Foster Botanical Garden

In 1853, Queen Kalama leased 4.6 acres of land to William Hillebrand, a botanist as well as a physician; he and his wife built a home in the upper terrace area of the present garden. The magnificent trees which now tower over this area were planted by him.

Six years after his arrival, he and nine other Honolulu physicians petitioned to charter an organization called the Hawaiian Medical Society.  Today, it is the Hawaii Medical Association.

Appointed physician to the royal family at The Queen's Hospital (now The Queen's Medical Center), Hillebrand also served as chief physician at the hospital from 1860 to 1871.

While on a mission for the King to bring Chinese immigrants to work in the islands' sugar fields, Hillebrand introduced Common Myna birds to Honolulu (as well as "carrion crows, gold finches, Japanese finches, Chinese quail, ricebirds, Indian sparrows; golden, silver and Mongolian pheasants; and [two] axis deer from China and Java".)

After 20 years, Hillebrand returned to Germany, where he published Flora of the Hawaiian Islands in 1888.

In 1884, the Hillebrand property was sold Thomas R. Foster and his wife Mary E. Foster, who continued to develop the garden at their homesite.

In 1919, Foster leased two-acres to the Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association for its experiment station, under the direction of Dr. Harold L. Lyon, a botanist and plant pathologist.

Lyon proceeded to build on the work of plant conservation and landscape architecture which Dr. Hillebrand and Mrs.  Foster had initiated.  By 1925, his plant nursery had produced over a million trees, most of them exceptional varieties which were not grown elsewhere.

Hundreds of new species of trees and plants had been imported, cultivated and distributed throughout the Hawaiian Islands.

Upon Mrs. Foster's death in 1930, the 5.5 acre site was bequeathed to the City and County of Honolulu as a public garden and was opened to the public on November 30, 1931, with Lyon as its first director.

Over a span of 27 years, Dr. Lyon introduced 10,000 new kinds of trees and plants to Hawaiʻi. The Foster Garden orchid collection was started with Dr. Lyon's own plants.

Through purchases by the City and gifts from individuals, under the directorship of Paul R. Weissich (1957-89), Foster Garden expanded to over 13.5-acres and also developed four additional sites on Oahu Island to create the 650-acre Honolulu Botanical Gardens system (including, Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden, Koko Crater Botanical Garden, Liliʻuokalani Botanical Garden and Wahiawa Botanical Garden.)

Taken as a whole, these five gardens feature rare species from tropical environments ranging from desert to rainforest, comprising the largest and most diverse tropical plant collection in the United States.

In addition to being a pleasant place to visit, Foster Botanical Garden is a living museum of tropical plants, some rare and endangered, which have been collected from throughout the world's tropics over a period of 150 years.

Today the garden consists of the Upper Terrace (the oldest part of the garden); Middle Terraces (palms, aroids, heliconias, gingers); Economic Garden (herbs, spices, dyes, poisons); Prehistoric Glen (primitive plants planted in 1965); Lyon Orchid Garden; and Hybrid Orchid Display.

It also contains a number of exceptional trees, including a Sacred Fig which is a clone descendant of the Bodhi tree that Buddha sat under for inspiration, a sapling of which was gifted to Mary Foster by Anagarika Dharmapala in 1913.

In 1975, the Hawaiʻi State Legislature found that rapid development had led to the destruction of many of the State's exceptional trees and passed Act 105 - The Exceptional Tree Act.

The Act recognizes that trees are valuable for their beauty and they perform crucial ecological functions.  All told, Foster Botanical Garden contains 25 of about 100 Oʻahu trees designated as exceptional.

In addition to this image, I have added other Foster Botanical Garden images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Curtis P. ʻIaukea

No, not Curtis “Da Bull” ʻIaukea (professional wrestler in the 1960s-70s;) this story is about that guy’s great grandfather, Curtis Piʻehu ʻIaukea, born December 13, 1855, at Waimea, Hawaiʻi.  He is the son of JW and Lahapa (Nalanipo) ʻIaukea.  His father was district magistrate of Hāmākua for many years, and the family was well known on the Big Island.

ʻIaukea was reared in Honolulu under the direction of his uncle, Kaihupaʻa, an old-time retainer of the chiefs and a personal attendant to King Kamehameha III.

