Chapter 1. The Story of the Hawaiian Islands— An Introduction Overview of the Natural and Human History of the Hawaiian Islands [Illustration: Whale breaching in ocean with erupting volcano in background] The Hawaiian Islands are a place of incredible landforms and amazing life forms—fish-filled coral reefs, barren lava deserts, tropical rainforests, and snow-wreathed summits. Migrating whales weighing more than 50 tons leap from the sea. Tiny insects thrive on windy mountaintops and deep in caves. Colorful birds hide among the forest foliage. Everywhere there is life. Seabirds soar high over the ocean and nest along the shores of the Hawaiian Islands. Some of these seabird species live in the Hawaiian Islands year round while others come and go on their annual migrations. Moli (Diomedea immutabilis, Laysan albatross) are born on Island seacliffs and may stay at sea for five years before returning to nest. The kōlea (Pluvialis fulva, Pacific golden plover) migrates to the Hawaiian Islands from thousands of miles to the north, as does the koholā (Megaptera novaeangliae, humpback whale). Both species stay in the Hawaiian Islands for the winter months, but plovers come to the Hawaiian fields and pastures to feed and lay their eggs in the north, while humpbacks go north to feed and come to Hawaiian waters to mate and give birth. Each species is attuned to its own unique rhythms and cycles of life. The wetlands and lo‘i kalo (taro patches) of the Hawaiian Islands are home to numerous waterbirds, including the ae‘o (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni, Hawaiian stilt); ‘alae ke‘oke (Fulica alai, Hawaiian coot); koloa (Anas wyvilliana, Hawaiian duck); ‘alae ula (Gallinula chloropus sandvicensis, gallinule); and ‘auku‘u (Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli, black-crowned night-heron). The nēnē (Branta sandvicensis, Hawaiian goose) is a native bird whose ancestors originally came to the Hawaiian Islands from Canada. Over a period of millions of years since arriving in the Hawaiian Islands, the Canadian goose underwent evolutionary changes resulting in the nēnē, a bird with feet well-adapted to walking on high, dry lava flow areas and very different than the feet of Canadian geese. More recently the nēnē has made a remarkable recovery from near extinction, and now thrives in various Hawaiian habitats including lowland taro patches and wetland areas. The rainforests of the Hawaiian Islands are home to dozens of species of small endemic land birds, including a variety of honeyeater and honeycreeper species. Each different species has evolved a particular type of specialized beak adapted to utilize a specific food source such as seeds, insects, or nectar from native flowers. Pueo (Asio flammeus sandwichensis; Hawaiian owls) also inhabit Hawaiian forests, along with the extremely endangered ‘alalā (Asio flammeus sandwichensis, Hawaiian crow), and ‘io (Buteo solitarius, Hawaiian hawk). [Photograph: ‘Io, Hawaiian hawk] Kaha ka ‘io i ka mālie. The ‘io bird poises in the calm. Said in admiration of a handsome person. An ‘io dips gracefully as it flies, with wings that flap slowly. (Pukui: 1288-141) Many Hawaiian bird species now cling precariously to survival due to loss of native habitat, competition from introduced species, and foreign diseases such as pox and malaria that have caused the extinction of more than half of the native bird species of the Hawaiian Islands. Some native bird species that were nearly extinct, such as the nēnē, stilt, and koloa, are now increasing in numbers. Birds are just part of the native wildlife of the Hawaiian Islands. Plants and ferns fill the native forests along with myriad insects, many of them endemic (unique to the Hawaiian Islands), including wolf spiders in subterranean caves and Happyface spiders in the rainforests. A great variety of native damselflies, dragonflies, and butterflies flutter and dart about from shore to high mountain valley. Native insects are food for the freshwater fish of the Hawaiian Islands, such as ‘o‘opu (Gobiidae; Eleotridae), the native gobies that begin as tiny larvae that are swept downstream into the ocean. ‘O‘opu larvae develop into fish before swimming back upstream, and they use their modified fins like suction cups to climb up waterfalls, eventually reaching the place they were born. There they lay their eggs and complete their life cycle. Each of the five native ‘o‘opu species is adapted to a specific habitat. In the ocean, the nearshore coral reefs support hundreds of species of native fish of every size, shape and color along with coralline algae, sponges, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sea stars, octopi, squid, eels, sharks, and various crustaceans such as crabs, shrimp, and lobsters. Every morning pods of spinner dolphins come near the shores of the Hawaiian Islands, some of them swimming in a large circle to rest in a sort of half-sleep state while others leap up from the sea, spinning and flipping head over tail before splashing back down on the ocean’s surface. Huge monk seals sleep on the beach in the midday sun, unaware they are among the most endangered sea mammals on Earth. Green sea turtles crawl up on the sand in the tropical moonlight to lay their eggs. Each of Hawai‘i’s native species is attuned to its own unique rhythms and cycles of life, and every species has its own unique story of evolution. A Place of Beauty and Extremes In the Hawaiian Islands, one can hike to a secluded mountain waterfall, surf the ocean waves, or just lie on a sandy beach and watch tropicbirds soar overhead as rainbows form and dissipate over warm, aquamarine waters. The natural environment of the Hawaiian Islands is an ever-changing panorama of spectacular vistas and limitless opportunities for appreciation of nature’s wonders. The Hawaiian archipelago is also a place of extremes. Hawai‘i Island’s Kīlauea Volcano is the most continuously active volcano on Earth. Moloka‘i’s seacliffs are among the tallest on the planet, and Moloka‘i’s reefs among the world’s richest. On the island of Kaua‘i, a volcanic mountain called Wai‘ale‘ale is one of the rainiest spots on Earth, and stands between three other equally amazing places: the steep cliffs and spires of the Nāpali Coast, the deeply-carved Waimea Canyon, and the world’s highest swamp, the Alaka‘i, where extremely acidic soils produce dwarfed ‘ōhi‘a lehua trees alongside rare carnivorous plants called mikinalo, which means, “to suck flies.” In subterranean lava tubes on Kaua‘i are sightless spiders that use their front legs as acoustic antennae to chase down translucent crickets. Atop snowy Mauna Kea Volcano on Hawai‘i Island is the tiny wēkiu bug (Nysius wekiuicola) that has developed an antifreeze substance in its blood and survives by catching insects from the wind. Wēkiu means “Summit,” or “Peak.”[i] He pua no ka wēkiu. A blossom on the topmost branch. Praise of an outstanding person. (Pukui: 923-99) The towering Mauna Kea Volcano rises up more than 6 miles (9.7 km) from the ocean bottom. Measured from base to summit, Mauna Kea is more than 1,000 feet (305 m) taller than Mount Everest, which is the tallest mountain on Earth measured from sea level. Mauna Kea’s summit rises 13,796 feet (4,205 m) above sea level, and is considered the best place on Earth to look toward the heavens, and the astronomical observatories atop Mauna Kea have no equal. The Hawaiian Islands may also be a dangerous place. Landslides and lava eruptions have buried entire villages. Floods and tsunamis have devastated coastlines. Numerous hurricanes have caused billions of dollars in damages to homes and buildings. Every winter, significant ocean swells are spawned by storms thousands of miles north of the Hawaiian Islands. Huge waves generated by these swells arrive along the northern shores of the Hawaiian Islands. Many of Hawai‘i’s bravest and most daring surfers attempt to ride these monstrous winter waves. Ocean conditions during the winter months, however, are not for the inexperienced, and many lives have ended prematurely due to the large ocean waves that constantly buffet the Hawaiian Islands. The Island Building Process—Origins of the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain Dynamic and ever changing, the Hawaiian Islands are just the most recent products of the Hawaiian magmatic hot spot, a stationary plume of magma (molten lava) rising from deep in the Earth. During the last 75 to 80 million years, the Hawaiian hot spot has created at least 107 volcanoes that now span over the Pacific seafloor for more than 3,100 miles (4,990 km), and are known as the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain. The volcanoes of the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain were formed as a piece of the Earth’s crust known as the Pacific Plate (a tectonic plate) drifted on the molten rock (magma) beneath it. As the Pacific Plate moved over the stationary magmatic hot spot, magma erupted up through the Pacific Plate creating volcano after volcano. The Pacific Plate has been moving continuously over the erupting hot spot for the last 80 million years. As the magma of the hot spot burned up through the Earth’s crust, it piled layer upon layer of lava onto the ocean floor. This lava built an underwater volcano to heights of ten, fifteen, twenty thousand feet until finally, in a fitful burst of steam and liquid stone, the volcano reached the ocean’s surface and became an island. After each volcanic island was created above the active hot spot lava plume, it was then rafted northwest at the rate of about 3½ inches (9 cm) per year, making way for the next volcano to emerge. Over millions of years, island after island was formed, and each in turn was carried northwest away from the magmatic hot spot by the movement of the Pacific Plate. These volcanic islands first became dormant and then extinct as they moved northwest away from the magmatic hot spot. The volcanic island building process continues today on the island of Hawai‘i at the southeast end of the Hawaiian Island Chain, where Kīlauea Volcano is currently above one edge of the Hawaiian hot spot’s actively erupting lava. The other edge of the erupting lava plume is beneath the sea about 18 miles (29 km) off Hawai‘i Island’s southeast coast, where it has formed a seamount called Lō‘ihi. This undersea volcano continues to grow, and is already 9,000 feet (2,750 m) tall with about 3,200 feet (975 m) to go before it reaches the ocean’s surface and then rises above to become the next Hawaiian Island. The island of Hawai‘i (the Big Island) is the most recently formed Hawaiian Island, at less than one-half million years old. Like Lō‘ihi Seamount, the island of Hawai‘i also continues to grow, its size having increased by more than 370 acres (150 ha) since 1984 when Kīlauea Volcano erupted fiery fountains of lava to heights of over 1,500 feet (460 m). From 1983 to the present, Kīlauea Volcano has been erupting almost continuously. [Photograph: Erupting lava] Kaua‘i is the northernmost and oldest of the eight main Hawaiian Islands, having first risen above the sea more than five million years ago. Kaua‘i’s highest peaks were once thousands of feet taller, but centuries of tropical rainstorms have eroded the heights of Kaua‘i’s volcanic summits. The ancient volcanoes of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have also been eroded away by the effects of rain, wind, waves, and time. The 124 small islets, atolls and shoals of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands span over more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of ocean, beginning hundreds of miles northwest of the eight main Hawaiian Islands. Most of the tiny islets barely rise above the water’s surface. Some millions of years from now, Kaua‘i will also have eroded down to sea level, first leaving an atoll and then finally disappearing once again beneath the sea. [Photograph: Cliffs and spires of Nāpali Coast] Geographic Isolation and Biological Processes The extreme geographic isolation of the newly formed Hawaiian Islands made it difficult for new species to reach the Islands and become established. However, as plants began to take hold and an abundance of rich and diverse habitats formed from the shorelines to the river valleys to the mountain peaks, new species that did make it to the Hawaiian Islands were more likely to thrive, reproduce, adapt to new habitats and food sources, and evolve into unique Hawaiian species. In this way, over a period of millions of years, from the relatively few original colonizing species of the Hawaiian Islands many thousands of unique Hawaiian species evolved—plants, insects, bats, seals, birds, fish and a multitude of other organisms that took advantage of the ecological opportunities (niches) provided by the wealth of different native landscapes and ocean habitats in the Hawaiian Islands. The evolutionary process of adaptive radiation describes how so few colonizing species in the Hawaiian Islands managed to evolve over many millennia into a fascinating array of endemic flora and fauna, including thousands of species found nowhere else on Earth. For example, a single colonizing plant species evolved into more than 120 endemic Hawaiian species in the Campanulaceae family (subfamily Lobelioideae). The 1999 Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i[ii] documented 956 native Hawaiian flowering plants (850 endemic), yet much about the flora of the Hawaiian Islands remains undiscovered. Just since the Manual was published in 1999, new scientific explorations and botanical analyses have yielded dozens of new species discoveries. New research on plant characteristics and taxonomy of Hawaiian plants has also led to hundreds of new refinements of classifications of species, subspecies, and varieties. According to the Records of theHawaii Biological Survey for 2000,[iii] there are currently at least 1,882 documented native Hawaiian plants (1,159 endemic), including 1,163 native flowering plants (918 endemic). (See Overview of Native and Polynesian-Introduced Species of the Hawaiian Islands, Chapter 5.) The high rate of new species discovery in the Hawaiian Islands as well as the largely incomplete state of properly classifying the diverse flora and fauna of the Islands may both be attributed to the rapid rate of new species development in the archipelago as well as Hawai‘i’s isolation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Just in the Cyanea genus of the Campanulaceae family, five new species were discovered. Based on new analyses of botanical characteristics, the genus Lobelia,one of the six endemic genera of Campanulaceae family, was entirely eliminated, and the endemic Lobelia species were reclassified into two new genera (Neowimmeria and Galeatella). New Hawaiian plant species discoveries and new botanical classifications are documented in the 2002 ElectronicSupplement to the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i.