Tamana

“If placed within its international context, the Sv. Nikolai’s 1808 voyage has significance for Russian expansion in North America that might be compared, for example, to the 1540 expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado on the northern borderlands frontier of New Spain.”  (Preface, Wreck of the Sv Nikolai)

The Sv. Nikolai (a 45-50-foot schooner,) owned by the Russian American Company, set sail from New Arkhangel (modern-day Sitka, Alaska) to explore and identify a site for a permanent Russian fur trading post on the mainland south of Vancouver Island in the Oregon Country.

Heavy seas drove the ship aground on the Washington coast just north of the mouth of the Quileute River, forcing twenty-two crew members ashore.

Over the next several months the shipwrecked crew clashed with Hohs, Quileutes and Makahs; they lived in hand-built shelters roughly 9-miles up the Hoh River.

The tribes captured and enslaved several of the crew members. In 1810, an American captain sailing for the Russian American Company ransomed the survivors.  (Owens)

OK, but what about Hawaiʻi? … Let’s look back.

Throughout the years of late-prehistory, AD 1400s - 1700s, and through much of the 1800s, the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi.  Canoes were used for interisland and inter-village coastal travel.

Most permanent villages initially were near the ocean and sheltered beaches, which provided access to good fishing grounds, as well as facilitating canoe travel between villages.

With “contact” (arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778,) a new style of boat was in the islands and Kamehameha started to acquire and build them.  The first Western-style vessel built in the Islands was the Beretane (1793.)

Through the aid of Captain George Vancouver's mechanics, after launching, it was used in the naval combat with Kahekili's war canoes off the Kohala coast.  (Thrum)

Encouraged by the success of this new type of vessel, others were built.  The second ship built in the Islands, a schooner called Tamana (named after Kamehameha’s favorite wife, Kaʻahumanu,) was used to carry his cargo of trade to the missions along the coast of California.  (Couper & Thrum, 1886)

Then, on June 21, 1803, the Lelia Byrd, an American ship under Captain William Shaler, arrived at Kealakekua Bay with two mares and a stallion on board – they were gifts for King Kamehameha.

The captain left one of the mares with John Young (a trusted advisor of the King, who begged for one of the animals) then left for Lāhainā, Maui to give the mare and stallion to Kamehameha.

During his stay, Shaler asked Kamehameha for one of the chief’s small schooners. Wanting bigger and better, in 1805, Kamehameha traded the 45-ton Tamana and a cargo of sandalwood for the Lelia Byrd,) a "fast, Virginia-built brig of 175-tons." It became the flagship of Kamehameha’s Navy.

Kamehameha kept his shipbuilders busy; by 1810 he had more than thirty small sloops and schooners hauled up on the shore at Waikīkī and about a dozen more in Honolulu harbor, besides the Lelia Byrd.  (Kuykendall)

That, then, takes us to the Tamana and her fate.

Shaler’s agent, John Hudson, sailed the Tamana east to Baja California.  Within a year, Hudson sold the Tamana to Russian Captain Pavl Slobodchikov for 150 sea otter skins.

Slobodchikov renamed the Tamana to Sv. Nikolai.

With a makeshift crew of three Hawaiians and three Americans, Slobodchikov sailed the newly-named Sv Nikolai back to Hawaiʻi, and later returned to New Arkhangel (Sitka, Alaska) in August 1807 where the boat served the Russian fur traders along the Northwest Coast of North America.

At the time, the Northwest was unsettled territory.  To bypass hostile Native Americans in the Northwest, the Russian American Company contracted with American ships to carry Russian fur traders to California.

Then, the Sv. Nikolai took the fateful trip in 1808 (as noted in the introductory paragraphs, above.)

Under Nikolai Isaakovich Bulygin, the Sv. Nikolai sailed to explore the coast of Vancouver Island and select a site for a settlement on what is today the Oregon coast.

The expedition did not succeed.  Near Destruction Island the ship was becalmed and they aimlessly drifted.  Then, on November 1, 1808, Sv. Nikolai was pushed onto a rocky reef by a heavy squall.

The ship did not sink immediately, and everyone on board reached shore safely. At low tide the crew returned to the vessel to salvage sail canvas, food, munitions and other supplies.  (NOAA)

The survivors (including Anna Petrovana Bulygin (Captain Bulygin’s wife) – reportedly the first western woman to set foot in Washington state (Cook & Black) were crossing the Hoh River and three of the group, including the captain's wife, were captured.

The rest of the crew then followed the Hoh River inland. They spent the winter in the valley, foraging for food and constructing a boat which they hoped would take them down the river and out to the freedom of the ocean.

In February 1809, they attempted to leave in their new boat, but at the mouth of the river it capsized. All the rest of the crew was taken captive. They lived in captivity for about 18 months.