He was raised at the former Chief’s Children’s School (the school, started in 1840, had been given up in 1850 and used as the home for retainers of the royal family.)   As Kamehameha III’s retainer, Kaihupaʻa lived there and ʻIaukea was reared to also serve as retainer of royalty.

“The place was known as Halepoepoe, (meaning circular or round house) so-called because of the quadrangle or court forming the central portion of the building.”  (ʻIaukea)

“Of the more vivid and enduring of my boyhood impressions, I recall the days when, as a bare footed urchin of five and six, I used to romp around the Palace Grounds, dancing attendance on royalty in the role of page and valet to His Royal Highness, the Prince of Hawaiʻi - Ka Haku-o-Hawaiʻi (Prince Albert, son of Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma,) as he was more familiarly known amongst royalty and Hawaiians, then, well on in his fourth year and in the full enjoyment of health and happy childhood.” (ʻIaukea)

As a ward of the government, ʻIaukea was educated under Archdeacon Mason of the Anglican Church in Hawaii at ʻIolani College, then directed by the Church of England.

In 1872, upon the death of King Kamehameha V, who had sent Mr. ʻIaukea to Lāhainā to learn sugar operations, he went to Hilo to live with his sister. It was there that King Kalākaua, on royal tour of the islands, saw the young man and commanded him to resume his place at the royal palace.  In 1880 Mr. ʻIaukea was chief secretary of the department of foreign affairs.

“One of the most accomplished of the younger Hawaiians, Colonel Curtis Piʻehu ʻIaukea, was on his way around the world as a special envoy on what may be described as a good will mission, to keep alive or reawaken the pleasant feeling brought into being by King Kalākaua’s journey, and to perform certain special diplomatic errands; he was to go first to the United States and Europe, thence to Egypt, India, and, finally, Japan, where he was expected to arrive at the end of 1883 or the early part of 1884. One of his errands was to investigate in London and India the possibilities for Indian immigration.”  (Kuykendall)

Specific duties entrusted to ʻIaukea were: (1) to represent Hawaiʻi at the coronation of the czar of Russia; (2) to serve as Hawaiʻi's commissioner to the Great International Fisheries Exhibition in London; (3) to negotiate regarding immigration to Hawaiʻi from British India, the Philippine Islands and Japan; (4) to attend to the exchange of decorations between the king of Hawaiʻi and the rulers of several other countries; (5) to deliver commissions to persons selected by him to serve as Hawaiian consuls in several designated areas.

His mission in Japan resulted in the admission of Japanese laborers to the sugar plantations of Hawaiʻi.  Although a formal treaty was not established, Japanese leadership stated they would not block immigration to Hawaiʻi.  (Japan was facing a major economic recession and discontent among farmers in Japan; Japanese leadership felt giving the workers the option of going to Hawaiʻi might relieve some of the domestic stress.)

ʻIaukea has a long list of service to the Monarchy and later the Republic of Hawaiʻi.  A few of his assignments included, Colonel on the King’s personal staff and Tax Collector, 1878; Collector General of Customs, 1884; King’s private secretary, 1886; Chamberlain and Crown Land Agent and Commissioner, 1886; in charge royal party to Queen Victoria’s jubilee, 1887; to London with Embassy from Republic of Hawaii to Diamond Jubilee Queen Victoria, 1897; accompanied President and Mrs. Dole to Washington, as secretary and attaché, 1898; elected County Sheriff, 1906; elected Territorial Senator, 1912; appointed Secretary, Territory of Hawaii, 1917; and acting Governor, 1919.

As chamberlain, he had the distinction of taking charge of the royal party attending the jubilee of Queen Victoria of England in 1887, the party included Queen Kapiʻolani, Princess Liliʻuokalani, Governor Dominis and others; en route, the party visited President and Mrs. Cleveland at the White House.

Ten years later, ʻIaukea went to London with the embassy from the Republic of Hawaiʻi to the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, and in 1898 he accompanied President and Mrs. Dole to Washington, DC, as secretary and military attaché.