[iv] For more information see the Introduction to the Native Plants and Ferns section of this text in Chapter 8, which includes a summary of the significant changes documented in the Electronic Supplement. One notable change is that kou (Cordia subcordata), a tree long thought to be a Polynesian introduction (and documented as such in the 1999 Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i[v] ) was reclassified as indigenous, and thus is considered a native Hawaiian species. Note: This reclassification of kou was based on a discovery of subfossil seeds and reported in a study by David A Burney and others entitled Fossil evidence for a diverse biota from Kaua‘i and its transformation since human arrival.[vi] Endemism Endemic Hawaiian species are native to the Hawaiian Islands and found naturally nowhere else except the Hawaiian Islands. The rate of endemism for native Hawaiian flowering plants is about 79%, including 918 endemic Hawaiian flowering plant species out of a total of 1,159 native flowering plant species in the Hawaiian Islands.[vii] The high rate of flowering plant endemism in the Hawaiian Islands is primarily attributed to the isolation of the Hawaiian Islands in combination with the great diversity of habitats and food sources found throughout the Islands. The Hawaiian Islands are extremely far away from any continent or any other islands. The Hawaiian Islands are also blessed with plentiful sun, soil, and fresh water along with a wide variety of very different natural habitats that support an incredibly diverse array of species, from birds in the air to all the varied creatures of the land to the fascinating variety of marine life in the surrounding ocean. The extreme geographic isolation of the Hawaiian Islands is also reflected in the genetics of the native population. Recent DNA studies have shown a relatively low rate of genetic diversity among native Hawaiian people, a finding that reflects their segregation from other races in ancient times. The probability of finding two individuals with the same DNA profile is about 1 in 112 million for Asians, and 1 in 47 million for Caucasians, but only 1 in 6.7 million for Polynesians. Researchers theorize that this lower rate of genetic diversity of Polynesians is a direct result of the fact that they were very isolated from other races in ancient times.[viii] Initial Colonizing Species—Adaptive Radiation Before humans discovered the Hawaiian Islands, relatively few species managed to reach the isolated island chain. The first colonizing species that somehow found their way to the remote archipelago of the Hawaiian Islands may have been birds blown off course, insects carried by the wind, or seeds floating on the water. Seeds were also carried to the Islands in the feathers and stomachs of birds, while mud on the birds’ feet also carried tiny eggs of land snails and other species. Some plants, insects, reptiles, and other species may have reached the Hawaiian Islands by rafting over the vast Pacific Ocean on logs or other floating debris. These species were somehow able to cross thousands of miles of ocean and reach the Hawaiian Islands, then reproduce and become established, eventually adapting to their new Hawaiian habitats. Populations of species that established themselves in the Hawaiian Islands often became separated from one another, spreading out and taking advantage of different ecological opportunities. For example, a single finch bird species spread out and utilized various food sources. Some of the birds fed on insects while others ate seeds or flower nectar. The bird populations eventually became divided, with each group taking advantage of different food sources. Over many generations these different bird populations evolved specialized beaks to take advantage of their specific food sources. The separated sub-populations became unique species, and each of these endemic Hawaiian species uniquely adapted to its particular habitat. The single species of finch birds that evolved into many new species of honeycreepers is an example of the evolutionary process of adaptive radiation, which results in new species development—in this case a single species evolving into more than 50 unique species and subspecies of Hawaiian honeycreepers, some with beaks designed for probing bark and grasping insects, others better suited for eating fruit or sipping nectar. This evolutionary process of adaptive radiation also occurred in plant species. For example, some coastal plants such as naupaka kahakai (Scaevola sericea, beach naupaka) first took hold in coastal areas after the seeds floated here. Eventually the plants grew at higher and higher elevations up the sides of the Hawaiian Islands’ volcanic slopes, and these higher elevation plants developed variations in their leaves and other characteristics that increased their chances of survival in the different habitats. As the beach naupaka species expanded its range and began to grow at higher elevations, six new naupaka species evolved on the slopes of Hawaiian volcanoes. These higher elevation species are now known as naupaka kuahiwi (Scaevolaspecies), and are very different from the original coastal naupaka species that first colonized the Hawaiian Islands. Over hundreds of thousands, and even millions of years, the plants, birds, insects, and sea life that became established in the Hawaiian Islands evolved into thousands of new species with unique traits that aided their survival in the Island habitats. The rich tropical soils of the Hawaiian Islands as well as abundant sunlight and plenteous water provided all of the key ingredients of life, creating an isolated tropical paradise able to produce the fascinating variety of species that now inhabit the air, land and water of the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian Islands today remain a natural showcase of active biological and geological processes. The active volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands continue to create new land even as rains erode the islands back into the sea. Thousands of rare and endangered plants, animals, and marine species found nowhere else continue to thrive in native Hawaiian ecosystems. Unfortunately, many of these species cling to existence in their diminishing native habitats, and face a variety of threats to their continued survival. Scientists consider the Hawaiian Islands a living laboratory, and come to the Islands from all over the world to study the Islands’ species and scientific processes. The endemic species of the Hawaiian Islands are the ongoing record of millions of years of evolution and also a precious living testament to the complex processes of evolutionary biology occurring over millions of years on a relatively tiny group of islands surrounded by thousands of miles of ocean. Humans Arrive The geographic isolation of the Hawaiian Islands also played a prominent role in the Islands’ history of human settlement. The seafaring Polynesians discovered the Hawaiian Islands long after the rest of Polynesia was settled, and Westerners (Europeans) were also relatively late in coming to the Hawaiian Islands. Cristobal Colón (Christopher Columbus) reached the New World in 1492. Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães) of Spain sailed across the Pacific Ocean in 1519. French, English, and Dutch ships undertook many voyages of discovery through the early 1700s, and yet still Westerners had not visited Hawai’i. Magellan died during his voyage, but by 1522 his ship and crew had circumnavigated the planet. Still it would take 256 more years before British Captain James Cook established the first Western contact with the Hawaiian Islands in 1778. Note: There are undocumented accounts of Spanish galleons reaching the Hawaiian Islands before 1778—see Captain Cook section, Chapter 3. Ancient Polynesians—The First Hawaiians More than one thousand years before Captain Cook’s ships reached the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, the Polynesians landed their voyaging canoes on Hawaiian shores. These first human arrivals are thought to have occurred around A.D. 200 to 800. Estimates of the exact date of first human inhabitation of the Hawaiian Islands vary widely, and the date may be much earlier. (See First Polynesians, First Hawaiians, Chapter 3.) The ancient Polynesians were master navigators who spread out over the vast sea, inhabiting hundreds of Pacific islands over thousands of years before finally discovering the Hawaiian Islands. Guided only by the stars, winds, and the flight patterns of birds, and using only the moon and sun as their clock and calendar, the Polynesians were the first humans to reach the Hawaiian Islands. The discovery of the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians occurred despite the fact that the total land area of the Hawaiian Islands is less than 6,500 square miles (16,800 sq. km) located in the middle of an ocean that covers more than 70 million square miles (18,130,000 sq. km), nearly one-third of the Earth’s surface. The Development of a Unique Hawaiian Culture After the Polynesians settled in the Hawaiian Islands, they continued to sail and migrate between the Hawaiian Islands and the islands of southern Polynesia. Sometime around A.D. 1300 the Hawaiians’ contact with southern Polynesiamay have ceased (or significantly decreased), and Hawaiians no longer pursued long distance, open-ocean voyages. It was particularly during this extended period of isolation that a unique Hawaiian culture developed.
When Captain Cook and his crew arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, they found a friendly, self-sufficient and productive people with all the components of a highly developed culture. There was a fairly rigid caste structure, though the Hawaiians also maintained a system of communal subsistence based on the natural resources of wedge-shaped land divisions known as ahupua‘a.
Formed naturally by mountain ridges and extending from the high valley to the seashore and the coral reefs, the ahupua‘a contained all of the different resources important for survival. An ancient Hawaiian proverb states, “O kau aku, o ka ia la mai, pelā ka nohona o ka ‘ohana” (“From you and from him—so lived the family,”) meaning “The farmer gave to the fisherman, the fisherman to the farmer.”[ix]
The culture of ancient Hawai‘i was different in many ways from other Polynesian cultures. For example, a unique Hawaiian language evolved, and it is still considered among the most fluid and melodic of any language known. Hawaiians built the finest pili grass houses, and their magnificently crafted weavings of featherwork were unmatched anywhere. Of all the Pacific cultures, the Hawaiians were the only ones to construct and maintain shoreline loko i‘a (saltwater fishponds). Fish including pua ‘ama‘ama (Mugil cephalus, young stage of ‘ama‘ama, mullet) and pua awa, the young stage of awa (Chanos chanos, milkfish) entered through the mākāhā (sluice gate) into the fishpond, where they were raised and then eaten when needed. The mahiole (feather-crested helmets) that ancient Hawaiians constructed with native plants and feathers were found nowhere else in Polynesia. The cap that formed the base of the mahiole was woven from the aerial root of the ‘ie‘ie vine (Freycinetia arborea), which was also used to weave a great variety of twined baskets in many sizes, shapes and designs. These twined baskets woven from the ‘ie‘ie root were considered the finest in all of ancient Polynesia, a distinction that was also given to the sleeping mats ancient Hawaiians wove from makaloa (Cyperus laevigatus), a native sedge. The makaloa mats, woven with geometrical designs, were known as moena pāwehe. Also unique to the Hawaiian Islands were some forms of ki‘i pōhaku (petroglyphs), including certain muscled figures found nowhere else. No other Pacific culture produced such large ipu (Lageneria siceraria, bottle gourds), and this was a testament to ancient Hawaiians’ horticultural skills. The early settlers of the Hawaiian Islands also created many artistically decorated bowls and containers as well as an innovative new method of carrying the containers using a continuous unknotted cord. The pā ipu (double-gourd drum) and the pūniu (coconut knee drum) also were found nowhere else in Polynesia except the Hawaiian Islands. Ua lehulehu a manomano ka ‘ikena a ka Hawai‘i. Great and numerous is the knowledge of the Hawaiians. (Pukui: 2814-309) Kapa barkcloth was made throughout many tropical areas in ancient times, but the finest kapa was found in Polynesia, and the finest kapa in Polynesia was produced in the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiian kapa displayed a greater variety of design and texture than the kapa produced by any other Polynesian culture. The Hawaiians used a fermentation process and second beating of the kapa that produced a homogenous quality generally free of defects, resulting in a fine barkcloth superior to kapa made in other locales. Many different items were made with this kapa, including various clothing items that were colored and scented with a great variety of dyes and fragrances derived from native and Polynesian-introduced plants. The intricate geometric designs that Hawaiians stamped onto kapa were found nowhere else in Polynesia. Kapa barkcloth was also used for ceremonial purposes. Ancient Hawaiians used the silky pulu (wooly hairs) found on hapu‘u tree ferns (Cibotium species) to embalm their deceased ali‘i (royalty), preserving their bones by wrapping them in kapa and placing them in a remote hidden cave or heiau (sacred place of worship).
