later, leaving Kawaihae Bay, Vancouver's ships made their way past Maui, Kahoʻolawe, Molokaʻi and Lānaʻi, to Oʻahu, anchoring off Waikīkī - they later made their way to Kauaʻi.

It is clear from Vancouver’s Journal and other accounts of events in Hawaiʻi in 1792, that neither Vancouver nor the Hawaiian chiefs were completely confident of the good will of each other.  On Hawaiʻi, he had found that the people refused to trade except for arms and ammunition, which Vancouver refused to agree to, and on Kauaʻi he was alarmed by tales of Hawaiian hostility. (Speakman, HJH)

Vancouver was also concerned about the apparent drop in the Hawaiian population since his earlier visit with Captain Cook.  Waikīkī was “thinly inhabited, and many [houses] appeared to be entirely abandoned.”  On Kauaʻi, the village of Waimea had been “reduced at least two-thirds of its size, since the years 1778 and 1779.”  (Speakman, HJH)

Vancouver did not seem to have been conscious of disease among the Hawaiian people, but he was aware of the arms trade and interisland warfare and attributed the decrease in the population to the deplorable sale of arms by avaricious European traders to “ambitious and enterprizing chieftains.”  (Vancouver, Speakman, HJH)  He later left Hawaiʻi and sailed to survey the Northwest coast of the American continent.

On his second trip in February 1793, the “Discovery” and “Chatham” first circled and surveyed the Island Hawaiʻi.  From a meeting he had with Kamehameha, he noted in his Journal, that he was “agreeably surprised in finding that his riper years had softened that stern ferocity, which his younger days had exhibited, and had changed his general deportment to an address characteristic of an open, cheerful, and sensible mind; combined with great generosity, and goodness of disposition.” (Vancouver, 1798)

He also met John Young and Kaʻahumanu, noting, “the kindness and fond attention, with which on all occasions (Kamehameha and Kaʻahumanu) … seemed to regard each other.”  Vancouver was delighted at “the decorum and general conduct of this royal party. … They seemed to be particularly cautious to avoid giving the least cause for offence….”  (Vancouver, 1798)

When Kamehameha came aboard the ship, taking Vancouver’s hand, he “demanded, if we were sincerely his friends”, to which Vancouver answered in the affirmative.  Kamehameha then said “he understood we belonged to King George, and asked if he was likewise his friend.  On receiving a satisfactory answer to this question, he declared the he was our firm good friend; and according to the custom of the country, in testimony of the sincerity of our declarations we saluted by touching noses.”  (Vancouver, 1798)

In the exchange of gifts, after that, Kamehameha presented four feathered helmets and other items, Vancouver gave Kamehameha the remaining livestock on board, “five cows, two ewes and a ram.”

The farewell between the British and the Hawaiians was emotional, but both understood that Vancouver would be returning the following winter. Just before Vancouver left Kawaihae on March 9, 1793, he gave Isaac Davis and John Young a letter testifying that "Tamaah Maah, with the generality of the Chiefs, and the whole of the lower order of People, have conducted themselves toward us with the strictest honest, civility and friendly attention." (Speakman, HJH)

On the third trip to the islands, arriving in early-January 1794, Vancouver brought three ships, “Discovery,” “Chatham” and “Daedalus.”  They headed to Hilo.

Here, he met Kamehameha and Vancouver noted Kamehameha was “with his usual confidence and cheerful disposition. It was impossible to mistake the happiness he expressed on seeing us again which seemed to be greatly increased by his meeting us at this, his most favorite part of the island.”  (Vancouver 1801)

Shortly after, Kamehameha assembled the principal chiefs from all over the island for a meeting at Kealakekua.  There they had a serious discussion of cession.   A treaty was discussed that afforded British protection of Hawaiians from unscrupulous traders and predatory foreign powers.  It would be achieved through the cession of the Island of Hawaiʻi to Great Britain.