Among the many orders and foreign distinctions that have been conferred upon him are the grand cross and cordon of St. Stanislaus, conferred by the emperor of Russia on the occasion of the coronation in 1883; officer of the French Legion of Honor, conferred by Pres. Grevy of the Republic of France; grand officer's cross of the crown of Italy; rand cross and ribbon of the Order of Takovo; jubilee and diamond jubilee medals of Queen "Victoria; grand officer of the Order of Rising Sun of Japan; knight commander of the Swedish Order of St. Olaf, and all of the Hawaiian orders and decorations instituted by King Kalākaua during the monarchy.  (Derby)

His service in Hawaiʻi spanned through several monarchs and thereafter served in a number of republic and territorial positions.  Curtis P ʻIaukea died in 1940.

The image shows Curtis P ʻIaukea; 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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Wānanalua Church

Wānanalua (“double prophecy”) is an ahupuaʻa in Hāna ("work" or "profession") and birthplace of Kaʻahumanu. (The birthplace is in a cave on Kaʻuiki Hill on the right side of Hāna Bay.)

There is a trail that leads along Kaʻuiki Hill to a red sand beach pocket. Along this trail is a plaque marking the site where Queen Kaʻahumanu was born in a nearby cave. She was the favorite wife of King Kamehameha I.

In 1790, Kamehameha invaded Maui, landing and winning a battle in Hāna.

He worked his way north from Hāna and engaged Kalanikūpule’s armies at Hāmākualoa in the battle of Pu‘ukoa‘e - and then at ‘Īao Valley in the famous battle of Kepaniwai.

It was following this battle that Kamehameha negotiated with Kalola to marry Keōpūolani (another of his wives, and the mother of Liholiho and Kauikeaouli.)

In 1838, missionary Daniel Conde organized a mission in Hāna and established the Wānanalua Church.  (It’s across the street from the present day Hotel Hana-Maui, which was originally called the Kaʻuiki Inn.)

The church started with a thatched structure and by 1842 work commenced on the present building.

Wānanalua Church is a large stone building, the walls of which have been plastered over. Stone for the church was gathered from the ruins of a heiau, and the original roof was thatch.

The framing timbers came from the mountains and coral was gathered from the ocean and burned for lime and used to make mortar.

It is typical of the churches of this period in that it was constructed of local materials by Hawaiians under the supervision of a missionary, and was built to serve the Hawaiian community. Services were held in the Hawaiian language until the 1930s.

The church sits conspicuously on a large lot surrounded by a lawn with scattered plantings.  A lava rock wall separates the church lot from the street.

The  roof  was  reframed  in  1856,  which  allowed  for  a  shingle  roof  to be  installed  in  1862, replacing the thatch.

In 1897, the building was reroofed, refloored and replastered.  It is assumed the bell tower was also constructed at that time.  The church has remained in continuous operation and is one of the better maintained nineteenth century stone churches on Maui.

Daniel Conde and his family were the first missionaries to permanently settle in Hāna, which remains a somewhat remote part of Maui, even today.

At that time there were approximately 6,000 Hawaiians living in the area (the population was 1,235 in the 2010 census.)

The Condes remained in Hāna until 1849, when they moved to Wailuku.  After the death of Mrs. Conde in 1855, Daniel and his children returned to New York.

The Wānanalua Church and the Hāna Courthouse are the only two surviving structures from the nineteenth century left in Hāna.

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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Pu‘u O Kaimukī - Telegraph Hill

When King Kamehameha stationed his troops on the beaches of Waikīkī in preparation for the battle to take O‘ahu, he stationed lookouts at Pu‘u O Kaimukī (aka "Kaimukī Hill") to spot enemies arriving by sea.

When Honolulu became a major port, "Kaimukī Hill" was used as a signal station (using semaphore technology,) giving it the name “telegraph hill.”   It had broad view over the Pacific and line-of-sight to downtown Honolulu.  Back then, they used this vantage point to spot ships coming in, and then conveyed the news to Honolulu.

Optical “telegraphs” or signaling devices have been traced back to ancient times (initially using torches) and were the fastest systems to convey messages over long distances; these “telegraphs” eventually moved toward semaphore towers.

If Internet and its communications channels are at the forefront of the signaling opportunities of the 21st century, the semaphore was the signals intelligence breakthrough at the time of Napoleon (and Washington and Kamehameha.)

Semaphore towers used arms and blades/paddles to convey messages; messages were conveyed/decoded based on the fixed positions of these arms.