Ancient Hawaiians also committed to memory long oli (chants) that were passed down through generations. These chants were often accompanied by dancers performing the sacred art of hula. Wreathed with the woven ferns of the forest, the ancient Hawaiians chanted and danced to give thanks for what they had, and to preserve the stories that deeply enriched their island existence.
With their spoken words, Hawaiians passed on their own history and beliefs, recounting the complex genealogies of their ancestors, carrying on their oral traditions, and perpetuating an extensive knowledge of their natural world including species of the land, air and water as well as the currents of the ocean and winds, the migrating patterns of birds, the movements of the stars and the phases of the moon through the months and seasons.
‘Aumākua—Sacred Guardians The world of the ancient Hawaiians was also rich with spiritual forces that were closely linked to their natural environment. Certain species were considered sacred ‘aumākua, guardian spirits that might be seen in visions or dreams. This connection to the natural world and these spiritual beliefs continue today—the Hawaiian culture is a living culture, and the ancient philosophies still resonate in the daily lives of Hawaiians. As personal or family gods, ‘aumākua may take on various physical manifestations, becoming incarnate in living animals that appear to warn or protect. Some ‘aumākua are the ‘io (Buteo solitarius, Hawaiian hawk), manō (shark), pueo (Asio flammeus, short-eared Owl), honu (Chelonia mydas, sea turtle), kōlea (Pluvialis fulva, Pacific golden plover), and hīnālea (Labridae, wrasse), with different species being ‘aumākua to different people or families. [Small illustrations or photos of above species (hawk, shark, owl, sea turtle, plover, wrasse] “The knowledge of these kāhuna of ancient times was remarkable. It is possible that the source of their knowledge was from observation of the clouds in the heavens, and at times from dreams, and they spoke of what was revealed to them by the ‘aumakua in whom they had faith and who disclosed to them the signs in the heavens and events to come.” Kamehameha and his Warrior Kekūhaupi‘o[x] Forest and Sea The Polynesian settlers of the Hawaiian Islands were extremely knowledgeable about the forest and sea. They utilized a long list of native and Polynesian-introduced plants and animals for food, clothing, shelter, tools, and medicinal preparations as well as for creating religious and artistic items. More than 1,000 years ago, Hawaiians were catching i‘a (fish) from the ocean, building and stocking extensive loko i‘a (fishponds), and cultivating lo‘i kalo, irrigated terraces of kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro). They collected shellfish such as ‘opihi (Cellana species, limpets), gathered pa‘akai (sea salt), and caught manu (birds) for food and for the birds’ beautiful feathers, which were used to create elaborate and intricate featherwork, including ‘ahu ‘ula (feathered capes and cloaks) and feather-crested mahiole (helmets). Ancient Hawaiians also raised pua‘a (Sus scrofa, pigs), moa (Gallus gallus gallus, chickens), and ‘īlio (Canis familiaris, dogs), all of which they had brought with them to the Hawaiian Islands on their voyaging canoes. From shore to mountain peak, the natural environment of the Islands supplied the early Hawaiian settlers with a great variety of different food sources, and usually provided enough for everyone. ‘A‘ohe loea i ka wai ‘ōpae. It is no feat to catch shrimps in a freshet. You don’t need experience to do that job. Shrimps were often taken in great numbers by means of wicker platforms placed across mountain streams. In time of freshets they would be swept onto these platforms and gathered. (Pukui: 176-21) Modern researchers continue to discover how particular traditions and practices used by ancient Hawaiians helped to sustain their ways of living, preserving their land and sea environment so it would continue to provide for them. The pre-contact Hawaiian culture was a highly refined Pacific Island culture unlike any other. Ancient Hawaiians gathered plants from all the varied Island habitats, from the high rainforests to the coastal plains to the limu growing offshore on the coral reefs. Fish were caught using a hook and line, and also with nets, traps and spears. Many different trees were harvested for wood, including koa (Acacia koa) for canoes, ‘ōhi‘a lehua (Metrosideros species) for house posts, wiliwili (Erythrina sandwicensis, Hawaiian coral tree) for papa he‘e nalu (surfboards), and ‘iliahi (Santalum species, sandalwood) for scenting kapa (tapa) barkcloth. Many plants served as offerings to Hawaiian gods. ‘A‘ali‘i (Dodonaea viscosa, Hawaiian hopseed bush), lama (Diospyros species, ebony), ‘ie‘ie (Freycinetia arborea), and maile (Alyxia oliviformis) were considered sacred to the hula goddess Laka; kohekohe (Eleocharis species, spikerush), mai‘a (Musa species, banana plant) and kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro) were used as offerings at loko i‘a (fishponds); the fruiting branches of ‘ōhelo (Vaccinium species) were thrown into Kīlauea Volcano as an offering to Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes. The Hawaiian goddess associated with lei making is Kukuena, whose daughter Laka may take the form of ‘ilima (Sida fallax). According to legend, ‘ilima was also the flower lei worn by the goddess Hina when she was able to escape from the cave of the monster eel Kuna Loa with the help of her son, the god Māui. It was Māui who originally pulled the Hawaiian Islands up from the sea, and Māui who lassoed the rays of the sun atop Haleakalā, making the sun move more slowly across the sky so Hina had more time to dry her kapa barkcloth. Ancient Hawaiians also cultivated many plants they brought with them on their voyaging canoes. ‘Ulu (Artocarpus altilis, breadfruit), kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro) and ‘uala (Ipomoea batatas, sweet potatoes) were grown for food. Ipu (Lagenaria siceraria, bottle gourds) were used as containers and musical instruments. Noni (Morinda citrifolia, Indian mulberry) and ‘awa (Piper methysticum, kava) were cultivated for medicinal and ceremonial uses. Wauke (Broussonetia papyrifera, paper mulberry) was grown to provide a fiber source for making kapa (tapa) barkcloth. The kukui tree (Aleurites moluccana, candlenut) had various medicinal uses, and the oil of the kukui nut was burned as the primary source of light in ancient Hawai‘i. No other culture cultivated kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro) as skillfully and intensively as the ancient Hawaiians. They developed many varieties of kalo suitable for different soil types and climates found throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Particular varieties were cultivated for specific uses, including dyes and medicines as well as food. The ancient Hawaiians were extremely skilled botanists, hand-pollinating various plant species and using a sophisticated classification system with regional and localized names for specific varieties, including more than 70 varieties of mai‘a (Musa species, banana plant) and hundreds of varieties of kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro). They also developed among the sweetest of all ‘uala (Ipomoea batatas, sweet potatoes). Hawaiian Craftsmanship—Houses, Canoes, Weapons, and Tools Ancient Hawaiians were highly skilled crafters utilizing many different materials. Pōhaku pa‘a (basaltic rocks) were chipped into ko‘i (stone adzes), an important tool for crafting many other products. The Hawaiians built formidable stone heiau (sacred places of worship), carved stunning ki‘i (temple gods) from ‘ōhi‘a lehua (Metrosideros species), constructed elegant houses thatched with pili grass (Heteropogon contortus, twisted beardgrass), and carved makau (fishhooks) from bones and shells. Using the wood of the native koa tree (Acacia koa), ancient Hawaiians built twin-hulled sailing canoes that were more than 70 feet (21 m) long and strong enough to cross the Pacific Ocean. Canoe parts were made from various materials, including lau hala, leaves of hala (Pandanus tectorius, screwpine), which were woven into sails for the canoes. Strong kaula (cordage) to lash the canoes together was woven from the inner bark of hau as well as olonā (Touchardia latifolia), and from the fibers of the nut of niu (Cocos nucifera, coconut palm). This cordage was also important for house construction, fishing nets and numerous other uses. Olonā (Touchardia latifolia) provided the finest cordage of ancient Polynesia as well as the entire Pacific region. During the process of making olonā cordage, strips of bark were placed on a papa olonā (slanted board) and scraped with a tool known as an uhi, which was usually fashioned from the shell of honu (Chelonia mydas, green sea turtle; or Eretmochelys imbricata, hawksbill sea turtle) or a piece of the turtle’s bone plate beneath its shell. The scraping away of the olonā bark left many fine white fibers, which were then dried in the sun and twisted into the final product. The Islands were not always a peaceful place for the ancient Hawaiians, and by necessity their ingenuity extended into the domain of warfare. They were the only Polynesian culture to construct pāhoa (daggers), and they fashioned at least five distinct types, including curve-bladed daggers, long-bladed daggers, bludgeon daggers (a combination club/dagger), truncheon daggers (with a pointed end used for stabbing) and daggers made from the blades (bones) of the swordfish. [Photograph: Ancient pāhoa (daggers).] Other weapons constructed by ancient Hawaiians included lā‘au pālau (clubs), pīkoi (tripping weapons), ma‘a (slings to hurl stones), ihe (spears and javelins) and ihe laumeki (barbed javelins). Shark teeth were also used to make daggers and other weapons. The niho (tooth) of the palaoa (Physeter macrocephalus, sperm whale) was reserved for the prized royal necklace known as lei niho palaoa. A great variety of lei were woven from the fragrant ferns and flowers of the forest. Lei were also constructed using colorful feathers of native birds as well as seashells. Shells were used for food scrapers, fishhooks, and various other uses. The shells of honu (Chelonia mydas, green sea turtles; Eretmochelys imbricata, hawksbill sea turtles) also had medicinal uses, and were fashioned into combs and other implements. The tips of large triton conch or helmet shells were filed off to make pū (trumpet-like musical instruments). Some other musical instruments produced by ancient Hawaiians included the nī‘au kani (mouth harp), hōkiokio (gourd whistle), kūpe‘e niho ‘īlio (dog-tooth anklet), ‘ohe hano ihu (bamboo nose flute), and pā ipu (gourd drum). [Illustration: Musical instruments listed above.] Traditional instruments accompanying hula included the pahu hula, a drum made from the trunk of niu (Cocos nucifera, coconut palm) or ‘ulu (Artocarpus altilis, breadfruit), and using a sharkskin drumhead. Also used to keep the beat were lā‘au ho‘okani pahu (drumming sticks), pū‘ili (split bamboo rattles), and the ‘ulī‘ulī, a gourd rattle containing seeds and adorned with colorful feathers. A musical bow called the ‘ūkēkē was made with three strings that were strummed while the player’s mouth was used as a resonance chamber. The ‘ūkēkē produces a speech-like sound though no noise is made by the player’s vocal cords. The ‘ūkēkē was traditionally made from the wood of kauila (Colubrina oppositifolia), ‘iliahi (Santalum species, sandalwood) or ‘ūlei (Osteomeles anthyllidifolia, Hawaiian hawthorn). The ‘ūkēkē was the only stringed instrument of ancient Hawai‘i. (For more information about the ‘ūkēkē, see ‘Iliahi in Chapter 8.) Hawaiian Games, Sports, Rituals, Ceremonies, and Celebrations Ancient Hawaiians enjoyed a great variety of pā‘ani (sports and games), many of which were part of more serious rituals and ceremonies. For example, ancient Hawaiians (especially the young) made various hei (string figures) using string looped around the fingers. Ancient Hawaiians produced at least 115 of these string figures, and many of the figures were associated with particular chants. A traditional loop and ball game was known as pala‘ie. The game of kōnane is similar to the Western game of checkers, and was played using pebbles on a stone or wood surface called a papa kōnane. Ancient Hawaiians also engaged in many contests of strength and balance, including uma and pā uma (hand and wrist wrestling), kula‘i wāwae (foot-pushing), kula kula‘i (chest pushing), heihei kūkini (foot races), and hākōkō (wrestling). Ku‘i a lua was a dangerous form of hand-to-hand fighting, sometimes resulting in broken bones. Pua (arrows, or darts) were sometimes made from stalks of kō (Saccharum officinarum, sugarcane) or other plants, and were used in games and contests. O Ka‘aōna ka pua i ka uwahi o ka ho‘oilo, a ulu māhiehie. In Ka‘aōna [is used] the dart that has rested in the smoke during the rainy months until it acquires beauty. Said of the month Ka‘aōna, when the young people bring out their darts for games. These darts had reddened in the smoke of the fireplaces during the wet months. With rubbing and polishing they acquired a beautiful sheen. (Pukui: 2396-262) Loulou is a finger-pulling contest in which opponents hook their fingers together (loulou means “to link or hook together”) and then the competitors see who can stay hooked the longest. A team tug-of-war game