996,9 T23u
69-02850
reference
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book
Kansas city
public library
Kansas city,
Missouri
"*V-;
UNDER
HAWAIIAN SKIES
A NARRATIVE
of the
ROMANCE, ADVENTURE AND HISTORY OF THE
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
ALBERT PIERCE TAYLOR
Author of "Fighting a Typhoon/'' "Passport No. 17,849,"
"Miracle of Molokai."
"A ole oc, no keia Imlan, nolaila aole no oc i iki i ko'u
poopoo" —
"You arc not of my House: therefore, you do not
knew the secret of its closets. "
— Hawaiian Proverb'
HONOLULU, HAWAIIAN1 ISLANDS
Advert iKor Publishing Company, Ltd., Publishers
1022
Copyright applied for, 1922, by
ALBERT PIERCE TAYLOR
All rights reserved.
MY HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
(Translation from the H
0, give io me my Island home,
Where zephyrs gently whisper love;
Where 'neath majestic palms I roam
To watch the wild surf
I love its mountains and its dells,
Its pathless woods with flowers gay,
Where the bright-plumagcd songster dwells,
Warbling notes of welcome on its way.
Beneath the lehua trees We greet
Sweet strains of music on the wind —
Hawaiian maids with garlands sweet —
Endearing scenes of my dear home.
— MARY JANE FAYERWEATHKR MONTANCX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAUK
THE WHY OP THE TALE 7
Yesterday and Today - 1$
CHAPTER I
WHENCE CAME THE HAWAIIANS *•*
Hawaiian Version of Their Creation -1
CHAPTER II
DISCOVERY OF HAWAII AX UNSOLVED PUZZLE 37
CHAPTER III
TRAGEDY or CAPTAIN JAMES COOK 48
CHAPTER IV
HAWAII'S MOMENTOUS NIGHT (58
CHAPTER V
BUILDER OF A SEA EMPIRE ^2
CHAPTER VI
LINKS BINDING ENGLAND AND HAWAII 87
CHAPTER VII
PIRATES SOUGHT LAIR ix HAWAII JO I
CHAPTER VIII
CIVILIZATION CROSSES THRESHOLD 1 0 i
CHAPTER IX
MISSION CRUSADER OF THE PACIFIC 1 1 (}
CHAPTER X
LINKING OLD WITH NEW HAWAII 124
CHAPTER XI
ENTIRE NATION GOES TO SCHOOL 1 ,'W
CHAPTER XII
PICTURE BOCKS TO PRINTED PAGES l.">0
CHAPTER XIII
SWEET CHARM OF LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE MG
Legend of Kalmilaokalani ] 57
Legend of Kahalaopuna 1 (KJ
Legend of " Pu-ahiiula ' ; ., 167
CHAPTER XIV
TRAGEDY MARKED DISCOVERY OF HONOLULU HARBOR 172
CHAPTEB XV
IN VAN OF MORAL ACHIEVEMENTS 184
CHAPTEB XVI
GREATEST SWORDSMAN OF PACIFIC 192
CHAPTEB XVII
THE ' ' GteAT MAHELE ' ' OF KAMEHAMEHA> in • , , _ ^ ,„ 201
PAGE
CHAPTER XVL1I
(iOU>EN COURT OF THE IvA.MKIIAMEIIAS -OS
CHAPTER XIX
MERRY DAYS OF KALVK \UA, REX -18
Yesterdays of Hawaii Xei --0
(Jiiltly Paluee and Quarterdeck Days 22ti
Lament of the Kunmaina ^32
Ancient and Modern Kingly {Symbols 237
CHAPTER XX
GAUNT REBELLION STALKED THE ISLANDS 241
CHAPTER XXI
HAWAII \S PREPAREDNESS, AMERICA'S BULWARK 2()o
CHAPTER XXII
THE CROSSROADS OP ADVENTURE 209
CHAPTER, XXIII
JfeSLKs OF AUUIA LAND 280
CHAPTER XXIV
PASSING OF PR'TUKESQUE MONARCHY 29(5
Liliuokalani Is Dying 298
Kalanianaole Passes ^01
CHAPTHR XXV
HAWAII \s Two SWEETEST MELODIES 30S
CHAPTKR XXVI
HAWAII 's FLA<; DOMINATED THK OCK vx «^r>
('HAPTKK xxvrr
LAST OF TIIPJ OLD UUARD 321
CHAPTER XXVIII
HAWAIIAN COAT-OF-ARMS AND OLD HAWAIIAN FLA<» 320
CHAITHR XXIX
OxiiV THRONE Kooai IN AMERICA 3;u
CHAPTER XXX
SlTRF-RlPJX<i HAS BACK(iKorNl) OF I*A<;AX KlTFS 33i>
rnniatehed Thought fulness ainl Aloha 334
Hawaii 's Par Outer Possessions 347
CHAPTER XXXI
THK SAINT OF MOLOKAI 349
<1IIAPTKK XXX 1 1
THE LAST WORD 357
CHAPTKR XXXIII
KoT2!Kin*E's HKM VRKAHLE STATEMENTS 359
({one Are the Old Days 3(54
America Kec-eived Kiist Salute 3B5
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 3(>8
KULHRS OF HAWAII 399
THE WHY OF THE TALE
IF the Hawaiian race today lacks incentive to visualize a
goal for national achievement, it has at least, a glorious,
imperial, barbaric civilization to look back upon.
As Destiny has already played her cards and euchered the
Hawaiians out of their ancient birthright, out of their national
and racial independence, and even of their own beautiful, colorful
flag, Fate, the mystic sister of Destiny, not only has brought the
Islanders beneath the protecting folds of Old Glory, but has also
so thoroughly stirred them in the Melting Pot of the Mid-Pacific
that their own rare, delightful, winsome and hospitable person
ality has been largely absorbed in the negative and indistinct
civilization which has emerged from the mingling of East and
West in the great sea which Balboa discovered centuries ago.
Out of the legendary and mythical haze of the centuries that
have paced down the Highway of Time since the bellying sails
of Columbus' caravels were lowered for the first time in Ameri
can waters, to the day when Captain James Cook, Royal Navy,
discovered, or rediscovered, the Hawaiian Islands in 1778 — an
achievement so soon to be marked by the flow of the great navi
gator's blood into the waters of historic Kealakekua bay when
the natives learned he was a human being, not an immortal or
a god — a civilization had risen in the Isles of Hawaii, a civilza-
tion that was richly barbaric and permeated with the pomp and
circumstance that autocratic and priestly rule imposed. It was
a civilization which paralleled with remarkable likeness the old
civilization which prevailed, in varying degree, in countries of
Europe.
It is my firm belief that although the Hawaiians heretofore may
have been classed by historians and churchmen as savages, as
heathens and as pagans, they possessed a civilization vastly supe
rior to that of any other Polynesian people, or of any insular peo
ple isolated and never previously in contact with another race.
This civilization attained by the Hawaiians compares favorably
8 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
with that prevalent in Europe in the Dark Ages and the mediaeval
period.
The kings of the various islands were autocratic. They held
the power of life and death over their subjects. The priests
swayed a remarkable influence, and violations of the system of
living which they imposed upon the people, called for the death
penalty. Women, while acquiring a high place in the lives of
the people, were proscribed in their daily life by the rule of the
fearful tabu, yet women have always played important roles in
the nation.
But the administration of government, the habits of the rulers
and the customs of their courts, even the cut of the garments
for royalty, chiefs and commoners, and the manner of living
was comparable to that obtaining in civilized countries.
Spanish navigators are said to have been wrecked upon the
shores of Hawaii island in the 16th century, and the impress of
their lives is believed by many Hawaiians today to have been
made upon the race. The ancient Hawaiian helmets and cloaks
were of beautiful designs, fashioned from the feathers of small
birds, so beautiful as to command admiration today, and were
strangely like those of the ancient Greeks and Phoenicians, some
historians seeing a Spanish influence. Their ceremony of eating
was far superior to that prevailing in the baronial halls of Europe,
where gluttony and lack of niceties in the partaking of food were
in contrast to the delicacy of method prevailing at the fern-
covered tables of the chiefs under Hawaiian skies. Trunks of
trees, fashioned into bowls beautifully polished, and other bowls
of varying sizes and designs, furnished the table. There were
large, round bowls for poi ; long, concave trenchers for roasted
pig; wide, flat ones for fish; small calabashes and gourds for
relishes and desserts; large ones filled with water with fern
leaves floating upon the surface for use as finger bowls — pro
viding the ancient Hawaiian with dishes that, in a measure, are
as beautiful as the chinaware which graces our modern, civilized
tables. There was no hasty use of both hands over a fish, or
fowl, or pig. Reclining upon one elbow, even as epicurean Ro
mans and Greeks of old reclined, the chief used the fingers of
THE WHY OF THE TALE 9
the other hand to separate the flesh before him, and each morsel
was conveyed to the lips with as much delicacy and grace of
movement as possible, and the finger bowls were frequently used.
Can we say as much for the Europeans of the Dark Ages?
So closely allied were the ceremonies of the Hawaiian priests
to those of the Jews of ancient Palestine, — even to the manner
of constructing" their temples, — that there is cause to wonder
at such superior civilization. The Hawaiians had their Temples
of Refuge into which the pursued from justice, malefactors, and
innocently accused persons, could seek and receive shelter and
respite from injury until the temple authorities could determine
their guilt or innocence. They had their purification of the tem
ples with salt, similar to the ceremony in Palestine. They per
formed the ceremony of the circumcision as it was performed in
the Holy Land. They had their ashes and sackcloth. The priest
hood was related to the government and to the direction of the
habits of the rulers as the priesthood was related to the rulers in
Palestine.
Out of the legendary past came the welding of island king
doms into one until they became the solidified, glorious and
brilliant empire ruled by Kamehameha I, often styled Kameha-
meha the Great, advisedly termed the "Napoleon of the Pacific,"
because of the superb generalship displayed in war by this pagan,
barbaric ruler, who reigned wisely and with power, whose con
tact with the white men of England and America gave him a
better understanding as to the part his own kingdom might play
in the affairs of men and nations, a remarkable man who died
in 1819, a year before the American missionaries reached the
shores of Hawaii to plant the seeds of Christianity.
Kamehameha was a lawgiver as well as a soldier and con
queror. "Let the old men and women and the children lie down
in safety beside the highway," was his mandate, a law simple
and direct, free from unnecessary verbiage, forcefully free from
ambiguity, yet majestically phrased, and as replete with legal
meaning as the volumes upon volumes which English-speaking
peoples have made upon the same subject.
10 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
The royal court of Kamehameha the Great was as brilliant,
in a comparative sense, as that of his contemporary, Emperor
Napoleon I. Surrounded by great chieftains and generals of
his own race, with here and there an Englishman and an Ameri
can occupying high positions in his court, encompassed with
ceremony and imperial pomp, marked by a display of gorgeously
colored feather helmets and cloaks and beautiful feather kahilis,
every symbol being pregnant with meaning when Kamehameha
stood, or was seated, to listen or to speak, to hold audience, to
impose penalties of death, or to receive conquered kings and
chiefs, there was indeed a strange parallel between this court in
Hawaii and that at Versailles. Napoleon roamed over Europe
with his vast armies and brought potentates and princes to their
knees. Kamehameha made similar campaigns and conquests over
all Hawaii.
It was ' such a kingdom, prepared even for the new religion
about to come to the Islands, that the aged Kamehameha turned
over to Fate and Destiny on May 8, 1819, when he passed to
the Beyond. The ancient tabus, the old religion, the temples
and the stone and wood gods, were utterly destroyed when Ka
mehameha the Great's favorite queen, Kaahumanu, and his son,
Liholiho (Kamehameha II), decided that it was time for women
to be the equals of men, and that the ancient religion gave the
people nothing. Then it was that the royal edict was pronounced
to destroy the age-old religion.
In this remarkable position of a race without a religion, New
England missionaries on March 30, 1820, found the Hawaiian
people, receptive and eager for a new religion to replace that
which they had voluntarily cast into oblivion. Never before in
the history of the world had there been such an illustration of
moral force. And thus the religion of the Anglo-Saxon race
gained its foothold in the Hawaiian Islands, giving new impetus
to political, industrial, maritime and social life in the mid-Pacific
paradise.
The kings and chiefs continued their autocratic rule, but the
power of life and death was circumscribed. Men of England,
America. France, Russia and Spain sailed into the island har-
THE WHY OF THE TALE 11
bors with their war and trading ships; diplomats and religion
ists played their cards in the effort to build influence or retain
it ; the Islands, even the native rulers and chiefs, became pawns
in the game of diplomacy; guns of warships were trained upon
the city of Honolulu now and then; its treasury and customs
revenues were occasionally raided and confiscated; filibusters
plotted in San Francisco in the SO's of the last century to cap-
lure the Islands and establish a republic; its flag was lo\vered
frequently in the face of superior power.
Able men entered the employ of the king'dom and advised the
rulers well. Others, adventurers, soldiers of fortune, sycophants
and grafters, also secured employment and were cause of in
numerable scandals in government, social and industrial spheres
of activity.
Diplomats, potentates, princes, admirals, generals, authors,
travelers, scientists, explorers, scholars, painters, beautiful women
from foreign lands, visited Hawaii in numbers as the reigns of
the Kamehameha dynasty came to a close in 1874 and the new
dynasty of Kalakaua ruled for twenty years more.
The establishment of steamship lines between San Francisco
and Honolulu and with the Orient and the Antipodes brought
cultivated men and women and more soldiers of fortune to the
Islands to bask in the smiles of royalty; for Kamehameha IV
was the king of the elegant and jovial manner; Kamehameha
V, the king of regal dignity and ceremonial exactitude; Kala
kaua, the royal, merry monarch, all serving in their various ways
to create a charming mecca for travelers. Travelers, and par
ticularly Bohemians among them, loved the Islands and their
kings in those former days, forty to seventy years ago, and sang
of them in prose and poem. There were plots to thrust at least
two of the monarchs off their thrones, all to fail, with the ex
ception of the final movement against Liliuokalani in 1893.
Kalakaua, seeking health, died upon the shores of the Golden
Gate. Liliuokalani, imperious, headstrong, looking back to the
imperial clays of Kamehameha the Great, decided she should rule
with the personal power of the barbaric rulers and not under the
moderate provisions of a constitutional monarchy. She believed,
12 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
like Louis of France, that She was the State. Two years of her
reign passed and she was thrust off the throne. A Republic was
set up by Americans and others who believed that the time had
come when it appeared necessary to establish a stable, modern
government. A President was chosen to administer the govern
ment through a cabinet of ministers. It was the end of mon
archy.
'Came a day when, down in another part of the world, in the
harbor of Havana, an American warship was sunk — the Maine.
Soon the armies of America and Spain fought upon the soil of
Cuba, and suddenly the world was electrified when, on the op
posite side of the globe, came a message that the power of Spain
had been humbled in the great bay of Manila. Flashed the mes
sage from Commodore Dewey, commander-in-chief of the Ameri
can fleet lying victorious at anchor in the bay before the shat
tered hulks of the proud fleet of Spain, to President McKinley
at Washington: "Send troops !"
Hawaii then became the actual "Crossroads of the Pacific/'
Long lines of troopships steamed out through the Golden Gate
into the broad Pacific, destined for far-away Manila, a long', hot
voyage for newly recruited troops never before out of sight of
any land, a transport problem which America never before had
faced, Honolulu, midway across the Pacific, nestling in the shade
of its cocoanut groves, cooled by the trade winds blowing down
from the Arctic Opean, offered a haven of rest — for Honolulu
means "fair haven/'
But Hawaii was yet a Republic, a foreign land, and to receive
America's transports and offer comfort to her soldiery was to
declare herself an ally of America, an enemy of Spain. Then,
as a military measure or necessity, on July 6, 1898, the Congress
of the United States passed a Joint Resolution of Annexation,
Hawaii became a territory of the United States, and transports
and warships flying the Stars and Stripes thereafter sailed into
the American port of Honolulu.
Hawaii has been a land of romance and adventure. It has been
the playground of poets and prose writers, of painters and mu
sicians. "The loveliest fleet of Islands that lies anchored in any
THE WHY OF THE TALE 13
ocean/' wrote Mary Twain in a letter which adorns the wall
of my library. Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Warren Stod-
dard, William R. Bliss, George Chaney, Jack London, Lord and
Lady Brassey, and scores of other authors have been in Hawaii
and received inspiration for their pens.
In monarchy days everything centered upon the court and the
royal palace, the princes and princesses, the balls, receptions and
audiences in the beautiful throne room of the Palace of lolani ;
around the visits of wooden-walled warships whose presence in
port meant dances and receptions on board, often with the king
and queen and the court present. There were gay parties in the
country ; there was music ; there was love and adventures in love
when gay midshipmen plighted their troths to beautiful, brown-
skinned, soft-eyed maidens of Hawaii, many of whom may have
but recently returned from finishing schools in America and
Europe. The rulers of Hawaii were as polished in manner and
as educated as many who occupied the thrones of foreign coun
tries.
And so, with this lengthy foreword, just to suggest to the
readers of this book why so many brilliant, colorful and ad
venturesome incidents could happen in Honolulu and throughout
Hawaii during days when the courts of the Kamehamehas and
Kalakauas were so replete with pompous and semi-barbaric pa
geantry, this narrative of "Under Hawaiian Skies" is offered.
This is a narrative, not a history. I have begun the com
pletion of this book on this January 7, 1922, in commemoration
of the centennial date of the first printing done in the Hawaiian
Islands, or west of the Mississippi. A century ago today the
little Ramage printing press, brought around Cape Horn from
Boston to Honolulu in 1820 in the first missionary brig Thad-
deus, was screwed down by the mighty chieftain-general, Kee-
aumoku, in the presence of the King, missionaries and many
Hawaiians of note, and the first printed sheet of words In the
Hawaiian language was struck off, one of the most prophetic
of the historic incidents of the western world.
This very day, also, only a few hours back, I watched the
eyes of the last titular Prince of the Hawaiian dynasties —
14 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole — Hawaii's delegate to Con
gress for twenty years, close in death at Waikiki. Both this
century-old incident, and this hours-old memory, are inspirational,
and thus I dedicate this book to the people of Hawaii, both Ha-
waiians and haoles alike, among whom I have dwelt for nearly
a quarter of a century, and to the people of the world, who,
having little time to read a complete, academic, chronological
history of Hawaii, wherein may be crowded so much data that the
average reader, or traveler, does not care to absorb, will find in
this volume of word panels of historical events, sufficient history
to tell what Hawaii was and what Hawaii is today.
It has been my endeavor to permeate this narrative with an at
mosphere of the real, lovable Hawaii, to give an intimate insight
into the Hawaii of olden days, so that the traveler who visits Ha
waii today or tomorrow and finds it modern, with much of the old,
charming life absent, leaving only Hawaii's soft, alluring climate,
its wonderful beaches, its active and awe-inspiring volcano of Kil-
auea, and its hospitality towards travelers, will know that in these
beautiful, scintillating, colorful waters away down in the lazy
latitudes of the Pacific, there is a group of isles that form one
of the most charming, sunny spots under the American flag.
In a quarter of a century devoted to Hawaii and its people,
absorbing much of its history, its myths and traditions, and real
izing the lofty place which these kindly Polynesians have ac
quired in the sun, I have written much about the Hawaii of yes
terday and of today. A number of my stories of Hawaii have
appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser, with whose editorial staff
I have been associated these long years. From these stones I
have retrieved much that will be found snuggled away in the
pages of this book. Much of the narrative is new, and is that
which comes "by word of mouth" from Hawaiians — "lip pages"
of Hawaii's ancient history of the period before the Islanders
had a written or printed language.
I am also indebted to many of Hawaii's numerous historians,
legend-writers and bards, and their abundant works, and to them
1 extend my acknowledgments for information that has been of
value in my own compilation. Among these are Prof. W. D.
THE WHY OF THE TALE 15
Alexander., the historian; Thomas G. Thrum, historian and com
piler, an indefatigable writer, whose literary work in and con
cerning Hawaii covers half a century of unusually able activi
ties ; Mrs. Mary Jane Montano, descendant of chiefs, a Hawaiian
poetess and historian ; Robert C. Lydecker, librarian of the Ter
ritorial archives, whose services in preserving scattered docu
ments of old Hawaii has aided this work; the late Prince Jonah
Kuhio Kalanianaole, delegate to Congress, Prince of Hawaii,
gentleman and adviser of his people; the late Queen Liliuoka-
lani, whose reminiscences of old Hawaii related to me personally
were of exceptional value; to Sanford B. Dole, Hawaii's only
President, its "grand old man," who has been a source of inspira
tion; Robert W. Andrews, custodian of the Archives of the Mis
sion Cousins' Association, whose office is in the little coral house
in Mission Center, where are preserved the journals and papers
of the first missionaries in Hawaii, and where, close by, the first
printing in Hawaii was done a century ago, and where, also,
some of the pag'es of this book were written, where I spent weeks
in compiling the historical narratives of Rev. Asa Thurston, Rev.
Hiram Bingham, the Chamberlains, S. N. Castle, Amos Cooke,
Dr. G. P. Judd, of the kings and chiefs, the queens and chiefesses,
and others prominent in the development of Hawaii's educational,
religious, industrial and financial needs; to Dr. H. B. Gregory,
director of the Bishop Museum ; and to writers of decades ago,
including David Malo and D. Kamakau, the native historians;
Rev. Sheldon Dibble, recorder for the early missionaries ; Abra
ham Fornander, historian and compiler ; Rev. Samuel C. Damon,
editor of the Friend, and friend of the mariners; Col. Curtis
Piehu laukea, court gentleman and former chamberlain to Their
Majesties King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani ; to E. Ren-
mus, traveler and writer of charm; and I am also indebted to
many of Honolulu's men and women who moved in the royal
court circles of the reigns of the later Kamehamehas and of the
Kalakuas for interesting sidelights on life in Honolulu when the
officers of the English and American navies contributed not a
little to the gay social life of the Hawaiian capital.
16 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
In my time in Hawaii as a newspaperman I have interviewed
hundreds of notable persons at Honolulu, most of them aboard
vessels as they were entering Honolulu harbor — diplomats, ad
mirals and generals, heroes, adventurers, soldiers of fortune,
treasure seekers, swashbuckling war correspondents, international
criminals, literary and musical folk, captains of industry, makers
and breakers of empires, revolutionists, bucko mates, South Sea
pirates, explorers, royal personages, shipwrecked castaways. It
is thus, I believe, that I have corralled the "atmosphere" that I
sincerely hope will make this narrative interesting and of value
to those who would know Hawaii, but who cannot wade through
a complete history, just to give the readers an insight into the
charm of life here in the Yesterdays so that they may the better
enjoy the Hawaii of Today — and yet, herein, are many facts
marshalled and placed on dress parade.
Again, this narrative, not a history, is offered to the people
of Hawaii, to those who travel, to those who just read, to those
who love stories of romance, adventure and achievement, to
those who would become better acquainted with this tropical out
post of America, this picturesque island territory, this Malta of
the Pacific, lying so peacefully in these Lazy Latitudes of the
Pacific.
ALBERT PIERCE TAYLOR.
"Luana-Pua,"
Honolulu, January 7, 1922.
YESTERDAY AND' TODAY
THE Hawaii of Lord George Byron, R. N., Charles War
ren Stoddard, Robert Louis Stevenson, of Mark Twain
and Lord and Lady Brassey, of Sir George Simpson, of
the Duke of Edinburgh, of Isabella L. Bird, the Hawaii of the
picturesque monarchy period when dusky monarchs ruled the
Paradise of the Pacific, has passed, but the same old moonlit
nights remain, the cocoanut palms leisurely nod over the coral
beaches; the strum of the guitar and the tinkle of the ukulele
THE WHY OF THE TALE 17
are heard in the soft Hawaiian night ; for the climate of Hawaii
has the same charm today as it had in the past.
Hawaii only has changed its flag from the colorful, striped en
sign of the monarchy, to the Red, White and Blue of the Ameri
can Republic; has acquired paved thoroughfares, electric street
railways, automatic telephones, cable and wireless systems, mod
ern hotels, automobiles by the thousands, traffic police, all re
placing the old winding coral roadways, the old-style hotels with
their wide lanais and charming, fragrant gardens.
Where once upon a time the harbor of Honolulu was fringed
with quaint wooden sheds to receive cargoes from the Eight Seas
and where old-time frigates with lofty masts and spreading yards
were anchored in "The Stream/' today there are great concrete
piers comparing with the most modern at the Golden Gate and at
Gbtham, with huge ships-of-war and great steel commerce car
riers resting their steel bulks against them.
Some of the picturesque elements of Hawaii have disappeared
in the march of progress, but yet it is the Paradise of the Pa
cific, the "Rainbow Isles" of Captain James Cook. Under the
impetus of commercial development Honolulu has become the
strategic maritime "Crossroads of the Pacific/5 for ships still
come from the Eight Seas. They come from the lands of spice,
of coffee, from the South Seas where old-time primitive life
may yet be found even as the traders found it half a century
and more ago; they come from mysterious realms cf the Far
East; they carry away huge cargoes of sugar just yielded from
thousands of acres of rich sugar cane, pineapples that come from
vast fields stretching from sea to mountain; bananas that grow
luxuriantly in water places; tobacco and coffee that grow on
the uplands of entrancingly beautiful Kona.
But in Honolulu and everywhere in the Hawaiian Islands may
be found bits of the picturesque Orient and of the South Seas,
for Hawaii is a cosmopolitan land and upon its shores dwell
races of the great and of the small nations of the world, and
they dwell in amity, while the grist mill of Americanism rum
bles on year in and year out, mixing in its crucible all the foreign
18 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
elements mingling in the Mid-Sea Paradise and yielding a har
vest of new citizens of the parent Republic.
The modern globe trotter has flung away his pugareed helmet
and green-lined sun umbrella ; he has discarded the label of "tour
ist" and "Baedeker" is no longer a conspicuous volume carried
in his hand while he visits strange lands — even Hawaii. He
wants to move and live abroad much as he moves and lives at
home, and he wants the conveniences he knows at home. He
disembarks at Honolulu from a palatial steamship upon a modern
wharf, steps into a high-powered motor, drives along a modern
paved boulevard, directed here and, there by traffic police, and
draws up before a hotel as modern almost as any he has left
behind him in San Francisco', Chicago or New York — but suited
exactly to Hawaii's "open-air" climate. That is Honolulu.
At the picturesque port of Hilo, where Lord Byron named the
beautiful crescent harbor "Byron's Bay," one hundred and ninety
miles from Honolulu by water route, he disembarks upon a mod
ern wharf, steps into a motor and is whirled over miles of paved
roadway to the very brink of the awe-inspiring, roaring, living,
lava-lashed crater of Halemaumau in the volcano of Kilatiea —
a. satin-slipper trip for Milady. Hawaii is a playground of the
world, where every month is the month of May, where Nature
smiles most alluringly be it summer or winter, for winters and
summers in Hawaii are synonymous.
Like Egypt, Hawaii is a land of contrasts and memories, the
isles a mecca for travelers, but with an atmosphere laden with
memories of an ancient existence which was a glorious period
of the history of the Islands.
A. P. T.
CHAPTER I
WHENCE CAME THE HAWAIIANS?
OUT OF THE DAWN
WINGING its way high above the vast waste of waters,
far up under the blue vault of heaven, a great bird
soared majestically, wheeling- and dipping, now upon
one wing and now upon the other, and then, sweeping down
ward, dropped an immense egg, which, falling upon the crested
waves, burst into fragments and formed the archipelago known
today as the Hawaiian Islands.
— Hawaiian Tradition.
MAUI, a superhuman being or god, is said to have laid his
hand upon the sun and arrested its course, giving his
consort time to finish the work of creation which she
was anxious to complete before darkness drew its pall over the
face of the earth. So ended the first day in the Hawaiian
creation.
— Hazva Han Traditio n .
IN ancient Hawaii there was belief in a trinity of gods. Ka-ne,
the creator of the world, removed the cover of a great gourd
calabash, and throwing it high in space, formed the sky. The
god placed his hand within the gourd and brought forth a flaky,
white substance, and throwing it into the air, formed the clouds.
He thrust his hand again into the calabash and drawing forth
20 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
a great handful of seeds, threw them into space and thus formed
the stars, the sun and the moon. Then he placed his hand once
more in the gourd, and folding his fingers, made the mountains
and the valleys and the fertile lowlands to the edge of the sea.
After Ka-ne had done all this, the god Lono came, the god
of verdure, and planted all the verdant things which have made
earth so glorious, fragrant and beautiful.
Came then the god Ku, who looked this way and that, striv
ing to determine what more should be done to make the earth
complete, and concluded that man was necessary to what his fel
low gods had accomplished. Therefore, he created man and be
came the judge of right and wrong.
— Hawaiian Legend.
PELE, dread goddess of all volcanoes, a "foreigner from the
"West," who dwelt in Hawaii, within the vast, fiery, always-
threatening and ever-active volcano of Kilauea, linking her
vast resources with those of the superhumans of the age agone, is
still engaged in the task laid down by the gods of the trinity,
and year by year disgorges vast, tumultuous, blazing rivers of
molten lava down the slopes of the "burning mountain" of Mauna
Loa. Hawaii is yet in the creative stage, despite the humans
who have made a garden of the summits, the slopes and the
sl^res of these Isles of the Lazy Latitudes.
— Hawaiian Legend.
ONE can visualize regal, bronze-hued kings and chiefs of
these isles in the days of feudal glory, surrounded by reti
nues of great chiefs and priests and with a background
of warriors bearing their forest of deadly spears pointed sky
ward, with the tom-tom of the drums throbbing, standing upon
the high lands of Mauna Loa's slopes, gazing out upon the still
bosom of the Pacific Ocean, mysterious and horizon-lost in its
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Daguerreotype of two beautiful women of the courts of Kings
Kamehameha IV, V, and Lunalilo. Left to right: Jane
Swintou Brown and Mrs. "William Beekley. With
Abigail Maikai, wife of Major Maikai, they
formed an accomplished trio.
WHENCE CAME THE HAWAIIANS? 21
glittering, heaving monotony, and watching a tiny object drift
ever so slowly — to them a titanic native canoe — bearing masts
and sails, vaster than the wind-holders of native fiber they used.
Who can satirize ignorance begotten of isolation of centuries
upon centuries because of the fear expressed at such a spectacle
rising out of the sea?
Such may have been the astonishment of Kaliniopuu, the king
of Hawaii, and of the great Kamehameha, founder, later, of the
Hawaiian monarchy, when Captain Cook's ships of discovery
came to anchor in Hawaiian waters in the beautiful bay of Ke-
alakekua, island of Hawaii, where the navigator was first re
garded and honored as the god Lono, returned to Hawaii after
centuries of absence, and where finally, regarded now as a human
being, the tragedy was enacted when the Englishman forfeited
his life upon the coral and lava shore.
HAWAIIAN VERSION OF THEIR CREATION
POETIC EPIC CHANTS OF LOST CONTINENT
HAWAIIANS and historians alike have invaded every field
of research and opportunity to answer this question.
None has yet satisfactorily found a solution to this puz
zle of the ages.
Traditions, legends, genealogies, chants, great areas of pic
ture rocks whereon Hawaiians carved strange marks, even the
sacred burial graves have been brought under the searchlight of
investigation.
Because of a similarity of religious ceremonies some histo
rians assert that the Hawaiians are of Jewish origin, descended
from a wandering tribe of Israel which crossed Asia and went
into the Pacific. Because of hieroglyphics carved upon rocks
in remote places, some historians ascribe an Egyptian or Persian
ancestry.
22 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES.
Some assert that they are a fragment of the Incas or Aztecs,
and some that Atlantis had not been engulfed before a fragment
of its people had crossed to the American continent and then
on to these mid-sea isles, themselves part of a continent where
now water is horizon-wide.
Others say their progenitors are the Tahitians, because of
similarity of appearance, build, speech and customs. But whence,
then, come the Tahitians ? And so the old, old question goes on
and on in a circle.
Science has come to the aid of history, and anthropology is
now a possible link that may solve this puzzling and baffling
question.
To the Hawaiians there is no puzzle. The origin of their race
is solved, in their opinion. Their legends and traditions, their
genealogies and chants, have so impregnated their thought that
what is myth to foreigners is fact to the Hawaiians.
"Mai ka po mai rnai ka lewa mai, makou," reply the Ha
waiians when they are asked their origin, whence they came.
Interpreted, this cryptic sentence says : "We come from the
night, from the moving space/5 which practically avers that
they are the Children of God, coming into the light of day from
the ever-mysterious night. This symbolic interpretation reaches
back into the hazy, mystic ages linking fact and myth, and who
can tell when myth ends and fact begins?
Historians and many authors dealing with the subject of Ha
waii, say Hawaiians, have made a grave error in their interpre
tation of the Hawaiian word "lewa," practically all of them mis
taking it to mean a boat in motion upon the water, and there
fore, finding the word "lewa" recurring frequently in ancient
chants, they have caught the idea it means the movement of
boats or ships toward Hawaii from a foreign shore, bringing
peoples here whom they, the historians, assert were the origina
tors of the Hawaiian race. The Hawaiians who delve into the
mysteries of word interpretations, aver that "lewa" means any
thing in motion,— the clouds, a flight of birds, the foamy crests
of the billows — but not boats.
WHENCE CAME THE HAWAIIANS? 23
No written history recorded the favorite places of residence
of the very .ancient chiefs and people; their migrations, if any,
with what craft they made their journeys; how their gods orig
inated. The narrative of ancient Hawaii has come down as
heard by the ear, father to son, down through the centuries. It
was only through memory, set to sonorous chants, that the an
cient Hawaiians were able to hand down to their descendants
the knowledge of prehistoric events. Memory was the book in
which they recorded all former happenings.
But trusting to memory led to differences of opinion and dif
ferent understandings of what they heard of ancient events.
One class of persons would consider that what they had learned,
and as they learned 'it, was correct. Others who had heard it
with variations would suppose that their version was preferable,
and would treat the other as deceptive; hence tradition would
be divided into branches and the truth fall out.
Hence, probably, the great differences in the genealogies of
the chiefs. One genealogy assumes one starting point, and an
other, another. One thinks his genealogical series is the best,
and the true one ; another thinks the same of his, and both per
haps are in error, because the memory was in fault at the be
ginning.
There are names of places and persons in Hawaii met with
in ancient chants, the origin or meaning of which, however, is
lost. The Hawaiians today know nothing whatsoever concern
ing them. But the explanation may be found in the chants of
Hawaii Loa, a person of ages ago, who speaks of the "Hawaii
moe" and "Kahiki moe," or the Hawaii "under the water," ap
parently a reference to the Hawaiian Deluge version.
From these chants the Hawaiians have made the interpreta
tion that Hawaii was at one time part of a vast continent, in
stead of the present small group of isles in mid-sea, which they
claim are only the tops of the mountains of the former conti
nent. There came a titanic submergence. The Hawaiians speak
of a "Hawaii that sleeps under the water" (Hawaii moe). The
great area of the continent bore names of places and of persons
that were lost in this cataclysmic submergence. But the names
24 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
continued to be chanted and chanted down through the centuries,
but no one knows their full meaning.
Cold, calculating science, separate and apart from mere fanci
ful traditions of a myth and legend-loving race, is now endeav
oring to demonstrate that there was once a continent in the Pa
cific where now are only straggling archipelagos of coral and
volcanic isles stretching from Hawaii far down into the South
Seas. As late as 1920 Prof. William Alanson Bryan, member
of the staff of the Bishop Museum of Honolulu and of the fac
ulty of the University of Hawaii, set forth upon an expedition
into the South Seas to prove that this theory of a former conti
nent, now submerged, stretching down the Pacific, is correct.
Despite the fact that scientists have stated that volcanic disturb
ances thrust peaks up from the bottom of the ocean, or that tril
lions of coral insects built with infinite patience until coral atolls
rose above the sea surface, Professor Bryan, a scientist, believes
thoroughly in the idea of a submerged continent, thereby be
coming an advocate of the old legend of the Hawaiians.
So it may be proven that these names, now unknown in their
meaning, may sometime become known.
Hawaii Loa, according to the traditions, traveled extensively,
and, it is assumed, along the shores of this great continent, in
his great canoes, and that, returning, he brought peoples here.
To the Hawaiians this tells how the slave-caste came to be in
troduced among the ancient Hawaiians.
It is said in the ancient genealogical account of Hawaii that
the race was "of themselves," had their origin here and that all
the present race has sprung from them. In the genealogical ac
count called Kumulipo (kumu = foundation, root; lipo, from the
depth of the sea, or blackness, or a cavern), it is said that the
very first person was a female, and her name was Lailai. It
is also said, in the genealogies, that she sprang from the Night,
and from her the Hawaiian race. Kealiiwahilani (the Adam of
the Hawaiians), was the name of her husband, but it is not re
lated what were the names of his parents. It is the tradition
that Kealiiwahilani came down from Heaven and when he looked
upon Lailai and saw that she was beautiful — she was living at
WHENCE CAME THE HAWAIIANS? 25
Lalowaia — he took her unto wife, and their immediate descend
ants were the progenitors of the Hawaiians. There is a strange,
eerie parallel in the Creation, as told in the Bible, and the crea
tion of the Hawaiians as related in their ancient chants, for it
includes a Deluge, just as Noah was the outstanding figure in
the biblical scene described at Mt. Ararat
After Lailai, it was said again in the genealogy, that the first
person was of the male sex, that his name was Kahiko, that some
thing was said of his grand-parents and his parents, but nothing
distinctly as to their character. All that is clear is that Kahiko -
was a man.
Kupulanakehao was the name of Kahiko's wife, and from them
were born Lihauula and Wakea. Wakea had a wife whose name
was Haumea, more frequently and better known as Pa-pa.
Wakea and Pa-pa have generally been referred to as the better-
known progenitors of the Hawaiian race.
It is said in all seriousness concerning Haumea, or Pa-pa, the
wife of Wakea, that a precipice (pali) was her ancestor. This
tradition comes from the genealogy of Paliku, and that from
Pa-pa was understood to have sprung a line or race of people.'
Paliku was the fifty-sixth generation of the twelfth period of
the Hawaiian creation, and he was the son of Palipalihia and
his wife, Paliomahilo. Wakea was the twentieth generation in
the order of things. Ololo was the brother of Paliku.
The foregoing are the persons spoken of in the Hawaiian gene
alogies as Hawaiian progenitors ; therefore, they are considered
as standing at the head of the Hawaiian nation, but the place of
birth is not mentioned.
Because the names of the places where these persons resided,
as Lailai and Kealiiwahilani, residing at Lalowaia; Kahiko and
Kupulanakehao, at Kamawaelualani, and Wakea and Pa-pa at
Lolomehani, are not known today, nor for more than a century
and a half, the Hawaiians assert that these were probably
located on what is now the submerged continent.
Wakea and Pa-pa separated and Pa-pa lived at Nuumehalani,
a district, but the name of the "great ground" was Nuupapakini,
"the earth/7 evidently referring to the continent, that was. There,
26 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Pa-pa (or Haumea), had many grandchildren. From Wakea
to the time of Haumea's death there are said to have been six
generations. After these followed nineteen other generations,
and that some portion of these dwelt on the identical part of the
continent that is now comprised in the Hawaiian group. The
twentieth of these generations, called Kapawa, is spoken of as
living at Kukaniloko, in the district of Waialua, island of Oahu,
on which the capital city of Honolulu is located. Kukaniloko
was said to have been Kapawa's birthplace.
From the time of Kapawa to the present day the generations
of men on these islands are more or less well known and readily
traced.
For decades historians have assumed the theory that the Ha-
waiians came from Tahiti, because of the frequent recurrence
of the word "Kahiki" in chants. The early missionaries and
interpreters of the Hawaiian language immediately translated
this word as "Tahiti."
This interpretation led to the assertion that the Hawaiians
had migrated to Hawaii from the Tahitian group, basing their
theory upon the supposed fact that the Hawaiians were so simi
lar in build, living habits, dress and feudal relations within their
clans.
"Ka-hiki," however, freely translated, means the east, the east
of the place "where the sun rises." This is according to the
translation of Hawaiian scholars. The Hawaiian name for Ta
hiti is "Polapola."
Possibly the original name of the great continent was "Ka
hiki," or "Kahikina," the coming of the sun.
In the early days of the contact of the white race with the
Hawaiians and the evident difficulty of the foreigners learning
the native tongue, the meaning of Hawaiian words was often
misjudged, particularly the figurative language in which the Ha
waiians indulged so largely. Thus, "Ka-hiki" becomes "Ta-hiti"
to these early visitors, and their mistakes, according to Hawaiian
authorities on their history and language, became accepted and
each later historian used this version.
WHENCE CAME THE HAWAIIANS? 27
In poetic language "Ka-hiki," "Ka-hi-kina," "Hiki-mai" and
"Ka-hikiku" mean "the coming/' which again naturally inter
prets the coming of the dawn. So again, the theory of creation
among the Hawaiians and the story of the later generations falls
back upon the submerged continent, or the Hawaiian Deluge,
called the "Sea of Hinalii," the latter being a chief of that period.
The submergence left several groups of islands, and thus there
were survivors, such as the Hawaiians, the Tahitians, the Mar-
quesans, the Samoans and so on, while a vast area of land and
names disappeared beneath the sea.
By a strange coincidence the name of the Hawaiian Noah was
Nuu. The latter built a large vessel, so tradition says, and a
house was placed on top of it and called "He Waa-Halau-Alii
o-ka-Moku." When the flood subsided the gods Kane, Ku and
Lono entered the "Waa Halau" of Nuu and told him to go out.
He did so and found himself on top of Mauna Kea, possibly the
Mount Ararat of the Hawaiian Deluge, and he called a cave
there after the name of his wife, Lili-noe, and that cave remains
there to this day. Other legends say it was not there where
Nuu landed and dwelt, but in Kahiki-Honua-Kele, a large and
extensive country. Some legends say that the rainbow was the
road by which Kane descended to speak to Nuu. When Nuu
left his vessel he took with him a pig, cocoanuts and awa as
an offering to his god, Kane. As he left his vessel he looked
up and saw the moon and thought that was the god and said to
himself, "Thou art Kane, though thou hast transformed thyself
to my Sight," and so he worshipped. Kane spoke reprovingly
to Nuu, but on account of the mistake, no punishment was meted
out to him. Then Kane ascended to heaven and left the rainbow
as a token of his forgiveness. All the previous population having
been destroyed by the flood, Nuu, the legend runs, became the
second progenitor of all present mankind.
Ancient chants relate that the island of Maui was named after
Hawaii Loa's first born son; island of Gahu was called after
Hawaii Loa's daughter; island of Kauai was called after Ha
waii Loa's younger son; his wife's name was Waialeale, and
they lived on Kauai, and the highest fnountain there was called
28 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
after her because upon it she was buried. And thus other islands
and districts were called after the first settlers.
But for the love the people here bore for the great continent
that "sleeps under the sea" and for their surviving islands, they
gave certain names to perpetuate events, such as Kahiki-nui, on
Maui, but they are said, according to Hawaiian tradition, to have
called the "great continent" Hawaii, and retained this name for
the group on which they found themselves as survivors.
If not so, Hawaii was then the name of a person and the
islands were named for that person.
What does the word Hawaii mean? From time immemorial
the Hawaiians have called themselves "Ko-Hawaii," meaning
"Of Hawaii"; "Kapae aina o Hawaii" and "Na Moku Hawaii,"
meaning "The Islands of Hawaii." This, in the opinion of Ha
waiians, means that the islands were those "of" the continent.
Otherwise the meaning is not altogether clear, but is figurative,
and means "In the beginning," or "the water trough," or "to
dash water upon a steaming surface."
The word Hawaii seems to be of comparatively recent origin
and only known in the 903d generation from Lailai. These isl
ands, according to some ancient chants, were known by the pre
historic people as the Houpo-a-Kane ("the bosom of Kane")
anterior to the time of the last continental collapse which sepa
rated each island by the channels that now exist. It is strange
that one has to refer to tradition to corroborate this event
It is related that certain persons landed here from a foreign
country — "Ka-hiki,"the east — known as Paao and Makuakau-
mana and their companions, guided across the waters by the
stars which formed the compass for the ancient Hawaiians ; and
that Paao lived at Kohala, island of Hawaii, but Makuakaumana
returned to "Ka-hiki." Paao came to the Islands in the time of
Lonokawai, chief of Hawaii, and in the sixteenth generation of
kings after the time of Pa-pa.
Paao continued to live at Kohala until it is said that the peo
ple became wicked, when Paao went abroad seeking a chief and
returned with one called Pili, who was established in sovereignty
over the Hawaiians. Pa^D finally departed from the islands.
Tinkling ukuleles and lei-adorned maidens of Hawaii complete the dulcet
charm of tropical moonlit nights in the mid-sea isles.
WHENCE CAME THE HAWAIIANS? 29
It is narrated in chants that Pili brought two fishes to Hawaii
— the opelu and the aku, the Hawaiian tuna of today. When
ever the wind was strong upon the ocean, the motion of the aku,
it was known, would be up and down in the water; when the
opelu swam quietly the wind was quiet and there was perfect calm.
Thus Pili and his companions landed upon the shores of Hawaii.
There the aku and opelu were the tabu fishes in ancient times
— that is, reserved only for the kings and chiefs to eat. After
he arrived Pili became king of the islands and became the an
cestor of some of the great chiefs.
Again, it is said that a certain person (Kanaka) returned from
a "foreign country." His name was Moikeha and the old chants
say his hair was red. On his arrival Kalapana was king of the
Islands. Moikeha resided on Kauai and married a woman named
Hinauulua, and they had a child named Kila. When Kila grew
up he sailed for a " foreign country" — "Ka-hiki" — and it is sup
posed that he took his departure from the western cape of the
little isle of Kalioolawe, between Maui and Hawaii, because the
name of that cape is now called "the road to a foreign country'*
(Keala-i-kahiki). He returned with Laamaikahiki, and that was
the time when he introduced bamboo tubes (kaekaeke) as musical
instruments, and ropes made from cocoanut fiber (aha hoa wale)-,
and the outrigger canoes (lanalana waa). He landed on Hawaii.
We are not told that the first canoes in which the people trav
eled were called pahi (ship), but the Hawaiians called their craft
"waas" (canoes). The recurrence of the idea that they came
from a "foreign country" is accentuated by their phrase "mai
ka lewa mai mai ke kua mai o ka moku," which means "from
the crest of the land" and "from the moving space," which under
Hawaiian interpretation means the "great continent/' and does
not refer to the "deck of a ship," as some historians aver.
The version of the origin of the Hawaiian race, entirely sepa
rate and apart from the origin of the islands themselves, as in
terpreted by historians other than Hawaiians, including Prof.
Alexander and the early missionary history recorders, is that the
people were driven across the ocean from Asia, possibly from
30 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
one group of islands to the next, and so on until they reached
Hawaii.
This version includes possible descent from the Jewish race,
from a lost tribe of wandering Israelites, because some of the
Hawaiian customs and religious ceremonies are very like those
of the children of Israel. The practice of circumcision, their
cities of refuge, their tabus respecting the burying of the dead,
the institution respecting the periodical infirmities of females and
of their being set apart for seven days after the birth of a child,
the purification of temples with salt, and even some of the rites
of the priests in the temples, were strangely like those of the
dwellers in Palestine.
Prof. Alexander, in a paper read before the Hawaiian His
torical Society, many years after he had written his Brief His
tory of Hawaii, in which he suggests a Jewish origin for the
Hawaiians, said that there was possibility of the Hawaiians hav
ing sprung from the Persians.
Whatever their origin they were a race that far excelled other
races dwelling upon islands in the Pacific. They attained a high
degree of feudal rule, strangely like that obtaining in Europe.
Their ceremonies attendant upon the accession of chiefs and
kings and the holding of royal courts, the conduct of war, the
chivalric attitude of kings and chiefs toward each other, their
practice of fashioning dishes from the trunks of trees, dishes
shaped for fishes and for animals, for poi and other eatables,
just as dishes are made in various forms today for the uses of
civilized peoples, were far advanced for an island race. Some
were dishes for finger bowls in which floated fragrant leaves of
ferns to aid in cleansing the fingers before, during and after a
meal, and it may be said that Hawaiians may have been among
the first peoples to use finger bowls. They sat before a table
that was composed of fern and ti-leaves laid upon the ground
and upon which the calabashes were placed. They partially re
clined, just as the Greeks and Romans of ancient days reclined,
partaking of their food with one or two fingers, as etiquette re
quired for particular occasions.
WHENCE CAME THE HAWAII ANS? 31
They were a stalwart people, with splendid physical develop
ment. Warfare developed each male, and sometimes the women,
for there were Ateazons often fighting in the ranks. It made
a mighty race of pleasing appearance, for the Hawaiian even
today has a marked different appearance with his soft black
hair, equally soft and welcoming eyes and hospitality fairly
breathing an "Aloha" to stranger and friend alike.
Now, having digressed from the theory of the Islands repre
senting the remnants of a lost continent, to relating genealo
gies and suggesting a former high type of civilization for this
race, one may refer to the official report of the Board for the
Collection of Ancient Hawaiian History and the Genealogy of
Hawaiian Chiefs, which was authorized by the Hawaiian Legis
lature in August, 1880, and appointed by King Kalakaua in 1882.
Its purpose was to gather, revise, correct and record all pub
lished and unpublished history of Hawaii, to act similarly with
the meles and to ascertain their object and spirit When the
board was making its investigations there was a storm of heated
discussion over some of the published results, one of which was
the. theory that Hawaii was all that was left in this part of the
world of a former vast continent. The theory was scoffed at
and historians affected not to take notice of it, many preferring
to cling to the theory of Jewish or Persian origin of the race
by migrations across Asia and the Pacific through various isl
ands, and generally by way of Tahiti.
Nearly half a century has passed since then. The theory of
the lost continent is no longer chimerical. Scientists from abroad
are working upon it as plausible and scientifically possible. In
its report to King Kalakaua, the board, in order to arrive at a
correct hypothesis to account for the existence of the prehistoric
people, announced it had applied to the surveyor general's office
at Honolulu for maps and was furnished with those of the deep-
sea soundings made by the U. S. S. Tuscarora from the Ameri
can continent to Honolulu, and from Honolulu to the Asian con
tinent, and by H. M. S. Challenger from the same terminals to
the Hawaiian group.
32 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
The object of the board in thus applying the evidence of deep-
sea sounding to their work was not for the purpose of raising a
geological question for determining the age of the Islands by
their volcanic formation, whether simultaneously ejected from
the bottom of the sea or from gradual sinking of old continents.
The evidence adduced from these soundings was considered of
value in solving many points and theories. One quotation taken
from notes on the maps and diagrams by Lieut. G. E. G. Jack
son, formerly of the British Royal Navy, is important :
"My theory is there once existed two vast continents in the
Pacific — the eastern and the western. The eastern, consisting
of the Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan and all those islands to the
eastward, taking in New Zealand and adjacent islands, and the
eastern -portion of Fiji. This continent is peopled by the Ma
layan race. The Western Polynesia consisted of what is known
as New Guinea, Solomon. New Hebrides, New Caledonia and the
western portion of Fiji, and was peopled by the Papuan and
woolly-headed people, very black, very savage and very much
addicted to cannibalism, a race totally different in every respect
from the civilized eastern Polynesian, for cannibalism was un
known amongst the Hawaiians. A thorough sounding of the
whole Pacific would do much towards solving this great scien
tific problem, and I trust some day not distant to see this im
portant matter taken in hand by the great powers/5
The indications of atollic formation of the islands that dot
the Pacific Ocean, and the wide diffusion and distribution of the
Polynesian race and races having the same affinity of speech,
manner, habits, physique, and bearing the closest resemblances
with the aboriginal races of the Eastern and Western Hemi
spheres, can only be accounted for by the many transformations
of the earth's surface at its most remote period. The Pacific
Ocean continents passed their antediluvian age in a similar man
ner to that of European, African and Asian continents.
But to return to the hypothetical area of a once-existing con
tinent in the Pacific Ocean, it can easily be imagined, when there
exists a chain of islands, mere specks above the ocean, com
mencing from Nippon of the islands of Japan, and running
WHENCE CAME THE HAWAIIANS? 33
south, including in its range the islands of Benin, through the
Ladrone and Marshall groups. Again, from Japan eastward,
through the chain of Ocean Island, including Midway and Laysan
to Hawaii, thence south to Palmyra, Madelin, Baker, to the
Marquesas, the Society or P'omutu group, including Samoa.
And from the Philippines is another semblance of a continua
tion of the Asian continent running through the Caroline group,
reaching to Fiji, which separates the Western from the Eastern
Polynesian group.
The board, through ancient folklore, refers to the ancient
Me'le of Kumulipo, referred to early in this chapter, which indi
cates a regular cosmogony of seven periods or ages given be
fore the appearance of the human race, the first being that of
the woman Lailai. Four hundred and fifty generations from
that of Lailai, the wife of Kapolokalii, by the name of Uliuli,
leaves the country and travels toward the west. In Hawaiian
mythology she is designated as Uliuli Ulu nui melemele o Haka-
lauaialono, noted for her generosity, and goddess of agriculture.
The second migrations appear to have taken place at the 656th
generation. Halulu, wife of Kepoo, takes her departure from
Upolu, a land at Kohala, Hawaii, and goes to or migrates to
Kahiki-mai-e-ka, a locality now known by name at Kahaualea,
Puna, Island of Hawaii, and upon it is a temple or heiau by the
same name, sunk several fathoms under the sea, and said to be.
seen only by fishermen in calm weather.
The third appears at the fourth generation after Wakea, at
the time of Nanakehili, who is reported to have been one of the
wicked Kings. He was slain by his people.
The mele Kumulipo, owing to its peculiar originality, was
considered one of the richest acquisitions to the work of the
board. From this source of information it is evident that the
ancient people of Hawaii had a cosmogony of their own, though
differing in many respects from the regular geological order and
classification of periods. In this history there appears to be a
faint recollection of a Great Deluge.
The Kai-a-Kahina-Aliis, or Deluges, that have occurred on
these Islands are but the evidences of a gradual subsidence by
34 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
a greater or less degree of contraction of the earth's surface.
The locality of the catastrophe which the ancients of these Isl
ands have often mentioned in their traditions as Kai-a-kahina-
alii, meaning "The sea which destroyed the Kings/' or the lost
of all vestiges of a former creation, is unknown.
The first subsidence, or Kai-a-kahina-alii (Deluge), took place
in the reign of Alahinalea and Palemo, his wife, the 200th gen
eration after Lailai. The second at the reign of Papio and
Loiloi, his wife, the 204th generation after Lailai ; the third, in
the reign of Liipau and Kaneiwa, his wife, the 602nd genera
tion after Lailai, and the last or final collapse took place in the
reign of Kahikoluamea, the 901st generation after Lailai.
Here enters one of the pretty myths of the ancient Hawaiians,
so like those of the Greeks. Maui-a-Kalama, or Maui-a-Kamalo,
who dates after the 925th generation from Lailai, and the 24th
from Wakea, knowing the tradition of his forefathers that the
Islands were all one and dry at one time, determined to bring
them together again. Maui took the famous hock of his father,
Manaiakalani, planted it at Hamakua, Hawaii Island, to pull
up the fish god Pimoe, and with his three brothers pulled to
wards the Island of Maui, Maui-a-Kalama commanding strict
injunction upon his brothers not to look back or the object of
their expedition would fail.
Hina, in the shape of a bailing--gourd, appeared at the sur
face. Maui, unconscious of harm, grasped the gourd and placed
it in front of his seat.
Lo! Behold, a beautiful maid appeared, whom the brothers
could not resist, and fascinated with her charms, all looked back
at the beautiful mermaid. The line parted, Hina disappears and
the grand expedition, the object of which was to connect the
islands as they originally were, ended in failure.
The Hawaiians had still another version of a Noah. The
mele tradition speaks of one or more of those convulsions
of nature, the waters rising and nearly covering the highest
peaks of the mountain of Maunakea, so that Kahikoluamea, on
a floating log of wood called Konikonihia, with his family, were
the only survivors of one of the catastrophies. This legend indi-
WHENCE CAME THE HAWAIIANS? 35
cates the disconnection of the Islands of Hawaii, Maui, Lanai,
Kahoolawe, Oahu, Kauai and Niihau.
Though but mere dots in the ocean, they are the living evi
dences of the remnants of the wreck, and from these may be
deduced evidences of the existence at one time of a submerged
island continent in the center of the Pacific Ocean.
Scientists, who regard the Islands as entirely of valcanic origin,
either thrust up from the bottom of the ocean by a titanic erup
tion, or gradually built up, flow by flow of lava from the volcanic
craters, assert the Islands are twenty thousand years old. It is
a theory based on scientific deductions, stripped of all myth and
tradition.
Do the Hawaiians of today believe in these legends of the
creation of their race? Do the Anglo-Saxons believe in fairies?
The answer is the same to both questions — yes.
Even today the Hawaiians have a strong belief in the "lost
continent" idea, for mystic ancient rites are still indulged in at
the Island of Niihau, at the point of Kamalino, near the landing
of Nono-papa.
Just to the right of the landing at Nono-pape is a rock called
"Ka-hiki-moe," "the sleeping east." It is oblong in shape and
not very large. Below this is a land cave. The Hawaiians who
visit this spot to see the noted "Ka^hiki-moe" make offerings
of awa root and other things as they did centuries ago.
As you look down into the sea there is revealed a great cre
vasse, which is said to be the passage through which this small
rock came to the land.
Far out as you look seaward and just above the waters there
is a red stone, known as the "Pio-ke-anueanue," or "the arching
rainbow," because of its coloring, for it is there the sun seems
to set, and where the rainbow's end seems to pass from sky into
the depths of the ocean.
Near the landing there is also an indentation which is said
to be an imu (Hawaiian open-air oven) used -by and for the
beautiful woman "Pio-ke-anueanue." There is also a rock which
rests partly on the sand and partly in the water, in the form
36 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
of an eel, called Puhi-ula ("the red eel"), and known as the
guardian god of the ocean.
Over on the Island of Molokai is a rise of the land called
Nauea-a-pii, and from there to Mauna Loa, on Molokai, there
are footprints of the feet of the gods, showing that even they
came to Hawaii from "ka-hiki," the "place of the dawn."
CHAPTER II
DISCOVERY OF HAWAII AN UNSOLVED PUZZLE
GAETANO OR COOK?
THERE is no uncertainty among Hawaiians as to the truth
of their tradition that centuries before Captain James
Cook, R. N., sailed his ships into Hawaiian waters some
fair-haired and light-complexioned people were cast up on the
shores of the Island of Hawaii from a strange looking craft,
and that these people continued to dwell among the Hawaiians,
and married and were the progenitors of a type of people whose
descendants today are of light complexion among the Hawaiians,
their hair even slightly reddish in hue.
This tradition is as strong in their belief of the historical ac
curacy of this discovery of the islands by foreigners — possibly
in the 16th century — as other historians are that Captain Cook,
who sailed into Hawaiian waters with his two ships in 1778, was
the first to discover the Hawaiian Islands.
Historians of Hawaii and historians of Europe have attacked
the puzzle of who discovered Hawaii, and yet none of them are
as yet certain. In the end the claimants for Captain Cook are
sure that the supposed discovery of Hawaii by Don Juan Gae-
tano in 1555 -is all a myth. Hawaiians quote their meles, their
chants, their genealogies, their legends to prove that the Span
iard was first in Hawaii.
Despite the valuable treatise on this subject written by the
Danish historian, E. W. Dahlgren, probably one of the most
exhaustive compilations of data from documents perused in vari
ous libraries of Spain, England, America and Hawaii, in which
he concludes with the abrupt statement that all his researches
proved that the first European to gaze upon the islands of Ha-
38 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
waii was Captain Cook, there is much in the Spanish contention
that Juan Gaetano is entitled to this credit.
The honor of making the Hawaiian Islands known to the
world belongs undoubtedly to Captain Cook, but whether Cap
tain Cook had aboard his flagship, the "Discovery/7 copies of
an old Spanish chart of the Pacific which was captured aboard
a Spanish galleon captured by Commodore Lord George Anson
on June 30, 1743, or 35 years before Captain Cook reached Ha
waii, on which the approximate position of these islands was
placed, is not definitely known. Some historians assert that he
had and that a Lieutenant Roberts marked upon his charts the
location of the mysterious islands which eventually turned out
to be the Hawaiian group.
On the map of the world which accompanies the history of
Cook's vayoge we find, on the same degree of latitude as Ha
waii but about 20 degrees of longitude east thereof, a group
of four islands of which the two westernmost are called Los
Majos ; the furthest to the southeast, La Maso.
The draughtsman, Lieut. Henry Roberts, has given a detailed
description of the sources of this map. He says that after leav
ing England, Captain Cook commissioned him to draw up a
map of the world on the basis of the best material that was
available for this purpose; and that this commission, for the
most part accomplished before Cook's death, so that a special
draft was ready, in which only those parts were left vacant
which they hoped to investigate in the course of the voyage.
When the map was about to be published after the return home,
however, it was found necessary to re-examine and amplify it
in accordance with the latest and best authorities. Roberts gives
a detailed account of these authorities, and then adds that "every
other part of the chart, not mentioned in this account, is as
originally placed by Captain Cook." As the above named group
of islands and a number of other islands in the adjacent parts
of the ocean, are not mentioned as the objects of re-investiga
tion after the arrival home in England, it is assumed that they
were inserted by Cook himself, or, with his knowledge,! by Rob
erts. Cook, therefore, probably had no doubt of their existence,
DISCOVERY OF HAWAII 39
but for other reasons he quite certainly had no suspicions that
they might possibly be regarded as identical with the Hawaiian
group discovered by himself.
The nearest source from which the existence of these islands
had been derived, however, is not difficult to find: It is a chart
of the northern part of the Pacific Ocean which Lord Anson
found on a Spanish galleon which he captured in 1743 in the
neighborhood of the Philippines.
In submitting this chart to close examination it is found that
the group of islands in question exhibits a number of details
which are not reproduced in Roberts' map ; that instead of Los
Majos we fined Los Mojas, and instead of La Maso, La Mesa,
and that the fourth island has a name La Bisgraciada, which is
missing in Roberts' map.
Cook's successors manifestly shared his conception of the group
as a land distinct from Hawaii, these all being English navi
gators.
The 20th of January, 1778, the day on which Captain James
Cook landed on one of the islands, where, a year later, the 14th
of February, 1779, he was to end his glorious life, can safely be
characterized as one of the landmarks in the history of geo
graphical discovery, not only because of the intrinsic importance
of the discovery, but also, and to a still greater extent, because
this discovery inaugurated the investigation of the maritime area,
the northern part of the Pacific Ocean having remained unknown
in its essential features to the peoples of Europe.
That Cook was the first European who beheld the Hawaiian
archipelago, or the Sandwich Islands, as he himself called them,
began to be disputed not long after his death. It was then al
leged that Spanish navigators discovered the group and marked
them upon the map of the world. This assertion has been re
peated with greater or less definiteness by practically all writers
of history or geography; by — to mention only some of the most
eminent — Alexander von Humboldt, James Bnrney, J. G. Kohl,
Carl E, Meinecke, Sophus Ruge, Henry Harrisse, Elisee Reclus,
Siegmund Gunther, Konrad Kretschmer and Edward Heawood.
40 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Thus supported by the best authorities, the statement has been
regarded as an established fact.
Cook himself, however, said : "Had the Sandwich Islands been
discovered at an early period by the Spaniards, there is little
doubt that they would have taken advantage of so excellent a
situation and have made use of Atooi (Kauai) or some other
of the islands as a refreshing place to the ships that sail annually
from Acapulco to Manila.'3
This would make it appear that Cook really had no knowledge
of the group of islands in that part of the ocean and that he
was not guided in his enterprise by a previous discoverey. The
reasons why Cook sailed northward from Tahiti over the course
that unexpectedly led him to the discovery, or re-discovery, ap
pear unmistakably from the plan of his voyage and its object,
as it was put before him in the instructions issued by the British
Admiralty. He was to seek for a northerly route from the Pa
cific to the Atlantic Ocean ; in other words, to investigate the so-
called Northwest Passage in the direction opposite to that which
had previously been tried, through Hudson's Bay and Baffin's
Bay. He had been specially instructed not to lose time by seek
ing for new lands, and accordingly he only came across the little
uninhabited Christmas Island before, on January 17, 1778, he
sighted some islands; these were the westernmost islands of the
Hawaiian archipelago. They landed on Kauai and Niihau. Of
the greater eastern islands they sighted only O'ahu ; the ques
tion whether still more existed, of which the natives seemed to
have some knowledge, had to be left unsettled on the first visit;
and the confirmation of this was left to future investigations.
Now as to the Spanish discovery. Senor Don Ricardo Btltran
y Rozpide, speaking before the Royal Geographical Society of
Madrid, whose remarks were published by that society in their
''bulletin" of 1881, threw light on the puzzle.
He said that in the 16th century and the earlier years of the
17th, the Spanish flag dominated, without a rival, in the waters
of the two oceans. Spain continued the work on Colon, sought
for and found a new route to Oriental India, and the fearless
navigators, desiring to extend the dominions for their country,
DISCOVERY OF HAWAII 41
and by so doing gain honor and renown, fitted out numerous
expeditions by sea, which resulted in the discovery of the Philip
pines archipelago, the Ladrone, the Marquesas, Solomon, Santa
Cruz and Caroline Islands in the Pacific Ocean. In the ports
of Peru and New Spain (Chile), he said, were anchored the
renowned galleons of that epoch, whose course was directed to
wards the coasts and archipelagos of Oriental Asia.
With faith in God or destiny, venturesome, disregarding dan
gers, and with the splendid courage that characterized the earlier
Spaniards, they led the way in these heretofore undiscovered
and mysterious seas, carrying the proud name of their country
and the emblems of their religion to strange shores, not forget
ting in their search the baser metals. One of the most import
ant expeditions was that of General Lopes Villalobos in 1542,
which sailed from Chile for the Molaccas, and who wa saccom-
panied by Juan de Gaetano in the capacity of pilot or navigator.
In the report of the voyage Gaetano mentions "las Islas del
Rey," "the King's Islands," about 900 leagues from the coast
of Mexico (in reality a little over 2000 miles), and as the ex
pedition of Villalobos followed the approximate latitude of "the
archipelago ojE Hawaii/' or "The King's Islands," it is reason
able to suppose that they are the same which Cook rediscovered.
There may have been errors in computation of the longitude or
latitude, or in placing them upon the map, to account for this
discrepancy. The Spaniards back up their contention by the
production of charts and documents.
The Hydrographical Department of the Spanish Government
at Madrid, on being questioned concerning documentary evidence
of the Spanish discovery of Hawaii, replied that it was true no
document had been found certified to by Gaetano, subscribing
to the fact of discovery in 1555, but "there exist data which
collectively form a series of proofs sufficient for believing it
to be so. The principal one is an old manuscript chart, regis
tered in these archives as anonymous, and in which the Sand-
wish Islands are laid down under that name, but which also
contains a note declaring the name of the discoverer and date
42 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
of the discovery and that he called them 'Islas de Mesa' (Table
Islands).
The Spanish of Madrid claim that Cook found on Hawaii
part of a wide sword, whose existence there he could not sat
isfactorily account for, which the Spanish claim was of Spanish
origin.
Senor Rozpide continues in his address that "There are in
the archives of the Bureau of Hydrography in Madrid, many
letters and MSS. giving very clear and authentic information
in regard to these islands, notably the chart of the frigate Buenfin
in 1773, on which the islands 'Monges' are called 'Mira and
Ulloa to the eastward of the Island of Hawaii/" These, he
claims, are the islands seen by Gaetano, "but, from the imperfect
instruments then in use, errors of latitude and longitude were
made.5'
Now as to the Hawaiian version, the one brought down from
the misty past in legends, traditions and genealogies.
It was the English missionary, William Ellis, who first noted
down and published some of the traditions concerning the pos
sible visits of Europeans before that of Cook and the supposed
traces of their influence. He arrived at the islands in 1822.
Having been in Tahiti he was able to converse with the Ha
waiian s within a few months, and then delved into the past of
the Hawaiian race. Ellis learned that they had three accounts
of foreigners arriving at Hawaii prior to Captain Cook. The
first was the priest Paao, who landed at Kohala, Island of Ha
waii, and to whom the priests of that neighborhood traced their
genealogy until just before Ellis' arrival.
The second account states that during the lifetime of Opiri,
the son of P'aao landed somewhere in the southwest part of the
island and repaired to the mountains where they took up their
abode. The natives regarded them with superstitious curiosity
and dread, and knew not whether to consider them as gods or
men. Opiri (Pili) was sent for by the king of that district.
Provisions were cooked and presented to the strangers, and con
versation was held, through Opiri (Pili), the tradition avers.
The foreigners later departed.
DISCOVERY OF HAWAII 43
No account is preserved of the kind of vessel in which they
arrived or departed. The name of the principal person among
them was Manahini, and it is a singular fact that in the Mar-
quesan, ociety and Hawaiian Islands, the word manahini is still
employed to designate a foreigner or stranger, but in Hawaii
the word is pronounced and spelled malahini.
The third account describes the arrival, during the reign of Ka-
houkapu, king of Kawaloa, of seven foreigners at Kealakekua
bay, the spot where Captain Cook subsequently landed. They
came, according to the tradition, in a painted boat, with a canopy
over the stern. The color of their clothes was white or wellow,
and one wore a pahi (knife), probably a sword, and wore a
feather in his hat. They remained, married among the Ha-
waiians, were made chiefs, proved themselves warriors, and ulti
mately became very powerful in the Island of Hawaii.
A story which rather reminds one of this last, and which is
possibly a variant of it, is told by Otto von Kotzebue, who visited
Honolulu in 1825 as commander of a Russian man-of-war. His
authority was Kalanimoku, a great chieftain and general under
Kamehameha the Great, and the one who received the first mis
sionaries at Hawaii in 1820, whose words were interpreted by
Don Marini, a Spaniard who had lived for many years in the
islands.
The chieftain said that a boat with five white men landed in
Kealakekua bay near the heiau ( temple ( where Opuna was
buried. She was Queen Kaikilani-wahine-alii Opuna, who was
killed by her husband, Lonoikamakahiki. The natives regarded
them as higher beings and therefore did not prevent them from
taking possession of the temple, in which holy spoto they were
not only safe from pursuit, but also had plenty of food, as such
was brought daily to the temple as sacrifice to the idols there
erected, and became regarded as the envoys of Lono, who, ac
cording to Hawaiian traditions, governed Hawaii in the fabulous
ages, or was even a god.
They mixed freely with the priests and performed the holy
ceemonies in combination with them in the temple. Then they
appeared among the people, and though the people regarded them
44 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
now only as men, yet they remained and were highly respected,
and received maidens of noble birth as wives and some became
rulers. The descendants of these strangers, so Kotzebue wrote,
including most of the nobility of the islands, were still distin
guished by their whiter skin.