In May 1810, an American vessel arriving in Neah Bay learned of their plight and attempted to arrange their release. All but seven members of the expedition were eventually freed. However both the captain and his wife died in captivity.  (NOAA)

A monument was constructed on Upper Hoh Road to commemorate the 1808 shipwreck of a Russian sailing vessel near Rialto Beach.  It was created to remember the lives lost when the Russian brig Sv. Nikolai (formerly owned by King Kamehameha and known as the schooner ‘Tamana’) beached in heavy squalls along the Pacific coast of the North Olympic Peninsula.

The image shows a drawing of the Sv Nikolai aground (AssocOfWashingtonGenerals.) In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section of my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+    

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn   

© 2014 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Pukaʻōmaʻomaʻo

Traditions on the island of Oʻahu note Mā’ilikūkahi was a ruling chief around 1500 (about the time Columbus crossed the Atlantic.) Māʻilikūkahi is said to have enacted a code of laws in which theft from the people by chiefs was forbidden.

A son of Mā’ilikūkahi was Kalona-nui, who in turn had a son called Kalamakua. Kalamakua is said to have been responsible for developing a large system of taro planting across the Waikīkī-Kapahulu-Mōʻiliʻili-Mānoa area. The extensive loʻi kalo were irrigated by water drawn from the Mānoa and Pālolo Valley streams and large springs in the area.

In 1792, Captain George Vancouver described Mānoa Valley on a hike from Waikīkī in search of drinking water: “We found the land in a high state of cultivation, mostly under immediate crops of taro; and abounding with a variety of wild fowl chiefly of the duck kind …”

“The sides of the hills, which were in some distance, seemed rocky and barren; the intermediate vallies, which were all inhabited, produced some large trees and made a pleasing appearance. The plains, however, if we may judge from the labour bestowed on their cultivation, seem to afford the principal proportion of the different vegetable productions …” (Edinburgh Gazetteer)

One century later, before it was urbanized, Mānoa Valley was described by Thrum (1892:)  “Manoa is both broad and low, with towering hills on both sides that join the forest clad mountain range at the head, whose summits are often hid in cloud land, gathering moisture there from to feed the springs in the various recesses that in turn supply the streams winding through the valley, or watering the vast fields of growing taro, to which industry the valley is devoted. The higher portions and foot hills also give pasturage to the stock of more than one dairy enterprise.”

Handy (in his book Hawaiian Planter) writes that in ancient days, all of the level land in upper Mānoa was developed into taro flats and was well-watered, level land that was better adapted to terracing than neighboring Nuʻuanu.  The entire floor of Mānoa Valley was a “checkerboard of taro patches.”  “The terraces extended along Manoa Stream as far as there is a suitable land for irrigating.”

The well-watered, fertile and relatively level lands of Mānoa Valley supported extensive wet taro cultivation well into the twentieth century. Handy and Handy estimated that in 1931 “there were still about 100 terraces in which wet taro was planted, although these represented less than a tenth of the area that was once planted by Hawaiians.” (Cultural Surveys)

Mānoa Valley was a favored spot of the Ali‘i, including Kamehameha I, Chief Boki (Governor of O‘ahu), Haʻalilio (an advisor to King Kamehameha III,) Princess Victoria, Kanaʻina (father of King Lunalilo), Lunalilo, Keʻelikōlani (half-sister of Kamehameha IV) and Queen Lili‘uokalani.  The chiefs lived on the west side, the commoners on the east.

Queen Kaʻahumanu lived there; her home was called Pukaʻōmaʻomaʻo (Green Gateway.)  It was situated deep in the valley (lit., green opening; referring to its green painted doors and blinds - It is alternatively referred to as Pukaʻōmaʻo.)

“Her residence is beautifully situated and the selection of the spot quite in taste. The house … stands on the height of a gently swelling knoll, commanding, in front, an open and extensive view of all the rich plantations of the valley; of the mountain streams meandering through them … of the district of Waititi; and of Diamond Hill, and a considerable part of the plain, with the ocean far beyond.” (Stewart; Sterling & Summers)

It was doubtless the same sort of grass house which was in general use, although probably more spacious and elaborate as befitted a queen. The dimension in one direction was 60 feet. The place name of the area was known as Kahoiwai, or "Returning Waters."

“Immediately behind the house, and partially flanking it on either side, is a delightful grove of the dark leaved and crimson blossomed ʻŌhia, so thick and so shady … filled with cool and retired walks and natural retreats, and echoing to the cheerful notes of the little songsters, who find security in its shades to build their nests and lay their young.”

“The view of the head of the valley inland, from the clumps and single trees edging this copse, is very rich and beautiful; presenting a circuit of two or three miles delightfully variegated by hill and dale, wood and lawn, and enclosed in a sweep of splendid mountains, one of which in the centre rises to a height of three thousand feet.”