is known as pā‘ume‘ume (also called hukihuki); ‘io is a tag game involving foot-racing; and ‘ulu maika involves rolling stone discs for accuracy and distance. Ho‘olele lupe (flying kites) were made by covering a hau frame with kapa barkcloth or plaited lau hala, and then the kites are flown on a cord made from olonā. Ancient Hawaiians also practiced kio (mock war games) in anticipation of real battle. They threw ku‘uku‘u (boomerangs) and participated in kākā lā‘au (spear fencing), ‘ō‘ō ihe (spear throwing), and ku‘i a lua (hand-to-hand fighting). Kūpololū involved using long spears (pololū) to pole vault, which was a necessary warrior skill for traversing ravines. Many activities occurred in or near the ocean, including ‘au (swimming). Lele kawa involved jumping off cliffs into the sea in an attempt to make the least amount of splash, while the goal of lele pahū was to make the biggest splash. The sport of kaupua was another ocean challenge, requiring participants to dive deep underwater to retrieve half-ripe ipu (Lageneria siceraria, gourds). Ancient Hawaiians also engaged in kaha nalu (body surfing), he‘e nalu (surfing) and heihei wa‘a (canoe racing). Many ancient Hawaiian games and sports were played during the ancient Hawaiian harvest festival known as Makahiki, which began about the middle of October and lasted several months. Time was taken away from work for feasts, sports games, and other events in honor of Lono, the god of agricultural fertility. Some contests engaged in during the Makahiki were meant to strengthen the participants’ warrior skills. He‘e hōlua involved using papa hōlua (wooden sleds) to slide down steep hills or down specially constructed stone ramps. The slides were lined with pili grass (Heteropogon contortus, twisted beardgrass) or tassels of kō (Saccharum officinarum, sugarcane), allowing the sledders to reach speeds sometimes exceeding 100 miles per hour (161 km/hr). Children often slid down the steep inclines on the stalks of a mai‘a (Musa species, banana plants) or on hōlua kī, the leaves of kī (Cordyline fruticosa, ti). He he‘e hōlua One who rides a hōlua sled. Said proudly of being a descendant of the chiefly families of Waipi‘o, Hawai‘i, who were well known for their skill in hōlua sledding. (Pukui: 571-66) On Kaua‘i’s northern shore, ali‘i (Hawaiian royalty) marked special occasions with the ‘ōahi (fire throwing) ceremony, which involved throwing burning logs of hau (Talipariti tiliaceum) and pāpala (Charpentiera species) into the seaward winds blowing off the cliffs of Makana, Mākua and Kāmaile. Carried by the strong winds, the firebrands soared out over the water to the delight of crowds that arrived in canoes from as far away as Ni‘ihau. [Illustration: ‘Ōahi (fire throwing) ceremony] Social Structure of Ancient Hawai‘i Ancient Hawaiians had a structured social order with kānāwai (strict regulations and a system of laws) that determined if something was kapu (sacred or forbidden). The mō‘ī (king, queen) and his/her ‘aha kuhina (chiefs and advisers) constituted the highest class. Below them were the nobility, known as ali‘i. Next in rank were the kāhuna, which included priests as well as professionals with specific skills in particular fields. Common people, mostly farmers, were known as maka‘āinana and fell prostrate to the ground in the presence of chiefs, who possessed more mana (divine power). The lowest outcast members of society were known as kauā (or kauwā). Western Contact After Captain Cook established Western contact with the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, the physical and cultural landscape of the Islands underwent rapid change. Foreign diseases were brought by Cook’s crew, and then by other exploration and trading ships that arrived during the following decades on their way to and from China. Native Hawaiians had little immunity to these foreign diseases, which decimated the native population. Captain Cook’s ships also brought pigs that were larger than the Polynesian-introduced pigs. Vancouver’s expeditions in 1792, 1793 and 1794 brought sheep, goats and cattle. These introduced species quickly began to have negative effects on native plants, birds, and other species. In 1820, the First Company of American missionaries arrived on the 85-foot brig Thaddeus and began to actively convert native Hawaiians to Christianity. Missionaries continued arriving in the Hawaiian Islands throughout the following decades, culminating with the Twelfth Company of American missionaries in 1848. The missionaries preached, built schools, and increasingly exerted a significant influence on native ways of life while discouraging many traditional cultural beliefs and practices, including hula. E kipi ana lākou nei. ‘A‘ole na‘e o lākou pono‘ī akā lākou mau keiki me na mo‘opuna. O ke ali‘i e ola ana ia wā e ku ‘ōlohelohe ana ia, a o ke aupuni e kūkulu ‘ia aku ana, oia ke aupuni pa‘a o Hawai‘i nei. These people [the missionaries] are going to rebel; not they themselves, but their children and grandchildren. The ruler at that time will be stripped of power, and the government established then will be the permanent government of Hawai‘i. Prophesied by David Malo. (Pukui: 321-39) A sandalwood trade began in 1791 and lasted until 1840, bringing a steady influx of foreign products to the Hawaiian Islands. The arduous labor involved in sandalwood harvesting further degraded traditional ways of life and caused a sharp decline in traditional food production, including a marked decrease in the farming of kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro), an important staple food of early Hawaiians. The era of whaling began in 1819, and during the following decades whaling ships brought tens of thousands of foreigners to the Hawaiian Islands. In 1846 alone, 596 whaling ships visited the Hawaiian Islands. Traditional Hawaiian ways of life continued to be affected by the influx of foreigners and there was a marked increase in alcohol consumption among residents of the Hawaiian Islands. In 1829, missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands selected a 12-letter alphabet in order to develop a written Hawaiian language that was modeled after the oral Hawaiian language. The missionaries outlined a structure that adopted five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p, and w), attempting to accurately represent the sounds of Hawaiian words with English letters. In 1836, Lorrin Andrews (1795-1868) compiled a list of 5,700 words, the first significant Hawaiian-English vocabulary (some earlier lists were published—see Hawaiian Language, Chapter 3). Andrews was head of Maui’s Lahainaluna School, which was founded in 1831 by American Protestant missionaries as a seminary of advanced education for young Hawaiian men, with an overarching missionary goal of advancing Christianity. Commercial production of sugarcane in the Hawaiian Islands began in Kōloa, Kaua‘i in 1835, and then began to significantly increase throughout the Islands in 1856. The advent of commercial sugarcane production led to the immigration of hundreds of thousands of foreign laborers, and this rapidly changed the demographic makeup of the Hawaiian Islands. Sugar production became a major industry affecting all facets of island life, bringing vast political, social, economic, and environmental changes. In 1893, prominent sugar merchants in the Hawaiian Islands were directly linked to the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. Throughout the 1800s, foreign diseases continued to decimate the native Hawaiian population, which went from an estimated 300,000 in 1778 to about 40,000 in 1890. (Note: Estimates of the Hawaiian population at the time of Western contact in 1778 vary from 200,000 to more than 700,000.) The decline of the native Hawaiian population occurred even as the non-native population of the Hawaiian Islands continued to grow with the steady influx of immigrant laborers who came to work on the sugar plantations. Foreign introduced diseases that significantly affected the native population included measles, smallpox, Asiatic cholera, whooping cough, scarlet fever, diphtheria, influenza, syphilis, gonorrhea, bubonic plague, dysentery, and numerous other maladies that took many native lives. Throughout the 1900s, tourism increasingly became a driving force of the economy of the Hawaiian Islands. Everything changed, however, on December 7, 1941 when 350 Japanese bomber planes attacked Pearl Harbor, killing 2,383 people and wounding another 1,178. The attack on Pearl Harbor also sunk eight huge American battleships, damaging 21 ships in all and destroying 347 planes, and entering the United States into World War II. During the following years, hundreds of thousands of Army, Navy, and Marine Corps troops were stationed in the Hawaiian Islands. Millions of servicemen passed through the Islands on their way to combat areas in the Pacific. This large military presence in the Hawaiian Islands was another significant factor changing the demographic makeup of the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaiian Islands Today At its core, the ancient Hawaiian culture embodies the concept of aloha, emphasizing giving without the expectation of return, and a spirit of loving, sharing and caring for all the ‘ohana (extended family). This spirit of aloha was such an integral part of ancient Hawaiian life that it continues strongly today despite the vast changes that have come over the land and people. Ua hilo ‘ia i ke aho a ke aloha. Braided with the cords of love. Held in the bond of affection. (Pukui: 2786-307) Many difficulties have been endured by the Hawaiian people, yet still the Hawaiian culture remains alive and vibrant. The Hawaiian language is spoken, native arts are practiced, and hula is performed. Local fishermen ply the sea to feed their families, and farmers cultivate kalo (taro) to make poi. There are lū‘au (feasts) with ‘ohana (family) while keiki (children) string together fragrant lei, surf the ocean waves, and are raised with aloha in their hearts. [Photograph: Hula dancing at Merrie Monarch Festival (2005 photo)]
[i] Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Elbert, Samuel H. Hawaiian Dictionary: Revised and Enlarged Edition. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986. [ii] Wagner, Warren L., Herbst, Derral R., and Sohmer, S.H. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i: Revised Edition, Volumes 1 and 2. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press; Bishop Museum Press, 1999. [iii] Evenhuis, Neal L., and Eldredge, Lucius G., Editors. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2000. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers, Number 68, 69. Honolulu: Bishop Museum, 3/25/2002. [iv] Wagner, Warren L., and Herbst, Derral R. Electronic Supplement to the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i. Internet site: http://rathbun.si.edu/botany/pacificislandbiodiversity/hawaiianflora/supplement.htm, 3/05/2002. [v] Wagner, Warren L., Herbst, Derral R., and Sohmer, S.H. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i: Revised Edition, Volumes 1 and 2. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press; Bishop Museum Press, 1999. [vi] Burney, David A., James, Helen F., Burney, Lida Pigott, Olson, Storrs L., Kikuchi, William, Wagner, Warren L., Burney, Mara, McCloskey, Deirdre, Kikuchi, Delores, Grady, Frederick V., Gage II, Reginald, and Nishek, Robert. Fossil evidence for a diverse biota from Kaua‘i and its transformation since human arrival. Ecological Monographs, 71 (4), 2001, pp. 615-641. [vii] Wagner, Warren L., Herbst, Derral R., and Sohmer, S.H. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i: Revised Edition, Volumes 1 and 2. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press; Bishop Museum Press, 1999. [viii] Sources include: DNA tests trace Polynesians to China origins. The Honolulu Advertiser, 8/11/1998. Borg, Jim. Genetic research offers intriguing new view of Polynesian migrations. Hawaii Magazine, February, 1997. Human DNA analysis points to African origin: Study performed on complete genome. The Honolulu Advertiser, 12/7/2000. Krauss, Bob. Pacific migration theory disputed: Polynesians may be from Indonesia. The Honolulu Advertiser, 7/18/2000. Matisoo-Smith, E., Roberts, R.M., Irwin, G.J., Allen, J.S., Penny, D. and Lambert, D.M. Patterns of prehistoric human mobility in Polynesia indicated by mtDNA from the Pacific rat. Anthropology, Vol. 95, pp. 15145-15150, December, 1998. Matsunaga, Mark. Scientists still fish for migration answer: Canoes ready to test theory of the fishhooks. The Honolulu Advertiser, 4/16/1995. [ix] p. 266, Pukui, Mary Kawena. ‘Ōlelo No‘eau: Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1983. Proverb 2441. [x] p. 169, Desha, Stephen L., translated by Frazier, Frances N. Kamehameha and his Warrior Kekūhaupi‘o. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press, 2000.
Chapter 1. The Story of the Hawaiian Islands—
An Introduction
Overview of the Natural and Human History
of the Hawaiian Islands
[Illustration: Whale breaching in ocean with erupting volcano in background]
The Hawaiian Islands are a place of incredible landforms and amazing life forms—fish-filled coral reefs, barren lava deserts, tropical rainforests, and snow-wreathed summits. Migrating whales weighing more than 50 tons leap from the sea. Tiny insects thrive on windy mountaintops and deep in caves. Colorful birds hide among the forest foliage. Everywhere there is life.