“Tamaahmaah opened the business in a speech, which he delivered with great moderation and equal firmness.  He explained the reasons that had induced him to offer the island to the protection of Great Britain; and recounted the numerous advantages that himself, the chiefs, and the people, were likely to derive by the surrender they were about to make.”  (Vancouver, 1801)

The chiefs stated clearly that this cession was not to alter their religion, economy, or government, and that Kamehameha, the chiefs and priests "were to continue as usual to officiate with the same authority as before in their respective stations ….”  “(T)he king repeated his former proposition, which was now unanimously approved of, and the whole party declared their consent by saying, that they were no longer ‘Tanata no Owhyhee,’ the people of Owhyhee; but ‘Tananta no Britannee,’ the people of Britain.”  (Vancouver, 1801)

To commemorate the event, an inscription on copper was made stating, “On the 25th of February, 1794, Tamaahmaah, king of Owhyhee, in council with the principal chiefs of the island, assembled on board His Britannic Majesty's sloop Discovery in Karakakooa bay, in the presence of George Vancouver, commander of the said sloop; Lieutenant Peter Puget, commander of his said Majesty's armed tender the Chatham; and the other officers of the Discovery; after due consideration, unanimously ceded the said island of Owhyhee to His Britannic Majesty, and acknowledged themselves to be subjects of Great Britain.”  (Vancouver, 1801)

Vancouver then noted in his Journal, “Thus concluded the ceremonies of ceding the island of Owhyhee to the British crown; but whether this addition to the empire will ever be of any importance of Great Britain, or whether the surrender of the island will ever be attended with any additional happiness to its people, time alone must determine.”  (Vancouver, 1801)

The British government did not receive a copy of the "cession" until after Vancouver's return to England a year later, and then the British parliament never acted on it. The British ship and men expected by the Hawaiians never arrived, and Kamehameha and his chiefs resumed the wars against Maui and the other islands until, in 1810, Kamehameha was King not only of Hawai'i but of all the islands of the Hawaiian chain.  (Speakman, HJH)

Captain George Vancouver died on May 10, 1798 at the age of 40.  The image shows Captain George Vancouver arriving at Kealakekua Bay.  I have added other images to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Kaluakauka

In 1793, Captain George Vancouver gave a few cattle to Kamehameha I; when Vancouver landed additional cattle at Kealakekua in 1794, he strongly encouraged Kamehameha to place a 10‐year kapu on them to allow the herd to grow.

In the decades that followed, cattle flourished and turned into a dangerous nuisance.  Kamehameha III lifted the kapu in 1830 and the hunting of wild cattle was encouraged.  The king hired cattle hunters from overseas to help in the effort.

By 1846, 25,000-wild cattle roamed at will and an additional 10,000-semi‐domesticated cattle lived alongside humans.  A wild bull or cow could weigh 1,200 to 1,500-pounds and had a six‐foot horn spread.  Vast herds destroyed natives’ crops, ate the thatching on houses, and hurt, attacked and sometimes killed people.

In addition to traditional practices in the forests (i.e. bird feather collecting, harvesting koa and ʻōhiʻa, etc,) wild cattle were hunted for consumption, as well as provisioning ships with  salt beef, and hides and tallow to the growing whaling fleets replenished their stocks.

Hunting wild cattle in the upper forest where they roamed was dangerous.  Bullock pits were dug to trap the animals (they were about seven or eight feet long, and four feet wide and were walled up and covered with fragile brush;) they were near established trails; cattle were also drawn to the area by adjoining water holes.  When animals fall in the pits, they were unable to climb out the steep sides.

On July 12, 1834, the pits proved they can be a peril to people, too.  David Douglas was killed by a wild bullock at Keahuaʻai (a knoll at the top of Laupāhoehoe near the boundary of Humuʻula and Laupāhoehoe (now called Kaluakauka or Douglas Pit.))  (Maly)  “In the forest under the shadow of Mauna Kea I have seen the bullock pit where the dead body of the distinguished Scottish naturalist, (David) Douglas”.  (Coan)

Douglas was born at Scone, near Perth, Scotland, in 1799, and started his career, there; he was a botanist.  He was affiliated with the University of Glasgow and served as botanical collector for the Horticultural Society of London. He was hired by the Hudson's Bay Company to do a botanical survey of the Oregon region.