“In one edge of this grove, a few rods from the house, stands a little cottage built by Kaahumanu, for the accommodation of the missionaries who visit her when at this residence. … (It) is very frequently occupied a day or two at a time, by one and another of the families most enervated by the heat and dust, the toil, and various exhausting cares of the establishment at the sea-shore.“  (Stewart; Sterling & Summers)

“Not far makai … High Chief Kalanimōku, had very early allotted to the Mission the use of farm plots thus noted in its journal of June, 1823: "On Monday the 2d, Krimakoo and the king's mother granted to the brethren three small pieces of land cultivated with taro, potatoes, bananas, melons, &c. and containing nineteen bread-fruit trees, from which they may derive no small portion of the fruit and vegetables needed by the family.”  (Damon)

Then, in mid-1832, Kaʻahumanu became ill and was taken to her house in Mānoa, where a bed of maile and leaves of ginger was prepared.   “Her strength failed daily.  She was gentle as a lamb, and treated her attendants with great tenderness.  She would say to her waiting women, 'Do sit down; you are very tired; I make you weary.’”  (Bingham)

“The king, his sister, other members of the aliʻi and many retainers had already arrived at Pukaomaomao and had dressed the large grass house for the dying queen's last homecoming. The walls of the main room had been hung with ropes of sweet maile and decorated with lehua blossoms and great stalks of fragrant mountain ginger.”

“The couch upon which Kaahumanu was to rest had been prepared with loving care. Spread first with sweet-scented made and ginger leaves, it was then covered with a golden velvet coverlet. At the head and foot stood towering leather kahilis. Over a chair nearby was draped the Kamehameha feather cloak which had been worn by Kaahumanu since the monarch's death.”  (Mellon; Sterling & Summers)

“The slow and solemn tolling of the bell struck on the pained ear as it had never done before in the Sandwich Islands. In other bereavements, after the Gospel took effect, we had not only had the care and promise of our heavenly Father, but a queen-mother remaining, whose force, integrity, and kindness, could be relied on still.”

“But words can but feebly express the emotions that struggled in the bosoms of some who counted themselves mourners in those solemn hours; while memory glanced back through her most singular history, and faith followed her course onward, far into the future.”  (Hiram Bingham)

Her death took place at ten minutes past 3 o’clock on the morning of June 5, 1832, “after an illness of about 3 weeks in which she exhibited her unabated attachment to the Christian teachers and reliance on Christ, her Saviour.”  (Hiram Bingham)

The image shows Kaʻahumanu (drawn by Herb Kane.)  In addition, I have added other images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+    

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn   

© 2014 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Hula – How the Missionaries Felt

"Hula is the language of the heart, and therefore the heartbeat of the Hawaiian people."  (attributed to Kalākaua)

"Their dances ... are prefaced with a slow, solemn song, in which all the party join, moving their legs, and gently striking their breasts, in a manner, and with attitudes, that are perfectly easy and graceful ... ."  (Captain Cook Journal, 1779)

“Hula is not just a dance, but a way of life, an ancient art that tells of Hawaiʻi's rich history and spirituality.” (attributed to many)

As hula is the dance that accompanies Hawaiian mele, the function of hula is therefore an extension of the function of mele in Hawaiian society. While it was the mele that was the essential part of the story, hula served to animate the words, giving physical life to the moʻolelo (stories.)  (Bishop Museum)

Hula combines dance and chant or song to tell stories, recount past events and provide entertainment for its audience.  With a clear link between dancer’s actions and the chant or song, the dancer uses rhythmic lower body movements, mimetic or depictive hand gestures and facial expression, as part of this performance. (ksbe-edu)

So what did the missionaries really think?

As Hiram Bingham once noted, they “were wasting their time in learning, practising, or witnessing the hula, or heathen song and dance.”  (Remember, heathen simply means ‘without religion, as in without God.’)

I think some might be surprised on how some missionaries viewed hula.

"The hula was a religious service, in which poetry, music, pantomime, and the dance lent themselves, under the forms of dramatic art, to the refreshment of men's minds. Its view of life was idyllic, and it gave itself to the celebration of those mythical times when gods and goddesses moved on the earth as men and women and when men and women were as gods."  (Emerson, son of missionaries)

"(W)hen it comes to the hula and the whole train of feelings and sentiments that made their entrances and exits in the halau (the hall of the hula) one perceives that in this he has found the door to the heart of the people."  (Emerson, son of Missionaries)

In describing a hula danced before Keōpūolani and her daughter Nāhiʻenaʻena, in Lāhainā in 1823, Missionary CS Stewart wrote:  "The motions of the dance were slow and graceful, and, in this instance, free from indelicacy of action; and the song, or rather recitative, accompanied by much gesticulation, was dignified and harmonious in its numbers. The theme of the whole, was the character and praises of the queen and princess, who were compared to everything sublime in nature, exalted as gods." (Missionary Stewart)

In describing the challenges between commitment to hula, as well as their studies, Sybil Bingham, wife of Hiram noted, "… most of them (are) indeed in earnest to receive instruction as the conduct of each day testifies.  Three of them are obliged to attend the hula hula every afternoon. At the close of the school this forenoon, and also last Saturday, they proposed going quickly to eat and return immediately that they might not lose the privilege of the bible lesson. … We were gratified after the vigorous effort made for the hula hula to see our scholars both at public worship and sabbath school."  (Sybil Bingham)

And how did Hiram Bingham feel (the one most often accused of a Hula ban?)