Seabirds soar high over the ocean and nest along the shores of the Hawaiian Islands. Some of these seabird species live in the Hawaiian Islands year round while others come and go on their annual migrations. Moli (Diomedea immutabilis, Laysan albatross) are born on Island seacliffs and may stay at sea for five years before returning to nest.
The kōlea (Pluvialis fulva, Pacific golden plover) migrates to the Hawaiian Islands from thousands of miles to the north, as does the koholā (Megaptera novaeangliae, humpback whale). Both species stay in the Hawaiian Islands for the winter months, but plovers come to the Hawaiian fields and pastures to feed and lay their eggs in the north, while humpbacks go north to feed and come to Hawaiian waters to mate and give birth. Each species is attuned to its own unique rhythms and cycles of life.
The wetlands and lo‘i kalo (taro patches) of the Hawaiian Islands are home to numerous waterbirds, including the ae‘o (Himantopus mexicanus knudseni, Hawaiian stilt); ‘alae ke‘oke (Fulica alai, Hawaiian coot); koloa (Anas wyvilliana, Hawaiian duck); ‘alae ula (Gallinula chloropus sandvicensis, gallinule); and ‘auku‘u (Nycticorax nycticorax hoactli, black-crowned night-heron).
The nēnē (Branta sandvicensis, Hawaiian goose) is a native bird whose ancestors originally came to the Hawaiian Islands from Canada. Over a period of millions of years since arriving in the Hawaiian Islands, the Canadian goose underwent evolutionary changes resulting in the nēnē, a bird with feet well-adapted to walking on high, dry lava flow areas and very different than the feet of Canadian geese. More recently the nēnē has made a remarkable recovery from near extinction, and now thrives in various Hawaiian habitats including lowland taro patches and wetland areas.
The rainforests of the Hawaiian Islands are home to dozens of species of small endemic land birds, including a variety of honeyeater and honeycreeper species. Each different species has evolved a particular type of specialized beak adapted to utilize a specific food source such as seeds, insects, or nectar from native flowers. Pueo (Asio flammeus sandwichensis; Hawaiian owls) also inhabit Hawaiian forests, along with the extremely endangered ‘alalā (Asio flammeus sandwichensis, Hawaiian crow), and ‘io (Buteo solitarius, Hawaiian hawk).
[Photograph: ‘Io, Hawaiian hawk]
Kaha ka ‘io i ka mālie.
The ‘io bird poises in the calm.
Said in admiration of a handsome person.
An ‘io dips gracefully as it flies, with wings that flap slowly.
(Pukui: 1288-141)
Many Hawaiian bird species now cling precariously to survival due to loss of native habitat, competition from introduced species, and foreign diseases such as pox and malaria that have caused the extinction of more than half of the native bird species of the Hawaiian Islands. Some native bird species that were nearly extinct, such as the nēnē, stilt, and koloa, are now increasing in numbers.
Birds are just part of the native wildlife of the Hawaiian Islands. Plants and ferns fill the native forests along with myriad insects, many of them endemic (unique to the Hawaiian Islands), including wolf spiders in subterranean caves and Happyface spiders in the rainforests. A great variety of native damselflies, dragonflies, and butterflies flutter and dart about from shore to high mountain valley.
Native insects are food for the freshwater fish of the Hawaiian Islands, such as ‘o‘opu (Gobiidae; Eleotridae), the native gobies that begin as tiny larvae that are swept downstream into the ocean. ‘O‘opu larvae develop into fish before swimming back upstream, and they use their modified fins like suction cups to climb up waterfalls, eventually reaching the place they were born. There they lay their eggs and complete their life cycle. Each of the five native ‘o‘opu species is adapted to a specific habitat.
In the ocean, the nearshore coral reefs support hundreds of species of native fish of every size, shape and color along with coralline algae, sponges, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, sea stars, octopi, squid, eels, sharks, and various crustaceans such as crabs, shrimp, and lobsters.
Every morning pods of spinner dolphins come near the shores of the Hawaiian Islands, some of them swimming in a large circle to rest in a sort of half-sleep state while others leap up from the sea, spinning and flipping head over tail before splashing back down on the ocean’s surface.
Huge monk seals sleep on the beach in the midday sun, unaware they are among the most endangered sea mammals on Earth. Green sea turtles crawl up on the sand in the tropical moonlight to lay their eggs. Each of Hawai‘i’s native species is attuned to its own unique rhythms and cycles of life, and every species has its own unique story of evolution.
A Place of Beauty and Extremes
In the Hawaiian Islands, one can hike to a secluded mountain waterfall, surf the ocean waves, or just lie on a sandy beach and watch tropicbirds soar overhead as rainbows form and dissipate over warm, aquamarine waters. The natural environment of the Hawaiian Islands is an ever-changing panorama of spectacular vistas and limitless opportunities for appreciation of nature’s wonders.
The Hawaiian archipelago is also a place of extremes. Hawai‘i Island’s Kīlauea Volcano is the most continuously active volcano on Earth. Moloka‘i’s seacliffs are among the tallest on the planet, and Moloka‘i’s reefs among the world’s richest. On the island of Kaua‘i, a volcanic mountain called Wai‘ale‘ale is one of the rainiest spots on Earth, and stands between three other equally amazing places: the steep cliffs and spires of the Nāpali Coast, the deeply-carved Waimea Canyon, and the world’s highest swamp, the Alaka‘i, where extremely acidic soils produce dwarfed ‘ōhi‘a lehua trees alongside rare carnivorous plants called mikinalo, which means, “to suck flies.”
In subterranean lava tubes on Kaua‘i are sightless spiders that use their front legs as acoustic antennae to chase down translucent crickets. Atop snowy Mauna Kea Volcano on Hawai‘i Island is the tiny wēkiu bug (Nysius wekiuicola) that has developed an antifreeze substance in its blood and survives by catching insects from the wind. Wēkiu means “Summit,” or “Peak.”[i]
He pua no ka wēkiu.
A blossom on the topmost branch.
Praise of an outstanding person.
(Pukui: 923-99)
The towering Mauna Kea Volcano rises up more than 6 miles (9.7 km) from the ocean bottom. Measured from base to summit, Mauna Kea is more than 1,000 feet (305 m) taller than Mount Everest, which is the tallest mountain on Earth measured from sea level. Mauna Kea’s summit rises 13,796 feet (4,205 m) above sea level, and is considered the best place on Earth to look toward the heavens, and the astronomical observatories atop Mauna Kea have no equal.
The Hawaiian Islands may also be a dangerous place. Landslides and lava eruptions have buried entire villages. Floods and tsunamis have devastated coastlines. Numerous hurricanes have caused billions of dollars in damages to homes and buildings.
Every winter, significant ocean swells are spawned by storms thousands of miles north of the Hawaiian Islands. Huge waves generated by these swells arrive along the northern shores of the Hawaiian Islands. Many of Hawai‘i’s bravest and most daring surfers attempt to ride these monstrous winter waves. Ocean conditions during the winter months, however, are not for the inexperienced, and many lives have ended prematurely due to the large ocean waves that constantly buffet the Hawaiian Islands.
The Island Building Process—Origins of the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain
Dynamic and ever changing, the Hawaiian Islands are just the most recent products of the Hawaiian magmatic hot spot, a stationary plume of magma (molten lava) rising from deep in the Earth. During the last 75 to 80 million years, the Hawaiian hot spot has created at least 107 volcanoes that now span over the Pacific seafloor for more than 3,100 miles (4,990 km), and are known as the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain.
The volcanoes of the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain were formed as a piece of the Earth’s crust known as the Pacific Plate (a tectonic plate) drifted on the molten rock (magma) beneath it. As the Pacific Plate moved over the stationary magmatic hot spot, magma erupted up through the Pacific Plate creating volcano after volcano. The Pacific Plate has been moving continuously over the erupting hot spot for the last 80 million years.
As the magma of the hot spot burned up through the Earth’s crust, it piled layer upon layer of lava onto the ocean floor. This lava built an underwater volcano to heights of ten, fifteen, twenty thousand feet until finally, in a fitful burst of steam and liquid stone, the volcano reached the ocean’s surface and became an island.
After each volcanic island was created above the active hot spot lava plume, it was then rafted northwest at the rate of about 3½ inches (9 cm) per year, making way for the next volcano to emerge. Over millions of years, island after island was formed, and each in turn was carried northwest away from the magmatic hot spot by the movement of the Pacific Plate. These volcanic islands first became dormant and then extinct as they moved northwest away from the magmatic hot spot.
The volcanic island building process continues today on the island of Hawai‘i at the southeast end of the Hawaiian Island Chain, where Kīlauea Volcano is currently above one edge of the Hawaiian hot spot’s actively erupting lava. The other edge of the erupting lava plume is beneath the sea about 18 miles (29 km) off Hawai‘i Island’s southeast coast, where it has formed a seamount called Lō‘ihi. This undersea volcano continues to grow, and is already 9,000 feet (2,750 m) tall with about 3,200 feet (975 m) to go before it reaches the ocean’s surface and then rises above to become the next Hawaiian Island.
The island of Hawai‘i (the Big Island) is the most recently formed Hawaiian Island, at less than one-half million years old. Like Lō‘ihi Seamount, the island of Hawai‘i also continues to grow, its size having increased by more than 370 acres (150 ha) since 1984 when Kīlauea Volcano erupted fiery fountains of lava to heights of over 1,500 feet (460 m). From 1983 to the present, Kīlauea Volcano has been erupting almost continuously.
[Photograph: Erupting lava]
Kaua‘i is the northernmost and oldest of the eight main Hawaiian Islands, having first risen above the sea more than five million years ago. Kaua‘i’s highest peaks were once thousands of feet taller, but centuries of tropical rainstorms have eroded the heights of Kaua‘i’s volcanic summits.
The ancient volcanoes of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands have also been eroded away by the effects of rain, wind, waves, and time. The 124 small islets, atolls and shoals of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands span over more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of ocean, beginning hundreds of miles northwest of the eight main Hawaiian Islands. Most of the tiny islets barely rise above the water’s surface.
Some millions of years from now, Kaua‘i will also have eroded down to sea level, first leaving an atoll and then finally disappearing once again beneath the sea.
[Photograph: Cliffs and spires of Nāpali Coast]
Geographic Isolation and Biological Processes
The extreme geographic isolation of the newly formed Hawaiian Islands made it difficult for new species to reach the Islands and become established. However, as plants began to take hold and an abundance of rich and diverse habitats formed from the shorelines to the river valleys to the mountain peaks, new species that did make it to the Hawaiian Islands were more likely to thrive, reproduce, adapt to new habitats and food sources, and evolve into unique Hawaiian species.
In this way, over a period of millions of years, from the relatively few original colonizing species of the Hawaiian Islands many thousands of unique Hawaiian species evolved—plants, insects, bats, seals, birds, fish and a multitude of other organisms that took advantage of the ecological opportunities (niches) provided by the wealth of different native landscapes and ocean habitats in the Hawaiian Islands.
The evolutionary process of adaptive radiation describes how so few colonizing species in the Hawaiian Islands managed to evolve over many millennia into a fascinating array of endemic flora and fauna, including thousands of species found nowhere else on Earth. For example, a single colonizing plant species evolved into more than 120 endemic Hawaiian species in the Campanulaceae family (subfamily Lobelioideae).
The 1999 Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i[ii] documented 956 native Hawaiian flowering plants (850 endemic), yet much about the flora of the Hawaiian Islands remains undiscovered. Just since the Manual was published in 1999, new scientific explorations and botanical analyses have yielded dozens of new species discoveries.
New research on plant characteristics and taxonomy of Hawaiian plants has also led to hundreds of new refinements of classifications of species, subspecies, and varieties. According to the Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2000,[iii] there are currently at least 1,882 documented native Hawaiian plants (1,159 endemic), including 1,163 native flowering plants (918 endemic). (See Overview of Native and Polynesian-Introduced Species of the Hawaiian Islands, Chapter 5.)