In mid-August 1823, Douglas was in Philadelphia looking at the plants brought back by Lewis and Clark that even then were flourishing in some American, as well as European gardens. By September Douglas was in the Northwest, looking as always for seeds and cuttings of fruit trees, as well as wild woody plants.

Even though first Menzies (1790, while sailing with Captain Vancouver) and then Lewis and Clark (1804, through the expedition through the Louisiana Purchase and to the Northwest) had collected plants in the area, they had found only the obvious. Almost every day Douglas was in the field he was finding curious plants that proved to be new to science.

One of the collections he sent back to England with a home-bound ship was the dried branches and needles of what he called "Oregon pine," that today is known as Douglas Fir (his namesake that is now a common wood in construction, as well as the festive and adorned Christmas tree.)

For 4 years, he travelled approximately 8,000-miles throughout  the Northwest, cataloging and collecting samples. He returned to England in 1827. He achieved fame in Europe for his collection, and has been referred to as “one of the founding fathers of the British forestry industry as it exists today” by one biographer.

He returned to the Northwest in 1829 hoping to convince the Hudson's Bay Company to finance a trip to Alaska and beyond. They refused, so David Douglas sailed to Hawaiʻi, arriving here just before Christmas of 1833.

Douglas was a gifted collector, but in the field he was often in trouble. He once fell on a nail that penetrated his leg under the kneecap. He nearly drowned in a glacier-fed river, and was weeks away from civilization with little but his wet clothes.  He grew blind in one eye, and his vision was slowly failing in the other.

In January 1834, he set out to “to ascend and explore Mauna Kea, as soon as possible” Having completed his trek to both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, Douglas also visited Kilauea and then returned to O‘ahu.

In July of 1834, Douglas returned to Hawai‘i for a second trip to Mauna Kea. This trip was made via the Waimea-Laumai‘a mountain trail.

“Douglas left the vessel at Kawaihae to cross over by land, engaged a foreigner for a guide and several natives to take along his baggage. The guide accompanied him till they passed all the pit falls dug to entrap wild cattle on the north side Mauna Kea, he then left him to return.”  (Lyman, Greenwell)

On July 12, 1834, while exploring the Island; “Douglas, a scientific traveller from Scotland, in the service of the London Horticultural Society, lost his life in the mountains of Hawaii, in a pitfall, being gored and trampled to death by a wild bullock captured there.  (Bingham)

“This has been one of the most gloomy days I ever witnessed. … Soon after Mr. Douglas went back a short distance for something and in retracing his steps fell into a pit (into which a bullock had previously fallen) and was found dead a short time afterward. This was Sat. Morning. Sunday he was taken the shortest distance to the sea side, wrapped in a hyde, put on board a canoe and brought here as he was taken from the pit. His close are sadly torn and his body dreadfully mangled. Ten gashes on his head.”  (Lyman, Greenwell)

Some have suggested it was not an accident.  “(T)he dead body of the distinguished Scottish naturalist, Douglas, was found under painfully suspicious circumstances, that led many to believe he had been murdered for his money.”  (Coan)

While examination at the time suggested death by the bullock - “On the 3rd instant the body was brought here (Oʻahu) in an American vessel.  I immediately had it examined by the medical gentlemen, who gave it as their opinion that the several wounds were inflicted by the bullock.” (Charlton, British Consul) - many remain skeptical.

As Titus Coan noted (1882,) “A mystery hangs over the event which we are unable to explain.”

David Douglas was buried in the Kawaiahaʻo Church Cemetery.   A plaque on the wall of Kawaiahaʻo Church and a stone marker at Kaluakauka (near where the pit was located) commemorate David Douglas's death.

The image shows David Douglas (in about 1834.)  In addition, I have included other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Ka Pā Nui o Kuakini (Great Wall of Kuakini)

Captain George Vancouver gave a few cattle to Kamehameha I in 1793; Vancouver strongly encouraged Kamehameha to place a kapu on them to allow the herd to grow.