“This was intended, in part at least, as an honor and gratification to the king, especially at Honolulu, at his expected reception there, on his removal from Kailua.  Apparently, not all hula was viewed as bad or indecent.”  (Missionary Hiram Bingham)

“In the hula, the dancers are often fantastically decorated with figured or colored kapa, green leaves, fresh flowers, braided hair, and sometimes with a gaiter on the ancle, set with hundreds of dog's teeth, so as to be considerably heavy, and to rattle against each other in the motion of the feet.”  (Hiram Bingham)

“They had been interwoven too with their superstitions, and made subservient to the honor of their gods, and their rulers, either living or departed and deified.” (Hiram Bingham)

The missionaries most often opposed nudity, drinking and ‘wasting’ time.  Even today, laws forbid nudity in public; frown on excessive drinking and, likewise, we tend to encourage people to be productive members of their community (kind of like the concerns expressed by the early missionaries, including Bingham.)

So what happened?  Was hula ever effectively banned?  Did hula stop?

“Missionary influence, while strong, never wiped out the hula as a functional part of the Hawaiian society. Faced with this undeniable fact, the authorities sought to curb performances by regulation.”  (Barrere, Pukui & Kelly)

While not effectively stopping it completely, it does appear the missionaries did play a role on the Sabbath.  "The king Kaumualiʻi appears exceedingly interested in what he now learns from the bible through the interpretation of Honolii. The Capt. of the schooner informed us that last week the king sent out his crier, prohibiting dancing and work in the "Kalo patches" on the Sabbath. Honolii gives us some account of this in his letter to Mr. B.”

“After giving many of the particulars relative to the king's desire to hear the word of the Great Jehovah he says "I, John, told the king 'your people have hula hula on the Sabbath day? The king say, yes' Then I ask him, 'Can you wait hula hula on this day? Your people may hula hula on Monday, this day it is holy. Then king say we may stop hula hula on another Sabbath day.'"  (Sybil Bingham)

In 1830, Kaʻahumanu issued an oral proclamation in which she instructed the people, in part: “The hula is forbidden, the chant (olioli), the song of pleasure (mele), foul speech, and bathing by women in public places.” (Kamakau)  Although it was apparently never formally rescinded, the law was so widely ignored, especially after Kaʻahumanu died in 1832, that it virtually ceased to exist.

Kaʻahumanu was not the only Aliʻi who sought to ban hula: “A hula in the village today at the house formerly occupied by Kaomi. It was commenced at an early hour and continued until noon and was broken up only by the appearance of Kinau to put a stop to it. The notice that a hula was going on reached her and she sent word by Kalaaulana to Kaomi to put a stop to it & shut up the house”.  (Missionary Levi Chamberlain)

There are many references to King Kamehameha III regularly watching the hula.  “The young king (Kamehameha III,) … has been induced, however, to coincide with the other chiefs in all public acts.  His conduct, therefore, as a private person, though far from correct, has had but little influence. But recently, he has asserted more openly his independence; & he has done it by pursuing a course, which he knew was altogether opposed to the wishes of nearly all the high chiefs. He has revived the hula, or native dance”.   (EW Clark)

He was not alone.  “Unquestionably many christian Hawaiians considered hula immoral, and attempted to extirpate it. A series of letters from the Hawaiian journal Nupepa Kukoa in 1864-66 complains about hula schools operating in Maui, Oʻahu and Kauaʻi. These letters are interesting because they show that hula continued to flourish … ‘the “power and influence” of the national dance was never threatened ... hula remained the favorite entertainment of Hawaiians of all classes.’”  (kaimi-org)

In 1836, it was reported the French consul for Manila visited Honolulu, and attended a state banquet hosted by the King. Part of the festivities was a formal hula performance.  In 1850, the Penal Code required a license for “any theater, circus, Hawaiian hula, public show or other exhibition, not of an immoral character” for which admission was charged.

“No license for a Hawaiian hula shall be granted for any other place than Honolulu.”  (The law did not regulate hula in private, so the dance continued to be practiced and enjoyed throughout the islands.)