The high rate of new species discovery in the Hawaiian Islands as well as the largely incomplete state of properly classifying the diverse flora and fauna of the Islands may both be attributed to the rapid rate of new species development in the archipelago as well as Hawai‘i’s isolation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Just in the Cyanea genus of the Campanulaceae family, five new species were discovered. Based on new analyses of botanical characteristics, the genus Lobelia,one of the six endemic genera of Campanulaceae family, was entirely eliminated, and the endemic Lobelia species were reclassified into two new genera (Neowimmeria and Galeatella).
New Hawaiian plant species discoveries and new botanical classifications are documented in the 2002 Electronic Supplement to the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i.[iv] For more information see the Introduction to the Native Plants and Ferns section of this text in Chapter 8, which includes a summary of the significant changes documented in the Electronic Supplement. One notable change is that kou (Cordia subcordata), a tree long thought to be a Polynesian introduction (and documented as such in the 1999 Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i [v] ) was reclassified as indigenous, and thus is considered a native Hawaiian species. Note: This reclassification of kou was based on a discovery of subfossil seeds and reported in a study by David A Burney and others entitled Fossil evidence for a diverse biota from Kaua‘i and its transformation since human arrival.[vi]
Endemism
Endemic Hawaiian species are native to the Hawaiian Islands and found naturally nowhere else except the Hawaiian Islands. The rate of endemism for native Hawaiian flowering plants is about 79%, including 918 endemic Hawaiian flowering plant species out of a total of 1,159 native flowering plant species in the Hawaiian Islands.[vii] The high rate of flowering plant endemism in the Hawaiian Islands is primarily attributed to the isolation of the Hawaiian Islands in combination with the great diversity of habitats and food sources found throughout the Islands.
The Hawaiian Islands are extremely far away from any continent or any other islands. The Hawaiian Islands are also blessed with plentiful sun, soil, and fresh water along with a wide variety of very different natural habitats that support an incredibly diverse array of species, from birds in the air to all the varied creatures of the land to the fascinating variety of marine life in the surrounding ocean.
The extreme geographic isolation of the Hawaiian Islands is also reflected in the genetics of the native population. Recent DNA studies have shown a relatively low rate of genetic diversity among native Hawaiian people, a finding that reflects their segregation from other races in ancient times.
The probability of finding two individuals with the same DNA profile is about 1 in 112 million for Asians, and 1 in 47 million for Caucasians, but only 1 in 6.7 million for Polynesians. Researchers theorize that this lower rate of genetic diversity of Polynesians is a direct result of the fact that they were very isolated from other races in ancient times. [viii]
Initial Colonizing Species—Adaptive Radiation
Before humans discovered the Hawaiian Islands, relatively few species managed to reach the isolated island chain. The first colonizing species that somehow found their way to the remote archipelago of the Hawaiian Islands may have been birds blown off course, insects carried by the wind, or seeds floating on the water.
Seeds were also carried to the Islands in the feathers and stomachs of birds, while mud on the birds’ feet also carried tiny eggs of land snails and other species. Some plants, insects, reptiles, and other species may have reached the Hawaiian Islands by rafting over the vast Pacific Ocean on logs or other floating debris. These species were somehow able to cross thousands of miles of ocean and reach the Hawaiian Islands, then reproduce and become established, eventually adapting to their new Hawaiian habitats.
Populations of species that established themselves in the Hawaiian Islands often became separated from one another, spreading out and taking advantage of different ecological opportunities. For example, a single finch bird species spread out and utilized various food sources. Some of the birds fed on insects while others ate seeds or flower nectar. The bird populations eventually became divided, with each group taking advantage of different food sources.
Over many generations these different bird populations evolved specialized beaks to take advantage of their specific food sources. The separated sub-populations became unique species, and each of these endemic Hawaiian species uniquely adapted to its particular habitat.
The single species of finch birds that evolved into many new species of honeycreepers is an example of the evolutionary process of adaptive radiation, which results in new species development—in this case a single species evolving into more than 50 unique species and subspecies of Hawaiian honeycreepers, some with beaks designed for probing bark and grasping insects, others better suited for eating fruit or sipping nectar.
This evolutionary process of adaptive radiation also occurred in plant species. For example, some coastal plants such as naupaka kahakai (Scaevola sericea, beach naupaka) first took hold in coastal areas after the seeds floated here. Eventually the plants grew at higher and higher elevations up the sides of the Hawaiian Islands’ volcanic slopes, and these higher elevation plants developed variations in their leaves and other characteristics that increased their chances of survival in the different habitats.
As the beach naupaka species expanded its range and began to grow at higher elevations, six new naupaka species evolved on the slopes of Hawaiian volcanoes. These higher elevation species are now known as naupaka kuahiwi (Scaevolaspecies), and are very different from the original coastal naupaka species that first colonized the Hawaiian Islands.
Over hundreds of thousands, and even millions of years, the plants, birds, insects, and sea life that became established in the Hawaiian Islands evolved into thousands of new species with unique traits that aided their survival in the Island habitats.
The rich tropical soils of the Hawaiian Islands as well as abundant sunlight and plenteous water provided all of the key ingredients of life, creating an isolated tropical paradise able to produce the fascinating variety of species that now inhabit the air, land and water of the Hawaiian Islands.
The Hawaiian Islands today remain a natural showcase of active biological and geological processes. The active volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands continue to create new land even as rains erode the islands back into the sea. Thousands of rare and endangered plants, animals, and marine species found nowhere else continue to thrive in native Hawaiian ecosystems. Unfortunately, many of these species cling to existence in their diminishing native habitats, and face a variety of threats to their continued survival.
Scientists consider the Hawaiian Islands a living laboratory, and come to the Islands from all over the world to study the Islands’ species and scientific processes. The endemic species of the Hawaiian Islands are the ongoing record of millions of years of evolution and also a precious living testament to the complex processes of evolutionary biology occurring over millions of years on a relatively tiny group of islands surrounded by thousands of miles of ocean.
Humans Arrive
The geographic isolation of the Hawaiian Islands also played a prominent role in the Islands’ history of human settlement. The seafaring Polynesians discovered the Hawaiian Islands long after the rest of Polynesia was settled, and Westerners (Europeans) were also relatively late in coming to the Hawaiian Islands.
Cristobal Colón (Christopher Columbus) reached the New World in 1492. Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães) of Spain sailed across the Pacific Ocean in 1519. French, English, and Dutch ships undertook many voyages of discovery through the early 1700s, and yet still Westerners had not visited Hawai’i.
Magellan died during his voyage, but by 1522 his ship and crew had circumnavigated the planet. Still it would take 256 more years before British Captain James Cook established the first Western contact with the Hawaiian Islands in 1778. Note: There are undocumented accounts of Spanish galleons reaching the Hawaiian Islands before 1778—see Captain Cook section, Chapter 3.
Ancient Polynesians—The First Hawaiians
More than one thousand years before Captain Cook’s ships reached the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, the Polynesians landed their voyaging canoes on Hawaiian shores. These first human arrivals are thought to have occurred around A.D. 200 to 800. Estimates of the exact date of first human inhabitation of the Hawaiian Islands vary widely, and the date may be much earlier. (See First Polynesians, First Hawaiians, Chapter 3.)
The ancient Polynesians were master navigators who spread out over the vast sea, inhabiting hundreds of Pacific islands over thousands of years before finally discovering the Hawaiian Islands. Guided only by the stars, winds, and the flight patterns of birds, and using only the moon and sun as their clock and calendar, the Polynesians were the first humans to reach the Hawaiian Islands.
The discovery of the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians occurred despite the fact that the total land area of the Hawaiian Islands is less than 6,500 square miles (16,800 sq. km) located in the middle of an ocean that covers more than 70 million square miles (18,130,000 sq. km), nearly one-third of the Earth’s surface.
The Development of a Unique Hawaiian Culture
After the Polynesians settled in the Hawaiian Islands, they continued to sail and migrate between the Hawaiian Islands and the islands of southern Polynesia. Sometime around A.D. 1300 the Hawaiians’ contact with southern Polynesiamay have ceased (or significantly decreased), and Hawaiians no longer pursued long distance, open-ocean voyages. It was particularly during this extended period of isolation that a unique Hawaiian culture developed.
When Captain Cook and his crew arrived in the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, they found a friendly, self-sufficient and productive people with all the components of a highly developed culture. There was a fairly rigid caste structure, though the Hawaiians also maintained a system of communal subsistence based on the natural resources of wedge-shaped land divisions known as ahupua‘a.
Formed naturally by mountain ridges and extending from the high valley to the seashore and the coral reefs, the ahupua‘a contained all of the different resources important for survival. An ancient Hawaiian proverb states, “O kau aku, o ka ia la mai, pelā ka nohona o ka ‘ohana” (“From you and from him—so lived the family,”) meaning “The farmer gave to the fisherman, the fisherman to the farmer.”[ix]
The culture of ancient Hawai‘i was different in many ways from other Polynesian cultures. For example, a unique Hawaiian language evolved, and it is still considered among the most fluid and melodic of any language known.Hawaiians built the finest pili grass houses, and their magnificently crafted weavings of featherwork were unmatched anywhere. Of all the Pacific cultures, the Hawaiians were the only ones to construct and maintain shoreline loko i‘a (saltwater fishponds). Fish including pua ‘ama‘ama (Mugil cephalus, young stage of ‘ama‘ama, mullet) and pua awa, the young stage of awa (Chanos chanos, milkfish) entered through the mākāhā (sluice gate) into the fishpond, where they were raised and then eaten when needed.
The mahiole (feather-crested helmets) that ancient Hawaiians constructed with native plants and feathers were found nowhere else in Polynesia. The cap that formed the base of the mahiole was woven from the aerial root of the ‘ie‘ie vine (Freycinetia arborea), which was also used to weave a great variety of twined baskets in many sizes, shapes and designs. These twined baskets woven from the ‘ie‘ie root were considered the finest in all of ancient Polynesia, a distinction that was also given to the sleeping mats ancient Hawaiians wove from makaloa (Cyperus laevigatus), a native sedge. The makaloa mats, woven with geometrical designs, were known as moena pāwehe.
Also unique to the Hawaiian Islands were some forms of ki‘i pōhaku (petroglyphs), including certain muscled figures found nowhere else.
No other Pacific culture produced such large ipu (Lageneria siceraria, bottle gourds), and this was a testament to ancient Hawaiians’ horticultural skills. The early settlers of the Hawaiian Islands also created many artistically decorated bowls and containers as well as an innovative new method of carrying the containers using a continuous unknotted cord. The pā ipu (double-gourd drum) and the pūniu (coconut knee drum) also were found nowhere else in Polynesia except the Hawaiian Islands.
Ua lehulehu a manomano ka ‘ikena a ka Hawai‘i.
Great and numerous is the knowledge of the Hawaiians.
(Pukui: 2814-309)
Kapa barkcloth was made throughout many tropical areas in ancient times, but the finest kapa was found in Polynesia, and the finest kapa in Polynesia was produced in the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaiian kapa displayed a greater variety of design and texture than the kapa produced by any other Polynesian culture.
The Hawaiians used a fermentation process and second beating of the kapa that produced a homogenous quality generally free of defects, resulting in a fine barkcloth superior to kapa made in other locales. Many different items were made with this kapa, including various clothing items that were colored and scented with a great variety of dyes and fragrances derived from native and Polynesian-introduced plants. The intricate geometric designs that Hawaiians stamped onto kapa were found nowhere else in Polynesia.
Kapa barkcloth was also used for ceremonial purposes. Ancient Hawaiians used the silky pulu (wooly hairs) found on hapu‘u tree ferns (Cibotium species) to embalm their deceased ali‘i (royalty), preserving their bones by wrapping them in kapa and placing them in a remote hidden cave or heiau (sacred place of worship).
Ancient Hawaiians also committed to memory long oli (chants) that were passed down through generations. These chants were often accompanied by dancers performing the sacred art of hula. Wreathed with the woven ferns of the forest, the ancient Hawaiians chanted and danced to give thanks for what they had, and to preserve the stories that deeply enriched their island existence.