During the Napoleonic Wars, the French revolutionized land-based communications with the construction of semaphore towers bearing rotating arms to fashion coded signals.  The British quickly followed suit in that new era of signals intelligence.

The semaphore tower/semaphore line design was first thought up by Robert Hooke in 1684 and submitted to the Royal Society. The system was not implemented, though, due to military concerns.

However, this did lead to Claude Chappe developing the first visual telegraph in 1792 - eventually covering much of France via 556 stations. In France, this was the primary source of communication for military and national applications, until it became more widely used in the 1850s.

In Hawaiʻi, Kaimukī Hill had been used as a semaphore signal station ever since Fair Haven (Honolulu Harbor) became prominent in Hawaiian commerce.  This semaphore station reported all incoming ships from Koko Head to Barber’s Point.

“Before the telephone was invented, and long before the system was in use in Honolulu, we had the lookout station on Telegraph Hill, which by means of a semaphore arrangement communicated with a station on the building (downtown.)  Every merchant was supplied with the code, and whenever a schooner, a steamer, a mail packet, or a man of war, was sighted, the heart of the town knew it immediately.”  (Hawaiian Star, February 10, 1899)

“From Telegraph Hill and the slopes toward Waiʻalae may be seen Koko Head, the beautiful expanse of ocean and on clear days the distant islands of Molokai, Lanai, and Maui. On the town side, the residents look over the town, across the cane fields to the Waianae range.”  (Evening Bulletin, September 26, 1898)

“Mauka of Diamond Head, for a distance of three or four miles is a high ridge that vernacular geologists call a "hog back." At the most elevated point on this ridge is the debris of Telegraph Hill (Kaimuki). In the olden days vessels coming from the north were signalled to the city from Kaimuki by a semaphore system, clear and effective. The town end of the line was a building on Kaahumanu street, then occupied as a sail loft.”  (Hawaiian Gazette, January 13, 1899)

Reportedly, in 1857, a semaphore mechanism on Puʻu O Kaimukī, with large moveable arms, was attached to the top of a sixty-foot pole and used to signal to Honolulu.

The official receiving station from Kaimukī was on Merchant Street, but some have suggested other receiving stations at Kaʻahumanu Street and the foot of Nuʻuanu.

Upon receiving the message, a signal was broadcast to the town noting the names and ports of origin of each ship coming into view.  This information was announced in Honolulu by loud proclamation and bell ringing, and preparation made to tow the vessel in by hand or bullock power.

In 1866, the roof of Honolulu Hale on Merchant Street was fitted with a new marine lookout with a taller semaphore, making its signals accessible to a larger segment of the population.

This optical telegraph system was an important tool for residents of Honolulu.  The signals were unique and people became familiar with them, so most could decode the signal and know which ships were coming.

Likewise, besides alerting the postmaster to the imminent arrival of the mail, it was helpful to merchants expecting new goods and people awaiting friends and relatives.

Semaphore was then called "marine telegraph", and it seems logical that the early map-makers of Hawaiʻi would name the hill "Telegraph Hill."

"When the telephone system got into working order the lookout station was moved to a position on Diamond Head which gave a view further along the channel, because it was no longer necessary for the station to be in full view of the city.” (Hawaiian Star, February 10, 1899)

Puʻu O Kaimukī had several colloquial names; one was Christmas Tree Park. There’s a bare metal Christmas-Tree-looking pole.  It’s not a remnant of the prior semaphore communications, it’s just a Christmas tree, built by the City and County soon after the park’s christening in 1991. Every year since then the big metal tree gets hung with Christmas lights.

It’s also referred to as Reservoir Park, a reminder of the days in the early 1900s when the top of the hill housed a water storage tank for the Honolulu Water Works. Another name is Bunker Hill, from the World War II era when the spot became a handy surveillance bunker for the military.

It’s known today as Puʻu o Kaimukī Park and is just behind (makai) the Kaimukī Fire Station.

On November 13, 1900, the first Marconi wireless telegraph system was set up and messages were sent and received between Oʻahu and Molokaʻi across a twenty-eight mile channel.  Military semaphore flag signals are still used, today

The image shows a portion of an 1892 map (DAGS) noting Telegraph Hill.  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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Odd Fellows

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a fraternity of citizens who had its origin in the 18th century.  The first Odd Fellow groups were formed in England and thought to have grown out of guilds, forerunner of today’s unions.