King David Kalākaua’s 1883 coronation included three days of hula performances and his 1886 jubilee celebrations had performances of ancient and newly created dances.

Hula was never effectively banned; it is a common misconception that one would suggest that the American missionaries banned hula.  They could not have banned hula, they did not have the authority.

The image shows an early drawing of Hula (1816.)  In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+    

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Ka‘ahumanu’s Evolution Toward Christianity

On December 5, 1825, eight Hawaiians were received at Kawaiahaʻo Church. This was the beginning of formal admission into the Church (except, of course, Keōpūolani, who was baptized on her deathbed in Lāhainā in September, 1823.)

Ka‘ahumanu was born about the year 1768, near Hāna, Maui.  Her siblings include Governor John Adams Kuakini of Hawaiʻi Island, Queen Kalākua Kaheiheimālie (another wife of Kamehameha I) and Governor George Cox Keʻeaumoku II of Maui.

By birth, Kaʻahumanu ranked high among the Hawaiians. Her father was Keʻeaumoku, a distinguished warrior and counselor of Kamehameha the Great.   Her mother Namahana was a former wife of the king of Maui, and the daughter of Kekaulike (a great king of that island.)

Kaʻahumanu was one of the most powerful people in the Islands at the time of the arrival of the missionaries. There were those who were higher by birth, and there were those who were higher by title, but there was probably none who held greater influence.

Generally ambivalent through 1824, it is generally accepted that Kamehameha’s widowed Queen, from 1825 until her death in 1832, was one of the staunchest friends of the missionaries and one of the foremost supporters of their cause.

The Mission Journal noted (in 1820,) “Just at evening, Kaahumanu came into the presence of the king, and they at length listened to our propositions.  After many inquiries, respecting our design, and the number of arts which we could teach, they seemed to be satisfied that our intentions were good, and that we might be of service to them…. When we had finished our propositions and made all the statements, which we thought proper to make at this time, we left the king and his advisors, that they might have a general consultation among themselves.”

The following day, the missionaries were told they may settle in the islands for a probationary period of 1-year.

Soon after the first anniversary of their landing at Honolulu on April 19, 1821, Kaʻahumanu, Kalanimōku and Kalākua visited the mission and gave them supplies; this visit became important because during it Kaʻahumanu made her first request for prayer and showed her first interest in the teachings of the missionaries.

From that point on, Kaʻahumanu comes into more constant contact with the mission.

She was described to have a kindly and generous disposition and usually had as pleasant relations with foreigners who respected her royal rights. She was cautious and slow in deciding – more business-like in here decision-making - but once her mind was made up, she never wavered.

In 1822, she had a change of attitude toward education. Her brother, Keʻeaumoku (Governor Cox,) proposed that they should together follow the missionaries, encourage schools and allow all their people to be taught.  Hesitant, at first, she later went along, and on August 6, 1822, she started to learn to read.

On February 11, 1824, Kaʻahumanu made one of her first public speeches on religious questions, giving “plain, serious, close and faithful advice.”

At a meeting of the chiefs and school teachers, Kaʻahumanu and Kalanimōku declared their determination to “adhere to the instructions of the missionaries, to attend to learning, observe the Sabbath, Worship God, and obey his law, and have all their people instructed.”

She had requested baptism for Keōpūolani and Keʻeaumoku when they were dying, but she waited until April, 1824, before requesting the same for herself.

On December 5, 1825, Kaʻahumanu, six other chiefs, and one commoner were baptized and received holy communion.  The widowed queen took the Christian name of Elizabeth, which she added to her official signature.

Of her baptism, Kamakau said: “Kaahumanu was the first fruit of the Kawaiahaʻo church ... for she was the first to accept the word of God, and she was the one who led her chiefly relations as the first disciples of God's church.”

In December, 1827, laws against murder, stealing and adultery were adopted by the chiefs and proclaimed by Kaʻahumanu, who addressed the people, “demanding their attention to the laws of the land ... and to others which were to be taught and explained more fully to the people, before their establishment.”  The ceremonies, planned by Kaʻahumanu, included hymns and prayers.

Then, in mid-1832, Kaʻahumanu became ill and was taken to her house in Mānoa, where a bed of maile and leaves of ginger was prepared.   “Her strength failed daily.  She was gentle as a lamb, and treated her attendants with great tenderness.  She would say to her waiting women, 'Do sit down; you are very tired; I make you weary.’”

"Most of the missionaries visited her in those trying hours." Her thoughts were continually on the future of her islands, and she was delighted a short time before her death when the first copy of the New Testament was hurried through the press, bound with her name embossed on the cover, and brought to her.

Hiram Bingham's account of her last hours is, in part, as follows: “On the third instant, Sabbath night, about midnight, Dr. Judd sent down to me to say he thought her dying.  I hastened to Manoa and remained there until the fifth ..."