With their spoken words, Hawaiians passed on their own history and beliefs, recounting the complex genealogies of their ancestors, carrying on their oral traditions, and perpetuating an extensive knowledge of their natural world including species of the land, air and water as well as the currents of the ocean and winds, the migrating patterns of birds, the movements of the stars and the phases of the moon through the months and seasons.
‘Aumākua—Sacred GuardiansThe world of the ancient Hawaiians was also rich with spiritual forces that were closely linked to their natural environment. Certain species were considered sacred ‘aumākua, guardian spirits that might be seen in visions or dreams. This connection to the natural world and these spiritual beliefs continue today—the Hawaiian culture is a living culture, and the ancient philosophies still resonate in the daily lives of Hawaiians.
As personal or family gods, ‘aumākua may take on various physical manifestations, becoming incarnate in living animals that appear to warn or protect. Some ‘aumākua are the ‘io (Buteo solitarius, Hawaiian hawk), manō (shark), pueo (Asio flammeus, short-eared Owl), honu (Chelonia mydas, sea turtle), kōlea (Pluvialis fulva, Pacific golden plover), and hīnālea (Labridae, wrasse), with different species being ‘aumākua to different people or families.
[Small illustrations or photos of above species (hawk, shark, owl, sea turtle, plover, wrasse]
“The knowledge of these kāhuna of ancient times was remarkable. It is possible that the source of their knowledge was from observation of the clouds in the heavens, and at times from dreams, and they spoke of what was revealed to them by the ‘aumakua in whom they had faith and who disclosed to them the signs in the heavens and events to come.”
Kamehameha and his Warrior Kekūhaupi‘o[x]
Forest and Sea
The Polynesian settlers of the Hawaiian Islands were extremely knowledgeable about the forest and sea. They utilized a long list of native and Polynesian-introduced plants and animals for food, clothing, shelter, tools, and medicinal preparations as well as for creating religious and artistic items.
More than 1,000 years ago, Hawaiians were catching i‘a (fish) from the ocean, building and stocking extensive loko i‘a (fishponds), and cultivating lo‘i kalo, irrigated terraces of kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro). They collected shellfish such as ‘opihi (Cellana species, limpets), gathered pa‘akai (sea salt), and caught manu (birds) for food and for the birds’ beautiful feathers, which were used to create elaborate and intricate featherwork, including ‘ahu ‘ula (feathered capes and cloaks) and feather-crested mahiole (helmets).
Ancient Hawaiians also raised pua‘a (Sus scrofa, pigs), moa (Gallus gallus gallus, chickens), and ‘īlio (Canis familiaris, dogs), all of which they had brought with them to the Hawaiian Islands on their voyaging canoes. From shore to mountain peak, the natural environment of the Islands supplied the early Hawaiian settlers with a great variety of different food sources, and usually provided enough for everyone.
‘A‘ohe loea i ka wai ‘ōpae.
It is no feat to catch shrimps in a freshet.
You don’t need experience to do that job. Shrimps were often taken in great numbers by
means of wicker platforms placed across mountain streams. In time of freshets
they would be swept onto these platforms and gathered.
(Pukui: 176-21)
Modern researchers continue to discover how particular traditions and practices used by ancient Hawaiians helped to sustain their ways of living, preserving their land and sea environment so it would continue to provide for them. The pre-contact Hawaiian culture was a highly refined Pacific Island culture unlike any other.
Ancient Hawaiians gathered plants from all the varied Island habitats, from the high rainforests to the coastal plains to the limu growing offshore on the coral reefs. Fish were caught using a hook and line, and also with nets, traps and spears.
Many different trees were harvested for wood, including koa (Acacia koa) for canoes, ‘ōhi‘a lehua (Metrosideros species) for house posts, wiliwili (Erythrina sandwicensis, Hawaiian coral tree) for papa he‘e nalu (surfboards), and ‘iliahi (Santalum species, sandalwood) for scenting kapa (tapa) barkcloth.
Many plants served as offerings to Hawaiian gods. ‘A‘ali‘i (Dodonaea viscosa, Hawaiian hopseed bush), lama (Diospyros species, ebony), ‘ie‘ie (Freycinetia arborea), and maile (Alyxia oliviformis) were considered sacred to the hula goddess Laka; kohekohe (Eleocharis species, spikerush), mai‘a (Musa species, banana plant) and kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro) were used as offerings at loko i‘a (fishponds); the fruiting branches of ‘ōhelo (Vaccinium species) were thrown into Kīlauea Volcano as an offering to Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes.
The Hawaiian goddess associated with lei making is Kukuena, whose daughter Laka may take the form of ‘ilima (Sida fallax). According to legend, ‘ilima was also the flower lei worn by the goddess Hina when she was able to escape from the cave of the monster eel Kuna Loa with the help of her son, the god Māui. It was Māui who originally pulled the Hawaiian Islands up from the sea, and Māui who lassoed the rays of the sun atop Haleakalā, making the sun move more slowly across the sky so Hina had more time to dry her kapa barkcloth.
Ancient Hawaiians also cultivated many plants they brought with them on their voyaging canoes. ‘Ulu (Artocarpus altilis, breadfruit), kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro) and ‘uala (Ipomoea batatas, sweet potatoes) were grown for food. Ipu (Lagenaria siceraria, bottle gourds) were used as containers and musical instruments.
Noni (Morinda citrifolia, Indian mulberry) and ‘awa (Piper methysticum, kava) were cultivated for medicinal and ceremonial uses. Wauke (Broussonetia papyrifera, paper mulberry) was grown to provide a fiber source for making kapa (tapa) barkcloth. The kukui tree (Aleurites moluccana, candlenut) had various medicinal uses, and the oil of the kukui nut was burned as the primary source of light in ancient Hawai‘i.
No other culture cultivated kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro) as skillfully and intensively as the ancient Hawaiians. They developed many varieties of kalo suitable for different soil types and climates found throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Particular varieties were cultivated for specific uses, including dyes and medicines as well as food.
The ancient Hawaiians were extremely skilled botanists, hand-pollinating various plant species and using a sophisticated classification system with regional and localized names for specific varieties, including more than 70 varieties of mai‘a (Musa species, banana plant) and hundreds of varieties of kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro). They also developed among the sweetest of all ‘uala (Ipomoea batatas, sweet potatoes).
Hawaiian Craftsmanship—Houses, Canoes, Weapons, and Tools
Ancient Hawaiians were highly skilled crafters utilizing many different materials. Pōhaku pa‘a (basaltic rocks) were chipped into ko‘i (stone adzes), an important tool for crafting many other products. The Hawaiians built formidable stone heiau (sacred places of worship), carved stunning ki‘i (temple gods) from ‘ōhi‘a lehua (Metrosideros species), constructed elegant houses thatched with pili grass (Heteropogon contortus, twisted beardgrass), and carved makau (fishhooks) from bones and shells.
Using the wood of the native koa tree (Acacia koa), ancient Hawaiians built twin-hulled sailing canoes that were more than 70 feet (21 m) long and strong enough to cross the Pacific Ocean. Canoe parts were made from various materials, including lau hala, leaves of hala (Pandanus tectorius, screwpine), which were woven into sails for the canoes. Strong kaula (cordage) to lash the canoes together was woven from the inner bark of hau as well as olonā (Touchardia latifolia), and from the fibers of the nut of niu (Cocos nucifera, coconut palm). This cordage was also important for house construction, fishing nets and numerous other uses.
Olonā (Touchardia latifolia) provided the finest cordage of ancient Polynesia as well as the entire Pacific region. During the process of making olonā cordage, strips of bark were placed on a papa olonā (slanted board) and scraped with a tool known as an uhi, which was usually fashioned from the shell of honu (Chelonia mydas, green sea turtle; or Eretmochelys imbricata, hawksbill sea turtle) or a piece of the turtle’s bone plate beneath its shell. The scraping away of the olonā bark left many fine white fibers, which were then dried in the sun and twisted into the final product.
The Islands were not always a peaceful place for the ancient Hawaiians, and by necessity their ingenuity extended into the domain of warfare. They were the only Polynesian culture to construct pāhoa (daggers), and they fashioned at least five distinct types, including curve-bladed daggers, long-bladed daggers, bludgeon daggers (a combination club/dagger), truncheon daggers (with a pointed end used for stabbing) and daggers made from the blades (bones) of the swordfish.
[Photograph: Ancient pāhoa (daggers).]
Other weapons constructed by ancient Hawaiians included lā‘au pālau (clubs), pīkoi (tripping weapons), ma‘a (slings to hurl stones), ihe (spears and javelins) and ihe laumeki (barbed javelins). Shark teeth were also used to make daggers and other weapons. The niho (tooth) of the palaoa (Physeter macrocephalus, sperm whale) was reserved for the prized royal necklace known as lei niho palaoa.
A great variety of lei were woven from the fragrant ferns and flowers of the forest. Lei were also constructed using colorful feathers of native birds as well as seashells. Shells were used for food scrapers, fishhooks, and various other uses. The shells of honu (Chelonia mydas, green sea turtles; Eretmochelys imbricata, hawksbill sea turtles) also had medicinal uses, and were fashioned into combs and other implements.
The tips of large triton conch or helmet shells were filed off to make pū (trumpet-like musical instruments). Some other musical instruments produced by ancient Hawaiians included the nī‘au kani (mouth harp), hōkiokio (gourd whistle), kūpe‘e niho ‘īlio (dog-tooth anklet), ‘ohe hano ihu (bamboo nose flute), and pā ipu (gourd drum).
[Illustration: Musical instruments listed above.]
Traditional instruments accompanying hula included the pahu hula, a drum made from the trunk of niu (Cocos nucifera, coconut palm) or ‘ulu (Artocarpus altilis, breadfruit), and using a sharkskin drumhead. Also used to keep the beat were lā‘au ho‘okani pahu (drumming sticks), pū‘ili (split bamboo rattles), and the ‘ulī‘ulī, a gourd rattle containing seeds and adorned with colorful feathers.
A musical bow called the ‘ūkēkē was made with three strings that were strummed while the player’s mouth was used as a resonance chamber. The ‘ūkēkē produces a speech-like sound though no noise is made by the player’s vocal cords. The ‘ūkēkē was traditionally made from the wood of kauila (Colubrina oppositifolia), ‘iliahi (Santalum species, sandalwood) or ‘ūlei (Osteomeles anthyllidifolia, Hawaiian hawthorn). The ‘ūkēkē was the only stringed instrument of ancient Hawai‘i. (For more information about the ‘ūkēkē, see ‘Iliahi in Chapter 8.)
Hawaiian Games, Sports, Rituals, Ceremonies, and Celebrations
Ancient Hawaiians enjoyed a great variety of pā‘ani (sports and games), many of which were part of more serious rituals and ceremonies. For example, ancient Hawaiians (especially the young) made various hei (string figures) using string looped around the fingers. Ancient Hawaiians produced at least 115 of these string figures, and many of the figures were associated with particular chants.
A traditional loop and ball game was known as pala‘ie. The game of kōnane is similar to the Western game of checkers, and was played using pebbles on a stone or wood surface called a papa kōnane.
Ancient Hawaiians also engaged in many contests of strength and balance, including uma and pā uma (hand and wrist wrestling), kula‘i wāwae (foot-pushing), kula kula‘i (chest pushing), heihei kūkini (foot races), and hākōkō (wrestling). Ku‘i a lua was a dangerous form of hand-to-hand fighting, sometimes resulting in broken bones.
Pua (arrows, or darts) were sometimes made from stalks of kō (Saccharum officinarum, sugarcane) or other plants, and were used in games and contests.
O Ka‘aōna ka pua i ka uwahi o ka ho‘oilo, a ulu māhiehie.
In Ka‘aōna [is used] the dart that has rested in the smoke during
the rainy months until it acquires beauty.
Said of the month Ka‘aōna, when the young people bring out their darts for games.
These darts had reddened in the smoke of the fireplaces during the wet months.
With rubbing and polishing they acquired a beautiful sheen.