The story most often cited as evidence that before Cook's
time Europeans had visited Hawaii is definitely presented for
the first time in a summary of the history of the Islands com
posed by pupils at the American mission-school at Lahainaluna
on the Island of Maui, and printed by the pupils themselves in
1838. The title of the little volume is "Ka Moolelo Hawaii/'
Its contents were arranged for publication by a teacher at the
school, Rev. Sheldon Dibble, a missionary of high literary at
tainments, but it is commonly cited under the name of the prin
cipal Hawaiian historian and brilliant author, David Malo. The
English version, as quoted by the historian Fornander, runs as
follows :
"In the time of Kealiiokaloa, king of Hawaii and son of Umi,
arrived a vessel at Hawaii. Konalihoa was the name of the
vessel, and Kukanaloa was the name of the foreigner (white
man) who commanded, or to whom belonged the vessel. His
sister was also with him on the vessel.
"As they were sailing along, approaching the land, the vessel
struck at the pali of Keei and was broken to pieces by the surf,
and the foreigner and his sister swam ashore and were saved,
but the greater part of the crew perished perhaps; that is not
well ascertained.
"And when they arrived ashore they prostrated themselves on
the beach, uncertain perhaps on account of their being strangers,
and of the different kind of people whom they saw there, and
being very fearful perhaps. A long time they remained pros
trated on the shore, and hence the place was called Kulou, and
is so called to this day. The white rock there is called Pohaku-
kea, and the cliff above 'Mauna-kapu,' or Sacred Mountain, for
there the Spaniards are said to have worshipped.
"And when evening came the people of the place took them
to a house and entertained them, asking them if they were ac-
Frowning Pali Kapu o Keoua (the tabu cliff of Keoua, father of
Kamehameha I), overshadowing historic Kealakakua Bay, pierced
with the" cave tombs of the mighty ancient kings and chiefs.
Somber and silent, the cliff tombs remain undisturbed.
Below them Captain Cook was slain.
DISCOVERY OF HAWAII 45
quainted with the food set before them, to which they replied
that they were; and afterwards, when breadfruit, ohis and bana
nas were shown them, they expressed a great desire to have them,
pointing to the mountains as the place where to get them. The
strangers cohabited with the Hawaiians and had children, and
they became ancestors of some of the Hawaiian people, and also
of some of the chiefs/' They were known as Lala kea, meaning
the "white branch of the tree." To the Hawaiians the white man
was termed "kekea," while "haole" meant any foreigner, irre
spective of color.
According to Fornander, this story was generally current in
many of the Islands, and the landing of the strangers was local
ized in various places. The version above quoted, however,
which places the event on the west coast of Hawaii, is regarded
by him as the original one.
Several attempts have been made to determine the time when
the event related happened. Fornander, on the basis of the na
tive genealogies, calculated that King Kealiiokaloa, during whose
time the strangers are said to have arrived at Hawaii, reigned
between the years 1521 and 1530, and in accordance with this
he assumed that the stranded ship belonged to Alvaro dc Saave-
dra's squadron. J. J. Jarves, with the support" of a similar cal
culation, arrived at the year 1620.
In fact one historian has given the castaways the names of
Juan and Beatriz Alvirez.
Another substantiation of the idea that Spanish discovered the
Islands and that some were wrecked on them is that there are
evidences of European influence. It has long been held that
the beautiful cloaks and helmets worn by the kings and chiefs,
made from the feathers of birds, placed upon a background of
tree and plant fiber, woven like strands of rope, are like those
of the Spanish warriors, or were imitations of their helmets and
cloaks. However, the helmets were more like those worn by
the ancient Greeks and Phoenicians than the Spaniard. There
may, however, have been a native variation of the steel helmet
worn by the soldiers of Spain, and that the final shape resembled
that of a Greek soldier, may have been in the gradual evolution.
46 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Historians may differ as to who discovered the Hawaiian
Islands. The Hawaiians are generally agreed that centuries be
fore Cook arrived other foreigners reached the Hawaiian shores.
It is true, however, that Cook made the Islands known to the
world, and from that time they came into prominence in the
councils of the powers, and today are not the least of import
ance of all the states and territories of the American Republic.
The most curious fact that presents itself to the eye of the
traveler in the ruins of temples built by Umi, who was called
"The Mountain King/7 who reigned over the whole Island of
Hawaii in the 16th century, is the existence of a mosaic pave
ment in the form of a regular cross, which traverses the enclosure
in the direction of its length and breadth.
This symbol is not found in the monuments anterior to this
king nor in those which are posterior to him. Involuntarily one
sees in this a proof of the two white shipwrecked persons whose
landing upon the Island of Hawaii has been told.
May it not be inferred from the existence of these Christian
emblems that towards the time when the great Umi filled the
group with his renown some shipwrecked Spanish, or even Portu
guese, sought to introduce the religion of Christ into the
Islands. This peculiarity was observable in the monuments
erected during Umi's reign, but not in other heiaus (temples),
as for instance at Kupalaha, in the district of Makapala ; Moo-
kini, at Puuepa ; Aiaikamahina, near the sea at Kukuipahu ; and
Kuupapaulau, towards the mountain at the same place.
The remains of these four remarkable temples are found in
the district of Kohala, Hawaii Island. In them there is not the
slightest division into the form of a cross. It was in Umi's
domain, proper, that the shipwrecked foreigners landed.
The Hawaiian chants reveal an apparent discrepancy in the
time of the supposed introduction of foreigners to Hawaii. Umi
was the father of the king who reigned when Gaetano is be
lieved to have touched at Hawaii, which was in 1555.
The shipwrecked Spaniards who are said to have come ashore
at Keei, near Kealakekua, Kona, Hawaii, probably reached the
DISCOVERY OF HAWAII 47
-island when Umi was alive and they may have left the impress
of their Christian faith with the king.
If Umi adopted the cross as a symbol in the division of a
part of his temples, it was probably due to the initiative of the
shipwrecked Spaniards. What influence Gaetano and his crew
may have had upon the Islanders is not definitely known.
The Hawaiians, however, assert that the form of the cross
(kau pea or peakapu) was a very ancient symbol among them.
CHAPTEE III
TRAGEDY OF CAPTAIN JAMES COOK-
HAWAII'S GAIN
THE horror which swept civilized countries when the news
reached them of the tragic death of Captain James Cook
of the Royal British navy, one of England's most emi
nent navigators and contributors to knowledge of the remote
parts of the world, accentuated an exceptional interest in the
Hawaiian Islands, more so than if the navigator had left the
islands peaceably after his discovery and merely reported that
these islands had been placed on the charts.
The very fact that he was slain on the shores of Kealakekua
Bay, Island of Hawaii, where he had first set foot, honored, nay,
worshipped, by the natives, who believed that in this strange
white leader their god Lono had returned to the Islands, was a
deplorable freak of Fate. The report of his death indelibly
marked the Hawaiian Islands in the memories of mariners and
gave them greater prominence in the capitals of Europe than
otherwise. Governments immediately saw an advantage in pos
session of the Islands. But England was first on the ground
and first to take advantage even of the tragic pioneering of
Captain Cook, and it was the English who rather stood on guard
for Hawaii that kept other nations from menacing the isles in
the guise of conquerors.
But for the failure of one of Cook's successors in visiting
the Islands, surveying them and becoming closely acquainted
with the king, Kamehameha the Great — Captain George Van
couver — to carry out a promise made to the king, American
influence may never have gained the upper hand and resulted
in 1898 in the annexation of the Islands by the United States.
TRAGEDY OF CAPTAIN COOK 49
Vancouver discussed his religion with Kamehameha and that
monarch listened. He seemed to desire more knowledge, where
upon Vancouver promised that Englishmen would be sent to
Hawaii to tell him of the white man's religion, of Christ and
the meaning of such a religion. That promise was never kept.
Vancouver may have informed the British Government of his
promise, but if so, the government failed to discharge that ob
ligation.
A quarter of a century passed, and no Englishmen authorized
to teach the Gospel went to Hawaii, although other Englishmen
went to Hawaii and took up their residence. The king died
May 8, 1819. The native religion was abolished in October of
that year, and in March, 1820, American missionaries landed on
the Islands and spread the Gospel. Naturally that event con
nected up Hawaii with New England, not old England, and from
that time may be dated the beginning of American influence.
Had English missionaries first visited Hawaii, the American
missionaries may never have been sent there, and England would
have had a clear field for the future.
Captain James Cook was born at Morton, in the North-Riding
of Yorkshire. The family removed to Marton in the same sec
tion, situated in the high road from Gisborough, in Cleveland,
to Stockton-upon-Tees, in the county of Durham. He was born
October 27, 1728. His early education was received in the day
school at Ayton. At thirteen he was bound an apprentice to a
haberdasher, but the sea was his inclination. He was later bound
to Messrs. John and Henry Walker of Whitby, Quakers by re
ligious profession, and principal owners of the ship Freelove and
of another vessel, employed in the coal trade. After he was out
of his time he continued on the sea as a common sailor, till at
length he was raised to be mate of one of John Walker's ships.
In the spring of 1755, when hostilities broke out between
England and France and there was a hot press for seamen, Cook
happened to be in the river Thames with the ship to which he
belonged. At first he concealed himself, but reflecting it might
be difficult to elude discovery, he determined upon further con-
sideration to enter His Majesty's service and to make his future
50 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
fortune in the royal navy. Accordingly he went to a rendez
vous at Wapping, and entered with an officer of the Eagle man-
of-war, a ship of sixty guns, at that time commanded by Cap
tain Hamer. To this ship Captain (afterwards Admiral) Paliser
was appointed in October, 1755, and when he took command
found in her James Cook, whom he soon distinguished to be
an able, active and diligent seaman. The captain gave him
encouragement.
The captain received letters from a member of Parliament
that he had been solicited to seek the advancement of James
, Cook. The captain did justice to Cook's merit in his reply, but
as he had been in the navy such a short time he could not yet
be promoted. A master's warrant was procured for him May
10, 1759, for the Grampus sloop. Four days later he was ap
pointed to the Garland, but the ship had already sailed. He
was then appointed to the Mercury. The Mercury's destination
was North America, where she joined the fleet of Sir Charles
Saunders, which, in conjunction with the land forces under Gen
eral Wolfe, was engaged in the famous siege of Quebec. Cap
tain Cook made soundings in the channel of the river St. Law
rence in order to allow the admiral to place ships against the
enemy's batteries to cover the army's attack. He was ambus
caded by Indians, but escaped. His report to Captain Paliser
was an able one. He made several hazardous expeditions, all
to his credit. From this time on his advance was rapid, and he
succeeded from ship to ship, each a better one than before.
Captain Cook on his first voyage to the South Seas returned
home by Cape of Good Hope in July, 1771, and again this ex
perienced circumnavigator , performed his second voyage in the
Resolution, which sailed from England in July, 1772, and re
turned on the 30th of the same month in 1775. The general
object of this and the preceding voyage around the world was
to search for unknown tracts of land that might exist within
tre bosom of the immense expanse of ocean that occupies the
southern hemisphere and to determine the existence, or non-
existence, so some of his biographers assert, of a southern con
tinent. During these voyages the several lands of which any
TRAGEDY OF CAPTAIN COOK 51
account had been given by the Spaniards or Dutch were care
fully looked for, and most of them found, visited and surveyed.
The Terra Australia de Espiritu Santo of Quiros, which he
regarded as part of a southern continent, was circumnavigated
by Captain Cook, who assigned to it its true position and extent.
Bougainville did no more than discover that the land was not
connected ; but Captain Cook explored the whole group. Byron,
Wallace and Carteret had each of them contributed towards in
creasing a knowledge of the amazing profusion of islands that
exist in the Pacific Ocean, within the limits of the southern tropic,
but how far that ocean extended to the west, what lands bounded
it on that side, and the connection of those lands with the dis
coveries of former navigators, remained absolutely unknown till
Captain Cook decided the question and brought home to England
ample accounts of them and their inhabitants.
That nothing might be left unattempted, though much had
been already done, Captain Cook, whose professional knowledge
could only be equalled by the persevering diligence with which
he had employed it in the course of his former researches, was
called upon once more to resume his survey of the globe. This-
brave and experienced commander might have spent the re
mainder of his days in the command to which he had been ap
pointed in Greenwich Hospital, but he cheerfully relinquished
this honorable position in a letter to the British Admiralty, dated
February 10, 1776, placed his services at the disposal of their
lordships, and undertook a third voyage, which, in one respect,
was less fortunate than any former expedition, being performed
at the expense of the life of its intrepid conductor.
Former circumnavigators had returned to Europe by the Cape
of Good Hope; the arduous, and as we now know impossible,,
task was assigned to Captain Cook of attempting it by reaching
the high northern latitudes between Asia and America. He was-
ordered to proceed to Otaheite (Tahiti), or Society Islands, and
then, having crossed the equator into the northern tropic, to hold"
such a course as might most probably give success to the attempt*
of finding out a northern passage.
52 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
His patron on this voyage was the Earl of Sandwich, hence the
fact that when he discovered the Hawaiian Islands he named
them the Sandwich Islands in his honor, and that designation
was retained until half a century ago. The instructions of the
Admiralty therefore explain how the Earl of Sandwich's name
appears in the instructions, part of which read:
''Whereas, the Earl of Sandwich hath signified to us His
Majesty's pleasure that an attempt should be made to find out
a northern passage by sea from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean ;
and whereas, we have in pursuance thereof, caused His Maj
esty's sloops Resolution and Discovery to be fitted, in all re
spects, proper to proceed upon a voyage for the purpose above
mentioned ; and from the experience we have had of your abili
ties and good conduct in your late voyages, have thought fit to
entrust you with the conduct of the present intended voyage,
and with that view appointed you to command the first mentioned
sloop, and directed Captain Clerke, who commands the other, to
follow your orders for his further proceedings; and you are
hereby required and directed to proceed with the said two sloops
directly for the Cape of Good Hope unless you shall judge it
necessary to stop at Madeira, the Cape D'e Verde, or Canary
Islands, to take in wine for the use of the companies. . . .
"If possible you are to leave the Cape of Good Hope by the
end of October or beginning of November next, and proceed
to the southward in search of some Islands, said to have been
lately seen by the French in the lat. of 48 deg. south and under
or near the meridian of Mauritius. . . . You are not to spend
too much time in looking out for those Islands, but to proceed
to Otaheite, or the Society Islands (touching at New Zealand in
your way thither if you should judge it necessary or convenient) .
". . . and having refreshed the people belonging to the sloops
under your command, you are to leave those Islands in the be
ginning of February, or sooner, and then proceed in as direct a
course as you can to the coast of New Albion, endeavoring to
fall in with it in the latitude of 45 deg. north, and taking care
in your way thither not to lose any time in search of new lands,
TRAGEDY OF CAPTAIN COOK 53
or to stop at any you may fall in with, unless you find it neces
sary to recruit your wood and water."
Captain Cook was strictly enjoined NOT TO TOUCH upon
any part of the Spanish dominions on the western continent of
America, unless driven there by some unavoidable accident.
Both sloops were put in com/mission on February 14, 1776.
The Resolution was 300 tons burden and likewise the Discovery.
Clerke had been Cook's second lieutenant in his second voyage
around the world. On June 8, while they lay at Long Reach,
they had the satisfaction of a visit from the Earl of Sandwich,
Sir Hugh Paliser and others of the Board of Admiralty. The
board ordered garden seeds, useful animals and other things to
be put aboard for distribution on various islands. Whether any
of these things were left on Hawaii is not definitely known.
Captain Cook had Mr. King as his second lieutenant to be
his professional observer. Mr. Webster was engaged for the
purpose of supplying the defects of written accounts by taking
accurate drawings of the most memorable scenes and transac
tions. Mr. Anderson, surgeon, added to his professional abili
ties a great proficiency in natural history. On board both ves
sels were 192 persons, officers included. Those of the Resolu
tion were : Lieutenants Gore, King and Williamson ; Bligh, mas
ter; Anderson, surgeon, and Philips, lieutenant of marines. The
officers of the Discovery were: Lieutenants Burney and Rick-
man; Edgar, master, and Law, surgeon.
Bligh, master of the Resolution, was the same officer who com
manded the Bounty, the crew of which mutinied on April 8,
1789, off Otaheite (Tahiti), and having bound Lieut. Bligh,
turned him adrift in a long boat with eighteen men and with
only a small supply of food and water. Mr. Bligh ultimately
reached Timor, having traversed 3618 miles in 46 days. Fletcher
Christian, the leader of the mutineers, and his followers pro
ceeded in the Bounty to Pitcairn's Island, where they were dis
covered in 1809. Their descendants still live on Pitcairn.
The Resolution and Discovery sailed July 14, 1776.
54 • UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
January 18, 1778, is memorable in the annals of geographical
discovery, as it is the day on which the group of islands in the
Pacific Ocean now known as the Hawaiian Islands were dis
covered by Captain Cook as he came north from Tahiti and
Christmas Island, which had been named a few weeks before.
Captain Cook gave them the name of the Sandwich Islands.
It was on the morning of the 18th that an island was seen.
Soon after more land, bearing north, was repealed, previously
sheltered from the former. Both had the appearance of being
high land.
At 9 o'clock Captain Cook sent three armed boats, under com
mand of Lieutenant Williamson, to look for a landing place and
for fresh water. Just as they were pulling off from the ships
one of the natives who had gone aboard, having hypothecated a
butcher's cleaver, leaped overboard, got in his canoe with the
boats pursuing him. While the boats were examining the coast
the sloops stood on and off. About noon the officer returned
and reported he had seen a pond behind a beach, near one of
the villages, which the natives said contained fresh water and
that there was anchoring ground before it. In one place na
tives had come down to the beach in great numbers and pre
vented him landing. They had attempted to take away the
oars and muskets, and he was obliged to fire and had killed one
man. In the afternoon Captain Cook went ashore with three
ar-aued boats and twelve marines to examine the water and try
the disposition of the inhabitants, several hundreds of whom
were assembled on the beach.
- The very instant Cook landed at the beach the natives fell
flat on their faces and remained in that humble position till by
expressive signs he prevailed upon them to rise; they then
brought many small pigs which they presented to the navigator,
using much the same ceremony as he found in other islands.
He accepted the presents and offered others from his stores.
He met with no objections in watering. The natives fell pros
trate as Cook proceeded inland to inspect the villages. This,
he says, he found was the ceremony paid to great chiefs.
TRAGEDY OF CAPTAIN COOK 55
Captain Cook had discovered the Island of Kauai, the west
ernmost island of the Hawaiian group.
He inspected their heiaus (temples), their altars and idols.
Mr. Webster made drawings of the temples and altars upon
which human sacrifices were made.
"Among the articles which they brought to me to barter this
day," says Cook in his journal, recording the second day's stay,
"we noticed a particular sort of cloak and cap, which, even in
countries where dress is more particularly attended to, might
be reckoned elegant. The first are nearly of the size and shape
of the short cloaks worn by the women in England and by the
men in Spain, reaching to the middle of the back, and tied loosely
before; the ground is a network upon which the most beautiful
red and yellow feathers are so closely fixed that the surface
might be compared to the thickest and richest velvet, which
they resemble, both as to feel and glossy appearance. The man
ner of varying the mixture is very different; some having tri
angular spaces of red and yellow alternately, others a kind of
crescent, and some that were entirely red had a broad yellow
border which made them appear at a distance exactly like a
scarlet cloak edged with gold lace. The brilliant colors of the
feathers, in those that happened to be new, added not a little to
their fine appearance ; and we found that they were in high esti
mation by their owners, for they would not at first part with
one of them for anything that we offered, asking no less a price
than a musket. However, some were afterward purchased for
some very large nails.
"The cap is made almost like a helmet, with the middle part
or crest sometimes of a hand's breadth, and it sits very close
upon the head, having notches to admit the ears. It is a frame
of osiers and twigs, covered with a network, into which are
wrought feathers in the same manner as upon the cloaks, though
rather closer and less diversified."
These articles were later placed in the British Museum and
are interesting relics of the great navigator. In the Bishop
Museum in Honolulu are many of these capes and helmets, and
also the great cloaks of Kamehameha the Great, Kiwalao, the
56 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
king who was slain in battle by Kamehameha's great chieftain,
and many others, so rare now that they are shown to visitors
only once a month, being kept in metal and hermetically sealed
cabinets.
The ships left Kauai on January 23, but owing to high winds
were forced back and anchored again on the 29th off Niihau,
a little island near Kauai. Cook says these natives seemed to
be well aware of the use of iron, asking for it by the name of
"hamite." On February 2 the ships left Kauai and sailed for
New Albion. At this time Cook sighted Oahu and possibly
Molokai.
Leaving the Northwest Arctic Coast, where Cook made a fine
survey and named many places which are today known by the
same names, he sailed southward for the Sandwich Islands. On
November 26, 1778, land was discovered, and Cook then found
that the group was more extensive than he first knew. This
was the Island of Maui. He needed fresh provisions. He pub
lished an order prohibiting all persons from trading, excepting
such as should be appointed by himself and Captain Clerke.
While the vessels lay off Maui for several days a friendly inter
course was maintained with the inhabitants.
On November 30, 1779, the Island of Hawaii, the largest and
loftiest of the group, and famous then for its mighty kings,
chieftains and their warlike activities, was encountered. It ap
peared to be of vast extent, with its great mountains, Mauna
Loa, Mauna Kea and Hualalai, looming far up toward and
above the clouds, for later surveys showed Mauna Loa to be
between 13,000 and 14,000 feet high. Cook spent a few weeks
sailing around the island and examining the coast. Whilst he
was thus employed natives came, off from time to time in their
canoes. Among the articles the natives brought was sugar cane.
Cook proved himself an adept near-beer brewer, for he says he
made a detectable and palatable beer from it. The crew would
not touch it, preferring their rum, but Cook knew that scurvy
was farther away than ever, for if the rum gave out, beer could
be made from cane.
TRAGEDY OF CAPTAIN COOK 57
On January 16, 1779, canoes arrived in such numbers that
there were not fewer than a thousand people about the ships,
laden with people who had plenty of hogs with them.. There
was not a weapon among them, a satisfactory proof of their
peaceful intentions. However, there were many thefts of boat
things that Cook resented, for it interfered with his necessary
equipment Mr. Bligh, having gone ashore, returned and re
ported a favorable bay, into which the ships sailed. On the
17th the ships came to anchor in Kealakekua Bay, Kona dis
trict, the western side of the island, one of the most beautiful
bays in the world, with towering cliffs on the inner land side.
It was there that Cook afterwards lost his life.
There were thousands of people about the ships in canoes
and the shores were dense with people. It is this display, a
concentrated form of welcome, that caused Cook, perhaps, to err
in saying that the population of Hawaii was then about 400,000.
It was possibly half that number, or even less, so that the re
ports of a "dying race," in this 1922, ISO years later, does not
represent such a vast calamity after all. It is a calamity, but
in the leavening of races, due to intermarriage, it is difficult to
say whether a race is dying out after all, though the original
numbers may be reduced.
Thus the disappointment of obtaining a Northwest Passage,
which caused Cook to return to the Islands, proved an enlight
enment for the world. He said that Hawaii was the most im
portant discovery in the Pacific. The concluding words of his
own journal are:
"To this disappointment we owed our having it in our power
to revisit the Sandwich Islands, and to enrich our voyage with
a discovery which, though the last, seemed in many respects to
be the most important that had hitherto been made by Europeans
throughout the extent of the Pacific Ocean."
Without knowledge of the tragic fate awaiting him, that last
sentence in his journal is of unusual import. He was correct
in his prophecy. Little did he think that this greatest island of
discovery was to be the scene of his last exploit.
58 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
The reception which Cook met was flattering. The natives
came to his ships singing and shouting. Palea and Kanaina,
two chiefs, had already attached themselves to the commander
and were useful in keeping their countrymen from being trouble
some. They brought aboard another chief, called Koa, who was
represented to be a priest. In his youth he had been a distin
guished warrior.
On the 6th Captain Cook had his first interview with Kaleio-
puu (Kalaniopuu), or Terreeoboo, as Cook designated him, as
nearly as he could transcribe the pronounced word. The meet
ing was conducted with a variety of ceremonies, among which
was the custom of making an exchange of names, considered a
strong pledge of friendship, according to A. Kippis, D. D.,
biographer of Cook in 1788. When the interview was over Cook
took Kaleiopuu aboard his ship, the Resolution, where he and
his suite were received with every mark of respect that could
be shown them, and in return for a beautiful feather cloak, a
long one, which the king bestowed upon Captain Cook, the cap
tain put a linen shirt on his majesty and girt his own hanger
about him. Today that feather cloak, now in a museum, is
valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Thus we come to a part of Cook's life in which critics have
said that he made his greatest mistake, that of accepting the
adoration of the natives on his arrival ashore when they mis
took him for their god Lono and he continued to receive this
adoration, although at first it was a puzzle to him.
Poetry is always the first spark that is kindled in the light
of civilization. Relgion inspires it to sing its mysteries; kings
reward it, hoping to perpetuate their names by its means; and
all classes love to solace themselves with its beauties. The little
we know about the ancient history of Hawaii is preserved in
song; and perhaps a collection of the rhymes of the priests
and bards might throw light on the question of the original race
and population of these Isles of the Pacific. So Captain the
Right Honorable Lord Byron, of the British Royal Navy, wrote
in 1826, when he published his excellent book, "The Voyage of
TRAGEDY OF CAPTAIN COOK 59
H M. S. Blonde to the Sandwich Islands in the Years 1824-
1825."
This little reference to song and poetry of the Hawaiians,
says Lord Byron, who commanded the Blonde when it brought
the bodies of King Kamehameha II and his Queen, Kamamalu,
from London to Honolulu in 1824, leads to the meaning of the
adoration of the Hawaiians toward Cook when they believed
him to be the god Lono.
One of the songs, says Lord Byron, from its connection with
the disastrous history of Captain Cook, had been sought for and
preserved by Europeans who succeeded him. A story, which is
not without its parallel in the mythologies of the ancient world,
is related of the jealousy of the Akua, spirit or founder of the
people of Hawaii. He sacrificed his wife, or thought he did,
for revenge, and, horror-struck, abandoned Hawaii in a boat of
peculiar shape, leaving a hope, or rather a belief, that at some
future time he should return. The song and prophecy run some
thing like this, says Lord Byron.
But Lord Byron confused the story of the Akua, or (god Lono,
with the true story of the mortals Lonoikamakahiki (man) and
Kaikilani-wahine-alii Opuna (woman). In endeavoring to tell
who the god Lono was, the god deified in the person of Captain
Cook, they believing their god had returned although the natives
had burned the effigy representing this god, Lord Byron was
given the chant that tells the story of Lonoikamakahiki. The
priests had prophesied the return of the god Lono, that he
"would return on an island bearing cocoanut trees and with
swine and dogs."
The word "Lono Akua" in the song dedicated to Lonoikama
kahiki is a common expression when addressing a king or high
chief. Hawaiians always call their king an Akua (god), be
cause they believe that the chiefs are descendants of the gods,
as, for instance, Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) was always
called a god. The Hawaiians believed he actually descended
from the gods. But here is the story that Lord Byron told, as
it is a picturesque tale, even though it had its mistakes :
60 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
1. Lono, of Hawaii, in very ancient times, resided with his
wife at Kealakekua.
2. The name of his wife, his love, was Kaikilani-alii-wahine
Opuna, and they dwelt beneath the steep cliffs.
3. To beguile the time they played the game of "konane"
(resembling the game of draughts, played upon a flat stone).
4. One day, while thus engaged, they heard the faint sound
as of some one calling from the top of the Pali. And then
came distinctly to the ears of Lono: "Ho, Kaikilani ! Your
lover, Heakekoa, the son of Kalaulipili and Uli, is longing for
you!" By her confusion and her attempts to divert the atten
tion of Lono, Kaikilani confirmed him in his suspicions; and,
enraged at the infidelity of his wife, as well as the audacity of
the lover thus publicly to confront him, as Fornander relates
the incident, he snatched up the konane board and struck Kaiki
lani so violent a blow on the head that she fell senseless and
bleeding.
5. Sorry for his rash deed, the chief ordered his canoes to
be launched, and sternly forbidding Kaikilani to follow him,
set sail for Oahu.
6. It is said in the legend that this passionate exhibition of
her husband's love and the finding of herself alone and forbidden
to accompany him, produced such a revulsion in the mind of
Kaikilani as to entirely break off her fondness for Heakekoa,
who disappears from the legend. Lono traveled on and on,
boxing with every man he met. Games which became an an
nual event called Makahiki, were instituted in honor of Lono
and consisted of wrestling, boxing and other athletic exercises.
He said he was frantic for her love.
7. On Oahu he met Kakuhihewa, king of Oahu. In time his
wife traveled across the seas to Oahu, and chanting at a distance
her voice and words were heard by Lono. Finally he knew it
was his wife and they were reconciled.
8. But ere he left Hawaii on his voyage to place distance
between himself and his wife, he had declared: "I will return
in after times, on an island bearing cocoanut trees, and swine
and dogs/' It was the priests who prophesied this.
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TRAGEDY OF CAPTAIN COOK 61
9. It was the promise or prophecy that induced the natives
to believe, on seeing Cook's big ships with their masts and rig
ging, that they were islands and that Lono had returned, and to
pay him divine honors — the fatal mistake of a lifetime. Later
they discovered he was but mortal.
Captain Cook was paid the highest honors by the natives,
amounting to adoration. Captain King, not comprehending the
meaning of the repetitions of the name Lono, supposed it to be
the title of a high -priest. Byron says that Koa, the chief priest,
and his son, Onea, who appears to have been a priest of Lono,
received Cook with honors they really meant to be divine, and
which he imagined meant nothing more than friendly respect,
and perhaps fear on account of his large and powerful ships.
Captain King says : "Captain Cook generally went by this name
(Lono) among the natives, but we never could learn its mean
ing precisely." Cook was given a residence ashore which was
a heiau, or temple. This was on the south or lower side of
Kealakekua Bay.
Though the kind and liberal behavior of the natives continued
without remission, Kalaniopuu and his chiefs began at length
to be very inquisitive about the time when the voyagers were
to take their departure. Nor will this be deemed surprising,
said Kippis, when it is considered that in the sixteen days in
which the English had been in the bay of Kealakekua they had
made an enormous consumption of hogs and vegetables. It did
not appear, however, that Kalaniopuu had any other view in his
inquiries than a desire of making sufficient preparation for dis
missing the navigators with presents suitable to the respect and
kindness towards them which he had always displayed.
The native accounts relate what Captain Cook apparently was
not aware of, viz., that when the two ships arrived at Kealakekua
the bay was under a tabu, the festival days connected with the
ancient celebration of the new year not having as yet expired.
But as his fame had preceded him through the group, and Cook
himself was looked upon as a god (an Akua), and his ships as
temples (heiau), the priests and chiefs who governed in the bay
in the absence of Kalaniopuu on Maui, proclaimed an exception
62 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
to the tabu in the matter of the ships of the newcomers as a
lucky thought, a well-timed compromise to gratify their curiosity
and soothe their consciences, according to Fornander; for most
assuredly without some such arrangement not a single canoe
would have dared to ripple the quiet waters of the bay.
• On January 24 Kalaniopuu returned from Mam, and one of
his first acts was to put a tabu on the bay, no canoes being al
lowed to leave the beach.
The next morning the bay was deserted. The crews endeav
ored to induce the natives to come alongside, and as some of
them were at last attempting to put off, a chief was observed
attempting to drive them away. A musket was immediately
fired over his head to make him desist, which had the desired
effect, and refreshments were soon after purchased as usual.
Kalaniopuu went aboard the Resolution that afternoon for a
visit. The firing of the musket was the first act of intimidation
and probably wrought a new feeling among the natives toward
the visitors, later to be put into the form of actual attack.
Incident upon incident piled up on the wrong side of the ledger
against Cook. He, being in want of fuel for the ships, sent
Captain King to "treat with the priests for the purchase of the
rail that surrounded the top of the heiau (temple).53 King says
he had some doubts about "the decency of this proposal and was
apprehensive that even the bare mention of it might be consid
ered as a piece of shocking impiety. In this, however, I found
myself mistaken. Not the slightest surprise was expressed at
the application, and the wood was readily given, even without
stipulating for something in return."
But when the sailors carried off, not only the railing of the
temple, but also the idols of the gods within it, even the large-
hearted patience of Koa gave way and he meekly requested that
the central idol at least might be restored. The want of delicacy
on the part of Captain Cook was glaring in this instance. After
his death, and when the illusion of godship had subsided, his
spoliation of the very heiau in which he had been deified was
not one of the least of the grievances which native annalists laid
up against him, says Fornander.
TRAGEDY OF CAPTAIN COOK 63
On February 4, 1779, the ships being caulked and ready, well
provisioned, Captain Cook left Kealakekua Bay to visit and ex
plore the leeward side of the group. When abreast of Kawaia-
hao Bay, on February 6, a boat was sent ashore to find an an
chorage, but there was no suitable watering place, owing to the
fine streams of water he could see from his ship. On the 8th
of February the ships encountered a gale, during which the
fishes of the fore masthead gave way, and it became necessary
to seek a resort where the damage could be repaired. After
some consideration it was decided to return to Kealakekua Bay,
and on the llth the ships anchored again in their old position.
Lord Byron says that this unexpected return to repair his
vessel did not entirely restore him to the degree of honor he at
first enjoyed, and the severity with which he had punished one
or two acts of theft had perhaps a little indisposed the native
chiefs against him.
His unfortunate attempt to lure the king on board his ship,
there to confine him until a boat he had lost, which had been
stolen for the sake of the nails in her and appears to have been
broken up the night she was stolen, and the cause of the tumult
that ended in his lamented death, was restored to him.
There certainly was no malice in the case — not the slightest
intention of injuring him following his death — is the opinion
of Lord Byron, himself an Englishman, for the body was treated
with the highest respect as shown their own kings and chiefs.
The absence of Captain Cook had apparently cooled the enthu
siasm of the natives for him. Their provisions had been taken
away in huge amounts and the only equivalent left by Cook
were some pieces of iron, a few hatchets and some knives. An
other reason assigned is that the women had taken a liking for
the foreigners and the native men resented this. Then a sailor
died and was given a funeral ashore, a sign that the members
of the crew were not immortal, and could be reached by sick
ness and subdued by death. There is nothing on record that
would indicate that Kalaniopuu was not as loyal and liberal on
the second visit of Cook to the bay as on the first.
64 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
On the afternoon of the 13th a watering party belonging to
the Discovery was interrupted and impeded by some of the chiefs
who had driven away the natives engaged in assisting the sailors
to roll the casks ashore. When informed of this Captain King
immediately went to the watering place, which was on the north,
or Kawaaloa side of the bay. On seeing him approach the na
tives threw away the stones with which they had armed them
selves. After remonstrating with the chiefs, the latter drove
away the crowd and the watering party were no more molested.
Fornander says that coming down to the last moments of Cap
tain Cook's career, there are three independent sources of in
formation : First, Captain King's continuation of Captain Cook's
Journal of the "Voyage to the Pacific Ocean/' Vol III ; second,
Ledyard's Life, by Sparks; and third, the native reminiscences
as recorded by David Malo, native historian; Sheldon Dibble,
the American missionary, and S. M. Kamakau, also a native his
torian. The main facts are the same with all these authorities.
Captain King was not personally present, but received a report
from Lieutenant Philips and others who accompanied Cook ashore
that ill-fated 14th of February. Ledyard professes to have been
one of the party ashore and an eye-witness. Malo, Dibble and
Kamakau obtained their information from high chiefs present
at the time who had formed the royal court of Kalaniopuu.
Palea, who had been an early friend of Captain Cook, had a
canoe, and some of Cook's crew used violence upon it Palea
making resistance, was knocked down by a paddle. Soon after
Palea stole a boat from Captain Cook's ship. The theft, says
Dibble, may be imputed to revenge, or to a desire to obtain the
iron from the fastenings of the boat. Captain Cook commanded
Kalaniopuu to make search for the boat and return it. The king
could not restore it, for the boat had already been broken up.
A member of the crew named Samwell wrote an account of
the last incidents, and this manuscript was given to Kippis to
use in his book. He tells of the theft of the cutter. Cook, he
says, was preparing to go ashore when acquainted with the theft
by Captain Clerke, in order to secure the person of Kalaniopuu
before he should have time to withdraw himself to another part
TRAGEDY OF CAPTAIN COOK 65
of the island. "This appeared to be the most effectual step that
could be taken/3 says Samwell. "It was the measure he inva
riably pursued in similar cases in other islands, and had always
been attended with the desired success/3
Cook left the ship about 7 o'clock in the morning, attended
by the lieutenant of marines, a sergeant, corporal and seven pri
vate men; the pinnace's crew was also armed and under the
command of Mr. Roberts. As they rowed toward the shore
Captain Cook ordered the launch to leave her station at the west
point of the bay in order to assist his own boat. He was not
apprehensive of meeting with resistance from the natives. He
landed with the marines at the upper end of the town of Ka-
waaloa. The natives immediately flocked around and showed
him many marks of respect."
A canoe came from an adjoining district with two chiefs,
Kekukaupio, the wonderful soldier of Kamehameha, who taught
the latter all the martial exercises of the time, and Kalimu, the
latter a brother of Palea. The marines fired upon the canoe,
killing Kalimu. The king's attendants were enraged, yet they
withheld violence. The king had acquiesced in the request to
go aboard the Discovery, but his wife pleaded for him to remain
ashore and he did so. At that instant a warrior with a spear in
his hand approached Captain Cook and said he was a brother
of the man just killed, and would be revenged. Captain Cook,
from his enraged appearance and that of the multitude, was sus
picious, and fired upon him with his pistol. Then followed a
scene of confusion, says Dibble.
Samwell says the native had an iron dagger, not a spear, and
apparently desired to stab Cook. Samwell makes no mention
of Cook having fired his pistol.
' The Englishman had reached the edge of the beach, and had
paused and was on the point of giving orders to re-embark when
a man threw a stone at him, which he returned with a discharge
of small shot with which one barrel of his double-piece was
loaded. The man, having a thick mat before him, was unhurt.
He brandished his spear, says Samwell, and threatened to dart
it at Captain Cook, who, still unwilling to take his life, instead
66 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
of firing with ball knocked him down with his musket. He had
given up all thoughts of getting the king aboard, as it seemed
impracticable. His care then was to act only on the defensive
and to secure embarkation for his small party, "pressed by a
body of several thousand people."
Dibble says that Cook shot dead the man who struck him with
a stone. He struck a chief named Kalaimanokahoowaha, or
Kanaina, and from him the late Charles Kanaina, father of King
Lunalilo, received his name. The chief seized him. Cook strug
gled to free himself from the grasp and uttered a groan. The
people exclaimed, "He groans — he is not a god," and imme
diately pressed forward. Samwell says that a native struck him
on the back of the head and then retreated. The stroke seemed
to have stunned Cook; he staggered a few paces, then fell on
his hand and one knee, and dropped his musket. As he was
rising and before he could recover, another Hawaiian stabbed
him in the back with an iron daggar. He then fell into a bit of
water about knee deep, where others crowded upon him and en
deavored to keep him tinder; but struggling very strongly with
them he got his head up, and casting his look towards the pin
nace seemed to solicit assistance. Though the boat was not
above five or six yards from him, yet from the crowded and con
fused state of the crew, it was not in their power to save him.
The natives got him under again, but in deeper water; he was,
however, able to get his head up once more, and being almost
spent in his struggle, he naturally turned toward the rock, and
was endeavoring to support himself toward it when a native
gave him a blow with a club, and he was seen alive no more.
They hauled him up lifeless on the rocks." He says they took
daggars from each other's hands to pierce the fallen victim.
Then the crew began firing upon the crowd, having refrained
before for fear of killing their captain.
The body of Captain Cook was subjected to the same cere
monial as that of the chiefs, In the separation of the flesh from
the bones. Some of the bones were sent on board the ship by
the king. These were given military funeral honors and were
committed to the deep.
TRAGEDY OF CAPTAIN COOK 67
Finally, watering being molested, the guns of the ships were
trained on Napoopoo, houses set on fire and the temples de
stroyed.
The Resolution and Discovery left Kealakekua Bay on Feb
ruary 22, 1779. On February 27 the ships were off the Wailua
River, Oahu, opposite what is now Haleiwa. They crossed the
channel to Waimea, Kauai. On March 15 the ships, calling at
Niihau, took their final departure for the north.
Thus was Hawaii brought into knowledge of the world.
CHAPTER IV
HAWAII'S MOMENTOUS NIGHT
KAMEHAlMEHA THE GREAT
THUNDER, lightning and rain, driven on the dark wings
of a storm, were heralds to signalize the birth of a great
chieftain, the ancient Hawaiians believed. Certain it was
that on a night when the elements were raging, the heavens
splitting tinder the titanic blows of the God of Thunder, and the
lofty summits of Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and Hualalei were
mystically revealed as the shafts of the Torches of the Almighty
pierced the clouds, and the ocean lashed the coral and lava shores
of Hawaii Island, that Kamehameha was born.
It was a night in the month of Ikuwa, or October, when the
great warrior King Alapainui was mustering his armies for an
invasion of the Island of Maui, that Kamehameha was born at
Ainakea, district of Kohala, Island of Hawaii, and somewhere
between the years 1736 and 1740. Uncertainty veils the exact
year, and he may not have been born until 1753.
The story of the birth of Kamehameha, his concealment from
the wrath of the king who had learned from his soothsayers
that a chief who would "slaughter the chiefs" was to be born,
the protection thrown around him by his devoted chieftains, his
education in the arts of war, his return to the royal court and
his later achievements in war, his conquests and solidification
of the empire, his wisdom, his laws and his acceptance of the
advice of foreign visitors long before Christianity was intro
duced, reads like a vivid narrative of thrilling, yet majestic, ad
venture. Kamehameha was the greatest of all Hawaiians. It
is an epic, no less an epic than the stories of Alexander the
HAWAII'S MOMENTOUS NIGHT 69
Great, Constantine, Julius Caesar, Hannibal, Charlemagne, Fred
erick the Great, Gustavus Adolphus and Napoleon.
No flights of imagination on the stormy night of November,
1738, in the little feudal village of Ainakea, Kohala, Island of
Hawaii, could have visualized the coming world greatness of the
Pacific Ocean in which the Hawaiian Archipelago1 rested on its
coral moorings, when a male child was born, afterwards to be
come Kamehameha the Great, conqueror of all the islands,
founder of the Hawaiian kingdom, whose rule made solid the
basis of an independent nation which existed as a monarchy for
a century, and finally became merged in the greatest nation on
earth as an integral part and its chief outpost in the western sea.
Upon the foundation of empire established by Kamehameha,
man of war first, but whose ambition in his declining years was
to rule an empire devoted to the arts of peace, Hawaii was estab
lished to become later a link in the golden chain of states and
territories of the greatest of all Republics. It became not only
a military outpost in the far Western Sea, but a militant arm
poised to enforce the peace of the vast Pacific region.
Just a hundred years from the time Kamehameha's work was
done Hawaii has become, officially, the greatest military and
naval base under the Stars and Stripes, a powerful weapon for
war or for peace, the most important commercial crossroads of
the Pacific, and the melting- pot of the nations of the world.
The death of the great chieftain, May 8, 1819, signalized the
crumbling of the ancient religious power, for immediately upon
his death ensued the breaking of the tabu by women of rank;
the idols were overthrown ; the iron hand of Kamehameha I was
lifted from the labor of consolidation, and the monarchy began
to emerge from the ancient mode of life and rule into modern
civilization, for even then, in Boston, preparations were being
made for the long journey of the first New England missionaries
to Hawaii to spread the gospel and lay the foundations of a new
order of things by which the little nation was enabled to become
almost a power in Pacific Ocean diplomacy, although at times
the pawn of powerful rulers and diplomats of distant countries.
70 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
The birth of Kamehameha in 1736 or thereabouts presaged a
new order of thing's in the future of the Hawaiian Islands. Of
the male babe born that stormy night it was prophesied that he
should be a slayer of chiefs, and so it turned out. Like the Christ
of long ago, whose life was sought by Herod, so did the then
ruler of Hawaii seek the life of the young "Paiea" Kamehameha.
His life was saved through the secret conniving of chiefs who
brought him up in the fastnesses of the mountains. He was
taught the arts of war by famous warriors of the ancient regime.
He was powerful physically, he was powerful mentally. In Ka
mehameha were combined the might and power and intellect of
one born to be the greatest man of his race. He fought, subdued
kingdom after kingdom, and gradually enlarged his empire, going
from island to island on campaigns of conquest. A sagacious
strategist, a leader of men, possessing the keen discernment of
a ruler. Upon meeting for the first time the strangers from be
yond the seas, he ga\re them consideration and justice, despite
the hard dealings to which he and his people were subjected by
mercenary traders and voyagers.
That Kamehameha's character was lofty is evidenced by the
letter which Captain George Vancouver, the English navigator,
left for Kamehameha, or "Tamaah Maah," as the great English
seaman wrote it, in which he spoke of the king's fine conduct
and besought all navigators to continue the friendship which
Kamehameha so willingly held forth to visitors. This letter,
written by Vancouver on March 2, 1794, spoke of "cessions"
which the king made to England, but it is interpreted by students-
of Hawaiian history to refer to what Kamehameha had done and
wished to have done to preserve friendly relations with England
and merely refers to concessions of goodwill and helpfulness,
but not territorial rights.
This was the year before Kamehameha led his great armies
in the "peleleu" canoe fleet from Hawaii to the shores of Oahu,
to engage in final battle for the supremacy of the island, which
terminated so fatally to the Oahuan king and his followers at
Laimi, Nuuanu Valley, and at the Pali gap, where the flower
of the Oahuan's army was slaughtered and thrust over the preci-
HAWAII'S MOMENTOUS NIGHT 71
pice. The last large barrier to complete consolidation of the
Islands had been overcome, and once more Kamehameha began
to use those singular powers which have given him the soubri
quet of "Great."
He was considerate of the white men who had arrived on ships
of discovery and trade and remained here. He listened to their
advice in that last quarter of the eighteenth century and his rule
may be considered wise. John Young and Isaac Davis were
men of good character as history analyzes their careers in Ha
waii and their closeness to the person of the king.
It is due to them and to the promise made by Vancouver
that ministers of the gospel would be sent here at the request
of the navigator, that when finally the American missionaries
arrived here a year after Kamehameha' s death (1820), the
privilege of landing was accorded them. Kamehameha, it is
understood, waited long years for the arrival of the men who
would teach him concerning the supreme being of the white men.
They never came in his lifetime.
Most of the white men surrounding Kamehameha were Eng
lishmen, such as Young, Davis, George Beckley and "Alika"
Adams, and mostly Church of England men. Captain Beckley's
prayer book remains a prized relic in the keeping of one of his
descendants today. It was his own prized possession. He was
close to the person of the king, for he was a military adviser
and commander of the first fort. It is certain these Church of
England men discussed their religion with Kamehameha and
those of his court.
Although Kamiehameha never embraced Christianity, yet it is
believed that he knew much of it. He might not easily have
turned from the faith of his forefathers for that of another
race. He was old. He had been reared under unusual restrict
ive conditions. The faith of his ancestors was a part of almost
every hour of his life. His private life and his public life were
enmeshed with the priestly rule; he was part of the system.
Every art of war he learned was accompanied by a priestly in
terpretation. Under the influence of priests and warriors, the
rigid etiquette of the court, the high pedestal upon which he
72 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
had been placed by his people and the higher one to which he
had made the way with his spear, he grew old and set in the
ways of his forefathers, and yet laid the foundations of law
for the government of his people, and the protection of the
young and the weak, the sick and the aged, foundations which
are marvels of simplicity and yet models upon which laws of
civilized nations could be built.
It is little wonder that, although he knew much, possibly of
Christianity, he did not change his own attitude toward the re
ligion of his people. It may have been known to his court that
he looked forward to the time when Vancouver's promises would
be kept, for upon his death the tabu was violated by the women,
the idols were overthrown and the 'ancient temples burned and
destroyed, paving the way for Christianity to be set up within
a year of his death. The awful dread of supernatural vengeance
had somewhat abated, but Liholiho (Kamehameha II) took no
immediate steps toward the abolition of the tabu system.
Wise to his very last days, his will for the future of Hawaii
was revealed to Kamehameha II when Kaahumanu, the queen
of Kamehameha the Great, advanced to meet Liholiho when he
returned to Kailua following the period of preparing the bones
of the great ruler for burial at Ahuena-i-kamakahonu-i-kaiakekua,
and said:
"I make known to your highness, Liholiho, the will of your
father. Behold these chiefs and the men of your father, and
these your guns, and this your land, but you and I shall share
the realm together," and so he was constituted sovereign, but
Kaahumanu was vested with the authority of premier. Kame
hameha the Great placed confidence in Kaahumanu, but was also
aware of the worthless character of his son, and so the power
he placed in the keeping of women, was maintained until 1864.
Kamehameha the Great recognized the right of suffrage for
worn-en by granting them unusual power in high office.
It was at this same moment that Kaahumanu declared her
freedom from the tabu and declared she and all women would
eat what they desired and cook it when and how they pleased,
an announced "as for me and my people we are resolved to be
HAWAII'S MOMENTOUS NIGHT 73
free/' The high priest Hewahewa applied the torch to the idols
and their sanctuaries and messengers were sent as far as Kauai
to proclaim the abolition of the cruel and oppressive system.
The tabu system was not abolished, however, without a struggle,
but the fight for freedom was won and Hawaii began its modern
life the day Kamehameha the Great died.
One of the elements of Kamehameha's greatness lies in his
pronouncement of the Mamala-Hoa, the law for the weak. Ka
mehameha had gone ashore from a canoe at Pa-a'i, at Keeau,
Hawaii, to intercept fishermen who were on the side of his enemy
Keoua. It is said that Kamehameha really intended robbery.
He went ashore alone and pursued the fishermen, from one of
whom he attempted to wrench away a net. Although of power
ful build, the king was unable to throw his opponent. One of
his feet became wedged in a hole or crevice in the lava plain
and held fast. The fisherman escaped. Another fisherman came
up to Kamehameha and struck him on the head with a canoe
paddle, and then joined his companion in flight. His own
canoemen extracted him from his perilous trap and he recovered
from his hurts.
At Kamehameha's command the fishermen were hunted until
they were captured. The prisoners crawled before Kamehameha,
whose head was still bandaged, and prepared to meet their fate
— death. Kamehameha asked why the fishermen had not struck
him a second time and made sure of his death. The fisherman
replied he thought one blow would suffice.
Kamehameha then admitted he was wrong in making an at
tack.
"My kahus used to tell me that violence and robbery (pakaha)
were evil and should be punished with death. If I live I will
make a law against robbery and violence, and lay on it the penalty
of death." The men were dismissed and permitted to return to
their homes.
One of the results of the incident at Keaau was the law di
rected against the very thing of which Kamehameha had there
been guilty, and this law was called the "Kanawai Mamala-Hoa"
74 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
in memory of the unhappy affair of Keaau. The meaning of
Mamala-Hoa is "splintered paddle."
As to the words of the law itself, concerning this memorable
incident, in which the law was embodied, they were nothing
more nor less than those oft-quoted words which seemed to
have been generally misunderstood as being a statement of a his
torical fact — "Let the aged, men and women, and little children,
lie down in security on the highway."
When Kamehameha and his fleet of peleleu canoes arrived
at Kahului, he ordered the canoes taken apart and buried in the
sand. When this order was obeyed he spoke the order which
meant life or death: "E moi i mua e ku'u mau pokii a inu i ka
wai awaawa he make ko hope." — ("Forward my brethren until
you drink the bitter waters, for to go back means death"). This
was prior to his famous battle of the lao. He cut off the supply
of water to the enemy by using his soldiers as a human palisade,
causing them to acknowledge defeat.
So strong was the belief of the Hawaiians who were con
cerned in the rearing of young Kamdiameha, combined with the
spread of the* tradition of the early prophecy, that it became a
part of the life of the Hawaiians to contribute in every way pos
sible to the fulfillment of the prophecy, and it is little wonder
that, as he grew in stature and in mind and his prowess became
recognized, he was given the adoration of his people and raised
gradually to the summit of the pedestal reared in prophecy.
Therefore, it is not surprising that in 1776, Keaulumoku, cousin
of Kekaulike, bard and prophet during the reign of Kalaniopu'u,
of Hawaii, composed a new prophecy for Kamehameha. He
composed the famous chant, "Hau-i-Kalani," foretelling of suc
cess and glory for Kamehameha I. The bard was sixty-seven
years of age at the time. The chant was as follows :
Soon, behold, the shadow of one seizing land,
Even the child of Kupuapa Kalanikupuapakalani,
The youth doing the work of the chief
Wrestling for the islands;
Boldly stepping into the ring he enters with left-handed blows,
He curbs the islands with a strong hand.
HAWAII'S MOMENTOUS NIGHT 75
It was in 1782 that Kamehameha really became king, about
five years after the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands by Cap
tain Cook.
He began as king of one-half of Hawaii Island; by 1795 he
had conquered all the islands except Kauai and Niihau, which
were ceded to him in 1810. Like early English rulers, he di
vided the country into four petty kingdoms or earldoms, and
appointed governors over them. They were in the nature of
viceroys, with legislative and other powers almost as extensive
as those of the kings whose places they took. He raised his
queen to the position of premier, or chief justiciary, and placed
in her hands, wrote Judge W. F. Frear in a paper prepared for
the Hawaiian Historical Society, "life and death, condemnation
and acquittal."
This office of Kuhina nui, as it was called, was one of power
almost equal to that of the king, for its occupant had power of
veto over acts of the king, and thus the two stood somewhat in
the relation of Roman consuls. He selected four chiefs as special
counsellors, a sort of cabinet or privy council, and also four
"wise men" as lawyers and assistants, and consulted much with
se\eral trusted white men.
He put an end to wars, erected a strong central government;
checked the oppression of lesser chiefs; appointed officers more
for merit than rank; improved the laws, made them more uni
form, rigidly enforced them and, generally, brought about a con
dition of peace and security. He was particular to publish the
laws throughout the group, and set the good example of living
up to them himself. His more important laws were directed
against murder, robbery, theft, confiscation and extortion. He
also made laws imposing harbor charges on foreign vessels.
No record was ever left by Kamehameha of his signature.
There was no written language in his day, but "His Mark" ap
pears on documents now on file in the Archives department of
the government. One is attached to a document signed in 1818,
a year before his death, by Captain Bouchard, commanding an
Argentine-Spanish ship of war which came here in pursuit of
Spanish pirates. On this document is the name "Tamaah Maah,"
76 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
and following- it is a crude crossing of two lines, identified as
"His Mark."
Kamehameha was devoted to farming, both as a civilian pur
suit and because, like Napoleon, he knew an army traveled on its
stomach. After he brought his armies to Oahu and after the
battle of Nuuanu in 1795, he put his soldiers to tilling the soil
in Manoa Valley, planting sweet potatoes. He also commanded
his people to plant taro and instructed them in proper attention to
the patchs ; he told them to plant and respect the banana plants ;
and urged them to remain close to the soil. The name "Ualakaa"
(rolling potato hill) still designates the part of Manoa Valley set
apart by Kamehameha to provide food for his warriors.
Paiea Kamehameha I was born in the month of Ikuwa (No
vember), on a gale-swept night between 1736 and 1740, the exact
year not being definitely known. This was at the time when
Alapainui had called all the great feudal chiefs to assemble at
Kohala, along the shores of Koaie to Pu'uwepa, with their men
and war canoes. Alapainui was at Kohala collecting his war
riors and fleet from the different districts preparatory to the in
vasion of Maui to vindicate himself from the outrage that Kekau-
like, king of Maui, had committed after the naval battle off the
coast of Kona, when Kekaulike landed in several places and cut
down the cocoanut trees at Kawaiahae and destroyed villages.
Kamehameha's father was Kalanikupuapaikalani Keoua, half-
brother of Kalaniopu'u, and grandson of Keawe, "King of Ha
waii." His mother was Kekuaiapoiwa II, daughter of Kekela-
kekeokalani-a-Keawe (wahine = woman) and Haae (kane =
man) the son of Kalanikauleleiawi (w) and Kauaua-a-mahi (k)
and brother to Alapainui, the king.
Before the birth of Kamehameha, Kekuaipoiwai I, wife of
Keoua, sailed in a canoe to Maui to visit the court of Kahekili,
leaving her older son, Kaleimamahu, with Keoua. When she
returned to Hawaii Alapainui noticed a peculiar desire of Ke-
kuaipoiwa, which she put to the king, to have Kauhinuia Malu-
lani, one of the young chiefs of his court, put to death because
she "wanted to possess his eyes." The king was surprised and
said, "Why, you seem to want to possess the eyes of the Niuhi
Kamehameha I, conqueror of all Hawaii, general, strategist, lawgiver, founder
of the Pacific kingdom, greatest of all Hawaiians, whose empire
prevailed for a century. From painting by Navigator
Kotzebue's artist, 1816, owned by Hawaiian
Government's archives.
Melody, poetry and love have been inspired by this tropical scene of
Waikiki Beach. Beneath its coeoanut trees Kamehameha I dwelt.
Diamond Head crater, in the distance, is an American fortress.
HAWAII'S MOMENTOUS NIGHT 77
(king of the sharks) ; it cannot be done, for he is too great a
chief to be killed for such a whim. Why do you want the eyes
of the tabu shark, the chief of the Great Mountain?" Then he
immediately sent for a great prophet and astrologer, who, when
he heard of Kekuaipoiwa's morbid desire, said that she was with
child, and that "a man is coming to slay the chiefs."
Alapainui was angry with the astrologer and he ordered two
grass houses to be built in a single day, as was the custom.
He placed the astrologer in one and then sent for all the other
astrologers in the Islands. All came. One asked the king for
what purposes the grass houses had been built. He replied, "One
is for the man to be killed. The other is for the kahunas." He
then took them one by one into one of these houses and asked
them to explain the reason of Kekuaipoiwa's unusual desire.
Each one said that "a man is coming to slay the chiefs," and said
that was the interpretation of the woman's desire. Alapainui
realized the import of the prophecy and said : "Let us pluck the
shoots of the wauke lest it thrive and grow and spread."
One of the astrologers, Kaha, went to Keoua and Kekuaipoiwa
and said : "Alapai is going to pluck the bud ; fear not ; we will
take the child and conceal him and rear him; my mother 'and
twin sister, Kahaopulani, will take him to the Pali Hulaana at
Awini ; have a chiefly herald, fleet of foot, ready at the moment,
for we will direct him, and in the meantime guard yourselves."
Kaha remained with Keoua, and his sister was sent for.
On the night of his birth, Naeole, father of Walawala, one
of Kalaniopuu's generals, slipped through the back of the house,
according to arrangement, and ran to the hills of Awini with the
young babe. Kahaopulani (w) and her mother Hikuikepualono
(w) were waiting for the arrival daily. They had already begun
the making of his feather cloak. They had masses of olona fibef
being woven with the network preparatory for the laying on of
the feathers. When Naeole arrived they immediately took Ka-
mehameha, Hiku calling on all the gods to conceal the signs of
the chieftain, and called upon all the elements to return to their
habitat — the rainbow, the silvery clouds, and the thunder and
the lightning and the rain. Umihulumakaokalani (k), the aged
78 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
chieftain of the mountains, grandfather of Kahaopulani, was
guarding the mountain pass, and just as Naeo'le left he signalled
that some one was coming up toward the pass. Kahaopulani
placed the child under the olona fiber, whilst Hiku, her mother,
prayed that the child might not be found by Alapai's men.
The king's herald ran up to the house and called out: "Have
you seen a man with a bundle — a child ?" Kahaopulani spoke
up quickly: 'Why, yes, he just ran down the other way; take
that road and you may overtake him/'
The danger was over. The babe was reared by these Awini
chieftains, his only playmate being his little foster sister, Kaha-
kuakane, known as Kuakane. This was opposed to all Hawaiian
traditions, that a male child should suckle from the breast of a
woman that had a female child, but it evidently did not harm
Kamehameha. The young chief's people taught him to be kind
to every one, to call the passerby in to partake of food. As early
as this period in his life the chiefs began to teach Kamehameha
the value of storing food for his people, lessons that remained
with him throughout his life and were of vast value during his
campaigns, for, like Napoleon, he believed that an army traveled
on its stomach.
And so was preserved the life of one who was to "slay the
chiefs." It all came to pass. He did slay chiefs and their men.
He fought and commanded troops, and conquered and beat
down his opponents one by one, his personal prowess being an
example to every warrior.
A portion of a chant that was revealed to Alapainui, gently in
forming him of the existence of the baby Kamehameha, and of
whom the king seemed to stand in awe, follows:
Paiea, the chief, is away in Awini,
At Hulaana, cliff of the Koae bird;
The chieftain hill of RTakulokalani;
The fleet herald chief is Hikuikekualono Js.
He is of the blazing sun — of the crumbling earth;
The torch that gave warmth to the chief is from Awini;
It is calling to Keahialakalani,
Where dwells Umihulumakaokalani,
And his chieftains who all reared Paiea, the chief;
HAWAII'S MOMENTOUS NIGHT 79
The rumbling heaven,
The clash of the voice of Ikuwa,
The thundering black clouds;
At Awini the cord was cut;
At Keahialaka he partook of food;
Kahaopulani's was the breast
Of the chiefly arching cocoanut of
Kekuaiapoiwa that you all know;
The brightest torch of life that is living;
The heaven that burns and blazes on.
This chant softened the wrath and fear of Alapainui and he
sent for the young boy to be brought home to him. He was
about twelve years of age at this time. Alapai gave him into
the keeping of the Chiefess Keaka (w) and her sister Hakau
(w), the daughters of Heulu, who, with their families, taught
him the athletic games ; chants were composed for him, and then
he was taken to the temple by his uncles, Kameeiamoku and
Kamanawa, and the ceremonies of dedicating the youth to be
a warrior were performed. The pig that was offered for a sac
rifice for this occasion was called Hamauku-ka-puaa-i-ka-naha.
Then the young chieftain gave himself up for a time to the pleas
ures of his uncle's royal court. There the High Chief Keku-
haupio, the great warrior chief, took him and instructed him in
all the martial exercises extant among Hawaiians.
Later on, Kamehameha showed his strength, agility and cour
age by taking hold of the body of the rebel chief of Puna Ima-
kaloa, a head of Kiwaloa, and offering it up for sacrifice. For
this reason he left Kalaniopu'u's court. It is said that he was
advised by his two uncles, the twin warriors, Kameeiamoku and
Kamanawa, also Keeaumoku, father of Kaahumanu (w.) These
three and another chief were his chief counselors, Kameeiamoku
being his general-in-chief.
No one knows where Kamehameha the Great sleeps.
Undoubtedly the last resting place of his bones is a cave at
Kiholo. Hoolulu, the chief who concealed him, once weakened
and was about to show one of the Kamehamehas where the great
chief slept, but the king came with his retinue, so Hoolulu turned
to him and said:
80 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
"Thou shalt not see thy father," and the place of concealment
was never revealed. Of all the members of the royal families
of the Kamehameha and Kalakaua dynasties only the bones of
Kamehameha are unaccounted for, for they rest in the secrecy
of the mountain caves of Hawaii with those of his forfeathers.
Kamehameha was called "Papaleaiaina-ku'u Aloha" by Kaahu-
rnanua, his queen, and by that name only by her.
Upon the solid empire founded and fostered by Kamehameha
the Great, whose own dynasty lasted until 1874, and that of the
Kalakauas until 1893, what has been builded?
Unknown to them that Kamehameha the Great was dead in
Hawaii, that very year the New England missionaries left Bos
ton for the "Sandwich Islands/' as Hawaii was then known.
They reached Hawaii in 1820 and were given a welcome. They
brought with them the printing press as well as the Bible. They
erected churches and schoo'lhouses, and created a written lan
guage and printed it on their missionary presses, the first ever
brought into the Pacific. They shaped the laws of the chiefs
and gave them the semblance of laws of civilized countries. They
reshaped the parliamentary procedure; they established trade re
lations between Hawaiia and foreign countries, and aided the
king and his councillors to establish diplomatic relations with
other nations.
Hawaii became the mecca of shipping and its trade grew in
importance. Close relations were maintained between Hawaii
and the United States early in the missionary days; Hawaiians
served in the Civil War, as they did in the Spanish War and
the World War just concluded. Commerce became an all-impor
tant thing, and during the Kamehameha dynasty a Reciprocity
Treaty was urged between Hawaii and America, which was
finally consummated during the reign of Kalakaua.
Destiny drove the Islands on into the safe harbor of the United
States, a remarkable little nation, whose independence had been
safeguarded by the United States throughout many tempestuous
decades. The Hawaiian flag, which Kamehameha the Great
gazed upon over the fort which he established more than a cen-
HAWAII'S MOMENTOUS NIGHT 81
tury ago in Honolulu, still floats over the Islands, but now as the
territorial flag.
Hawaii, as a whole, has been absorbed into the Greater Re
public, just as Kamehameha absorbed the lesser kingdoms and
welded them into an empire.
There is some question as to the exact age of Kamehameha
the Great, and particularly the year of his birth. The native
historian Kamakau stated half a century ago that Kamehameha
was born in 1736, hence at his death in 1819 he must have been
83 years old. This would make him 43 at the date of Captain
Cook's arrival at Hawaii in 1778, and 58 when Vancouver visited
the Islands in 1794. According to this date His Majesty must
have been 78 years old when his son Kamehameha III, Kaui-
keaouli, was born on March 17, 1814. With all deference to
Kamakau's intimate knowledge of ancient Hawaiian history, his
selection of 1736 as the birth year of Kamehameha must be in
error. It would be a more correct statement to say Kamehameha
was born in 1753. This would make him 25 when Cook arrived.
As death approached Kamehameha he called to the high chief
tain Ulumaheihei Hoapili, eldest son of Kameeianidku, and
whispered to him:
"Thou must conceal my bones; the family that concealed
my father, Keoua's, bones, betrayed the hiding place." And so
Hoapili, assisted by his younger half-brother, Hoolulu, carried
out the wish of the great leader, whose burial cave is one of
the unsolved mysteries of Hawaiian history.
Kamehameha was justly entitled to the title of Great. He is
justly entitled to a place among leaders of the civilized nations-
as a great general and a wise sovereign.
CHAPTEE V
BUILDER OF A SEA EMPIRE
BATTLE OF THE NUUANU
FIREARMS played a conspicuous part in the destiny of
the Hawaiian group about the time the American republic
was enjoying its first years of independence under Presi
dent George Washington. Had it not been for these scientific
engines of destruction of human life, the title of "Napoleon of
the Pacific" may not have been added to the list of soubriquets
which history has attached to this remarkable Hawaiian leader.
He came from one district of a large kingdom, and overthrew all
other districts, and then island by island until he became monarch
of all, aided in his last battle by white men who used modern
weapons, against which the opponents' spearmen were as pigmies.
In 1795 Kamehameha, flushed with victories over all the Isl
and of Hawaii and on the Islands of Maui and Molokai, came
to the Island of Oahu with a vast fleet of outrigger war canoes,
called the "Peleleu Fleet/' containing seasoned veterans of his
many wars, prepared to launch a vigorous offensive against the
warriors of King Kalanikupule. He had mustered the largest
and best-equipped army, and since known to have been the most
powerful ever mobilized in the entire Pacific region. In his
service were sixteen foreigners, of whom John Young and Isaac
Davis were two Englishmen who had seen service as officers
aboard British merchant vessels, and who were retained by Ka-
mehameha for his own service shortly after they reached the
shores of Hawaii.
After the visits of Captains Cook and Vancouver and other
foreigners, Kamehameha, with keen military foresight, secured
several cannons from visiting vessels. The artillery division
BUILDER OF A SEA EMPIRE 83
was in command of Young and Davis, assisted by one Peter An
derson. Kamehameha's combined force numbered nearly 16,000
men, according to best traditions. The army landed upon the
shore of Waikiki, near Honolulu, where, in a grove of cocoanuts,
some of which are reputed to be standing there today, Kameha-
meha established his court and his headquarters.
Kamehameha recognized the necessity for an uninterrupted
food supply, and he immediately established taro fields, planted
potatoes on the hill Ualakaa in Manoa Valley, and prepared for
his campaign.
In April, 1795, Kamehameha was ready, and moved a portion
of his army over the long stretch which now comprises the dis
tricts of Waikiki, Pawaa, Makiki, until he concentrated his van
guard at the foot of Nuuanu Valley .
Kalanikupule made his first stand in the valley at Laimi, near
the present Oahu Country Club golf links. The Oahu warriors
made a desperate resistance until the Chief Kaina, a prominent
Hawaiian who had sailed to China and knew of the great lands
beyond the isles of Kamehameha, who had been discovered a
traitor to Kamehameha, was mortally wounded by a cannon ball.
The death of Kaina broke down the morale of the Oahuans, and
they gave way and were steadily pursued and pressed by Ka
mehameha's victorious forces. In time the Oahuans, who had
lost heavily, their women fighting as Amazons and being slaugh
tered with the men, retreated until they reached the gap in the
mountains known as the Nuuanu Pali, one of the most beautiful
of all mountain places in Hawaii, a gap which divides the island
in half, permitting one to gaze out upon windward Oahu as
though from an airplane, and in reverse to gaze back upon the
city of Honolulu and the ocean beyond. On the windward side
there was a sheer precipice drop of a thousand feet. The resist
less fury of the pursuing troops of Kamehameha gave no alter
native to the brave little army of Oahuans, now hewn down by
spear, battle-axe, slings and muskets to a shattered fragment.
The army was cut to pieces. The survivors were pressed back
to the edge of the precipice. The thousands of warriors of Ka-
84 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
mehameha pressed on, and gradually the survivors were forced
over the brink to fearful death a thousand feet below.
Many escaped up the ridges on either side of the gap, and
among them were the defeated king attended by a small detach
ment of his warriors. For months he was hunted in the Koolau
mountains until he was captured in a cave above Waipio and
brought down and offered in sacrifice to the conqueror's war
god at Moanalua. His brother, Koolaukani, escaped to the Isl
and of Kauai.
This battle made Kamehameha master of all the islands ex
cept Kauai, and that was brought under his domination to such
an extent that the king of that isle dared not oppose his will.
In 1810 the great chieftain completed the conquest, when
Kauai was humbled and all the islands were consolidated into
a single empire, with himself as the monarch of what were then
known as the Sandwich Islands, and later as the Hawaiian Isl
ands.
Kamehameha's dynasty ruled the Islands until the death of
King Lunalilo in 1874, when, by legislative selection, the High
Chief David Kalakaua was named sovereign, his dynasty ruling
until 1893, when the monarchy was overthrown and a republic
set up, which was succeeded in 1898 by the Territory of Hawaii,
resulting from the adoption of a Joint Resolution of Annexa
tion by the American Congress on July 6, 1898, and signed the
following day by President William McKinley. In June, 1900,
under the provisions of the Organic Act, provided for in the
Joint Resolution, and which was Hawaii's territorial constitu
tion, Hawaii assumed its status as a Territory, with San ford
B Dole appointed as Governor by President McKinley, succeed
ing himself as President of the Hawaiian Republic. Kameha
meha the Great died on May 8, 1819, at Kailua, Kona, Island
of Hawaii, his old capital, but the bruial place of his bones re
mains a profound secret, known possibly to but two persons in
all Hawaii.