"About the last words she used of a religious character were two lines of a hymn designed to express the feelings of a self-condemned penitent coining and submitting to Christ: ‘Here, here am I, O Jesus, oh - Grant me a gracious smile.’

“A little after this she called me to her and as I took her hand, she asked.  'Is this Bingham?' I replied. 'It is I'—She looked upon me & added ‘I am going now’ I replied: ’Ehele pu Jesu me oe, Ehele pomaikai aku.’ ‘May Jesus go with you, go in peace.’   She said no more.  Her last conflict was then soon over, - in 10 or 15 minutes she ceased to breathe."

Her death took place at ten minutes past 3 o'clock on the morning of June 5, 1832, “after an illness of about 3 weeks in which she exhibited her unabated attachment to the Christian teachers and reliance on Christ, her Saviour.”

She was buried at Pohukaina at ʻIolani Place and later transferred to Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum in Nuʻuanu Valley.

The inspiration and information in this summary is from a three-part series in The Friend titled, ‘Kaahumanu – a Study’ in 1925 by Gwenfread E Allen.   It focused on Kaʻahumanu’s interests and activities related to the American Protestant missionaries who first came to Hawaiʻi in 1820.

The image shows Kaʻahumanu.  I have added other images to a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook  

Follow Peter T Young on Google+  

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Kaʻahumanu Wall

In the early 1800s, the city of Honolulu went as far as South Street; Kawaiahaʻo Church and Mission Houses (on King Street, on the Diamond Head side of town) were at the edge and outskirts of town.

The flat area between Mānoa and Honolulu was known as Kulaokahu‘a – the “plains.”  It was the comparatively level ground below Makiki Valley (between the mauka fertile valleys and the makai wetlands.) This included areas such as Kaka‘ako, Kewalo, Makiki, Pawaʻa and Mōʻiliʻili.

Queen Kaʻahumanu was Kamehameha’s favorite wife.  When he died on May 8, 1819, the crown was passed to his son, Liholiho, who would rule as Kamehameha II.  Kaʻahumanu created the office of Kuhina Nui (similar to premier, prime minister or regent) and ruled as an equal with Liholiho.

On December 4, 1825, Queen Kaahumanu was baptized into the Protestant faith and received her new name, Elizabeth, then labored earnestly to lead her people to Christ.

In 1829, at the suggestion of Queen Kaʻahumanu, Governor Boki and Liliha gave the lands of Ka Punahou to Hiram and Sybil Bingham, leaders of the first missionary group to Hawaiʻi.  Bingham then gave the land to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to establish Punahou School.

The Binghams built their home there; Kaʻahumanu wanted to be close to them and built hers nearby (the Binghams later built an adobe house, with thatched roof.)  A memorial boulder near Old School Hall and the Library marks the location of the makai door of the Bingham home.

Just as in other outlying areas around the islands, roaming cattle became a nuisance.  Recall that in the early-1790s Captain George Vancouver gave Kamehameha I gifts of several cattle (a new species to the islands) and Vancouver 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.  Vast herds destroyed natives’ crops, ate the thatching on houses, and hurt, attacked and sometimes killed people.  (Kamehameha III later lifted the kapu in 1830.)

To protect the Bingham’s property and surrounding areas, in 1830, Queen Ka‘ahumanu ordered that a wall should be built from Punchbowl to Mōʻiliʻili.  “The object of the structure was to keep cattle grazing on the plains from intruding upon the cultivated region towards the mountains.”  (Hawaiian Gazette October 29, 1901)

“Kaahumanu's wall came from “the reef” (suggesting it was made of coral.) It is an Interesting fact many of the prisoners who built it were serving time for religion's sake. After the native's had cast down their idols and been converted, they turned against all forms of idolatry with the zeal new proselytes.”  (Hawaiian Gazette October 29, 1901)

“When the Roman Catholic worship came in, the chiefs mistook the use of images' for idolatry and threw a great many Catholics into prison. The labor which went into the Kaahumanu wall included theirs.”  (Hawaiian Gazette October 29, 1901)

“Years afterwards when Curtis Lyons went into the Survey office and laid the streets on the plains he named the thoroughfare which ran alongside the great wall, Stonewall street.”  (Hawaiian Gazette October 29, 1901)

The wall followed a trail which was later expanded and was first called Stonewall Street.  It was also known as “Mānoa Valley Road;” later, the route was renamed for the shipping magnate, Samuel G. Wilder (and continues to be known as Wilder Avenue.)

While the street was initially called “Stonewall Street,” it does not necessarily immediately suggest the wall was made of rocks.

A decade later the Kawaiahaʻo Church was constructed, it was commonly called the “Stone Church.”  However, it is made of giant slabs of coral hewn from ocean reefs, as were other structures, at the time.