(Pukui: 2396-262)
Loulou is a finger-pulling contest in which opponents hook their fingers together (loulou means “to link or hook together”) and then the competitors see who can stay hooked the longest. A team tug-of-war game is known as pā‘ume‘ume (also called hukihuki); ‘io is a tag game involving foot-racing; and ‘ulu maika involves rolling stone discs for accuracy and distance. Ho‘olele lupe (flying kites) were made by covering a hau frame with kapa barkcloth or plaited lau hala, and then the kites are flown on a cord made from olonā.
Ancient Hawaiians also practiced kio (mock war games) in anticipation of real battle. They threw ku‘uku‘u (boomerangs) and participated in kākā lā‘au (spear fencing), ‘ō‘ō ihe (spear throwing), and ku‘i a lua (hand-to-hand fighting). Kūpololū involved using long spears (pololū) to pole vault, which was a necessary warrior skill for traversing ravines.
Many activities occurred in or near the ocean, including ‘au (swimming). Lele kawa involved jumping off cliffs into the sea in an attempt to make the least amount of splash, while the goal of lele pahū was to make the biggest splash.
The sport of kaupua was another ocean challenge, requiring participants to dive deep underwater to retrieve half-ripe ipu (Lageneria siceraria, gourds). Ancient Hawaiians also engaged in kaha nalu (body surfing), he‘e nalu (surfing) and heihei wa‘a (canoe racing).
Many ancient Hawaiian games and sports were played during the ancient Hawaiian harvest festival known as Makahiki, which began about the middle of October and lasted several months. Time was taken away from work for feasts, sports games, and other events in honor of Lono, the god of agricultural fertility. Some contests engaged in during the Makahiki were meant to strengthen the participants’ warrior skills.
He‘e hōlua involved using papa hōlua (wooden sleds) to slide down steep hills or down specially constructed stone ramps. The slides were lined with pili grass (Heteropogon contortus, twisted beardgrass) or tassels of kō (Saccharum officinarum, sugarcane), allowing the sledders to reach speeds sometimes exceeding 100 miles per hour (161 km/hr). Children often slid down the steep inclines on the stalks of a mai‘a (Musa species, banana plants) or on hōlua kī, the leaves of kī (Cordyline fruticosa, ti).
He he‘e hōlua
One who rides a hōlua sled.
Said proudly of being a descendant of the chiefly families of Waipi‘o, Hawai‘i,
who were well known for their skill in hōlua sledding.
(Pukui: 571-66)
On Kaua‘i’s northern shore, ali‘i (Hawaiian royalty) marked special occasions with the ‘ōahi (fire throwing) ceremony, which involved throwing burning logs of hau (Talipariti tiliaceum) and pāpala (Charpentiera species) into the seaward winds blowing off the cliffs of Makana, Mākua and Kāmaile. Carried by the strong winds, the firebrands soared out over the water to the delight of crowds that arrived in canoes from as far away as Ni‘ihau.
[Illustration: ‘Ōahi (fire throwing) ceremony]
Social Structure of Ancient Hawai‘i
Ancient Hawaiians had a structured social order with kānāwai (strict regulations and a system of laws) that determined if something was kapu (sacred or forbidden). The mō‘ī (king, queen) and his/her ‘aha kuhina (chiefs and advisers) constituted the highest class. Below them were the nobility, known as ali‘i.
Next in rank were the kāhuna, which included priests as well as professionals with specific skills in particular fields. Common people, mostly farmers, were known as maka‘āinana and fell prostrate to the ground in the presence of chiefs, who possessed more mana (divine power). The lowest outcast members of society were known as kauā (or kauwā).
Western Contact
After Captain Cook established Western contact with the Hawaiian Islands in 1778, the physical and cultural landscape of the Islands underwent rapid change. Foreign diseases were brought by Cook’s crew, and then by other exploration and trading ships that arrived during the following decades on their way to and from China. Native Hawaiians had little immunity to these foreign diseases, which decimated the native population.
Captain Cook’s ships also brought pigs that were larger than the Polynesian-introduced pigs. Vancouver’s expeditions in 1792, 1793 and 1794 brought sheep, goats and cattle. These introduced species quickly began to have negative effects on native plants, birds, and other species.
In 1820, the First Company of American missionaries arrived on the 85-foot brig Thaddeus and began to actively convert native Hawaiians to Christianity. Missionaries continued arriving in the Hawaiian Islands throughout the following decades, culminating with the Twelfth Company of American missionaries in 1848. The missionaries preached, built schools, and increasingly exerted a significant influence on native ways of life while discouraging many traditional cultural beliefs and practices, including hula.
E kipi ana lākou nei. ‘A‘ole na‘e o lākou pono‘ī akā lākou mau keiki me na mo‘opuna. O ke ali‘i e ola ana ia wā e ku ‘ōlohelohe ana
ia, a o ke aupuni e kūkulu ‘ia aku ana, oia ke aupuni
pa‘a o Hawai‘i nei.
These people [the missionaries] are going to rebel; not they themselves, but their children and grandchildren. The ruler at that time will be stripped of power, and the government established then will be the permanent government of Hawai‘i.
Prophesied by David Malo.
(Pukui: 321-39)
A sandalwood trade began in 1791 and lasted until 1840, bringing a steady influx of foreign products to the Hawaiian Islands. The arduous labor involved in sandalwood harvesting further degraded traditional ways of life and caused a sharp decline in traditional food production, including a marked decrease in the farming of kalo (Colocasia esculenta, taro), an important staple food of early Hawaiians.
The era of whaling began in 1819, and during the following decades whaling ships brought tens of thousands of foreigners to the Hawaiian Islands. In 1846 alone, 596 whaling ships visited the Hawaiian Islands. Traditional Hawaiian ways of life continued to be affected by the influx of foreigners and there was a marked increase in alcohol consumption among residents of the Hawaiian Islands.
In 1829, missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands selected a 12-letter alphabet in order to develop a written Hawaiian language that was modeled after the oral Hawaiian language. The missionaries outlined a structure that adopted five vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) and seven consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p, and w), attempting to accurately represent the sounds of Hawaiian words with English letters.
In 1836, Lorrin Andrews (1795-1868) compiled a list of 5,700 words, the first significant Hawaiian-English vocabulary (some earlier lists were published—see Hawaiian Language, Chapter 3). Andrews was head of Maui’s Lahainaluna School, which was founded in 1831 by American Protestant missionaries as a seminary of advanced education for young Hawaiian men, with an overarching missionary goal of advancing Christianity.
Commercial production of sugarcane in the Hawaiian Islands began in Kōloa, Kaua‘i in 1835, and then began to significantly increase throughout the Islands in 1856. The advent of commercial sugarcane production led to the immigration of hundreds of thousands of foreign laborers, and this rapidly changed the demographic makeup of the Hawaiian Islands. Sugar production became a major industry affecting all facets of island life, bringing vast political, social, economic, and environmental changes. In 1893, prominent sugar merchants in the Hawaiian Islands were directly linked to the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy.
Throughout the 1800s, foreign diseases continued to decimate the native Hawaiian population, which went from an estimated 300,000 in 1778 to about 40,000 in 1890. (Note: Estimates of the Hawaiian population at the time of Western contact in 1778 vary from 200,000 to more than 700,000.) The decline of the native Hawaiian population occurred even as the non-native population of the Hawaiian Islands continued to grow with the steady influx of immigrant laborers who came to work on the sugar plantations. Foreign introduced diseases that significantly affected the native population included measles, smallpox, Asiatic cholera, whooping cough, scarlet fever, diphtheria, influenza, syphilis, gonorrhea, bubonic plague, dysentery, and numerous other maladies that took many native lives.
Throughout the 1900s, tourism increasingly became a driving force of the economy of the Hawaiian Islands. Everything changed, however, on December 7, 1941 when 350 Japanese bomber planes attacked Pearl Harbor, killing 2,383 people and wounding another 1,178. The attack on Pearl Harbor also sunk eight huge American battleships, damaging 21 ships in all and destroying 347 planes, and entering the United States into World War II.
During the following years, hundreds of thousands of Army, Navy, and Marine Corps troops were stationed in the Hawaiian Islands. Millions of servicemen passed through the Islands on their way to combat areas in the Pacific. This large military presence in the Hawaiian Islands was another significant factor changing the demographic makeup of the Hawaiian Islands.
The Hawaiian Islands Today
At its core, the ancient Hawaiian culture embodies the concept of aloha, emphasizing giving without the expectation of return, and a spirit of loving, sharing and caring for all the ‘ohana (extended family). This spirit of aloha was such an integral part of ancient Hawaiian life that it continues strongly today despite the vast changes that have come over the land and people.
Ua hilo ‘ia i ke aho a ke aloha.
Braided with the cords of love.
Held in the bond of affection.
(Pukui: 2786-307)
Many difficulties have been endured by the Hawaiian people, yet still the Hawaiian culture remains alive and vibrant. The Hawaiian language is spoken, native arts are practiced, and hula is performed. Local fishermen ply the sea to feed their families, and farmers cultivate kalo (taro) to make poi. There are lū‘au (feasts) with ‘ohana (family) while keiki (children) string together fragrant lei, surf the ocean waves, and are raised with aloha in their hearts.
[Photograph: Hula dancing at Merrie Monarch Festival (2005 photo)]
[i] Pukui, Mary Kawena, and Elbert, Samuel H. Hawaiian Dictionary: Revised and Enlarged Edition. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986.
[ii] Wagner, Warren L., Herbst, Derral R., and Sohmer, S.H. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i: Revised Edition, Volumes 1 and 2. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press; Bishop Museum Press, 1999.
[iii] Evenhuis, Neal L., and Eldredge, Lucius G., Editors. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2000. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers, Number 68, 69. Honolulu: Bishop Museum, 3/25/2002.
[iv] Wagner, Warren L., and Herbst, Derral R. Electronic Supplement to the Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i. Internet site: http://rathbun.si.edu/botany/pacificislandbiodiversity/hawaiianflora/supplement.htm, 3/05/2002.
[v] Wagner, Warren L., Herbst, Derral R., and Sohmer, S.H. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i: Revised Edition, Volumes 1 and 2. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press; Bishop Museum Press, 1999.
[vi] Burney, David A., James, Helen F., Burney, Lida Pigott, Olson, Storrs L., Kikuchi, William, Wagner, Warren L., Burney, Mara, McCloskey, Deirdre, Kikuchi, Delores, Grady, Frederick V., Gage II, Reginald, and Nishek, Robert. Fossil evidence for a diverse biota from Kaua‘i and its transformation since human arrival. Ecological Monographs, 71 (4), 2001, pp. 615-641.
[vii] Wagner, Warren L., Herbst, Derral R., and Sohmer, S.H. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawai‘i: Revised Edition, Volumes 1 and 2. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press; Bishop Museum Press, 1999.
[viii] Sources include: DNA tests trace Polynesians to China origins. The Honolulu Advertiser, 8/11/1998.
Borg, Jim. Genetic research offers intriguing new view of Polynesian migrations. Hawaii Magazine, February, 1997.
Human DNA analysis points to African origin: Study performed on complete genome. The Honolulu Advertiser, 12/7/2000.
Krauss, Bob. Pacific migration theory disputed: Polynesians may be from Indonesia. The Honolulu Advertiser, 7/18/2000.
Matisoo-Smith, E., Roberts, R.M., Irwin, G.J., Allen, J.S., Penny, D. and Lambert, D.M. Patterns of prehistoric human mobility in Polynesia indicated by mtDNA from the Pacific rat. Anthropology, Vol. 95, pp. 15145-15150, December, 1998.
Matsunaga, Mark. Scientists still fish for migration answer: Canoes ready to test theory of the fishhooks. The Honolulu Advertiser, 4/16/1995.
[ix] p. 266, Pukui, Mary Kawena. ‘Ōlelo No‘eau: Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings. Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1983. Proverb 2441.
[x] p. 169, Desha, Stephen L., translated by Frazier, Frances N. Kamehameha and his Warrior Kekūhaupi‘o. Honolulu: Kamehameha Schools Press, 2000.