It is believed that the first Odd Fellows were motivated by a concern for the members of their own groups, notably those in trouble and families who needed assistance, and the widow and the orphan.

It is believed that because these workers were helping other workers, rather than depending on patriarchal royal protection, and they were organized to do this charitable work, they were looked on as “Odd Fellows” and the name has remained with the Order.

Symbolically, the order uses three links of interlocking chain to represent a worldwide chain that binds men and women together in fraternal devotion to God and fellow men and women.

Each link has a letter, F, L & T, respectively, representing Friendship, Love and Truth, the corner stone upon which all Odd Fellows of the world built the Order - seek to improve and elevate the character of man.

Another IOOF symbol is the “Encampment” that symbolizes the virtues of extending aid and friendship to traveling strangers in need.

The first lodge in North America was the institution of Washington Lodge No. 1 of Baltimore, Maryland on April 26, 1819.

Odd Fellows began in the Hawaiian Islands on December 10, 1846.

Dr. Gilbert Watson, a physician, Past Grand of Massachusetts, in planning a trip to Oregon, learned there were five Odd Fellows in good standing in his party.  He petitioned for a charter to be located in Oregon City.

On board the ship “Henry”, leaving Newburyport, Massachusetts for the Columbia River and Oregon City, were other Odd Fellows, Captain Kilburn and the second officer.

The “Henry” never reached Oregon.  The ship drifted about, buffeted by head winds and delayed by storms and high rough seas on the Atlantic Coast, around the tempestuous Cape Horn and into the Pacific Ocean, all of which consumed months of time.

Then, the Henry drifted westward rather than northward, and in October 1846, the Henry arrived in Honolulu. They elected to remain in the Hawaiian Islands.

Shortly after his arrival, Watson found some more Odd Fellows that had made Honolulu their home – Watson called a meeting of Odd Fellows in Hawaiʻi on December 8, 1846.

Two days later, Excelsior Lodge Number 1, IOOF was instituted – King Kamehameha IV signed a charter in April 1859 making Excelsior Lodge No. 1 a fraternal corporation in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.

The first Lodge Hall was in an adobe building with a grass roof in a yard on Hotel Street. During the lodge sessions, the Outside Guardian was required to keep walking around the building to prevent people from peeping into the lodge hall.

On January 16, 2001, Excelsior Lodge, for the first time in its history, three women were initiated into the lodge (in its long history, women were denied membership in an Odd Fellow Lodge until the laws on membership in the Code of General Laws were amended in 2000.)

After several subsequent Lodge Halls, the Hawaiʻi Trustees decided to purchase the VFW Building on 1135 Kapahulu Avenue; on May 24, 2001, Excelsior Lodge moved to its new home and the first meeting there was held on June 5, 2001.

The Hawaiʻi lodge has continued to meet on Tuesday nights since the first meeting. It is still going strong today; Excelsior Lodge #1, IOOF meetings are held the first and third Tuesdays of every month at the Lodge Hall. (The seal designed in 1846 is the same seal being used today by Excelsior Lodge.)

Among other activities, the IOOF supports and participates in activities benefitting the Hawaiʻi Food Bank, Hawaiʻi Public Radio, Bus Stop Painting, Adopt A Highway, Special Olympics, Make a Wish Foundation and the Arthritis Foundation.

The image shows the Kapahulu Lodge Hall; in addition, I have added some other images of the Odd Fellows in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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Once, All Were Aliʻi

“(I)n the earliest times all the people were alii … it was only after the lapse of several generations that a division was made into commoners and chiefs” (Malo)

Kamakau noted, in early Hawaiʻi “The parents were masters over their own family group … No man was made chief over another.”  Essentially, the extended family was the socio, biological, economic and political unit.

Because each ʻohana (family) was served by a parental haku (master, overseer) and each family was self-sufficient and capable of satisfying its own needs, there was no need for a hierarchal structure.

With such a small (but growing) population based on the family unit, society was not so complicated that it needed chiefs to govern or oversee the general population.

Kamakau states that there were no chiefs in the earliest period of settlement but that they came “several hundred years afterward … when men became numerous.”