The first New England missionaries who came to the Ha
waiian Islands in 1820, were not entirely disabused of the idea
that Chrisianity had been presented to the great Kamehameha
BUILDER OF A SEA EMPIRE 85
and his chiefs before they arrived. There are records showing
positively that Chrisitanity was discussed by Kamehameha with
visitors. The voyage of Captain Cleveland to Hawaii, about
1803, was notable for several things, one of which is the state
ment that he brought the first horses to Hawaii, as a present
to Kamehameha. At the request of John Young he landed a
mare and foal at Kawaihae, Hawaii, June 24, 1803. Two horses
remaining were taken over to Lahaina and there presented to
the King.
One other circumstance is related by Captain Cleveland that
is of vital importance in the history of Christianity in Hawaii.
Very little credit has been given to the early foreign residents
in Hawaii, prior to the missionary advent, for their influence in
the abolition of the tabu system, and if Cleveland is to be cred
ited, the first Protestant clergyman resident in Hawaii was an
English Episcopalian. Captain Cleveland's account is quoted in
full:
"As our intercourse with these Islands increased, the danger
of a temporary residence on shore ceased. Among others who
at this early period took advantage of it was a Mr. Howell,
commonly called Padre Howell, who soon ingratiated himself
into favor with the King, and being struck with his superiority
of intellect, conceived that it would not be difficult to induce him
to abandon his idolatrous worship and substitute one of ration
ality. Acordingly, he lost no opportunity, after acquiring a suf
ficient knowledge of the language, to convince the Chief of the
incapacity for good or evil of his gods, and of the power and
wisdom and goodness of the Supreme Maker and Ruler of the
Universe, whom he worshipped.
"The first, that of the impotency of the idols, was without
difficulty admitted, but the second, not being tangible, could not
be comprehended. His mind, however, appeared to be dwelling
on the subject with increased attention after each conversation.
At length, one day, while walking together, the King unusually
thoughtful, and Howell auguring favorably from it, the silence
was broken by the King's observing, 'You say your God is pow
erful, wise, good, and that He will shield from harm those who
86 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
truly worship and adore Him?7 This being assented to, then
said the King, 'Give me proof by going and throwing" yourself
from yonder precipice, and while falling call upon your God to
shield you, and if you escape unharmed, I will then embrace the
worship of your God.' It may be unnecessary to say that Howell
failed to give the desired test, and the King remained uncon
verted."
Vancouver wrote that Howell resided with Kamehameha.
CHAPTER VI
LINKS BINDING ENGLAND AND HAWAII
CONQUEROR LEANED TOWARD BRITAIN
WITH the visit of the Prince of Wales to Honolulu in 1920
the time was appropriate to Hawaii's historians and
paragraphers to turn back the pages of history and review
some of the events that linked Hawaii and Great Britain in the
past, the evident effort of English navigators to secure a large
measure of English influence in the direction of Hawaii's af
fairs, even to securing a cession of the Hawaiian Islands to the
British crown.
From the day that Captain Cook's ships sailed into Hawaiian
waters in 1778 until the little brig Thaddeus, flying the American
flag, sailed into the same waters and landed American mission
aries, there was a steadily growing influence of Great Britain,
and this continued until a day when Daniel Webster, theoreti
cally pointing his finger toward the Great Powers, advised them
to keep their hands off Hawaii, and from that day English influ
ence in the Islands waned, but in that time England gave to Ha
waii much that was to the country's benefit.
Out of the archives of the Territory, which are now classified
and stored in the Archives building in Honolulu, Robert C.
L,ydecker, librarian of the Archives, himself an authority on
Hawaiian historical matters, brought to the attention of the
Prince of Wales, during that memorable visit, a sketchy com
pilation of English influence in Hawaii. To him I am indebted
for much that relates to this interesting period of Hawaii's his
tory, for in all that time there was much of discovery, of ro
mance, adventure and tragedy, or international complications,
and there were times when English guns were unmuzzled on the
88 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
decks of frigates and trained upon Honolulu. And it is re
lated, also, that on an occasion in the 40's when this happened an
American warship loosed her anchor cables and swung into posi
tion, with guns cleared for action, so that she was in a position
to dominate the decks of the British vessel. Honolulu was pos
sibly saved a bombardment by the action of the intrepid American
commander.
This connection between England and Hawaii, so these archives
compiled by Lydecker relate, begins with the name by which the
Islands were first known to the world, and until a comparative
recent time so set down on the maps, a name derived from the
title of a nobleman of Great Britain, the Earl of Sandwich, who
at the time of Captain Cook's rediscovery of them in 1778, was
the First Lord of the British Admiralty and in whose honor
Cook called them the Sandwich Islands. Since that time England
has played a part in the country's history second only to the
United States.
History records Captain Cook as the discoverer of the Islands,
and in the sense of making them known to the world this is cor
rect, but over two centuries before his visit, a Spanish navigator,
said to be Don Juan Gaetano, as recorded in documents in the
Archives of Spain, copies of which are on file in the Hawaiian
Archives, discovered and charted them in 1555.
Following Cook, the second great Englishman to stamp his
name indelibly on Hawaii's history was Captain George Van
couver, who had been sent out by the British government to re
ceive the cession of Nootka Sound and the country round about,
from a Commissioner of Spain, and to make a survey of the
Northwest Coast.
This officer reached the Island of Hawaii March 2, 1792, from
which place he proceeded on his -mission. This, however, was
not Vancouver's first -visit. He had been in Hawaii with Captain
Cook as one of his midshipmen.
Returning to the Islands, he anchored off Kawaihae, Island of
Hawaii, February 14, 1793, where he landed a bull and a cow,
the first ever seen by the natives, and later the balance of his
stock, consisting of five cows and three sheep. After a stay of
LINKS BINDING ENGLAND AND HAWAII 89
several weeks he again sailed from Waimea in the early part of
April for the Northwest Coast. Returning for his last visit, he
anchored off Hilo, January 9, 1794.
These three visits formed an era in the history of the Islands.
He was a wise and generous benefactor to the Hawaiian people.
He sowed the seed of the religion of Jesus Christ, thereby pav
ing the way for the American missionaries.
One of the most important events connected with his last visit
was the so-called session by Kamehameha I, of a portion of the
Island of Hawaii to the British Crown. Vancouver, in an auto
graph letter dated March 2, 1794, which is on file in the Archives,
says the whole of the island, but at that time Kamehameha ruled
only over the districts of Kona, Kohala and Hamakua, the latter
of which he had only recently conquered. He was at war with
the chiefs of Hilo, Puna and Kau districts, and it was not until
some time after Vancouver left that he was in undisputed pos
session of the whole island.
The interpretation put on this cession by Kamehameha and
Vancouver was wide apart, the latter considering it an absolute
surrender of his sovereignty by Kamehameha. This, Kameha
meha had no idea of doing. Protection from without was his
object, and he had no intention of surrendering the control of
internal affairs. This was also the attitude taken by the British
government regarding it, as is expressed in a letter from the
Earl of Liverpool now in the Hawaiian Archives, which is one
of respect to the King's independence, with an implied promise
of friendly protection in case of foreign aggression.
These visits of Vancouver were of lasting benefit to Hawaii.
He gave Kamehameha and the chiefs wise and friendly counsel.
He endeavored to bring about a lasting peace between Hawaii
and the leeward islands, and left under the impression that he
had settled conditions by which it would be brought about.
Vancouver in His Voyage, Volume 5, page 82, says : "I was
very much concerned to find that my earnest endeavors to bring
about a reconciliation and to establish peace among these Islands
had proved unsuccessful. The mutual distrust that continued to
exist among the people of the several islands, which I had fore-
90 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
seen to be the greatest difficulty there was to combat, and which
I had apprehended would be an insurmountable obstacle, had
proved fatal to the attainment of this desirable object." This
was not to be, however, until some sixteen years later, when
Kamehameha became king of the whole group.
Before leaving, Vancouver had laid the keel of the first vessel
ever built in the Islands, a small sloop called the "Britannia/' and
promised the King to send him a vessel suitable for cruising
among the Islands, in accordance with which, though not until
three years after Kamehameha's death, Captain Keat, on behalf
of the British government, presented the vessel to Liholiho
(Kamehameha II), May 1, 1822. It was named the "Prince
Regent," and came to an untimely end only a few months later
on the east side of Oahu island.
The British government was the first to be represented in
Hawaii by a full-fledged consul, though the United States had
had a commercial agent and acting consul for five years prior to
the arrival of the British consul, Captain Richard Carlton, who,
with his wife and her sister, arrived at Honolulu April 16, 1825,
the ladies being the first European women to become residents
of Honolulu.
Liholiho, who had succeeded to the throne on the death of his
father in 1819, decided in September, 1823, to visit England and
the United States. In this he was actuated partly by curiosity
to see foreign lands and partly to secure protection for his coun
try from foreign aggression, especially against Russia, subjects
of that country having been particularly aggressive, erecting a
block-house, mounting a few guns and hoisting the Russian flag
at Honolulu in 1815, also throwing up breastworks and mounting
cannon at Hanalei, Kauai, over which the Russian colors were
displayed.
The King embarked in an English whaleship, the "L'Aigle,"
accompanied by Kamamalu, the queen ; by the High Chief Boki
and his wife, the High Chiefess Liliha ; by Governor Kekuanaoa,
Kapihe, Manuia and James Young. They sailed from Honolulu
September 27, 1823, amid the sad forebodings of the people,
which later events justified.
LINKS BINDING ENGLAND AND HAWAII 91
The vessel put into Rio Janeiro for a short period, where the
British consul-general gave a ball for their entertainment, and the
Emperor, Dom Pedro, treated them with distinguished attention.
Landing at Portsmouth, May 22, 1824, the party were taken in
charge by the Honorable F. Byng, who had been appointed by
the government to attend the royal set, and quarters were pro
vided for them at Osborne's Hotel, London, where, according
to Jarves, Bingham in his history, says the Adelphian, the appear
ance of the travelers was somewhat novel to the residents of
that city.
Kamamalu exhibited herself in loose trousers and a long bed
gown of colored velveteen, Liliha being in a similar costume.
Suitable dresses were soon provided, however, the tailors soon
fitted out the males in the newest cut, and Parisian modistes
gowned the ladies in accordance with the Court fashion of the
day. Corsets for the first time encircled their ample waists, and
the London fair sex, in their rage for the strangers, sought pat
terns of the turbans that graced the brow of the queen. The
royal company received every attention from the English nobil
ity, were feasted and flattered, and taken to see all the sights
and shows of London.
On June 12, Manuia, the steward, was attacked by measles.
The next day the king sickened, and by the 19th all the party
were afflicted with the same disease. The inferior chiefs soon
recovered, but the queen rapidly grew worse, and in spite of the
best medical attendance she died on the 8th of July. This sad
event so affected the king that he sank rapidly and expired on the
morning of the 14th. The survivors were treated with great kind
ness and were received by King George IV at Windsor Castle,
September 16. It was at this audience that the king confirmed
Lord Liverpool's letter in reference to the independence of the
Hawaiian sovereign, telling the chiefs he would protect the
Islands from foreign aggression, but all internal affairs were in
their own hands, to be managed as they saw fit.
The frigate "Blonde," commanded by Lord Byron, cousin of
the poet, whom he had lately succeeded to the title, was ordered
to convey the remains of the king and queen and the survivors
92 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
home. During the voyage Liliha and Kekuanaoa were baptized
at their own request by the chaplain, Lord Byron standing as
sponsor.
On the 6th of May, 1825, the "Blonde" arrived at Honolulu,
after touching at Lahaina on the 4th, and soon the air was filled
by the wailing of the populace and the gloomy roar of the
minute guns.
On the succeeding day the chiefs gave an audience to Lord
Byron and his officers, at which the gifts of King George IV, to
the heads of the nation, were presented.
The young king, Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III), was clothed
to his great satisfaction in a rich suit of Windsor uniform with
chapeau and sword.
Lord Byron was a worthy follower of Vancouver and won the
gratitude and respect of both the natives and the better class of
foreigners. Alexander, in his Brief History of the Hawaiian
Islands, states: "If he had left here a suitable representative of
his government, imbued with his own humane and enlightened
views, the subsequent history of the Islands would have been
very different," having reference to Captain Charlton, the British
consul, who was dismissed by his government when his actions
in Hawaii became known to it.
Lord Byron drew up the first laws printed and published in
Honolulu, being regulations for the harbor of Honolulu. He
made a survey of the bay at Hilo, Island of Hawaii, whch was
afterwards called "Byron's Bay/' although more popularly known
as Hilo Bay, and by his advice the chiefs began more active meas
ures for suppression of vices which were destroying their race,
and for promoting education. The American missionaries, who
were still more or less under suspicion, were indebted to him for
removing the last doubts as to their mission and motives ; telling .
the natives that these people taught the same religion as that
recommended to them by Vancouver, teachers of which he had
promised to send them on his return to England, if possible.
To the door of Richard Charlton, the British consul, who had
been a thorn in the side of the Hawaiian government during the
whole of his residence in the islands may be laid the forced ces-
Kamehameha II — Liholiho, — son of the great conqueror, whose edict,
influenced by Queen Kaahumanu,, caused the destruction of the
temples and idols and fearful tabu system months
before the missionaries arrived.
LINKS BINDING ENGLAND AND HAWAII 93
sion of the islands to Lord George Paulet, of Great Britain,
in 1843.
The English government had ever been willing that these
islands should rise and prosper under their native dynasty. Mr.
Charlton had constantly urged a contrary policy, indirectly if
nor directly, by representing the native rulers as wholly unfit
for governing. On many occasions he treated then with indig
nity, threatening their lives and using language unpardonable for
its violence and unreasonableness. Had he been a dispassionate,
shrewd man, possibly he could have effected greater injury than
he did, but by 1833 his natural character had been forcibly dis
closed and his influence began to wane. Disappointed by this
very natural consequence, he zealously lent himself to the injury
of the nation, opposing all that it favored and nursing every
case which could generate discord or involve the rulers. By
1842 matters had reached such a stage, not only with Charlton,
but with France, that an Embassy was appointed April 8th of
that year, to the United States and the courts of Great Britain
and France, to negotiate new treaties and obtain guarantees of
the independence of the kingdom.
As soon as these facts became known, Mr. Charlton, fearing
the results of the embassy upon his own office, left the country
surreptitiously, September 26, 1842, for London, via Mexico, to
lay his complaints before the British government, sending back
a threatening letter to the king in which he informed him that
he had appointed Alexander Simpson as acting consul, an ap
pointment the Hawaiian government refused to recognize.
At Mazatlan he fell in with Lord George Paulet, commanding
the British frigate "Carysfort," and by misrepresentation, so
prejudiced the mind of this officer, that the grievous blunder
he committed a few months later followed as a natural result.
In later years none saw this more clearly than Lord George him:
self. Mr. Charlton's career was terminated by his own act. He
had no sooner arrived in London than he was removed from
office under circumstance of disgrace.
The Earl of Aberdeen considered the final act of his diplomacy
as intemperate, improper and ill-judged, calculated to do great
94 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
mischief and to produce in the minds of the king and his advisers
a resentful feeling, not only against Mr. Charlton, but against
the British government and its subjects. The Earl's sentiments
are authentic and clearly show that it was no part of the policy
of England, that her commissioned officers should insult and
browbeat even the weakest of nations.
Meanwhile Mr. Simpson had sent despatches to the coast,
representing that the persons and property of his countrymen
were in danger, which induced Rear Admiral Richard Thomas,
commander-in-chief of the British forces in the Pacific, to order
the "Carysfort" to Honolulu to investigate.
The "Carysfort" arrived on the 10th of February, 1843, and
Mr. Simpson immediately went on board to concert measures
with Lord George, whose entire acquiescence in his plans, tends
to show that the seed planted by Charlton at Mazatlan was soon
on fertile ground, and on being watered by Simpson, to full
fruition. The authorities on shore suspected there Hvas no
friendly feeling from the withholding of the usual salute. Dr.
Gerrit P. Judd, an American, who called officially on the part
of the Hawaiian government, and the consuls of the United
States and France were informed that they could not be received.
The king, who was absent on Maui when the "Carysfort"
arrived, reached Honolulu on February 16th and on the 17th
received a peremptory letter from Paulet, inclosing six demands
with the threat that if they were not complied with by four
o'clock, p. m., of the next day "immediate coercive steps would
be taken." The next morning, February 18th, the frigate clear
ed for action and her battery was brought to bear on the town.
Excited by the gross injustice of the demands the first im
pulses of the king and his council were to resist. In this they
were sustained by the entire foreign population, but wiser coun
sel finally prevailed and before the hour set for hostilities had
arrived, a letter was sent on board the "Carysfort" informed
Lord Paulet that ambassadors had been sent to England with
full powers to settle these very difficulties, but nevertheless the
LINKS BINDING ENGLAND AND HAWAII 95
king would comply with his demands under protest and appeal
to the British government for justice.
On the morning of the 25th the king and premier signed the
provisional cession to Lord George Paulet "subject to the deci
sion of the British government after the receipt of full informa
tion from both parties." It is to the lasting credit of England,
that when this information was received, her decision was in
favor of the king's contentions.
The act of cession was publicly read from the ramparts of the
fort at three o'clock p. m. of the same date and a proclamation
providing for a commission for the government of the islands
issued by Lord Paulet and the British colors hoisted over the
fort. At the same time the flag over the British consulate was
struck. By a strange coincidence it chanced that the day was
the 49th anniversary of Kamehameha's cession to Vancouver.
The commission took over the government as far as foreigners
were concerned, the native population being left under the con
trol of the king and chiefs, and ruled with an iron hand in the
most arbitrary manner, as if it had been settled that the islands
would permanently remain as a British colony. Every Hawaiian
flag that could be found was destroyed. Fearing seizure of the
national archives, Dr. Judd concealed them in a royal tomb. "In
this abode of death," says Jarves, "surrounded by the former
sovereigns of Hawaii, and using the coffin of Kaahumanu (favor
ite queen of Kamehameha the Great), for a table, for many
weeks he nightly found an unsuspected asylum for his labors in
behalf of the kingdom."
The tomb referred to is now under the mound of lawn and
flowers in the grounds of the territorial capitol, formerly the
royal palace, at Honolulu. It is directly in front of and a couple
of hundred feet distant from the building where the archives
are now housed for all time.
Word of Paulet's actions having reached Admiral Thomas, at
Valparaiso, he proceeded in all haste to the islands, arriving in
his flagship, the "Dublin," July 26th. Hardly had the ship come
to anchor before the admiral in the most courteous terms solicit-
96 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
ed an interview with the king, and in a few hours it became
known that he had come to restore the independence of the
islands. The joy of the natives and of the foreigners was un
bounded, and the mortification of the Simpson party extreme.
A proclamation was issued by the admiral, in which he de
clared in the name of his sovereign, that he did not accept the
Provisional Cession of the Hawaiian Islands, and that "Her
Majesty sincerely desires King Kamehameha III, to be treated
as an independent sovereign, leaving the administration of justice
in his own hands."
At an interview with the king on the 27th the terms of the
restoration were agreed upon and July 31st appointed as the
time for the world to witness England, in the person of her
gallant and worthy officer, restoring to the petty sovereign of the
Hawaiian Islands his prerogatives and his dominions.
An open space on the plains east of the town, since called
"Thomas Square/' was selected, two pavilions erected, and thither
poured the entire population of Honolulu, with the exception of
a few who sympathized with the commander ,of the "Carysfort,"
to witness the restoration of the flag.
At 10 o'clock a, m. marines of the "Dublin," "Carysfort" and
"Hazard" being drawn up in line with a battery of field pieces
on their right, the king, escorted by his own troops, arrived on
the ground. As the royal Hawaiian standard was hoisted on the
flagstaff a salute of 21 guns was fired by the field battery after
which the national colors were raised over the fort and on
Punchbowl hill. This ceremony was delayed a few days as there
were no Hawaiian flags available, they, as previously mentioned,
having all been destroyed by order of Paulet, and it was neces
sary to have new ones made, which was done, by the admiral's
order, on the "Dublin."
Thus did a great and magnanimous nation honor itself in
doing justice to a weak and puny one, and at length, on Novem
ber 28, 1843, united with France in a joint declaration recog
nizing the independence of the islands.
LINKS BINDING ENGLAND AND HAWAII 97
In the annals of Hawaiian history the name of Robert Chrich-
ton Wyllie looms up in bold relief. A man of independent for
tune, the Laird of Hazelback in Scotland, he was a tower of
strength during the formative period of constitutional govern
ment.
He arrived, as a visitor, on February 3, 1844, with General
William Miller, who had been appointed the successor of the
disgraced Charlton, to represent the British government, and for
a period of eight months acted as British pro-consul during a
visit of General Miller to Tahiti, during which time he so won
the confidence and respect of all with whom he was brought in
contact that on the formation of the departments in March, 1845,
he was invited by the king to accept the portfolio of Minister of
Foreign Affairs and never was a more judicious and fortunate,
for Hawaii, appointment made.
From the day he took office, March 26, 1845, to the day of
his death, October 19, 1865, his sole ambition was to serve the
king and the Hawaiian people. A shrewd diplomatist, he brought
the country safely through many a trying period. Not only his
services but his fortune were at the king's disposal and on several
occasions he came to the rescue of the government when funds
were needed. On taking office he became an Hawaiian subject,
and none exceeded him in loyalty. He materially strengthened
the government by bringing into its councils a gentleman of ex
tensive acquaintance abroad and of enlarged views. For a
period of over 20 years he served the country of his adoption
with wholehearted zeal, and it is fitting that he rests in the royal
mausoleum with the sovereigns, whom in life he served so well.
Prince Albert of Hawaii, named after England's Prince Con
sort, son of Kamehameha IV, and Queen Emma, and heir to
the throne, was baptized August 23, 1862, four days before his
death, according to the English Episcopal liturgy, thereby mark
ing a departure from the church established by the American
missionaries. He was called the Prince of Hawaii, and was its
crown prince.
98 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Her Majesty Queen Victoria, who had previously consented
to be g-odmother, the Prince of Wales and Prince Lot Kameha-
meha were the sponsors. It had been the intention to defer the
baptism of the young prince until the arrival of the Bishop of
Honolulu who was soon expected, but the serious condition he
was in would admit of no delay. Bishop Staley, accompanied by
other clergymen, arrived from England, October 11, 1862, from
which time the establishment in Hawaii of the Church of Eng
land dates. A temporary cathedral was erected and several
schools established. In May, 1865, Queen Emma sailed in H.
B. M.'s ship-of-war "Clio" for Panama on her way to England
where she received every attention and was treated with much
kindness. In fact, the Dean of Westminster, who conducted
many personages about the abby, in his memoirs said that the
one royal personage who showed pore interest in what she was
being shown, and who also exhibited a surprising knowledge of
what was in Westminster Abbey, was Queen Emma of Hawaii.
While the "Clio" was in port awaiting the embarkation of the
queen, a number of her midshipmen on a lark, removed the
shield from the United States legation and carried it aboard ship
where it was later found and the commander, Captain Tourneur
called upon Mr. McBride, the American minister, to express his
regrets and to make such amends as Mr. McBride might sug
gest, the result being that the captain made a second call accom
panied by the midshipman, among whom was Charles Beresford.
The middies replaced the shield, apologized to the minister and
thanked him for his leniency and the matter ended with the
best feelings on both sides. The author of the prank, Charles
Beresford, later became Lord Charles Beresford, one of Eng
land's greatest naval fighters, always a friend of America.
In February, 1899, Lord Charles Beresford, then an admiral,
passed through Honolulu on his return home from a doplimatic
mission to China. During the voyage from the Orient to Hono
lulu on the steamer America Maru, he told Robert Lydecker, a
Honolulan, all about this lark. He said that he always got the
credit for this prank but said he had nothing to do with it.
LINKS BINDING ENGLAND AND HAWAII 99
The arrival of the Prince of Wales in Honolulu in 1920, mark
ed the second visit of a member of England's royal family to
Hawaiian shores, the first being that of Alfred Ernest Albert,
Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria. The duke
arrived at Honolulu July 21, 1869, on H. B. M.'s ship-of-war
"Galatea." It remained in port 12 days and the duke was en
tertained in a style befitting his high rank, notwithstanding he
had expressed a desire to be received only as the captain of the
"Galatea." He was given an old-fashioned Hawaiian "hookupu,"
a custom of paying tribute by the presentation of gifts, includ
ing ornaments and products of the soil and sea, even to a squal-
ing pig.
King David Kalakaua set out on a trip of the world in 1881,
reaching London July 6 of that year. He was presented to the
queen at Windsor Castle on the llth and left on the 24th, having
been lavishly entertained by royalty and the nobility meanwhile.
The next members of Hawaii's royal family to visit England
were Queen Kapiolani, consort of King Kalakaua, and the Prin
cess Liliuokalani (afterwards Queen Liliuokalani), who, in 1887
attended Queen Victoria's jubilee as guests of Her Majesty.
Probably there was no place, other than in England, and her
possessions, where Queen Victoria's jubilee was celebrated to
a greater extent than in Honolulu. England was ever a
just, generous and great friend of Hawaii, and its subjects had
abundant reason to rejoice with Britons in the celebration of
their beloved queen's 50th anniversary of her accession to the
throne.
Ten years later, in 1897, Hawaii, then a Republic, was again
represented at the British court, the occasion being the Victoria
Diamond Jubilee, in the person of Hon. S. M. Damon, Minister
of Finance, who was commissioned Envoy Extraordinary by
President Sanford B. Dole, to convey his felicitations to Her
Majesty.
Diplomatic relations ceased between Hawaii and Great Britain
on the former's annexation to the United States. In addition
to the events related there are carefully filed away in the Archives
100 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
of Hawaii, a number of autograph letters of Queen Victoria.
Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, thanks Queen Liliuokalani on
behalf of the princess and himself, for her letter of sympathy
on the death of their son, His Royal Highness the Duke of
Clarence and Avondale, and the signatures of many of Eng
land's prime ministers, beginning with that of the Earl of Liver
pool in 1812, are inscribed on a number of diplomatic documents
testifying to the close and cordial relationship that existed be
tween the two countries in the past.
CHAPTER VII
PIRATES SOUGHT LAIR IN HAWAII
DIED IN THEIR BOOTS
TALES of the "Spanish Main", of bucanneers who roamed
the seas in quest of bullion and jewel-laden ships, and who
condemned mariners and their passengers to "walk the
plank", almost always ranged the Atlantic, the Carribean Sea and
along the shores of South America, but to Honolulu in 1818, a
year before Kamehameha the Great died and two years before
the missionaries arrived, a vessel came up over the southern
horizen towards Hawaii with a strange flag at the peak and a
crew that aroused suspicion, for they actually were pirates, and
in the vessel when it anchored off Hawaii was the loot of cities
of South America, including much gold church plate. Some
encrusted with jewels.
There may have been other instances of pirate visitations, but
as the Hawaiians then recorded no happenings in writing, and
the missionaries in their time were too engrossed in their re
ligious labors assigned to them, much of the adventure and ro
mance of those olden days has been lost, even to scrutinizing his
torians.
This strange vessel sailed along the Hawaiian shore early in
the year 1818, and put in at the bay of Kealakekau, where Cap
tain Cook was slain in 1779, its flag never having been seen in the
Islands before, and new even to the few foreigners residing in
the archipelago. Upon the stern was painted the name "Victory."
Upon the decks were a wild and unkempt looking set of men, who
spoke Spanish for the most part, but their chief was an English
man whom they called Turner. He was reticent, even secretive
about the business which caused him to call at Hawaii. He re-
102 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
fused to say where he was from or whither he was bound, but
merely said he wanted fresh provisions and water. Kamehameha
gave the orders that replenished the diminished stores on board
and thereafter the crew was permitted to go ashore. They
roamed first over the district of Kona, accepted and abused
the hospitality of the Hawaiians. The sailors brought rum
ashore and from their pockets drew forth gold and silver moneys
and often brought to the beach church plate which included
candelabra, beads, crucifixes, cups and various Roman Catholic
Church ornaments. As barter, many of these ornaments passed
into the hands of the Hawaiians, to whom, however, the value
was largely in their oddity and glitter, for they knew little of
the value of gold or silver, for no metals were mined in the
islands.
Foreign residents in Kona became suspicious of the character
of the visitors and the nature of their voyage, and it was shrewd
ly suspected that the vessel had been captured and that her crew
were simply a party of buccaneers from the "Spanish Main/''
as the coast of South America was then called. The sailors, in
toxicated, confirmed these suspicions.
The captain wanted to leave but the lawless crew laughed
when ordered aboard. They could not be induced to leave the
pleasant land and its almost perennial summer. Turner was
apparently the only navigator, but he urged return to the ship in
vain.
Months passed by until one morning a Spanish brig from Val
paraiso arrived at Kealakekua and her boats immediately boarded
and took possession of the Victory. The captors found an
empty prize, for Turner and his crew fled to the shore, first
stripping the vessel of valuables. From imperfect narratives of
the "Victory's" visit, and as H. L. Sheldon, a Hawaiian chroni
cler of several decades ago, was able to learn, the captain of the
visiting ship from Chile was probably a Frenchman, as he was
called Buchard. He communicated with Kamehameha the Great
and informed him that the Victory's crew were pirates, who,
during the war between Peru and Chile, both states then strugg
ling against Spain to win their independence, had pillaged a town
PIRATES SOUGHT LAIR 103
on the coast and sacreligiously stripped the churches of their
holy furniture.
The king was, in his way, a firm upholder of religious forms
and usages, and consequently, he readily acceded to Buchard's re
quest and sent out couriers among the people, and in a short
time all the buccaneers, with the exception of Turner and the
first officer, a Spaniard, were captured in their hiding places
and taken aboard the war vessel in irons. The greater part of
the church ornaments were also recovered and delivered to the
Frenchman by order of the king. The whole transaction, in the
opinion of Sheldon, proves Kamehameha to have been a man of
extraordinary prudence and character for a born savage, in fact,
one of nature's noblemen.
Turner is said to have escaped from the Islands by a passing
vessel, but the Spaniard was not so lucky. He was heard of on
Kauai as living under the protection of the high chief there.
Buchard sailed for Kauai. A message from Kamehameha caused
the chief to yield up the fugitive. Buchard held a drum-head
court martial on the beach at Waimea, and in a short time the sec
ond in command of the pirate ship was hanged and his body
buried on the spot. The war vessel sailed away for the Spanish
Main and that was the last heard of her. No doubt among the
Peruvian or Chilean records may be found the beginning and
ending of this tale. In Hawaii only the middle of the tale
was known.
CHAPTER VIII
CIVILIZATION CROSSES THRESHOLD
PIONEERING FOR CHRISTIANITY
PIONEERING for Christianity's sake had been a dominant
trait of the Thurston and Goodale families, whese des
cendants reside in Hawaii, since shortly after the Pilgrim
fathers established their colony in New England in 1620. Rob
ert Goodale sailed from Europe out into an almost unknown
sea and arrived safely at Salem, Massachusetts, in 1634.
Nearly two centuries later, Asa Thurston sailed out of the port
of Boston in the brig Thaddeus, accompanied by his bride, Lucy
Goodale Thurston. He sailed over little known seas into the
remote Pacific and set foot at Kailu-a, Island of Hawaii, the
very first missionary from America, to meet the Hawaiian race
in their native isles. Nearly three-quarters of a century later
their grandson was the dominant pioneer in establishing a re
public upon the foundation from which the throne of Hawaii
had been thrust aside, soon to enter the sisterhood of states and
territories of the United States of America.
It fell to the lot of Rev. Asa Thurston to be designated as the
missionary who should land at Kailua from the Thaddeus, ac
companied by his wife, immediately after Liholiho, (Kamehameha
II) gave permission to the missionaries to preach the message
of Christ to his people in place of the pagan religion which he,
aided by Hewahewa the high priest, had overthrown before the
missionaries were known even to be an their way to the Sand
wich Islands. By a strange coincidence, almost at the time the
little brig Thaddeus with its band of devout Americans sailed
from Boston in October, 1819, to preach the gospel, the old re
ligion of the Hawaiians was being destroyed by ruler and chiefs.
CIVILIZATION CROSSES THRESHOLD 105
The tabus which were the most powerful factors of control used
by the kings and chiefs and high priests over the people, had
been set aside, broken beyond power of restoration.
With Rev. Asa Thurston on that eventful voyage from New
England around Cape Horn to the great island of the smoking
volcanos of Mauna Loa and Kilauea, was Rev. Hiram Bingham
I, who remained aboard the Thaddeus after Mr. Thurston went
ashore at Kailua, and a week later, on April 19, anniversary of
the Battle of Lexington, went ashore at Honolulu to begin his
ministry among the natives of Oahu Island. Both men had been
ordained at Goshen, Connecticut, just a week before the Thad
deus sailed. Thurston was previously a member of the senior
class at Andover Theological institution, and had only recently be
come an accepted missionary of the American Board of Commis
sioners of Foreign Missions, for the "Sandwich Islands."
Rev. Asa Thurston was born at Fitchburg, Massachusetts,
October 12, 1787, and received his higher education at Yale,
1816, and his theological training at Andover. He arrived at
Kailua, April 12, 1820, and there, principally, for forty years
he lived and labored in the cause of Christianity, where his share
of the translation of the Bible into Hawaiian was equal to 18
books. In 1863 he made a visit to California and died in Hono
lulu March 11, 1868.
His wife, Lucy Goodale Thurston, had a prominent share in
her husband's great work in Hawaii. She was born at Marl-
borough, Massachusetts, October 29, 1795, the very year that
Kamehameha the Great fought his great battle in Nuuanu Val
ley, and finished his conquest of the Islands at the Nuuanu Pali.
She married Mr. Thurston October 12, 1819, and lived in the
Hawaiian Islands for 56 years, making two visits to the United
States for health. She died at Honolulu Ofctober 13, 1876.
It is to Lucy Goodale Thurston that much appertaining to
her husband's work as a missionary in the Hawaiian Islands is
best known. Of devout training, of unusual intelligent and per
ceptive mind, with a faculty for committing the daily occur
rences of their lives in Hawaii to paper, her memoirs form one
of the most interesting descriptions of life in Hawaii. Her let-
106 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
ters and notes show the gradual evolution of the Hawaiian peo
ple emerging from the ruins of their self-destroyed religion into
the great white and enduring light of Christianity, in which
her own life was intimately interwoven.
Mrs. Thurston did not fail in recognizing the capabilities of
the Hawaiian people they came to teach. She had fulsome
praise for those who were" prominent and conspicuous in their own
element, even though they still cling to the vestiges of their former
religion. She had only kind words for those who were stricken
with the white man's vices. Hers seemed to be a helpful hand
extended toward the men and women of the Hawaiian race, no
matter what rank or station in life they held.
Hers was truly a Christian mind of the mold of the Christian
martyrs of the Roman era, for when it was suggested to her that
a field of Christian labor was open in Hawaii she felt that there
was her life work. Her meeting with Asa Thurston, the young
missionary chosen to enter this field, solved the problem, and
her great opportunity came.
It was in a literal sense that she left comfortable houses and
friends and dear relatives in New England for Christ's sake,
said Rev. Walter Frear, on October 26, 1876, during a memorial
discourse in the Fort Street church, Honolulu. At the time she
left New England she had no thought of the mild and healthful
breezes, the grand mountains and volcanoes, no anticipation of
the delightful homes and genial society that in later years gave
the Hawaiian Islands charm. She left a land and home to which
she was endeared to go by a long and dangerous voyage, to one
of the most remote and least known parts of the globe, among
an alien people.
She left home, as a writer said of their voyage, in anticipation
of protracted and perilous conflict with pagan rites, human sac
rifices and bloody altars, for no intimation had been received
that the idols and altars of superstition had been overthrown.
She gave up all in a Christian consciousness, free from all levity,
in which Christ had first placed in her thoughts, and to her it was
a heavenly call. It was a heroism to be expected of a descendent
of ancestors who had also braved unknown perils that they
CIVILIZATION CROSSES THRESHOLD 107
might live their religion in freedom. It was the bravery of a
daughter of an American who had taken down his musket
the day the battle of Lexington was fought and who enlisted
before the sun set that memorable April 19, 1775 in Captain
Howe's company at Marlborough and marched to Cambridge
and there did duty in the inspired uprising of the Americans
who fought for a great and enduring principle.
In her long life, for she was 81 when she died, and a day over
the 57th anniversary of her marriage, she had doubled Cape
Horn five times, traveled over 90,000 miles by sea, passed
through perils and sicknesses, and yet Providence suffered her
to be the last to die in the Hawaiian Islands of all that worthy
band who sailed in the brig Thaddeus on the 23rd of October,
1819, and landed the following April at Kailua.
For all her hardships, giving up of culture and ease, her name
became a familiar one to a large part of the best people in
America, and she was known and held in honor over a large
part of the Christian world. She made a noble place in the grand
history of missions, and her memory occupies a high niche in the
missionary fame.
There was a sympathetic, Christian trend to the thoughts and
actions of Asa and Lucy Thurston in their contact with the
Hawaiians. Even when Mrs. Thurston was made the object
of unseemly attentions by a priest of the old regime, one who
ill-favored the building of a new religion, Mrs. Thurston, in
referring to this bitter phase of their early ministry at Kailua,
does not speak harshly of him. And her husband, to whom she
fled for protection, interceded with the chiefs who decreed the
priest should die. In later years the priest became a convert to
Christianity and appealed for pardon to those he had attempted
to harm.
Of Opukahia, the young Hawaiian who was largely respon
sible for the fact that today Hawaii is one of the most advanced
Christian and "brotherhood of man" communities in the world,
she had fulsome praise. In the opening chapter of her memoirs
is this little gem of history:
108 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
"Hawaii was first discovered to the civilized world in 1778.
In the same year Kamehameha fought, a soldier, under his uncle
Ka'laniopuu, king of several districts on one individual island.
"In the year 1810, all the Islands of the group became one
united kingdom under Kamehameha the Great. In the same year,
in America, Opukahaia became theoretically the first Hawaiian
convert to Christianity. They both lived after this, the one
eight, the other nine years. Kamehameha in his last sickness,
asked about the white man's God. But in the language of the
narrator, They no tell him'.
"Opukahaia died young, with a hope full of immortality.
His prayers, tears and appeals for his poor countrymen, as
described in his memoir concerning his voyage to New England,
his desire that the Hawaiian people should 'see the light' of
the gospel and civilization, and his request .finally being acceded
to by devout men of New England, did more for them than he
could have done in the longest life of most devoted labors. The
church was newly aroused to send a mission to those, who, for
long, dismal ages, had been enshrouded in all the darkness of
nature."
There is a popular belief prevailing, even in Hawaii, that the
first missionaries came to a land whose people knew not the
Anglo-Saxon, or where civilized comforts were totally lacking,
but Mrs. Thurston herself corrects this impression, for not only
did the young king, Kamehameha II, on occasion wear civilized
apparel, patterned, as a rule, after those of English naval officers,
but there were many civilized pieces of furniture already on
Hawaii, and strange to relate, nearly all of Chinese origin, indi
cating that traders calling at Hawaii, had been in China and gave
to the king and chiefs tables and chairs and other non-heathen
furnishings for domiciles, in exchange for food and feather
capes. There were also white men, English and Americans,
resident among the Hawaiians, occupying high places in Ka-
mehameha's court since 1790.
But this is the manner in which Rev. Asa Thurston, his wife
and few other members of the mission stepped ashore on April
12, 1820.
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"ROSE OF THE PACIFIC'3
Mary Ann Tressilyan Beckley, whom King Kamehameha IV
designated "The Rose of the Pacific/' as the
most beautiful woman of his reign.
CIVILIZATION CROSSES THRESHOLD 109
"After various consultations, 14 days after reaching the Is
lands, permission simply for one year was obtained from the
king for all the missionaries to land upon his shores. Two gen
tlemen with their wives, and two native youths were to stop at
Kailua. The rest of the mission were to pass on forthwith to
Honolulu.
"Such an early separation was unexpected and painful. But
Lroad views of usefulness were to be taken and private feelings
sacrificed. At evening twilight we sundered ourselves from
close family ties from the dear old brig, and from civilization !
we went ashore and entered, as our home, an abode of the most
uncouth and humble character. It was a thatched hut, with one
room, having two windows made simply by cutting away the
thatch, leaving bare poles. On the ground for the feet was a
layer of grass, then of mats. Here we found our effects from
the Thaddeus; but no arrangement of them could be made till
the house was thoroughly cleansed.
"On. the boxes and trunks, as they were scattered about the
room, we formed a circle. We listened to a portion of the scrip
ture, sang a hymn, and knelt in prayer. ' The simple fact speaks
for itself.
"It was the first family altar ever reared on this group of
Islands to the worship of Jehovah !"
Then they learned of the foreign furniture the next day, for
for Kamamalu, Queen of Kamehameha II, loaned them "two
high post bedsteads of Chinese manufacture/' Then three days
after landing "King Liho'liho (Kamehameha II) gave us a
large circular table of Chinese workmanship, having six
drawers, which became a very eligible dining- table. In that
manner it was generally used for 20 years until a family of
children had arisen and been dispersed. Since which time it has
30 years graced a parlor, every year becoming- more and more
valuable for its antiquity, and as having been a royal present of
one of the most interesting periods of our lives/'
Mrs. Thurston presided at the first sewing circle ever or
ganized in Hawaii or in the Pacific, or possibly west of the
Mississippi River. On Monday, April 3, 1820, while the Thad-
110 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
deus was enroute from Kawaihae to Kailua, she says "the first
sewing circle was formed that the sun ever looked down upon in
this Hawaiian realm. Kalakua, queen dowager, was directress.
She requested all the seven white ladies to take seats with them
on the masts on the deck of the Thaddeus. Mrs. Holman and
Mrs. Ruggles were executive officers, to ply the scissors and pre
pare the work. As the sisters were very much in the habit of
journalizing every one was a self constituted recording secretary.
The four native women of distinction were furnished with calico
patchwork to sew— a new employment to them. "The dress was
made in the fashion of 1819."
The joy in seeing the land of their future labors was great.
After sailing 157 days the party beheld looming up before them
on March 30, 1820, the long-looked for Island of Hawaii. "As
we approached the northern shore joy sparkled in every eye,
gratitude and hope seemed to fill every heart. The ship anchored.
Captain Blanchard sent an officer, accompanied by Hopu and
Honolii, two of the Hawaiian youths aboard, brought back from
New England to learn the state of the Islands and the residence
of the king. Then, as Hunewell hastily came back over the side,
they learned these astonishing facts from his agitated lips :
"Katnehameha is dead; his son Liholiho is king; the kapus
are abolished ; the images are burned ; the temples are destroyed.
There has been war. Now there is peace !"
Everything, seemingly had been prepared by Providence for
their coming. They learned that it was in October, 1819, that
the flames were lighted to consume the sacred relics of the great
feudal system; the high priest, Hewahewa, was even the first
to apply the torch.
It was a difficult position in which King Liholiho was placed
when the missionaries sent their letter ashore to him from the
American Board of Missions, asking permission to establish the
white man's religion. Mrs. Thurston said the king had put down
one religion and in doing it his throne tottered. It was a grave
question for him to accept a new one. But in the end he gave
permission and became one of the first listeners to the words of
the new religion.
CIVILIZATION CROSSES THRESHOLD 111
Mr. Thurston was a man of action. Within a few days some
of the party decided that the hard life ahead was not of their
liking. "On two of our number 'Tekel' had been written/'
writes Mrs. Thurston. "They had been weighed in the balance
and found wanting. The wife said she never would be willing
to exercise that degree of self-denial which was called for by a
situation among this people." They left the mission and soon
returned to New England. The Thurstons never faltered. In
writing for more aid, Mr. Thurston showed his sturdy, pioneer
ing and Christian fibre, when he said :
"We want men and women who have souls ; who are crucified
to the world and the world to them; who have their eyes and
their hearts fixed on the Glory of God in the salvation of the
heathen; who will be willing to sacrifice every interest but'
Christ's; who will cheerfully and constantly labor to promote
His cause."
The first time Mr. Thurston preached before the king through
an interpreter, was from these words : "I have a message from
God unto thee." The king listened with attention. When prayer
was offered he and the suite all knelt before the white man's
God.
The king's orders were that none but those of rank should be
taught. For many months the king was foremost as a student,
but had lapses. Some of the queens were ambitious The
king was solicitous to have his little brother apply himself and
threatened chastisement if he neglected his lessons. H"e told
him he must have learning for all the family, to make him wise
and able to rule. The lessons stood him in great stead for the
child became Kamehameha III, who gave a constitution to his
people and divided his feudal lands among all the subjects.
The Thurstons went to Maui and then to Honolulu in 1820
by command of the king. They were met by Rev. Hiram Bing-
ham and occupied a thatched hut in Honolulu on December 21,
1820. In one window shutter of their cottage was a single pane
of glass, probably the first through which the sun ever sent its
rays into a dark Hawaiian hut. Mr. Thurston had a common
dining chair to which he attached arms and rockers, and with
112 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
saw and jackknife also made a settee. There was also a high
post bed. At this time they had called in the person of the
commander of a Russian warship, among them being a chap
lain of the Greek Church.
It was difficult to persuade the king to permit the erection of a
wooden house in his realm. The missionaries asked many times,
but as Kamehameha the Great never permitted such a house,
neither would he. He acceded finally to the request and there
was erected the frame house still standing on King Street almost
within the shadow of Kawaiahao church, occupied as a mission
museum.
It was in 1821 that the king visited the Thurston cottage in
Honolulu, attired, says Mr. Thurston, "like a gentleman, with
ruffled shirt, silk vest, pantaloons and coat. How he moved
among his subjects with all the nobility of a king!"
She writes at some length of the completion of the two-story
wooden house in Honolulu into which the missionaries moved
and where afterwards many of the missionary children were born.
She refers with extreme pleasure to the formation of a Ha
waiian alphabet and the printed page. Jin one year and nine
months after the missionaries left the Thaddeus, a Hawaiian
spelling book was issued from the press. The chiefs received it
with interest; the scholars with enthusiasm. A door was now
opened which allowed learning to become general."
The Thurstons returned to Kailua in 1823, there to take up
their permanent work. There were 3000 people in the village
and within 20 miles were 20,000 people. It had been the favorite
abode of kings. They built a large house, for those days. Mrs.
Thurston taugh her schools in the reception room for the Ha-
waiians. A church had been built by the Governor and there
Mr. Thurston preached. There was a cave near by called Lania-
kea, signifying the broad heavens. Being near the Thurston
house the same name was given to their establishment.
The first sabbath school was established here in 1825. Old
chiefs and young ones, and children were the pupils.
CIVILIZATION CROSSES THRESHOLD 113
There were sad times, however, as when Mrs. Elizabeth
Edwards Bishop, her associate, died, and she also had sad news
from home in Massachusetts.
And so their work went on year by year, the Hawaiians accept
ing Christianity gradually and education liberally. In 1840 the
Thurstons and their family sailed back to New England, and
returned to Hawaii about 1842, taking up their abode once more
in Kailua. Their oldest son, Asa G. Thurston, died in 1855.
Rev. Asa Thurston, who became known as Father Thurston,
entered into his rest in Honolulu on March 11, 1868, aged 80
years and five months. He and his wife had lived together
48 years and five months. His final illness was excruciating to
his family and his body and mind were so worn with pain that
he barely knew his family. He was so weak he could not move
in bed.
In the spring of 1876 Mrs. Thurston was suddenly attacked
with a heart disease. She breathed with difficulty during six
weary months when she was compelled to sit upright in a chair
day and night. She patiently lingered but her protracted suffer
ings, sometimes compelled her by extremity of weariness to cry,
"O, Lord, how long?" Faithful friends cheered her painful
pathway to the grave. Amid these distresses she completed her
selection of papers to be published after her death. She passed
away in Honolulu, October 13, 1876.
Her faith had been strong and firm in Christ. Her hope had
all along been anchored within the veil. She had trusted fully
in the God of her salvation. She was endowed with a mind of
unusual strength which seems to have been imparted to her
children and grandchildren.
Spanning a half century from the landing of the Thurston
missionaries in Kailua their grandson, Lorrin A. Thurston,
picked up the threads of their work and carried it on in a modern
way in a modern Hawaii. Public service was the dominant trait
in Lorrin Thurston. Educated to the law he became identified
with governmental service in Hawaii. In the reign of Kalakaua
he became minister of the interior where he first manifested the
passion for developing public works. It was in the deepening
114 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
of a harbor or channel bar, building roads into new districts,
such as up Punchbowl and over the Pali. The strong Amer
icanism of Asa and Lucy Thurston was a part of L. A. Thurston's
code. It fell upon him, therefore, when inevitable destiny dic
tated that the Hawaiian monarchy founded by Kamehameha the
Great should fall, to give advice to those who appeared to find
it equitable that the Queen should be removed from her thrown
in 1893 and a republic set up. Immediately the Americans
selected Lorrin Thurston to be one of the commissioners to go
to Washington post haste to request the American government
to acknowledge the government.
There followed vicissitudes when the request was later denied
by President Cleveland and Mr. Thurston found himself then
a minister, with his passports handed to him by the American
state department. There followed a counter revolution of the
Hawaiians in 1895, which failed. Mr. Thurston was a minister
of the new Hawaiian republic to foreign capitals. Just as Asa
Thurston had endeavored to assist in guiding the monarchy of
Liholiho so Lorrin Thurston continued this work to create for
the new Hawaii a stable support from the Powers.
Annexation became his slogan and he remained in Washington
to fight the request through. The Spanish War came. There
were those in Hawaii who sought to declare a state of neutrality
on the part of Hawaii. Here again the strong Americanism of
the Asa Thurston and Lucy Goodale Thurston of New England,
strong Americans always, cropped up. He challenged the
judgment and singleness of purpose of those who were declared
annexation ists ard yet wanted to be neutral, when Americans
needed the support of Hawaii's Americans to provide a haven
for the transports en route from San Francisco to Manila. He
wrote to Honolulu from Washington:
"The world knows that five years ago we founded a govern
ment 'to exist until union with the United States' was accomp
lished; that we have since 'signed, sealed and delivered' the title
deeds, and that all that remains to complete the transaction is
acceptance by the U. S. Everything that Hawaii can do to
make it American territory has been done. You take all the
CIVILIZATION CROSSES THRESHOLD 115
\v
benefits of American connection as long as there is no danger
in sight. Our opportunity now is to demonstrate by deed as
well as by word that we appreciate the kindly treatment and
enormous financial benefits which have been conferred on us by
the American people and that' no technicalities of law will be
invoked against American interests in Hawaii."
Annexation of Hawaii to the United States by a joint resolu
tion of annexation was carried through, Hawaii became a terri
tory of the United States, a member of the sisterhood of states
and territories, the educational and religious outpost of America
in the Pacific, the "melting pot of nations/3 where East met
West, and in all this the grandson of Asa and Lucy Thurston
has played a prominent part.
The years 1634, 1775, 1820, 1893, 1895 and 1898, have bulked
large in the family history of the Goodales and Thurstons.
CHAPTER IX
MISSION CRUSADER OF THE PACIFIC
HIRAM BINGHAM
HAWAII, the mid-sea dominion of the American Republic,
become great as a religious, educational, commercial and
agricultural center of the western world's activities, loy
ally American, guardian of the great republic and its militant
sentinel in the Pacific, strangely enough learned its first rudi
ments of Americanism thundered by missionaries from the pulpit.
Americanism was taught through the Bible. The word of God
had been the foundation stone of the republic-to-be, brought to
New England's shores by devout Pilgrims from the Old World.
As New England progressed in its trend toward democracy the
Bible was the guiding factor. When the Thirteen Original Colo
nies were welded into a republican nation, the Bible and its wis
dom prevailed in the councils of the men who made the republic
of the United States possible.
New England produced the devout and patriotic American
who determined that the feeble call of Opukahaia, the young
Hawaiian who had gone to New England on a trading vessel,
escaping from the watchful eye of his priest uncle at the Ha
waiian temple of Napoopoo, Hawaii, should not be unanswered.
Grouped beside a haystack earnest young Americans, devoting
their lives to the ministry, decided that a call had come for for
eign missions, and in October, 1819, the first band of American
missionaries sailed out of the harbor for the Hawaiian Islands,
called then Sandwich Islands, named by Captain James Cook, the
explorer, in 1778.
One of the most outstanding names in that little band of New
England missionaries and their wives is Hiram Bingham.
Bold and Liliha, Hawaiian chief and chiefess, who gave the broad acres
at PunahoUj Honolulu, to Eev. Hiram Bingham, to "be devoted
to the cause of Christian education for all children
in the Islands.
MISSION CRUSADERS OF PACIFIC 117
Young, devout, a fluent speaker, versed in every page of the
Bible, a theologian, he was a man of vision, who yielded up the
comforts of a pastorage that would have been his in New Eng
land near his family and friends, to sail to a land which was
called heathen by all. Rev. Asa Thurston and Rev. Hiram Bing-
ham, were the ordained missionaries of the little group.
Destiny ordained that the ruler of the Hawaiian Islands, Ka-
mehameha II, should permit Asa Thurston to step ashore at
Kailua, Hawaii, on April 11, 1820, and a week later, April 19,
that Rev. Hiram Bingham, should come ashore at Honolulu,
there to begin a work to be taken up later by his son, Rev. Hiram
Bingham II, who followed the pioneer instinct of his father,
went from Hawaii as a missionary to the South Seas and labor
ed among the Gilbert Islanders and gave them a Bible, eventual
ly, in their own language. Hiram Bingham III did not become
a minister of the gospel, but the pioneering blood was strong in
him and after becoming a professor at Yale, explored the regions
of Peru where the Incas hundreds of years ago reigned in gold
en glory.
It was a small region, comparatively to which Rev. Hiram
Bingham came, Father Alexander, Rev. W. P. Alexander, was
once asked what justification could a missionary give for spend
ing his life in converting the people of a small island community
when there remained continents of unenlightened millions. He
replied that a farm of a few acres was all that one man could
cultivate, and a small farm might be as valuable on an island
as on a continent.
Lorrin A. Thurston, a grandson of Father Asa Thurston, a
co-worker with Hiram Bingham, said at the unveiling of the
Bingham monument in Punahou Academy grounds that "some
men are remembered for what they have said; others for what
they have done."
What Hiram Bingham said has already passed from the mem
ory of nearly all men. What he did, added Mr. Thurston, will
stand as a monument to his memory as long as old Rock Hill
stands sentinel over the scene of his work.
118 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
It was at Punahou that Hiram Bingham developed much of his
work and there his home stood and there the rock stands today,
and it was there he continued to receive the 'lordly'5 allowance
from American Board of Missions of from $250 to $400 a year
to clothe and feed himself and wife and babies.
Hiram Bingham was a benefactor to the Hawaiian Islands.
His life was a series of historic deeds accomplished in the name
of Christ. He came to Hawaii with his wife, and missionary
associates. Samuel Whitney and Samuel Ruggles, teachers;
Elisha Loomis, printer; David Chamberlain, farmer, and their
wives. Rev. Asa Thurston and Dr. Holman with their wives
remained at Kailua. The others came to Honolulu.
Having received reluctant permission of Kameharneha II to
spend one year with his missionary associates in the islands, Mr.
Bingham earnestly began to win the confidence of the high chiefs
and their people, which confidence he never afterward forfeited.
He began at once to learn their language, to aid in reducing it to
writing, and to establish schools among the people. His wife,
Sybil Moseley Bingham, mother of Hiram Bingham II, opened
the first school in Honolulu in May, 1820.
It was the privilege of Rev. Hiram Bingham to prepare the
first manuscript for the first printing ever done on these shores.
In his "History of The Sandwich Islands77 he says :
"On the 7th of January, 1822, a year and eight months from
the time of our receiving the governmental permission to enter
the field and teach the people, we commenced printing the lan
guage, in order to give them letters, libraries and the living
oracles of their own tongue, that the nation might read and un
derstand the wonderful works of God," and he adds, "it was
like laying the cornerstone of an important edifice for the nation."
For eighteen months thereafter, he continued, as other duties
would permit, to furnish material for the printed page, to per
form the duties of literary head of the mission press in Hono
lulu and to aid in the promotion of Christian education.
When he arrived in Honolulu April 19, 1829, Governor Boki
was in another part of the island but came to him two days later.
MISSION CRUSADERS OF PACIFIC 119
Boki was then given over to pleasure, but three months later he
asked Hiram Bingham at the close of a service to make inquiries
concerning the text of the sermon, "Behold the Lamb of God
Taketh Away the Sin of the World/' and expressed a wish to
understand the Bible. He was given daily instruction by Mr.
Bingham.
Nine years later he gave to his beloved teacher the land of
Punahou, including Rocky Hill and stretching from the summit
of Round Top to King street, supplemented by fish ponds, salt
beds and coral flats, all more or less valuable. This gift was
made in 1829, the year in which Boki sailed away to the South
Seas on the fatal expedition from which he never returned.
Upon the great acres he and his wife Liliha gave to Mr. Bing
ham, the great educational institution of Oahu College, later call
ed Punahou Academy, was developed to be one of the most im
portant educational factors west of the Missouri river.
In August, 1840, Rev. Hiram Bingham gazed for the last
time from the makai door of his little home on the Punahou
grounds upon the great estate and its group of school buildings,
and then departed for America, on the long voyage back to New
England by way of Cape Horn. Upon the site of the humble
cottage today stands a rock of Punahou in which a plate has
been set bearing this inscription:
"On this Spot
Stood the Home of
Rev. Hiram Bingham
Who Gave This Broad Estate
To the Cause of
Christian Education."
Rev. Hiram Bingham was born at Bennington, Vermont, Octo
ber 30, 1789, and was graduated from Middlebury College, 1816;
Andover Seminary, 1819, and was ordained at Goshen, Conn., in
September, 1819, with Rev. Asa Thurston, just before the first
band of missionaries sailed from Boston for Hawaii, October,
1819. He married at Honolulu, April 19, 1820, and preached the
first sermon here immediately afterward.
120 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
He was the first pastor of the first church in Honolulu (Ka-
waiahao), although his official pastorate of the church dates from
1825 to 1840. He was prominent in the creation of a written
language, and translation of the Bible and school books, and
was a trusted adviser of the king and chiefs in their complica
tions with foreigners. He returned to the United States in
1841 and died at New Haven, Connecticut, November 11, 1869.
Rev. Hiram Bingham's first wife was Sybil Moseley of Cana-
daigua, N. Y., born at Westfield, Mass., September 14, 1792.
She was married to Mr. Bingham, October 11, 1819, and came
here with her husband and lived here 21 years. She died at
Easthampton, Massachusetts, February 27, 1848. They had
seven children, of whom Rev. Hiram Bingham II, became best
known for he continued in missionary work in Hawaii and the
South Seas.
Hiram Bingham I married again in 1852, his second wife be
ing Miss N. E. Morse of New Haven. She died August 31, 1878.
Rev. Hiram Bingham II was bora in 1831 in the little frame
mission house in King street that was brought from New England
around Cape Horn, and set up in 1821, and the first nine
years of his boyhood were spent there. He had to walk four
miles to and from school each day, across a hot and dusty plain,
now known as Makiki district, attending the first school in Ha
waii. It was there that his mother had gathered stones and
raised them into a wall and planted the first night blooming
cereus to beautify it, a plant which now covers thousands of feet
of stone wall and one of the most beautiful sights, when in
bloom, in Hawaii.
He was sent to New England early in life and completed his
education at Yale and Andover and then offered his services to
the American Board of Missions. The Gilbert Islands were
chosen as his field. He and his young wife sailed on the first
missionary packet, the Morning Star, from Boston to Apiang in
1857. The Gilbert Group lies near the Equator, where the
mercury never drops below 76. Their food consisted of fish,
cocoanuts and pandanus. Once a year the Morning Star brought
MISSION CRUSADERS OF PACIFIC 121
supplies, though her most valued cargo was the mailbag. Their
first precious letters for which they had waited a year were eaten
by natives before they could even see the envelopes.
For ten years the Binghams labored there. Then, broken in
health, they returned to America to recuperate. As soon as pos
sible they again declared themselves ready to return to their
beloved people, and again the Morning Star was to carry them
on their long tedious voyage, but no captain was available. Then,
someone said to Dr. Bingham, "Why couldn't you take com
mand?'7 He considered the matter. Navigation had been his
hobby. At Yale he was authority on sailing in the Sound. He
had been thrice around Cape Horn, so he agreed to undertake
the command.
The voyage was successful, and after reaching the Gilbert
Islands he continued to command the Morning Star for a year
on her voyages among the islands and back to Honolulu, carrying
supplies and the Gospel to the missions. Later he had a tiny
boat in which he sailed from island to island in the Gilbert group.
During the long years in that lonely mission he translated the
New Testament after reducing the Gilbertese language to writing.
After a second breakdown he was obliged to leave Apiang,
never to return, but at the age of 52, while in Honolulu, he trans
lated from the original Hebrew the Old Testament into Gil
bertese. L^ter he made for the Gilberts a complete dictionary of
12,000 words, having collected these, word by word, from the na
tives from the time of his first going among them.
"Gilbertese," the written tongue of the Gilbert Islands, is the
work of one man.
When Dr. Bingham went out to the Gilbert group, he soon
found out that one of the chief difficulties before him in his mis
sion was the fact that the islanders had no written language.
Accordingly, he set about to supply the deficiency and to build a
language, being obliged to collect his own vocabulary and con
struct his own grammar.
The good doctor experienced much difficulty in finding a Gil
bertese equivalent for "prayer," a circumstance that led him into
a ludicrous mistake. The word he did use meant "to practice
122 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
incantations," a meaning precisely the opposite of what the mis
sionary intended to convey.
He had the New Testament about three-quarters translated
when, by reason of ill-health, he was compelled to return to this
country. Ten years later, however, when he had gone back to
the Gilberts, he was persuaded to undertake the task of trans
lating the Old Testament into the new language. At that time
he was quite advanced in years, and the work involved a direct
translation from the Hebrew, with which the doctor had not been
familiar for a long time.
In 1890 he was enabled to read the proof of the last chapter
of the last book of the Bible as done into Gilbertese.
Even this laborious task did not end the missionary's labors.
He started to write a Gilbertese dictionary. When it was ready
for publication, a messenger to whom the work was entrusted
for delivery to the printer lost the manuscript, and the work had
to be done all over again.
His life was often in danger in the Gilbert Islands. At one
time he and his wife sat in a hut surrounded by natives who had
sworn to kill them. The missionary and his wife sat calm and
collected, preserving a demeanor in the face of their tormentors
that was characteristic of the persecuted Christians of the Roman
era. Their demeanor finally won their captors over and they
were released. Doctor Bingham, despite his devout manner, his
Christian life, his saintly appearance, was possessed of a courage
that would have won him decorations of kings if displayed upon
the battlefield.
In the year of his death he received a letter from the Gilbert
Evangelical Association, thanking him for raising them out of
heathen darkness. They held a celebration of his jubilee at
Apiang, when 200 Christian delegates gathered to honor the name
of Bingham. Such was the fruit of the lifework of Rev. Hiram
Bingham II.
A tablet erected to the memory of Dr. Bingham and wife, un
veiled in Kawaiahao Church in May, 1915, reads:
MISSION CRUSADERS OF PACIFIC 123
"In Loving Memory of
Rev. Hiram Bingham, D. D.
1831-1908
Missionary to the Gilbert Islands
Navigator, Lexicographer and
Translator of the Bible into the
Gilbertese
His Wife
Clarissa Brewster Bingham
1834-1903
His Faithful Co- Worker
Spreading the Gospel Among the
Isles of the Sea"
Prof. Hiram Bingham III, grandson of the first Hiram Bing
ham, first missionary to Honolulu, professor at Yale Univer
sity, explorer in South America and discoverer of many lost
Inca cities, and during the great war a major in the bureau of
aeronautics of the army, at Washington, D. C., is devoting his
life to work at New Haven, where his grandfather lived for
many years.
Rev. Hiram Bingham I was much in evidence at the court of
Kamehameha III, particularly during the regency when the
king was a boy, and met all the foreigners who visited the
palace. He frequently clashed with the visitors and in some
instances was told that missionary zeal, when applied too earnest
ly to governmental administration, was in error.
Commodore Downes, commanding the U. S. frigate Potomac,
had a sharp discussion in Honolulu in 1832, and severely criti
cized the divine. Mr. Bingham, however, lived in a trying
period in Honolulu's history and missionary zeal and stead
fastness were the main weapons he had at his command to stem
the tide of debauchery which flooded Hawaii from visiting whale
and trading shipsT
CHAPTER X
LINKING OLD WITH NEW HAWAII
MIGHTY CHIEFS ASSIST
LACK of a written and printed language has left an incom
plete record of the preparations of the Hawaiian people
of the era of Kamehameha the Great to meet the God
of the white race.
The exact facts as to how the Hawaiians themselves became
responsive to the acceptance of the Cross of the Nazarite in
place of the idols of wood and stone and sacrifical altars that
ran with blood, have never been recorded.
Hawaiians urged devout New Englanders to send the Chris
tian God to Hawaii. Kamehameha the Great had listened to
Vancouver's promise to send missionaries from London to tell
the story of the foreign God.
When the Hawaiians saw the first band of missionaries ap
pear off the shores of Hawaii island in March, 1820, some of
the chiefs who knew of Vancouver's promise wondered whether
the great Englishman had at last sent emissaries to impart this
sacred knowledge.
A few Hawaiians had sailed from Boston with this first band
of missionaries aboard the brig Thaddeus, doubling Cape Horn
and across the Pacific to the then "Sandwich Islands." On that
long voyage they had imparted to the Americans as much of the
Hawaiian language as was possible with their limited knowledge
of interpretative English. But whatever knowledge they passed
on, the missionaries had an atom of advantage when they came
upon the aboriginal people of the kingdom solidified by Kame
hameha I.
Queen Kamamalu, consort of Kamehameha II, first royal Hawaiian
woman to visit a civilized court, who died in London, July, 1824.
Languorous ease, with music and fragrant garlands, was typical of the
Hawaii of "other days," gave Hawaii a charm of hospitality that
was the theme of poets and composers.
LINKING OL,D WITH NEW HAWAII 125
The prayer book had already been in Hawaii. Many English
men were among the attendants upon Kamehameha the Great,
as advisers in the meetings of the king and chiefs with foreign
traders; as military experts in the introduction of firearms,
soon to sweep away the once formidable spears of an ancient
day ; as progenitors of men and women who were later to play
more or less prominent parts in the history of the kingdom .
The Englishmen, sailors or otherwise, were Church of Eng
land men as a rule. Wherever their ships went out into the
Seven Seas, the prayer book went with them.
At least one such prayer book is in Honolulu today, the prop
erty of a descendent of an Englishman who rose to high rank
among the Hawaiians and became a trusted lieutenant of Ka
mehameha. While no records appear to exist, yet there is un
derstood by descendents of these earlier white men among the
Hawaiians, to be a certainty that these Englishmen told the
ruler and the chiefs what was contained in the prayer book
and that the prayers and supplications within its covers were
offered to the Christian God.
Opukahaia, the Hawaiian youth who went to New England and
learned of the Christian God pleaded with Americans to send
people who would tell his race about this God. Other Hawaii
ans instructed the first missionary band in simple phrases in Ha
waiian before they reached Hawaii, the first wedge in the latter
effort to create an alphabet and then the printed Hawaiian page
from the crude little Ramage press carried on the Thaddeus
to Honolulu in April, 1820.
When the Thaddeus stood off the shores of Hawaii, there
were consultations among the chiefs. They were mighty chiefs
in those days, all men of war, versed in military strategy of a
high type, for battles then were fought hand to hand, by spears
and herculean physical dominance over an enemy. Of high
born rank, feudal lords who yielded fealty to an absolute mon
archy, their thoughts were always to defeat an enemy and repel
strangers from the shores. They were men whom the king
trusted with even the future of his monarchy. Some had grown
126 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
up with Kamehameha from boyhood ; others had taught him the
arts of war. Among all the men who were at his side in his
battles and his efforts to solidify the islands into a single gov
ernment, two were destined to be memorialized upon the Hawaii
an coat-of-arms, the warrior princes who devoted their lives to
preparing the young Kamehameha to be great among his race.
It was quite natural among some of the missionaries of the
early invasion of Hawaii to record their daily doings and com
ments in journals, later to be enlarged into book form. They
were often men of the "fire and brimstone" type, devout and
zealous Christians, whose sole thought was that they were sent
into a heathen land and their duty was principally to convert
the people to Christianity. Zealous daily lives, ordered almost
hour by hour according to the Scriptures, made them intolerant
of religious and moral beliefs that were not in accord with their
own. Some chroniclers, apparently, forgot that they were deal
ing with a people who had overthrown their own gods and
burned their temples and had destroyed the kapu, the ancient
feudal power of the priesthood and the kings and chiefs over
the common people, and, apparently had them waited with eager
ears the Christian gospel.
To some of these missionaries, the Hawaiians, because they
were not clothed as New Englanders were clothed, were savages.
Because they strayed away from the Christian beliefs imperfectly
taught them, they were excommunicated. Even the missionaries
record in their journals that the missionaries themselves did not
fully understand the Hawaiian language and failed to convey the
inner and deeper meaning of phrases of the Bible, and when the
natives shook their heads because the key word had been omitted,
some chose to smite the Hawaiian character with blasts of fire
and brimstone.
There were mistakes on both sides. The Hawaiians made
theirs, the missionaries theirs. In reports- to Boston the mis
sionaries may often have enlarged upon the faults of the Ha
waiian people and exaggerated them from molehills into moun
tains, in the clear, ice-like intellectual language with which most
LINKING OL.D WITH NEW HAWAII 127
of them were gifted. Some Hawaiians fell from the righteous
paths into the easier ones of living, and remained apart from
missionary teachings. Too often some of this class were taken
too seriously by the listening Hawaiian race, listening to the
gospel as it was preached by many New England lips, and then
turned deaf ears to the Christian pleadings because of a few
backsliders.
As the Hawaiian language became a printed and written one,
the missionaries more conversant with Hawaiian speech and
the Hawaiians with English the two races understood each other
better, and the whole nation eventually marched under the Chris
tian banner within a surprisingly short period of time.
But all this would not have been accomplished had it not been
for a number of Hawaiian men and women of high chiefly rank,
who, with their idols and temples burned behind them by their
own orders were more receptive to the teachings of Christ as
they came from Rev. Asa Thurston and Rev. Hiram Bingham
and other missionary helpers, than the rank and file of the nation.