In the decades that followed, cattle flourished and turned into a dangerous nuisance.  By 1846, 25,000 wild cattle roamed at will and an additional 10,000 semi‐domesticated cattle lived alongside humans.

John Adams Kuakini was an important adviser to Kamehameha I in the early stages of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i.

When the Kingdom's central government moved to Lāhaina in 1820, Kuakini’s influence expanded on Hawaiʻi Island, with his appointment as the Royal Governor of Hawaiʻi Island, serving from 1820 until his death in 1844.

During his tenure, Kuakini built many of the historical sites that dominate Kailua today.  The Great Wall of Kuakini, probably a major enhancement of an earlier wall, was one of these.

The Great Wall of Kuakini extends in a north-south direction for approximately 6 miles from Kailua to near Keauhou, and is generally 4 to 6-feet high and 4-feet wide.

Built between 1830 and 1840, the Great Wall of Kuakini separated the coastal lands from Kailua to Keauhou from the inland pasture lands.

The mortar-less lava-rock wall has had varying opinions regarding the purpose of its construction.

Speculation has ranged from military/defense to the confinement of grazing animals; however, most seem to agree it served as a cattle wall, keeping the troublesome cattle from wandering through the fields and houses of Kailua.

It is likely that the function of the wall changed over time, as the economic importance of cattle grew and the kinds and density of land use and settlement changed.

Kuakini was responsible for other changes and buildings in the Kona District during this era.

He gave land to Asa Thurston to build Moku‘aikaua Church.

He built Huliheʻe Palace in the American style out of native lava, coral lime mortar, koa and ‘ōhi‘a timbers.  Completed in 1838, he used the palace to entertain visiting Americans and Europeans with great feasts.

He made official visits to all ships that arrived on the island, offering them tours of sites, such as the Kīlauea volcano.

He was born about 1789 with the name Kaluaikonahale.  With the introduction of Christianity, Hawaiians were encouraged to take British or American names.

He chose the name John Adams after John Quincy Adams, the US president in office at the time.  He adopted the name, as well as other customs of the US and Europe.

Kuakini was the youngest of four important siblings: sisters Queen Kaʻahumanu, Kamehameha's favorite wife who later became the powerful Kuhina nui, Kalākua Kaheiheimālie and Namahana-o-Piʻia (also queens of Kamehameha) and brother George Cox Kahekili Keʻeaumoku.

He married Analeʻa (Ane or Annie) Keohokālole; they had no children.  (She later married Caesar Kapaʻakea.  That union produced several children (including the future King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani.))

Hulihe‘e Palace is now a museum run the Daughters of Hawaiʻi, including some of his artifacts.

A highway is named "Kuakini Highway," which runs from the Hawaii Belt Road through the town of Kailua-Kona, to the Old Kona Airport Recreation Area.

He is also the namesake of Kuakini Street in Honolulu, which is in turn the namesake of the Kuakini Medical Center on it.

The image shows a portion of the Great Wall of Kuakini; in addition, I have added a few other images and maps of the wall n a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

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© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Fort Vancouver

In selecting a new fort and trading post site for the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) on the Columbia River in Oregon, they picked a location about 100-miles from the mouth at an opening in the forest called Jolie Prairie.

The new facility was to serve as the chief supply center for the company’s regional operation.

On March 19, 1825, the HBC opened Fort Vancouver on a bluff above the north bank of the Columbia River where the city of Vancouver, Clark County, is now located (named for British Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver (1757-1798.))

Yes, this is the same George Vancouver how first visited the islands as midshipman with Captain James Cook in 1778 and later led the expedition around the globe (and introduced the first cattle in Hawai‘i with a gift to Kamehameha I – he also discovered the Columbia River.)

But that is not the only Hawai‘i link to Fort Vancouver.  However, before we go there, here’s some more background.

Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) was a fur trading company that started in Canada in 1670.  Fast forward 150-years and in 1821 it merged with its competitor and this expansion added territory on the Pacific.

