Nāpali

Kaua‘i nui moku lehua pane‘e lua i ke kai
Great Kaua‘i of the lehua groves which seem to move two-by-two to the shore (Maly)

Kauaʻi is the oldest of the eight main Hawaiian islands, and the island consists of one main extinct shield volcano estimated to be about 5-million years old, as well as numerous younger lava flows (between 3.65-million years to 500,000-years old). The island is characterized by severe weathering.  (DLNR)

Historically, it was divided into several districts and political units, which in ancient times were subject to various chiefs—sometimes independently, and at other times, in unity with the other districts. These early moku o loko, or districts included Nāpali, Haleleʻa, Koʻolau, Puna and Kona (Buke Mahele, 1848; May.)

Although Nāpali, on the northwestern portion of the Island, is remote and difficult to access, many may not realize that for about a thousand years, Hawaiians lived along the Nāpali coast, farming, fishing and worshiping.  There are irrigation ditches, terraced fields, house platforms, heiau (temples and shrines) and graves.”

“The design of these places took into account the natural topography and environment, and as a result these ancient sites often blend into the landscape. … The aspects of the land that Hawaiians sought for their sites - level ground, ocean access and availability of fresh water (hold true today.)”  (DLNR)

The Nāpali valleys were intensively cultivated and the larger valleys such as Kalalau were densely inhabited. Taro was raised in terraced loʻi along the streams and other crops such as bananas, sugar cane and sweet potato were grown above the loʻi.

Other plants including wauke and mamaki for bark cloth and kukui nuts for food and oil for light were grown in the gulches.  There were overland trails connecting many of these valleys and these areas were also accessed via canoe.  (Handy; Maly)

Land use records from 1856-1857 show that lands in Kalalau, Pohakuao and Honopu valleys were being used for the cultivation of kalo, olona and kula. In the late-1800s Hanakoa and Hanakāpīʻai were also used for coffee cultivation. Kalalau was abandoned in 1919 and then used for cattle grazing in the 1920 for a limited time.  (DLNR)

“The mountains along the shore, for eight or ten miles, are very bold, some rising abruptly from the ocean, exhibiting the obvious effects of volcanic fires; some, a little back, appear like towering pyramids”.  (Hiram Bingham, 1822)

“There is a tract of country on the west coast of the island, through which no road is practicable.”  (Bowser, 1880; Maly) “For twenty miles along the northwestern coast of Kauaʻi there extends a series of ridges, none less than 800-feet high, and many nearly 1,500-feet, terminating in a bluff that is unrivalled in majesty. Except for a very narrow, dangerous foot-path, with yawning abysses on each side, this bluff is impassable.”    (The Tourist’s Guide, Whitney, 1895)

The trail was originally built around 1860 (portions were rebuilt in the 1930s) to foster transportation and commerce for the residents living in the remote valleys.

Local labor and dynamite were used to construct a trail wide enough to accommodate pack animals loaded with oranges, taro and coffee being grown in the valleys. Stone paving and retaining walls from that era still exist along the trail.

It traverses 5-valleys over 11-miles, from Hāʻena State Park to Kalalau Beach, where it is blocked by sheer, fluted cliffs (pali;) it drops to sea level at the beaches of Hanakāpīʻai and Kalalau. The first 2 miles of the trail, from Hāʻena State Park to Hanakāpīʻai Beach, make a popular day hike.  (DLNR)

“Innumerable streams, forming wonderful cascades as they leap hundreds of feet in their tempestuous decent, pour over this bluff in the rainy season, and become mist before they reach the ocean. Beyond the raging surge, unbroken by any protecting reef, dashes against the precipitous walls of rock.”

“(T)he tourist can see all that has been described from Wednesday morning until Saturday evening, when the steamer returns to Honolulu.  If, however, he has time and the inclination to remain another week, there are many points of interest that can tempt him to make a longer stay, sights and scenes that can never be forgotten…”  (The Tourist’s Guide, Whitney, 1895)

“Here, about mid-way of what the natives call the Parre (Pali,) we landed, where is an acre or two of sterile ground, bounded on one side by the ocean, and environed on the other by a stupendous rock, nearly perpendicular, forming at its base a semicircular curve, which meets the ocean at each end. In the middle of the curve, a stupendous rock rises to the height, I should say, of about 1,500-feet.” (Bingham)

“Like Kalalau they had a trail from the table land above over the top of Kamaile and zigzagging down through the cliffs some 3,000-feet to the valley below but even this trail was difficult. At one place you have to jump a crevice only three feet wide but it goes down straight like a chimney and if you slipped you would only fall 800 feet to the rocks below. They call it the Puhi.”  (Knudsen, late-19th-century)

“(At) Nuʻalolo Kai the fishermen built and kept their canoes and the beach must have been lined with them for the landing is most always safe as the channel is narrow and a big reef to the north protecting it.” (Knudsen)

“During the Māhele, the King granted lands to the Kingdom (Government), the revenue of which was to support government functions. In the Nāpali District, the ahupuaʻa of Kalalau, Pohakuao, Honopu, Hanakāpīʻai and one-half of Hanakoa were granted to the Government Land inventory.”