The Hawaiians as a race were deeply religious and after the
death of Kamehameha the Great in May, 1819, and the destruc
tion of idols and temples in November of the same year, they
were at a loss for a religion. Theirs was destroyed by order of
their own rulers. There was nothing to replace it, except for
what might come to them from beyond the seas.
It was just in this pre-missionary year, and the one in which
the missionaries arrived, when the hand of God seemed hover
ing over these isles in the Lazy Latitudes of the Pacific, that
certain Hawaiian chiefs and chiefesses rose and blazed the trail
for the introduction of Christianity and of education.
Had it not been for their influence in favor of the missionaries
because they brought an experiment in religion with them, the
mission work might never have advanced as easily as it did.
Because it was an experiment was one of the reasons why there
were frequent lapses from the teachings of the missionaries
The experiment to some of the Hawaiians was a failure.
128 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
The feudal system was so perfect and powerful that the Ha-
waiians were used to being ordered to do this or that, and when
the chiefs sent out word to listen to the new religion they tried
it. Some of the missionaries were too eager in their introduc
tion not to understand that the natives were regarding their
work, their religion as an experiment, and not the settled thing
the missionaries told themselves, hence a bit of the intolerance
of the Hawaiians' customs and habits they expressed in their
writings.
In the end the missionaries and the Hawaiians were both
justified in having struck hammer blows to drive the new religion
into Hawaii. Within ten years through the efforts of the chiefs
the Hawaiian nation had been transformed from idol worship
pers to Christian followers.
Who were all these great chiefs, without whom the introduc
tion of Christianity would not have been accomplished?
The greatest of all was Kaahumanu, the haughty queen and
Amazon who accompanied the mighty Kamehameha the Great
into battle, his real sweetheart, She possessed a strong character.
In childhood and in womanhood she had never been curbed.
Hers was a dominant will, but tempered with consideration. Her
life through the war made her the severe woman when it came
to punishment. She was kind to the just, severe to those whom
she felt were at fault.
At first, when Kaahumanu saw the missionaries or met them
it was with a cold and haughty reserve, and if she had to take
their hands she either gave them the tips of her fingers or her
little finger, a protest against accepting closer relations with
them.
Came the rebellion on Kauai of George Kaumualii (Hume-
hume) who had returned to the islands on the Thaddeus from
New England, with whom the missionaries apparently had trials,
but who really instilled in the minds of the missionaries the need
of establishing a station on Kauai, where his father ruled as the
last king of a conquered province.
LINKING OLD WITH NEW HAWAII 129
Having been in foreign lands, and observed the methods of
government obtaining there, Kaumualii desired to establish such
a form of government on his own island, hence his rebellion
against the authority of Liholiho, Kamehameha II. It was a
bloody war.
Kaahumanu, as regent ruled the islands with Liholiho, having
been given authority as guardian or co-regent with Kamehameha
II. She gave the young king, a few months after Kamehameha
the Great's death in 1819, no peace until he annuled the religion
of his fathers by publicly eating with his queens. Strange to
relate, however, Kaahumanu, although one who overthrew the
ancient religion and paving the way for an easy entry of Chris
tianity into Hawaii, did not become a convert until 1825. After
her conversion she became as warm in her affections for the
missionaries as she was before cold and contemptuous, says
Sheldon Dibble, the missionary author. One of the first intima
tions of a change of disposition in Kaahumanu, he continues,
was gathered from a letter written by her from Kauai, the scene
of the war, in which she expressed a strong desire for the re
formation of her people and for their eternal salvation. For six
months previous since the sailing of Kamehameha II for England
(1823), a gradual advance had been made by the chiefs as a
body, in correcting the morals of the people and in leading them
to attend schools and to the oral instruction of the missionaries.
Kamehameha II advised the chiefs to attend these instruc
tions during his absence. Many of the chiefs had taken advan
tage of his advice, those at least who were seriously disposed,
such as Kalanimoku, Kaumualii, Pila and others. Proclamations
had been made on different islands, enjoining observance of the
Sabbath and encouraging tke people to learn to read. Some
houses of worship and schoolhouses had been erected by their
order. In April, a month before the Kauai war, the principal
chiefs had called a meeting of the people of Oahu to proclaim
in a formal manner their united resolution to receive instruc
tion themselves, to observe the Sabbath, worship God, obey His
law, and to promote knowledge among the people.
130 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Kaahumanu, it seems, concurred in this resolution, though
nothing was observed in her deportment giving evidence of a
change of heart till several months afterward. In the meantime
progress had been made in printing and in preparing a class of
young persons who might be able to collect schools and teach the
art of reading.
In the famous letter of Kaahumanu accepting the Christian
faith, expressing her great love for her people, she proposed to
make a tour of all the islands in person to exhort her subjects
to turn to God. On her arrival at Honolulu her zeal was un
abated, is Dibble's comment. She attended the female prayer
meeting and expressed her feelings with earnestness and with
tears. The sentiment of her heart from the first and through life
was, "Lprd, what -wilt thou have me to do?"
Then she gave her strict attention to the direction of the gov
ernment, and with zeal visited each island and almost every vil
lage, encouraging the people to take up the new religion, attend
schools, and improve the public works.
To the missionaries, to Christianity itself, the conversion of
Kaahumanu, of which there began to be a marked evidence early
in the year 1825, was an important era in the history of the mis
sion. Her conversion tore away the veil of hindrance. The
people followed her example. Her strong will, her commanding
presence, the fact that she was the favorite of the great Kameha-
meha I, the additional fact that she had followed the armies in
Kamehameha's campaigns, and had personal prowess, commend
ed her action to her people, and at last the work of the mission
aries was over more or less smooth paths with the rocks of oppo
sition removed. The missionaries themselves gave her credit
for having accomplished something that would have taken them
years to overcome. In Kawaiahao Church, the old Hawaiian
church in Honolulu, erected on the spot where the first sermon
was preached in 1820, is a beautiful marble tablet placed by
the missionary descendants to memorialize her great work of
assisting in the conversion of the Hawaiian race to Christianity.
LINKING OLD WITH NEW HAWAII 131
Kamamalu, consort of Liholiho, Kamehameha II, who- was also
his half-sister, (one of the strange characteristics of the inter
marriage of members of the royal and chiefly families), was
among the first to greet the missionaries. She was gracious to
the women of the first band and undertook their guidance in
acquainting them with the customs of the court.
Kaumualii, governor of Kauai and once king of that island,
embraced Christianity and aided the establishment of the station
on his island, being assisted in this by his son George, who had
come around the Horn aboard the Thaddeus. It was a strange
fatality that it should fall to his lot to give physical assistance
and guidance to the missionaries in carrying the gospel to Ka
uai, and that he should later become passive in accepting Chris
tianity and being guided by its precepts. Governor Kaumualii
was able to speak a little in English and this facilitated the mis
sion work. In fact, he was the only chief that could speak Eng
lish. His acceptance of Christianity was intense and he was
known to swim the Waialua river, Kauai, holding the Bible in
one hand, studying it as he stroked the water.
Hoapili (Ulumahiehie), son of Kameeiaumoku by Kealiiuka-
hekili, was a cousin of Kaahumanu. He was a firm supporter
of the Christian religion. He was the father of Liliha, the beau
tiful chiefess who gave the land to Punahou to the cause of
education. Her husband, Boki, was insistant in the presentation
of this great area of land, but it was Liliha's. It was placed in
the keeping of the Binghams the title however being vested in
the American Board of Missions which he represented and by
them was transferred later to Punahou College founded in the
early 40's of last century, becoming the first educational institu
tion west of the Missouri River.
No monument has yet been erected to the memory of Liliha
and Boki for the great impetus which they, as full blooded Ha-
waiians who had emerged from the shattered religion of the Ha-
waiians, gave to the new religion and the course of education.
132 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Within Punahou's land such a monument, or tablet placed
upon the historic, and possibly legendary stone of Pohakuloa,
would be most appropriate.
Hoapili's second wife was Kalakua Kaheiheimalie (w), one of
Kamehameha I's widows. To them came the honor of being- the
first Hawaiian couple to be married by the missionaries, being
united in marriage by Rev. W. Richards, October 19, 1823. They
ever afterwards called themselves Hoapili kane and Hoapili wa-
hine, or the Hawaiian equivalent of Mr. and Mrs. Hoapili. The
chief Hoapili was an Hawaiian astrologer.
Queen Kinau (Kaahumanu II), who became premier of the
kingdom after the death of Kaahumanu, was not only active in
the affairs of the government, but like her mother Kalakua Ka
heiheimalie (Mrs. Hoapili), was a zealous supporter of the
Christian faith.
It was Kalanimokti, the great general and trusted lieutenant
of Kamehameha the Great, the brother of Kaahumanu, who first
met the missionaries aboard the Thaddeus in April, 1820, and
sailed with them to Kailua to confer with the king, and was
responsible in no small degree for the decision of the king to
permit the missionaries to land. He embraced Christianity soon,
for he became a pupil of little Daniel Chamberlain, the seven-
year-old son of missionary Daniel Chamberlain.
It fell to Kalanimoku and Hoapili, as governor of Maui, in
1823, to put down the rebellion in Kauai when George Kaumu-
alii, who had been educated at Cornwall, Connecticut, led the
rebels, Kalanimoku was hard pressed by the rebels when the news
reached Oahu and Hoapili came from Maui to Honolulu with
ships and soldiers and reinforced his command and sailed for
Kauai.
The first effects of Christianity and education were felt at
this time for in conferring with Rev. Mr. Richards, through
David Malo, a native teacher, destined to become one of Hawaii's
foremost historians, Hoapili learned that war could and should
be conducted in a humane manner. Before the missionaries'
arrival war was butchery, prisoners being slaughtered at will.
LINKING OLD WITH NEW HAWAII 133
Richards gave advice and instructions as to conducting the war
—that no persons except those evidently opposing and in arms
should be attacked; that the weak and defenseless such as aged
persons, women and children, ought by no means to be molested,
and that quarter should be given to enemies when asked, and
captives treated with mercy. Hoapili led the armies in person,
and required the older Kalanimoku to remain with the reserves
and to protect the women and children.
When Hoapili's army was ready to attack, Hoapili, who had
spent the previous night in a lonely vigil watching and trying to
read the stars, asked that a prayer be said to be offered "to the
true god." A Society Islander was found in the ranks who could
pray in the Christian manner. The missionaries' efforts had
already fallen on fruitful ground. Hoapili called upon the
armies to stand steadily in the face of the rebel foe, as there was
no retreat. God, he said, was on his side and the side of his sol
diers, and as God aided the Israelites, so He would aid His
children of Hawaii. Unfortunately, after the Kauaians had been
routed Hoapili was unable to control the soldiers and many ex
cesses, following the ancient fashion, were committed.
Kamehameha II, who in 1820 had given permission to the
missionaries to land in Hawaii, decided to visit England, and em
barked on the L/Aigle, Captain Starbuck, November 27, 1823.
He was true to his early convictions that it was right that the
white man's God should become the Supreme Being of the Ha-
waiians, for as his vessel was about to sail, he gave explicit,
positive and distinct orders to his chiefs and people to listen to
the instructions of the missionaries, and educate themselves dur
ing his absence. The subjects chose to take these words to
heart and they applied themselves to, acquiring the knowledge of
which the white men had to impart. Alas, the king and his queen
never returned except in their caskets. They arrived in London,
in May, 1824. In a few weeks they were taken ill with measles
and lung fever, which proved fatal. The queen died early in
July and the king shortly afterward. The British government
sent a frigate, the Blonde, commanded by Lord Bryon, brother of
the poet, to Hawaii bearing the bodies.
134 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Sheldon Dibble, while exceptionally critical of the Hawaiian
at times, does not fail to also give praise. Among those he men
tions are John li, who learned quickly, and later became a power
in the government, even to becoming a judge.
The first individual baptized in the islands was Keopuolani,
the friend and a patron of the missionaries at Lahaina. She
was the mother of the king and a chief of blood of the highest
rank. On her dying couch she requested baptism, which was not
withheld.
The Hawaiians played principal roles in the establishment of
Christianity upon the ruins of their old and somewhat meaning
less religion. The missionaries found on their arrival that under
Providence, the mere contact of an imperfect civilization of pre-
missionary days had decided the preliminary contest in favor of
the Bible men, while it had undoubtedly also facilitated the re
mainder of their task by leading the aborigines, according to
the general principles of human nature, to consider Christianity
as an important element in the envied superiority of the strang
ers. This is the opinion of Sir George Simpson, governor-in-
chief of the Hudson Bay Company's territories, who visited Ho
nolulu in 1841.
As a curious contrast with all this, the missionaries had brought
with them from Boston, positive orders never to countenance
the maxim, that civilization ought to precede Christianity, But
the force of circumstances was more than a match for theories,
it was not Christianity but civilization to make uninstructed
women wear something more certain than the scanty pa-u; it
was not Christianity but civilization to make unconverted men
rest on the first day of the week.
The missionaries on arrival experienced something more than
negative encouragement.
They were met, in fact, by ready-made evidence of a disposi
tion in high places to regard the religion of the foreigners with
favor. This attitude lessened the difficulties which the mission
aries expected to experience, but they had many to overcome by
bitter experiences. Their blows against the social and domestic
LINKING OLD WITH NEW HAWAII 135
relations of the Hawaiians almost raised a barrier against the
missionaries, but as time went on the reforms so established be
came ingrained and accepted as a matter of fact.
The missionaries worked upon fertile minds. For generations,
for centuries the Hawaiians, without the printed word to assist
them in preserving records of history, genealogies, the intricate
rules of their feudal government and the tabu and the tenets of
their own religion, had to depend upon their memories. Their
minds were the libraries of the Hawaiian nation. Genealogies,
intricate as they were, could be told by most of the chiefly fami
lies with ease. It is the same today. State the name of a person,
and mention that of his father or mother, and immediately a
person will trace back the ancestry through many generations,
sometimes almost back, it would seem, to the time when Juan
Gaetano, the Spanish explorer visited Hawaii.
Such, then, were the minds upon which the missionaries began
to plant the seeds of the gospel and education, and such were the
minds which quickly grasped the meaning of the teachings of
Christ, despite the difficulties of mutual lack of command of the
two languages.
Christians the world over have much 'to thank to the able and
powerful chiefs of Kamehameha's era for the early Christianizing
of the Hawaiian Islands,
CHAPTEE XI
ENTIRE NATION GOES TO1 SCHOOL
PURITAN-BARBARIC SOIL TILLING
REPLETE as were the closely written journals of the firsr
missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands with details of their
voyage from Boston in the little brig Thaddeus, in 1819-
1820, of their prayers, the gales and the calms, the sighting of
whales and porpoises and finally of the great burning mountain
of Mauna Loa, on the Island of Hawaii, that memorable morning
of March 30, 1820; of the first sight they had of the natives,
of the visits of the great chief Kalanimoku, one of the Kameha-
meha the Great's powerful supporters, of the establishment of
the Christian Mission ashore at Kailua and Honolulu, few of the
missionaries even mention the fact that there were children
aboard the Thaddeus and that a child became one of the deciding"
factors in the permission which the king, Liholiho, or Kameha-
meha II, g*ave to the missionaries to land and reside and teach
the new religion.
One of the strangest omissions in these remarkable journals
in which the pious thoughts of the writers were indited, family
affairs mentioned, discussions held as to how the missionaries
should live and carry on the work to which they had dedicated
their lives, was that concerning the five little children of Daniel
Chamberlain, the New England farmer from Brookfield, Massa
chusetts, who had thrown his lot with the ordained ministers,
and, with his wife and family of little ones, had sailed for far
away Hawaii, to instruct the Hawaiians in modern methods of
agriculture.
The Hawaiians looked upon the fair, white children with deep
interest. They were the first white children they had ever seen.
ENTIRE NATION GOES TO SCHOOL 137
When the great chief, Kalanimoko, went aboard the brig to go
from Kawaiahae to Kailua to see the king and present the request
of the missionaries to land, the chief's wife and two of the
widowed queens of Kamehameha the Great were more inter
ested in the Chamberlain children, and particularly Nancy, a
tiny little tot, than even in the new patchwork which Mrs. Thurs-
ton and Mrs. Bingham prepared for the Hawaiian women to
sew, their very first sewing with needle and thread.
Upon the deck of the Thaddeus where stood Kalanimoku,
diessed, as Daniel Chamberlain says, as a gentleman in the Ameri
can fashion, and bearing himself majestically and graciously, and
also the queens and women of high rank of Hawaii, there proba
bly entered the thoughts which later had weight with the king in
his decision to permit the missionaries to land.
There was probably a suggestion to the king from some of his
own people, or possibly from some of the white men already
living on the Islands and opposed to the missionaries coming
among them, that the missionaries intended robbing them of
their lands.
"If the strangers are come to rob us, why did they bring their
women and their children?" queried one high chief. "To rob
would mean they might be killed. They would not, then, have
brought their women and children."
The suggestion was powerful in the decision which followed,
and is probably also due to the strange liking which the king
and queens and chiefs manifested for Nancy, the two-year-old
child of the Chamberlains. They fondled it, when they were
permitted ashore, and a queen asked Mrs. Chamberlain to give
her the child.
To refuse might sacrifice the very mission itself and cause
all to be turned back from the islands. To give assent meant
the parting from her dear morsel of childhood, giving it over to
women who had not the knowledge of bringing up children
which the missionary women believed they should have, and
would mean the child would be taken from under their parental
protection and love into the thatched and dark hut of the Ha
waiian people, he be brought up — well, no one even ventured a
138 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
solution. Mrs. Chamberlain remained silent. They finally per
mitted the queens to take the child with them and for two days
Mrs. Chamberlain, agonized, but fortified by her Christian spirit,
prayed and prayed and then came the queens with the tiny white
burden and deposited it with the mother, at the same time pre
senting the missionaries with food.
For months the missionaries partook of the food which was
brought as a hookupu for Nancy. And ever afterward the
Hawaiians treated the missionaries with kindness and consider
ation and the king and chiefs gave them all their protection, even
interposing between many of the white men living on the islands
in their efforts to cause the missionaries to leave.
Just as the children were important factors in the King's
favorable decision, they were also a factor in the decision of
Daniel Chamberlain and his wife to return to New England. It
was felt that they would be better served for their future in their
homeland.
Daniel Chamberlain was a New England farmer, of inde
pendent means, but of a deeply religious turn of mind. He too,
felt the call of the Hawaiians as voiced through Opukahaia, the
young Hawaiian of Napoopoo, Hawaii, who had gone to New
England in a trading vessel a decade or more before and be
sought many people to send evangelists to his native isles. He
was only a farmer and not an ordained minister. The mission
was made up of ordained ministers, Rev. Asa Thurston and Rev.
Hiram Bingham; Daniel Chamberlain, a farmer and teacher;
a physician, Dr. Holman, Messrs. Whitney and Ruggles, teach
ers ; even to Mr. Loomis, a printer, who set up a Ramage press
which was taken to Hawaii m the Thaddeus in 1820, and printed
the first Hawaiian words on January 7, 1822.
Chamberlain discovered that while there was fertile soil and
thousands of acres of lands to till, modern agricultural methods
did not take hold upon the people, and his efforts to introduce
New England methods were largely in vain. The people were
set upon learning the a, b, c's of the white strangers ; listening
to the words of wisdom from the Bible, the odd phraseology of
the old testament and scriptures strangely paralleling that of the
ENTIRE NATION GOES TO SCHOOL 139
language employed by the king, chiefs and priests. This being so,
the words, the text, the stories described, fell upon fertile minds
and were easily understood. Daniel Chamberlain's instructions
in agriculture were not.
The Hawaiian nation was going through the strangest era
of all its history, an era which spelled unrest and uncertainty,
the era when men and women were still wondering at the sudden
destruction of the idols and temples and the breaking down of
the formidable and terrible kapus.
The great Kamehameha was dead a year when the missionaries
arrived. The astonishing rapidity with which the religious fabric
was torn to shreds just when the missionaries sailed out of
Boston for land all unknown to them, caused the Hawaiians to
wonder at their freedom from cruel punishments for violations
of the tabus. They permitted their own lands to overgrow with
weeds. They could not be brought back to cultivation. They
listened to the missionaries, men and women, and even the chil
dren telling them of the white man's Jehovah, but to them was
their own great Supreme Being, returned.
There were white men in the Islands and a negro, named
Allen, to whom Daniel Chamberlain refers as having 'gardens in
which they raised squashes and other vegetables, but as to farm
ing there was little of that. He does refer to what he terms the
finest herds of cattle he had seen, and some exceptionally fine
and gentle horses.
The whole nation had suddenly "gone to school." The entire
nation, men, women and children, became students. The king
ordered it, and little Daniel Chamberlain, only six years of age,
bright and intelligent, who had received speciaj instruction
aboard the Thaddeus from Rev. Asa Thurston, seemed a prodigy
of intellect to the Hawaiians. The great chief Kalanimoku, one
of Kamehameha the Great's leading generals, a hardened fighter
and a brother of Queen Kaahumanu, became a companion of
little Daniel Chamberlain, and asked that he be his teacher.
Then this strange pair, a white child scarcely seven years of
age, and the fighting, scarred general who led armies in savage
battles pored over the books which little Daniel produced for
140 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
lessons and the warrior, at whose beck and call had come thou
sands of armed warriors, patiently learned his a, b, c's from the
child. Kamehameha III, likewise, received instruction from a
boy and also from the elders, and became a wise monarch.
Daniel Chamberlain's journal remained in New England until
three or four years ago. His descendants had copies of it made
and sent these (o the Hawaiian Board of Missions at Honolulu
for preservation. The journal follows much the trend of record
found in the journals ot Hiram Bingham and Asa Thurston and
Lucy Thurston, but there are frequent reference? to things tbe
ordained ministers did not touch upon.
The Chamberlain family had a hard experience for a while
aboard the Thaddeus, for their stateroom was only five and a half
feet square and was piled high with their boxes, and the children
became ill. He said he often wished he were back in Brookfield
with his friends, "but I can say in truth, that as yet I have had
no desire to go back. I consider it an unspeakable privilege that
I am allowed thus to administer comforts to those who are labor
ing in the cause of Christ. I have reason to be daily thankful
that Mrs. C. is so calm and contented. She appears to be as
contented as she ever did at home on our old farm."
His room was next that of Hiram Bingham, "an excellent
neighbor indeed."
He gave a high estimate of Mrs. Bingham, whom he said,
prophetically, was destined to become famous in the land of
their adoption. He wrote:
kil think she is peculiarly calculated for a missionary's wife;
indeed, I think her to be another Harriet Newell, and I have
reason to believe from present appearances that we have a num
ber belonging to the family/' Daniel Chamberlain moralized
over the work ahead of him, the difficulties of the voyage and
gave frequent thought to the comforts of the home he had left
for a great principle, and then he thanked God for privileging
him to go upon this mission.
"O, how pleasant it would be to spend an evening, as I fre
quently have, with some dear friends at Brookfield; how sweet
their memory still."
Haleakala — "The
House of the Sun"—
largest extinct crater
in the world, is a vast
bowl 10,000 feet
above the r u g g e d
shores of Maui.
Within it grows the
remarkably weird
' ' Silver Sword of
Haleakala/' rare and
beautiful.
H. E. H. Prince Kinau, son of H. E. H. Euth Keelikolani and High
Chief Leleiohoku I— "William Pitt"— who dreamed of
conquest of South Sea island domains.
ENTIRE NATION GOES TO SCHOOL 141
Then came the great day, which was March 30, 1820, when
the Island of Hawaii was discovered about 1 o'clock in the
morning. "It appeared at first like a cloud at sunrise. The
mountains exhibited a sublime, majestic scene, the top being far
above the clouds entirely covered with snow. We sailed along
perhaps fifty miles and kept generally to three miles off the
shore. All eyes were fixed on the shore, eyeing the little villages
which appeared like "cocks of hay without much order.
"The wind dying away a little past noon the captain (Blanch-
ard), sent Mr. Hunnewell, one of the officers and five men on
shore to make inquiry respecting the state of affairs on the island
and to learn where the king resided. They returned in about
two hours with the news that Kamehameha was dead and that
his son had peaceably taken the throne; that the priests had
burned their idol gods and that their men and women were now
permitted to eat together which before was prohibited ; that
women were allowed to eat the same food as men. Joy beamed
on every countenance when we were made acquainted with what
God wrought.73
Then came the long wait to get in touch with the king, the
journey from Kawaihae to Kailua where the king resided. The
design of the mission was made known to Kalanimoku ; the
women seemed to express much joy; the chief gave no direct
opinion on the subject, but said he must first see the king.
Christianity was almost in the balance in those days. The king,
says Daniel Chamberlain in his journal, sent hogs, fruits, and
other foods to the boat.
The white man's spelling book was in use even before the
missionaries were given permission to land. "The queens and
the chief's wife take much notice of Daniel/' he records on
April 3. "He got out his spelling book today and has been
trying to teach them the alphabet ; they were much pleased with
the idea and appeared desirous of learning.
Chamberlain made a tour of the country about this time. He
and Captain Blanchard secured permission, and accompanied by
many Hawaii ans went up the mountain to shoot cattle. They
first traveled about three miles over lava and then ten or twelve
142 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
miles uphill. He remarked how astonishing it was the way
fruits and vines grew. His farmer's mind was caught by the
remarkable fertility of the soil. He saw plenty of cocoanuts,
breadfruits, bananas, sugar cane and orange trees. "The soil
is by far the richest I ever saw, with good springs of water," he
wrote. "I should suppose a man might live here by working one
day in a week. We saw tracks of cattle but found none."
The Thaddeus set sail for Honolulu after Rev. Asa Thurston
and wife and one other family had been left at Kailua. Then
came another wait to be given permission to land at Honolulu.
He paid a high tribute to Rev. Asa Thurston and his wife, Lucy
Goodale Thurston, saying that the former appeared to be a man
whose "heart is sincerely engaged in missionary works ; prudent,
industrious, economical and persevering; his wife, as far as I
can judge, possesses in a high degree all the qualifications neces
sary to fill the station in life in which she is called to act; her
natural deportment is pleasing and becoming a Christian, her
education good and her piety ardent."
He was interested in the livestock at Honolulu. He saw many
goats, which were all fat. What horses he saw exceeded his
expectations and are gentle to ride, he added. He saw a lot of
cattle belonging to the king and chiefs, and "I can truthfully say
that they were superior in beauty and exceeded in fatness any lot
of cattle I ever saw on Cog's Hill. I observed one bull larger
than any I ever saw raised in America and as handsome as a
picture. Here are thousands of acres of land, ready to plow,
uncultivated, covered with grass only which would produce
cane, cotton or corn."
As a matter of fact the cultivation methods for the crops of
the Islands, more or less tropical, were all good. Mr. Chamber
lain's New England methods were not in accord with the products
growing in Hawaii. Therefore, he sailed for A)merica, in
1823, and never returned, passing away in 1883 in his home town.
It was not until about 1833, when the Islands had become
Christianized, that farming methods of America began to make
headway.
Mr. Chamberlain apparently had little time to write in his
ENTIRE NATION GOES TO SCHOOL 143
journal for he began to skip many days and even weeks before
he took up his pen again.
Then came the problem of the selection of a site for his house.
He began to dig a well nearby, and after laboring this way for
some time in the heat of day, expressed a desire for half a mug
"of good cider, although I very seldom think of cider."
There came a parting in this year of 1820, when it seemed
desirable for members of the mission to go to Kauai to see King
Tamoree, or Kaumualii, as his son George Tamoree, or Kaumu-
alii, had come from Boston with the missionaries and he was anx
ious to see his royal father. Brothers Whitney and Ruggles were
chosen to go. George Kaumualii had been a thorn in the side of
the missionaries. For some reason they felt he was a backslider,
and in the summer he openly declared himself to be one. The
missionaries labored with him and bespoke him to be a Christian,
but without avail. The missionary attaches went to Kauai.
There were anxious weeks awaiting their return. They came
back. The king and his son had embraced. The king sent Mr.
Bingham hogs and fruits.
At that time there was one Tahiti spelling book at the mission
which was used constantly to best advantage, the children even
attempting to teach the natives through this medium. At this
time Captain Chamberlain and his family lived in the house of
Captain Winship of Boston, Rev. Hiram Bingham and wife
living about 40 rods away. They hoped some day to have a
house in which all could live and have but one cooking estab
lishment instead of two. The group of missionary houses were
near what is now King street, only a short stone's throw from
Kawaiahao church.
The Chamberlains had to buy very little meat as this was sup
plied them largely by the inhabitants and some of the white resi
dents. He feared the influence of the white men, feared an
effort to discourage the natives from accepting the new religion,
although there were times when the Botany Bay men, criminals
of England, who came to the Islands, sorely tried the patience
of the gentle missionaries.
"There are some here from Botany Bay who would injure us
144 UNDER HAWAIIAN ' SKIES
if they could, and some from other parts of the world \vlio would
rather we would stay away/' writes Captain Chamberlain. "The
white people here generally appear friendly to our object; they
have manifested it by giving $300 to educate orphan children."
Even in that day the safety of Honolulu harbor or Hanarurah,
as he spells it, was a question. Chamberlain wrote that Honolulu
has as safe a harbor as the world affords, although it is some
what difficult to enter. There was a considerable strong fort at
the entrance of this harbor, fortified with about thirty cannon,
some of them 32-pounders.
Modern agriculture and aboriculture had made progress in
Honolulu, however, before Captain Chamberlain's arrival, for
he refers to a Spaniard named Marini (called Manini by the
Hawaiians), who lived a few rods from him, who had a fine
vineyard of grapes, and made excellent wine. His melons were
superior to those in America. Squash, cabbages, cucumbers and
sweet potatoes were plentiful and could be had at any season
of the year. There was a black man named Allen, he said, who
had been on Oahu about ten years and had become a man of
property through his industry. He was remarkably kind to the
missionaries, supplying them with meat or something to eat every
day since they arrived. His family liked poi, the principal food
of the natives. He says that Allen was a first rate cook as he had
lived in a first rate Boston boarding house and had been a steward
aboard vessels.
Captain Chamberlain's first mention of real trouble in Hono
lulu was that of the pursuit of a seaman deserter from the brig
Pedlar, from New York, Captain Meek, commander. The man
was ship's carpenter and according to Chamberlain "was prob
ably influenced by some one ashore to desert from the brig.''
He tells how men were sent into the country, searching houses
there and in the village and finally how his tools were found
aboard a native brig under the captain's berth. The man was
captured. The man, acording to Chamberlain, said Captain
Adams, a resident of Honolulu, had influenced him to run away.
Adams denied the charge and a quarrel ensued, the village be
came a bedlam of uproar, and the governor and chief disap-
ENTIRE NATION GOES TO SCHOOL 145
proved of the conduct of Captain Meek and a Captain Pigot, and
a cry went up to burn Pigot's goods ashore.
The quarrel prompted Chamberlain to write: "It is a shame
that those who pretend to be first rate gentlemen should come
here and fight and get drunk before this poor, ignorant people.
I wonder that they do not drive away every white man from
the island."
The home life of the Chamberlains appears to be well ordered
and happy.
They had a neighbor, a Mr. Elswell, a very sociable, agreeable
person, who was clerk to Captain Babcock, employed by a firm
in Boston. The family was bringing up two native boys and
the Chamberlain boys taught them English and the Scriptures.
He regrets that so many boys should be upon the streets of the
village growing up in ignorance and vice, because of lack of
teachers and moralizes on the situation, wondering how many in
their comfortable homes in New England thought of the needs
of the people so far away.
Finally came Messrs. Whitney and Ruggles back from Kauai,
bringing presents from Kaumualii, the king, who thanked them
for bringing his son back from America. He sent many presents,
a pig for each of the missionaries and other edibles. The king
manifested much interest in the new religion and gave the mis
sionaries every opportunity to spread the gospel among his
people. He wanted Whitney to remain behind. It is said of
this king, later, that when he went to bathe in his swimming pool,
so deep was his interest in religion, that he swam with one hand
and held the Bible in the other before his eyes.
The H. C. of L. was a problem then, as they thought in those
days, in Honolulu. Chamberlain would have been horrified at
the prices charged for everything in Honolulu in this hectic
year of 1922. He refers to "considerable business done in this
place, as ships are often calling for provisions and water; there
are a number of stores in the village, or houses where goods are
kept for sale. Goods are sold at extravagant prices ; a small
porridge pot sells for five dollars and spiders for three dollars;
146 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
poor New England rum for a dollar, copper plate or cheap calico
would sell as well as any goods that could be sent here."
Then he discusses the manner in which the missionaries
arrived and were received with kindness by the natives, some
thing they had not really expected. "How different from what
we expected," he writes. 'Instead of being surrounded with,
and insulted by outcasts from Botany Bay and lawless savages,
God has shut their mouths and raised up many kind friends so
that we can truly say that the Lord helped us. We were often
told while in America that the natives would butcher us as soon
as we landed here, but as yet we see nothing of this; I should
not be afraid to send Daniel to any part of the island alone. I
feel there is much danger of forgetting to acknowledge God
while we sit in the sunshine of prosperity and have so little to
try us."
Yet there was longing expressed by Chamberlain for his old
New England home. "Could I this morning look into the sanc
tuary where I formerly attended and where God has in the past
wrought such wonders for that church undoubtedly I would
glance from seat to seat and pew to pew to see who is there
and who is absent, but I must bid farewell to that much loved
church and my eyes will see it no more." In two more years
he was back in his home, never again to return to Hawaii.
The Chamberlain home in the mission yard, next to the old
frame mission house was not built by him, but by Capt. Levi
Chamberlain who carne to Honolulu in a later band of mission
aries. They were not relatives. He made progress with the
Hawaiian governor, who seemed to want to know something
of the new religion and received daily instruction. He compares
this attitude to that of only a year ago before the missionaries
came, when it was death to break a tabu or religious rule ; death
to bring certain kind of food into the house where a priest had
been; death for men and woman to use the same first or for
women to take a spark of fire and use where a man had kindled
it. In fact, he said, messengers of death stood at every door,
at every home, at every corner. Every man was watching his
neighbor.
ENTIRE NATION GOES TO SCHOOL 147
The missionary women had much work to do in addition to
teaching and helping Hawaiian women to a knowledge of white
women's ways. Captain Chamberlain refers to her ironing and
doing up "some fine shirts and other clothes/' and "for a native
sea captain he dresses like an American/'
Then in the end of his journal Captain Chamberlain refers to
an incident which each missionary refers to indefinitely, but
never gives full details. This was the backsliding of some of
their own white people, some who came on the brig Thaddeus.
He refers to the desertion of the physician and his wife from the
mission, for a physician was absolutely needed for the care of
their health.
'T doubt not Brother Whitney was faithful in admonishing
the doctor and his wife to desert from their rash, and I may say,
wicked design. I had hoped that I should not be under the pain
ful necessity of recording in this little journal the faults of a
brother of this little church ; to say the least of it, the conduct of
the doctor and his wife has cattsed the hearts of some to bleed
already. I leave the subject to some abler pen; my friends will
sooner or later be favored with the particulars."
Then Brothers Whitney and Ruggles received permission from
Rev. Asa Thurston and Rev. Hiram Bingham to go to Kauai in
response to King Kaumualii's pleadings. His own son Nathan
accompanied them.
He refers to the first excommunication in Honolulu. It was a
letter of excommunication delivered to Tennoe, a young Ha
waiian who had returned from America on the brig Thaddeus.
He was a source of anxiety on the voyage ; he backslid on reach
ing Honolulu and pleadings were unavailing. The letter finally
had to be sent, with deep regret. This was in 1821.
Chamberlain's little son Daniel went to Kailua to be with the
Thurstons and it was there that the great warrior chief, Kala-
nimoku, became the friend of the little fellow, the latter the
teacher, the former the pupil.
From all accounts Mrs. Daniel Chamberlain must have been
a remarkable woman. Few women shared greater vicissitudes
of fortune. Born with the American Republic in 1787, at the
148 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
age of 10 years she removed to the wilds of New York where
her father purchased of the Indians the land on which now
stands the large and wealthy city of Syracuse. Exposure and
hardships carried away most of the company, including her
father and mother, and she was finally returned to her earlier
home and comfort. At the age of 32, with a family of five chil
dren, she sailed for Hawaii. Of this band she was the last
survivor, passing away at Quincy, Massachusetts, June 27, 1879,
three years after the death of Mrs. Asa Thurston.
At the time of her death a biography was compiled of the
Chamberlains and their arrival and stay in Hawaii. After wit
nessing the strangely clad women of Hawaii for the first time
they went on to Honolulu, says the chronicler, "the stronghold
of Satan, then, because wicked men from Christian lands were
there, and great opposition was made by them to landing- of the
mission. The contest was strong and Satan was vanquished."
Perhaps a more earnest, devout and prayerful set of mission
aries has never been sent out of the United States than this first
band of which the seven Chamberlains were a conspicuous ele
ment. The Hawaiians served Mrs. Chamberlain freely and in
telligently, for, although not much older than the other women
of the mission, she had had more practical experience in family
affairs and was almost the "mother of the mission/' as Mr.
Chamberlain was "superintendent of Secular Affairs."
Perhaps the most certain factor in deciding the Chamberlains
to leave Hawaii was the fact that he was stricken with brain
fever. He was very sick and his recovery slow and doubtful.
He was advised to go to a cooler climate. The mountains of
Hawaii Island were first talked of for it was a long long voyage
home and Mrs. Chamberlain would be left unprotected with her
family if he should die at sea. The situation was urgent and
the family embarked for home on the brig Pearl, March 20,
1823. They bade a painful adieu "to that dear spot where we
had been permitted to labor with those dear faithful servants of
the Lord/7 They were accompanied aboard by the mission
family and Rev. Hiram Bingham made a feeling and excellent
address.
ENTIRE NATION GOES TO SCHOOL 149
Mrs. Chamberlain cherished the memory of the mission to the
last of her 92 years. Mr. Chamberlain was better in health when
he reached a colder climate. Six months from the time they
sailed from Honolulu they arrived again at Boston. Mr. Cham
berlain recovered to some extent but not fully. He died years
afterward in Westboro, Massachusetts.
It is related of the arrival of the brig Thaddeus off the coast
of Hawaii, especially in biographies of the Chamberlains that
the first scene of Kawaihae which greeted this little band was a
bevy of nude Hawaiians, men and women, swimming with sav
age curiosity about the little brig. The New England probity of
conduct rose to the surface. Terror stricken the women of the
mission fled to the hold of the vessel.
It was due to the rare intellect of Mrs. Chamberlain, her
Christian faith and firmness, her good health and rare intervals
of discouragement, and her good counsel that the mission re
mained in Hawaii, for there were times during the first year
when it was thought it might have to be abandoned.
Of the five children of the Chamberlains, Daniel Chamber
lain, the youthful teacher of the chief, Kalanimoku, died in Au-
burndale, Massachusetts, in 1884. He was associated with his
brother Nathan in business in Boston. In 1845 Dexter Cham
berlain built the first machine for planing iron made in the U. S.
and shipped it to Worcester, Massachusetts. He was one of
the pioneers in forming the Republican party. He labored in
the Free Soil Republican campaigns of 1848, 1856 and 1860.
The name American Republican was always dear to him as the
most patriotic title the party could have. He was instrumental
in having the city of Boston purchase its first steam fire engine.
CHAPTER XII
PICTURE ROCKS TO PRINTED PAGES
PRINTING PRESS BECOMES HISTORIC
BARDS there were in ancient Hawaii as well as professed
orators, just as the tribe of bards and orators is a conspic
uous element among the Hawaiians of today, but in the
ancient day these geniuses held office as hereditary privileges.
There was no actual, tangible literature in the Hawaiian lan
guage, either written or printed, before the advent of the first
band of American missionaries in the year 1820. The professed
orators in those alphabetless days were engaged to plead cases,
and in all national negotiations, their counsel was sought. The
latter, some of whom were blind, were the repositories of the
historical and sacred songs. The sole occupation of these bards,
so Rev. H. H. Parker, who was pastor of the famed Kawaiahao
church in Honolulu for 60 years, says was the preservation of
these songs (me'les), for which purpose they repeated them by
rote from an early age until they were indelibly fixed in the
memories. The language was very figurative, often approaching
the sublime, their imagery well described and highly beautiful.
From these poets or bards have come the oral stories of the
passing of ships by the Islands many generations back, and the
landing of foreigners long before the discovery of the Islands
by Captain James Cook, R. N., in 1778.
The first printing press at the Hawaiian Islands was imported
by the American missionaries and landed from the brig Thad-
deus in April, 1820. In style it was not unlike that used by
Benjamin Franklin. It was set up in a thatched house not very
far from the old frame Mission House that now stands on King
street, Honolulu, not far from Kawaiahao' church, but not put
PICTURE ROCKS TO PRINTED PAGES 151
into actual operation until the afternoon of January 7, 1822.
At this inauguration, it is said, there were present Kalanimoku,
a high chief of the first rank, who had been one of Kamehameha
the Great's closest advisers, with his retinue, and some other
chiefs and their people, and also Hiram Bingham, Elisha Loomis,
the Mission printer, James Hunnewell and Captains William
Henry and Masters, all of the foreigners being Americans. Mr.
Loomis set up the first lesson of a spelling book or primer, called
"Pa-pa." Kalanimoku was instructed how to work the press and
struck off the second impression and Mr. Hunnewell the third.
The last mentioned impression was given by Mr. Hunnewell to
the American Board of Missions and was placed in the mission
collection in Boston. It is a sheet four by six inches, having
twelve lines, each line having five separate syllables of two letters.
This certainly was the first printing done at the Hawaiian
Islands, probably the first on the shores of the North Pacific
Ocean. A month later Mr. Bingham received a letter from
Governor Kuakini (John Adams) of Hawaii, who had succeeded
in mastering the contents of the first printed sheet. Epistolary
correspondence was soon commenced in the Hawaiian language
and opportunity was given for the birth of Hawaiian literature.
It was a herculean work that followed. From the statistics
returned from January, 1822, to March, 1830, it is learned that
22 books, amounting to 387,000 copies and 10,287,000 pages, had
been added to the literature of these Islands. This matter was
printed in Honolulu, while 3,345,000 pages of Hawaiian reading
matter and school books had been printed in the United States.
In 1834, on February 14, the first newspaper appeared in
Hawaii. It was printed in Hawaii and published by the La-
hainaluna Seminary, its name being Lama Hawaii (Hawaiian
Light). The initial paper was followed by the Kuma Hawaii
(Hawaiian Teacher) in the same year and from the same press.
The mission, at this period was busily engaged in producing
school books for the schools and reading books for the instruc
tion of the people at large, for the whole nation, old and young,
had gone to school and the trend of Hawaiian thought wis di
rected in the channels of progress.
152 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
By far the larger part of the great mass of printed matter
issued at Honolulu in the fifty years subsequent to the arrival of
Christian teachers was in the form of religious works and school
books, Later, works of a secular nature began to issue from
the native press and become popular. The stories of Washington,
Lincoln, Grant ; of Victoria, Napoleon, Napier and others of the
world's distinguished men and women have been read by the
Hawaiian in his native tongue. The "Pioneer Boy," a story of
Lincoln, was translated and published in book form for the Ha
waiian readers and Robinson Crusoe has also found its readers
in the Hawaiian Islands.
Publications in English were heralded by the production of
the first newspaper in that language, the Sandwich Island Ga
zette, which was printed at Honolulu from 1836 to 1839. This
was followed by the Mirror and Commercial Gazette, which
existed for but a brief period. On June 6, 1840, the first number
of the newspaper, "Polynesian/5 edited by James Jackson Jarvis,
appeared. The paper lived a year and a half, when the editor de
parted Honolulu. In 1844 Mr. Jarvis returned and revived the
Polynesian as the official organ of the Government, he continu
ing as editor until 1848, when he again left the Islands. He was
succeeded by other editors and finally, in 1860, by Abram For-
nander, the eminent historian of the Hawaiian Islands. In 1863
the office and press were leased by him and the paper was con
tinued independently by him until finally discontinued in 1864,
during all this time presenting a mass of remarkable historical
data.
The Friend, which justly claims to be the oldest paper in the
Pacific, was first issued in 1843 by Rev. S. C. Damon, and is a
valued publication to this day, always having been a monthly
magazine.
In July, 1856, the Pacific Commercial Advertiser appeared
under the editorship of Henry M. Whitney. This paper, issued
weekly, has been a most powerful factor in making the history
of the newspaper prestige in Hawaii, as did also the Hawaiian
Gazette which first appeared in 1868 as a weekly. The Advertiser
continued without a break through the Kamehameha and Kala-
PICTURE ROCKS TO PRINTED PAGES 153
kaua regimes of rulership, through the overthrow of the mon
archy in 1893 and then through the years of the Republic from
1893 to 1900 and today holds its place as a modern daily news
paper in every respect with Associated Press and other news
received daily by wireless and cable from all parts of the world,
with papers of metropolitan cities. In 1866, Editor Whitney re
jected the request of Mark Twain to be a reporter on the ground
that the paper couldn't afford a reporter and because Mark Twain
appeared to be lazy. He had not yet acquired fame.
Its rival in the daily news field is the Honolulu Star-Bulletin,
a combination of two former afternoon papers, now controlled
by a group of men who stand for what is best in civic life.
The president of the Honolulu Advertiser is Lorrin Thurston,
grandson of Rev. Asa Thurston, the first missionary to step on
the shores of Hawaii. The president of The Star-Bulletin,
F. C. Atherton, is of missionary descent, and .both are strong,
fearless men, each a fighter, in his own way, for the right and
for civic betterment and virtue.
The making of many books on the history of the Hawaiian is
very noticeable. Events taking place in Hawaii have been
fraught with such intense interest to the outer world, almost
from the very start, that the result has been that more books have
been written about Hawaii than of any other group in the
Pacific.
The transitional stage between the old unlettered state and
that of a civilized community is passed and the Hawaiian stands
forth now a notable representative of the influence of American
methods of civilization. The literature of his native land, scant
as it is, has been the medium of bringing him and his surround
ings into the notice of a world much larger than his own ; that
world is revealed to him with all its advantages and the call is
to press forward to the things that are before him.
The falling away of the native language, by reason of disuse
and corruption, will be regretted perhaps to some extent, but
the induction of this people into the great possibilities presented
by the more universal English language tend to broaden and
develop the Hawaiian mind.
154 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Like the soul of John Brown, that "is still marching on," that
little Ramage press, when it was purchased and sent aboard the
missionary brig Thaddeus at Boston in 1819, to be sent to Hono
lulu, seemed possessed of a soul, and a destiny to pioneer the
first printed words in remote, uncivilized lands. What became
of this first missionary press, is often asked.
E. O. Hall, of the missionary forces in Hawaii, who was one
of the early missionary printers, endorses the accuracy of the
statement, which, however, has sometimes been questioned, that
it was this press that he took to Oregon in 1839, the one that is
now preserved in the state museum at Salem, Oregon.
"When I arrived in Honolulu in 1835, the press had been laid
aside, and the office belonging to the A. B. C. F. M. (American
Board Commissioners for Foreign Missions), had been supplied
with several large and improved presses," said Mr. Hall in
1875. "It was probably brought out when the mission was estab
lished in 1820. When I visited Oregon, in 1839, I took it with
me. I have always regarded it as the first printing press intro
duced into American Territory west of the Rocky Mountains,
and as such, it richly deserves the careful preservation it is likely
to receive from the now flourishing State of O'regon. As a relic
of American civilization and Christianity, it is symbolical of the
age in which we live, and quite as worthy of 'profound interest'
as captured cannons or flaunting battle-flags."
It seemed that this little Ramage press was destined for great
things, even as the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia has been sent
around to different cities that it might serve as an inspiration
for greater patriotism and devotion to the American Republic.
In Oregon it was used to aid in a work of first printing for
the Nez Perce and other Indian tribes, and first used at the
Lapwai or Clearwater Station. It was there that Mr. Hall
printed on this press, in the summer, autumn and winter of 1839,
for Rev. Henry J. Spaulding, several small works in the Nez
Perce language, and among these were a school book, a hymn
book with prayers and translations of the New Testament.
The Whitman massacre of November 29, 1847, having driven
the surviving missionaries from their fields of labor, the press
PICTURE ROCKS TO PRINTED PAGES 155
was left among the Indians, who, being friendly to Mr. Spauld-
ing, preserved it and the type intact. Early in 1848 it was sent
to the Salem valley. Charles Putnam, an immigrant printer, was
employed by a minister to set the type and print the "American
and Unionist" on the press. The first number was issued at
Union City, February 5, 1846 The widow of Mr. Spaulding
made a request that the press be preserved, if possible, by the
state. It cannot be doubted but that this venerable relic will
always be regarded in the same light as the sword of Washington,
the Declaration of Independence, for its service was such that it
created civilization out of Paganism in the mid-Pacific.
CHAPTER XIII
SWEET CHARM OF LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE
SUBTLE IMAGERY OF ISLANDERS
ONE of the real embracing charms of a visit to the Ha
waiian Islands is the opportunity to come into intimate
contact with a treasure house of legendary lore, for the
Hawaiian race, before its association with the Anglo-Saxon, had
no written history, having dependence upon mouth to mouth
record of its beginning, its history, its military achievements, its
traditions and its mythology. Like all aboriginal races the Ha-
waiians believed in gods of many kinds, and there became inter
woven about these gods, and goddesses too, strange and fantastic
tales, until there was developed a rare treasure-hoard of myths
and folklore of unusual literary enchantment.
In speaking in his own language and in describing- the beauties
of nature, the Hawaiian gives poetic expression to his thoughts,
clothing them in beautiful' figurative language.
A visit to the Hawaiian Islands, these Isles of Perpetual Sum
mer, brings the traveler into an atmosphere of hospitality and a
subtropical wealth of beauty to be found nowhere else in the
world.
To me the legends relating to the ancient Hawaiians are always
a source of inspiration, replete with the sweetness of fairy tales
of our childhood, the dignity of the Sagas of the Noresmen, the
dulcet intoxication of the tales of Persia, and the sonorous, boom
ing intonation of the Indian.
No one who reads about the Hawaiian Islands or visits them
should feel that the subject is exhausted until some of these tales
are read. Therefore, I have grouped a few of these I consider
are typical of the imagery and poetic beauty of tales that have
an exotic charm.
High Chief Hoapili Kaauwai and wife, High Ghiefess Kiliwehi,
uncle and aunt of Princess Elizabeth Kalanianaole. They
accompanied Queen Emma on her memorable visit to
London in the 7607s. From- daguerreotype col
lection of Princess Kalanianaole.
Princess Likelike, sister o£ Queen
Liliuokalani and mother of beau
tiful Princess Kaiulaiii. "Aina-
hau, ' ' her Waikiki home, was a
rendezvous for royal, citizen and
naval society in Kalakaua's
reign.
CHARM OF LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE 157
LEGEND OF KAHUILAOKALANI
"THE FLYING FIRE GOD"
KAHUILAOKALANI, the Lightning of Heaven, was a
high chief from an unknown world. He was a god by
birth from his father Kulukahikapo, which means the
name of the night before the new moon, and his mother Paika-
lani, which means Upholding the Heavens. These gods came to
the isle of Lanai from Kahiki, the East whence came the dawn of
day.
At the time these gods arrived there lived two men upon La
nai, father and son. Kumumahanahana, or Warmth, the father,
and Pakeaulani, or soft white tapa, the son, were sent away to
Lanai by Olepau, which is the name of the tenth day of the
moon, with the idea that th^gods would consume them for some
wrong they had committed. The rendezvous of these gods was
at Lanai and Only these two men lived upon the isle.
And while they were there in their loneliness, the thought
came to them that they must cook some paha for food. Paha
is the name of a plant, the leaf of which is used fpr food during
a time of famine, also called kapala. And when the paha was
cooked and seasoned ready to eat, their first thought was to
offer a prayer to the gods before they partook of their meal.
And these were the words of their prayer:
God, here is the food;
God above and "below
The great God and small gods,
The God that came from Kahiki,
Enter and partake ; make things grow and live;
We and our house welcome you,
From me, Pakeaulani, an-d
My father Kumumahanahana;
We were sent here to be destroyed by the Gods,
But fortunately by the mercy of the gods we live;
Dig, dig for the kapu (tabu) and the kapu be yours,
Dig, dig for freedom and the freedom be ours.
158 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
After they partook of their meal of paha, they lay down to
sleep and the next day and the days following they prayed to
the gods. And this made Kahuilaokalani, known also as Kalai-
pahoa, love them and he showed great liking for the two lonely
ones.
And from that time on Pakeaulani's knowledge of his super
natural power became established. In the night called Ka-ne,
being the seventeenth night of the moon by the ancient Hawaii
an calendar, a prophet named Pa'ao arrived from Kahiki, the
mysterious East upon the half shell of a cocoanut, cut length
wise to be the shape of a canoe, and used for the drinking of
awa, an intoxicating beverage obtained from the root of the awa,
the only intoxicant known to the Hawaiians of old, but more of
a narcotic. This draught was given the Hawaiian warriors after
a battle to rest them and calm their nerves. With this tiny canoe
Pa'ao commanded Pakeaulani to go forth and bring the water of
Pilimoe, now called the Flying Water of Moaula at Halawa,
upon the isle of Molokai. These falls are noted for their magni
ficent beauty, which always attract the eyes of strangers. Its
mountain background is rich in a superb garb of deep green and
purple. One almost covets the beauty of green ferns fringing
the edge of the water at Moaula.
Pakeaulani went to fetch the water and also the all black pig
of Kalae, Puaahiwa o Kalae, as commanded by the prophet
Pa'ao.
''And this duty performed/' said Pa'ao, "will show you the
road that will enlighten you to the supernatural power and beauty
of God."
From that time on Pakeaulani was in command of much super
natural power which enabled him to perform many strange
things, and to prepare well for the difficult journey that he was
commanded to take, for Pa'ao's instruction was of great help.
The command of Palao, the prophet, was : "Go thou to Molokai
and get the water of Pilimoe, pour it in a container made of the
leaf of the Piialii, the lavendar taro, and also bring the Hiwa,
the all-black pig of Kalae. Bring thou them and place them be-
CHARM OF LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE 159
fore me and I will show you the way that will give you the knowl
edge, and unto your children and their children forever."
This journey was a very long one and he sailed upon a great
double canoe that had ten bowsprits and it is written in this nar
rative that Pakeaulani was the discoverer of the god's hidden
water of Pilimoe, now known as the beautiful falls of Moaula
at Halawa, Molokai. And on this voyage of Pakeaulani in
search of the water, much suffering and fatigue were endured,
for he was deprived of much-wanted water while he was upon
this ocean highway.
Finally he arrived at Molokai and sought the beautiful falls
and is said to have been the first man to have discovered the
secret waters. Having no cup he picked a leaf of the taro and
formed it into a cup and dipped it into the waters of Pilimoe.
This part of his mission fulfilled, he looked for the all-black pig
of Kalae. He discovered it and wrapped it in soft Pili grass,
called Pilimakaukai, which was used to weave capes as a pro
tection while traveling in canoes.
Then, with his taro cup filled with the secret water of Pilimoe,
and the all-black pig of Kalae he started homeward for Lanai
in his canoe, and one could see that Pakeaulani was already
using his supernatural power in the speed with which his canoe
sped over the waves. But all this time the little pig was squealing
for his feet were aching. Its legs had been tied with Lai Ku-
kanawao, a curly leaf, and it struggled for freedom. In the
struggles it spilt the water from the taro leaf, and Pakeaulani
discovered this loss upon reaching Lanai. So he turned his
canoe back toward Molokai again according to the old saying,
"Off to Molokai on the ocean road." But these journeys were
very hard. Each time he returned from Molokai the pig, still
struggling and squealing and attempting to gain its freedom
overturned the cup of water and each time Pakeaulani went
back to the falls for more.
After that he concluded to bring the water in his mouth, and
with this idea in mind, he turned his canoe once ^more towards
Molokai, and again visited the falls of Moaula, carrying also
160 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
the Hiwa pig in his arms. He then proceeded to fill his mouth
with water and then started for Lanai. Just as he had landed
successfully upon the beach of Lanai, the pig gave a terrific
kick and went over the canoe into a pool of salt water. Pakeau-
lani leaped into the water after the pig to save it as it was float
ing on the water with its legs still tied, and in this effort he forgot
about the sacred water in his mouth and swallowed it, and not
until he had saved the pig did he think of the water. He sat
down and wept for he had been in a temper with the pig and by
mistake had swallowed the long-sought-for water that Pa'ao
the prophet had commanded him to fetch.
Anxiously, he walked home to consult with his father, Kumu-
mahanahana, whom he had not seen for many a day and night.
On the night of Kupau, being the tenth night of the moon, he
arrived at his home at Kahalapalaoa, and discovered that his
father had been weeping morn and night over the long absence
of his beloved son. The meeting of father and son was affec
tionate, and it took hours before their tears were held that they
might talk.
"How is your journey?" asked the father of Pakeaulani. The
son replied, "I have not fulfilled the command. I have returned
with only the pig of Hiwa, but the water I have not brought/5
The next night they had Apukuai Lauanae, or prayer, calling
all the gods to come nearer to them to listen and to grant their
supplication. They entreated the gods to aid them. The gods
answered their prayer, and Pakeaulani prepared for his next
journey back to the isle of Molokai.
The prophet again commanded Pakeaulani. "Go thou to Mo
lokai, together with the puaa Hiwa (all-black pig). You must
land upon Molokai between Kaunakakai and Kamalo. There
you will see a small hill named Lehelehenui, or Big Lip, well
known to the Molokaians by that name. From this place you
are to watch the procession of gods as they pass, and watch for
the right moment, and then would come to him the supernatural
power.
On the nighf of Akua, gods' night, being the fourteenth night
of the moon, Pakeaulani wrapped the little pig with the pilima-
CHARM OF LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE 161
kaukai grass, and together they laid down and slept on the way
side of the road at the foot of the hill called I^ehelehenui, wait
ing with his calabash (ipupalu hookala kupua kau), filled with
a relish of fish and awa root as an offering to the god Kalai-
pahoa. He had rested but a moment when suddenly there ap
peared a great giant, of immense height and size, with a war
club in his hand. He had a very fierce appearance and a terrify
ing expression ; "one that would cause the timid, brackish-water
drinking people of Napili to flee for their lives/' according to
an old Hawaiian saying about cowards.
But as frightful as Kalai-pahoa made himself to appear, there
was not a quiver or sign of fear shown or felt by Pakeaulani.
He was equal to the giant in strength and will power.
Quietly and patiently, without a sound or motion, he watched
the long procession of gods as they formed and started to march.
It was a majestic sight and all seemed in good spirits. It took
the greater part of the night before all could pass the place
where Pakeaulani and the little black pig were resting. It was
dawn when it ended. The morning star gave brightness and
light to the traveling gods. Pakeaulani raised himself from his
sleeping position, and discarded his pilimakauakaihu cloak. He
placed the pig before him and took off the pili grass that covered
it. Then he gave the pig a good squeezing so that it began to
squeal from pain.
Kalai-pahoa and the prophet, who were walking by, heard it
squeal. Kalai-pahoa said to the prophet : "I hear a pig crying
at this early dawn." "Yes, the pig has much to do," replied the
prophet. At this time the procession was a good distance apart
from Pakeaulani, so he stood up, and with all his might and
strength gave the pig another hard squeeze, so that the pig of
Hiwa squealed even louder than before.
At that moment the procession of the gods had marched to
the top of Maunaloa, on Molokai, and there stood in a circle, and
at the center stood Kauilaokalani, called by the people Kalai-
pahoa. Then Pakeaulani, with his new power, transformed all
the gods into a great forest of trees. On that day the
people of Molokai were more than surprised when they
162 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
saw this forest of trees growing upon the summit of the mount.
The people took their stone adzes and began to hew the trees
down. When they came to Kalai-pahoa in the center they found
that the sap was red like human blood. Every person that the
sap touched was killed or died immediately, for this sap was a
deadly poison, and it was because of this that Kauilaokalani was
called Kalai-pahoa, meaning hewn with a stone adze.
Most of the population of Molokai was destroyed by the sap
from this deadly tree. The chiefs and high priests treasured the
wood of the tree because of its supernatural powers. It was
also beneficial as a medicine when properly used and given by
the kahunas, or doctors.
After that episode Pakeaulani was in full possession of super
natural power, and on the night of Maule (faint), that is, the
twenty-ninth night of the moon, the Prophet Pa'ao returned to
the Island of Hawaii to build for himself a heiau, (altar), at
Kohala, at Upolu, adjoining the village of Honoipu, and this
heiau was called Mookini, and is still standing today.
Kamehameha the Great valued the god Kalai-pahoa, and it is
said that through this god he gained much strength and power
in bringing the group of islands together, called "mokuptmi o
Hawaii nei."
From this tree of Kalai-pahoa an idol was hewn and worship
ped, and it is said in the traditions of the Hawaiians that the
influence of this idol has built up kingdoms and has overthrown
them. For the kahunas the idol was the means of their liveli
hood. He could scrape the poisonous wood, and by taking the
powder thus scraped and mixing it with cocoanut and awa,
placing it in a half cocoanut shell cup, the kahuna could, with
his supernatural power, send it wherever he wished to destroy
or to protect
Sometimes it took the form of a ball of fire and lighted the
way as it sped through space. Therefore, it was also called
Akua ahi lele, or "The Flying Fire God." It was also used by
the kahunas as an immediate heart poison, placed in food or
drink to carry out a heinous design. It is said to be absolutely
tasteless, the victim never suspecting its presence.
CHARM OF LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE 163
The sacred Water of Moaula, and the little all-black pig?
Oh, Pakeaulani, with his supernatural power, finally brought
them both safely to Lanai.
LEGEND OF KAHALAOPUNA
BEAUTIFUL TABU MAIDEN OF MANOA
THE superstitious dread of the elements in the native Ha
waiian mind has from olden times to now, created a my
riad of legendary lore-talk, and to them, the rain, the wind,
the beautiful rainbow, the grumblings of mother earth, which are
attributed to the 'fiery goddess Pele, have strange and mystic
meanings and warnings.
Thus their imaginative minds associated the wind, the rain and
the rainbow, which are always to be seen upon the summits of
the mountains overhanging Manoa valley, with strange peoples,
princes and princesses, and tales of tragedy and love.
The legend of the beautiful Princess Kahalaopuna, the "tabued"
maiden whose beauty and love were reserved for a prince of
the plains in the valley below, who wanted and waited through
the long years for the day upon which he could claim her as his
own, is symbolic of the elements which never cease clinging and
swirling about the summits of the rich verdure-clothed moun
tains.
Many ages ago there lived in this valley a maiden named Ka
halaopuna, who was the most beautiful creature upon the islands,
and she was named after the fragrant jandanus flower, the hala,
which grows so luxuriantly in Puna, Hawaii, and is the most
noted in the group, therefore her name, "Ka-hala-o-puna." When
but a babe the high priest came to the hut in which dwelt father,
mother and babe, and "tabued" the maiden, thus prescribing the
limits of her daily life to the hut and to the woods close about,
no eyes, but those of her parents, the priests and the servants
should gaze upon her; whoever dared to look upon her without
164 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
authority of the priests, was immediately put to death. A prince
of Koolau valley was chosen as her future husband ; he was to
be a mighty chief over his people. For years he loved the maiden
from afar, sending to her down the path of Aihualama into Ma-
noa over the summits from Koolau to her every morning, as the
sunshine crept into her leafy hut, tokens of his love and affec
tion, fish, poi, fruits, beautiful "leis" for the neck, made of strung
flowers, and tapa, or clothing, and each day when the servants
returned from their mission of love, they would report to him of
her unrivalled beauty.
Whenever she came forth from her hut, the rainbow would
arch itself over her head as a halo, following her from place to
place as she went to gather flowers for her leis ; thus her lover
prince could watch from afar off, and picture her loveliness as
she wandered about the valley.
But there were two old ugly men who lived in this valley,
brothers, who were envious of the prince's good fortune, and
jealously watched the retinues of servants, as each day they
toiled up the mountain slopes to lay at her feet the prince's
love tokens. They were two Makoles. Finally, one diay,
knowing that the prince was dwelling at Waikiki on the
seashore, so that he could be nearer his maiden love and
watch her rainbow guardian the better, they conspired to make
the prince jealous. So they scratched their necks and adorned
themselves with lehua leis, and with great merriment went down
the valley to Waikiki, where the prince was watching the sea
sports, for it was the day of the festival of the surf-racing and
canoeing, for it was a great thing for all to ride upon the noted
surf called "Ka-lehua-wehe" surf, the two budding surfs and
the third which opens out its sprays like the lehua blossom itself.
They had never seen the maiden, for the "tabu" prevented them
from approaching her hut, but that made their errand the easier.
The people saw them, and said, "Why, you ugly Makoles, where
did you get those love tokens?" and they said, "The beautiful
maiden Kahalaopuna gave them to us," and "Who scratched your
necks?" and they replied, "Why, Kahalaopuna did that."
The prince, hearing their replies, started up, his blood flushed
CHARM OF LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE 165
with anger that the princess should have deceived him thus. He
said he would go and kill her, as she had violated the "tabu." He
sprang away with fleet foot from the crowd of awe-stricken
natives, crossed taro fields, through thickets, up and down hill,
until he reached a grove, where he quickly cut a long hala stalk,
from which hung pendant a knob of small nuts, bunched and
hard. With his hala he intended to slay the girl for her supposed
infidelity. He hurried up the valley and soon reached her hut,
being guided all the way by the arching rainbow.
She had just returned from the bath, her hair hanging about
her shoulders and covering her like a mantle. Her tresses gar
landed with delicate yellow ilima leis. He walked up to her
saying "Aloha," and asked if she would go to the bath. The
instant she saw him she knew it was her princely lover by his
high-born manner and splendid carriage. She, however, asked
him if he would not partake of food, as is customary among the
natives. "Will not my lord partake of food before he bathes?"
she inquired, sweetly. He rudely refused her offer of food, and
said "Follow me," and with wonder depicted upon her face, and
her eyes filled with tears, she followed him into the mountain.
They came to a large rock, and turning suddenly upon her, he
struck her with the knobbed hala. He hastily buried her and
started down the mountain; but as soon as he went away, one of
her guardian gods, in the shape of an owl, flew down, and with
claws and wings, opened the grave, and brought the maiden
to life. Seeing the prince slowly wending his way down the
valley, she followed and called him, and then sat upon a rock.
He looked back as he heard her chanting, thus :
"0, my sweetheart of the uplands of Kahoiwai
Amid the thickets of the wildwood,
The wildwood laden with fragrance.
0, my sweetheart with the savage mood of the shark;
Like unto a shark is thy love and jealousy for others
To return and destroy me.
I have done no wrong, my sweetheart, my sweetheart
With the breath of the wiliwili blossom,
For when it is in bloom the sharks do bite
My sweetheart, oh my sweetheart. "
166 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
The prince retraced his steps to the rock and again he struck
her and apparently killed her, burying her once more. Again the
owl flew down and opened up her grave once more, bringing her
to life. Six times did the prince strike her and bury her, and
six times did the little owl rescue her, until with claws and
wings worn out, and with his strength all departed, the little
owl was unable to rescue her. Then he flew away to an eminence
overhanging the valley, and moaned and hooted for the loss of
the maiden, and to this day the simple natives believe the owls
which congregate there every night, come there for the purpose
of moaning over the death of the princess, and the open graves
which were caused by the owl rescuing the girl from the grave,
are said to be the reason for so many ravines converging into
the valley. When the father of the maiden heard of her tragic
end, he became enraged, and tore his clothing and his hair, and
so violent did he become, so full of wrath and curses, that he
was transformed into the wind, called Ka-hau-kani (the noisy
cold), which howls and swirls down the valley. The mother
became grief-stricken and wept without ceasing for her depart
ed child, until she was turned into the rain, called the Kaua-kua-
hine (the gray rain), almost a constant downpour even to this
day. For their sins, the two ugly Makoles were changed into
two barren knolls, the only unsightly hills in the valley. The
princess' spirit is said to be hovering about the hills whenever
the rainbow appears high above the summits and peaks of the
wind and rain-swept mountains.
And so this beautiful valley became known as the Valley of
Sunshine and Tears.
CHARM OF LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE 167
LEGEND OF "PU-AHUULA"
KIHANUILULUMOKU, EEL GODDESS OF POOL OF
THE FEATHER CAPES
MANOA VALLEY, the deep, recessed, verdant, rainbow
valley beyond Honolulu, where Queen Kaahumanu
ended her days in peace at Kapuka-o-maomao (the green
gateway to the valley) and where once Hawaiians dwelt by thou
sands, is the motive for many of the most beautiful legends of
the Hawaiians. One of the prettiest from this treasure-house
of myths and legends, tells of "Pu-Ahuula (cluster of feather
cape), the home of the beautiful eel queen of Ma,noa.
Ages and ages ago there lived in this lovely valley a beautiful
mermaid queen. Her name was Kihanuilulumoku-wahine, and
her home was a wonderful, sparkling spring. She is known
also as the "King-maker."
This queen was more than a mermaid and more than a queen.
She was a companion of the gods and her home, the spring, had
been created by them. She had the powers, also, of a goddess,
and could change her form whenever she so willed.
Sometimes while she was at the spring she appeared as a
silvery eel. When she wished to hold her royal court, or disclose
her royal lineage, she appeared in the form of a huge lizard, the
Queen Moo, whose body was covered with the yellow feathers of
the royal mamo bird. Aind then again she was the beautiful ehu
(auburn) woman with a brilliant complexion that reminded one
of the magenta-hued ohia, or mountain-apple blossoms. She
was a queen who blossomed like a flower . At these times her
ehu, or sunburnt brown hair was wonderfully beautiful and
wavy. She was so gloriously fair that she caused the lehua
blossoms to burst forth in bloom, and the hinano; maile and
ginger perfume to permeate the air, and the birds to sing most
sweetly. The brilliant sun threw out such gorgeous rays that
human beings were overcome by the beauty of the princess and
became speechless with admiration.
168 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
She had a beautiful palace for her home. This was the spring
that nestled at the foot of the crags and was shaded by hau
trees. And this spring. It was called "Pu-Ahuula" because
gorgeous royal feather capes covered its sides and the bottom.
Think of a spring whose sparkling waters reflected the brilliant
reds and yellows of the royal feather capes! It was surely a
home for a queen. The water of the spring was called Huelani
(the water bottle that held the queen).
But she was content with a life of idleness spent in playful
sport. She had a garden farther up the valley at the foot of the
mountains in one of the ravines called Waaloa, or Long Canoe,
because of its shape, resembling a native outrigger canoe upon
the ocean. A few nights before full moon she always realized
her duty to her people. It was the time to plant, if such planting
was to recefve the favor of the gods. At these times with her
retinue of mermaids and little menehunes (gnomes), and strange,
obedient little elves, she would visit the gardens. While there
they would plant taro, sweet potatoes, bananas, hoio, bamboos,
ki plants, hala, gingers, lehuas and numerous other plants and
trees. This was an important ceremony and was accompanied
by chants or prayers to the gods. Then she would order her
gardeners to irrigate the plants while she and her maidens be-
sported themselves in the pool.