As the population increased and wants and needs increased in variety and complexity (and it became too difficult to satisfy them with finite resources,) the need for chiefly rule became apparent.

As chiefdoms developed, the simple pecking order of titles and status likely evolved into a more complex and stratified structure.

This centralization of government allowed for completion and maintenance of large projects, such as irrigation systems, large taro loʻi, large fish ponds, heiau and trails.

On the family scale, ponds to supply the family unit were small and manageable by the family.  However, as the population grew, more hands were needed for construction and maintenance.

Government could compel the participation of many people to work on these public projects.

The actual number of chiefs was few, but their retainers attached to the courts (advisors, konohiki, priests, warriors, etc) were many.

In addition to the expanded demand to provide food for the courts, commoners were also obliged to make new lines of products for the chiefs – feather cloaks, capes, helmets, images and ornaments.

Likewise, as challenges were made between chiefly realms, warfare and the resultant demand for services in combat increased.

The arrival of Pā‘ao from Tahiti in about the thirteenth century resulted in the establishment (or, at least expanded upon) a religious and political code in old Hawai`i, collectively called the kapu system.

Fornander writes that prior to the period of Pā‘ao "… the kapu (forbidden actions) were few and the ceremonials easy; that human sacrifices were not practiced, and cannibalism unknown; and that government was more of a patriarchal than of a regal nature."

Pā‘ao’s period are attributed a greater rigidity of the kapu, the introduction of human sacrifices, "the hardening and confirming of the divisions of society, the exaltation of the nobles and the increase of their prerogatives, the separation and immunity of the priestly order, and the systematic setting down, if not actual debasement, of the commoners."  (Stokes)

Likewise, Pā‘ao reportedly initiated a lineage of kings, starting with Pili Ka‘aiea (the 1st "Aliʻi ʻAimoku" for the Big Island – the first ruler (sometimes called the "king") of the island.)

The descendants of this king ruled the island of Hawai‘i until 1893, while Pā‘ao himself became the high priest of an order which he established and which continued until 1819.

The form of the heiau was changed by Pā‘ao and his successors, and the general population mingled less freely in the ceremonies of sacrifice and other forms of worship. The high-priesthood became more mysterious and exclusive.

This intricate system that supported Hawaiʻi’s social and political organization directed every activity of Hawaiian life, from birth through death, until its abolition by King Kamehameha II (Liholiho) in 1819.

The condition of the common people was that of subjection to the chiefs, compelled to do their heavy tasks, burdened and oppressed some even to death. The life of the people was one of patient endurance, of yielding to the chiefs to purchase their favor. The plain man (kanaka) must not complain. (Malo)

If the people were slack in doing the chief's work they were expelled from their lands, or even put to death. For such reasons as this and because of the oppressive exactions made upon them, the people held the chiefs in great dread and looked upon them as gods. (Malo)

Only a small portion of the kings and chiefs ruled with kindness; the large majority simply lorded it over the people. (Malo)

The inspiration and much of the information in this summary is from writings by George Kanahele (and others, as noted.)  The image is a portion of the cover to the book written by Ross Cordy.

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Surfing – Hawaiʻi’s Gift to the World of Sports

Although no one knows for sure exactly where and when surfing began, there is no doubt that over the centuries the ancient sport of "heʻe nalu" (wave sliding) was perfected, if not invented, by the kings and queens of Hawai'i, long before the 15th century AD.

“Surf-riding was one of the most exciting and noble sports known to the Hawaiians, practiced equally by king, chief and commoner. It is still to some extent engaged in, though not as formerly, when it was not uncommon for a whole community, including both sexes, and all ages, to sport and frolic in the ocean the livelong day.”  (Malo)

By 1779, riding waves lying down or standing on long, hardwood surfboards was an integral part of Hawaiian culture. Surfboard riding was as layered into the society, religion and myth of the islands as baseball is to the modern United States.

Chiefs demonstrated their mastery by their skill in the surf and commoners made themselves famous (and infamous) by the way they handled themselves in the ocean.

When Captain Cook arrived in Hawai'i, surfing was deeply rooted in many centuries of Hawaiian legend and culture. Place names had been bestowed because of legendary surfing incidents.  The kahuna intoned special chants to christen new surfboards, to bring the surf up and to give courage to the men and women who challenged the big waves.