Likewise, “(s)uch blocks still appear in the Kawaiahao structure. In the ancient parsonage back of it and in the old house of government next door to the Postoffice and the material for the fence which fronted the “Hale” on Merchant street.”  (Hawaiian Gazette October 29, 1901)

However, a later reference suggests the wall, at least at Punahou, may have been made of “stone.”  The Friend, in a summary on Punahou history stated, “To protect the Manoa land from grazing cattle she (Kaʻahumanu) called on the governor, Kuakini, to build a long stone wall at its makai side. To mark the boundary, at the makai entrance, two large stones were set up.”  (Damon, The Friend, March 1924)

The ‘Pōhaku’ book (Cheevers) suggests this same rock wall configuration, rather than the coral construction noted in the 1901 Hawaiian Gazette article.   Pōhaku notes, "About 2,000 men worked on it as each chief was responsible for building one fathom (six feet) of its almost two-mile length (or approximately six-feet of dry laid rock wall, five feet high, per man)."

Irrespective of The Friend’s reference to the “reef,” the rock material in the Kaʻahumanu stone wall appears the most plausible.   The disappearance of the Queen Kaʻahumanu wall is due to the street widening order of the Board of Public Works.

This wasn't the Islands' only significant cattle wall.  Between 1830 and 1840, Governor Kuakini built a 6-mile wall (from Kailua to Keauhou, on Hawaiʻi Island) that separated the coastal lands from the inland pasture lands (Ka Pā Nui o Kuakini - the Great Wall of Kuakini.)

Punahou’s dry stack rock wall along Punahou Street was constructed in 1834.  The night-blooming cereus (known in Hawaiʻi as panini o kapunahou) that today continues to cover the Punahou walls (that back in 1924 was noted to have “world-wide reputation and interest”) was planted in 1836 by Sybil Bingham (Hiram’s wife) from a few branches of the vine she received from a traveler from Mexico.  (The Friend)

The image shows Punahou Street and Sybil Bingham’s night-blooming cereus in 1900 ((HSA) - this is not part of the Kaʻahumanu wall.)  In addition, I have added other related images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+  

© 2013 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Nihoa

Nihoa was reportedly inhabited sometime between 1000 and 1500 AD.  Archaeological surveys on Nihoa have documented numerous archaeological sites and cultural material.

The sites included; habitation sites such as massive platforms; rockshelters, terraces and enclosures; heiau that are small terraces with single linear arrangement of upright stones and numerous pieces of branch coral laying on surface; extensive agricultural terraces and burial sites.

The heiau (place of worship) and platform foundations with upright stones found on Nihoa resemble other Hawaiian wahi pana on the islands of Maui at Haleakalā, Hawai‘i Island on top of Mauna Kea and the island of Kaua‘i Kea Ali‘i heiau in Waimea.

It is believed that the first Native Hawaiians to inhabit the archipelago and their descendants frequented Nihoa for at least a 500- to 700-year period.

Archaeologists believe that the terraces were planted with sweet potatoes.  They estimate that the 12-16 acres under cultivation might have supported about 100 people.

The only tree on the island is the loulu palm; a total of 515 palms were counted in 1923.  Its fan-like leaves were used for plaiting (braiding,) and its trunk could have been used for building shelters or for firewood (however, if cut for firewood, the supply would eventually be depleted.

Without forest products, islanders could not have provided themselves with canoes, wood containers, nets, fishing line, clothing and blankets, mats, and medicines.  So, some of these were probably supplied from Kaua‘i or Ni‘ihau.

Fish, shellfish, crabs, lobsters, turtles, and seals, as well as seabirds and their eggs are abundant sources of food.  Food and water supply was sufficient for subsistence, but that the lack of firewood would have created a hardship.

Also referenced as Bird Island and Moku Manu, Nihoa is the closest island northwest of the main Hawaiian chain, about 155-miles northwest of Ni‘ihau and 250 miles from Honolulu.

It’s the largest and tallest of ten islands and atolls in the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI;) total land area is about 171-acres (about a mile long, a quarter mile wide.)  It is the summit of a huge volcanic rock with two main peaks, Miller's Peak (895-feet) and Tanager Peak (852-feet.)

Landing on the island is difficult.  High, sheer cliffs prevent landing on the east, north, and west sides; the island slopes down to the south, but the shoreline is rocky and unprotected from the surge of southerly swells.

By the time of Western European contact with the Hawaiian Islands, little was collectively known about the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) by the majority of the population, as relatively few individuals traveled to these remote islands and had seen them with their own eyes.  However, families from Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau voyaged to these islands to fish.

The first Westerner to see Nihoa was Captain James Colnett of the ‘Prince of Wales,’ on March 21, 1788.

Within the next century, a number of expeditions were initiated by Hawaiian ali‘i to visit these islands and bring them under

Hawaiian political control and ownership.