This is how she happily spent her hours near the waterfalls
of na-niu-a-po ("the waterfall of the cocoanut trees of night"),
with the god of the Bubbling Springs and her mermaids at the
garden of the Long Canoe for Food. There she rested before
returning to "Pu-Ahuula, her palace in the spring at the foot
of the knoll called "Pua ka Lehua."
Hina, the Mother of Mist, her grandmother; and Kane, the
God of Waters, heard her prayers and caused everything to grow
abundantly.
The spirit of the Goddess of the Glittering Capes has not left
this beautiful valley. She still touches the plants with her magic
hands and beams upon them with her glorious eyes. That is
why, even today, the flowers are all so beautiful and fragrant m
Manoa, the Valley of Rainbows.
CHARM OF LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE 169
The leh.ua of Pu-Ahuula is in blossom;
The tabu queen of the verdant hills
And the bubbling springs,
Thou art like the rays of the sun
That shines on the water:
Beautiful, most beautiful, art thou,
Mermaid Queen (kiha moi wahine)
The Mother of Kings.
And here is the prayer that was chanted that the gods would
favor the land and cause Nature to make plants and food-bearing
things grow abundantly. It is said that the people of the valley
could hear the retinue of Kiha singing as the chant was wafted
on the soft winds that blew across the mountains, and the people,
listening, would say, "Kiha is planting in her garden.
THE PLANTING PEAYEE
0 Moon of the night of Hua
That brings fruit and food to the plants,
For God and man!
Here is the kalo plant
The life of the land,
1 give to the earth, Honua;
Here is the sweet potato branch
I plant for thee and me;
Here is the shoot of sugar-cane,
So sweet to taste and eat,
The emblem of desire's success;
I place it in the earth, Mother Earth —
0 Moon of the night of Hua,
Let it grow and bear for me and mine.
Keep the plants green and alive
Until Mahealani, the Full Moon, comes;
For when Mahealani is here
Kulu, the Moon of Moisture will follow
And the plants will show a bud;
Then comes Kalaukulua, thy companion,
To the plants they will bring two shoots,
And help thee, Hua, to bear the fruit.
170 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
So Kane, God of Water,
And Hina, Mother of Mists,
Send your Aloha down to us in moonlit mists,
Let it sweep along the hillside,
Keep the new growth a-growing
That your people from the night will live.
Then there was the fervent prayer of the priest of Kiha that
the abundant food that came from Kiha's planting be sanctified.
And here is the way they chanted:
The prayer of the priest is before
The sound that startles the earth
And the flash of light above, and the flash of light below to the
Foster Child of the season (Hanaiaka-malama).
To the working hand; to the active one; to the
Silver sword on the mountain.
To mischievous Kanaloa, the God that has flown to Heaven;
To the cold regions and the descendents of Kane.
To the women who prune the plants
Whose names are "Pruning the Top/' "Pruning Before One"
And "Pruning Every where. "
The name of this court is "Slow and Awkward."
And the name of the prayer is "Passing Time."
It strikes you and it strikes me,
And rumbles along with the moment.
With tears of love
Uli watches the prayers of the inattentive one
Who hopes for a brighter day.
A question —
Who is the divine presence of this higher altitude?
The dark reflection of the heavens,
The reflection of that some one,
That reflection of coppery red.
Of Ku of the great clouds,
Of Ku of the long clouds,
Of Ku of the short clouds,
Of Ku of the ogling winking red clouds of the heavens.
God-man of the mountains, companion of the forest trees,
Who pours down rain and causes the waters to flow
That belong to thy chiefly companions,
And makes the verdant hills to grow.
0 thou noise of the sprinkling waters,
0 Ku that breaketh slumber.
CHARM OF LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE 171
Of the Fire of Search, Discovery, Oblivion,
And if thou findest a fault, one must pay;
But love will seek and receive what it sought for.
Here is the water — it is the voice.
O Lono of the night —
O Lono of the day —
0 Lono of the meeting of the ways —
Do not be provoked with me, 0 Lono,
O Lono of the roving eyes that fly;
Thou fiiest to the dark blue sea,
Thou fliest to the white foaming sea,
To the dark sands, and the black sands,
And become like the moon to the whispering sands.
To sight, to search, to comfort,
To melt, to tremble, to swell.
And to the spreading one that sleeps on the red sands — [death] —
To the red one with open claws and sharp teeth,
To the child of that one far off, who clings on the cliffs.
To the gust of wind at night,
To the tears that flow.
To the mouth that speaks like chieftains in numbers,
To the forgiving heart,
To the place where words are kept,
To forwardness and sharp thrusts,
To the child of the circle,
To the women of the bowl of speech —
O child of the great life
Here is the food:
0 Ku, 0 Lono, 0 Kane, [trinity]
0 Lono of the dark clouds,
Here is the food.
Even to this day the natives never go unattended to the spring
and ravine of Waaloa for fear that in going alone they may
happen to reach the cool waters when Kiha is there and engaged
in her ceremonies, and for the fear that the goddess may resent
the intrusion and thrust the interloper down the steep path.
The natives believe that in the descent they will be seriously in
jured.
Thus does the superstition of the past prevail in this day, but
it is a superstition based upon a firm belief in fairies and elves
and gnomes and also gods and goddesses that roam the isles
by moonlight and the nights that are dark as cavern depths.
CHAPTER XIV
TRAGEDY MARKED DISCOVERY OF
HONOLULU HARBOR
SERENE and beautiful, particularly in early morning when
the sun peeps over picturesque Diamond Head and tints
the clouds with rose hues, and at eventide, when the sun, a
glorious molten ball is sinking below the horizon amid a fiery
glory reflected gorgeously in the sky, the harbor of Honolulu
lives up to the expressive soubriquet given this haven for ships by
Dr. Sereno Bishop, scientist-missionary of Hawaii — "The Para
dise of the Pacific."
Tragedy marked the discovery, in 1794, that there was a chan
nel for ships and a harbor within the reefs at Honolulu, a few
miles distant from the bay of Waikiki, where, up to that time all
ships had been brought to anchor. Waikiki was the favored
residence of the king and chiefs. Honolulu was a mere strag
gling village, unimportant even to the chiefs up to that time.
In November, 1794, the harbor of Honolulu, known to early
Hawaiians as Ke Awa o Kou (the harbor of Kou) was discov
ered by Captain Brown of the British ship Butterworth, and
called by him Fair Haven. It was first entered by the schooner
Jackall, her tender, followed shortly after by the Prince Le Boo
and Lady Washington. This was subsequent to Vancouver's
last visit to the Islands, and some six months prior to Kameha-
meha's conquest of Oahu by the overthrow of Kalanikupule
and his brave co-defenders in the celebrated battle of Nuuanu
in 1795.
Although Captain Brown, together with another captain and
the greater part of the crews of the Jackall and Le Boo were
massacred, his discovery remained and the location soon
appeared upon the sailing charts of every British master who
left an English port for the Pacific.
In the far .recesses of beautiful Manoa Valley,
which Hawaiians have peopled with gods
and goddesses, is this pool of "Waia-
kekua"— "Water of the God "— who
was Kanaloa, its creator.
Hina, Goddess of Mist, who dwelt in the isles of Hawaii. Mrs. Mary
Padigan, one of the few survivors of the art of chanting
ancient Hawaiian meles, in her role as Goddess
Hina in the Legend of Pu-Ahuula.
TRAGEDY IN HONOLULU HARBOR 173
Captain Broughton of the British discovery ship, Providence,
is accredited with making the first survey of this port on his
first visit to the then Sandwich Islands, in 1796. He xvas fol
lowed in similar work by Captain Kotzebue of the Russian
Frigate Rurick, and again by Lieut. Maiden of H. B. M. S.
Blonde, in 1825. Other national visitors have, from time to
time, verified or corrected the records of these pioneers, and
since the establishment of the survey department of the Hawaiian
government various surveys have been made denning the harbor
and channel and locating the bar.
After annexation, in 1898, the United States government
undertook the widening and deepening of the channel and simi
larly the harbor itself until today it is one of the most advan
tageously arranged harbors in the world, deep enough to pro
vide for the largest merchant steamers or ships of war in the
Pacific. Millions of dollars have been spent by the territorial
government in constructing modern wharves and slips and pri
vate companies have installed dry docks and patent coal handling
plants and fuel oil pipe lines.
To Captain Brown belongs the discovery of Honolulu harbor,
just as the right of discovery of the Hawaiian Islands went to
his distinguished predecessor/ Captain James Cook, Royal Navy. >
Also, like Cook, he forfeited his life in the development of his
discovery.
Waikiki bay possessed the only location for the anchorage of
vessels and for securing supplies of water and provisions, for
the anchor holds were certain and there was a sand beach where
small boats from the ships could land. After 1794, however,
Waikiki was largely supplanted by Honolulu for harbor purposes.
Waikiki Bay, long a favorite with the Hawaiian chiefs of the
ancient regimes as a place of residence where their war canoes
were lined along the sandy beach, where surfing sports engaged
their attention on gala days and where the early traders and
men-of-war dropped anchor, lost its prestige the moment Hono
lulu harbor was discovered, but what it lost as a trading port
it gained as a recreation place, and Waikiki today stands pre
eminent among bathing resorts of the world.
174 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Sir George Simpson, governor-in-chief of the Hudson Bay
Company's territories, which included the Hawaiian Islands,
who visited Honolulu officially in 1841, referring to Brown in
his book, "An Overland Journey Around the World," said that
he met death without having, like his predecessor, Captain Cook,
done anything to provoke it, being murdered for the sake of
booty, by the savage tenants of the very spot which he said was
fitted to be not only the metropolis of Polynesia, but also the
emporium of the Pacific.
Brown's foresight and his farsight were not wrong. Honolulu'
today stands as the "Crossroads of the Pacific/' the metropolis
of the great ocean, the greatest military and naval outpost of
the United States, of which it is now a part, and the most im
portant shipping port between the American and Asian conti
nents,
Honolulu is prepared today to stand the test of Captain
Brown's hopes with its series of modern piers and slips; its big
wharf sheds ; its coaling and oil fueling plants ; its drydocks ;
its floating coal conveyors; its iron works and repair equipment
adjacent to the shores; its great nests of fuel oil tanks; its quar
antine pier and quarantine island strategically located on the
outer side of the harbor to combat the introduction of disease
from foreign lands; its deep and ever increasing harbor area ;
its lighthouse; its fortifications; its army and navy wharves and
great storehouses located nearby; its sugar-handling appliances
where nearly 400,000 tons of sugar from the fertile fields of
Oahu and other islands are loaded annually into the holds of
steamers.
Millions and millions of dollars have been expended in devel
oping Honolulu channel and harbor to meet demands of changes
in marine architecture. With light depth in the days when
forests of sailing ship masts almost clogged the harbor it has
been deepened and widened to permit the greatest draught ves
sels in the Pacific, whether merchant marine or naval, to enter
and dock.
Honolulu's harbor, landlocked on the leeward side of the
TRAGEDY IN HONOLULU HARBOR 175
island with mountain ranges, and with little or no tide move
ment, is the safest in the world.
Looked at askance by foreign shipping companies as an un
likely port of call for years, it is now recommended from every
British steamship office in the world as a port where coal, fuel
oil, water, supplies and repairs may be had and quick dispatch
obtained.
Sir George Simpson's account of his approach to Honolulu
harbor throws a light on the methods of bringing vessels into the
harbor in a day when steam tugs were unknown and when towing
power was principally in the rippling muscles of Hawaiians \yho
literally towed the vessels up the channel by wading along the
coral shores.
"On coming in sight of Honolulu/' says Sir George, "we had
made signals for a pilot by hoisting our colors and very shortly
two came off to us, Reynolds, an American, boarding the Joseph
Peabody, and 'Old Adams/ an English tar who has lived on the
island these 30 or 40 years, and appears to have been appointed
to his post by a British man-of-war, taking the Cowlitz in his
charge. 'Old Adams/ who knows his work well, is very tenacious
of his official dignity; and we are told that when he was last
autumn piloting the Vincennes, he flared up at some interference
or other on the part of Commodore Wilkes, called his boat along
side and left the vessel, and her commander's superior judg
ment to boot, in the lurch.
"The harbor, which is capable of containing about 40 vessels,
appears to owe its existence to the peculiar habits of the litho-
phyte. The coral reefs, such as generally gird the Polynesian
islands, though they are less continuous in this group than else
where, form a natural breakwater, while a gap in the work of
the submarine architects is wide enough for the passage of ships
without being so wide as materially to diminish the amount and
value of shelter. Generally, though, as Sir Edward Belcher has
shown, not universally, such openings are to be found only on
the leeward sides of the islands, while their precise position on
the same is said to be commonly, if not exclusively, opposite to
the mouths of streams, the temperature of the fresh water being
176 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
supposed to be too low for the taste and health of the little
builders.
"With both these conditions the harbor of Honolulu literally
complies. To say nothing of its being on the southerly coast of
the island, it receives a brook that has just escaped from the
almost frigid atmosphere of the mountains, formed, as it is, from
the numberless cascades which rush down the sides of the valley
of Nuuanti, or Great Cold, in the very rear of the town. Whether
or not the proximity of cold water satisfactorily explains the
phenomenon in question, the antipathy of the insect to that ele
ment seems to be a matter of fact beyond denial or doubt. It is
almost entirely within 30 degrees of latitude, on either side of the
equator, within the range, in fact, of the trade-winds, that the
labors of the lithophyte abound ; while, even within such assigned
limits, they are far more widely spread in the Asiatic section of
the ocean, on which the current flows from the south, than on
its American section, on which the current comes down from
the Arctic seas.
"As the entrance to the basin is too intricate to be attempted
with anything but a fair wind, we were reluctantly obliged to
wait for the sea breeze, which generally blows in the morning
from a little before sunrise to about 9 o'clock, and we accordingly
anchored for the night in the outer roads.
aWe had just anchored in front of a large and flourishing
town into which the enterprise of the English race had attracted
upwards of 8000 comparatively civilized natives, and, on the self
same day, the llth of February, but in the year 1779, did Cook
return to Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii, after what appeared to be
his final departure, to seal, ere a week should have elapsed, his
discovery with his blood.
"On the morning of the 12th we were all bestirring betimes.
While the vessel was preparing to enter the harbor before a fair
wind, we took a more careful look at the town, observing in par
ticular a fort well provided, to all appearance, with guns, and
admirably situated for commanding the narrow and intricate
passage; and, in the event of hostilities, we could not help think
ing that even the most formidable visitor would be wise, while
TRAGEDY IN HONOLULU HARBOR 177
on the safe side of the reef, to begin by smashing so ugly a cus
tomer into silence. But the harbor is said to have worse enemies
to dread than shot and shells. In consequence of the gradual
rising of the Islands, to which I have already alluded, the open
ing of the reef is supposed to be diminishing in depth, while the
Nuuanu brook is neutralizing its depth by washing down moun
tain mud."
Then came the unique privilege of being towed into the harbor
by natives. "On entering the channel/' he continues, "whose
breadth did not exceed twice the length of the Cow'litz, we could
almost have touched with an oar a crowd of natives, who were
elbowing each other on the reef up to their middles in water, all
the while jabbering and shouting and bellowing in their out
landish language, which, by reason of the numerical superiority
of its vowels, and the softness and indistinctness of the conso
nants, resembled rather a continuous howl than an articulate
language. On our handing out a hawser to these fellows, who,
if sufficiently numerous, could, I verily believe, tow a vessel
swimming, we were speedily hauled close to the wharf ; and, after
mooring our ship and saluting the town, we prepared to go
ashore."
Strange to say, however, that although Honolulu was the
town, shipping men referred to the harbor as "Brown's Harbor."
Sir George had a vision of a Panama Canal and a great increase
in maritime commerce and growing importance of Honolulu as
a port of call for the ships of all nations plying upon the Pacific.
"When the ports of Japan are opened," he said, "and the two
oceans are connected by means of a navigable canal, so as to
place the group in the direct route between Europe and the
United States on one hand, and the whole Eastern Asia on the
other, then will the trade in question expand in amount and
variety, till it has rendered Oahtt the emporium of at least the
Pacific Ocean, for the products, natural and artificial, of every
corner of the globe.
"Then will Honolulu be one of the ports of the world, one of
those exchanges to which nature herself grants in perpetuity a
more than royal charter.
178 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
"If these anticipations— and even now they are not dreams-
be ever realized, the internal resources of the Islands will find
the readiest and amplest development in the increase of domestic
consumption, and the demands of foreign commerce. The
Sandwich Islands will become the West Indies of all the less
favored climes from California to Japan.
'The commerce of this ocean will be ruled and conducted by
England, aided and rivaled only by her own republican offspring
of America ; and the merchants of these two nations, the most
enterprising merchants of the most powerful nations that the
world has ever seen, must decide the destinies of this sea of seas."
In three years, 1836 to 1839, Honolulu was visited by 369
vessels, and for years afterwards, until the Civil War, the harbor
frequently resembled a forest, while scores of ships were anchored
here at one time. In those days ships remained here weeks at
a time. Today steamers arrive with cargoes ranging from 3000
to 12,000 tons, They are discharged in from one to three and
four days and are gone, after taking away thousands of tons of
sugar, pineapples and bananas. Honolulu has few vessels at
anchor in its harbor for long except when repairs are under way,
but it is busier even than in the days when flotillas of sailing ships
made port. Today sailing ships are so few in the harbor as to be
almost curiosities. The full-rigged ship is already a curiosity.
The schooner holds a small place, but only as a lumber carrier.
Warships continued to anchor in Waikiki Bay until the 50's,
when it was found possible to bring them into Honolulu harbor.
There are meager accounts of the dawning of Hawaii's mari
time period, for newspapers were not published in Honolulu
until 1836. In the early days all vessels belonged to the king
and the principal chiefs, and such was their ambition and anxiety
to possess foreign vessels, said Prof. W. D. Alexander, the his
torian, once, that fabulous prices, in several instances, were paid
by them for vessels suited for inter-island traffic. Until the Bill
of Rights was granted by Kamehameha III, in 1840, His Majes
ty's common subjects dare not presume to own anything so cov
eted by their superiors.
The first vessel for inter-island service, with Honolulu harbor
TRAGEDY IN HONOLULU HARBOR 179
as its home base later on, was for the king's use, which in the
first instance was decidedly warlike, since the Beretane, the first
vessel built at these islands (on Hawaii in 1793), through the
aid of Vancouver's mechanics, shortly after launching, was em
ployed in the naval combat with Kahekili's war canoes off Ko-
hala coast. Other vessels were doubtless built owing to the war
success of the Beretane. There were brigs and other small sail
ing craft in inter-island service for years, but many were lost
on the reefs through incompetency and drunkenness of the native
commanders and crews, as well as by white masters.
The original of steam coasting service in the Hawaiian Islands,
with Honolulu as the base, is credited to the steamer Constitution,
which arrived here January 24, 1852, from San Francisco, and
was the first of a steamship line to run between two island ports
under a five year contract for a monopoly conceded by the gov
ernment to one Howard. But the steamer proved too unwieldly
for inter-island trade, being a 600-ton propeller. After making
one trip to Lahaina and back, she returned to San Francisco.
On November 12, 1853, the side-wheel steamer S. B. Wheeler,
Ellis, commander, arrived from San Francisco to enter the island
trade under the auspices of the Hawaiian Steam Navigation Co.,
of San Francisco. On entering upon the local service her name
was changed to the Akamai, and with the exception of an oc
casional trip to Kauai confined her services to Maui. She, how
ever, was too small and too old and after a year's buffetting with
fate, made her memorable last trip on September 25, 1854. She
took 450 passengers, 19 horses, several princes and her guards
were almost awash. She was struck by a storm and nearly
foundered but was finally gotten to Lahaina. She was con
demned and broken up there.
The legislature of 1854 confirmed the charter of the Hawaiian
Steam Navigation Co., but it failed to keep its contract. In 1858
another group took the old company and the Kilauea was con
structed at Boston of 414 tons burden, arriving here June 28,
1860, after a long passage of 175 days. She was called "our
own vessel/' The service commenced July 18, 1860, by a trip to
Kauai. The Kilauea was often laid up for repairs. She was
180 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
sent, in 1871, to Ocean Island, where she brought off the officers
and 'crew of the U. S. S. Saginaw, which had been wrecked.
For eighteen years the Kilauea did splendid service. She was
sold and resold and auctioned off, ran on reefs, was brought off,
repaired and put on other island runs. She was owned by the
government and private concerns. She came to a peaceful end
in Honolulu harbor.
With the passage of the Reciprocity Treaty in 1876, a new era
in the steam coasting service of the Hawaiian Islands dawned,
for the treaty gave impetus to the agricultural value of the
Islands. Prior to that time trade had languished. To the energy
and enterprise of the late S. G. Wilder is due not a little of the
credit for the rapid advancement made in this direction and the
growth of the Wilder Steamship Co., from his assumption of the
steamer Likelike. Then came the steamers Kilauea, Hou, Mo-
kolii, Lehua, and the Kinau built in 1883 and still running.
Closely allied in energy and enterprise and in harmonious
rivalry was the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Co., whose head
and front was T. R. Foster. They had many vessels, adding as
occasion demanded, including the James Makee, C. R. Bishop,
Iwalani, W. G. Hall, Waialeale, Pele, Kaimiloa, nearly all built
in the 80's, some still running in inter-island trade, some sold to
mainland companies, some having gone to Davy Jones' locker.
Wilder and the other inter-island companies merged many
years ago and now the Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company
operates a splendid fleet of up-to-date steamers, with a modern
coaling plant and floating drydock for merchant marine in
general.
Into the harbor of Honolulu today come the great steamers of
the Matson Navigation Company, the majority of stock being
owned in the Hawaiian Islands, with the steamers Matsonia,
Maui, Wilhelmina, Manoa, Lurline, Enterprise, Hyades, Manu-
lani and Manukai bringing huge cargoes, taking out capacity
holds full of sugar and pineapples, the first six being popular
passenger-carrying steamers, especially built for the Hawaiian
service out of San Francisco. They also give an extension
service to Hilo, Hawaii, where the tourists board motor cars and
TRAGEDY IN HONOLULU HARBOR 181
are whirled over thirty-two miles of roadway to the brink of the
roaring volcano of Kilauea, the most remarkable physical wonder
of the world.
The Oceanic Steamship Company operates from San Fran
cisco to Sydney via Honolulu with two steamers, the Ventura
and Sonoma.
The Canadian-Australian Steamship Company operates palatial
steamers between Vancouver to Sydney via Honolulu, the
Niagara and Makura.
The Toyo Kisen Kaisha (Japanese) operates a fleet of huge
and palatial liners between San Francisco and Yokohama, via
Honolulu.
The Pacific Mail Steamship Company operates many giant
U. S. Shipping Board liners on the San Francisco-Honolulu-
Orient run, giving a de luxe service to Hawaii.
The China Mail Steamship Company operates between San
Francisco and the Orient, via Honolulu, with the liners China
and Nanking, although being foreign vessels they do not carry
passengers between Honolulu and San Francisco.
The Los Angeles Steamship Company operates two splendid
passenger liners — the City of Honolulu and the City of Los An
geles — between Los Angeles and Honolulu.
The Canadian Pacific Company proposes to have its transpacific
liners call at Honolulu one way, the "Empress" boats, beginning
in the fall of 1922.
The United States war department maintains its transports on
steady calls to Honolulu.
The United States naval transports call regularly, although
making their port of call at Pearl Harbor Naval Station instead
of Honolulu. Pearl Harbor naval station's great 1000-foot naval
dry dock, as Secretary of the Navy Daniels declared in dedicating
it in August, 1919, will be used for commercial vessels as well
as by those of the navy.
Toward the last of the reigns of the Kamehameha's Honolulu
began to be regarded as traveler's paradise, although steamer
service between California and the Islands was infrequent, but
Mark Twain arrived at Honolulu in 1866 and his letters to San
132 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Francisco papers penned in his best trend of humor told of a
semi-tropical country with an opera bouffe monarchy, which
attracted attention all over the civilized world. Travelers began
to come— writers, investigators, scientists, wealthy people who
found it a pleasure to bask in the royal sunshine.
But it remained for Kalakaua's reign, the passage of the Reci
procity Treaty, the addition of more and faster steamers, tq
make Honolulu harbor a magnet for travelers. San Franciscans
voyaged to Hawaii in large numbers and were identified with the
brilliant social life of the Hawaiian capital.
Warships of America, England, Germany, Russia and France
visited more frequently. They anchored in Naval Row. Life in
the harbor was gay with these war vessels, usually on commissions
of peace. There were teas and receptions and balls aboard. On
gala nights aboard warships the harbor was gay with rowboats
carrying men and women with guitars and ukuleles, who sang
and played. It was then a Honolulu such as travelers dreamed
they would find.
But warships came on more serious missions. Their guns
were ready if need be. There was the Japanese cruiser Naniwa
in the 90's with Captain Togo, famous later in the Japan-Russo
war, in command, who came with a demand upon the Hawaiian
Republic. There were American warships in the port at the
time of the overthrow of the monarchy and at the revolution
of '95 from which were landed marines and bluejackets armed
with rifles and gatlings. There was no actual clash between Japan
and Hawaii, but the Hawaiian government paid an indemnity of
$75,000 on the advice of the American government at Washing
ton.
King Kalakaua's boathouse fronted the harbor during his
reign, a rendezvous for merry gatherings. The wharves of those
older days were helter-skelter as to position and accessibility but
considered sufficient for the times, but all now replaced by modern
wharves, equal to those of any Pacific port.
Hawaii once had a navy — one vessel — the old Kaimiloa, which
made one voyage to the South Seas, and finally returned to rot
in Naval row. Those were days of romance and adventure,
TRAGEDY IN HONOLULU HARBOR 183
when <4Bully Hayes" types of seafaring men came into the
harbor, when pretty sailing yachts arrived from strange seas
and often with strange men aboard, sometimes looking over the
field to determine how opium could be landed. But Honolulu
has always been a peaceful sort of harbor, a real haven for
vessels in distress, a port which is well guarded against intro
duction of epidemics — a port where all vessels may find pro
vender, and be repaired, if need be, the facilities for ship hand
ling being efficient.
Honolulu harbor is prepared today for any demands made
upon it by the shipping of the world.
CHAPTER XV
IN VAN OF MORAL ACHIEVEMENTS.
CONQUERS WORLD'S ENEMY.
WHEN Mark Twain wrote his beautiful prose poem of
Hawaii — "No other land could so longingly and be
seechingly haunt me sleeping and waking, through half
a lifetime, as that one has done" — he recorded the experi
ence of nearly every person who has visited these Islands of
idyllic charm. Their power to grip the heart is difficult to
analyse, for it is a complex puzzle, in which Nature's beauty and
solemn grandeur, man's fascinating influence, and the romance
of a history unparalleled elsewhere, furnish each a vital quota.
Take for example the most obvious source of the unique effect
which Hawaii produces upon the mind of the most casual
observer — its scenery. Two characteristics at once stand forth
preeminently. The first of these is the variety, and the second
its distinctiveness. No two of the Islands are alike, either in
configuration, in mountain mass, in canyon formation or in
water supply.
Kauai's magnificent Waimea Canyon, whose colors rival those
of the Grand Canyon of the Colorado, and contrast so vividly
with the luxuriant vegetation of its companion valley of Olokele ;
Mam's Ditch Trail, and Kohala's mighty chasms, all products of
like process, are yet stamped each with an individuality so
fully its own that memory cannot refuse them. For mountain
lovers this quality of unlikeness is an increasing delight, while
the impossibility of keeping trails open where the vegetation is
dense and pedestrians few, gives to every hike the excitement of
a new discovery.
IN VAN OF MORAL ACHIEVEMENTS 185
The summit marshes of Waialeale, on Kauai, where is re
corded the heaviest rainfall in the world; and Kaumakou, on
Molokai, are in the strongest contrast with the dry barrenness of
Haleakala ("Temple of the Sun"), on Maui, the largest extinct
volcano in the world; Hualalai and Mauna Kea, grand, lofty,
extinct volcanoes on Hawaii Island. The absence of venemous
reptiles, the lack of creatures of which to be afraid in this great
outdoors, the kindly climate which knows no extremes help to
deepen the impression of Nature's friendliness which fairly
breathes the spirit of Aloha.
Man, the summit word of Nature, is in closest accord with
these manifestations of good will. The Hawaiian always was
and still is a lover of men as men. From the first day of his
contact with foreigners he played the part of a generous host.
His welcome knew no race distinctions. He implanted the ideal
of hospitality in the hearts of all who came to sojourn here.
He has given his land, his toil, his nationality and himself to
others. Hence he is slowly merging his blood into the common
life of the human family.
Away back in the old days when his civilization was all his
own product, his social system, while marked by semi-savage,
or barbaric customs out of which no stern nature was present
to help him, had its redeeming features. He was always a good
sport and his games which unfortunately have almost all died
out, called both for skill and splendid muscular development.
When foreigners brought their blessings and their curses, he
reacted to them both nobly and fatally. One of these curses
was drink and it did not take long for thoughtful men among
the Hawaiians to recognize that this poison held for him racial
death.
Hence his nation has the credit of having enacted the first
prohibitory law ever promulgated on earth by a human govern
ment. Its author was the great Kamehameha, the unifier of his
people and farsighted statesmen, who more than a century ago
attached a penalty to the selling or drinking of intoxicants. He
decreed that the offender be stripped of all his property, real,
personal and mixed, and be driven from his village with a loin
186 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
cloth as his sole possession. Later, foreign nations forced liquor
upon Hawaii, and their emissaries so tempted the chiefs to its
use that one by one the great families which once guided the
people, succumbed to the poison and the very life of the race was
sapped.
Another achievement which marks the Hawaii as sui generis
was his destruction of his own ancient religion when he became
conscious of its lack of helpful power.
Nothing like this had ever taken place in recorded history.
People sometimes exclaim against missionaries because, as they
allege, they rob men of their primitive faith, but in Hawaii people
cast away their idols and abolished their tabus before mission
aries reached their shore. They were ready to welcome the
higher teaching and in less than two generations they adopted
Christianity. Missionaries landed in 1820. Forty-three years
later the tidings went forth to the world that the Hawaiian na
tion was the first graduate of modern Christian missions."
The manner of this adoption was another manifestation of
Hawaiian individuality. For the first new interest developed
by the people was a passion for education. "If learing is bad
we will keep the people from it; if it is good we will share it
with all," said the chiefs.
They found it so exhilirating that within a few years the entire
nation began to go to school.
The next step followed naturally. For the teachers were
learning from contact with the people to become convincing
preachers, and after eighteen years of patient instruction the
nation was ripe for a harvest. This accelerated movement to
wards Christianity came like one of the mighty flows of lava
from the volcano of Mauna Loa, It spread from village to
village and from island to island until the whole nation was
shaken during the two years 1839-1840 and of the entire popu
lation no less than fifteen per cent were added to the churches.
It was entirely consistent with such wholeheartedness that
royalty itself should exhibit public spirit. The first of Hawaii's
Christian rulers was a woman, the Queen-regent Kaahumanu,
the favorite wife of Kamehameha the Great For years she was
IN VAN OF MORAL ACHIEVEMENTS 187
the real as well as an ideal sovereign during the boyhood of
Kamehameha II. The second was a man, Kamehameha III
(Kauikeouli).
Precedent elsewhere in the human family demanded the
wresting of a Magna Charta, or a Bill of Rights, from the king,
but that was not Hawaii's way. Kamehameha III actually gave
away two-thirds of the royal domain, his personal property, one-
third to the chiefs and the other one-third to the people so that
in the kingdom every siibfect now owned his oiwi land.
This king also limited his power by giving the nation a consti
tution and by admitting the people to a share in the government.
Step by step the outward manifestation of Christian civiliza
tion appeared. Not only were the valleys and hillsides dotted
with churches whose spires pointed heavenward, but welfare
organizations of many types ; hospitals, homes for every descrip
tion of unfortunates, kindergartens and settlements began to
flourish wherever needed.
Even the criminal was not forgotten and Hawaii's wisdom in
dealing with men and women who lapsed from virtue or into
lawlessness became known on the American mainland. One
prison reformer attracted here to study the island system of re
habilitation was much interested in what he saw at Oahu Prison
and was particularly impressed with the custom in vogue (for
domestic servants were few then) of allowing prisoners to go
out to private houses for work in house or yard in daytime.
"And what do you do/£ he asked the jailor, "if a prisoner fails
to return at night?" "We lock him out," was the triumphant
reply. The outcome of this spirit has been the erection of a
territorial prison in Honolulu which some experts pronounce
the last word in penology anent places of detention.
Probably no mission land in the world can parallel Hawaii for
the unique emergence from the strictly missionary era into a
period of growth of Christian civilization dominated by the
children of missionaries. Many circumstances entered as causes
into the trend of affairs which kept in the Islands or recalled
thither a very large contingent of missionary children, who,
being forced into industrial pursuits, addressed themselves to
188 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
the task of constructing a commonwealth upon Christian prin
ciples.
The future historians will record the judgment that this second
generation builded as permanently as the first. Without them
the labors of their predecessors would largely have been wasted.
They stood behind the Hawaiian sovereigns in their fight for
good government.
When the change from absolute kingship to popular sov
ereignty became necessary they were among the leaders who
effected a peaceful revolution, not only without bloodshed, but
practically without bitterness, of which there would have been
none but for the blunders of a we'll meaning and friendly Amer
ican administration.
Meantime, under the leadership of this second generation and
of a number of other virile spirits that had drifted to Hawaii,
agriculture was becoming a most fascinating pursuit.
In Hawaii products which bulk large industrially are few.
The infant among those that count is tobacco whose output value
in 1919 was but $24,000. Much tribulation has fostered coffee
until a crop in 1920 was valued approximately at $1,500,000.
Pineapples have proved a lusty and fast growing giant, beginning
in 1901 with 2,000 cases of the canned product and ending
twenty years later with some 6,000,000 cases and enlisting in
the neighborhood of 70,000 acres of land. The staple product of
Hawaii— cane sugar— demands 200,000 acres for its cultivation,
and from which have been harvested as high as 600,000 tons.
These figures hide behind them a story of increasing comrade
ship with Nature, developed through exhaustive scientific ex
perimentation. For illustration, Hawaii cites through her sugar
industry whose plantations pool their research interests in its
Planters' Experiment Station, the upkeep of which has been
$200,000 annually, which maintains agricultural, chemical,
entymological, forestry and pathological departments in charge
of most highly trained experts.
Furthermore, Hawaii has long been practicing bona fide
Americanization. For many years, decades before Annexation,
her people celebrated the Fourth of July as though it were her
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IN VAN OF MORAL ACHIEVEMENTS 189
own chief national holiday. Some of her sons enlisted in the
army of the North in the Civil War and made brilliant records.
She contributed General S. C. Armstrong and the basic idea of
the Hampton Institute of education to the solution of the negro
problem, America's gravest social question.
In an article I wrote on the leprosy problem in Hawaii, under
the title of 'The Miracle of Molokai," I told how, after fifty
years of segregation and care of the lepers of Hawaii, and these
included representatives of practically all races dwelling in the
Isles, of experiments with various remedies, how only three or
four years back Dr. Harry T. Hollman, United States Public
Health Service, in charge of the Kalihi examining hospital for
leper suspects, worked out a formula from Chaulmoogra oil,
which was perfected in the laboratories of the University of
Hawaii by Miss Alice Ball, a student chemist. Chaulmoogra
oil, in its crude form, had been administered to the lepers before
over a series of decades.
It was repugnant to them, nauseating and with minds in oppo
sition and with diet not a fixed schedule, the oil was almost a
failure. Hollman's specific produced favorable results. In the
laboratories more work was done to perfect the formula. Miss
Ball died in the midst of the experiments.
Dr. Arthur L. Dean, president of the University of Hawaii,
a chemist of note, took up the work. He went beyond even
what Dr. Hollman hoped for in the separation of the fatty acids
of the oil. The specific was made easy to take. It was finally
reduced from liquid form into capsules, the sting and nausua of
the original oil utterly removed. The lepers cooperated with
enthusiasm with the United States Public Health surgeons and
with the Territorial Board of Health. Improvements were
noticeable. In time the board of health paroled former patients.
Never before in the history of leprosy had this been done. Some
have remained outside, cured as far as "cure" goes.
Even with this astonishing miracle, the doctors were only
elated, and did not say, "We have found a cure." They do not
know the word cure in their vocabulary. "The disease has been
arrested/' they say. So wonderful have been the results that the
190 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
specific prepared by Dr. Dean was used only the beginning of
this year (1922) in a drastic and original and daring way —
DIRECTLY INTO THE VEINS 1
Molokai Settlement, a little peninsula with towering moun
tains behind the plain, has two villages — Kalaupapa and Kala
wao, where the lepers have been immured, hundreds of them,
where Catholic Sisters and Brothers and board of health em
ployes labor to ease the sufferings of the afflicted ones. Grad
ually, the Chaulmoogra oil is effecting cures. Many are paroled.
The colony is being reduced constantly. Kalihi hospital, at
Honolulu, no longer sends lepers to Molokai. The doctors check
the disease there.
In ten years, say the health authorities, Molokai may only be
a historic name.
And over there in Kalawao there works a man, Brother Joseph
Dutton, a Catholic lay brother, who has been at Kalawao in
charge of the Baldwin Home for Boys for forty years. He has
never left the Settlement since he went there and has been to
Kalaupapa but few times.
We was a Wisconsin young man who entered the Civil War,
in the Union Army and became a lieutenant, an aide to several
generals, among them General Granger. After the war he served
with the federal government for years and particularly at Mem
phis.
For penance for what he says was a "loose life" at Memphis,
when he indulged in worldly pleasures, he suddenly decided to
renounce the world, ,and went to a monastery, and learning of
Molokai, asked to be sent there to aid the sufferers. His request
was granted.
Brother Dutton is a lovable man, now nearly eighty years of
age. He works day and night. He is a tireless reader and
numbers among his correspondents some 500 people on the main
land. He receives no pay. He lives only to do good to his fellow
man. The venerable brother is a worthy successor to the martyr
Father Damien, who contracted and died of the disease while
priest for the lepers. Brother Dutton is one of the world's heroes.
IN VAN OF MORAL , ACHIEVEMENTS 191
Hawaii, if it contributed little else to the world, is entitled to
the fervent prayers of mankind for its discovery of the method
by which leprosy, world-old, may be checked and destroyed.
CHAPTER XVI
GREATEST SWORDSMAN OF PACIFIC
CAPT. AHIA'S DUEL
FROM the heights of Puowaina (Punchbowl Hall), behind
Honolulu, from the sheltering* groves of cocoanut trees and
from every point of vantage in Honolulu that great day
back in the 40's of last century, thousands of Hawaiians and
even the white residents of the city, focused their eyes upon a
foreign frigate that rode at anchor off Waikiki, watching with
undivided attention two flags that hung limply against the masts.
Suddenly, when the foreign flag dropped and fluttered, guns
boomed upon Punchbowl Hill and the islanders knew that Ha
waii's honor had been upheld by the mightiest swordman of
Polynesia and one of Europe's master fencers had been humbled.
Upon the deck of the British warship that day stood Captain
Ahia, captain of the Mamalahoa Guard at the old Honolulu fort
and a master-at-arms to Kauikeouli (Kamehameha III), king
of Hawaii, and opposing him was an admiral of the British navy.
They femteci, thrust and parried, each "feeling the blade" and
awaiting an opening through the other's defence, while British
and Hawaiians stood in deep ranks around the master swords
men of two countries.
When it was over the Hawaiian captain was declared victor
in the presence of the king. The latter believed that his officer
would be victor, for had not Ahia been followed from the coral
shores of Oahu to His Britannic Majesty's ship by the prayers of
the king's astrologer and had not the king himself sent the Ha
waiian aboard pledged to win ?
Of all the annals of the fighting warriors of the Hawaiian
nation none approaches in dramatic and historic interest this
GREATEST SWORDSMAN OF PACIFIC 193
fencing duel fought by Captain Ahia and the British admiral, a
contest which became possible only when the admiral had cau
tiously inquired of Kamehameha III if such a contest could not
be arranged. The duel has never heretofore been recorded in
print.
Ahia was the most famous sword handler of the Hawaiian
monarchy. The art, brought to its zenith by him, was apparent
ly lost at his death, and skillful swordsmanship and fame to Ha
waii came only again when Victor Houston, a part-Hawaiian on
his mother's side, son of Admiral Houston of the United States
Navy, went to Annapolis and became the most famous swords
man of the academy and later of the navy.
Little is known of this fencing contest except by the word of
mouth narrative of a nephew of Captain Ahia, who related the
incident to me only a year ago. George Pekelo Kalawaia Ahia,
who long ago passed four score years, now approaching ninety,
until recently a resident of the picturesque Mormon village of Laie,
Oahu, and now a successful homesteader on Hawaii, was a boy
at the time of the contest, and a constant companion of his hero
uncle. From this uncle, he, too, learned the rudiments of mili
tary drill. In a way, George Pekelo Kalawaia Ahia, and his
cousin, Abraham Ahia, may be termed the first Boy Scouts of
the Pacific for the sovereign after watching the little fellows
play at being soldiers one day down in the fort, ordered little
uniforms for them and asked them to drill for him whenever
he visited the place.
It was while George was a small boy that the foreign admiral
visited Honolulu and the fencing contest was held. George was
like the small boy of any period in history or of any race, for
he "followed the crowd" that glorious day. He knew of the
arrangement for signalling with flags to designate the victor,
and he heard the guns boom on Punchbowl Hill. Was he not
the son of an officer of the Hawaiian guard and did he not hear
the story of the contest related by Ahia's fellow officers, and
did he not also actually hear Captain Ahia tell of the famous
meeting with the admiral? But George always thought Ahia
194 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
killed the admiral, and he cannot now recall the name of the
warship.
George's memory, however, is still keen. He walks as upright
as a man of fifty or sixty. His reminiscences of the reign of Ka-
mehameha III are deep with romantic interest. He himself was
the son of Kalawaia and of Liloa, the latter being the sister of
Captain Ahia, George was "brought up" by Ahia in the fort in
his younger days, the fort which half a century and more ago
was demolished. There were many well-known officer in the
fort in the 40's, Kauiliokamoa and Kahoohulimoku and Maikai,
the latter a major on the staff, and aide to Kauikeouli. His son,
who became Major Maikai, also was an aide on the staff of King
Kalakaua.
The fort was always of interest to Kamehameha. He visited
it often and the guard turned out in his honor and so did the
small boys. When he was told that the boys were Ahia's, the
king smiled and said:
"Well, the kingdom is well protected."
Ahia showed the boys something of his fencing art. They saw
him fence with other Hawaiian officers, but it was always Ahia
who won. Ahia became great throughout the kingdom because
of his prowess with the sword and rapier.
Young chiefs and princes came to the fort to watch the little
boys drill and to see Captain Ahia wield his famous sword, and
His Majesty laughed heartily when his "Boy Soldiers" drilled.
Those were great days for young George.
"Those boys are going to be brave soldiers, just like their
fathers," the boys heard the king remark.
The boys were very close to the king, they thought, for they
were the sons and relatives of men high in the service of the
king, and George says he was named for Capt. George Beckley,
one of Kamehameha the Great's English officers.
Then there was Paakai, the astrologer of the king, who was
much in evidence.
One day there sailed up from the horizon a great English war
ship which dropped its anchor in the Bay of Waikiki and the
admiral came ashore and paid his respects to the king. It soon
GREATEST SWORDSMAN OF PACIFIC 195
became known that the admiral was a master hand at fencing.
He remarked to Kamehameha that he had heard many of the
Hawaiian officers were experts in the use of the sword and knew
the art of fencing. Before returning to his ship the admiral
said he would like to cross swords with the king's best swords
man.
The suggestion amounted to a challenge. No one in all Ha
waii received the challenge with more avidity than the king
himself. He was proud of the record of Ahia in whom he
placed the utmost confidence, for Ahia had measured swords
with many visitors from Europe and had always shown his skill.
The knowledge that there was a brilliant swordsman in Hawaii
had been carried back to many naval bases of Europe, for Ha
waii was visited in those early days by the frigates of England,
France, Russia and America. George Pekelo assumes that the
British admiral already knew of Ahia's prowess when he arrived
at Honolulu.
A message was sent from the palace to the fort summoning
all the officers before the king. They responded in a body.
"I have called you all to come before me and you have quickly
obeyed/' remarked the monarch. After a pause he spoke again :
"Who of you will be willing to go aboard the warship and
fence with the master swordsman there?"
No one replied.
The king turned to Captain Ahia.
"Ahia, will you consent to fence this foreigner?"
"I will go, your Majesty," replied the captain of the Mamala-
hoa Guard. "Are we to play lightly, or will it be for life and
death?"
Ahia had come down from a period in Hawaii's history when
sword and spear contests meant life or death.
Kauikeouli was taken aback at his captain's query, and yet
desiring that there should be a meeting between these two men,
he repeated the words of Ahia to the admiral, saying that the
Hawaiian apparently wished to fight until one or the other was
wounded. The admiral replied, so George Pekelo's narrative
continues :
196 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
'That is the rule of fencing/'
"Then the king, the lord of Ahia/' says George Pekelo, "turn
ed to his master-at-arms and said : 'The admiral says that is the
rule.5 "
The bridge was crossed, and the contest was arranged, but
the king spoke again to Ahia :
"Do you consent to fence this foreigner under these condi
tions?"
"Yes," replied Ahia.
Kauikeouli was thoughtful for a moment and then thanked
Ahia by saying, "He naniia ua ae mai la oe?" (It is grand that
you have consented). Ahia was still clinging to the idea that
the contest would be one for blood when he attracted his sover
eign's attention again remarking : "This art was learned for life
or death/'
Where would the contest take place ? • The king asked the ad
miral for advice. The mariner suggested the deck of the war
ship. Pekelo believes the admiral felt this would be safe in
case any accident happened to Ahia, the idol of the Hawaiians.
Turning to Ahia the king gave final authority to his captain to
enter the contest.
"You will fence on board the ship at nine o'clock tomorrow
morning; I will be there to witness."
The king called Kauili-o-ka-m'oa and Kaaipuaa, another officer :
"Get the guns on Punchbowl ready," he commanded.
Guns were mounted on the top of Puowaina and in the fort
but he wanted only the guns on the hill used to announce vic
tory in the coming contest between the champion of all Polynesia
and the acknowledged peer of any swordsman in Europe. Ka
uikeouli called his courtiers and said:
"Apopo hora 9, a i ole hora 10 paha, e lanakila a haulepio ai
o Hawaii nei; aia ia ma ka lima o Ahia." — ("Tomorrow at 9
o'clock, and perhaps at 10 o'clock, Hawaii will be Either victorious
or defeated; it is all in the hand of Ahia").
It was enough to cause any soldier to fight to the death for
the honor of his country. A spokesman for the courtiers replied :
"E ola mau o Hawaii aole e make; e ola oe i ke akua o ka
GREATEST SWORDSMAN OF PACIFIC 197
honua nei ; e ola i ke akua o ka lani ; e ola ko kanaka ; amama ua
noa." — (Long live Hawaii, she shall not die; live thou, a god of
the earth; and live, the Almighty God of the heavens; and let
thy man live; amen).
It was arranged that when the king should leave the land and
go aboard the warship both the crown flag and the merchant
flag of Hawaii should be raised aboard the ship. Then the king
spoke to Kaaikapuaa, the officer of artillery:
"Watch the flag of Hawaii ; if it is hauled down half mast then
you will know Hawaii is defeated by the foreigner, and the
ship's gun will be fired. If the ship's flag is hauled down half
mast then you will know that Hawaii is victorious. Then you
must fire the guns on Puowaina."
His Majesty, his court, Captain Ahia, and other officers were
received with honors aboard the warship the next morning. It
was a bright, sunny, typically Hawaiian day. The king was
given a place of vantage from which to view the contest. Around
him were his staff and courtiers. The ship's officers were group
ed opposite while the crew occupied places up the rat-lines and
on the spars, for they, too, knew the skill of their chief.
The admiral and Ahia both removed their coats and turned
back their sleeves to give free play to arm and wrist. The
weapons were measured and handed the contestants.
"Who will have the honor of the first stroke?" inquired the
captain. His Majesty replied:
"You, admiral, shall have the first stroke, according to our
compact."
Ahia asked again about the first stroke, whereupon the ad
miral is reported to have replied : "We will both advance at the
same time ; I strike and you defend ; you strike and I defend ; all
according to the rules."
This is George P'ekelo's recollection of the passage of words
as he heard them all afterwards related by the officers in the
fort, for the discussion of the contest was not a nine-day's wonder
in Hawaii. It was spoken of for years.
Then the weapons flashed in the sun and both thrust to "feel
the blade." The foreigner lunged and Ahia parried. Ten times
198 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
the blades whipped each other. The admiral lunged and thrust
and each effort was parried. The admiral had used what the
Hawaiians called the "English method/' but, says George Pekelo,
Ahia had been taught this method by Capt. George Beckley, the
Englishman, whose daughter, later on, he had married. The
fencers rested.
"Are you afraid?" asked the king of Ahia. The Hawaiian
shook his head, whereupon the king is said to have added : "Thou
must not fear."
*'Na kaua ka ai o keia la," said Ahia. (The game belongs this
day to us.) The king smiled.
Again the swords were brought into play and ten strokes made
the blades sing. They were strokes of the French method. As
king asked of Ahia: "What kind of a sword is his?73 Ahia told
before, Ahia parried them, and with ease. They rested. The
king asked of Ahia: "What kind of a sword is his?" He told
of the new method and said he had no fear of the result.
At this time the people ashort saw both flags up, but the foreign
flag was hanging limp. With the superstitious intuition of the
race the people felt this was a good omen for Hawaii.
More strokes followed after the rest and the Teuton style of
fencing passed in review before the spectators. The foreigner
is said to have become angry and impatient for none of his strokes
had made an impression upon the Hawaiian. At no time was he
able to break down Ahia's guard. Ahia spoke quietly to the
king and expressed his belief that the admiral was weakening
in his offense, and concluded in poetic Hawaiian:
"O, heavenly one, the game this hour, is ours."
The swords struck and sung and the fencing become more
violent. The feet struck the deck more forcibly as each shifted
in offense and defense, but it was not until the Spanish method
was employed that Ahia's sword passed through the Briton's
guard and the Hawaiian's weapon inflicted a wound upon the
admiral's breast. The foreigner fell forward.
Immediately the foreign flag was lowered. The crowds saw
the ensign flutter downward and soon Captain Kaaipuaa's guns
on Punchbowl spake their message of victory to the thousands in
Kamehameha IV (Alexander lolani Liholiho), polished society man,
whose receptions and levees were truly royal. He was elegant
of manner. His queen, Emma, was an accomplished
and charming consort.
GREATEST SWORDSMAN OF PACIFIC 199
Honolulu, the boom being heard out on the Plains, in Nuuanu
Valley and down toward Moanalua. And all the time Ahia was
fencing the astrologer ashore was praying. He was the grand
uncle of Ahia.
It was one of the greatest days in the reign of King Kameha-
meha III, and Hawaii became noted then in those days as 'The
Land of the Swordsman/'
That Ahia should have known so many methods was due to
the catholicity of foreigners dwelling in Honolulu at that time.
From Captain Beckley he learned the English method; from
Jose, a Spaniard in Captain Beckley's employ, he learned the
Spanish method. French warships had come here and from
officers he learned their art and perfected even what he had
learned until his wrist was more supple and his eye more certain
than those of any adversaries he met.
Prince Kinau (Liliulani), who was a familiar figure on the
parade ground of the old Honolulu fort, as a youth, to teach his
friends while they were drilling as "boy scouts/' was the son of
Princess Ruth Keelikolani and the High Chief William Pitt
Leleiohoku I.
He was one of the most ambitious and promising of the young
princes of the Kamehameha realm. It is believed by old Ha-
waiians today that had he lived he would have become a real and
constructive leader of the Hawaiian people. He had a splendid
physique and a magnetic personality. The glance of his eyes
made him friends everywhere. The words of the song everybody
in Hawaii knows today, composed in his honor then, runs :
"E Liliulani e, noho nani mai." — ("Oh, Liliulani, thou who
sits in splendor").
This young prince, possibly through influence of others, be
came obsessed with the idea of obtaining as much chiefly holdings
as possible from the king. On the occasion of his birthday
anniversary he asked the king to let him have all the lands whose
names began with "Wai," meaning water, such as Waimea (Ha
waii), Waianae (Oahu), Waikapu (Maui), Wailuku, Waihee,
Waialua (Oahu), Waikane (Oahu) and so on.
When the chiefs heard of this remarkable request, -for those
200 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
were the days of feudal ownership vested in the king, and lands
such as these held important rights upon the land, they reminded
the sovereign that this was asking too much, particularly as the
prince, who was only seventeen, was also very wealthy in his
own right. He was always known as the Prince of Kona. His
request was refused.
After his death all his people and a noted priest made the
accusation that he had been poisoned, and the whole of Kona was
enraged over his death, because such news had been whispered
about.
CHAPTER XVII
THE "GREAT MAHELE" OF KAMEHAMEHA III
MONARCH YIELDS HIS RIGHTS
MONARCH of all he surveyed after the Battle of Nuuanu
and particularly after the king of Kauai lowered his
kahili to Kamehameha the Great in 1810, Kamehameha
the Great was the Conqueror in reality. He regarded all the
lands of the Islands as his, to deal with 'as he chose. He was
supreme in authority. He was the State.
Feudal rights were those of the King. The chiefs, even Jthe
greatest of them all, were subject to his will even to the places
of their abodes. There was no written law. Only an unwritten
constitution was extant. The king apportioned lands to his
chiefs according to their rank and services. They must serve
him with their spears, and their fish ponds and taro fields must
give a portion of the yields to the sovereign. He appointed
Governors to replace the old system of district chieftains, and
these appointed tax collectors. Justice must be dispensed and
these Governors, acting for the king, were the judges.
The king created a sort of council, comprising the four great
Kona chiefs who had raised him to the throne. They were the
twin brothers Kameeiaumoke and Kamanawa, their half-brother,
Keeaumoku, and Keaweheulu. These, with Kalanimoku, the1
custodian or treasurer, were regarded as the supreme council.
At this time both John Young and Isaac Davis, the two foreign
ers who had been detained in the Islands, and who had married
into noble Hawaiian families, were understood to be permitted
to give advice, particularly as foreign ships and mariners were
beginning to call at the Islands. When the king knew death
was approaching he selected Kaahumanu, his favorite queen,
202 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
to be the kuhina nui, or premier, although his direct heir was
his son, Liholiho, or Kamehameha IL The contrast between the
mighty, intellectual Kamehameha I, and his less energetic, less
wise, less warrior-like son, were too great for even the Con
queror not to notice. Kaahumanu was vested with the power
of veto, to check Liholiho's authority as king.
The Council of Chiefs acted when Kamehameha II left the
Islands to visit England in 1823, to decide upon the regency,
and later, when news of his death came from London, in 1825,
to decide upon the succession to the throne, when Kauikeouli,
son of Keopuolani, the "Queen Mother," was selected as king.
The council made a treaty with Commodore Catesby Jones,
U. S. N., in 1826. In 1827 the Council authorized the publica
tion of laws in 1827, when the Mission press was used to placard
them, the first being a law relating to port dues.
Kamehameha III was a mere youth when called to the throne
and for years a Regency was necessary, with the Council of Chiefs
acting in his authority. In later years the Council of Chiefs
became the House of Nobles, or upper house of the Island parlia
ment. The common people, says Professor Alexander, had no
political rights of any kind up to 1839.
As the Islands came into the ken of other nations and became
a center of shipping, and as foreigners came to reside in the
Islands, it was seen that the old feudal system could not endure.
It was an anachronism. The Council sent to the United States
in 1836 for a legal adviser and instructor in civil government.
This effort failed and Mr. Richards, of the mission circle, was
chosen in 1838 to be adviser and interpreter. He was released
by the American Mission and in 1839 entered upon his duties
by delivering a series of lectures on the science of government to
the king and his court at Lahaina in 1839.
About this time the first code of laws and the Declaration of
Rights were drawn up, the first preliminary draft being made
by a native graduate of Lahainaluna school, established under
the mission on Maui, the formation of section by section being
directed by the king. This document, which was something after
the order of the Magna Charta, although procured in peace, was
"GREAT MEHELE" OF KAMEHAMEHA III 203
read to the king and chiefs who spent days and weeks discussing
it, while it was re-written and re-drawn. The revised draft was
read and accepted, and on a third reading was approved with all
amendments by the king and published June 7, 1839, forming a
pamphlet of twenty-four pages.
The first Constitution was drawn up in 1840 m a similar man
ner and approved by the general Council of Chiefs. It was then
signed by the king and the premier, Kekauluohi, the mother of
King Lunalilo, and proclaimed October 8, 1840.
Step by step Hawaii was passing from feudalism to constitu
tionalism. The influence of the Bible and the American Declara
tion of Independence shows in the Declaration of Rights. Pro
fessor Alexander says the Constitution was written first in Ha
waiian and shows unmistakeable influence of the Hawaiians in
drawing it up.
For the first time foreigners in the Islands felt that they were
secure in personal rights, for there was now a written code,
whereas previously matters of life and death rested with the
king and his Council. The Declaration of Rights guaranteed
religious liberty, and priests, ministers, pastors and communicants
of all faiths were free to carry on their sect work in the Islands.
But no lands could be conveyed without the consent of the
king. Land forfeited for non-payment of taxes reverted to him
alone. He had the direction of government property and
of the various taxes. He was to make treaties and receive am
bassadors, and was commander-in-chief of the armies, and he
had power to make war in times of emergency, in the absence of
the chiefs, or when they could not be assembled, and above all he
should be the chief judge of the Supreme Court.
In the discourse on the change from the old to the new system,
Professor Alexander has traced the movement with a skillful
pen. The singular office of kuhina nui, or premier, he says, was
continued, the premier's office to be "the same as that of Kaahu-
manu by the will of Kamehameha I." All business should be
done by the premier under the authority of the king. "The king
shall not act without the knowledge of the premier, nor the
premier without the knowledge of the king, and the veto of the
204 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
king on the acts of the premier shall arrest the business/' so said
this "remarkable document. The four governorships authorized
by Kamehameha I were perpetuated, covering the islands of
Oahu, Kauai, Matii and Hawaii.
Here enters the Hawaiian parliament with the House of Nobles,
composed of fourteen hereditary nobles, together with the king
and premier, and a number of Representatives to be chosen by
the people. The two houses could sit separately or consult to
gether at their discretion. A Supreme Court was established,
consisting of the king and premier and four judges, to be ap
pointed by the legislature. It was simply and loosely drawn
throughout, but it was a beginning.
On November 28, 1843, France and Great Britain acknowledged
the existence in the "Sandwich Islands" of a government capable
of providing for the regularity of its relations with foreign na
tions." On May 20, 1845, the Legislature was formally opened
for the first time by the king in person, with appropriate cere
monies, which were retained until the monarchy passed in 1893.
On June 20, 1851, a joint resolution was passed by both houses
of the Legislature, and approved by the king, providing for the
appointmnt of a commission to revise the existing Constitution.
The king chose Dr. G. P. Judd, the Nobles John li, and the
representatives Chief Justice Lee. The new draft was submitted
to the Legislature by Judge Lee and was finally approved by
both houses of the Legislature June 14, 1852, and went into effect
December 6, 1852.
The office of Kuhina Nui was retained as a kind of vice-king,
out of deference to the feelings of the chiefs.
For the succeeding twelve years the Constitution worked as
well as could be expected, remarks Professor Alexander. There
was considerable friction between the two houses, however,
principally on money bills. During this time the brothers, Alex
ander and Lot, of the royal family, both of whom became kings,
were jealous of the American influence in the government and
never approved of the radical changes made during the reign of
Kamehameha III, believing them to be unsuited to their people.
Immediately after the death of Kamehameha IV, on Novem-
Mary Ann Pittman Ailau, in her
gown as a bridesmaid of
Queen Emma, wife of Kame-
hameha IV. She was the
granddaughter of the High
Chief Hoolulu, who concealed
the bones of Kamehameha the
Great.
Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli),
who gave his subjects a Bill of
Rights, their first constitution,
their first lands, when he signed
away the ancient feudal system
and gave Hawaii a modern legis
lative government.
"GREAT MEHELE" OF KAMEHAMEHA III 205
ber 30, 1863, Prince Lot Kamehameha was proclaimed king under
the title of Kamehameha V. For a year the Legislature was
not convened, for he had declared before he assumed the crown
that he would never take the oath to maintain the Constitution.
He called for a constitutional convention, and made a tour of the
Islands explaining and defending the changes which he desired
to make in the Constitution. Like Louis of France, he believed
"I am the State." The convention met and discussed a new
constitution but failed to produce anything, and the king declared
it to be abrogated, and on August 20, 1864, Kamehameha pro
claimed a new Constitution upon his own authority, which was
submitted to without resistance and continued in force for 23
years. It was a coup d'etat.
There were fewer changes in the Constitution than anticipated.
It was a mere revision of the Constitution of 1852. The useless
office of Kuhina Nui was abolished and due provision made for
a Regency in case of the minority of the heir to the throne or of
the absence of the monarch from the Islands. The number of
Nobles was limited to twenty, and Representatives to be not less
than twenty-four nor more than forty. Each voter was re
quired to own property worth above all incumbrances $150. The
voter was also required, if born since 1840, to know how to read
and write. Judges could not be removed without a two-thirds
majority of the Legislature, for good cause shown to the satis
faction of the king. The powers of, the Privy Council were di
minished.
In the opinion of Alexander, the election of Lunalilo to be
king (the last of the Kamehatnehas) was in great part due to the
popular disapproval of the arbitrary rule of Kamehameha V.
The most important change in the Constitution under Lunalilo
was the abrogation of the property qualification of voters. An
other was requiring the Legislature to sit separately in two houses
instead of jointly. In July, 1874, while Kalakaua was king, the
first amendment was duly ratified, but the second one lost.
The legislative session of 1884 saw a law passed giving the
king sole power to appoint district judges through his appointees,
the governors, and without the advice of the judges of the Su-
206 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
preme Court. At the elections in 1886 almost all the candidates
of the royalist party were office holders. The personal inter^
ference of the king in politics is said to have been carried to an
extreme unheard of before, while the constitutional precedents
of former reigns were wholly disregarded. Alexander expressed
the opinion that the government was in a fair way to revert to
despotism, when a revolution broke in 1887, and Kalakua was
compelled, in lieu, of losing his crown, to sign and proclaim a
new Constitution. This put an end to personal government for
it made the ministry responsible only to the people through the
Legislature and widened the suffrage to include foreigners, who
were practically debarred from naturalization under the existing
Constitution. - •
One article of the Declaration of Rights that read, i4The
king's private lands and other property are inviolable," was
dropped. The king's veto power was limited. The Legislature
could over-ride his veto. Foreigners were given the right to
vote. A new and most important article was added as follows :
''Wherever by this Constitution any act is to be done or per
formed by the king or sovereign, it shall, unless otherwise ex
pressed, mean that such act shall be done and performed by the
sovereign by and with the advice and consent of the Cabinet."
Queen Liliuokalani attempted to change the Constitution to
give personal power back to the sovereign and she prorogued
the Legislature, this act sounding the knell of her queenship and
of the monarchy of Hawaii, for on January 17, 1893, the monarchy
was declared at an end and a republican form of government was
set up, under the title of Provisional Government of Hawaii.
The American flag was hoisted and *a commission was sent to
Washington to ask that the Islands be taken into the American
Union. President Harrison approved, but as he went out of
office shortly afterward, President Cleveland took a counter view
of the situation and ordered the American flag lowered. The
Hawaiian flag was again hoisted.
"GREAT MEHELE" OF KAMEHAMEHA III 207
The United States government disapproved of the course pur
sued in Hawaii, but nothing came of the situation until on July
6, 1898, Congress passed a Joint Resolution of Annexation which
was signed the following day by President McKinley, thereby
declaring that Hawaii had been annexed to the United States and
a territorial government was to be established. Sanford B. Dole
was then President of Hawaii and in 1900 he was appointed by
President McKinley as Hawaii's first territorial governor.
CHAPTEE XVIII
GOLDEN COURT OF THE KAMEHAMEHAS
REGAL DAYS OF HONOLULU
STREETS that were hard with crushed lava of a dark hue,
and coral that was white, shaded by trees transplanted
from various parts of the tropical world— pines from Nor
folk island, the kukui (candle-nut), from Hawaii's own forests,
the tamarind, the kamani with its great spreading limbs and big
leaves ; monkey-pods which stretched umbrellas of foliage far
out over the streets and gardens; the rubber tree from South
America; the algaroba from Mexico, first planted in Honolulu
by Father Bachelot, a Catholic priest in 1828, the trunk of the
parent tree still revered in the Catholic cathedral premises; the
China rose-tree, whose crimson flowers are in bloom the year
round; the lichee nut from China; the mango from India; the
avocado whose luscious fruit comes with the spring; the bread
fruit from Tahiai ; the cocoanut, some tall some short ; the koa,
hard and more beautiful than polished mahogany when cut and
fashioned, but gradually disappearing from Honolulu and from
the forests even as sandal wood has utterly disappeared; with
myriads of flowering shrubs, the oleander, the hibiscus, today
represented in Hawaii by nearly SOOO cross-plantings; the guava,
orange, citron, fig, papaia, whose delicious fruit was long neg
lected as a breakfast appetizer — all these trees made Honolulu
a garden beautiful back in the days of Kamehameha IV and V,
when Honolulu was emerging from its former feudalism and
coming into contact with commerce, and soon to gain a foothold
as a great sugar producing country, the basis of all prosperity
in Hawaii.
GOLDEN COURT OF KAMEHAMEHAS 209
This was the setting- of Honolulu in the golden reigns of
Kamehameha IV and V, when Queen Emma, beautiful consort
of Kamehameha IV, became known as a most gracious sovereign
and wife, whose nobility of character, her knowledge and de
meanor won for her the ecomiums of praise from Queen Vic
toria and dignitaries of England when Emma visited London.
In those days the gardens were quaint, fragrant and homey;
the cottages were sheltered beneath the shade of the trees, and
all had wide verandas (lanais), where the families spent many
hours of the day and evening. The doors were always open;
there was always welcome. Water from mountain springs made
the gardens luxuriant, and though near the sea, nearly all cottages
had coral-built plunge baths.
Kamehameha IV, a son of the Queen Regent Kinau, who was
premier of the kingdom many years during the reign of Kame
hameha III, and grandson of Kamehameha I, was born in 1834.
In 1856 he married Emma Rooke Naea, daughter by an Hawaiian
high chief of Fanny Young, who was a daughter of John Young, a
pilgrim father of Hawaii, who landed in Hawaii in 1790, and was
detained by Kamehameha the Great. He became a close friend of
the warrior-monarch and became the companion, philosopher,
chaplain and, finally, a lieutenant-general of his patron. Queen
Emma was the great granddaughter of Kealiimaikai, younger
brother of Kamehameha I. Kamehameha IV died in 1864.
Kamehameha V was born in 1830, also a son of Kinau. He
died at Honolulu, unmarried and without an heir, in December,
1872. His failure to designate an heir threw the rulership into
the legislature, which selected Lunalilo, of the Kamehameha
line, as king. He reigned but a year, had no heirs, failed, also,
to designate his successor and once more threw the selection of
a king into the legislature, each action being one more move
toward the final dissolution of the monarchy during the reign of
Liliuokalani in 1893.
The Kamehamehas had leaned toward the British and had
their line been continued the history of these islands may have
been another story. The Kalakaua dynasty did not incline so
thoroughly in the direction of England, but more toward Amer-
210 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
ica for It was Kalakaua who personally sought at Washington
a Reciprocity Treaty under which eventually the great prosperity
of the Islands came. m
The hopes of the Hawaiians for the perpetuation of the mon
archy and certainly of the line of the Kaniehamehas, were blasted
by the death of the little prince of Hawaii (Ka Haku o Hawaii)
Albert Edward, the Polynesian Prince of Wales. The Hawaiians
were deeply saddened by his death when he was only a mere child.
Undoubtedly the passing of this brown-skinned boy had a great
influence in the destiny of the Hawaiian Islands, and, inf erentially,
may have had much to do with the kingdom coming into the
American Union as a territory. The Prince of Hawaii was the
only son of Alexander Liholiho (Kamehameha IV) and his con
sort, Queen Emma. His death hastened, the natives believe, that
of the king who was broken-hearted over the tragedy. After
their deaths, Queen was ever afterward known as Kaleleonalani
(The Departing Spirit of the Heavens).
Kamehameha V is said to have been the most kingly monarch
who occupied the throne of Hawaii. He believed in royalty;
was manly, dignified, sensible and physically great— character
istics which distinguished him from his subjects and gave him
much influence over them. He gave attention to all public matters,
was friendly to the Americans, and favored every measure that
tended to increase the commercial life of his country, and to make
the capital city of Honolulu attractive to foreigners.
His first act, on assuming the royal power, was to refuse to
take oath to the existing constitution of the kingdom.
Previous to 1840 the government had been an absolute mon
archy, dispensed by a king and a council of chiefs. In that year
the American missionaries induced Kamehameha III to sign a
bill of rights of the people and the chiefs and to approve of a
constitution by which the absolute rule and irresponsible authority
of a throne was to be exchanged for a government of which the
legislative power was vested in a king, a house of nobles, and
a house of representatives elected by the people. In 1852 the
same king assented to a constitution of a more democratic char
acter, which gave to each branch of the government a check
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GOLDEN COURT OF KAMEHAMEHAS 211
upon the other and granted suffrage to ail men who had attained
twenty years.
Kamehameha V disbelieved in the theory that all men are born
free and equal. He understood the nature of his own people
better than many who theorized for them. He wished to give
his office more importance in the administration of the govern
ment, and to limit the popular suffrage by a qualification of
personal income, and certain intellectual acquirements, to be
possessed by the elector and by the representative. He therefore
refused to take the oath when he came to the throne, but called a
convention to alter the constitution. In brief, he declared, like
Louis of France, "I Am The State."
The convention made a spirited and determined opposition
to his wishes. After five weeks of discussion the king lost pa
tience and made known his intention in a remarkable address.
He insisted that it was clear to him, if universal suffrage were
permitted, the government would soon lose its monarchial char
acter. He was a prophet. This actually occurred decades later.
Therefore, he abrogated the constitution and said: "I will give
you a new constitution."
The convention was dissolved. Within a week the king an
nounced a new constitution which remained the fundamental
law of the land until a change was forced from Kalakaua in
1887, another in 1889, and all constitutions were abrogated in
1893 when the throne was overturned.
The new constitution announced that "the kingdom is his."*
and centralized all political power into the hands of the king;
made his person sacred, his ministers responsible; -he ignored
the theory of "free and equal" birthright; and prescribed property
and certain educational accomplishments for a voter.