Hawaiian society was distinctly stratified into royal and common classes, and these taboos extended into the surf zone. There were reefs and beaches where the chiefs surfed and reefs and beaches where the commoners surfed.

Lieutenant James King, commander of the Discovery, 1779, recorded in the ship's log the first written description of Hawaiian surfing by a European:
“But a diversion the most common is upon the Water, where there is a very great Sea, and surf breaking on the Shore. The Men sometimes 20 or 30 go without the Swell of the Surf, & lay themselves flat upon an oval piece of plan about their Size and breadth, they keep their legs close on top of it, & their Arms are us'd to guide the plank, thye wait the time of the greatest Swell that sets on Shore, & altogether push forward with their Arms to keep on its top, it sends them in with a most astonishing Velocity, & the great art is to guide the plan so as always to keep it in a proper direction on the top of the Swell, & as it alters its direct.”

“The surf-riders, having reached the belt of water outside of the surf, the region where the rollers began to make head, awaited the incoming of a wave, in preparation for which they got their boards under way by paddling with their hands until such time as the swelling wave began to lift and urge them forward.”  (Malo)

 “(T)hey resorted to the favorite amusement of all classes - sporting on the surf, in which they distinguish themselves from most other nations. In this exercise, they generally avail themselves of the surf-board, an instrument manufactured by themselves for the purpose.”  (Bingham)

“The inhabitants of these islands, both male and female, are distinguished by their fondness for the water, their powers of diving and swimming, and the dexterity and ease with which they manage themselves, their surf-boards and canoes, in that element.”  (Bingham)

Missionary Amos Cooke, who arrived in Hawaiʻi in 1837 - and was later appointed by King Kamehameha III to teach the young royalty in the Chief’s Childrens’ School - surfed himself (with his sons) and enjoyed going to the beach in the afternoon.  “After dinner Auhea went with me, & the boys to bathe in the sea, & I tried riding on the surf.  To day I have felt quite lame from it.”  (Cooke)

Mark Twain sailed to the Hawaiian Islands and tried surfing, describing his 1866 experience in his book Roughing It. “I tried surf-bathing once, subsequently, but made a failure of it. I got the board placed right, and at the right moment, too; but missed the connection myself.—The board struck the shore in three quarters of a second, without any cargo, and I struck the bottom about the same time, with a couple of barrels of water in me.”

Duke Kahanamoku is credited as the ‘Father of Modern Surfing’ and through his many travels, Duke introduced surfing to the rest of the world and was regarded as the father of international surfing.  On one trip to Australia in 1914-15, Kahanamoku demonstrated surfing and made such an impression that the Australians erected a statue of him.  (Nendel)

Duke was named after his father, who was named Duke after the Duke of Edinburgh who visited Hawaii in 1869 – in 1920, Duke took Prince Edward surfing at Waikīkī.

Today, surfing is thought of as a lifestyle in Hawaiʻi, it is part of the local culture. As an island state, the shore is the beginning of our relationship with the ocean - not the edge of the state line.  Surfing expands our horizon, refreshes, rejuvenates and gives hope. It has helped people find harmony in one's self and the vast ocean. (Hawaiʻi Quarter Design)

As former Hawai'i State governor, George Ariyoshi, stated, "Those of us fortunate to live in Hawai'i are extremely proud of our state and its many contributions to the world. Surfing certainly is one of those contributions. It is a sport enjoyed by men, women and children in nearly every country bordering an ocean. Surfing was born in Hawai'i and truly has become Hawaiʻi's gift to the world of sports."

Missionary Hiram Bingham, noted (rather poetically,) “On a calm and bright summer's day, the wide ocean and foaming surf … the green tufts of elegant fronds on the tall cocoanut trunks, nodding and waving, like graceful plumes, in the refreshing breeze … the natives … riding more rapidly and proudly on their surf-boards, on the front of foaming surges … give life and interest to the scenery.”

The image shows Hawaiian surfing in the early-1800s (culturemap-org-au.)  I have added some other surfing images in a folder of like name in the Photos section on my Facebook and Google+ pages.

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

http://plus.google.com/108947657421184863425

© 2012 Hoʻokuleana LLC