So, Fort Vancouver became part of the expansion and establishment of forts and trading posts along the Pacific Northwest.  Then, in 1829, HBC landed its first trading ship in Honolulu.

One of its primary ‘missions’ of that trip was that HBC was looking for a labor pool to help with its operations (they were also there to establish a trade business, as well as test the market for its primary products - lumber and salmon.)

A goal of the trip was to recruit a few seasoned seamen for HBC on the Northwest Coast, including "two good stout active Sandwich Islanders who have been to sea for 1, 2, or 3 years."

At that time, Hawaiians had already played an important part in establishing the economic institutions of the Pacific Northwest.  They provided the food and built the shelters of the fur traders and the early missionaries.

They had worked on many of the merchant ships plying between Hawaii, China, Europe and the Northwest.  From the earliest Hawaiians who came as seamen or contract workers, to the ones who worked at Fort Vancouver and elsewhere along the Pacific Coast, they all made an important contribution to the development of the area.

As early as 1811, HBC had already hired twelve Hawaiians on three year contracts to work for them in the Pacific Northwest.  By 1824, HBC employed thirty-five Hawaiians west of the Rocky Mountains.

Over the years, HBC’s Fort Vancouver had a unique relationship with the Hawaiian or “Sandwich” Islands, the nineteenth century trade hub of the Pacific.

During peak season, when the fur brigades returned to rest and re-supply, the settlement contained upwards of 600 inhabitants. For many years, the village was the largest settlement between Yerba Buena, (present day San Francisco, California) and New Archangel (Sitka, Alaska).

In the late-1830s Fort Vancouver became the terminus of the Oregon Trail. When American immigrants arrived in the Oregon Country during the 1830s and 1840s, and despite the instructions from the Hudson's Bay Company that the fort should not help Americans, John McLoughlin, supervisor of the Columbia District, provided them with essential supplies to begin their new settlements.

Not only was the village one of the largest settlements in the West during the fur trade era, it was also unmatched in its diversity. The Hudson's Bay Company purposefully hired people from different backgrounds, thus providing opportunities in the fur trade business to a variety of people from both the Old World and the New.

Few of the village spoke English, though French, Gaelic, Hawaiian and a variety of Native American languages were often heard.  In order to communicate with one another, most villagers learned Chinook Jargon, a mix of Chinook, English and French.

Hawaiians worked as trappers, laborers, millers, sailors, gardeners and cooks; however HBC employed more people at agriculture than any other activity.  The daily routine was work from sun up to sun down, with only Sundays off.

In 1840, Kamehameha III, faced with the seeming threat of racial extinction due to depopulation by both emigration and disease, enacted a law that required captains of vessels desiring to hire Hawaiians to obtain the written consent of the island governor and sign a $200 bond to return the Hawaiian back to Hawai‘i within a specified time.

HBC Governor Simpson, on a visit to Hawaii in 1841, reported, “About a thousand males in the very prime of life are estimated annually to leave the islands, some going to California, others to the Columbia, and many on long and dangerous voyages, particularly in whaling vessels, while a considerable number of them are said to be permanently lost to their country, either dying during their engagements, or settling in other parts of the world.”

In December 1845, the Hawaiian Government considered an act providing, “that all persons who shall hereafter introduce into the Oregon Territory any Sandwich Islanders ... for a term of service shall pay a tax of five dollars for each person introduced.”

By 1849, the Hawaiian population at Fort Vancouver exceeded that of the French Canadians, due to the declining importance of furs and the rising export business of Fort Vancouver’s agricultural production and the consequent larger use of Hawaiian workers.

The number of Hawaiians working as contract laborers for the Company grew steadily.  The large number of Hawaiian workers in the village led to the name "Kanaka Town" in the early 1850s - "Kanaka" is the word for "person" in the Native Hawaiian language.  (At its peak, the village was home to around 535 men, 254 Indian women and 301 children.)