In the reign of Kamehameha many public improvements were
launched, such as public buildings, "But these improvements
reached their zenith in the reign of Kalakaua. His government
was animated by a spirit of enterprise befitting a larger sphere.
But what constituted the golden days of the reigns of the last
of the Kamehamehas? It was the isolated life of the people, far
away from other worlds, without wireless and telegraph, withoik:
212 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
telephones and automobiles, but there was an air of contentment.
Life went on slowly and charmingly. There was a plentitude of
provender from sea and land. Everything revolved about the
court. And here was a typical ceremony of the opening of the
parliament or legislature in the time of Kamehameha V; as
described by William R. Bliss :
The Parliament of Paradise meets in Honolulu on the last day
of April in each alternate April. Its meeting is an event which
astonishes the natives and gives the white people an opportunity
to air their well preserved fashions in the splendor of a royal
court.
A stranger can see that something unusual is at hand, from
the street sights. National, consular and society flags are flying
from the hundred flagstaffs which adorn the city. Natives
dressed in clean cottons, their hair sleek with cocoanut oil, their
heads adorned with strings of yellow mimosa-blossoms, are
shuffling along the sidewalks, and, mounted on shying ponies,
are loping through the streets. I encounter men in uniforms
rushing furiously toward the palace. Sauntering along the
street, under an umbrella to shield me from the tropical sun, I
meet white women in black silks and darker women in white
muslins wending their way to the courthouse — a large square
coral building on Fort street (now a part of the American
Factors, Ltd.) Its second story is the legislative hall until the
new parliament buildings are completed. At other times, it is
the chamber of the supreme court of the kingdom.
Spectators, admitted by tickets, occupy seats in the center of
the hall — the whites in front, the natives in the rear. In this
throng I recognized the oldest missionary and the latest invalid,
from the States, and between these two extremities, I see repre
sented all the gossip and fashion of Honolulu. In front are
seated the nobles and representatives comprising the legislature —
a curious mixture of Hawaiian and Anglo-Saxon men, of which
the Hawaiians are decidedly the best looking. On the right of
the rostrum are the ladies of the court, most of them Yankee
girls once. On the left sits the black-clothed minister of the
United States, the British and French commissioners, the officers
GOLDEN COURT OF KAMEHAMEHAS 213
of the British frigate "Scout/5 now in port, and the consular
corps, all in gold lace, gilt buttons, swords, and whatever else
adds pomp and circumstance to the occasion. There is an apothe
cary, consul for Austria; a whaleman's agent, consul for Italy;
an auctioneer, consul for Chili.
At 12 o'clock exactly the king leaves lolani Palace on King
street, and a salute is commenced at the battery on Punchbowl
Hill. In company with his chamberlain — a white man — he enters
a brouche drawn by four horses and is escorted by his staff on
horseback, and by the Hawaiian army which consists of two
companies of natives with a company of whites sandwiched be
tween them.
Now the procession has turned from King street into Fort
street ! for we who are waiting can hear the band playing the
favorite air, "Ten Thousand Miles Away," which has aroused
the town from its sleep many a morning lately. Soon we hear the
strains of "God Save the King," expressed with an extra quan
tity of base drum, and we know that the king is alighting from
his carnage in front of the courthouse.
In a few minutes the marshal of the kingdom enters and
throws over the chair of state the royal mantle, or mamo. This
is one of the treasures of the crown. It was the war-cloak of
Kamehameha I, made of bright yellow feathers taken from a
bird called the mamo, which was found only in the mountains.
As each bird furnished but two feathers for it, one from under
each wing, the birds required to supply the material were innum
erable. It is four feet long and spreads eleven feet at the bottom.
Nine generations of chiefs were occupied in making it. (It is
now in the Bishop Museum in a hermetically sealed case, and
open for the view of travelers once a month.) Of course every
body looks at this historical mantle with interest, but not for
long; for now there enter four native men in dark broadcloth
overcoats and capes, and black silk hats of stovepipe style, bear
ing the royal kahilis — emblems of the royal presence. These are
long staffs, whose upper part, for two or three feet from the top,
is covered with brilliant bird feathers of various colors, fixed at
right angles to it, looking like a gay chimney-sweep's brush.
214 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
These four men with kahilis erect, stand at the four corners of
the rostrum ; when now enters the chancellor head of the supreme
court of the kingdom (a New England born gentleman) ; then
the King, Kamehameha V; then, at a respectful distance, the
ministers and staff officers — all white men in brilliant uniforms.
I cannot repress a smile at the appearance of these civilized
men, caparisoned with barbaric glory ! There is our American-
born banker, a scarlet ribbon around his neck, from which hangs
the sparkling insignia of Hawaiian knighthood. There is the
little minister of finance, an excellent American-born dentist.
There is the tall, scheming minister of foreign affairs, also
minister of the navy that is yet to be, and of war not yet de
clared, once an American lawyer. There is the dignified minister
of the interior, general manager and police supervisor of the
kingdom, once a crusty Scotch physician. There is the attorney-
general of the crown, who recently went to New England and
married a wife. All these are in cocked hats and blue broad
cloth, with gilt bands, laces and decorations ; their rapiers buckled
at their sides, and they themselves appearing to be very uncom
fortable.
When the King enters the hall the audience rises and every
eye is turned upon him. He looks like a King; large, tall, broad-
shouldered, dignified, portly, self-possessed. He is faultlessly
attired in a blue dress coat with gilt buttons, black trousers, white
vest and white kid gloves. He walks deliberately to the chair,
like a man who understands what is expected of him. After a
prayer in Hawaiian, by the archdeacon of the Episcopal church,
the assembly rises to its feet while the king stands up and reads
from a page in *a velvet folio his speech to the legislature, in the
Hawaiian tongue. Then he turns the page and reads the same
in English. He congratulates the legislature on the permanent
establishment of steam communication between the Islands and
California, and the Australian Colonies, considering the money
devoted to that object wisely expended. He says that agricul
ture is the life of the nation, and has repaid those who have pur
sued it during the past two years; that, since their adjournment,
he has signed a treaty of amity and commerce with the Emperor
GOLDEN COURT OF KAMEHAMEHAS 215
of Japan; that the proposed Treaty of Reciprocity with the
United States has not been ratified. He informs them of the
death of Queen Kalama, wife of Kamehameha III, and with the
customary generalities about education, justice, peace and pros
perity, he concludes with the words, "We do now declare the
legislature of the Kingdom opened" — "Ke kukala ia ku nei ua
weheia keia Ahaolelo Kau Kanawai o ke Aupuni."
Then he retires to an adjoining room, where he receives the
congratulations of those who have a right to receive them.
Entering his carriage, he is driven at full speed to the palace;
the natives crowding along the sidewalks after him, saying to
each other, "Ka Moi ! Ka Moi!" — "The King! The King!" and
his four kahili-bearers running by the side of the carriage, each
one trying to keep his place by the wheel The staff officers
gallop pell-mell after him; the immense army marches leisurely
back to its quarters, following the noise band ; and the legislature
adjourns until the morrow. So Bliss wrote of a colorful historic
function Hawaii nei.
That describes a typical official day in Honolulu during the
reigns of the Kamehamehas. It was so during the reign of King
Kalakaua. He was kingly, dignified, soft-voiced, speaking in the
purest English, suave, polished, courteous, and who in time was
surrounded by those who loved the little opera-bouffe court, and
Hawaii was lauded to the skies by travelers, poets, writers,
musicians. All were golden days.
The court life of the Kamehamehas commanded the admira
tion of distinguished royal guests of foreign nations when a
coterie of beautiful Hawaiian women comprised the train of
Queen Emma, whose charm of manner and face caused many a
heart-flutter among the foreigners who were guests of the mon
arch. Of all that galaxy of Hawaiian beauty only one or two re
main alive in this year of 1922, and like Empress Eugenie, the
most beautiful woman upon a European throne in her time,
these survivors have become obscure as time and politics have
changed the trend of their lives and careers. Of all who gath
ered about the court of Kamehameha IV as court ladies, only the
High Chiefess Kekaniau Pratt survives.
216 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
The days of the reigns of Kamehameha IV and V, viewed
from the present time, may be regarded as indolent ones, but
it was a period when every beau and belle, every matron and
maid had been measured, weighed, appraised and set in place in
the social circle. There was much warm social life in Honolulu.
Men and women from all nations formed the social community.
The sentiment of Honolulu society was the sentiment of the
songs which B'ora sang to David Copperfield — "generally to
the effect, that, whatever was the matter, we ought always to
dance." It was pleasing to see with what enjoyment both white
and Hawaiian Honolulu tripped the light fantastic toe; whether
the occasion was to be a reception of the officers of a visiting
frigate, the christening of a new hotel, a fire company's jubilee,
the marrage of a belle, or a birthday anniversary, the host on
the latter occasion, commencing it with a picnic in the country
and ending with an exhaustive dance in town, A king at hand
was the leader of society. Queen-Dowager Emma was next,
who sometimes summoned society to dance at her pleasant home
in Nuuanu, called by the everlasting name of Hanaiakamalama.
Next were the cabinet ministers and so on down the line.
On the arrival of a war ship the officers were presented to the
king at his palace, always at noonday, when the sunlight glistens
with best effect upon the resplendent gold of scabbards, buttons,
epaulets and laces. The visit is soon returned by the king",
attended by his staff and cabinet, by the governor and his staff.
The wives must also go. Good wines are always in the lockers
of the frigate, and good dancers in her wardroom. The frigate
mans her yards, fires a royal salute, gives her guests to eat and
to drink and sends them ashore with noisy courtesies. The
officers of the ship are now welcome to the hospitalities of so
ciety.
On a succeeding day two or three foreign consuls may
be seen pulling off quietly in a boat to visit the frigate, take a
drink, and receive a salute; after which they return as quietly
to their shops and relate the adventure. Until the 19th amend
ment was adopted the best cocktails were always to be mixed
in the cabin of the captain and in the wardroom of the frigates,
GOLDEN COURT OF KAMEHAMEHAS 217
then the steam wooden-walled warships, and until recently the
leviathan steel battlecruisers of the modern day.
"Steamer day" was the most important day of all, for the mails
came, and for a few days the town was agog with interest, the
latest gossip, and then gradually eased down to await the next
mail steamer.
CHAPTER XIX
MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX
COURT OF BOHEMIANS.
THOSE were bright-hued decades of Hawaii when Kame-
hameha III reigned, back in the 40's and 50's of last cen
tury, the years of the full skirts made from brocaded Chi
nese silks and satins brought to Honolulu by traders; the days
of the odd shaped holoku (mother-hubbard) with the leg-o?-
mutton sleeves; the days when the shoulders of the women,
especially those of the royal court and of society, were draped
with Chinese shawls and the coiffures were surmounted by high-
backed Spanish tortoise-shell combs brought from Mexico' and
South America, and because of the combs and mantillas and bro
cades it was a court savoring much of Spanish and Chinese in
fluence in the modes. In the early part of his reign the era of the
Ancient tapa (fiber cloth) covering for women was passing and
they were yielding to the insistent call of civilization's decrees in
raiment. It was a period when the men rode vaquero-style with
tasseled sashes of brilliant colors, embroidered silk "shirts, broad-
brimmed hats, and jingling spurs, for the Spanish saddles were
incomplete without these accouterments, even to the whip stocks.
It was a lavender-scented period when Kamehameha IV and
his lovely queen, Emma Kaleleonalani, occupied the throne.
Royalty felt the influence of the British court and its require
ments for the conduct of the social" functions, the era when the
Victorian influence pervaded civilization's realm. Both Kameha
meha IV and V, aside from their own personal manner, had
acquired a polish in foreign lands, for they had traveled abroad
with Dr. G. P. Judd, who was a high official in the courts of the
Kamehamehas. Queen Emma, particularly, leaned toward the
MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX 219
English and as a result the court was greatly Anglicized. Both
rulers, Kamehameha IV and Queen Emma, presided with dig
nity and it was considered elegant. Low bows and obeisances,
quiet dignity in the throne room during receptions and levees were
charming features of this royal court of the Pacific, but it was
also a merry one. This, of course, is the social side of the reign.
The cares of state, the administration of government, the
troubles that beset a throne and a crowned head, were other
matters, a part of history with the rough corners still un-
smoothed. Kamehameha IV was the suave, elegant ruler. The
balls were brilliant in his reign because of the galaxy of Hawaiian
beauties, his court being noted for its beautiful women.
His brother, Kamehameha V, was the stately and dignified
ruler who brought to his court all the pomp and ceremony that
were existent in courts abroad. He was the diplomat and a stern
ruler, yet, like all Hawaiian monarchs, given to asserting much of
his authority in public and exercising all the perogatives of his
rank.
But the exotic flower of royal life came to full blossom in the
reign of King Kalakaua — '"Rex" as he was familiarly referred to —
for it was then that Hawaii became the mecca of travelers and
Honolulu became a capital of more importance to the world and
the home of the American navy in the western sea. That in itself
brought an unusual amount of social life into the kingdom and
particularly into the court. Artists brought their palettes from
Europe and America to Honolulu ; writers came with their pens
and paper to record their thoughts of the charm of life in the
miniature kingdom; musicians from abroad caught the soft,
golden melodies of Hawaii nei in the web of their compositions ;
diplomats brought the elements of statecraft to Honolulu and
watched the intriques behind the palace doors.
It was a reign of joys and sorrows, of splendor and tawdriness,
for adventurers wormed their way into society, but it was a
reign which was more or less brilliant and the festivities at the
palace, for a new palace was built for Kalakaua and his formal
coronation years after his accession, were costly but splendid
functions lasting for days. Kalakaua had toured the world and
220 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
visited dozens of royal capitals, and must have a coronation of
his own, To Honolulu, on February 12, 1883, came envoys extra
ordinary from brother kings, sent especially to be present at this
first formal coronation ceremony in the mid-sea Polynesian king
dom, for Kalakaua had a real crown placed upon his head, one
that was fashioned in Paris, as were the glittering orders and
decorations that were employed much as orders and decorations
v/ere employed abroad. He was an extravagant monarch.
So, on the brighter side of Kalakaua's reign, the balls and re
ceptions at the palace, upon the decks of warships, the garden
parties at Princess Likelike's home at Ainahau, Waikiki, where
Robert Louis Stevenson used to visit so often in later }dars, was
the side that appealed to visitors to Honolulu.
How many admirals today came to Honolulu then as middies ;
how many distinguished men and women of letters, the arts,
persons of wealth and culture, came here, ever afterwards to be
all animation when Hawaii was mentioned when Hawaii was
only a lingering, sweet memory —
"Ua ohi pakahi ia aku nei e ka po" —
"The night has taken them one by one."
YESTERDAYS OF HAWAII NEI
DAYS of the long ago golden era of the Kamehameha and
Kalakaua regimes of Hawaii nei, when the latchstrings
of hospitable homes of Hawaiians and haoles (white-
foreigners) alike hung outside never-locked doors, seem very far
away to kamaainas today. Kamaainas lived in those delightful
days and nights and revelled in an atmosphere which breathed
of good cheer and royal times, for decades ago when royalty was
atop the social whirl and held sway in these fair isles of the
Pacific there was open sesame to the pretentious residences of
Nuuanu's aristocratic avenue — the bungalows upon The Plains,
or the small, possibly ungainly, but cozy little vine-embowered
homes of the Hawaiians rising in the midst of green taro patches.
Kamehameha V, the most stately of all Hawaiian monarehs, who said,
"I am the State, ?? and abrogated the Constitution granted by
Kamehameha III. Dignity and ceremonial observances
due his rank made him a notable figure in
Hawaiian history.
Queen Kapiolani, the beautiful consort of King Kalakaua, whose
monument of worthy deeds is the Kapiolani Maternity
Home in Honolulu.
MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX 221
Many may be the links connecting a kamaaina today with his
wished-for-again monarchial past of Honolulu. Some may be
withered flowers preserved between the leaves of books through
the decades, as reminders of receptions in an afternoon, a luau in
the evening, a picnic or a gorgeous entertainment at a country
home of a wealthy and hospitable Hawaiian one week, or of a
haole the next.
Often the memories recall long horseback rides home in moon
lit evenings when the kamaaina was a young girl, when romance
and love overshadowed all else in life and when the companion
was a dashing naval officer, an American middy perchance, who
today may be an admiral, and only recently the quarterdeck com
panion of British royalty and the peerage. The memories may
recall many dashing officers or the gallant blades of the town
prone to compose songs in English and in Hawaiian dedicated to
the daughters of Hawaii nei, later to be set to music by Hawaiian
musicians and then to cascade in melodies down the ages for
others to hear and to make Hawaiian music — the sweet languor
ous, slow, deep-toned melodies with their accompaniments of
strumming guitars and tinkling ukuleles— the music that ever
haunts the memory.
There are many names associated with the rare hospitality of
those former days, particularly during the reign of King Kala-
kaua from 1874 to 1891. There was John A. Cummins, of Wai-
manalo; Edwin Boyd of Maunawili ; the Princess Likelike, wife
of A. S. Cleghorn, and before them Captain Meek, "The Lord of
Lihue Ranch ;" the Robinsons and Holts of Halemano and Oahu
nui. There was Captain Makee and his family, mostly charming-
daughters, and the two sons, at "Ulupalakua" upon the slopes of
the ancient crater of Haleakala, a beautiful home and an atmos
phere of open hospitality in what visitors called "A Garden of
Eden" — "Ulupalakua" — where many young men who had
dropped off from sailing ships at Maui ports, found a cordial
welcome and work. Many of them today are prosperous citizens.
Naval men, whose vessels anchored off Lahaina, never felt they
had really seen Maui until they had dined at "Ulupalakua/' where
the door panels were decorated by distinguished artists who were
222 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
entertained there. There was Col. Samuel Parker, the friend of
Kalakatia, the "feudal lord" of Mana, Island of Hawaii. His
wonderful home high up on the slopes of Mauna Kea was known
from Europe to Asia, for there was always generous, openhearted
hospitality at Mana, where the lord and master spent lavishly to
entertain guests.
Then over on Kauai, the Garden Isle, there were the Sinclairs,
Gays and the Aubrey Robinsons, the Rices and Wilcoxes, mon-
archs for a time of all they surveyed on the beautiful island
whose hospitality has never ceased even to this day.
Not alone were the few conspicuous ones whose lavish hos
pitality gave them fame, the only ones who were hospitable.
Many were the tales of hospitality carried back to New England
by the captains and officers of whaling ships. The homes of
Honolulans generally were open to them for early Sunday morn
ing breakfasts. The captains rode out to these homes taking
with them pickled tongues and sounds and other edibles from the
ships' stores, brought around the Horn from New England.
Upon the tables were eggs and chickens added to the offerings
of the guests. These were the nine o'clock breakfasts that be
came popular, a charming custom that is still adhered to by many
kamaainas,, for kamaainas in this day enjoy a Sunday morning
repast with Sanford B. Dole at his delightful home at Diamond
Head.
When John Cummins, who was a part-Hawaiian of very dis
tinguished appearance, entertained, it was upon a vast scale.
His sugar plantation covered a part of the Waimanalo plain.
There was his private race course and his stables filled with fast
trotters, pacers, and runners. There were many cottages near
his own home, a group for the men guests and another group
for the women. Sometimes there would be fifty, sometimes a
hundred guests, most of whom left Honolulu at four o'clock in
the morning on horseback. Arriving at Waimanalo they found
tables groaning with the best food that land and sea produced.
It was a merry party, lasting several days. There would be a
fancy ball possibly, or a series of tableaux, always the hula,
MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX 223
music from morning till late at night and plenty to drink, but
the host never touched a drop.
Mr. Cummins on one occasion opened the Kapiolani race track
on a March 17, his birthday, and gave a luau and a race meet to
which all the town was bidden and when his own swift horses,
many of which carne from the stables of Lorillard, the New York
and Florida tobacco king, and many from the stables of Leland
Stanford, of California, were the prize winners of the day, for
they seldom could be beaten.
Another hospitable ranch on the Koolau side was Maunawili,
home of Edwin Boyd. Upon her return from a party there one
time Princess (afterwards Queen) Liliuokalani rode ahead of
her cavalcade up the Pali Road and hummed and hummed and
finally burst into song, a sweet melody that was new to the ears
of her party. It was upon that ride home, accompanied by Mr.
and Mrs. C. B. Wilson and Mr. and Mrs. Ned Bush that
"Aloha Oe" had its beginnings, the most beautiful of all Ha
waiian songs, the one that brings tears to the eyes of Honolulans
abroad, and inspires a desire in foreigners to visit isles which
produce such melodies.
When royalty rode to Waimanalo or Maunawili or to country
parties they were accompanied by pa-u riders, a herald on horse
back preceding the whole party an hour to announce their
coming. It was a gay cavalcade when the king's party rode, the
women riders wearing brilliant-colored pa-us, as required by
Queen Kapiolani. She was a beautiful and graceful woman.
This recalls the days when Captain Meek controlled Lihue and
Wahiawa on Oahu under lease from the government. He raised
thorough-bred horses and his daughters rode the finest in the land.
The Meek animals were known all over the Islands, especially his
white horse called "Pu-a." His oldest daughter Eliza was often
seen riding the horse through the streets of Honolulu garbed in
a wonderful pa-u, with a dozen or more followers riding behind
her wearing the same color of garment. EH Meek, his son, was
a magnificent horseman and the beau of the day. His youngest
daughter, Becky, married Horatio Crabbe, chamberlain of Ka-
mehameha and Lunalilo.
224 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Kamehameha III (Kauikeouli), although a king, was one of
the first ranchers in the islands, owning the largest on the Big
Island, from the top of Mauna Kea to the sea. He had William
Beckley for his partner and afterwards Olohana Davis. Beckley
carried his own portion independently, calling it "Little Mexico/'
where he raised thoroughbred horses. This was at Waimea,
and a portion of this is now the famous Parker Ranch, and
famed long ago for Colonel "Sam's" lavish hospitality. "Billy"
Cornwall and Prince David Kawananakoa owned the last string
of horses during the days of the monarchy, and made Waikapu,
Maui, the former's home, famous.
Many were the homes of large hospitality in and near Hono
lulu. J. I. Dowsett was one of the princes of hospitality, at his
country place at Puuloa, near the present naval station, and also
at Leilehua (now the great military post of Schofield Barracks"),
after he purchased the ranch from King Kalakaua, and at his old
home at "Hauhaukoi," Palama, where there were garden parties,
balls, receptions and poi suppers and luaus and dances afterwards.
The Leilehua home was formerly King Kalakaua's shooting box,
and in later years it was the first headquarters of the commanding
officer of Schofield Barracks, the big United States division post.
In the old days Ford Island, in Pearl Harbor, was owned by
Dr. Seth Porter Ford, the physician of Kamehameha IV and
Princess Royal Victoria Kamamalu, and he entertained there,
while later John li entertained royally there for his ward, the
Princess Victoria. In subsequent years "Cabbie" Brown made
Ford Island the rendezvous of good fellowship, and it was there
that the Chiefs of Hawaii had their initiations until Uncle Sam
stepped in, bought the island and converted it into Luke Field,
the greatest army and navy aviation base in the Pacific today.
Up at "Ahipuu," where the home of George Sherman is now
located near the Oahu Country Club, John Cummins also enter
tained lavishly, but was particularly noted for the reason that it
was there a picnic was given for the Duke of Edinburgh in 1869.
There are four principal events in Hawaii — Discovery of Ha
waii by Captain Cook — Landing of the Missionaries in 1820 —
The smallpox in 1853, and the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh in
MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX 225
1869. Everything else dwindles into insignificance, but to the
Hawaiians these four events radiate as the cardinal points of the
compass of time.
Down at Kualoa, on Windward Oahu, Col. C. H. Judd enter
tained in fine style. At Waialua, Liliuokalani had a country seat
and where she as the wife of Governor John Dominis entertained.
At Esbank, Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Wilder brought within its hos
pitable door guests who found a charming welcome, where
they danced and attended receptions and partook of wonderful
refreshments, "Sweet Home" in Nuuanu entertained often.
Queen Emma had a home at Kalaekao, near Ewa, where she
entertained exclusively the members of Hawaiian royalty and her
friends of the British colony. She also entertained very ex
clusively at her home at Nuuanu and Beretania, called Rooke
House, where the Liberty Theater and auto park are now located.
Hawaiian families and the British colony were always her favored
guests, but the grandest functions she gave during the life ol
her consort Kamehameha IV, were always at Hanaiakamalama,
now the home of the Daughters of Hawaii. The two homes of
Mr. and Mrs. C. Afong, in Nuuanu and Waikiki, were the ren
dezvous of the navy and exclusive society, where balls and dinner
parties were frequent and brilliant. During his service as Privy
Councillor of the Hawaiian Government and afterwards as Chi
nese consul, he was a lavish entertainer. Mrs. Afong was part
Hawaiian and part American. Her father, £. H. Fayerweather,
of New York and Connecticut, was the first white sugar planter
in Hawaii. Her mother was Mary Beckley, daughter of Capt
George Beckley, the English friend and military adviser of Ka
mehameha the Great.
Dr. John McGrew, called the "Father of Annexation," was
also among the hospitable entertainers during the Lunalilo and
Kalakaua regimes, his wife being considered one of the best
gowned haole women of Honolulu.
The old English families, the Montgomerys and the McKib-
bins, were exclusive entertainers, their tennis parties being fea
tures. The beautiful Neuman girls were all belles.
There was "Old Plantation," the home of the Wards, where
226 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
an exclusive hospitality was dispensed as it is today. The home
of Major Wodehouse, the British Commissioner, was notable for
its functions, and his galaxy of beautiful daughters.
There were the Walker girls of Nuuanu, who were belles of
that day. The Widemann girls were lavish entertainers.
The visitor to Hawaii in the days of Kalakaua found a rare
and charming atmosphere of hospitality here and it was little
wonder that writers, explorers, scientists, painters, travelers and
wealthy men from San Francisco and New York, owners of
palatial yachts should come to Honolulu to meet and know the
king and partake of the wonderful hospitality of that era, and it
is little wonder that naval officers, whether of the American,
British, French, Russian navies, longed for assignment to the Pa
cific so that now and then their ships could drop their anchors in
Naval Row, across the harbor, for they knew that cordial welcome
awaited them ashore not only in the palace of the king and the
homes of the hospitable, but from among the fairest of Hawaii's
maidens, and a flower given to the sweetheart of that day, brings
up sweet memories when it is found again after many decades
between the leaves of a forgotten book.
GIDDY PALACE AND QUARTERDECK DAYS
*
NOW and then when kamaaina Honolulans straighten up
shelves of old books or clean out ancient decks a flood of
memories flows before them when an ornate "Carte de
B'anse," adorned with the familiar crown of the Hawaiian mon
archy resting upon a tasseled pillow and surrounded by orna
mental borders of elaborate design and coloring, comes to view.
This was of the age when the jessamine scent "was borne on
the breezes everywhere at eventide. At four in the afternoon the
maidens strung leis of starry jessamine buds that resembled
pearls, which gradually opened in their hair when they wore the
fragrant decorations at a ball in the evening.
The little dance card was intended, when the palace chamber-
MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX 227
lain ordered it printed, to be of permanent value and he prob
ably had a romantic idea stored away that in long days to come
some of the belles and beaux attending the ball that night in the
palace with the king and his queen viewing the formal throng in
the brilliant throne-room, might come across the card again and
dream over the joyous and thrilling incidents of this night of the
past. It was printed on heavy card and folded. Upon the cover
was the date, probably October 28, 1889, and upon the back cover
within the gorgeous border was the crown above the familiar
"KIK" surrounded by Kamehameha Ill's motto — "Ua mau ke
ea o ka aina i ka pono" ("The life of the land reposes in right
eousness").
But within! Ah, within! If the cover and the date recall
terpsichorean memories to a belle or beau of that day, now per
haps a matron who has passed the half century of life, or a formal
man of business, a captain of industry, perchance a retired capi
talist, the two narrow pages within reveal a story of romance
and adventure and perhaps of love — all that went with the bril
liancy of a gay revel in the palace throne room, when officers
of the navy and marine corps, perhaps of both the American and
British navies, were ashore in their full dress uniforms all aglitter
with gold lace (a dashing corps of men in those days when the
marine officers were described as "very gay fellows" and the
navy "dashing").
There is the "Order of Dances" on one page and opposite,
"engagements." How old fashioned and pleasurable the pretty
souvenir Carte de Danse numbers read. But where is the "Fox
Trot," the "One Step," the "Hesitation," the "Ragtime?"
The tiny ornate pages recall, however, the music of Strauss —
"The Blue Danube" — and other ravishing waltzes, those dreamy
waltzes when people danced for the sheer love of the beauty in
dancing, and had no idea of giving acrobatic exhibitions. There
was the old-time Lancers, such as was danced half and three-
quarters of a century and more ago in America and England,
at the old army posts under the shadow of Old Glory and the
Union Jack, when old as well as young laughed and cantered to
228 - UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
the "right" and to the "left" to the stentorian commands of the
"caller."
Do you remember, you matrons and staid old business men of
today, when you were rollicking young women and dashing young
gentlemen of the golden Kalakaua reign, or of the brilliant days
of the Kamehameha regime, when you basked in the sunshine of
the royal court, opera bouffe though some cynics term it — when
you received in the Kalakaua days a great big envelope embossed
with a golden crown and within it a great big card in gold
lettering reading like this?
The Chamberlain of the Household
Is Commanded by
HIS MAJESTY
To invite Miss -To a Ball
At lolani Palace on
the 28th Day of October, at 8 o'clock
Full Dress.
Then that evening was received a Carte de Danse. There came
the Lancers danced to the music of the white-coated musicians
of the Royal Hawaiian Band, and an officer had already come
up, sought your carte and pencilled upon it "Barnett." Let's
see, yes, he's Major-General Barnett, head of the marine corps
today, with a brilliant war record, but in 1889 he was dapper
Lieut. "Georgie" Barnett, of the old wooden man-o'-war Iroquois
and today a major-general in the marine corps and as dashing
as ever despite the flow of years. Then came the waltz music,
"1001 Nights," and near it was a pencilled "Sim" (or it may have
been back in 1887) or further back, but no matter. "Billy"
Sims, the directing admiral of the American fleet overseas in
the World War, friend of King George, pencilled his name on
the Carte de Danse of many a Honolulu belle and danced well.
Many dowagers of Honolulu today recall "Billy" Sims as a
dashing beau. The Polka (one has to say it twice to recall there
ever was such a dance), music, "Dragoons," and the name
"Blandin." Jovial Ensign Blandin, of the Alert and Nipsic,
who went down with the Maine in Havana harbor. There is
the "York" with Paymaster Harry Webster's name attache!
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MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX 229
The girls doted on Harry for he was a wonderful dancer. The
Waltz again, whirled to the delightful music of the "Mikado,"
for Gilbert and Sullivan were then in their heyday of popularity.
Opposite is the name "Hilary P. Jones/' now an admiral in the
highest rank, but then an ensign, who came here with the Nipsic
after the Samoan disaster. But his fame rests on the fact that
he brought the "two-step" to Honolulu and inducted the girls
into its mysteries
Can you remember, girls of the Monarchy, the Schottische
played to the time of "Fifteen Dollars," and the waltz again
played to the divine melody of "The Gypsy Baron/' a melody
which is as much Hawaiian as any real Hawaiian melody ? The
"Gypsy Baron/' with its dreamy, entrancing air made a Hawaiian
moonlight night one never to be forgotten, especially if it was a
ball at the palace and in addition to the dash and gayety of the
navy and marine corps officers as there was added the brilliancy
of the diplomatic corps and the court attaches and ladies of the
court.
There were other balls in other months and other years, and
there were officers coming and remaining- awhile and going away
on cruises again, but coming back until they were kamaainas
and, let it be said softly and gently, the return of the warships
was eagerly awaited by the island sweethearts, haole and Ha
waiian alike.
There are old women in Honolulu today, grandmothers, who
recall the days when Admiral Wilkes came to Honolulu with his
American frigate, a three-decker, and they danced aboard, going
to the ship in hoop skirts and low neck waists in the afternoon,
and when they left the ships they were met ashore by native run
ners and two wheeled carts in which they were placed and
escorted to their homes, their uniformed beaux from the ship
trotting alongside.
Then came the later days of the Lackawanna, the Tuscarora,
the Mohican, the Wachussetts, the Portsmouth, the Vandalia, all
of the American navy, and the Champion with Captain Rooke and
his group of fine officers, and the Reindeer and the Espiegle and
many other warships flying the Union Jack of Queen Victoria's
230 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
day. And then came French and Russian warships, warships
from all over the world, even the Argentine officers of visiting
cruisers from that nation becoming great beaux, while the Italian
warships always had a member of royalty aboard, which pre
saged many wonderful receptions and dances ashore and royal
times aboard for the girls.
There was just as much interest among the girls of the Kala-
kaua period in going aboard a warship to dance away an after
noon or an evening on the quarterdeck as in going to a ball at
the Palace. At the old Boat Landing on Queen street the girls
and their chaperons were met by junior officers in launches or
the ship's big boats rowed by sturdy bluejackets, and escorted to
the warship anchored in "Naval Row" across the harbor, far
away from the down town throng. The warships were not too
distant, however, for immediately a warship dropped her anchor
in the row a telephone was put aboard, and hour after hour,
the belles of Honolulu conversed over the wire with the officers
and made their engagements for dinner parties, horseback rides,
dips at the beach, picnics and all manner of good times. Often
the king would go aboard to attend the afternoon dances, attired
in white flannels and attended by Prince David, Prince Kuhio and
his chamberlain, Col. C. P. laukea, who, in his day was also one
of the gallants of the period, who, as an envoy extraordinary,
visited every court in Europe, or Col. James H. Robertson or
young Purvis.
The dances on the quarterdeck were ever-to-be-remembered
occasions. From 2 to 5 :30 the ship's band played and the officers
attended strictly to the business of entertaining and doing it
royally, serving ices and salads, and there was always a great
punchbowl, for aboard each warship was a past master in the
art of concocting the most wonderful punch ever tasted.
There were later days when the U. S. S. Charleston was here,
when the admiral, captain and officers not only gave balls on the
quarterdeck of the ships, but entertained formally ashore at the
Royal Hawaiian Hotel Admiral Kimberley and his officers en
tertained aboard the Vandalia in 1888, and the admiral and
officers of the flagship Mohican entertained later on, but the
MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX 231
Wachussetts was here in 1883, and established a reputation for
exceptional hospitality.
When the Tuscarora, the Lackawanna and Portsmouth and
Benicia came here in the 70's, Admiral Belknap, then a captain,
became one of Honolulu's great friends, and among the junior
officers were William Whiting, later admiral, who married a
Honolulu belle; Ellicot, a middy, now an admiral, and Admiral
Fletcher came as a junior in the 80's and walked to Nuuanu
cemetery in the funeral procession of Queen Emma. He re
turned to Honolulu in 1919 as a rear admiral and in command
of Pearl Harbor Naval Station. There was Admiral Brown
with his aid, Lieutenant Blow, during Liliuokalani's ascension,
and Admiral Hugh Rodman and Victor Blue, and Major "Tippy"
Kane, and "Dearie" Miller, dashing "blades" of the marine corps.
The "townies" grouped together in the old and famous "Maile
Club" and entertained the officers ashore at dances in the old
Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
The beaux of that early day were "Jimmy" Dowsett, Harry
Whitney, "Jack" Dowsett, "Bonnie" Monsarrat, "Cabbie"
Brown, H. R. Macfarlane, Arthur Richardson, Cecil Brown,
Col. Sam Parker, Bruce Cartwright and many others, many of
them as dapper today as then. Later on the "townies" that were
always welcome aboard were "Ned" Dowsett, Faxon Bishop,
Ed. Tenney, Dr. George Herbert, Sam, "Kauka," and Jamie
Wilder, "Tommy" Cummins, "Willie" Graham, Captain Haley,
Captain Smythe, Francis Hatch, Curtis laukea, Jimmie Boyd,
Antone Rosa, Sam Maikai, "Johnnie" Walker, Herman Focke,
Henry McGrew, Dr. C. B. Wood, genial Paul Neumann, whose
house was the "home of the navy," Tony Afong, Paul Isenberg,
Harry von Holt, "Joe" Carter, Mark Robinson, "Mannie"
Phillips, Sam Louison, Sam Monsarrat, Carl Wideman, the Wode-
house boys, Mclnerny boys, George Potter and Montgomery
Mather, the "dude." Many of them are still in Hawaii, white-
haired, and full of reminiscences of the "golden days."
The finding of an old carte de danse recalls many pleasing
memories of old palace and quarterdeck days in Hawaii nei, and
brings to mind the poem which a naval officer, popular in those
232 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
days, wrote when his vessel had sailed out of old Honolulu harbor
leaving all the entrancing Honolulu days and nights, the strum
of the guitar and tinkle of the ukulele behind, for he, too, was
sad when he said:
"The breeze blows down Nuuanu's vale,
And wafts us o'er the swelling tide;
The jessamine scent borne on the wind
Conies to us fainter from the shore;
Nuuanu's vale is growing dim,
The harbor's past — we're on the sea,
Abeam are breakers rolling in
Upon the Beach at Waikiki;
Leahi's peak looms 'gainst the sky,
Fair Honolulu's lost to view;
We'll oft recall these isles gone by
And all the fair ones that we knew;
Dark eyes their witching glances cast,
Sweet voices sang in the lanai
Of moonlit rays and hours past
'Neath tropic skies in happiness.
Fill up your glasses, let us drink
To all our friends we've left behind,
God speed to you and all your race,
For dearer friends we'll never meet.
LAMENT OF THE KAMAAINA
ISOLATION was, after all, the dominating charm of Hawaii,
of Honolulu, in those old days before the cable linked the
Islands with the news of the great round world ; before wire
less mysteriously bound them closer not only to the mainland of
America, but with the romantic and little known isles of the
South Seas, where primitive life may still be found; before fast
steamers replaced the beautifully built, long, rakish vessels with
masts and sails, whose every detail breathed the spirit of adven-
MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX 233
ture and voyages to strange lands, and long sojourns apart from
civilized realms.
Honolulu today is a city much like any other city of its size,
either inland or on the fringe of the coast. It is modern in its
paved streets, its clanging trolley cars, its traffic police, its office
buildings and hotels, its "movies," and its politics. Even the
waterfront has changed to what is considered the last thing in
wharf arrangements, bunkering and oiling of ships, and loading
and unloading cargoes.
The life at famous Waikiki Beach is similar to that at Palm
Beach and Del Monte, for Dame Fashion has extended her realm
from Paris and New York to Honolulu. The stores resemble
those in San Francisco. The automobiles are like those every
where else, and the rates and routes are similar.
Is it any wonder that a kamaaina (old inhabitant) laments the
"old days"— the "good old days?"
Isolation, after all, was coupled with the abundant tropical
verdure, and .the fine Hawaiian race was then unspoiled by too
close contact with all the world.
A week or two weeks went by in those old days between
arrivals of slow steamers from the States. Used to living apart
from the rest of the world, the nonarrival of steamers did not
particularly annoy, irritate or embarrass any one, resident or
traveler. Travelers in those days were travelers, not tourists.
Their voyages and cruises had been planned with elaborate care
and they came here for a sojourn. It was not then a trip. It
was a journey and they "sojourned" in the charming mid-pacific
Eden. They came to remain weeks, enjoying the slow, but pleas
ant and interesting life when royalty presided in the present-dav
capitol, and all things, official and social, revolved around the
king's and the queen's plans, and stayed months.
Old time wooden warships of many nations remained many
weeks. The officers became a real part of the island life. They
made life-long friends. They came, many of them, as "middies"
or lieutenants, and often returned in later years as captains and
admirals to receive the same old hospitable aloha as in the past.
This past was not always away back in the days of the Kameha-
234 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
meha's but generally in the latter days of the Kalakaua and
Liliuokalani reigns and the changing days of the Republic of
Hawaii.
Those were the days when writers and painters, poets and
diplomats, explorers and scientists delighted to leave the busy
mainland behind them and sail across sapphire seas to Honolulu,
a romantic land, which lived up to their expectations, for they
found a charm in the life of the royal court, and the hospitable
homes of the haoles (white residents) and the Hawaiians alike.
They reveled in the horseback trips to the Pali and out to Wai-
manalo where John Cummins, gallant Hawaiian gentleman,
entertained.
Those were the days when the island steamers were small, but
the passengers found pleasant companionship when they went
to dreamy old Hilo and rode horseback or went in stages up to
Kilauea volcano, where, upon the rim overlooking the seething
caldron of lava, they found the hotel to be a log cabin with a
"modern" addition, consisting of a frame section. Another
charming visit then was a trip to Mana, high up on the slopes of
Mauna Kea on Hawaii Island, where house parties were given
by genial Col. Sam Parker, close friend of royalty and Hawaii's
bon vivant.
The pleasures of those days were long drawn out. The auto
had not come to annihilate time and distance. What the travelers
saw in the old days they saw long and drank in and absorbed
the atmosphere of old Hawaii nei, which prompted the writing
of many books on Hawaii, tributes of a rare character to the
beauty and charm of the Islands.
The hotels were the rendezvous of all who came here as well
as the resident population. The Hawaiian Band — it was "royal"
in those days — was an interlocking feature of everyday life, with
picturesque Capt. Henri Berger, who was sent to Hawaii by
Emperor William of Germany in 1872, to organize the Hawaiian
Band, always wielding his baton at the palace, at the wharf and
aboard warships.
The isolation of Hawaii drew Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles
MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX 235
Warren Stoddard, Mark Twain and many preeminent writers
to bask in the sunlight of its picturesque life.
It was a pleasure in the old days to wait for a steamer for days
and days, and then to hear the siren whistle down town blow three
long blasts. Honolulu got slowly into motion. In two hours
the old Rio Janeiro, or the City of Peking, long, narrow, rakish
looking steamers with towering masts and sharp bows, would
turn in from the deep sea and start up the channel
Those were the days of countless hacks. Those were the days
of Pain's mule cars, little rolling compartments drawn by dimin
utive mules — cars which stopped opposite the meat shop while
milady went in and got her package of meat and then resumed
her seat and was trundled on homeward.
Those were the days when the old Bell manual telephone sys
tem was one which had a real male "central," who had only to
throw a switch and all bells in residences jangled and "central"
announced that the Rio Janeiro was "coming in." Those were
the days when Mrs. Ledyard Lansdel would telephone to central
and say that if anybody rang her up in the afternoon please tell
her she was over at Mrs. Castle Helemai's until 4:30 and to ring
her up there. "Central" was awfully obliging in those days, and
kept the social calendar moving. A concert was to be given that
evening in the old Opera House by a singer just arrived, say,
from Australia. The manager told "central" and "central"
opened up all phones and informed the town that the performance
would start at 7 :30 and so on. Today Honolulu is a city of auto
matic telephones and cables and radio systems which keep Ha
waii in constant touch with the outside world.
So, when the steamer came up the channel, hacks joggled over
the uneven streets toward the "Pacific Mail wharf," the most im
portant wharf in those days. It was about on the site of the
huge present day piers, 6, 7 and part of 8, only it was built parallel
with the shore. It was long, low, saggy and the dirt of ages
clung to it, but the people in the old days had a lot of affection
for "Pacific Mail wharf."
The boat came up to the dock. The Hawaiian Band was
always there and played it in. Everybody on the wharf wanted
236 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
to show hospitality to every traveler aboard the ship. Strangers
they might have been all their lives, these travelers from Akron,
or St. Louis, or Council Bluffs, or London or New York, to the
people on the dock, but that didn't matter. Often a stranger
found himself in a hack with a couple of Honolulans, might
have been men, and might have been young women, it didn't
matter — on the way to the Royal Hawaiian hotel. And how the
old hotel leaped into life after a somnolent seven days or two
weeks. From the dock the Honolulans flowed into the hotel, and
many into the cool basement barroom for Scotch and soda, and
other things, too, and that night the band gave a concert in the
bandstand in front of the hotel and the new people danced with
"old friends" of a few hours, all Honolulans. The navy officers
came up from their ships moored in old "Naval Row" and spent
a pleasant evening, and plans were made by all for picnics and
horseback rides, or bathing parties out at Long Branch or Sans
Souci or the Inn, and dinner parties on home lanais or aboard
the warships. Oh, they were real days, were those old days.
And how the San Francisco newspapers were read. Every
body went to the post office soon after the "boat" was in. It was
the town's gossip rendezvous. Everybody in town met every
body else there, unless it was at the fishmarket. "Louis" and
others sorted the mail. The townspeople sat around and
watched the proceeding, and sometimes pitched in and helped.
The women, haoles and Hawaiians alike, of the highest in society
and others not so high, wearing holokus (loose Hawaiian gowns)
and lauhala (leaf) hats to keep the sun off their complexions
(in the case of the haoles). The holoku was the thing to wear
then to do shopping or to go to the post office. But, how things
have changed. A haole woman, kamaaina though she may be,
seldom comes to town in a holoku, and even Hawaiian women
are enveloping their forms in creations from New York and
San Francisco, and the lauhala hat has gone to the millinery
discard.
Everybody went over to the bookstore and bought a "file" of
the latest "Frisco papers." Sometimes it might be seven days
Her Majesty Queen Dowager Emma, wife of Kamehameha IV, a woman
of unusual charm and social ascendancy, whose influence established
the English Episcopal Church in Hawaii.
MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX 237
and sometimes ten, and then the town sat down to read and read
for days.
Today the San Francisco "files" come as usual, but very few
in comparison with the old days for newspapers receive its nightly
grist of radio and cable news from every part of the world and
lays it in interesting form before the town the following morn
ing while it is at breakfast. The "files" therefore have been
stripped of their cream of news by the radio and cable digest
made up in San Francisco and "wired" here, for Honolulu's
newspapers are metropolitan in all details.
Every element of life here has been changed by the departure
from the old isolated charm of a former hasteless day. The
malihini looks for a certain charm that he has read of or dreamed
of should be a part of Hawaii and misses it. But after all, it
was merely isolation.
And so it will be soon with all isles of the Pacific.
ANCIENT AND MODERN KINGLY SYMBOLS
NEASY lies the head that wears the crown" was a
phrase that apparently made a deep impression upon
King Kalakaua, first because he had risen to the throne
by election of the legislature, and there was no crown in fact, and
second because he was impressed with the knowledge that the
Hawaiians had for too many centuries been governed by rulers
who were born to the purple. He was a high chief under the old
feudal "system> but that did not alter the fact that there was just
a something lacking in his kingship that irked him.
His tour of the world in 1881 when he visited and was received
with royal honors at all capitals of monarchs, further impressed
him with the necessity of staging a coronation that would reflect
all the glitter of royal symbols of the Old World.
It was arranged by the legislature sitting in 1881 that there
be a formal crowning and it was set for February 12, 1883,
the ninth anniversary of his election as king.
238 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
The function was not held without considerable opposition on
the part of the white residents, and when the coronation actually
took place, many people, Hawaiians and haoles alike, decided to
remain aloof.
On the forenoon of that day, upon a pavilion especially built
and now used as a bandstand in the capitol grounds, the King
and his consort, Kapiolani, were formally crowned. Like Na
poleon, Kalakaua received the crown from the Chancellor, Chief
Justice A. F. Judd, and placed the bauble upon his head and
likewise placed another upon the head of his queen.
Similarly, the newly made and gorgeous Sword of State, the
Royal Feather Mantle of Kamehameha I, the Ring of Kingly
Dignity, the Sceptre of Kingly Power and Justice, were be
stowed upon (he king.
It was a regal function in the presence of a gathering of officials
representing America, Great Britain, France, Germany, Sweden
arid Norway, Japan, Portugal, The Netherlands, Belgium, Den
mark, Mexico, Russia, the officials of the kingdom, officers of
American, British, French warships, including H. B. M. Mutine ;
U. S. S. Wachusset, U. S. S. Lackawanna, French warship
Limier.
There was a glittering display of uniforms and gold lacey
swords and trappings. The ladies were robed in beautiful
toilettes, many with long trains and cut low at the neck; there
was a guard of honor for the procession from the palace to the
pavilion and return, and immediately following the placing of the
crowns, guns boomed in salute from shore and ship batteries.
The mantle was a wonderful robe, declared to have been that
worn by the mighty Kamehameha I composed of at least 5000
feathers of the OLo bird.
The crown of Kalakaua was composed of a fillet of gold one
inch in width, set on each edge with 120 small diamonds. Mid
way in the fillet were set 20 opals, alternating with eight emeralds
and as many rubies, save at the back, where there were set in
the place of the emeralds and the rubies six well cut jewels of a
deep reddish black, highly polished. At the front and back, and
on each side the dullet was surmounted by a golden Maltese
MERRY DAYS OF KALAKAUA, REX 239
cross, in the arms of which were set forty-eight diamonds, each
arm having three. In the center of the cross in front was a
magnificent diamond of about six carats weight, and on the
sides others a little smaller. A splendid carbuncle glowed in the
center of the cross at the back. There were other fillings of gold
and studdings of jewels, making it gorgeous enough to have been
placed upon a royal head of a European sovereign. Springing
from the fillet over the crimson cap of velvet, were eight bars
of gold, each uniting under the globe, the bars being emblematical
of the union of the eight islands under one rule. Surmounting
the globe was a maltese cross set with brilliant diamonds.
The night of the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani in January,
1893, the crowns became the prey of the newly organized "regu
lar" army of the Provisional Government, composed of men more
or less rough. Officers discovered the men gambling in the
basement and using stones. Until he was told in a whisper by
one of the men that these had been pried from the crown, which
had lain in a room in the upper part of the palace, he had no
knowledge that the crown was available. The soldiers had
looted the royal crown and were playing dice for their possession.
Two-thirds of the gems were recovered, but a sergeant, an
Irishman, later said he had the largest diamond and had sent ii
to "his girl" in an Indiana town, explaining that it was just a
Hawaiian stone. Whether his sweetheart ever discovered that
she possessed the largest jewel of the Crown of Hawaii has
never become known.
The "Puloulou" or tabu stick used at the coronation, symbol
izing the protection that the laws afford all, and marking the
limits of approach of the king's subjects, was the tusk of a
narwhal seven feet long, bearing a golden globe. Hanging from
the globe was a plate of gold bearing the Hawaiian coat-of-arms,
above which was a miniature of the Hawaiian crown, engraved
with the national motto of Hawaii, in Hawaiian, meaning, "The
Life of the Land Reposes in Righteousness." It was shown in
public at the state funeral obsequies for the late Prince Jonah
Kuhio Kalanianaole in January, 1922, and is now in the Bishop
Museum.
240 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
His Majesty on this occasion wore the white uniform of the
Guards, with a white helmet and plume of red, white and blue.
His breast WHS adorned with the glittering orders of many
powerful royal governments.
Nearly four thousand persons watched the ceremony from
seats and the same number watched from other points.
At the time of the coronation the government had authorized
the erection of a palace that the king might be housed in a
manner appropriate to the high rank to which he had been chosen
by Nobles and Representatives. It was the first and last corona
tion in Hawaii.
CHAPTER XX
GAUNT REBELLION STALKED THE ISLANDS
REVOLT OVERTURNS ANCIENT THRONE
THE gaunt specter of revolution stalked through Hawaii,
but aside from the first revolt captained by George Hume-
hume, a dissatisfied prince of Kauai in the early days of
the reign of Kamehameha II, and against the sovereignty of the
son of the Conqueror, most of the revolutions were almost blood
less. The first revolt against constituted authority, almost a
hundred years ago, was that of one prince toward another, the
last of tribal warfares, the conclusion of sanquinary conflicts
for the supremacy of one prince or chief over another.
It was nearly seventy years before revolution again came into
the midst of a people now conversant only with the ways of peace,
their earlier warlike ardor leavened by long contact with pros
perity and the lulling influence of happy living in a land of
plenty, where the sea and land easily gave sustenance to the
isolated inhabitants.
Kaumualii, the principal chief of Kauai and husband of Queen
Kaahumanu, died in May, 1824, and a dispute arose about the
division of territory which led to an unhappy and bloody contest —
the first and last battle since the introduction of Christianity.
After the death of Kaumualii the government of the little island
was given by a council of the chiefs to Kahalaia, nephew of the
great chief Kalanimoku, a young man, and according to Sheldon
Dibble, poorly equipped for his duties.
The people of Kauai manifested their displeasure and insub
ordination by various acts, particularly by the wanton destruc
tion of public property. Two weeks later Kalanimoku arrived
242 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
at Kauai from Honolulu, accompanied by Kekauluohi, the "Queen
Mother" and Premier.
The rebels planned to seize both at night and to take their
lives. The scheme might have prevailed but the visitors, unaware
of the plot, departed the day previous to the appointed time.
Then the chiefs called upon the people to settle their affairs.
Kalanimoku greatly desired his nephew to be retained in office.
There was objection by certain chiefs.
In the meantime the insurgents had gained over to their side
Humehume (George Kaumualii), who, it will be recalled spent
sometime in the Cornwall school in Connecticut and returned
to his father with the first American missionaries aboard the
brig Thaddeus in 1820. He was promised the chieftainship of
the island if he would espouse the insurgent cause. He had two
brass field pieces. He yielded to the request. The rebels at
tempted to take the fort at Waimea, but failed.
Kalanimoku despatched a vessel to Oahu for help. The mis
sionaries also left Kauai for safety. The vessel went on to
Maui where the principal chiefs were residing. Hoapili, gover
nor of Maui, collected soldiers and sent them to Kauai. The
missionaries called the attention of the governor and chiefs to
Christian belief in war being conducted humanely as possible.
The chiefs agreed to this principle.
On arrival of the forces at Kauai, Kalanimoku offered to take
the leadership and direct the armies in person. Hoapili refused,
deciding to lead them himself. The Sabbath came and Hoapili
gave orders that the day should not be violated by warfare. The
following day when the forces were drawn up in battle array,
Hoapili commanded silence till a prayer should be offered to the
true God. Search was made for one who knew enough to pray,
and at length a Society Islander was found who could offer the
prayers. Hoapili then shouted:
"Soldiers, attend! There is no place for us to retreat! No
Oahu, no Maui, no Hawaii. Oahu is before us, Maui is before
us, Hawaii is before us; those Islands will remain to us only as
we press forward and conquer. If we turn our backs it is death !
If some shall fall, mind not their bodies, but press forward ! Be
GAUNT REBELLION STALKS ISLANDS 243
of good courage for God is on our side. If captives are taken
deal mercifully with them — such is the advice of our teachers.
If balls whiz by you they are not a cause of fear, but if bayonets
are thrust at your breasts then there may be some cause for firm
ness and courage. Forward, forward, even unto death I" Almost
Napoleonic in cryptic utterance and grandiloquence.
They rushed into battle. The field pieces were poorly manned
by the Kauaians and were captured. The enemy were panic
struck. They fled. The lust of battle ruled the pursuers. The
blood of conquerors boiled in their veins. Hoapili lost control
of his victorious warrior-soldiers. They caught and cut down
the fugitives. No quarter was asked. None was given. No-
mercy was shown to captives. The unarmed and the aged were
slain indiscriminately. The unhappy Humehume wandered for
weeks in the woods subsisting on roots, until, nearly famished
and naked, he surrendered to the victorious chiefs who showed
him no mercy. The government was committed to Keikioeway
the immediate guardian of the young king. All engaged in the
rebellion who remained alive were distributed on other islands.
Whether a smouldering revolt during the reign of Kameha-
meha III was extinguished, concluding with the mysterious death
of the promoter, may never be exactly known, for only the
young man's royal brothers and relatives were aware of the
supposed revolutionary exploit, but that the young man should
have died so soon following the revolution that he was drilling
groups of Hawaiians, aroused considerable discussion and lent
color to the idea of a possible revolt with the object of removing
Kamehameha III and the elevation of the young leader.
He was Moses, the elder brother of Prince Lot Kamehameha
(afterwards Kamehameha V), and Prince Alexander (after
wards Kamehameha IV). They were all nephews of Kameha
meha III.
Moses assembled an army of young Hawaiians and drilled
them at Koolau, Oahu Island, the purpose being, when the drill
ing was observed by others, to depart on a voyage of conquest to
Tahiti, to add the Society Islands to the Hawaiian kingdom.
Whatever may have been the public statement at the time that he
244 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
planned to go to Tahiti in ships and great canoes, his purpose
was probably questioned by his royal brothers, for evidently
they believed he had an ulterior design, and that the amazing
plot to seize the crown. At any rate he was taken ill and died.
The young man was the son of Governor Kekuanaoa, one of
the brilliant minds among the Hawaiians of the early days of their
civilization. His mother was Kinau, Premier and Regent, and the
daughter of Kamehameha I.
High Chief David Kalakaua was elected king of Hawaii by
the legislature in February, 1874, following the death of King
Lunalilo, last of the Kamehameha line who had failed to name
his successor. The selection of a ruler was thrown into the legis
lature, their hall then being the building on Queen street, near
Fort, in Honolulu, now used as a warehouse by the American
Factors, Ltd. Queen Emma, widow of Kamehameha IV, was
an aspirant, she being backed principally by the English residents
of the Islands. It was a lining up in a sense, of Americans and
English, on opposing sides, the Americans favoring Kalakaua.
When the result of the election was announced by Representa
tive John Cummins to the multitude waiting outside, when he
said, "We have lost out" He stepped out and went to the harbor
landing, entered a boat and was rowed over to the U. S. S. Tus-
carora, and asked Captain, afterward Admiral Belknap, to land
bluejackets and marines to stop what he feared would be a san
guinary riot.
In the meantime, George Bell, who headed the Queenites, led
his faction against the legislators and with sticks the lawmakers
were beaten. Their carriages were broken. The mob had
broken loose. They surged toward the door of the hall, and it
was there that the stalwart young Sanford B. Dole, who was
president of Hawaii later on, stood, a powerful man then, and
barred entrance. Kalakaua and his adherents were hurried from
the hall to the royal palace. It was a mob rule of a few hours,
but anger swept the opponents of Kalakaua for some time.
It was not because they did not consider him fit to be a king,
nor because he was not noble enough, but because they felt it
was a presumptious thing for any high chief to assume to sit upon
King Lunalilo "the Good/7 ruler for a year, whose fortune was
bequeathed to endow Lunalilo Home for aged and
indigent Hawaiians.
GAUNT REBELLION STALKS ISLANDS 245
the throne when Princess Ruth Keelikolani, Princess Pauahi
Bishop and Queen Emma were alive and available for rulership.
That was the Hawaiian viewpoint. Had they been dead they
would have considered that Kalakaua was preeminently eligible
for selection to wear the crown.
Minister Henry A. Pierce's report to Washington of the
election of Kalakaua as king and the rioting that began immed
iately the news reached outside, is graphic. He says the com
mittee of the legislature appointed to wait upon Kalakaua and
inform him of his selection was mobbed and wounded.
The rioters assaulted the courthouse, broke the windows,
forced in the rear doors and gained entrance to rooms. The
offices of the attorney-general were sacked and gutted and the
papers thrown into the street.
The assembly room furniture was smashed and the legislators
were assaulted and many rendered senseless. Cries were heard,
"Fire the town!" The police removed their badges and joined
the rioters.
The minister says he received requests to land a force from
the U. S. S. Tuscarora and the Portsmouth. In ten minutes'
time Commander Belknap and 150 men were ashore and at the
courthouse and took possession, dispersing the mob.
With remarkable foresight, Minister Pierce, who was a friend
of the Hawaiians, saw the day when Hawaii would be part of
the United States, for his advice to Washington was sound when
he wrote on February 17, 1874: "Hereafter a United States
vessel of war should always be stationed at these Islands under
a system of reliefs. A time may arrive when the United States
government will find it necessary for the interests of our na
tion and its resident citizens here to take possession of the
country by military occupation."
This happened twenty-four years later, and American warships
were kept almost constantly on the "Hawaiian station," following
the receipt of Pierce's letter at Washington. Today, Oahu is
America's malta, with a naval station second to none under the
American flag.
246 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Notwithstanding the general progress of the Islands under
King Kalakaua, the plotting of a few idle place hunters, strength
ened by the utterances of newly established native newspapers,
calculated, it is said, to arouse race prejudices, there developed
a small party of malcontents, under the leadership of Robert W.
Wilcox, who, with about 150 followers, made an attempt on
July 30, 1889, to overthrow the government and Kalakaua, if
that was necessary. They surprised Honolulu by taking pos
session of the Palace grounds, its guns and ammunition at early
dawn, but were surprised in turn at the absence of the King and
the armed force of the Honolulu rifles and volunteers, composed
principally of white residents, gathered to oppose and dislodge
them. The King had been warned the night before by Kahelawai,
a captain. The King ordered the cannon balls chained and the
guns rendered useless.
After a day of battle and anxiety, resulting in a loss to the
insurgents of six killed and twelve wounded, Wilcox and his
followers surrendered.
In the trials at the October term of the Supreme Court Wilcox
stated that his plans were to obtain possession of the palace and
the king; have him sign a new constitution which he (Wilcox)
had prepared, giving rights to the people (the Hawaiians) and
restoring power to the king which the constitutional changes of
1887 had taken from him, and turn out the ministry. In all these
plans he claimed with amazing audacity to have had royal sanc
tion. At the trial before a native jury he was acquitted by
them, under the ancient belief that "the king can do no wrong" ;
hence, found no treasonable act in carrying out his behests.
Wilcox had been one of several Hawaiian youths who had
been sent abroad by the Hawaiian government to foreign schools
for higher education. He went to Italy and went through the
Italian West Point, and this experience gave him the glamor of
military prowness, which he really did not possess, in the eyes of
the natives, for his picturesque uniforms were enough to make
him a grand figure.
It is said, on excellent authority, today, that Princess (after
wards) Queen Liliuokalani, was behind the Wilcox movement,
GAUNT REBELLION STALKS ISLANDS 247
in the hope that she would be selected to rule instead of her
brother, whom she considered weak and compromising. She
was headstrong, wilful, and as regent, had tasted the joys of
rulership and would have gone to extremes, even to deposing her
brother, to take the reigns completely in her own hands.
This wilfulness was strong during her brief rule of two years
from 1891 to 1893, when she attempted to abrogate the Consti
tution which led to her downfall.
The white residents claim that the Constitution of 1887 did
not go far enough and that there continued five years of abuses.
The opening months of Liliuokalani's reign gave birth to the
hope for fair hopes for the government, but it developed that the
queen had all the despotic instincts of a ruler of ancient times.
She was determined to govern by herself, and not through a
ministry, unless it be one that would yield to her personal bidding.
She did not wish to consult the will of the people, and in a
measure, felt humiliated under the terms of the constitution
wrested from her brother in 1887.
Her selection of cabinets appeared to be without an appro
priate regard for the effects produced upon the people. The
Americans felt that the Queen had thrown down the gage of
battle, and were watchful for fear their rights in the king
dom would be jeopardized. The Queen attempted to dictate
to her cabinets. Then, finding they were not as pliant as she
desired, resignations were forced, cabinet after cabinet was ap
pointed and resigned. On this January day the Queen at
tempted to exercise personal influence with the members of the
legislature. She did not add tears to her entreaties of the legis
lators to lean to her cause, for she boasted to the end of her
long, stormy life, that she never shed tears.
On January 12, 1893, the Wilcox cabinet was voted out of
office on a Want of Confidence resolution. The next cabinet
made matters worse. This was the Parker, Peterson, Colburn,
Cornwall cabinet. There was general indignation. Saturday,
January 14, dawned clear and beautiful and no one dreamed
that it was to be one of the most eventful days in Hawaiian
history. The prorogation of the legislature by the Queen was to
248 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
take place at noon, and the members opposed to the new cabinet,
though they absented themselves from the ceremony, had no
idea of attempting anything against the ministry. It did not seem
that the Queen, after gaining much for which she had been
striving, would imperil her position, by violating the constitution,
and yet she did.
Saturday afternoon between 1 and 2 o'clock the community
was startled by the information that a coup d'etat was in progress
and that the Queen was endeavoring to force her cabinet to sign
a new Constitution which she then proposed to promulgate im
mediately to the people. It was almost too amazing to believe.
The political changes of the past few days, the renewed vote
of Want of Confidence, the secret attempt, as it was alleged,
made by the Queen to secure the overthrow of her ministers,
her secret interviews, the signing of the opium and lottery bills,
coupled with the rabid talk of certain of the members of the
house, had produced a feeling of great unrest in the community.
There were forebodings of "worse to come." On Saturday
morning it was freely stated that a new Constitution was to be
promulgated in the afternoon. At a meeting of the business men
reference was made to this possibility, but hardly believed, until
afternoon when doubt was transformed into certainty.
A member of the cabinet took counsel outside the cabinet and
he was advised not to sign the proposed Constitution. Also, to
decline to resign.
In the afternoon Hui Kalaina (a native Hawaiian political
society), marched over to the palace to present a new Constitu
tion to the Queen with the petition that the same be promulgated.
It was all prearranged and the Queen affected to be quite aston
ished, it is alleged.
A crowd of Hawaiians had gathered about the palace gates
and the grounds near the front flight of steps to the palace.
The Queen retired to the blue room and summoned the ministers,
who repaired at once to the palace. She at once presented them
with the draft of the new Constitution, demanded their signa
tures, and declared her intention to promulgate the document at
once. Attorney-General Peterson and Minister of the Interior
GAUNT REBELLION STALKS ISLANDS 249
Colburn refused. Ministers Parker and Cornwell reluctantly
joined their fellow ministers.
The cabinet advised the Queen not to violate the law, but she
could not be dissuaded from her mad course. She struck the
table with her clenched fist and announced her intention to
promulgate the constitution.
The ministers retired to the government building across the
street and sent word to the business men. Leading citizens of
every political faith met at W. O. Smith's office. It was agreed
by all to resist this encroachment upon their liberties. A mes
sage to this effect was sent to the Queen. The ministers returned
to the palace and tried to persuade her to withdraw from her
revolutionary steps already taken. The Queen then hesitated.
Since 1887 white men had fanned opposition to the new Consti
tution and egged the royal ones to a feeling that they had been
imposed on. Annexation was the goal.
There was a long conference in the blue room. Finally, in
bitterness, she consented to give up her project, or at least make
a temporary postponement. She was angry when she returned to
the throne room at 4 p. m. where she made an extraordinary
speech before the Hui Kalaina and most of the members of the
legislature. She said that obstacles had prevented her from
promulgating the new Constitution. She added that she was
obliged to postpone it a few days. She went to the front balcony
and addressed the multitude, saying, on account "of the perfidy"
of her ministers she was unable to grant the new Constitution.
The whites (haoles) claimed that the Queen's Constitution de
prived the people of all choice in the selection of the House of
Nobles, the cabinet system was abolished and the choice and
removal of ministers vested solely in the Queen. White men were
to be deprived of their franchise except those married to Ha
waiian women.
The Queen's "revolution" had momentarily failed. Now a
counter revolution was in process of organization. A Com
mittee of Safety was organized and the matter given over to
their consideration. The committee did not delay in the per
formance of duties entrusted to it. The committee adjourned
250 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
to meet Sunday morning. Then the situation was fully dis
cussed. The public was asked to confirm the selection of the
Committee of Safety, which it did. It was authorized to take
steps that might seem necessary to further public welfare and
secure the rights of the people from aggression once and for all.
It was the unanimous sentiment among the committee members
that a proclamation should be issued abrogating the monarchy,
and a provisional government established.
Monday morning it was decided to ask the United States min
ister to have troops landed from American warships in Hawaiian
waters, on the ground it was necessary for the protection of
property, and a request to that effect was forwarded by the
minister.
The Queen's party, meanwhile, was not idle, and began to
cast about for a means of averting the catastrophe which seemed
to threaten the throne. The Queen patched up a peace with her
ministers. A secret meeting was held at the attorney-general's
office on Sunday. Marshal C. B. Wilson, an appointee of the
royal government, then proposed to arrest the Committee of
Thirteen, but Paul Neuman opposed this plan. The Hawaiians
decided to call a counter mass meeting for Monday. A "By Au
thority Notice" was drafted to be signed by the Queen and cabinet,
announcing that the plan to abrogate the Constitution was aban
doned.
At 2 p. m., Monday, January 16, the Honolulu Rifles Armory
was the scene of the largest and most important mass meeting
of citizens ever held in Hawaii. Hon. W. C. Wilder, chairman
of the Committee of Safety was chairman. The report of the
special committee was read, rehearsing the entire situation and
recommended certain resolutions to be adopted, stating that
efforts to avert the' impending catastrophe had been in vain, the
concluding sections condemning and denouncing the Queen's
attitude and actions and ratifying the course of action followed
and to devise ways and means to meet future contingencies di
rected at their liberties.
Meanwhile, in Palace Square, the Hawaiians held their counter
mass meeting. A resolution was adopted accepting the royal
GAUNT REBELLION STALKS ISLANDS 251
assurance she would no longer seek a new constitution by revolu
tionary means. At the same time the meeting loyally cheered
the Queen's attempt to carry out her coup d'etat.
While the Committee of Safety was in session, the business
section was electrified by a shot that was fired on Fort street,
followed by the startling news that Captain Good had shot a
policeman. The committee hastened to the Government building.
The shot fired on Fort street precipitated the revolution.
Good was ordnance officer. He was gathering up guns and
ammunition at different stores for the Committee of Safety.
The guns and ammunition had been brought out from E. O.
Hall's hardware store and packed in a wagon. Policemen had
been watching this action. As the wagon came away from the
rear entrance a policeman caught the reigns and called, "Halt."
He blewr his whistle and four or five other policemen reinforced
him. Captain Good warned the policeman. The driver used his
whip on an officer. Two men on a street car drew revolvers and
covered two of the police officers. An officer ran toward Good
and put his hand behind him, the action being interpreted as an
act to draw his revolver. Captain Good instantly fired and shot
the officer. This ended the effort to capture the arms and am
munition.
Meanwhile, the Committee of Safety, with the members af the
Provisional Government proceeded to the Government building,
Judge Sanford B. Dole, of the Supreme Court, and Henry E.
Cooper, leading the way. Inquiry was made for the ministers
but they could not be found. Mr. Cooper made a demand upon
Mr. Hassinger, chief clerk of the Interior Office for possession
of the building, and the demand was immediately complied with.
The committee proceeded to the public entrance and read to
the crowd a proclamation, which rehearsed many acts during
the reigns of Kalakaua and Liliuokalani, alleged to have been
opposed to public weal, detailing in particular the Queen's efforts
to abrogate the Constitution, and announcing the steps taken by
the citizens, the concluding portions being as follows:
"We, the citizens and residents of the Hawaiian Islands, or-
252 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
ganized and acting for the public safety and common good,
hereby proclaim as follows :
"The Hawaiian monarchial system of government is hereby
abrogated. €
"A Provisional government for the control and management
of public affairs and the protection of the public peace is hereby
established, to exist until terms of union with the United States
of America have been negotiated and agreed upon.
"Such provisional government shall consist of an executive
council of four members, who are declared to be S. B. Dole, J.
A. King, P. C. Jones, W. O. Smith, who shall administer the
executive departments of the government, the first named acting
as president and chairman of such council and administering
the department of foreign affars," etc., etc., etc. The advisory
council was named, consisting of fourteen members.