“Portions of the lands that fell into the government inventory were subsequently sold as Royal Patent Grants to individuals who applied for them. The grantees were generally long-time kamaʻāina residents of the lands they sought… Thirty grants were sold in the Nāpali District to twenty-seven applicants; the lands being situated in Kalalau and Honopu.” (Hawaiian Government, 1887; Maly)

The upper region of the area was put into Territorial Forest Reserve (Nā Pali - Kona Forest Reserve) for protection in 1907. Even before that time, the concern for native forest prompted cattle eradication activities in this area during 1882 and 1890.

In response to public demand and to promote improved public safety, camping permits for Nāpali Coast are issued for Kalalau only, the preferred destination at the end of the 11-mile Kalalau Trail (these permits also allow camping at Hanakoa, which is located a little beyond the halfway point of the trail, roughly 6 miles in from the trailhead.)

For most backpackers in good condition, hiking the 11-miles will take a full day. Those without camping permits for Kalalau Valley are therefore prohibited from attempting the entire 22-mile round trip hike in a day. For those with camping permits, get an early start.

Other than hiking the coast, the only way to legally access shore areas in Na Pali Coast State Wilderness Park is by boat.  Personal or rented kayaks and guided kayak tours may land at two permitted areas (Kalalau and Miloliʻi,) and motorized raft tours take passengers on shore at Nuʻalolo Kai.

Landing of kayaks is permitted at Kalalau Beach (May 15 through September 7 only) with valid camping permits. Landings of kayaks and other watercraft at Miloliʻi Beach are permitted for camping (with valid permits, May 15 through September 7.)

Day use landings are allowed at Miloliʻi during the summer (May 15 through Labor Day) without a permit. No other boat landings are permitted within the park. Kayak landings are prohibited at all other beaches in the park, including Hanakāpīʻai, Honopu and Nuʻalolo Kai. (This only summarizes some of DLNR’s rules; review and know the rules before you go.)

The image shows a portion of the Nāpali coast.   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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Kauaʻi

Poetically the island is reportedly called, "Manōkalanipō", or "Kauaʻi a Manō" after the ancient chief who was largely responsible for elevating Kauaʻi's ancient society to sophisticated heights of advancement and productivity.  (NativeKauai)

Geologically, Kauaʻi is the oldest of the main inhabited islands in the chain. It is also the northwestern-most island, with Oʻahu separated by the Kaʻieʻie Channel, which is about 70-miles long. In centuries past, Kauaʻi’s isolation from the other islands kept it safe from outside invasion and unwarranted conflict.

Kauaʻi was traditionally divided into 5 moku (districts) including: Koʻolau, Haleleʻa, Nā Pali, Kona and Puna. (Common district names that are universally used across of the Hawaiian archipelago include "Koʻolau" marking the windward sides of the islands; "Kona" - the leeward sides of the islands; and "Puna" - indicating regions where springs and fresh water abound.)

The whole of the northwest coast (Napali) show the remains of extensive agricultural work and a fairly extensive population; the Mana region had clusters of house sites in the dry valleys that cut through the cliffs. Nearly all the great river valleys are thoroughly terraced and show evidence of population.

The principal location of the house sites is on the shore line, especially near the mouths of the river valleys where the taro was growing; in the mountains are some house sites and small villages.

The principal cultivated products on Kauai were taro, sweet potatoes, yams and gourds among the vegetables, and banana, breadfruit, coconut palm and paper mulberry among the trees.  (Bennett)

Malo notes that the “cultivation of kula lands is quite different from that of irrigable lands. The farmer merely cleared of weeds as much land as he thought would suffice. If he was to plant taro (upland taro), he dug holes and enriched them with a mulch of kukui leaves, ashes or dirt, after which he planted the taro.”

“In some places they simply planted without mulch or fertilizer ... If a field of potatoes was desired, the soil was raised into hills, in which the stems were planted; or the stems might merely be thrust into the ground anyhow, and the hilling done after the plants were grown.”

The boundaries of the five moku on Kauaʻi were changed in the late-1800s to reflect the present day judicial land districts, Kawaihau, Hanalei, Waimea, Kōloa and Līhuʻe.

In 1877, Hanalei and Līhuʻe shared a common boundary.  Kawaihau was set apart by King Kalākaua, who gave that name to the property lying between the Wailua River and Moloaʻa Valley.  A bill was introduced into the legislature and the eastern end of Hanalei District was cut out and Kawaihau became the fifth district on the island of Kauaʻi.