Several circumstances combined to bring an end to HBC’s activities at Fort Vancouver.  The decline of the fur trade, the arrival of numerous American settlers to the newly organized Oregon Territory, the settlement of the boundary dispute with Great Britain which put the area under American sovereignty, all combined to hasten the decision to move the headquarters to Victoria, British Columbia.

In 1859, Hudson’s Bay Company withdrew from Fort Vancouver, the same year the decision was made to close the HBC trading facility in Honolulu.

The image shows the layout of Fort Vancouver Village in 1846.  In addition, I have added other images and maps in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Hawaiian Flags

Today is United States’ Flag Day, celebrated on June 14.

The American flag consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton (referred to specifically as the “union”) bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars.

The 50-stars on the flag represent the 50-states and the 13-stripes represent the thirteen British colonies that rebelled against the British monarchy and became the first states in the Union.

The first flags were used to assist military coordination on battlefields.  National flags are patriotic symbols with varied wide-ranging interpretations, often including strong military associations due to their original and ongoing military uses.

Since contact, various flags have flown over Hawai‘i.

The first “official” Hawai‘i flag was adopted in 1845, however prior to that various flags flew at various times.

All of the flags were hand-made back then; so, there might have been rather large variations in appearance.

Even in the late-Monarchy period, the appearance of flags varied a lot.  Likewise, there is a possibility that some observers were wrong in what they saw and reported.

Visitors to Hawai'i pre-1845 reported different types of flags flying, including varying numbers of stripes, sometimes 7 or 9, for example.  Observers also reported the colors of the stripes in different orders.

It is reported that Captain Vancouver gave a British Red Ensign to the king in the 1790s, which on later visits he found flying in places of honor.

Later, the Union Flag of Great Britain flew over Hawai‘i as its National Flag.  The Union Flag (also known as the "King's Colors") of Great Britain was one of the flags used by the King's forces during the American revolutionary War.

After that, the monarchy of Kamehameha I started to use a new flag, similar to the one used today by the State of Hawaii.

The flag’s origin can be traced to the War of 1812.  At the time, King Kamehameha had been flying the British flag.  American officers suggested the king show more neutrality.

Then, Kamehameha and his advisers collaborated on a new flag design, which combines elements from both the American and British flags.

This design had the Union Flag in the upper left quadrant with nine horizontal stripes alternating red, white and blue from the top.  This flag was observed by Louis Choris in 1816.

For a short period of time, in 1843, Lord George Paulet, representing the British Crown, overstepped his bounds, landed sailors and marines, seized the government buildings in Honolulu and raised the British Union Jack and issued a proclamation formally annexing Hawaii to the British Crown.  This event became known as the Paulet Affair.

On July 31, 1843, after five-months of occupation, the Hawaiian Kingdom was restored and Admiral Thomas ordered the Union Jack removed and replaced with the Hawaiian kingdom flag.

That day is now referred to as Ka La Hoʻihoʻi Ea, Sovereignty Restoration Day, and it is celebrated each year in the approximate site of the 1843 ceremonies.

At the opening of the Legislative Council, May 25, 1845, the new national banner was unfurled, differing little however from the former.

Eight stripes: first, fourth and seventh are silver represented by the color white; second, fifth and eighth are red) and the third and sixth are light purplish blue.

The stripes represent the eight major islands under one sovereign.  The Union Jack represented the friendly relationship between England and Hawai‘i.

Subsequent annexation, territorial and statehood status caused the Hawaiian flag to fly with the flag of the United States.

In recognition of Flag Day, I have included images of some of the reported layouts of the Hawaiian and US flags flown over the islands in a folder of like name in the Photos section of my Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/peter.t.young.hawaii

In considering these, recall that prior to 1845, there was no “official” flag for Hawai‘i.  Flags were given as gifts to the monarchs (which they then flew;) in addition, different monarchs had their own flag designs.

With this I also extend a special ‘Thank You’ to Kippen de Alba Chu and Dr. Douglas Askman from ‘Iolani Palace for their insight and assistance on Hawaiian flags.

Again, these are only general representations, because flags were hand sewn, people gave different flags over the years and there has been variation on flags in Hawai‘i.