Having heard chants and stories about the island of Nihoa, in 1822, Queen Ka‘ahumanu organized and participated in a royal expedition to the island, under the charge of Captain William Sumner.  Reportedly, the waterfront area around Ka‘ahumanu Street in Honolulu was named Nihoa in honor of the visit.

The following is a part of the story related to the direction from which the winter rains come:

'Ea mai ana ke ao ua o Kona,

'Ea mai ana ma Nihoa

Ma ka mole mai o Lehua

Ua iho a pulu ke kahakai

The rain clouds of Kona come,

Approaching from Nihoa,

From the base of Lehua,

Pouring down, drenching the coast.

In 1856, Nihoa was reaffirmed as part of the existing land mass of Hawai‘i by authority of Alexander Liholiho, Kamehameha IV (March 16, 1856 Circular of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i).

In 1885, the most famous visit by Hawaiian royalty was made by then princess Lydia Lili‘uokalani and her 200-person party who visited Nihoa on the ship ‘Iwalani.’  They brought back artifacts - a stone bowl, a stone dish, a coral rubbing stone and a coral file.

While I have visited the NWHI, now the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, I have never been to Nihoa.  However, in 2003, I had the good fortune to fly over the island and capture a few images of Nihoa.  In addition to this image, I have included other images/maps of Nihoa 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

Queen Ka‘ahumanu

Ka‘ahumanu was born about the year 1768, near Hāna, on the eastern shore of Maui.  Her father was Keʻeaumoku (a chief of Hawai‘i Island, warrior and loyal follower of Kamehameha I;) her mother was Nāmāhana.

Her siblings include Governor John Adams Kuakini of Hawaiʻi Island, Queen Kalākua Kaheiheimālie (a wife of Kamehameha I) and Governor George Keʻeaumoku II of Maui.

Soon after her birth, the family moved to the island of Hawai‘i; Ka‘ahumanu spent much of her childhood in the Kaʻū district on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

At the time, the island was under the reign of Kalani‘ōpu‘u (Kalaniʻōpuʻū was king of the island when Captain Cook arrived in 1778.)

Then, there were turbulent times on the island - contact brought more foreigners to Hawaiʻi and island war was raging (following Kalaniʻōpuʻū's death in 1782.)

At a very young age, Kaʻahumanu was given by her father to Kamehameha as a wife; by that time, he was ruler of half the island of Hawaiʻi.  She was his favorite wife.  Through the years, she advised and supported Kamehameha.

Queen Kaʻahumanu became more than Kamehameha’s favorite wife.  She was, at one time, arguably, the most powerful figure in the Hawaiian Islands, helping usher in a new era for the Hawaiian kingdom.

When Kamehameha died on May 8, 1819, the crown was passed to his son, Liholiho, who would rule as Kamehameha II.  Kaʻahumanu recruited Liholiho’s mother, Keōpūolani, to join her in convincing Liholiho to break the kapu system which had been the rigid code of Hawaiians for centuries.

Liholiho accomplished this simply by eating a meal with women.  When the Hawaiians saw that Liholiho was not struck down by angry gods, the entire kapu system was discarded.

Kaʻahumanu created the office of Kuhina Nui (similar to premier, prime minister or regent) and would rule as an equal with Liholiho.

She ruled first with Kamehameha II until his departure for England in 1823 (where he died in 1824) and then as regent for Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III).

Ka‘ahumanu assumed control of the business of government, including authority over land matters, the single most important issue for the Hawaiian nation for many generations to come.

She later married Kauaʻi's chief, Kaumualiʻi, who Kamehameha I had made a treaty with instead of fightring.

On December 4, 1825, Queen Kaahumanu was baptized and received her new name, Elizabeth, then labored earnestly to lead her people to Christ.

In 1826, she paid the national debt by imposing a tax payable in sandalwood, cash or woven mats.  Her administrative actions would have far reaching political, social and cultural consequences for the Hawaiian nation.

In May 1832, Kaʻahumanu fell ill. Recognizing that the end was near, she requested to be taken to her mountain home in Mānoa Valley on Oʻahu.

On June 5, with the Reverend Hiram Bingham at her side, she breathed her final words: “I’m going now…where the mansions are ready.”

She was buried at Pohukaina at ‘Iolani Place and later transferred to Mauna ‘Ala, the Royal Mausoleum in Nu‘uanu Valley.

Kaʻahumanu was such a powerful person and Kuhina Nui that subsequent female Kuhina Nui adopted her name, Kīna‘u (Kaʻahumanu II) (1832-1839,) Kekāuluohi (Kaʻahumanu III) (1839-1845) and Victoria Kamāmalu (Kaʻahumanu IV) (1855-1863.)

The image shows Kaʻahumanu as painted by Choris in 1816.  In addition, I have added other images of Ka‘ahumanu in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook page.

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