Though comprising only 547-square miles, Kauaʻi is large enough to have figured at all times as a major influence on Hawaiian culture. Together with Niʻihau it forms a group which is considerably isolated from the other Hawaiian islands.  (Bennett)

Fornander notes, “the ruling families of Kauai were the highest tapu chiefs in the group is evident from the avidity with which chiefs and chiefesses of the other islands sought alliance with them. They were always considered as the purest of the "blue blood" of the Hawaiian aristocracy; ... But of the exploits and transactions of most of the chiefs who ruled over Kauai during this period, there is little preserved to tell.”

He further notes that during the “nine generations from Laamaikahiki (about the 14th century – he reportedly came from Tahiti,) the island of Niihau bore about the same political relation to the mōʻi (king) of Kauai as the island of Lanai did to the mōʻi of Maui - independent at times, acknowledging his suzerainty at others. … Springing from and intimately connected with the Kauai chiefs, there was a community of interests and a political adhesion which, however strained at times by internal troubles, never made default as against external foe.”

Then things changed for Kauaʻi and the rest of the Islands.  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.)  He first landed at Waimea, Kauaʻi.

“The height of the land within, the quantity of clouds which we saw, during the whole time we staid, hanging over it, and frequently on the other parts, seems to put it beyond all doubt, that there is a sufficient supply of water; and that there are some running streams which we did not see, especially in the deep valleys, at the entrance of which the villages commonly stand.”  (James Cook Journal)

“From the wooded part to the sea, the ground is covered with an excellent sort of grass, about two feet high, which grows sometimes in tufts, and though not very thick at the place where we were, seemed capable of being converted into plentiful crops of fine hay. But not even a shrub grows naturally on this extensive space.”  (James Cook Journal)

Throughout their stay the ships were plentifully supplied with fresh provisions which were paid for mainly with iron, much of it in the form of long iron daggers made by the ships' blacksmiths on the pattern of the wooden pāhoa used by the Hawaiians.  The natives were permitted to watch the ships' blacksmiths at work and from their observations gained information of practical value about the working of iron. (Kuykendall)

After a month's stay, Cook got under sail again to resume his exploration of the Northern Pacific. Shortly after leaving Hawaiʻi Island, the foremast of the Resolution broke and the ships returned to Kealakekua Bay for repairs.  On February 14, 1779, at Kealakekua Bay, Cook and some of his men were killed.

At the time of Cook’s arrival, the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms: (1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and at (4) Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

Kamakahelei was the "queen of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, and her husband (Kāʻeokūlani (Kāʻeo)) was a younger brother to Kahekili, while she was related to the royal family of Hawaiʻi. Thus, it will be seen, the reigning families of the several islands of the group were all related to each other, as well by marriage as by blood. So had it been for many generations. But their wars with each other were none the less vindictive because of their kinship, or attended with less of barbarity in their hours of triumph.”  (Kalākaua)

Kaumuali‘i was the only son of Kamakahelei and Kāʻeo; he was born in 1778 at Holoholokū, a royal birthing heiau specifically designated for the birth of high ranking children.  Kaumuali‘i became ruling chief of Kaua‘i upon the death of his parents.

In 1784, Kamehameha I began a war of conquest, and, by 1795, with his superior use of modern weapons and western advisors, he subdued all other chiefdoms, with the exception of Kaua‘i.  King Kamehameha I launched his first invasion attempt on Kaua‘i in April of 1796, having already conquered the other Hawaiian Islands, and having fought his last major battle at Nuʻuanu on O‘ahu in 1795.

Kaua‘i’s opposing factions (Kaumuali‘i versus Keawe) were extremely vulnerable as they had been weakened by fighting each other (Keawe died and Kaumuali‘i was, ultimately, ruler of Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau.)  Kamehameha’s two attempts at invading Kauaʻi were foiled (by storm and sickness.)

The island was never conquered; in the face of the threat of a further invasion, in 1810, at Pākākā on Oʻahu, negotiations between King Kaumuali‘i and Kamehameha I took place and Kaumualiʻi yielded to Kamehameha. The agreement marked the end of war and thoughts of war across the islands.

After King Kamehameha I died in 1819, Kaumuali‘i pledged his allegiance to Liholiho, Kamehameha's son and successor.    Kaumuali‘i settled in Honolulu and became a husband of Kaʻahumanu, widow of Kamehameha I.

Hiram Bingham was on a preaching tour of the island of Kaua‘i in 1824, shortly before King Kaumuali‘i died.  Kaumuali‘i had been living on Oahu for three years.  Bingham spoke to him just before coming to Kaua‘i.

Bingham writes:
“We found Kaumuali‘i seated at his desk, writing a letter of business.  We were forcible and pleasantly struck with the dignity and gravity, courteousness, freedom and affection with which he rose and gave us his hand, his hearty aloha, and friendly parting smile, so much like a cultivated Christian brother.”