"All officers under the existing government," the proclamation
went on, "are hereby requested to continue to exercise their
functions and perform the duties of their respective offices with
the exception of the following named persons:
"Queen Liliuokalani, Charles B. Wilson, Marshall; Samuel
Parker, Minister of Foreign Affairs ; W. H. Cornwall, Minister
of Finance; John F. Colburn, Minister of the Interior; Arthur
P. Peterson, Attorney-General, who are hereby removed from
office/'
This was dated January 17, 1893. Monarchy was at end in
Hawaii.
Queen Liliuokalani and her cabinet noted a protest, saying
she yielded to "the superior force of the United States of Amer
ica whose Minister Plenipotentiary, His Excellency John L.
Stevens, has caused Unted States troops to be landed at Honolulu
and declared that he would support the said Provisional Govern
ment"
"Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the
loss of life, I do under this protest and impelled by said force
yield my authority until such time as the Government of the
United States shall upon the facts being presented to it undo the
action of its representative and reinstate me in authority which
Her Royal Highness Queen Liliuokalani. last sovereign of the Hawaiian
Islands, sister of King Kalakaua. Destiny gave her two years of
rulership, when her throne was overturned and white residents
set up a Provisional government, and later a Eepublie. Her
stormy career ended in 1917, when she died at Wash
ington Place, and was accorded a state funeral
by the Government.
Robert W. Wileox, the Hawaiian revolutionist, taken in January, 1895,
at the Honolulu police station, in his Italian uniform. He was edu
cated by the Hawaiian government at the Italian war college.
He was held in custody by Gen. John Soper, then Marshal of the
Republic, in command of the station.
GAUNT REBELLION STALKS ISLANDS 253
I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands."
This was also dated January 17.
The forces landed were those of the U. S. Cruiser Boston, com
manded by Capt. G. C. Wiltse, U. S. N.
A commission of five men immediately left for San Francisco
on the little steamer Claudine, went to Washington, laid the
situation before President Harrison, whose government recog
nized the Provisional Government of Hawaii. A few months
later this action was repudiated by President Cleveland who
ordered the American flag hauled down. Then the Hawaiian
Republic was established with Sanford B. Dole as President.
What were the Queen's real motives in her extraordinary
movements that fateful January of 1893? What were her feel
ings in after years when she had ample opportunity to reflect
over culminating incidents that led to her overthrow?
The writer knows from her own lips that she believed that
there had been an undercurrent working against her, interfering
even with the best efforts of her rulership, to undermine it and
even to urge on people to cause her to become antagonistic toward
the haoles, particularly those of American extraction, and finally,
her own coup was in reality that directed in a mysterious, under
handed method by those who really wanted her off the throne,
that monarchy might be destroyed and a republican government
set up.
I have before me some books, each entitled "Message," "1893,*'
both of which were sent to the auction room in 1921 from
Washington Place, the private residence of the late Queen. In
spection of these books immediately after the auctioneer's ham
mer fell, disclosed many pencilled and penned comments and
annotations on page margins, and indicate that she was affronted
by many of the statements which Paramount Commissioner
James Blount, sent to Honolulu in 1893 by President Cleveland
to ascertain the facts of the overthrow, had made about her.
The "Message" contains "An Interview with Sereno Bishop,
Tuesday, April 12, 1893." Dr. Bishop was a missionary. Here
is the dialogue between Commissioner Blount and Dr, Bishop :
254 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Question — "What do you mean by the attempt to promulgate
a constitution by unlawful means?"
Answer— "I means that she presented such a Constitution to
her ministers and they demurred. She used violent language
toward them."
On the margin is Liliuokalani's pencilled comment and under
scoring^ of "used violent language." — "Not true."
'They fled," the answer goes on, and the Queen has pencilled
"Not so/'
And now here is possibly the crux of the whole tragic situ
ation that focused so rapidly toward January 17, 1893. I doubt
whether this statement has ever before been seen or known,
but to me it represents the secret thoughts of Liliuokalani as
she lived in the retirement of Washington Place, where she had
years of opportunity to reflect. To me, her reading of this
book and her occasional pencillings, tells her real feelings, and
possibly were meant to represent what she considered to be the
truth. The auction room was a strange place to reveal the heart
of this deposed sovereign.
Here is the extract:
Dr. Bishop is continuing his statement:
"She added it was her intention to promulgate that constitu
tion in a short time."
On the margin is this pencilled comment of Liliuokalani's :
"True — but at the request of my people!3'
Dr. Bishop later added:
"I heard she -was under the influence of kahunas," She notes
on the margin — "Untrue."
In one of these two volumes is a letter from Minister Stevens,
dated Honolulu, January 18, 1893 (the day after the overthrow)
addressed to Secretary of State Foster at Washington, in which
he describes the action of the bluejackets landed from the
Boston and gives reasons. The Queen has pencilled "false" to
this statement on the margin against a certain paragraph, as
follows : "The Queen and her palace favorite gave their warm
est support to the lottery bill and signed it at once. She was to
GAUNT REBELLION STALKS ISLANDS 255
be immediately compensated by being allowed to promulgate a
new constitution."
Below, there is a passage that says the Queen appeared in
the throne room before the judges and other officials "in an ex
treme passion of anger." Her comment is, "False." Continu
ing, this sentence goes on, aand avowed her purpose to post
pone her revolutionary constitution for a brief period and then
went upon the balcony and spoke with great passion in the same
strain" (the underscorings being Liliuokalani's).
On the margin is a lengthy pencilled comment, but the printer
in putting many pamphlets together into this one volume, cut the
edges and cut away the top line, leaving a disconnected line, but
the readable portions says :
''Wanted their own wicked actions to be a success. There was
no danger whatever from the Hawaiians and we were all aston
ished to see the troops landed which showed that," and here the
printer again cut into her pencilling, but the second line con
cludes "possession of these islands would be given to the United
States/'
This pencilled remark of the Queen seems peculiarly apt
when considered with this sentence in a letter from Minister
Stevens, dated Honolulu, February 14, 5 p. m., 1893, at the
United States legation, addressed to Secretary of State Foster,
at Washington; the Queen underscoring certain words:
"The Hawaiian pear is now fully ripe, and this is the golden
hour for the United States to pluck it!'
A foregn diplomat in Honolulu, when Minister Stevens ar
rived to represent the United States, said to friends that Stevens
always made trouble wherever he went and he would make
trouble in Hawaii. He assisted, in the opinion of the Queen and
Hawaiians.
Destiny, however, had a hand in the great political game of
chess in mid-Pacific. He moved the pawns, for it was evident
that Hawaii sooner or later must come under the protection of
the United States.
History must now record, 30 years from the year the mon
archy was overthrown, that United States Minister John L.
256 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Stevens, always disliked by the Hawaiians, played the role of a
meddler in Hawaiian politics, as his messages to Secretary of
State John W. Foster, then in President Harrison's cabinet,
clearly show. He desired the government of the monarchy to
fall and to have Hawaii annexed to the United States. His
letters were filled with bitter invectives against the Hawaiian
royalties and the Hawaiians and any person who sided with
the royal cause. In a report in November 20, 1892, he said that
"one or two courses seems to me absolutely necessary to be fol
lowed, either bold and vigorous measures for annexation, or a
'customs union5." He expressed the belief the former would be
"cheaper in the end." Again he said: "I cannot refrain from
expressing the opinion with emphasis that the golden hour is
near at hand."
He informed Washington that the monarchy cost too much,
was an anachronism, and an obstruction to prosperity and that
a Governor, appointed by Washington, at $5,000 a year, would
be better for the Islands. He continually expressed fear of Eng
land and belabored any person of English or part-English blood
as a menace to American interests and plans, "The Princess
heir apparent has always been and is likely always to be, under
English influence," he said, and then made many disrespectful
statements in regard to many of Honolulu's influential English
residents. He referred to "adventurers, impecunious ad irre
pressible mob of hoodlums who were behind the British. Later
he referred to Princes David and Kuhio (the latter Hawaii's
delegate in Congress for twenty years) with considerable dis
respect, in this language:
"The last named— rthe two princes — are harmless young per
sons, of little account, not chiefs by blood, but they were made
princes by the late King Kalakaua without any constitutional
right or power to do so." Both the princes were high chiefs,
as a matter of fact, their mother being the High Chiefess Kinoike,
and she the granddaughter of King Kamualii, of Kauai. Her
sister, Queen Kapiolani, before her marriage to Kalakaua and
before he was king, was the widow of the High Chief Nama-
kaeha, uncle of Queen Emma, consort of Kamehameha IV.
GAUNT REBELLION STALKS ISLANDS 257
"The Hawaiian pear is now fully ripe and this is the golden
hour for the United States to pluck it," was another sentence in
an official letter.
Independently of the Stevens campaign for annexation under
the guise of his official capacity as representative of the Amer
ican government, the American residents, Americans born in
Hawaii, were gradually reaching the conclusion that a change
in government was necessary. Theirs was a different stand
point for their rights were menaced by the royal administration.
These residents had high principles and it must have been with
a heart-wrench that they finally took the fatal step and de
throned the queen. But they never stooped to the detraction of
the Hawaiians that Minister Stevens indulged in, which is one
blot on the official connection between Hawaii and America in
pre-annexation days.
As early as March 8, 1892, a year before the dethronement,
Stevens wrote to Secretary of State Foster: "I ask for the fol
lowing instructions of the Department of State on the following:
If the government here should be surprised and overturned by
an orderly and peaceful revolutionary movement, largely of
native Hawaiians, and a provisional or republican government
organized and proclaimed, would the United States minister and
naval commander here be justified in responding affirmatively
to the call of the members of the removed government to re
store them to power or replace them in possession of the govern
ment buildings? Or should they confine themselves exclusively
to the preservation of American property. I have information,
which I deem reliable, that there is an organized revolutionary
party in the Islands, composed largely of native Hawaiians and
a considerable number of whites and half white, led by indi
viduals of the latter two classes . . . with the ultimate view
of annexation to the United States ... I still incline to
the belief the revolutionary attempt will not be made as long as
there is a United States force in the harbor of Honolulu." The
Boston left Honolulu in January, 1893, and the revolution took
place. However, this was brought on by the Queen's rash de
termination to change the Constitution.
258 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Seething resentment, amazement over the absolute destruction
of the throne, the realization that certain acts in monarchy
administration had led up to the fateful January 17, 1893, and
in a few hours changed the ancient feudal, monarchial system
into a modern republic, was not easily extinguished. Smoldering
feelings were kept alive for the next two years. The uncer
tainty as to what the United States government would do, the
fact that two presidents of the United States had taken opposite
views as to the situation in Hawaii, gave the Hawaiians hope
that something would happen that would abrogate the republic
and reestablish the monarchy.
It was only natural that Hawaiians, who had formerly held
high offices ; Hawaiians who held no offices at all, but believed in
the monarchy and the sovereign ; haoles, who had always favored
the "royalist" party, should discuss the situation. Treason is
interpreted as anything that tends to aim at the existing govern
ment, but what was more natural that discussions, often heated,
should result from even ordinary, commonplace meetings upon
the street and the hope be expressed that the Queen would be
restored to the throne.
At any rate there was a "royaltist uprising" which was speed
ily put down by the republic, in which citizens were organized
into "Citizen's Guards," armed and sent into the field. The
betrayal of the "royalist" cause, by which officials of the republic
were made cognizant of the move, thereby permitting them to
place their own forces in strategic positions, checkmated the
Hawaiians almost before they fired the torch of rebellion. There
was a skirmish at night near Diamond Head when one of the
republic's men — Charles Carter — scion of a prominent family,
was killed. The monarchists fled and scattered into the valleys
and mountains of Palolo, Manoa and Tantalus, there to be hunted
down. Arms that had been expected from abroad, to be landed
secretly somewhere on the Oahuan coast did not entirely ma
terialize, for there again the royalists were betrayed.
Wholesale arrests followed, including Queen Liliuokalani,
Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, her cousin, and prominent
Hawaiians and haole sympathizers alike. A military court was
GAUNT REBELLION STALKS ISLANDS 259
established and those arrested were brought before it charged
with treason and large numbers were sentenced to prison terms
and to pay heavy fines, some of the haoles being exiled.
It was a bitter experience for dire failure was recorded of the
movement. Among those convicted was Prince Kalanianaole,
who spent a year in prison, and although a political prisoner,
was obliged to wear the prison stripes of a common criminal.
Despite this, six years later, on his return from a world tour,
he was chosen the standard bearer of the Republican party, and
for twenty years was delegate from Hawaii in the Congress of
the United States, until his death, January 7, 1922.
Arrangements had been made in San Francisco in Novem
ber, 1894, by an agent from Honolulu, for the purchase and
shipment of arms and ammunition for the royalists. The
schooner Wahlberg brought and landed, or transferred to the
coasting steamer Waimanalo, then owned by John Cummins, :i
wealthy landed Hawaiian and close friend of the Queen, eighty
pistols, 288 Winchesters and 50,000 cartridges. Some of the
shipment was landed and buried in the sand at Rabbit Island,
Koolau, Oahu, December 20, 1894. On New Year's day the
balance of the cargo was transferred. The arms were to have
been landed at the old fishmarket in Honolulu, but the police
frustrated this attempt. It was designed to make an attack upon
the government buildings that night. The arms were landed
in the neighborhood of Bertelman's place at Diamond Head,
which was a sort of meeting place for the rebels. The Rabbit
Island supplies were also brought over and added.
The plan was for the Hawaiians at midnight to rise and
march upon the sleeping city. On the night of January 6, 1895,
the Hawaiians were called to Kaalawai, Diamond Head, eastern
extremity of Honolulu. The guns were brought forth and
cleaned. Some foreigners strolling near Diamond Head were
detained. The telephone station at Diamond Had was seized as
a precautionary measure.
The marshal of the republic was advised about dusk of the
proposed rising. Police under Deputy Marshal A. M. Brown
and Capt. Waipa Parker were despatched to Diamond Head.
260 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
They watched the rebels and then Brown read a warrant of
arrest Firing began and Carter fell. That was the opening
of the revolution of '95.
The "Royalists" today say that Carter fired two shots — it was
very dark. Two men in a canoe, resting on the shore, awakened
by the shooting, drew revolvers and fired back into the darkness,
one bullet finding Carter and giving him a mortal wound. John
C Lane says his brother was not the- one who fired and killed,
although for years he was credited with that fact.
The city was roused and the forces of the Republic were
marshalled and organized for battle and sent to various parts
of the city, the palace, or administration building being carefully
guarded. Sharpshooters were sent to Moiliili and Manoa and
Palolo. Prisoners were taken. Headquarters were established
in Manoa valley. On January 9 a battle was fought in Manoa,
where Robert Wilcox, now turned revolutionist again, was in
command of revolutionists. This was the last battle. Wilcox
was captured several days later hiding in a fishing hut at Kalihi.
Washington Place, home of Queen Liliuokalani, was searched
for arms, where the republic's officers said they found bombs
and arms. On January 16, Liliuokalani was arrested. The first
to be placed on trial charged with treason were Robert Wilcox,
H. Bertelman, Sam Nowlein, Carl Widemann, L. Marshal, John
C. Lane, afterwards mayor of Honolulu, W. C. Lane, Lot K. C.
Lane, and William Greig. Wilcox, Nowlein and Bertelman
pleaded guilty, and the others went to trial.
Nowlein testified that he, with C. T. Gulick, W. H. Rickard
and Major Seward, planned the revolt for five months at
Gulick's house, where a constitution was drafted, to include the
restoration of Liliuokalani. The executive building was to have
been surrounded, the police station, telephone office and electric
power station to be seized. Fifty-seven posts around the city
were to be established.
On January 24 a letter was delivered to President Dole signed
by Liliuokalani in which she expressed herself to be loyal to the
republic, and deploring the recent revolt. She absolved all per
sons from fealty to herself and announced her intention of sub-
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GAUNT REBELLION STALKS ISLANDS 261
scribing henceforth to the Republic of Hawaii. She asked
clemency for those who aided in the revolt.
The Queen, however, was placed on trial charged with "mis-
prision of treason/' on February 5, and five days later her case
was concluded. Liliuokalani was held prisoner in the old palace,
and later was permitted to reside at Washington Place, enjoying
freedom, conditionally.
Communication between the Queen and outsiders was for
bidden and all food and raiment searched when taken to the
palace. But, concealed in poi, were little messages wrapped in
tin-foil. So she kept in touch with the outside world.
Since then, events moved forward rapidly. Three years later,
on January 6, 1898, Congress passed the Joint Resolution of
Annexation and Hawaii became, the following day, an integral
part of the United States of America.
The Hawaiians are exceptionally loyal American citizens. Even
more so than in many parts of continental United States. The
Hawaiians, under the provisions of the Organic Act, which was
framed for the organization of Hawaii's territorial government,
automatically became citizens of the United States. They are
advanced by education, which has been compulsory for seventy
years, by merging with the other races, and equally prominent in
island affairs as their haole (white) neighbors. There are prac
tically no distinctions. The Hawaiians are not regarded as a
race or class apart. They are among the best citizens of Ha
waii, hold offices with others, take part in all civic affairs and
industry.
In the World War the Hawaiians showed their loyalty by
enlisting by scores before the draft. They garrisoned the
island forts while the regulars were sent away to war. Many
lost their lives on European battlefields, fighting under the
American or British colors. The Hawaiians have emerged from
the melting pot as citizens more loyally and more fit for the
franchise than millions of immigrants residing on the American
mainland.
262 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
The Queen, in her later days, was beloved by all Americans,
and showed her devotion to America, when she sponsored the
organization of the 32nd United States Infantry at Schofield
Barracks, by presenting a silk regimental flag bearing her motto,
and this regiment, in the United States army, is now called "The
Queen's Own."
CHAPTER XXI
HAWAII'S PREPAREDNESS, AMERICA'S BULWARK
MALTA OF THE PACIFIC
WHEN Balboa looked out on the vast Pacific Ocean for
the first time, and realized the ambition of years, and
visions of conquestadorial occupancy of long stretches
of golden shores flitted across his mind peopling the Isles of
a wonderful sea with men in armor and establishing the gay life
of Feudal lords, little did he dream that in a far future day a
group of islands lying far beyond the horizon would be to that
ocean as the Isle of Malta is to the "Mother of Seas." It re
mained for another sailor of fortune to spread the sails above
his galleon, and set his course westward in the hope of discover
ing a shore shining with gold and embowered in tropical loveli
ness, for it was Juan Gaetano who found, so tradition tell us,
the lava-bound shores of Hawaii island. History does not tell
us that Gaetano landed with men in armor and arquebuses and
established the first foreign military camp in Hawaii, but in all
probability he did.
Again in 1778 Captain James Cook, of the Royal British Navy
dropped his anchor off the beautiful bay of Kealakekua and
once more men of a foreign nation landed with guns and estab
lished an armed camp. One hundred and forty years later saw
established on the shores of Pearl Harbor within easy cannon
distance of Honolulu, the greatest naval and military camp
ever strategically placed by the great American Republic, for in
June, 1918, the drydock of Pearl Harbor Naval Station was
completed and the great yard formally opened as a base for the
.handling of warship fleets of the United States and their defense
by the nearby fortifications which already command the admira-
264 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
tion of militarists, with Joseph Daniels, former secretary of the
Navy, the principal participant in the ceremonies.
In 1911 the channel which connects the open sea with the
inner lochs of Pearl Harbor was formally opened, and the
event celebrated as one of the important advances of the United
States in its plan of preparedness in making the Hawaiian
Islands a military outpost to make safeguard against hostile
fleets, the entire Pacific coast. Of such importance was the cele
bration of the opening of this channel that the Navy Department
sent war vessels to participate in the demonstration and sent
the cruiser California up the channel to safe anchorage opposite
the present naval yard. The cruiser was skilfully guided up the
Sour and a half mile channel thereby demonstrating that for all
future time, that any warship of the American Navy may easily
negotiate the water way. It was a historical event for Hono
lulu. On the quarter deck of the California were many distin
guished personages, including Her Majesty Queen Liliuokalani,
the former sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands and Hon. Sanford
B. Dole, president of the first and only Republic of Hawaii;
the Governor of Hawaii and the military and naval commanders
in Hawaii.
A document was recently found in a camphorwood chest
stored in the Archives Building of the Territory of Hawaii in
Honolulu, which was written aboard the famous old wooden
frigate Constitution — the "Old Ironsides" of prose and poetry —
by Lieut. I. W. Curtis, U. S. N., addressed to Hon. G. P. Judd,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Hawaiian Kingdom, in which
the naval officer unfolded a plan to fortify Pearl Harbor, as
well as Honolulu. He dwelt upon the importance of Martel
towers, Paixhan guns of the caliber for ten-inch shells and
sixty-pound shot.
"Allow me to call your attention to the importance of Pearl
Harbor," wrote the officer, "the perfect security of the harbor,
the excellence of its wrater, the perfect ease with which it can
be made one of the finest places in the islands, all of which com
bine to make it a great consideration. While the harbor was
clearing out, fortifications could be built, troops could be drilled,.
HAWAII AMERICA'S BULWARK 265
the forts might be garrisoned, government storehouses built.
The amount of money to be expended will be but a feather in
comparison with the almost incalculable amount of wealth that
will result upon the completion of these objects.7'
- Not a single line of that report has been disregarded by the
later-day naval officials. Every word has shown that Lieuten
ant Curtis had a grasp of the situation which would seem tinged
v/ith prophecy. While the channel had been clearing, fortifica
tions have been built by the army on a reservation adjoining the
naval reservation, fortifications which mount twelve and fourteen-
inch guns while another had been constructed for large caliber
mortars o£ the most powerful and modern-typed, troops are
drilled all over the Island of Oahu in four separate army posts,
and the garrisons gradually being increased until twenty-five
thousand men are sometime to be stationed on the Island of
Oahu alone, exclusive of the naval and marine force which is to
be maintained.
- The announcement of the decision of President Roosevelt to
increase activity at Pearl Harbor was commented on by every
influential newspaper in the United States, and all were favorable
to the project, but many fell into error in stating that Pearl
Harbor came under the domination of the American govern
ment with annexation in 1898. That was not true, for in 1876,
under President Grant, Pearl Harbor was ceded to the United
States, President Cleveland renewed the treaty in 1887 for
seven years. Since the renewal of the treaty Pearl Harbor has
been the subject of many detailed reports by engineer officers
and high officials of the navy. The determination of Congress
to appropriate millions for the establishment of a naval base
there was not sudden nor due to immediate necessity for defense,
but to a carefully drawn plan which was decades in the making.
The value of the harbor has never been denied, and it has
now become, what the prophetic pen of a British naval officer
announced over a hundred years ago would be "The greatest
naval base of the Pacific Ocean."
Little did the national lawmakers dream when they passed the
joint resolution of Congress in July, 1898, annexing the Hawaii-
266 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
an Islands to the United States, that by that act they laid the
basis of the future base at Pearl Harbor, a station which will
be regarded by those powers which concede that the Hawaiian
Islands are the "Key to the Pacific," and Pearl Harbor the very
center of armed protection to the Pacific Coast of the Ameri
can Republic. But there is the navy yard in reality not eight
miles from Honolulu arising above a once desolate, lantana-
covered stretch of coral and lava surface bordering upon the
wonderful Pearl lochs. Within a cable's length of the moorings
of the battleships are the gates of one of the finest types of
drydocks in the world, whose capacity — while not as great as
it should be— will be far in excess of the bulk of the greatest
superdreadnaught for years to come, for the size of the Panama
Canal and locks will have a bearing upon the size of future war
ships and compel nations to keep them down to a certain length.
The American people little realize what has been done at Pearl
Harbor, and little will they realize the importance of the harbor
until American warships are placed on guard against a hostile
fleet, and then its inestimable value will be given a practical
demonstration, for out of that harbor in the middle of the Pa
cific, the very crossroads of the vast breadth of the sea on which
border the nations of the two Americas, Asia and the great
continents of the South Seas, may issue fleets absolute in their
power and equipment to intercept armed squadrons whose aim
is the long and poorly protected Pacific slope, a harbor to which
its own maimed and unsupplied warships may retire for repairs,
equipment, reinforcements and supplies.
The millions and millions of people living under the Ameri
can flag may not comprehend the value of the millions of dol
lars being expended in and near those lochs, for the navy de
partment has been carrying on its work silently, but surely,
working beneath the waters of the channel and lochs, to deepen
where necessary, to fill in where navigation demanded, to widen
and straighten the channel and reduce the shallowness of the bar
at the sea entrance, working \vith the mechanical arms of the
dredging machines which have dug out and crushed the flint-
like coral formation for years, night and day, until where
HAWAII AMERICA'S BULWARK 267
only the diminutive gunboat Petrel was able to steam into Pearl
Harbor in January, 1903, and anchor safely on the broad bosom
of the inner harbor, battleships and cruisers now navigate and
anchor in the' deepest of deep water opposite the 1,000-foot
drydock. This vast work under water gives no approximate
idea of how the millions have been spent or how the hundreds of
American citizens have been laboring incessantly.
Pearl Harbor is a magnificent rendezvous in the Mid-Pacific
for the American navy, and the wisdom of its creation, in the
light of events making the Pacific Ocean the one in which world
powers are competing for commercial and military mastery, be
comes clearer and clearer the more one studies the situation.
Hawaii is so situated in the Pacific that it is the natural center
for converging transoceanic lines, whether from the Panama ship
canal, or American, Australian, or Asiatic ports bordering on
the Pacific. By the creation of a great naval force in this ocean,
the American mainland will practically command the Pacific
against any Asiatic or other power. Pearl Harbor will be a pro
tection for billions in national values. It will add to the equip
ment of the United States for the enterprises of peace as well
as the necessities of war. The establishment of a powerful fleet
at the Hawaiian Islands makes an oversea attack on any part
of the American coast too dangerous to be attempted.
Diamond Head, the picturesque crater-promotory rising barrier-
like at the eastern side of Honolulu, is a fortress, the most
unique in the world, for the crater is used for military purposes
as well as its slopes. This is Fort Ruger.
The famous Waikiki beach is also flanked by a 14-inch gun
fortress — Fort De Russey. At the entrance to Honolulu harbor
is Fort Armstrong, named after Hawaii's Civil War general. At
the entrance to Pearl Harbor is Fort Kamehameha, named in
honor of Kamehameha the Great. At the western extremity of
Honolulu is Hawaiian Department headquarters, named after
General Shafter, leader of America's troops in Cuba in 1898.
Twenty miles away on the plains of Leilehua, in the center of
the pineapple country is Schofield Barracks, named in honor of
268 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
the general who took command of Richmond in April, 1865,
after Lee's surrender.
Hawaii has been referred to as the Gibraltar of the Pacific,
but it is in reality the Malta of the Pacific. The Hawaii of the
old monarchy days has passed. The picturesque royal country
which attracted diplomats, writers, artists and distinguished per
sonages from every clime, has succumbed to the law of destiny
and has been replaced by a practical American government, but
the beautiful, romantic, moonlit nights still remain and the strum
and tinkle of the guitar and ukulele are still heard beneath the
swaying palms as the Hawaiian sob out their ear-haunting melo
dies of the Paradise of the Pacific — a land of content and peace.
Wounds of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 were
healed twenty years later, when Sanford B. Dole (left) and former
Queen Liliuokalani (right) were photographed together. Mr. Dole
became president the day the Queen was deposed. Behind them,
Capt. Henri Berger; famous Eoyal Hawaiian Band leader for forty
years.
o
.a ,§ 2
,|K 1
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O1
CHAPTER XXII
THE CROSSROADS OF ADVENTURE
WHERE EAST MEETS WEST
FOR nearly a quarter of a century it has been my good for
tune to be assigned to the waterfront "beat" of Honolulu
as a newspaper representative, and in that time I have in
terviewed hundreds upon hundreds of the world's celebrities,
either aboard the steamers as they arrive off Honolulu harbor
from the Seven Seas, or after they reach shore.
Seldom have I missed a celebrity. I have listened to the hopes of
patriots, the tales of travelers, the braggadocio of "bucko" mates
of South Sea trading ships, stories of heroism from war corres
pondents, plans of nations as told by admirals, generals, diplomats
and plotters. Of this interesting life I wrote the following on the
anniversary of my twentieth year with The Honolulu Advertiser :
As the old sailor types of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure
Island" days have disappeared from the Pacific along with the
great picturesque fleets of canvas-topped sailing vessels of Amer
ica's golden maritime era ; just as the stately, rakish old steamers
Rio Janeiro, City of Peking, Australia, Zealandia and Alameda
have been thrust aside by the marvels of the genius of modern
marine architects, so I am reminded more and more by experi
ence that most of the former carefree swashbuckling, adventur
ous "soldier of fortune" newspapermen of the Hawaiian Islands
have been absorbed in the swirl of modern "business efficiency,"
and that the old era of news reporting is gone. They were be
ginning to pass even when the Hawaiian throne tottered and
crashed in 1893 and a republic was set up on the ruins of a pic
turesque monarchy.
2/0 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
All these phases of swift and certain, and even lamented,
changes from romance and adventure to cold-blooded gathering
of news events today which lacks adventure, romance or pic-
turesqueness or even the elements of fine old Bohemianism in
its truest sense, are most pertinent to me on this anniversary.
For just twenty years ago today — November 16, 1899 — I joined
the reportorial staff of the Honolulu Pacific Commercial Adver
tiser under Walter G. Smith, editor, who had taken charge only
the day before, an editor who was the heart and soul of a swash
buckling, adventurous newspaperman, whose career ranged from
filibuster in Mexico to war correspondent in the Far East, and
whose pen was poised to mould the destinies of Hawaii during
the next decade.
Like the old, bearded sea captain of the days of sails, who
to day has become a mere watchman at a wharf from sunset to
dawn, but who formerly roamed strange seas in search of whales,
traded down in the Lazy Latitudes of the South Seas, "black-
birded" maybe, and met with marvelous adventures, so too,
have the newspapermen of the former day become mere cogs in
the modern newspaper machinery in Honolulu, as elsewhere, for
the wireless, cable, fast-traveling ocean liners have removed
Hawaii from its old-time isolation and left newspaper life more
or less a mere mechanical duty, just as a glass of champagne is
dead when the zip and effervescence have flattened.
So appear to me the changes in twenty years of newspaper
life in Honolulu. When I received my first assignment that day
from Walter G. Smith, to ascertain from the "captains of indus
try" of Hawaii's sugar realm how a great money surplus then
lying idle in the Republic of Hawaii treasury (we became a full-
fledged territory of the United States in 1900) should be spent,
it was almost as though Captain Kidd had directed rne to order
the captives up from the hold and make them walk the plank.
There was just that element of adventure in "Walter G." that
made the most commonplace "detail" to his staff appear to
have come right out of the realms of the swashbuckling world.
His tales of his filibustering experience in Lower California, his
fund of battle stories of the China- Japan war of 1894 when he
THE CROSSROADS OF ADVENTURE 271
became the associate of the greatest of all Japanese generals and
statesmen ; his fights with irate readers of his Southern California
papers, and his gun handling, made his office a. hallowed one,
and impressed us all with the idea that adventure, romance and
real gingery "newspaper stuff" were lying about on every hand.
They were — then.
Honolulu was isolated, though it was a crossroads port for
steamers from the Far East, the South Seas, the Occident,
South America. Travelers passed and repassed or remained
here to bask in the entertaining and "different" life of Hono
lulu. Diplomats and princes of foreign states were frequent
visitors. Honolulu was a center of real news. Interviews in
those days were real ones and statements of "important" persons
often had their effect upon a world outside, for the world was
receptive of the opinions of men who stood out above their fel
low men ; it had not reached a stage when Bolshevism set up a
false standard for men to live by or could and would sneer at
great and distinguished men and minimize their words.
Twenty years ago when I made my debut in Honolulu news
paper life (and I have continued on the same paper to present
with two intervals when I held public and semi-public offices and
even then on leave of absence from my paper), Hawaii was on
the threshold of the most important change in her political status,
for within a year she dropped her nationality and independent
status as a republic which had been created upon the ruins of
a monarchy, to become a territory of the United States.
It was the beginning of the certain protection afforded by the
American Union, but also of the loss of an individuality, for,
ruled down from Washington, Hawaii's officials from among her
own people became fewer in number with a resulting increase of
"mainlanders," dubbed in those early days "carpetbaggers." This
is not a criticism of the officials themselves, but of a system which
has outlived its usefulness in a free republic of the people.
Washington still clings to the old, threadbare idea and policy
that "to the victor belongs the spoils/' and political debts of
incoming Presidents are paid off in lucrative offices in Hawaii
272 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
to those in various states of the Union who helped the men in
office at Washington get their positions.
In fact, that section of the Constitution providing for terri
tories, is now obsolete and should be eliminated. There will
be no more territories. Hawaii and Alaska are the last ones.
Hawaii, because of its too-large population from the Orient,
may never be a state. A freer method of "home rule" govern
ment should be accorded the delegates from the two territories
and each should be allowed a vote on the floor of Congress, and
the judges and other officials should be of Hawaii, at least, and
not from "Alalousippi." Hawaii, too long, has been "Forgotten
Island" with Washington, D. C.
That day, November 16, 1899, was just upon the eve of a his
torical transition period. Memories of men and women were
still keen to political changes of '93 and '95 ; the rancor stirred by
the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy was still a live and
painful subject and Hawaiians were still resentful against those
they accused of treason to the island nation. Progressive Ameri
cans were still hopeful that their decision would prove a God
send to Hawaii in the long run, for the eyes of jealous foreign
nations had been case toward the Hawaiian Islands, and plans,
undoubtedly, were projected in many foreign capitals to train
the guns of their warships upon the Hawaiian capital and take
forcible possession of the Islands.
When I look back over the twenty years that have elapsed
since first I took pad and pencil and recorded my first day's notes,
my fancy marshals stirring events, the building of vast agricul
tural enterprises, distinguished men and women, an array of
interviews with world-known personages — generals, admirals,
statesmen, peers, princes and potentates, war correspondents,
revolutionists, adventurers, sculptors, captains of industry,
crooks, athletes, writers, actors, painters, lecturers, musicians,
sea captanis, "bucko" mates, adventurers, "fly-by-night" visitors,
crooked sellers of mining stocks, men and women of varied
nationalities, of all hues under the sun, for all of these have come
under my eye and pencil in the daily routine of a newspaper life
in Honolulu which has lasted through a generation.
THE CROSSROADS OF ADVENTURE 273
- But gone are those early days of romance and adventure.
Honolulu then was picturesque, for there were among us titled
persons of the old royal regime who had been forcibly deposed
from their high offices. It had a scattering of foreign peoples,
just enough leaven to make one certain that here was a pic
turesque corner of the Eight Seas. It was not then crowded
with foreign peoples, who today outnumber the original popula
tion.
Twenty, and even fifteen years ago, Hawaii was thoroughly
isolated — just a group of isles far away from civilization's cen
ters. Six years at least intervened in the reception of news of
the outside world. There were no cables, no wireless, no auto
mobiles, no fast steamers. We were a drowsy ukulele land.
The seven and eight-day steamers brought the ''latest news"
from San Francisco. "Steamer day" was an important factor in
Honolulu life. The electric company's whistle sounded the
steamer's approach. Two hours later the vessel would be at the
wharf. The town was aroused. Tram cars carried heavy loads
harborward. Horses were hitched to buggies and the rest of the
town moved wharfward. The Hawaiian Band usually "played"
a steamer in. It was a time when people met and gossiped while
waiting for the steamer to tie up. The smart set and every other
set met on common ground at the waterfront. Steamers did not
bring many people in those days, but quality made up for quantity.
They were whisked up to the picturesque Hawaiian Hotel, and a
dance that night on its lanais drew the townsfolk to meet the
strangers.
Then, everybody went to the postoffice. The modern innova
tion of having letters delivered at one's home was not known
here. All Honolulu met at the postoffice, and so, friendships
wrere held close. The letter delivery system has broken many a
friendship ; the automobile and electric trolley lines, giving people
opportunity to live in the far suburbs, have further aided in the
breaking of oldtime friendship ties. Only the office boy or the
box owner go to the postoffice now.
How did we get the news in those days ? A steamer came off
port, maybe in day or night. In a launch, or sometimes in a
274 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
rowboat, we met the steamer off port. We either boarded her or
had files of newspapers thrown overboard to us. Back to the
wharf and office. Each reporter was given a paper. The news
items were reduced to "telegraph brevities." We worked some
times far into the night and the next morning The Advertiser
proudly blossomed out with the "latest news of the world"—
eight and nine days old.
Sometimes we had to go out in a gale. The launch or pilot
boat heaved and slogged in the waves. Oftentimes we were out
nearly all night, soaked to the skin, with the editorial staff patient
ly waiting for the reporters to return with their precious "latest
newspapers."
There was always competition with other papers. Oftentimes
there were new newspaper files on board. Frenzied search was
instituted from stateroom to stateroom to locate stray papers or
pieces of them.
What a contrast of today with news received several times a
night by cable, radio, telephone, from the uttermost parts of the
outer world, from the other islands, from other parts of this
island, a thoroughly comprehensive digest of the news of the
day which is presented to The Advertiser's readers at the break
fast table in true metropolitan style. In fact visitors to Honolulu
have marvelled at the enterprise of The Advertiser and its splen
did presentation of news, just as though it were published in New
York, Boston, Chicago or San Francisco, for its presses give out
thousands of copies an hour, often in color tones — all quite
up-to-date.
There were crack sailing vessels in those days which made
clipper- fast voyages. They came from the coast with lumber;
from the South Seas with guano and copra , from South America
with nitrates ; from San Francisco with general merchandise and
provisions ; from England and Scotland and Germany with fer
tilizers, fabrics and liquors; from China and Japan with silks
and sake and soyo and Oriental curios ; from Australia and New
Zealand and Samoa with mutton and beef and mats.
Honolulu harbor was often a "forest of masts." The vessels
remained here weeks at a time. The masters were personal
THE CROSSROADS OF ADVENTURE 275
friends of the best families and they entertained aboard extensive
ly. They were men who had been "running" down to Honolulu
for decades. Their friendships were lasting ones. They dined
in the homes of the old families and the old families dined aboard.
As big steamers began to replace the sailing vessels this won
derful aggregation of ship masters and mates disappeared. The
old friend ashore died and the friendships became few. New
men, different from the old types, occupied the masters' cabins
and were little contact between the old population and the sailing
ship's cozy diningroom. Only the customs men and quarantine
officers and ship's agents go aboard nowadays and once in a
while an old friend turns up.
The tales that those old sailors reeled off ! They were stories
of South Seas islands and trading ; tales of mutinies on the high
seas and drastic methods of suppressing such uprisings; of pur
suit of whales ; of old bucko mates who were generally accredited
with close relationship with near-pirates ; of opium smuggling
and of smugglers; of typhoons and hurricanes, shipwrecks and
life on lonely islands awaiting a passing ship ; of strange car
goes of merchandise and sometimes human beings ; days when
ship cabins were filled with curious things collected in every
part of the world.
But the fast and big steamers have driven them out. The estab
lishment of the cable brought Honolulu into news contact with
the outside world.
There was no longer anticipation as to what might have occur
red in the world. Everybody got it the "next morning." That
took the adventurous element out of life here. Came then the
auto and that changed the aspect of the city. Suburbs were un
known in those early days. Our little world for news getting
was nearly all "down town," or within easy reach. Waikiki was
far away and dreamy in those days, with a long stretch of beach
and few homes and bungalows.
The suburbs of today were the far country of the early days
of this century, but a country where it was pleasant to have
picnics and luaus. When we newspapermen wanted to locate
any man in town it was easy to get him. The telephone of that
276 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
day was a sort of clearing house. Mrs. Jones goes to Mrs.
Brown's house in the afternoon, and tells "central" that if any
body calls to have them call her at Mrs. Brown's. Central called
the doctor, gave orders for meats and groceries when the house
wives were in a hurry, and called up the town to say that a meet
ing would be held somewhere that night. When we wanted
Faxon Bishop, C. M. Cooke, C. H. Cooke, Ed. Tenney, Jack Dow-
sett, Sam Parker, or an official of the government and wanted him
in a hurry, "central" often found him. Then it was a jump in a
hack and in a few minutes we had him.
Those were days when war correspondents flowed through
Honolulu, particularly when the Spanish, Boxer and Japan-
Russo wars were on. I interviewed them all— Jack London,
Frederick Palmer and a dozen others and took copious notes of
their marvelous tales. I have talked with Bryce, Prince Pu Lun
of the old Manchu regime; with Prince Fushimi of the Japanese
imperial house ; with Jack London time and again ; with Dr. Sun
Yat Sen, Hawaiian-bred revolutionist who overturned the ancient
Manchu dynasty. Four months prior to the revolt Dr. Sun con
fided to me in the office of "The Liberty News," the patriotic
Chinese newspaper where he often visited, the plan in general by
which he hoped to destroy the Manchu monarchy. I was aston
ished at his idea of establishng a republic and asked him if he
really thought of a republic like that of the United States. He
said "yes." "With a President like George Washington?"
"Yes." "Then you may be president, Dr. Sun?" He threw up
his hands. "No, I have no ambitions that way ; my lifelong hope
is to overturn the monarchy and establish a republic," He did.
I have talked with Dr. Syngman Rhee, of Honolulu, the "Presi
dent of the Korean Republic." I have written up Major Sam
Johnson of Honolulu, the greatest soldier and soldier of fortune
of all, who lived among us many years, became a conspicuous
character in Siberia's turmoil at Vladivostok and was decorated
by sixteen governments of the Allies.
I have gone aboard steamers and interviewed princes and
potentates; writers, theosophists, Buddhists and Brahmina lead
ers; have talked with criminals passing through under guard;
45 cfi 43
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THE CROSSROADS OF ADVENTURE 277
with brilliant lecturers ; have interviewed castaway sailors rescued
and en route home. I have met and interviewed princes of India,
soldiers of fortune, revolutionists, Pershing, Taft, Funston,
small of stature, but one of the biggest generals ever stationed in
Honolulu, and hundreds upon hundreds of other well known men
and women. The Prince of Wales, Lord Northcliffe, prime
ministers, great singers, Calve, Melba, Schuman-Heink, with
Kubelik, Paderewski, Heifeitz; with Jellicoe, lord of battles —
the list covers the world.
Locally, I wonder how many marriages in the past twenty years
I missed "writing up," beginning away back there in 1899? I
wonder how many births later on I recorded. I wonder how
many divorces I was called upon to record and ''write up." It
has been a pleasure to "write up" these weddings, for it took me
into many hospitable homes. It has been a pleasure to write
obituaries. The word "pleasure" may sound strange but it is
true, for these obituaries, replete with splendid deeds of fine life
work of many of our citizens, men and women alike, were obitu
aries of lives well spent, of self-sacrificing, of educating, of
devotion to the interests of others. There have been many splen
did men and women of Honolulu, Hawaiian and haole alike,
whose biographies were unusual.
The late Queen Liliuokalani was, all in all, a remarkable
woman, and I had many chats with her at Washington Place
and in my own home. She was among the first of the royalties
in the world since the French revolution to lose her crown, but
destiny was behind this lamentable necessity. I saw her that
November day in 1917 when-she breathed her last [as I did also
the last royal prince of Hawaii, Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana-
ole, January 7, 1922].
I have followed the fortunes of politicians, of men of indus
try, doctors and lawyers, educators and agriculturists and scien
tists, written of their work and their hopes and their discoveries
in their particular fields. I have watched the city grow from a
large, contented town with unpaved streets to a city with modern
wharves, paved streets, electric trolleys, big office and hotel build
ings.
278 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
But with all this progress there has disappeared the peculiar
and delightful charm of old. Honolulu, the atmosphere of Ha
waii nei of the olden time. The streets have been straightened
and old trees have come down ; historic buildings have been razed
to be replaced by something modern in which not an iota of local
architectural atmosphere, or architecture typical of Hawaii, is
apparent. Just such a building as would sit on State street or
Arapahoe street or Main street in any city. Trees, gardens, sea
bathing beach, people connected with the golden era of the Ha
waiian monarchy, all have disappeared under the march of events.
Even the mountains, once picnic rendezvous, are forest reserves
with kapu signs, or fenced in lots for private homes, and no
stretch of sea beach can be called public.
The climate of Hawaii is still here. It is the ever alluring
charm of Hawaii nei. Times and peoples and life have altered,
merged with other life; Hawaiian melodies, the tinkle of the uku
lele and the strum of the guitar have nearly been replaced by the
jangling, banging "jazz"; autos whizz by at breaking speed;
trolley cars clang in the soft Hawaiian moonlight; ancient co-
coanut groves come down ; cafeterias and Boston restaurants have
replaced the old time "coffee saloon" ; traffic policemen regulate
your movements day and night on the streets; fashion dictates
serges and woolens in place of the old time spotless and cool
ducks and linens; Waldorf-Astoria gowns have almost shamed
the picturesque Hawaiian holoku out of street appearance ; work
men have unionized; hours of labor are set; the old time hack-
men, save one, have passed out of existence; only one prince of
the old regime remains alive [this prince, Kuhio, died in 1922] ;
the Throne Room's beautiful koa woods have been painted
white, and the old "Boat Landing/' a romantic meeting place in
the old days when warships anchored in "Naval Row," is a
launch wharf.
The adventurous life we newspaper men used to lead is chang
ed. Just when the change came I cannot recall. It altered our
semi-Bohemian kind of life. Just picking up news hap-hazardly,
and yet with a wealth of human interest always turning up in it,
has become a business-like system, with regular hours.
THE CROSSROADS OF ADVENTURE 279
Individuality still survives, but is not essential, judging by
the business-like city editors of the modern regime, for few of
the men are as old as some of us who have survived the old days
of Honolulu journalism.
It is no time to lament over the "good old days" of the roman
tic long ago of Honolulu. Modern newspaper systems don't
permit reflecting over "old times." They want the news of to
day. But everything to me in Hawaii is "yesterday." I am
proud of Hawaii's "yesterday."
But like the pipe-smoking old sailor watchman on the wharf
today, who was master of a clipper ship a quarter of a century
and more ago, who likes to let his thoughts go back to the palmy
days of his mariner life, so does the newspaper man of an old
and picturesque regime.
CHAPTER XXIII
ISLES OF ALOHA LAND
GEOGRAPHY OF THE GROUP
IN the days of '49 when Americans suddenly discovered that
California was the modern El Dorado and there was a rush
from the four corners of the earth to share its riches from
mountains, valleys, gulches and rivers, the Hawaiian Islands
sprang equally into prominence as a provider for California.
Corn and wheat, potatoes and flour and many other products of
the soil were shipped to the Golden State. Hawaii thrived on
her sudden prosperity as an exporter of products that today are
now mostly imported from the mainland as Hawaii's great agri
cultural areas are devoted now principally to sugar cane and
pineapples.
In the days of '49 it was a tedious voyage of weeks on a sail
ing vessel between San Francisco and Honolulu. Steamers be
gan to stir the waters of the Pacific and gradually the time was
cut down from weeks to nine and ten days, then eight then seven,
and today the voyage over the beautiful ocean, sparkling in the
rays of the sun, for Hawaii is in the "sunshine belt" steamship
routes, is made in six days as an average on the many liners that
now ply regularly between California and Hawaii.
It is a voyage never to be forgotten. The comforts of modern
travel are at the command of the traveler. It is now a satin-
slippered trip from anywhere on the American mainland down to
Hawaii, up to the Volcano and almost any place in the islands,
whether it be in the wondrous Waimea Canyon of Kauai, with
its glorious colorings so like those of the Grand Canyon of
Arizona ; or to the edge of the active, roaring, magnificent Hale-
maumau crater in Kilauea volcano. The voyage is through a
ISLES OF ALOHA LAND 281
series of days that breathe of the soft, balmy climate of Hawaii.
As the miles diminish the air becomes more balmy and then the
steamer itself comes into this zone of the trade winds blowing
down from the Arctic Ocean through Behring Strait.
Passing over the verdure-tipped summits of the great moun
tain ranges the trade wind stirs the foliage of the mountain slopes
and of the plains and wafts gentle zephyrs over the bathing
beaches, so that in Honolulu the homes are built with great wide
doors and wide living verandas, or lanais, as the Hawaiians call
them, and there, half in the open the people are found by the
travelers to be living a life of sovereign ease.
The Hawaiian group extends from 18° SO7, to 22° 20' North
Latitude, and 154° 53', to 160° IS' West Longitude. They are
about 2080 miles west and southwest of San Francisco, six days
by steamer from the Golden Gate and 8 to 10 days steamer dis
tance from Japan.
The group consists of eight principal islands — Hawaii, Maui,
Molokai, Oahu, Kauai, Niihau, Lanai, Kahoolawe and several
small islets. Nihoa is an interesting but tiny islet about 120
miles northwest of Kauai.
By Act of Congress and by proclamation of President Roose
velt, many dots of islets to the westward extending as far as
Midway Island, on which is located the cable relay station of the
Commercial Pacific (Mackay) Cable Co., the islands there are
called the Bird Reservation and are under the jurisdiction of the
mayor of Honolulu. These islets include Lysiansky, Necker,
French Frigate Shoals, Pearl and Hermes Reef, Laysan, Ocean
and* Midway Islands.
To south of Honolulu a few hundred miles and seven days
travel by power fishing sampan, are the Palmyra Islands, once
supposed to be governed by Great Britain, but certainly now un
der the United States and owned by Judge H. E. Cooper of Hono
lulu. There are 50 islets in the group, and now being developed
by a company for copra and the fish which abound in these waters.
The islands were bought for $750.00. Recently the navy accom
plished a feat when it sent a small Eagle Boat with a seaplane on
its deck to Palmyra. The islands were surveyed by boat and
282 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
by seaplane and it was determined that in case of necessity the
isles afford opportunity for a built-up harbor and naval base.
Other small islands which form part of the Hawaiian group
proper, are Nihoa known as Bird Island; Lehua, a small islet
off the northern point of Kauai, having an elevation of 1000 feet.
Molokini is an extinct volcano, lying in the channel midway be
tween Maui and Kahoolawe. Kaula, the smallest islet of the
group, is situated seven miles southwest from Niihau. Of the
larger islands only eight are inhabited. Kahoolawe once aban
doned, is now a cattle ranch owned by the Baldwin sugar plant
ers of Maui.
These islands present a variety of soil, climate and natural
productions. Sugar is the staple product, the output in a banner
year which the war interrupted, being close to 600,000 tons. Rice
at one time second in importance, has fallen far down the list,
while pineapples, which a quarter of a century ago were mostly
a garden product, now take second place, with a pack in 1921 of
6,000,000 cases of canned pines, finding a market in every part
of the world and regarded as the most delicious pine product
on any market.
The Hawaiian pine has achieved a prominence in the market
which is phenomenal, and as a result the pineapple factories in
Honolulu and other islands are enormous plants. Bananas are
also a profitable export as well as rice. Coffee is holding its
own despite difficulties of labor in handling the crop and the low
price. Tobacco is a fine product but the growers have expe
rienced difficulties in marketing. Hawaiian coffee is pronounced
one of the finest products of the world, and for many years the
War Department took the largest part of the crop for use in its
army. Coffee is raised principally in the Kona district of Ha
waii island, hence the name "Kona Coffee.3'
Among the other natural products in the Islands are indigo
and sumac. There are many medicinal plants indigenous to the
islands, and an almost endless variety of fibrous plants. The
soil and climate render the growth and perfecting of every plant,
shrub and fruit common to sub-tropical countries, while on the
higher elevations of Hawaii and Maui the fruits, cereals and
ISLES OF ALOHA LAND 283
grasses of the temperate zone do well. Citrous fruits grow to
perfection, as do also loquat, mango, tamarind, ohia or mountain
apple; breadfruit, papaya, or pawpaw of the West Indies; avo
cado or alligator pear; pineapples, native strawberry, raspberry,
thimbleberries growing near the volcano ; ohelo or native huckle
berry, also growing largely near the volcano.
There are several varieties of forest trees producing lumber
for furniture and building, including the koa, which takes a
wonderful polish and from which are made all manner of curios,
platters, calabashes ; ohia, a hard timber which is used for floor
ing. Sandalwood, once plentiful, has been exhausted.
The native grasses have been almost exterminated by cattle,
sheep and goats. Their place has been taken by imported grasses.
The government has proclaimed forest reserves and is fencing
much of this area and planting new trees. Goats are yet a
menace to trees and shrub growth.
Game once abundant in the islands, is not so plentiful, due to
the rapid population expansion in the islands, the cultivation of
valleys and mountain slopes for sugar cane, pineapples and the
gradual use of mountain tops for dwellings. Peacocks were once
common on Maui, but not now. Turkey, pheasants, California
quail, plover, ducks were once plentiful, but today pheasants are
imported from Japan and China and are no longer as wild as
hunters would prefer. Small herds of deer are yet to be found
on Molokai which is not so densely populated as the other islands.
Wild goats, wild cattle and wild hogs still afford good shooting
on various islands, particularly on Hawaii, Maui and Molokai.
The waters surrounding these islands abound in fish, but with
the increase of population, the decrease in grazing lands for cattle
and sheep, the fishing business has grown rapidly. Japanese
control 90 percent of all fishing in the Islands. They use sam
pans exactly like those in Japan, most of them equipped with
powerful gasoline engines. As ^ the fishing fleets are enlarge 1
and the fishing is done on a wholesale scale the water close 'o
the islands are found less advantageous for fishing. Sampans
now go out hundreds of miles, remaining a week or two weeks,
returning with their ice-filled holds chockablock with fish, prin-
284 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
cipally the ulua, mullet and many kinds of fish that are so bril
liantly colored, so bizarre of shape, that they are called 'Tainted
fishes/'and most of the species are to be seen in the wonderful
aquarium in Honolulu. Now the rich fishing grounds around
Palmyra Islands, five days' sampan trip, are invaded to supply
Honolulu markets.
Hawaii, the largest island, is 90 miles long by 73 miles broad;
and contains scenery of the sublimest and grandest character.
It is interesting as the island where the great circumnavigator,
Captain Cook, was killed February 14, 1779, just one year and
29 days after his original discovery of the islands. An obelisk
has been erected to his memory at Kawaaloa, where he fell. The
last British naval crew to visit the place and attend to repairs
was that of the light cruiser Calcutta, in March, 1922. Hawaii
was also the birthplace of the conqueror, Kamehameha I. A fine
statue has been erected to his memory by the Hawaiian Govern
ment in Kohala (like the one in Honolulu), to commemorate his
nobility of character and statesmanship.
The Island of Hawaii possesses many rare features of interest.
Amongst them is the famous "City of Refuge/' at Honaunau,
not far distant from Kea'lakekua Bay where so much history was
recorded. This most interesting relic of pagan days is a large
enclosure, walled with massive stones accurately fitted together.
Within these walls any one who had committed a crime was safe
from the immediate vengeance of others and was entitled to a
fair hearing of his case by the attendant priests who lived in
the city.
By far this is the most historical place in Hawaii, related in-
dissolubly with the lives of some of Hawaii's greatest men and
women. There was the dwelling of Keawe, after whom the
"Hale o Keawe," at the north end of the Puuhonua east wall was
named. The terraces today indicating the site of this house are
situated at the northern end of the Puuhonua mauka wall. Orig
inally there were three terraces, not four as at present, for the
Hale o Keawe and the great walls, torn down by tidal waves and
other causes, have been rebuilt by the Bishop Estate in as near
the original form as knowledge of venerable men can indicate
Goddess Pele's fiery, roaring, seething, ever-active crater of Halemaumau
(House of Everlasting Tire), in Kilauea Volcano, is one of
the awe-inspiring spectacles of the world.
ISLES OF ALOHA LAND 285
their original appearance. About the middle of the lower was
a kauila wood gate, opposite the door o£ the Hale o Keawe. On
the second, or middle terrace, offerings were made — a human
being, a pig and a bunch of bananas constituting a single offer
ing. On the highest platform the house (hale) was situated.
Keawe was one of the greatest kings of Hawaii, and contrary to
usual custom, his bones were buried in this site.
Upon the reefs or causeways from the shore to the point of
the City of Refuge which projects into a little bay, the fugitives
could pass. There are orifices in the lava today which show
where the standards of the kahilis stood. On reaching the stand
ards the fugitives were safe. The City of Refuge is remarkable
for the immense size of the stones used, wonderment being ex
pressed by visitors as to how the Hawaiians raised them into posi
tion without mechanical aids. The principal motif, apparently,
in the construction of the great walls of the Puuhonua was im
pressive bulk. Surrounding the wall were hideous idols in ancient
times. The temple, like others throughout the islands, includ
ing idols, were destroyed by royal proclamation in 1819.
A splendid motor road now connects Honaunau with other
towns, so that a visit to this rare place is no longer difficult. One
.sits in a motor on the entire circuit of the Island of Hawaii.
In the vicinity of Kealakekua and Kilauea, the latter the
former royal headquarters and the first mission of the mission
aries in 1820,'are numerous caves in many of which were secretly
buried the bones of high chiefs and kings. There is an air of
sepulchral quiet about the bay of Kealakekua, and superstition
still holds sway there. No Hawaiian evinces curiosity to peer
into'the caves piercing the lofty cliff. Rare feather cloaks, muu-
hiuus, canoes, ancient implements are in these caves. No one
touches them. The ascent is almost impossible. The government
protects these tombs of the great.
The chief attraction of this island is the volcano of Kilauea,
the largest active volcano in the world. The approach to it is
picturesque in the extreme. The great crater is three miles
across. In the center of the crater is a pit, called Hale-mau-mau
("House of Fire"), and that is the volcano, belching its lava
286 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
upward, always upward, sometimes overflowing the pit into the
great crater, always a fascinating and awesome sight, its fires
never quenched. A motor road connects the seaport city of Hilo
with the volcano, where the Volcano House, a modern hotel
houses visitors. From its verandas the activities of the pit,
three miles distant can always be observed.
Kilauea volcano and all the extinct craters around the forests
of native trees and the beautiful fern groves are now a part of the
Hawaiian National Park, looked after by the Bureau of National
Parks of the Department of the Interior, at Washington. The
volcano is to Hawaii what the geysers are to the Yellowstone.
Many steamers each week call at ports of Hawaii from Hono
lulu. The Inter-Island company has a fine steamer on this run
for tourists, and in 1923 will have a steamer with a capacity of
350 passengers, large and commodious as any ocean liner, to
carry passengers on the "Volcano run/' making two trips a week.
The Matson Navigation Company makes visits with its big liners
to Hilo. The Los Angeles Steamship Company, with two huge
steamers, will call at Hilo from Los Angeles to Honolulu. The
Admiral Line of Seattle, proposes to put a fast passenger liner
on a similar run.
Any of these routes are convenient and enables visitors to see
much of the varied scenery and many wonders of nature on the
island.
A railroad line running out of Hilo, passes along the Hamakua
coast, crossing dozens of gulches, going through tunnels, hang
ing over precipices above the wave-lashed shores, a railway trip
that is a series of sharp surprises every mile. It also runs in
another direction to Glenwood, within eight miles of the Vol
cano House.
The volcanic system of Hawaii is grand, the gigantic peak of
Mauna Kea, snow-capped, rising to an altitude of 13,805 feet,
the sister peak of Mauna Loa piercing the air with its shining
crest at 13,600 feet. Mauna Loa is intermittently active, craters
breaking out on its slopes in unexpected places and sometimes
pouring lava across the government roads, one being as late as
ISLES OF ALOHA LAND 287
1920, called the Alika Flow. Kilauea crater is 4000 feet above
sea level.
Hilo is a lovely city, crouched on a gently rising slope from a
crescent shaped bay, formerly known as Byron's Bay, named
after Lord Byron, the English navigator, who visited it in the
frigate Blonde. It is a city almost covered with trees and other
verdure. Near it are sugar plantations. It has hotels, fine public
buildings and enterprise.
Maui, the second largest island, is 48 miles long and 30 miles
broad. It is famous in Hawaiian history and though much of
its glory and romance has departed, giving place to utilitarian
industry and enterprise, yet it possesses points of interest to the
lover of nature that are peculiar to itself. On the western half
of the island the Valley of lao is of great interest and beauty and
is referred to as the Yosemite of Hawaii.
The eastern half of the island rises to the height of 10,000
feet, and on the summit is the great crater of Hale-a-ka-la
("House of the Sun"), the largest extinct crater in the world.
This wonderful crater is about 24 miles in circumference, with
walls rising 2000 feet, and abounds with volcanic scenery of the
most varied description. Recent research in the bed of the vol
cano shows that it was in ancient times used for the construction
of heiaus (temples), and for domiciliary purposes and possibly
was the scene of fierce battles, as great quantities of spear heads
and other implements of- warfare were unearthed about 1920.
The ascent of Haleakala, made by motor to Olinda and thence
by horseback to the summit where a rest house awaits the over
night visitors, for sunset and sunrise are the great features of
this remarkable visit to the roof of the world.
Maui is a vast island of sugar plantations and beautiful
gulches and scenery. The Baldwins own much of the sugar
development and have beautified the islands in a pro bono publico
spirit, the spirit that was passed on to his public-spirited sons
by H. P. Baldwin, father of the clan. The community life on
Maui is pleasant.
Kahului is the principal port for ocean going steamers, and
at Lahaina, on the .opposite side of the island is a landing for
288 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
inter-island steamers. Lahaina was anciently the home of kings
and chiefs. Its bays were favorable for canoe fleets and ^ today
the United States navy uses Lahaina bay as a rendezvous for
its submarine fleets and destroyers and for naval maneuvers.
Mala Bay wharf, completed in 1922, permits steamers to range
alongside, an improvement over the old transfer in small boats
from steamer to landing and vice versa.
Kauai, the most northerly of the eight islands forming group
proper, is the most beautiful. Its scenery lacks the stupendous
grandeur of the mountains and gorges of Hawaii, and there are
no vast plains as on the Islands of Maui and Oahu. But its
central peak is the oldest probably of any of the islands, and
has been worn down by the elements until its outlines are all
softly moulded and the many valleys which radiate from it are
clothed with an abundant vegetation, amongst which are to be
found trees and plants peculiar to the island.
Kauai was the first to really recognize the automobile as a
permanent transportation feature and built a road skirting the
shore much of the way, but through hills and plains, that con
nected the principal towns from Waimea, near which are the
famous Barking Sands and the wonderful Waimea Canyon with
its Grand Canyon of the Arizona likeness in vivid colors to
Lihue, the county seat, and then on to Hanalei where is found
the most beautiful bay that tourists ever gazed upon. On the
northwest side is the Na Pali cliffs and precipices, and this part
of the island is devoid of a road. These cliffs are collossal and
wonderful. The wall of rock extends some distance inland.
Visits to Kauai, called "The Garden Island,3' reveal scenery
that is different from other islands. It has often been referred
to as the baronial isle, for the Wilcoxes, the Gays, Robinsons,
Knudsens, Rices, who are among the wealthiest of all Hawaii's
sugar planters and ranchers, cultured folk, who have ploughed
the soil, covered the ranges with cattle and horses, built fine
homes, established gardens such as that on the summit of Kukui-
olono ("The Torch of Lono"), where Alexander McBryde car
ried his hobby into creating wonderful gardens and vistas until
it has become a second Golden Gate Park, and all open to the
ISLES OF ALOHA LAND 289
public, live lives of luxurious and cultured ease. In fact, the
Kauai planters are noted for the openhandedness with which
they have devoted their wealth to public enterprises and needs,
hospitals, schools, roads, libraries, and even in Honolulu, on
Oahu, where they have established buildings for the Salvation
Army, children's hospital, for the aged and incurable sick, for
Christian service.
It is a community island such as people of other lands, with
their thoughts on the Hawaiian Islands, expect to find in the isles
— planters of wealth whose culture is an asset to the community.
Kauai has shown how successful homesteading can be made,
where Hawaiians and Portuguese and Anglo-Saxons have left
their desks in the cities and towns and turned to the soil for a
future and succeeded in small farming and in pineapple growing.
Kauai has seaports where inter-island steamers call many times
a week from Honolulu. O'cean-going steamers anchor at Port
Allen (Eleele), and carry away huge cargoes of raw sugar to
the American mainland. The United States Government has
recognized the importance of Kauai as an industrial center and
has constructed a breakwater at Nawiliwili, the seaport for Lihue.
There are picturesque waterfalls, and the famous Barking
or Whispering Sands, that set in motion on their slopes give
forth a peculiar sound such as a small dog's bark. There are
gloomy caverns to explore; there is the famous "Spouting
Horn" at Koloa, a vent in a lava apron over the sea through
which waves send up geysers to a height of 80 and 100- feet
Everywhere there is the old style, generous hospitality on Kauai.
This island contains 350,000 acres, and is 22 miles in length by
25 miles in width. Upon the summit of Mount Waialeale, high
up in the clouds, there is a morass and there is recorded the great
est rainfall year in and year out in the Islands and parallels the
greatest precipitation in other parts of the world.
Molokai, northward of Maui, is not as frequently visited as
other islands, although it presents some of the most beautiful
rugged and wild scenery in the group. It is an -island of con
trasts. The western end is bleak and barren. The eastern end
is green and beautiful, with waterfalls dropping -hundreds of feet
290 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
into the ocean. It has some quaint Hawaiian villages in almost
inaccessible valleys, reached principally by boats from steamers
which anchor some distance out. There are still many grass
houses on Molokai.
Under the provisions of the Hawaiian Rehabilitation Act, or
Hawaiian Homes Act, passed by Congress in 1921, some favored
sections of Molokai were selected by the territorial government
on which to try the experiment of putting the Hawaiians back
upon the soil that they may attempt to rehabilitate their fortunes,
develop their families into sturdy children and the hope is that
the Hawaiian race may be increased rather than continue to de
crease at its present alarming rate. Hawaiians of full blood are
to be permitted to take lands. Water is being developed in
tunnels and wells to supply the acres. Small farming will be
featured and the Hawaiians are to build their homes and make
their living. It is one of the most remarkable forms of rehabili
tation of a race attempted for aborigines.
The principal ports on southern Molokai are Kaunakakai,
which will be the "Homes3' port, and Pukoo. There are large
.ranches on the island.
Contrary to general belief Molokai is not the leper island. On
£ small peninsula, that of Kalawao, jutting out a long almost
fl# land into the sea, bounded on the land side by collossal,
almost impassible cliffs, is the settlement, absolutely apart from
the remainder of the island. It has possibly an area of about five
percent of all Molokai. There is the settlement established half
a centtiry ago for the isolation and treatment of lepers, a home
until tKey passed away. The world was electrified about four
years ago by the announcement of a new method of treatment
of leprosy, the treatment and specific of Chaulmoogra oil being
planned by Dr. Harry T. Hollman, then of the U. S. Public
Health Service. Not being a laboratorian he was assisted in the
preparation of the specific, the separation of the fatty acids by
Miss Alice Ball, a young woman from America, who used the
laboratories of the University of Hawaii for this work. The
Chaulmoogra oil, in its original state, was nauseating to the
ISLES OF ALOHA LAND 291
leper victims. The Hawaiians, not exhibiting the stamina neces
sary to make a harsh treatment effective, rebelled under the
old treatment. None grew well. They died lepers. The new
specific was pleasanter. It was experimented with at the Kalihi
Hospital in Honolulu, where suspects are held until their cases
are determined. If they are lepers they are sent across the chan
nel to Molokai. The specific in a few months began to tell the
story. There was improvement. The disease in many was ar
rested. The disfiguring marks were obliterated. In two years
the board of health announced that many were to be paroled.
This was done. The new treatment had begun to conquer.
Arthur L. Dean, president of the University of Hawaii, a
chemist of exceptional ability, developed the specific more and
more, and to him is largely ascribed much of the honor of find
ing a medicine that would effect almost a cure. The physicians
fight shy of the word ''cure," but scores of leper victims have
been paroled. It was tried with those in the Molokai Settle
ment. Confirmed lepers responded to the treatment. They have
been sent back to Honolulu and other islands under parole, able
again to mix with their fellowman. In ten years, claim some
authorities, the Leper Settlement will no longer be needed as
within that time it is believed the specific will be so highly de
veloped that it will actually effect cures. The very latest method
of attempting to purge systems of the dread taint is to inject
the fluid directly into the veins, a heroic treatment, but effective.
Hawaii has led the world in scientific treatment of this disease
and the world is now following the Hollman-B'ean method.
- Brother Joseph Button, the lay brother of the Catholic faith,
who has been forty years in Molokai Settlement devoting him
self day and night to the patients, is a heroic figure in the world,
and is regarded as "The Saint of Molokai." He was an officer
in the Union Army during the Civil War, and is now doing
penance and expects to die on Molokai, but he has never become
afflicted with the taint.
Molokai' is 40 miles long and seven broad and contains 200,000
acres.
Lanai to the south and west of Maui, is, like the small island
292 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Niihau, a short distance from Kauai, wholly given up to agri
cultural and ranching activities of one person. The Baldwins
of Maui now control the island and making it the "model ranch
of the Pacific." With sheep and cattle at one time running wild
on the island, trees and grass became scant and the winds blew
away much of the soil. It is now being reclaimed. Upon this
island are treasure hoards of picture rocks, upon which are queer
and unknown carvings, which are being studied by scientists
of the Bishop Museum. They key to the pictographs has not
yet been found. Possibly, the key may be found, and the story
of Hawaii's creation may then be told. The island contains about
100,000 acres.
Oahu, considered the principal island of the group, because
Honolulu, the capital city is located on the leeward shore and has
the finest harbor in the group, is devoted largely to the growing
of sugar cane, pineapples, rice, sisal, taro, from which the na
tional dish, poi, is made; and bananas, while there are many
big cattle ranches. It has a railroad line skirting the southern
and western shore from Honolulu to Kahuku, where it connects
with another running from Kahuku to Kahana, through the
Mormon Settlement sugar plantation at Laie.
Kamehameha Highway, named after the great king who, by the
Battle of Nuuanu, effected the conquest of the entire group, be
gins in Honolulu, passes up through the beautiful Nuuanu Valley
to Nuuanu Pali (cliff), where a gap almost on the backbone
of the mountain range, gives the visitor there an airplane view
of the northern part of the island, a wonderful view that is
described by eminent travelers to be unequalled. There is a
sheer drop of a thousand feet. Beyond are the rolling hills and
the shore and the great ocean beyond, and miles upon miles of
agricultural country are revealed below and far beyond. From
this point one sees the Pali road, concrete, winding down the
side of the mountain to the plains, for Kamehameha Highway
passes on along the shore through pretty villages, the great Libby-
McNeill & Libby pineapple cannery, through picturesque fish
ing villages, with many ranches and pineapple fields and rice
fields on the inward side from the shore. It passes along to
ISLES OF ALOHA LAND 293
Waialua, where the beautiful Haleiwa hotel is located, the half
way house and where travelers have luncheon as a rule. From
Haleiwa the highway passes up through the middle of the land
between two mountain ranges toward Honolulu, passing through
vast sugar cane plantations and upon the plains of Wahiawa
the tens of thousands of acres of pineapple fields where the pine
apple was first developed as a commercial fruit.