When the king died, Bingham said a gloom fell over Kaua‘i.

Kaumuali‘i was buried at Waine‘e Church (Wai‘ola Church,) on Maui (he wanted to be buried near Keōpūolani, another of Kamehameha's wives - mother of Liholiho (Kamehameha II) and Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III.))  (King Kaumuali‘i’s granddaughter Kapiʻolani (1834–1899) married King Kalākaua.)

The image shows a map of the island of Kauaʻi, noting moku (districts) and ahupuaʻa. I added a couple of other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Nu‘alolo Kai, Nā Pali Coast, Kauaʻi

Located on the northwest coast of Kauaʻi, the Nā Pali contains some of the Pacific Islands most spectacular wilderness area.

There was a string of former Hawaiian fishing villages in the seven main valleys on the Nā Pali Coast of Kauaʻi.  These remote communities relied on harvesting the fish from the sea, and growing taro in the fertile soil of the valley floors.

One of these is Nu‘alolo Kai, it’s located in a protected inlet along the Nā Pali Coast.  You can’t get there by land, you must arrive by boat.

And, you need a permit from DLNR to do so.

“The mountains along the shore, for eight or ten miles, are very bold, some rising abruptly from the ocean, exhibiting the obvious effects of volcanic fires; some, a little back, appear like towering pyramids”.  (Hiram Bingham, 1822)

“Here, about mid-way of what the natives call the Parre, we landed, where is an acre or two of sterile ground, bounded on one side by the ocean, and environed on the other by a stupendous rock, nearly perpendicular, forming at its base a semicircular curve, which meets the ocean at each end. In the middle of the curve, a stupendous rock rises to the height, I should say, of about 1500 feet.” (Bingham)

“Like Kalalau they had a trail from the table land above over the top of Kamaile and zigzagging down through the cliffs some 3000 feet to the valley below but even this trail was difficult. At one place you have to jump a crevice only three feet wide but it goes down straight like a chimney and if you slipped you would only fall 800 feet to the rocks below. They call it the Puhi.”  (Knudsen, late-19th-century)

“Here, the natives sometimes exhibit their fire works (ʻŌahi) in the night (from “the fire Parre”,) as they did a few nights since, when the kings lodged there.  Along a winding, difficult ascent, which commences by a rude ladder hanging over the sea, they climb to the very summit, and throw off firebrands, or torches, ingeniously constructed, which sail off a great distance, and fall in the ocean below.” (Bingham)

“The two most famous ʻōahi places on Kauaʻi were Kamaile peak, rising 2500 feet over Nuuololo [Nu‘alolo] landing on the Na Pali Coast, and the high cliffs that tower over the wet caves at Haena.”  (Knudsen)

“Here in Nuʻalolo Kai the fishermen built and kept their canoes and the beach must have been lined with them for the landing is most always safe as the channel is narrow and a big reef to the north protecting it.” (Knudsen)

Bishop Museum archaeological investigations, starting in 1958, noted buried structure floors and artifacts, including fishhooks and coral files, were found as deep as 6 feet below the surface.

Radiocarbon dates later showed that people first began to live at the site between AD 1300 and 1500. The presence of historic artifacts, such as glass beads and metal jewelry, told archaeologists that the site was still inhabited even after Europeans arrived in the Hawaiian Islands.

About 100 people, mostly commoners, lived in Nuʻalolo Kai. They farmed terraced taro fields, collected shellfish, and gathered coral from the fringing reef to shape their bone and shell fishhooks. Reef fish included rudderfish, unicorn tang and parrotfish. Raw and cooked urchins were popular, and urchin gonads were used as a condiment with fish, poi (cooked taro), and sweet potato. (National Geographic)

“Their method of taking the fish from the sea is remarkable. Diving down, they place a vegetable poison among the stones at the bottom, which being greedily eaten by the fish, immediately produces on them an intoxicating effect. The natives then dive or swim after them, and catch them in their hands, or, sitting in canoes, or standing near the shore, take them easily in scoop nets.” (Bingham)

Ceremonies were celebrated with ʻawa, a ritual drink also known as kava, while hula dancers chanted and pulsed to the beat of the drums. Young men hurled firebrands from the cliff of Kamaile. Even King Kamehameha II made a trip to the island to witness the ceremonies. It's still unclear why the site was abandoned, but Hawaiians permanently left Nuʻalolo Kai in 1919 for more populated parts of the island, including Hanalei and Waimea. (National Geographic)

Formed in 1995, Nā Pali Coast ʻOhana is a grassroots non-profit foundation dedicated to the preservation of the natural and cultural resources of the Nāpali Coast State Park, Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi – they are very good partners with DLNR in caring for this place.

The image shows Nuʻalolo Kai (Maurice Major -Wichman) along the Nā Pali Coast. 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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