At Wahiawa plains is Schofield Barracks, the U. S. Army's
great divisional army post, arranged for a garrison of 15,000
soldiers, with barracks and officers' quarters and other buildings
of the most modern type. Through gulches and more pineapple
fields the highway continues until one sees Pearl Harbor Naval
Station, on the southern side of the island, and beyond the city
of Honolulu with its majestic background of Diamond Head,
for the Kamehameha Highway is a belt road, 94 miles long,
forming one of the most picturesque motor drives to be found
anywhere.
In Honolulu are the offices of the territorial government of
all the United States departmental representatives, of the mayor
and the county government. All the great business houses of the
territory, the plantation agencies, the banks and trust company,
the big hotels and the great system of wharves are located, for
the bulk of cargoes are discharged at Honolulu and the bulk of
the exports pass through Honolulu. Oahu has an area of 600
square miles.
The former royal palace houses the governor of Hawaii, the
attorney-general, territorial auditor and superintendent of public
works and land boards. The old throne room, preserved as it
was in monarchy days, is his formal reception hall for distin
guished visitors. It is also the House of Representatives, the
Senate chamber occupying what was formerly the royal state
dining room. The old government house is now the territorial
circuit court building. Facing on Palace square, and opposite the
old palace, is the new United States or Federal building, for all
United States bureaus in Honolulu, completed and occupied in
April, 1922, and costing above a million dollars, an attractive
structure designed after the California-Spanish mission types.
294 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
During the reign of King Kalakaua that monarch had an
ambition to be Primate of the Pacific by bringing into his king
dom the Samoan, Gilbert and Tonga groups. At his direction
the Hawaiian government despatched an embassy accredited to
the Kings of Samoan and Tonga on December 26, 1886. The
mission consisted of Hon. J. E. Bush, minister plenipotentiary
and high commissioner, and H. F. Poor, secretary of legation.
The mission failed, and quite disastrously.
The Hawaiian Islands are the most conspicuous objects in
the Pacific Ocean. They are all mountainous, and from a
scientific standpoint, of volcano origin. From their highest sum
mits, down to the lowest depths to which excavations have been
made, the soil is found to be lava in various stages of decomposi
tion. It all seems to be melted earth, fused in volcanic furnaces,
which has been poured out in vast masses, forming mountains
of Konahuanui, 3,100 feet high on Oahu; Waialeale, 8,000 feet
on Kauai; Haleakala, 10,200 feet on Maui; Hualalai, 9,000 feet;
Mauna Loa, 13,760 feet, and Mauna Kea, 13,950 feet on Hawaii.
Volcano action has ceased in all islands except on Hawaii, at
Kilauea and on Mauna Loa, and there opportunity is given to
see the island still in process of formation and building up, foot
by foot.
And how do these verdant islands, looking like little pin dots
upon the sapphire seas appear to the travelers as their steamers
approach the islands after a six-day voyage from the Golden
Gate?
There in the early dawn appears the hazy outline of Haleakala
upon Maui, then loom the rugged coasts of Molokai and beyond
the winking light of the Makapuu Point lighthouse, on the east
ernmost extremity of Oahu, a signal to all steamers to veer to
the south to round the coast of Oahu toward Koko Head, then
Diamond Head and finally on rounding this there bursts into
view the city of Honolulu nestling 'down under groves of
tropical trees and bordering the beach and stretching far up
into the valleys and upon the hillsides. As the morning sun
gleans upon the Island of Oahu the traveler discovers a wild
and even grotesque landscape. From coral and volcanic crags,
ISLES OF ALOHA LAND 295
as white as cream into which the sea has drilled great fissures,
colored and ridged by volcanic scars, sloped up into peaks above
the clouds. Between the sharp fold of these hills, green valleys
come down, opening upon the ocean, where smooth beaches
break the surf. Now and then as the vessel passes by Waikiki
Beach one may see bronze-hued men standing upon surf-boards,
and shooting toward the beach upon a huge pillow, the ancient
aquatic pastime of the Hawaiians, and the mightiest of the surf-
riders may be Duke Kahanamoku, himself, the greatest swim
ming marvel of the world, out for a morning dip in the ocean.
Then are seen cocoanut groves and then modern buildings, two
or three coast defense fortifications, their guns screened by
foliage; then a long coral reef near the harbor entrance, and
behind this the quiet harbor and its ships at wharves, and be
yond are the big business blocks, the public buildings, the flag-
staffs and spires of Honolulu.
As the vessel approaches the wharf the traveler sees first a
swarm of brown-skinned Hawaiian boys diving for coins, each
an embryo Duke Kahanamoku, then throngs of people and then
floating softly on the breeze across the intervening space come
the soft sweet strains of "Aloha Oe" — Hawaii's welcome to the
stranger.
CHAPTER XXIV
PASSING OF PICTURESQUE MONARCHY
HAWAIIAN THRONE GONE FOREVER
FATE and Destiny, hand in hand, both waited through the
centuries of barbaric rule when kings and queens and great
chiefs passed in succession, and then through the ten decades
of civilized days from the time that the great Kamehameha
became monarch of all Hawaii to that fateful day of January
17, 1893, when the throne was toppled over, the monarchy abro
gated and a provisional government, later proclaimed a republic,
was set up. Fate and destiny participated in this dissolution of
the wonderful fabric of government so patiently and apparently
so strongly woven. From republic, independent, to territory of
the United States, with complete entry into the sisterhood of
states and territories, was but another step.
Monarchy died that January day, 1893, when Queen Liliuo-
kalani, wrongly interpreting her own personal position in the
affairs of government, desired to abrogate the Constitution of
1889, when King Kalakaua almost lost his throne, and to sub
stitute one which gave her the personal powers of a sovereign,
such as were enjoyed by rulers of Hawaii before a constitution
was given to the people by Kamehameha III.
Americans, as well as residents of Honolulu who were of
other nationalities, joined hands in this block of the Queen's
plans, when she had prepared to prorogue the Hawaiian legis
lature, and quietly but firmly dispossessed her on the throne and
declared the kingdom at an end.
Liliuokalani sought her throne again in 1895 when an abortive
revolution planned by many of her people, aided by many white
men, was nipped in the bud with only one or two casualties, and
PASSING OF PICTURESQUE MONARCHY 297
the Queen was imprisoned for a time. She sought the United
States to restore her throne and the crown lands, but neither
were ever restored to her and she died in her own home, Wash
ington Place, Honolulu, on November 11, 1917, honored and
revered by Hawaiians and strangers alike, given many official
courtesies from the* United States and other governments during
her long term of retirement. Her funeral was a state ceremony,
and she was taken to the royal mausoleum from lolani Palace,
just as though she had died there in the purple. With her passed
the monarchy, and monarchy was finally and ever removed from
even sentimental hope when on January 7, 1922, Prince Jonah
Kuhio Kalanianaole, cousin of Queen Liliuokalani, sole sur
viving titular representative of the monarchy period, and who
had been Hawaii's delegate to the U. S. Congress at Washing
ton for twenty years, died at his home at "Pualeilani," Waikiki,
Honolulu.
It happened that in my profession as newspaper reporter with
the Honolulu Advertiser, I was privileged to be in the royal
homes of death, and personally witnessed the closing of the eyes
of both Liliuokalani and Kalanianaole to things earthly, and
assisted in many ways in the preparations for the royal state
funerals.
Having been in Hawaii a quarter of a century, making a hobby
of things Hawaiian and knowing the former members of royalty
intimately, I put my whole heart and sentiment into all my writ
ings, for I handled both deaths and funerals exclusively. So
favorable were the comments on these stories and particularly
for those concerning Prince Kuhio, letters reaching the editor
of my paper from many people on the mainland praising the
stories, that I am flattered to feel they must have been worth
while, as they tolled the death knell of monarchy. May I be par
doned for quoting from a letter from Rudolph G. Leeds, editor,
"The Richmond (Va.) Palladium," February 7, 1922, to the
editor of The Advertiser, as follows :
" A friend of mine, visiting in your wonderful city, sent me a copy of
The Advertiser containing Albert P. Taylor's account of the funeral of
Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole. To my mind this is one of only two
298 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
masterly newspaper articles that I have observed in recent years. The
other was the account of some Associated Press man of the ceremonies
and burial of our unknown dead soldier some months ago at Washington.
Please convey to Mr. Taylor for me the appreciation of a fellow news
paperman for the masterful, dramatic and sympathetic manner in which
he handled the news end of the passing of a prominent and very fine
character. With congratulations to The Advertiser in possessing such a
craftsman as Mr. Taylor, etc., etc.'7
''Liliuokalani is Dying" is the heading for the story which I
wrote in Washington Place the night before Her Majesty died,
the end cominj the following morning, Sunday, November 11,
just as The Advertiser with my story appeared on the streets.
"LILIUOKALANI IS DYING"
FINAL, movements in the national tragedy of the passing
of the old Hawaii, the breaking of all the links which
bound the picturesque group of islands lying within the
lazy latitudes of the Pacific, to its bizarre past with its wealth of
traditions, its strange supremacy in that vast ocean discovered
by Balboa, and lines of stalwart kings and queens, sovereigns
supreme over a progressive empire which had its origin in the
dim and misty age of myth, are leaving few sands in the hour
glass of destiny, for a queen is dying, and with her is dying the
pomp and circumstance of sceptered rule, the sinking into obliv
ion of another aboriginal race whose fate it was to be whelmed
in the progress of the white man's civilization.
Liliuokalani is dying —
The Queen is dead, long "
No, the sentence is finished; the nation's life has run its span
of the centuries; the queen's race is ended; there will be no
other *queen, no other king, no throne of their forefathers to
remain as a monument of form of an ancient civilization, a su
preme race amid the Seven Seas ; for Liliuokalani, queen of the
Hawaiian Islands, shorn these twenty-four years of her crown
and scepter, lies in the final throes of a life which has reached
its three score and ten, and ten more years than the allotted term
PASSING OF PICTURESQUE MONARCHY 299
of life; lies vacant-eyed, yet conscious of the passing throng of
subjects who gave her in the glory of other days the homage
of a devoted people. She lies almost within the shadow of the
architectural pile raised to symbolize the power and might of her
rule of the golden days when Hawaii was a nation, independent
among independent nations, the equal of vast powers, as poten
tates are equal, yet menaced by insidious diplomatic thrusts, as
nation after nation, tempted by the glitter of territorial aggran
dizement, played it as a pawn upon the chess board of Earth,
engulfed by master moves, removed from the criss-crossed area
by loss of its independence and cast into oblivion — its race done,
its monarchial need useless — and lost amid the menace of war's
ghastly debacle save perhaps for a few lines upon History's
pages.
Born to the purple, reared among the glories of the Kameha-
meha dynasty and amid the circumstance so exalted in the Old
World courts of royalty, herself sister of a reigning king, and
finally wielded of the scepter upon a throne set amid the cocoa-
nut grove whose plumed heights nodded over coral shores,
Liliuokalani early learned the truth of the adage, "Uneasy lies
the head that wears the crown/' for two brief years upon the
exalted heights of an ancient throne brought her only the cup of
despair, the wresting of scepter and crown from her keeping,
and the narrow confines of chambers for a prison that once
were hers as reigning monarch.
Strange it is that this old mansion of Colonial days' splendor,
the home of her earlier uncrowned life, so near that great palace,
its tenant should be struggling for life itself, symbolizing even
the struggle for existence of her race against the white man's
all-enveloping mastery of the earth.
Fair Hawaii rose to its zenith in the reign of Kalakaua, her
royal brother, the "Merry Monarch," and her own glorious days
when the touch of a newer civilization had tempered the wonder
ful civilization of the ancient Hawaiians, when the lanes of com
merce focused in Hawaii, when its sunny fields became golden
in tassled sugar cane, and it became the veritable cross-roads of
the Pacific, its "future to be unveiled as "America's Gibraltar
300 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
of the Pacific," a khaki-clad outpost for the great American
Republic, and the Melting Pot of the Nations. She reigned as
undisputed sovereign but a 'brief span; but the seeds of diplo
matic tares had been sown, international sappers mined its politi
cal parapets, and bloodless revolution cast down her throne and
upraised the banner of Republic's sovereignty, and she became
prisoner within her architectural pile.
Guards patrolled her door, armed, barring her exit, where once
smart sentries had saluted and obeyed her slightest command.
She gazed from windows upon the free world outside, a silent,
suffering monarch, whose people endeavored to mass at arms by
counter revolution and restore the throne to its glory. Foiled
and thrown into prisons, tried and banished, her subjects were
scattered and the enterprise to reestablish empire failed utterly
and the proud queen faced accusers before military courts, which
convicted her of treason. None of the terrors of close confine
ment was suffered, for she signed her abdication entirely, relin
quished her sovereign rights and became free but throneless —
but not homeless, for the beautiful mansion of her husband, the
prince consort, became her palace. It was strangely named, this
noble pile, so reminiscent of the Old South, named in the honor
of the great American who sacrificed everything for a free na
tion — and in his honor was named Washington Place, today the
center of all that is left of the royal days, tonight the home of
Death,
For the queen is dying —
For seventy years the mansion has sheltered high chiefs, and
rulers, a mansion gay with life and pomp and circumstance;
where beautiful polished woods, art pieces from the four corners
of the earth, and semi-barbaric kahilis (standards surmounted
by cylindrical creations of rare feathers), symbols of kingly
rule, symbolic of tabu supremacy, still create the appearance of a
palace drawing rqom, for it is in these rooms that Her Majesty
has received audiences, and received the obeisance of her loyal
subjects, and yet all truly loyal to the great American Republic.
But all the passing show is nearing its end, and soon the pomp
and panoply of reigning days will be turned to the pageantry of
Prince Jonali Knliio Kalanianaole, last titular prince of the Hawaiian
monarchy, who died January 7, 1922. For twenty years he was
Hawaii's Delegate to Congress. Grandson of the last
King of Kauai of feudal times, he was demo
cratic and gained the soubriquet of the
"Prince of the People."
PASSING OF PICTURESQUE MONARCHY 301
semi-barbaric days as the dynasty ends, the end of all dynasties
in fair Hawaii, the closing chapter of the strange, almost un
exampled system of rule of wonderful kings of the past —
For Liliuokalani is dying.
"KALANIANAOLE PASSES"
Today, the Torch of Hawaii is extinguished. Sleep, sleep,
sleep, the Hawaiians sing over the casket of their beloved prince.
Never have Hawaiian voices blended more sweetly, with sobs in
every note, as they have over their alii, for they realize that im
personated in him, their nation is pau.
Out of the living nations into that long, ever-lengthening
column of dead nations, Hawaii is now added. It takes its place
at the foot of the list, at the head of which are Ninevah, Chaldea,
Phoenicia, Carthage, powerful nations of old, among them some
where, say historians, the progenitors of the Hawaiian race, for
whence came the temple formations, the custom of the purifica
tion of the temple, the ritual of the priesthood, the dread tabu,
the power of rulership accorded the chieftains, the designs of
the beautiful robes and helmets?
Hawaii's monarchy will be buried today when the casket con
taining the mortal body of the late Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalani-
anaole is sealed within the Kalakaua dynasty crpyt in the royal
mausoleum. More than the actual interment of the late alii of
the Hawaiian race is being removed from the land of the living
and conveyed across the dark river of Death to the hazy beyond.
The monarchy of a hundred years, the lesser kingdoms and prin
cipalities that existed for ages before the coming of the bearers
of the word of Christ, the remarkable, colorful, stately ancient
regime, and the modern successor to the solidified monarchy
established by Kamehameha the Conqueror, greatest of all Ha
waiians, will be a milestone of the past when the crypt is closed
and the last dirge is sung, the final chanting and wailing become
mere ghostly refrains, and the stately, lofty, bizarre and strange-
looking feather kahilis, symbols of rule and power of mighty
chieftains of the past are set for the last time.
302 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Ail Hawaii today will realize that the last titular representative
of all monarchy in Hawaii, of all the past regimes that go far
back into the hazy, misty, legendary eras, is to be buried today
with pomp and circumstance, not only as a prince of Hawaii, but
as "The Prince of the People," for upon his casket formed of
the beautiful woods that come from the forests of Hawaii Island,
the same forests that have furnished the caskets for a century
of kings and queens, princes and princesses, chiefs and chiefesses,
reposes a beautiful silver plate inscribed, "Ke Alii Makaainana"
—'The Alii of the Citizens/'
With him, therefore, is buried all that remains of the mon
archy. Remain then only the memories that Hawaiians cherish
of the era of monarchy, for many still remember Kauikeouli
(Kamehameha III), Kamehameha IV, Kamehameha V, Queen
Emma, Lunalilo, King Kalakaua, Queen Kapiolani, Queen Lili-
uokalani, Prince Leleiohoku, Princess Likelike, Princess Kaiu-
lani, Prince Kawananakoa. Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole
is the last. Monarchy is pan. The last connecting link which
the Hawaiians today had with their monarchy is gone. Is it the
death knell of the cohesion of the Hawaiian people?
Are memories a sufficient link that will not break with the
coming of years and render the Hawaiians a people submerged
in their own country, inundated by the flood of peoples from the
Seven Seas?
To the sweet, heart-throbbing melody of "Aloha Oe," to the
stately, sonorous notes of "Hawaii Ponoi," amid the sobbing high-
keyed cry of olis with tears as accompaniments, and surrounded
by a forest of gorgeous-colored royal feather kahilis, symbols
of ancient royalty in Hawaii nei, the late Prince Jonah Kuhio
Kalanianaole, last titular prince of all dynasties in these Isles of
the mid-sea, was laid to final rest in the royal mausoleum grounds
yesterday.
Late titular prince of his line, Hawaii's representative in the
American Congress for two decades, grandson of an island king,
created a prince of the crown by King Kalakaua, more lately
and affectionately known as "The Alii of the Citizens," Prince
PASSING OF PICTURESQUE MONARCHY 303
Kalanianaole was buried yesterday with all the pomp, the cere
mony, the pageantry which has marked the final rites over kings
and queens, princes and princesses, chiefs and chief esses of
Hawaii in the past which extends back into the haze of legendary
history.
A state funeral was accorded this "Prince of the People."
The governments of the United States and of the Territory of
Hawaii united in paying the highest tributes of respect to the
Alii.
Clothed in the wonderful feather ahuulas (capes) of his
dynasty, and with all the symbols of princely origin surrounding
him, even as they did Kamehameha the Great, Prince Kalanian
aole was accorded the homage of all citizens of Honolulu. Thou
sands marched before his catafalque up the old familiar funeral
route to the royal mausoleum. Tens of thousands lined the
streets. Allied governments, those which fought shoulder to
shoulder, were represented officially at the funeral services in
the old throne room of the former royal palace and followed the
catafalque to the mausoleum. An admiral of the navy and a
general of the army representing the navy and war departments
of the United States government paid official homage to the
prince-delegate. The Hawaiian people paid their homage in
wailing, in chanting in the old, old style, and in the singing of
sweet, soft melodies of today, that only Hawaiians can sing. He
went to his eternal rest, amid a commingling of ancient and
modern funeral rites that could only be intermingled in Hawaii
nei, where the past still lives, where memory still keeps green
the day of monarchy, memories that now, with the passing of
the only connecting royal link between today and yesterday, will
wither, and like old age, totter to oblivion.
The kahilis will be taken apart when the day comes to take
them down from the mausoleum. The fea/zi/i'-standards of koa
and kou wood, of human bones jointed, will be stacked in dark
corners. The gilded tabu ball may find its way to a museum.
The ahmdas will be protected from destruction sealed in cases.
The orders and decorations of the bygone monarchy regimes,
glittering baubles of royal supremacy, will be carefully placed
304 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
apart from the world, also possibly to go to a museum, where
already are stored the crown that was forcibly removed when a
new government came into power, when the throne was over
turned. The crown and the scepter that fell are now mere relics.
At 10:46 o'clock in the forenoon the first minute gun was
fired from a gun of an American battery in the palace yard.
At 1 :45 o'clock in the afternoon the royal casket was in the
crypt. "Aloha Oe" had been played and all had stood at atten
tion as "Hawaii Ponoi" the national anthem was concluded and
the last chant was chanted. The clergy concluded their service,
the benediction was pronounced. The princess widow was
alone with her dead husband.
When the sun peered over Leahi (Diamond Head) the palace
grounds began to fill. Women in holokus, men in black, girls in
white, came to their stations. The palace itself began to fill as
watches for the bier arrived. Guardsmen clanked by with rifles
atrail and sabers rattling. The old royal dais was decorated.
The curtains and their gilt trimmings were suspended from the
gilded coronet pedestal, long ago replaced by the American
Eagle. Under soft Hawaiian skies all Honolulu moved toward
the palace. The sea seemed more blue than ever and washed
softly upon the beach, even at Pualeilani at Waikiki, as though
each succeeding wave came to inquire for the prince who had
lived so long by the shore.
Through the windows the sunlight grew stronger. Rays
touched the rose-colored tops of kahilis and spread a refulgent,
rosy hue over the ceiling. The rays touched and seemed to caress
the polished sides of the koa casket.
A bust of King Kalakaua was paced upon the dais and from
that marble the eyes seemed again to gaze softly upon the scene
before him as his living eyes, so his surviving subjects today
sa}r, had gazed in the heyday of monarchy, when the same throne
room was filled with brilliant assemblages, beautiful women of
the islands and Anglo-Saxon races present all in toilettes that
spoke of Paris, men of official life, officers of foreign navies,
travelers, writers, singers and painters.
PASSING OF PICTURESQUE MONARCHY 305
The eyes gazed, however, out from the bust upon a different
scene, the end of all that Kalakaua himself had hoped would
survive, for there before him, dead, was the last representative
of the monarchy itself.
Everything within the throne room was funereal but truly
royal. The kahilis were like those of Kamehameha the Great\
day. The ahuulas were the same. There were many persons there
who had known the throne room when it was all aglitter with
royal functions, for there was Col. Curtis laukea, chamberlain
formerly of kings and queens, attending to the details of this
state funeral as he had attended the state funerals in the past,
including that of Queen Liliuokalani, Prince Kawananakoa and
so on back through the Kalakaua dynasty. He prepared the
kingly orders that had laid upon the breast of the alii for escort
in the funeral cortege.
Began the services under the Episcopal bishop and clergy and
choir. The kahilis swayed with their holders. The throng was
silent. From outside came the dull thud of drumbeats as organi
zations took stations. There were sharp commands of military
officers. From overhead came the whir of a squadron of air
planes which seemed to be aloft to receive the soul of the dead
alii and convey it to his home in the skies amid the Torches of
Iwikauikaua of his chiefly line.
"I am the Resurrection and the Life" came the sonorous words
from Bishop La Mothe as he opened the religious service amid
the symbols of barbaric Hawaii.
"Peace, perfect peace," sang the choir ever so softly, so
sweetly.
The benediction was pronounced.
The tabu stick was lifted from its standard. The clergy moved
out to the corridor. The kahilis were in motion. The chiefs
lifted the casket from the bier. The last titular prince, in death,
passed out of the once royal throne room.
Far ahead it was known that the military and naval section
was in motion and organizations fell into line, all save those
Hawaiian organizations grouped and ready for the signal, but
306 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
waiting that the Hawaiians might catch a last glimpse of the
casket being borne from the palace, to see for the last time the
grouping of kahilis about a royal catafalque, to watch the
torches which were symbolic of the prince's line — to see the bril
liant ahuulas and the chiefs for the last time perform such a
royal function.
Boom! The first minute gun was fired. Came the roll of
muffled drums. Came the whir of airplanes. The Poolas
(stevedores drawing the catafalque by hand), faced about look-
ing towards the catafalque.
Boom! Another gun shattered the air and the smoke drifted
lazily around the palace toward the catafalque. From some
where came the stately, measured notes of the "Dear March in
Saul." The Hawaiian band fell into line and played a sweet
processional — "My Sailor Boy." Threading through these
notes came the thin wail of a Hawaiian mourner.
Finally, into the mausoleum grounds the Hawaiian societies
passed followed by the catafalque. The entrance to the crypt
was clothed with maile and Jiala. The catafalque was lifted and
carried to the steps. Even as the band played the chanting of
Hawaiians went on ceaselessly. Christian vestments and bar
baric robes strangely intermingled at the crypt entrance. The
household attendants gazed with hopeless eyes as the casket
descended the steps. Flanked by tabu sticks, surrounded by
kahilis, the casket was borne into the crypt, followed by the
widow and other mourners. Bishop La Mothe read the final
lines of the service. Two tabu sticks from Pualeilani, indicative
of the prince's Mai-ship in the Daughters and Sons of Hawaiian
Warriors' society, were carried beside the princess.
"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes," said the bishop. "Abide with
me," sang the choir. Once more came wailing, some chanting.
Then all ceased. Prince Kalanianaole was buried with his dy-
PASSING OF PICTURESQUE MONARCHY 307
nasty. The princess' tears flowed unrestricted. The plaintive
notes of "Aloha Oe/J composed by the late Queen Liliuokalani,
came softly from the Hawaiian band. Then the more stentorian
measure of "Hawaii Ponoi."
The tomb of the Kamehamehas beyond was silent.
Silence soon enveloped the Kalakaua tomb.
Hawaiian monarchy was buried for all time.
CHAPTER XXV
HAWAII'S TWO SWEETEST MELODIES
"ALOHA OE" — ' ALOHA TO HAWAII"
NO MELODY in all the world has such a sympathetic,
heart-throbbing, yearning, plaintive appeal as those
which reach the ear of the traveler in Hawaii, from the
guitar, the ukulele and the rich, sonorous ear-haunting notes
sung by the native Hawaiians, and chief among all these lan-
gourous, sweet songs are "Aloha Oe," composed by the late
Queen Liliuokalani, and "A Song to Hawaii," or "Aloha to
Hawaii," as it is sometimes called, composed by Joseph D. Red
ding, a former president of the Bohemian Club of San Fran
cisco, who has never yet set foot upon the shores of Hawaii.
Whether "Aloha Oe" is played and sung as a steamer from
abroad approaches the Honolulu dock, as a welcome to home
ward bound islanders or strangers about to taste the joys of the
"Rainbow Isles/' or whether it is played as a steamer in leaving,
when all aboard are bedecked with floral wreaths, or leis as the
Hawaiians call them, as a sympathetic "au revoir," or whether
at the funeral of a royal personage when it is sung in a sob-
bingly-plaintive way, or whether it is heard in distant lands by
islanders far away from home, when it causes tears to well into
one's eyes, the queen's composition commands attention. Its
notes cause hearts to throb and minds to reflect and lips to cease
until it is finished.
And it is true of "Joe" Redding's beautiful song dedicated to
Hawaii, for both are songs that will never die among the Ha
waiians, songs that will ever live as memories of the days when
Hawaii was a monarchy and had its little opera-boufle royal
court, a miniature St. James in a colorful setting in mid-sea,
HAWAII'S TWO SWEETEST MELODIES 309
for they are songs that are reminiscent of the days of queens
and kings, of princesses and princes, of balls and receptions and
levees at the royal palace in Honolulu and aboard visiting war
ships, and of wonderful moonlit nights in cocoanut groves or
near the wave-caressed beach at Waikiki when ukuleles and
guitars are softly musical.
Just how these two famous songs came to be written has
never before been fully told, and the origin of both is excep
tionally interesting, for both came upon the spur of the moment
and both were dedicated to royal incidents.
King Kalakaua was elected to the throne of Hawaii in 1874.
His sisters were made princesses of the realm and Lilmokalam
was designated by Kalakaua as the heir apparent to the throne
after the death of her brother, Prince Leleiohoku, who was a
poet and a musician. Seven or eight years later, about 1881 or
1882, Princess Liliuokalani (she became queen in 1891), went by
horseback one day across the island of Oahu from Honolulu to
Maunawili ranch, passing through the famous Nuuanu Pali,
from which one gains the most superb view of the windward side
of the island lying thousands of feet below and beyond. The
ranch was owned by Edwin Boyd, who was the king's cham
berlain. In the party of Liliuokalani were Princess Likelike,
her sister, Col. James Boyd, and Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Wilson,
Mr. Wilson later becoming the marshal of the kingdom under
Queen Liliuokalani, and when the queen was imprisoned after
the abortive attempt in 1895 to restore her to the throne Mrs.
Wilson shared her imprisonment as a lady-in-waiting.
They spent a delightful day at Maunawili and then started
homeward. Colonel Boyd, at the last moment, was called back
to the ranch to receive a lei from one of the pretty Hawaiian
girls standing at the ranch gate, whereupon Princess Likelike,
being impatient, called to Mr. Wilson to accompany her and
started away at a fast gallop. They were followed at some dis
tance by Liliuokalani, Mrs. Wilson and Colonel "Jimmie," Boyd,
and their retinue. The group finally merged and then, as Mr.
Wilson now tells the story, Liliuokalani hummed a melody which
was Hawaiian in its composition. In a way it had a familiar
310 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
note now and then to him. The princess kept humming and
humming, and finally after they had passed through the Nuuanu
Pali and stopped at an orange grove at Kahuilanawai, where
there was a spring and all had dismounted, Mr. Wilson expressed
curiosity about the song. She said it was just something that
was running through her head, and continued to hum it. Then
Wilson recognized a trace of an old song, "The Lone Rock by
the Sea," which is a basis of "Aloha Oe."
When the party reached Washington Place, which was the
private home of Princess Liliuokalani, and at present the guber
natorial mansion of the governors of Hawaii, a guitar was
picked up and as Liliuokalani hummed an accompaniment was
improvised and soon all the party was singing what Liliuokalani
said was the chorus. It was pretty and absorbing with the
languorous atmosphere of Hawaiian musical melodies.
The following day the princess had put down her "hum
ming1' upon paper and soon there appeared the music and words
of what was later titled "Aloha Oe."
The princess gave Mr. Wilson the words in Hawaiian and
asked him to translate them into English, she to do likewise
and then compare notes.
They found they were very much alike, but passed both trans
lations over to Rollin Dagget, the United States minister to
Hawaii, for his opinion.
He looked at them and asked Liliuokalani if she believed she
had interpreted all the sentiment in her own words. She replied
in the affirmative, whereupon Mr. Daggett said that if that was
the case, then her words should stand. This was satisfactory
to all, and thereupon "Aloha Oe" was adopted and is now the
foremost musical composition of Hawaii. Captain Henri Berger,
then bandmaster of the famous Royal Hawaiian Band, who held
that position for forty-four years, went over the music and
made the finished copy.
Mr. Wilson later sent the music and words to Martin Gray,
of San Francisco, who published the composition.
But underlying all the composition the words "One Fond Em
brace, Until We Meet Again," always sung so plaintively, had
HAWAII'S TWO SWEETEST MELODIES 311
a real meaning, for -they referred to the incident at the gate at
Maunawili, when Colonel Boyd gallantly had returned to kiss
the pretty maid who had given him a lei. "One Fond Embrace/'
that was given, aye and more, and "Until We Meet Again," was
evident in the reluctance of the dashing colonel to leave. That
incident, Liliuokalani preserved to posterity with her composi
tion strung together piece by piece, line by line, bar by bar, on
that memorable horseback ride back over the Pali from Mauna-
wili to Washington Place. When you hear "Aloha Oe" let
your thoughts wonder to the scene at Maunawili ranch gate.
But how came Joseph Redding, who never visited Hawaii, to
compose a Hawaiian air that so truly reflected all the charming
atmosphere of Hawaii?
It was largely by association with a number of California's
men and women who had visited Honolulu, who had known
King Kalakaua and all his court and had been entertained by the
royal family and others including "Ned" and Jimmie Dowsett,
Col. Sam Parker, Col. "Billy" Cornwell, George Macfarlane, the
Spreckels "boys," Bonnie Monsarratt, "Jack" Low, "Cabbie"
Brown and many others in Honolulu, and had been so intimate
in all its social affairs, that when they had returned to California,
they told of their Hawaiian experiences so vividly and painted
them in such glowing colors that Redding was able to under
stand Hawaii to the core.
When ground-breaking exercises were held at the Panama-
Pacific Exposition grounds in 1914 for the Hawaii building, the
author of this volume was master of ceremonies that historical
day. An atmosphere of Hawaii seemed to have permeated the
spot and all the assemblage in which were numbers of members
of the Bohemian club and their friends. There were many
beautiful Hawaiian women present, all wearing fragrant leis, and
Hawaiian musicians sang melodies of the isles. As the Bo
hemian club members entered the enclosure, came the plaintive,
softly-alluring strains of "A Song to Hawaii," and when it
was finished, when the thoughts of nearly all present were 2,000
miles away in the sunny, semi-tropical isles of Hawaii, there
was hardly a dry eye. And why? With such plaintive music
312 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
is it any wonder that eyes should be wet when the words were
these :
"The wind from over the sea,
Sings sweetly aloha to me;
The waves as they fall upon the sand,
Say aloha, and bid me to land.
The myriad flowers in bloom,
Waft aloha in ev'ry perfume;
I read in each love-lit eye,
A-lo-ha; A-lo-ha nui oe.?J
For years I wondered how such a song came to be composed
and wrote Mr. Redding, who is not only a past president of San
Francisco's most famous club, but is a well known attorney
there, asking for the story. Here is his answer:
"You ask me with reference to a song I wrote many years
ago entitled 'Aloha/ or, as it is sometimes called, 'A Song to
Hawaii/
"In the first place, I am sorry to say I have never been to the
Islands, although I am on intimate terms with many of the
charming people from that lovely part of the world. All of my
friends have been there, and I have always felt that I knew the
atmosphere pretty well.
"The song you mentioned was written at Judge Crocker's
home in Sacramento, California, many years ago, just before the
arrival of King Kalakaua from Honolulu in San Francisco on
the occasion of his last visit, prior to his demise (1890). I was
visiting Mrs. Harry Gillig, the daughter of Judge Crocker, at
her home in Sacramento. The forthcoming visit of the king
was brought up in conversation at breakfast. Either she or
Harry Gillig said to me : ' Joe, why do you not write a song for
the Islands? Frank Unger will illuminate it and we can pre
sent it to the king when he reaches San Francisco/
"I went into the library after breakfast; shut the door; and
wrote the music and the words in the course of the morning.
It was a rough sketch, but Frank Unger took it and made a
beautiful illuminated copy on parchment. It was presented to
the king. As I recall it, the king had in his suite a number of
HAWAII'S TWO SWEETEST MELODIES 313
Hawaiian singers. I afterwards heard that they learned the
music very quickly and commenced to sing it even before they
returned to the Islands with the body of the king who died in
San Francisco. This song was never published with my consent,
and I never saw the manuscript after turning it over to Mr.
Unger. It seems to have crept into the musical press, however,
for I have seen one or two bastard editions of it — badly har
monized and in somewhat mongrel form."
Mrs. Harry Gillig, whom he mentions, was the former Miss
Aimee Crocker, who first married Porter Ash, and then later
Harry Gillig. The Gilligs came to Honolulu and enjoyed the
hospitality of the king and queen and the royal court and Hono
lulu's society. Gillig possessed a beautiful singing voice and he
often sang "Joe" Redding's song. Frank Unger was another
member of the Bohemian Club, with an artistic sense, who often
came to Honolulu and always was a favorite with the royal
set. Then there was Clay Green, a Bohemian Club man, an
author of poems, who also sang Hawaii's melodies. There was
Gus Spreckels, son of Claus Spreckels, the sugar baron, who
was the most jovial of the Spreckels "boys."
These formed a galaxy of "good fellows" who used to visit
Hawaii during the reign of Kalakaua and lived in the "Snow
Cottage" near the palace. They were originally attracted here
by Paul Neumann, the brilliant bon vivant, lawyer, attorney-
general under Kalakaua and Liliuokalani, an early member of
the Bohemian club, whose home was always the rendezvous
for men of literary and musical attainments, for club men and
for the navy, for his household was composed of a number of
beautiful and brilliant daughters. And out of all this gay setting
came the flow of melody and words that morning in the Crocker
library in Sacramento when Redding composed this beautiful
"Song to Hawaii."
The galaxy of Californians, having the entree to the palace
and to the king, were doubly fortunate in having the homes of
the old families thrown open to them.
314 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Not alone are these two songs the most beautiful, but there is
another of strange appeal to the senses. This is "Old Planta
tion/' the words by Mrs. Mary Jane Fayerweather Montano, the
music by David Nape, one of the best of a former coterie of
composers of Hawaiian airs, while another softly alluring song
of Mrs. Montano, was "Beautiful Kahana," dedicated to Mary
E. Foster, of Hawaii, whose name has been lettered on the stern
of a lumber schooner, plying between Puget Sound and Hono
lulu, for a quarter of a century.
CHAPTER XXVI
HAWAII'S FLAG DOMINATED THE OCEAN
MEMORIES OF WASHINGTON PALACE
FOR near a century a flag of eight stripes, alternately white,
red and blue, each representing an island of the Hawaiian
group, with the English Jack in the upper left corner,
forming ^ne of the most beautiful and colorful flags that ever
floated in any breeze, waved over the Hawaiian Islands, mon
archy and republic alike, until the day in August, 1898, when
Hawaii became merged with the United States, when Old Glory
replaced it over the old royal palace in Honolulu. Yet the
reverence of the islanders for their old flag is so sentimental
that the legislature adopted it as the territorial standard.
Captain George Beckley, an English sea captain who came
to these islands about 1801, was undoubtedly, the originator of
the flag of Hawaii. He brought to the Island a vessel which
was purchased by the -chiefs and was called "Humehume" by
the natives. He afterwards made numerous voyages between
Hawaii and Mexico and also between Hawaii and China. Ac
cording to the family traditions he made the first Hawaiian flag
about 1806 or 1807. The logbook of the captain, in which was
recorded the fact that he had made the flag, was unfortunately
lost by his descendents several decades ago. It is certain, accord
ing to family records, that he made this first flag into a child's
frock which was worn by each one of his children in succession,
and was long preserved as an heirloom of the family.
The Hawaiian flag received its English Jack — a St. George
and St. Andrew's cross filled in with blue — very probably be
cause the designer was an Englishman, and probably because
Kamehameha the Great had leaned toward the British govern-
316 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
ment through his many dealings with English navigators begin
ning particularly with Captain George Vancouver to whom he
made what was at one time thought to be a cession of Hawaii to
England. This may have influenced the use of the English
Jack in the belief that with England extending a protecting wing
over Hawaii, England should be represented in the flag, the Ha
waiian element being the eight stripes to represent that number
of islands in the group.
On the occasion of the birth of the Princess Nahienaena at
Keauhou, Kona, Hawaii, in 1815, Captain Beckley was made a
High Chief by Kamehameha, so that he might with impunity
enter the sacred precincts of the grass house and present the
royal infant with a roll of China silk, after which he went out
side and fired a salute of thirteen guns in her honor.
When Captain Beckley entered the house he took the infant
in his arms and the little one immediately clutched his whiskers
with her tiny baby fingers. When Queen Keopuolani saw this she
said to the king, "Look at the big sweetheart and the little sweet
heart. George from henceforth you are Princess Nahienaena's
name husband. He was called keiki (son) ever afterwards by
the chiefs, and his daughter Maria was called "Kaiponui Kai-
poliilii" after this incident, at her birth, it being a custom for
Hawaians, very frequently, to name children after an incident,
historical event, the names often having a beautiful and poetic
figurative meaning. In this way much of the old history was
conveyed generation to generation.
Captain Beckley was the first commander of the Honolulu
fort which was erected near the waterfront near the foot of
what is now Fort street. It was built on the advice of the High
Chief Kalaimoku, a general under Kamehameha, and who was
a historical figure, later being the one to meet the first mission
aries on behalf of Kamehameha II, in 1820. The fort was to
command the harbor and its channel. It was begun in 1816 and
completed in a year. It was nearly square, measuring three
hundred yards on a side, with walls about twelve feet high and
twenty feet thick and built of coral blocks hewn from the
reefs, pierced with embrasures for cannon. It stood on the sea-
Goat-of-arms of the Hawaiian monarchy, designed by the High Chief
Hoapili during the reign of Kamehameha III. A modification is now
the official symbol of the Territory. This photograph was made
directly from'the original painting of the coat-of-arms design, which
came into the possession of Commander Victor Houston, IT. S. N.,
a member of the Brickwood family of Hawaii, from the Robert
Criehton Wyllie collection.
HAWAII'S FLAG DOMINATED THE OCEAN 317
ward side of Queen street and across the lower part of Fort
street. About forty guns were mounted, consisting of six, eight
and twelve pounders. It was placed under the direct command
of Captain Beckley, whose soldiery were malo-clad natives of
the warrior class which had been trained by Kamehameha the
Great. To supplement this fort eight thirty-two pounders were
afterwards mounted on Punchbowl hill behind the city.
Captain Beckley's oldest son, William Beckley was born at
Keauhou, and was brought up with Kauikaeouli, afterwards
Kamehameha III. His two oldest daughters were brought up
by Queen Kaahumanu. This indicates the high esteem in
which the Englishman was held by Kamehameha, and also the
probability that he would confide to his officer the task of designing
a flag for Hawaii. Captain Beckley died in Honolulu in 1825.
The national banner, adopted officially by the legislative council
was unfurled on May 25, 1845, differing very little from the
former one.
Captain John Dominis, of Boston, arrived in Honolulu April
23, 1837, after having made several voyages to Honolulu from
New England and New York, accompanied by his son John
Owen Dominis, and decided to make his permanent home in the
Islands. In 1842, a lawsuit of long standing between Captain
Dominis and the British consul, Richard Charlton, destined to
become an ill-favored figure in Hawaiian life, was terminated
under which Captain Dominis came into possession of land on
Beretania street, near the royal palace grounds, and began in
that year the erection of a 'mansion, which was completed in
1846, and today stands as a monument to the old-style archi
tecture, stately and beautiful, and destined to be the home of the
last sovereign of Hawaii and from which she was carried to her
forefathers in the Royal Mausoleum in Nuuanu Valley.
Isaac Adams, not an architect, but a builder, drew the plans
and superintended the construction. Captain Dominis sailed
for China on August 5, 1846, and never from that day was heard
from, either he or his ship. He expected to bring home Chinese
furniture for his mansion. The widow rented the home to
Anthony TenEyck, United States commissioner. On February
318 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
22, 1848, being a good and patriotic American, he wrote the
royal government, that with the consent of Mrs. Dominis he had
named the mansion "Washington Place/' in honor of the illus
trious George Washington, and added, "Let it be hereafter
designated in Hawaiian annals, and long may it remain in this
distant isle of the Pacific, a memento of the eminent virtues of
the "Father of His Country," and of the distinguished excel
lencies of its much lamented projector." This was addressed
"to His Excellency R. C. Wyllie, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
On the same date the minister replied, and wrote:
"Your wish having been made known to the king, it has
pleased His Majesty to order accordingly, and I venture to say
that everyone near His Majesty (Kamehameha III), cordially
concurs in his desire to do every possible honor to the memory
of one of the greatest and best of men that ever ennobled the
race of mankind."
Keoni Ana was then premier of the kingdom, and on that same
historic day issued a "By Authority," or official notice that it
had pleased His Majesty to approved of the name of Washing
ton Place for the Dominis mansion, "and to command that they
retain that name in all time coming."
On September, 1862, Lydia K. P. Kapaakea, a high chief ess,
brother of the High Chief David Kalakaua, and John Owen
Dominis were married and took up their residence at Wash
ington Place with Mother Dominis. The latter died in April
25, 1889, and the property descended to her son, who was then
Governor of Oahu, and his wife was Princess Liliuokalani, her
brother, King Kalakaua, still being monarch. Governor Dominis,
who became Prince Consort when Liliuokalani ascended the
throne, died August 27, 1891, and the Queen came into full pos
session of the mansion.
When she was deposed as queen in January, 1893, she retired
to Washington Place and there lived out the remainder of her
one-time stormy life, dying in November 11, 1917. There, in her
retirement, she continued to receive her friends and visitors, and
the Hawaiian people particularly, in semi-royal state. Her home
was the rendezvous for the old "royal set" of Honolulu. It
HAWAII'S FLAG DOMINATED THE OCEAN 319
was a little kingdom and she was accorded all the honors and
obeisances that are the privilege of a monarch to receive. The
queen, educated, a composer of music, a writer herself, collected
about her a numerous coterie of friends. Washington Place
became the mecca of travelers visiting in Honolulu. To her came
generals, admirals and dignitaries of the United States, accord
ing her the honors that she had received in the former day when
she sat upon the throne.
I saw the queen the morning she breathed her last in the little
front room, off the hallway, and the lanai, which had been her
bedroom for years, and where she was devotedly attended by
many of her people. For a week Washington Place had been
filled with Hawaiians who gathered because they knew the end
was near. Day and night they came. There was wailing, there
was soft singing. The former court ladies, the former officials,
now old, even as she was approaching eighty, came to be with
their sovereign in her last hours. From Washington Place,
where royal burial honors had been accorded, she was removed
to the royal palace by order of the Governor of Hawaii who
officially announced that hers would be a royal funeral.
Then the legislature was sought to purchase Washington
Place as a mansion for the governors of Hawaii and this was
carried out, and Washington Place is secure from the demands
of business or otherwise, and has been renovated and is now the
official home of the governors of Hawaii, the first to occupy it
as such being Charles J. McCarthy and after him, Wallace R.
Farrington.
It was the earnest wish of Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole,
her cousin, that Washington Place be purchased for this purpose
to preserve it to posterity. The act of the Hawaiian legisla
ture was approved April 30, 1919.
Over Washington Place floated the Hawaiian flag for three-
quarters of a century, and over it the royal standard, the crown
flag was often silhouetted against the sky. I saw the royal
standard raised that sad morning in November, 1917, to the peak
and then lowered to half-mast, for I performed this duty my
self. Only recently I had the honor to assist in the transfer of
32G UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
the royal standard and crown flags of the Hawaiian monarchy,
which were hauled down from the Royal Palace in January,
1893, when the monarchy was overthrown, to the Bishop Mu
seum as a safe place for these historic relics. They had been in
possession of a resident of Honolulu, who was a lieutenant of
the guard established by the Hawaiian provisional government.
Intimately associated were the Hawaiian flag of monarchy
days and Washington Place, and both have an unusually warm
place in the hearts of all residents of Hawaii.
CHAPTER XXVII
LAST OF THE OLD GUARD
SURVIVORS ARE FEW
LIKE the fragments of the Grand Army of Napoleon, in long
years after Waterloo, when now and then a former soldier
of the "Little Corporal" would be pointed out by the older
generation to the new, so are the fragments of the old royal Ha
waiian courts few and far between. Out of all the bewildering
galaxy of beautiful Hawaiian and hao'le women who graced the
courts of the Kamehamehas and the Kalakauas, of the gallant
beaux, the handsome men who were members of the staffs of those
same Kamehamehas and the Kalakauas, but a straggling three or
four remain alive today.
Now and then at some public function which memorializes
the birthday anniversary of a former sovereign, these survivors
of the old guard are prominent figures.
Queen Emma, widow of Kamehameha IV, she of the graceful
manner which so charmed Queen Victoria, held her court when
she was Dowager and Kamehameha V sat upon the throne, for
she was the "lady of the realm" and the hostess at the palace.
Today, of this court, there survives Lucy Peabody, the grand
daughter of Isaac Davis, who was one of the white men who be
came a figure in Hawaii during the reign of Kamehameha I and
one of the king's right-hand men, who married the High Chiefess
Kahaanapilo, a genealogist of her day.
There is Mrs. Jennie Smythe, one of the ladies in waiting to
Queen Emma, daughter of Mrs. Kamaka Stillman. The latter, at
98 years of age today, is a remarkable example of serenity, who
has walked to the royal mausoleum behind the bodies of the aliis.
Mrs. Smythe is also the great-great-granddaughter of Kahaopuo-
322 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
lani, who was the foster mother of Kamehameha the Great who
concealed the baby for years at the Pall Hulaana, of Kohala.
There is also Mrs. Curtis P. laukea, who at the coronation of
King Kalakaua and Queen Kapiolani in 1883 was a lady in wait
ing to the royal household, she being then the wife of Col. lau-
kea, vice-chamberlain, an aide and court gentleman. Still sur
viving, and also a lady in waiting to Kalakaua and Kapiolani's
household, and present that coronation day, is Mrs. Lucy Po~
haialii, who was a relative of Kapiolani.
As a lady in waiting that coronation day to Her Royal High
ness Princess Likelike, sister of King Kalakaua, was Miss Lizzie
Coney, today Mrs. Elizabeth Renjes, who resides part of the
time in New York and part in Germany. She is the aunt of
the present Mrs. Jay Gould, of New York, whose mother was
one of the "Coney girls/' of Honolulu. She was Miss Ellen
Coney, who married a Mr. Graham, and later married the Dutch
artist, Hubart Vos, whose studio in New York is a mecca for art
lovers. Her daughter Annie Graham, met young Jay Gould in
New York and their marriage was a brilliant society event.
Mrs. A. N. Tripp (Sally Tripp) was also a lady in waiting
at that coronation, a member of the old Hawaiian gentry. Her
husband was Captain Tripp, a ship master, later harbor master at
Honolulu. Bering the Civil War he went on a mission from
Honolulu to the Arctic to find the pirate steamer Shenandoah, of
the Confederate States of America, which had wantonly destroyed
most of the whaling fleet, and inform Commander Semmes that
the war was over. He returned with scores of survivors of
sunken vessels.
Another survivor of the courts is Mrs. Emma Metcalf Beck-
ley, afterwards Mrs. Nakuina, lady in waiting to Queen Kapiolani
during the early part of this reign, her husband, the Chieftain
F. W. Kahapula Beckley, being the king's chamberlain, and later
governor of Kauai. She was afterwards the first and only
woman judge appointed during the days of the republic, being
judge of water rights, and is a recognized authority on Hawaiian
history.
Col. Curtis P. laukea is today as he was decades ago, the
LAST OF THE OLD GUARD 323
tall, stately, courtly, suave gentleman of the court and diplomat,
whose life has been a succession of official duties associated with
the monarchy, then with the Provisional Government, then with
the Republic, and later the Territory. He was a close friend of
King Kalakaua who gave him important appointments, such as
collector of the port, then vice-chamberlain and finally chamber
lain. He served also as chamberlain at the royal palace under
Queen Liliuokalani. In the long years afterward, when Liliu-
okalani was a citizen in private life, he became her business
adviser and was again, in reality, her chamberlain. He was with
her at the time of her death and supervised the arrangements
for her state funeral as he did those for the late Prince Kalani-
anaole, delegate to congress.
His has been an interesting career, a picturesque one, for
after all his royal service, later for the Republic, he served as
Secretary of the Territory, under appointment of President
Wilson, and now almost daily may be seen following a golf ball
upon the Oahu Country Club course at Laimi, Nuuanu, Hono
lulu, traversing almost the area that Kamehameha did in 1795
when he began battle with the opposing Oahuan army.
Colonel laukea was born at Waimea, Hawaii, Dec. 13, 18S5,
son of J. W. laukea, who was district magistrate of Hamakua,
Hawaii. He was reared in Honolulu under the direction of
his uncle, a personal attendant of Kamehameha IV, and was
educated, as a ward of the government, under Arch-deacon
Mason, of the Anglican Church in Hawaii. In 1872, upon the
death of King Kamehameha V, who had sent him to Lahaina to
learn sugar-boiling, he went to Hilo, Hawaii, where his sister
was residing. He was a very close friend of Prince Leleiohoku II,
named by Kalakaua as heir apparent, the people often refering
to them as Damon and Pythias.
It was at Hilo that King Kalakaua, on his royal tour of the
islands, saw this young friend of the chiefs and commanded
him to resume his place at the royal palace. Here he remained
in one capacity or another, until the overthrow of the monarchy
in 1893. He was chief secretary of the department of foreign
affairs in 1880, and in 1883 was sent as special envoy to the
324 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
coronation of the Czar of Russia. After visiting the different
courts of Europe, to which he had been accredited as Hawaiian
envoy, he went to India and Japan to study the immigration
question and to open negotiations for a labor convention be
tween Hawaii and the governments of those countries. In Japan
his mission was notably successful, resulting in the admission of
Japanese laborers to the sugar plantations of Hawaii. He was
collector general of customs in 1884 and chamberlain of the
king's household, crown land agent and commissioner in 1889.
As chamberlain he was given special charge and care of the
royal party, attending the jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887,
and which included Queen Kapiolani, Princess Liliuokalani,
Gov. Dominis and their several suites, and enroute the party
visited President and Mrs. Cleveland at the White' House. Later
he was sent to London as secretary and aide-de-camp of the
special embassy from the Republic of Hawaii on the occasion of
the diamond jubilee of the Queen, in 1897.
In 1898 he accompanied President and Mrs. Dole to Washing
ton on their visit to President and Mrs. McKinley, acting as
secretary and military attache. Since 1909 he had been man
aging trustee and treasurer of the Liliuokalani Trust, and busi
ness representative of Her Majesty Liliuokalani. He was county
sheriff during 1906-8.
Among the many orders and foreign distinctions that have
been conferred upon him are the grand cross and cordon of St.
Stanislaus, conferred by the Emperor of Russia on the occasion
of the coronation in 1883 ; officer of the French Legion of Honor,
conferred by President Grevy of the Republic of France; grand
officer's cross of the Crown of Italy; grand cross and ribbon of
the Order of Takovo, Servia ; jubilee and diamond jubilee medals
of Queen Victoria; grand officer of the Order of Rising Sun
of Japan; knight commander of the Swedish Order of St.
Olaf, and all of the Hawaiian orders and decorations instituted
by King Kalakaua during the monarchy.
LAST OF THE OLD GUARD 325
There is also surviving, Mrs. Irene Kahalelaukoa-o-Kamamalu
li Holloway, a court lady of Queen Liliuokalani. She is the
daughter of the late Judge John li, one of the first Hawaiians to
receive an English education.
Lastly, Mrs. Harry Webb (Lahilali), friend and companion
of Liliuokalani, who was at her deathbed, and now a valued mem
ber of the staff at Bishop Museum.
CHAPTEE XXVIII
HAWAIIAN COAT-OF-ARMS AND OLD HAWAIIAN
FL.AG
The Hawaiian coat-of-arms, that used by the monarchy gov
ernment, has been preserved by the Territory of Hawaii, with
needful changes, and forms a part of the territorial seal today.
The coat-of-arms was originated during the reign of Kameha-
meha III, who died in 1854, and was designed by his secretary,
the distinguished High Chief Haalilio, who died in 1844.
It was afterwards altered during the reign of King Kalakaua,
who ascended the throne in 1874 and died in San Francisco in
January, 1891.
In the original design appears a triangular flag, the ancient
banner of the chiefs, always raised above the sail of a canoe. One
conspicuous ornament of the crown was the taro leaf. The
cross depending near the bottom of the latter design is one of
Kalakaua's additions.
The shield in the center is guarded by two men whose names
are Kameeiamoku and Kamanawa, both high chiefs under the
ancient regime. These men were twin brothers and mighty war
riors and generals, and were distinguished counsellors of Kame-
hameha the Great, who died at Kailua, Hawaii, in 1819. Kame
eiamoku stands at the right and holds a kahili, or feathered staff,
the emblem of state without which no royal court was complete.
The large kahilis used for state occasions in olden or ancient
times were from ten to thirty feet in height. They were made
of choice feathers and carried by several men. Their latest use
as symbols of royalty was during the state funeral obsequies in
Honolulu last January, on the occasion of the funeral procession
for the late Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, who at the time of
his death was completing twenty years of service in Congress as
Hawaii's delegate to Congress at Washington.
HAWAIIAN COAT-OF-ARMS AND FLAG 327
The feathers were sometimes arranged on slender branches at
tached to the staff, and extended about ten inches on either side.
They were long and silky and obtained from many sources, the
black ones from the tail of the O-o bird.
There were also smaller kahilis used to brush away flies or
other winged insects. They were made of all sorts of gay
feathers.
Kamanawa stands on the left, holding a spear in his right
hand, a sign of protection.
The spears, or ihe pololu, were made of the wood of the kauila
tree, the hardest native wood of the Island forests. Though dark
reddish at first, it becomes nearly black with age. This wood
was once considered sacred and many superstitions are connected
with it.
These two men, Kameeiamoku and Kamanawa, are dressed in
their ceremonial garments, the long feather cloak and helmet.
Such feather cloaks are rare and costly, and truly magnificent.
They were made from the rich yellow feathers of three different
binds — the O-o, Mamo and O-u. These cloaks shown in the
coat-of-arms extend to the ankles, but for a young prince they
came only to the waist, or were even shorter.
The foundation of the cloak is a fine netting of native hemp,
or olona, to which the feathers, overlapping each other, are skill
fully fastened, thus forming a perfectly smooth surface of a
golden color. Sometimes a border of red is added.
Most of the birds which produced these feathers were honey-
suckers, and were caught by nets or sticky gum introduced among
the branches of lehua or other flowering trees where the birds
went to seek food.
The O-o had a small tuft of feathers under each wing and on
the breast. The yellow feathers of the O-u are on the head of
the male. The Mamo, now considered extinct, gave the choicest
feathers, of a deep yellow or orange color. It took thousands of
these birds to make a complete cloak; and where possible, the
birds were not destroyed, but were released after the feathers
were taken. Sometimes a few of these birds were killed and
cooked in Ti-leaves, providing a much relished dish for the king.
328 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Yellow was the royal color, the chiefs and lesser dignitaries
using red or other colors. The Apapane and curved-bill liwi fur
nished the red feathers.
The finest feather cloak is now in the Bishop Museum. This
is the original robe used by Kamehameha the Great, who died
more than a century ago. This was afterwards used by the kings
of Hawaii on state occasions. It is enclosed in a hermetically-
sealed metal case at the Bishop Museum, Honolulu, which is
opened once a month for the benefit of visitors, who see the cloak
behind glass. There is also the cloak of Kaumualii, the last in
dependent king of Kauai, who was the ancestor of the late Prince
Kalanianaole, delegate to Congress, the last titular prince of the
monarchy.
The helmets were made of fine wicker work covered with bril
liant feathers. They were a gorgeous headdress, worn on festival
occasions.
In the coat-of-arms shield are two tabu sticks called loulou,
made from kauila wood. These sticks are about four or five
feet high, a large round knob at the top, which is often covered
with white tapa (native cloth made from tree fibers reduced to
pulp and then dried on smooth logs with beating sticks).
If the king, in olden days, did not wish to be disturbed, a tabu
(keep out) stick was placed at the door, and death was the pen
alty for disregarding the sign. In case the king heard of the
disloyalty of a subject, he would order the tabu stick to be taken
during the night and placed in front of the man's door — a very
strict command to remain within till further orders from the king.
They were sacred and much feared by the people.
At the top of the shield is the crown, having eight leaves, or
points, also showing the number of inhabited islands (at that
time).
The St. George's cross in the coat-of-arms was introduced by
King Kalakaua, as perhaps, also, were the drawings in the little
design in the center of the shield, between the flags. Two torches
of kukui nuts cross each other, with a kahili fan in the middle.
Two Torches of Iwikauikaua were the symbols of Kalakaua's
family. The ancient torches were made of kukui nuts strung on
HAWAIIAN COAT-OF-ARMS AND FLAG 329
a slender stick and enclosed in a basket of ti-leaves, and were
carried before kings in royal processions.
"Ua mau ke ea o ka Aina i ka pono" are the words of the
national motto on the scroll below the shield, meaning, "The life
of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." These words were
part of a speech delivered in the '40' s by Kamehameha III.
In the year 1843, when the independence of the Islands was re
stored by Admiral Thomas of the British Navy, Kamehameha
made a brief and eloquent address to the people in Kawaiahao
Church. He spoke of the restoration, the life of the nation
being returned, and he trusted that it would be "established in
righteousness/5 closing with the words of the above motto.
In 1895 a seal with a newly-designed coat-of-arms was pre
pared for the Republic of Hawaii and adopted by the legislature.
It contained the same motto, the bars of the Hawaiian flag and
the tabu sticks, but in other respects is entirely different. The
two standing figures were the Goddess of Liberty to the right, and
the picture of the well-known Kamehameha statue at the left.
The coat-of-arms of the territory is considerably different, but
the symbolic meanings are retained.
The colored bars, red, white and blue, in the shield, repre
sent the Hawaiian flag. Th eight stripes give the number of the
principal islands of the Hawaiian group.
The name of Captain George Beckley, an English shipmaster,
who came to the Hawaiian Islands about 1800 and became at
tached to the service of Kamehameha I, is associated with the
designing of the Hawaiian flag. Captain Beckley was first com
mander of the fort established by Kamehameha at the foot of
what is now Fort Street, near the site of piers 9 and 10, where
the passenger steamers of the Matson fleet will be moored in the
future. Captain Beckley was an Englisman, and because of this
fact, and because Kamehameha leaned toward the British through
the friendly aid given him in many matters by Captain Van
couver, the English navigator and explorer who was here last in
1794, the Union Jack was placed in the corner. The eight stripes,
or, as they were originally, seven, were possibly arranged after
330 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
the fashion of the American flag, and the use of red, white and
blue may have come from the American source.
Captain Adams, a well-known English navigator, who was in
the service of Kamehameha I, was the first to carry the Ha
waiian flag into foreign seas, about 1816. The improvement in
the Hawaiian flag was made about 1845 by Captain Hunt, Eng
lish Navy.
CHAPTER XXIX
ONLY THRONE ROOM IN AMERICA
SOCIAL LIFE IN HAWAII
AMERICAN ideals of government have forbidden thrones,
crowns, scepters, titles of nobility and other forms of
royalty, while decades of self-government have created
an aversion among the American electorate to rulers by right
of succession, yet there is a throne, a throne room, a crown and
scepter within the borders of the great American Republic,
visited daily by Americans, principally tourists, who gaze with
dreamy eyes upon the symbols of royalty which recall to the
imagination, grand receptions, presentations, and gorgeous set
tings for the ruler's state appearance before his people.
•Where is this throne in democratic America? Where are
displayed symbols of rule by divine right in this broad land
freed from such rule by patriots of 1776?
In all the vast area from. Maine to California, from the
Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, much of it a wilderness
half a century ago, there is now not a single territory remaining.
The sisterhood of states embraces every square foot of the land
within these borders ; but down in the sapphire-hue d waters of
the Pacific; in the region which was unknown until the navi
gators, Gaetano, Cook and Vancouver, sighted the shores of the
Hawaiian Islands — Uncle Sam's baby territory born when the
United States made a humanitarian appeal to arms in 1898.
Not many years before that historical year — a year which
marked an entire change in the policy of Uncle Sam's govern
ment — there had been a throne in the Hawaiian Islands, and
upon the throne for a century rulers of two dynasties occupied
the seat of power, held the sceptor and wore the crown of the
332 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Kingdom of Hawaii. Only five years before the American
armies began their long voyage across the Pacific to Manila,
the last ruler of the Kalakaua dynasty had been deposed, the
throne overturned ; the crown placed in a secret place — the gems
mysteriously lost — and a republic set up on the ancient ruins.
But the throne room; was closed and remained closed for a
time. The dais upon which the queen's throne had rested for so
long was left untouched. The heavy brocaded canopy which
overhung it remained as it was when Queen Liliuokalani, in
state, received the diplomats of other countries. Even the gilded
crown which surmounted the canopy, symbolizing the ancient
regime, held its place even when the President of the Republic
presided at council. From gilded frames the oil portraits of
former native rulers, starting with Kamehameha the Great, the
"Napoleon of the Pacific/' who founded the kingdom of Hawaii
after conquering each island and welded them into a kingdom
which won the admiration of the powers throughout its long
career, down to Kalakaua, the merry monarch, who loved to
play the sovereign according to rules laid down in the Palace
of Buckingham and Potsdam, looked upon the scenes of dusky
royalty. From huge frames there also looked upon the changes
of government the portrait eyes of Louis Philippe of France,
Marshal Blucher of Prussia, who made possible the later as
cension of Louis, and Alexander II of Russia.
• Came the day when, in the capitol of the United States the
national lawmakers passed to record the Resolution of Annexa-,
tion — July 6, 1898 — under the provisions of which the Republic
of Hawaii became a unit of the sisterhood of states and terri
tories of the United States. Came also the day — June 14, 1900 —
when the Islands were erected into a Territory of the United
States. And yet the throne room of the Kingdom of Hawaii
retained the atmosphere of the days when kings and queens,
princes and princesses, ministers of cabinets, ambassadors and
plenipotentiaries, made Hawaii the favorite theme of great
writers and poets, singers and players, of the days when it was
a pawn of international diplomacy, but held strongly to American
principles and protection by the stern announcement of Daniel
.
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21
Fugitives from justice and escaping prisoners of war found shelter in the
ancient City of Refuge at Honaunau, Hawaii isle. Beyond
outrigger canoes rise the massive walls of
the sacred and silent temple.
ONLY THRONE ROOM IN AMERICA 333
Webster to other nations to keep their hands off the "Paradise
of the Pacific."
Across the tall, stately windows, all of which can be thrown
open upon the wide porticoes, as doorways, fall the heavy
brocaded curtains just as they were draped during the reigns of
Kalakaua and Liliuokalani, for their new palace was completed
in 1886, replacing the less imposing structure of coral and frame,
which had replaced the original palace of the early Kamehamehas
which was built according to the architectural ideals of that date
— a huge low structure, with pointed roof sloping swiftly down
to low eaves, thatched with pili grass, through which no drop
of rain could permeate. The palace of Kalakaua was and is
pretentious, a two-story square building superimposed upon a
basement story and surrounded by stately portico columns of
iron and cement, surmounted by attic and flagstaff towers, a
building of beautiful lines, a combination of grace and stately
lines, which has won the admiration of visitors, even from capi
tals filled with royal palaces.
There were the state banquet hall, and the basement offices,
the well-equipped kitchens and pantries and wine cellars and
the beautifully furnished private apartments of the royal family
in the second story. The throne room was a hall of well bal
anced proportions, whose walls were pierced with many window-
doors ; the ceiling plastered white and garnished with mouldings in
which the Hawaiian coat-of-arms predominated. From the
gilded ceilings were suspended beautiful chandeliers glittering
with crystal pendants, replacas of chandeliers then hanging in
palaces in European capitols. Above each window was a pair
of crossed and gilded spears, symbols of the days when the
Hawaiians battled with spears and javelins. Surrounding the
room were high backed gilt and brocaded chairs, small editions
of the chairs upon the throne. The etiquette of the Court of
St. James prevailed in this throne room of the Hawaiians, and
upon state occasions, when a reception, levee or ball was given,
it fairly blazed with gold-trimmed uniforms, and costly gems
worn by the fashionably gowned women, both Hawaiian and
foreign. The famous Hawaiian band, directed from 1872 until
334 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
1915 by a bandmaster sent from Prussia by Emperor William
to King Kalakaua, played in an ornate bandstand in the grounds
not far distant from the throne room. If the admiral of a fleet
—and many foreign warships visited Honolulu in those merry,
good old days— was received, the clank of swords rose above
all other sounds, for the king and queen had extensive military
staffs.
But the days of royalty are gone; the empty dais and the
canopy and the heavy window hangings and the oil portraits of
the former dynasties, and the crossed spears are mute evidences
that once upon a time kings and queens were wont to assert
their sovereignty, within those silent walls. But above the
canopy where once was a gilded crown, a gilded eagle is poised.
Where the king and queen once presided at state dinners, the
senate of Hawaii now holds its biennial sessions. Where the
king slept in a big room above, the American governor of the
territory, appointed by the President at Washington, now has
his office; other former boudoirs and bedrooms are occupied as
offices by the secretary of the territory, the attorney-general,
the territorial auditor, the superintendent of public works, whose
prosaic titles replaced the more glittering ones of Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance and Minister of the Inter
ior ; while down in the basement where the wine was kept cool,
and the dishes were cleansed and the cooks prepared food, ter
ritorial officers administer their departments, while the stately
throne room is given over every two years to sessions of the
House of Representatives.
Directly behind the dais is a hardwood door, covered with
a heavy curtain. Through this door in the old days the king
and queen entered directly from the robing room and stood upon
the dais. Nowadays, when the House session is about to open,
the door is opened and the curtains swept aside when the Speaker
of the House makes his appearance and brings the gavel down
upon his desk with an authoritative crash. He is a real king,
however, and his- word is almost absolute, which was not exactly
the case with His Majesty.
As time goes on, tender memories are recalled of the good old
ONLY THRONE ROOM IN AMERICA 335
days with its opera bouffe kingdom, its symbols of royalty, its
gay life and the brilliant balls and receptions in the throne room,
and, although Mark Twain said of the government of Hawaii
of that period, that "It had the machinery of an ocean liner in
a sardine box/' there is a growing desire to retain the throne
room as it was during the days of Kalakaua and Liliuokalani,
and the legislature has passed acts requiring all royal portraits of
the Hawaiian rulers to be kept permanently upon the walls, and
the hall otherwise undisturbed.
Tourists flock to the throne room and roam over the palace,
inspecting portraits, the beautiful koa (native wood) furnish
ings and the finishings and express surprise that away down in
the middle of the Pacific was there so perfect a palace of royalty.
So Americans who have little dreamed that there is yet a
real throne in their great Republic, have only to place the Ha
waiian Islands in their "See America First" itinerary, step aboard
a palatial ocean greyhound at San Francisco, sail two thousand
miles westward in the direction of the romantic South Seas over
sunkissed waters, turn to the right, and enter beautiful Honolulu
harbor, the "Crossroads of the Pacific,"
The monarchy made its impress upon the people and their
customs in the past, and many of these customs of habit and
precedence have not yet been overcome.
With the change of the government and the setting up of a
republic, the President of the Republic, Hon. Sanford B. Dole,
became the arbiter of official social life in Hawaii. His wife
was the social hostess of Hawaii; around them were the des
cendants of the early missionaries, New Englanders mainly,
whose culture, educational and religious training have brought
Hawaii to its high state of civilization in the past hundred years.
There are as beautiful gowns seen in Hawaii as in our own
cities. In former days, when Hawaii was an independent coun
try, silks and satins and the finer fabrics were easier to obtain
than now.
In the old days the opera house would be filled with beauti
fully gowned women, and men always wore conventional evening
336 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
clothes. The formal affairs were and are characterized by such
toilettes as are seen in London, Paris and Berlin.
The army and the navy now form a large part of the pop
ulation of Honolulu ; their brilliant uniforms are seen at all formal
affairs, in fact the assemblages in Honolulu are often far more
brilliant than are to be met in mainland cities.
The shops are filled with large assortments of fabrics suited
to the climate. The stores are not of the "village type" ; are
far from being antiquated, and are quite as uptodate as those
in big cities. Both men and women dress in excellent taste in
Honolulu, but the man who wears limp clothing is not a pain
fully conspicuous object.
The social code of Honolulu is yet strict, and formality de
mands a regard for the rules that have been found necessary
for the common good of society everywhere.
The stranger must yield references to entitle him to entry
into the conservative circle of social Honolulu. The stranger,
however, is not held aloof. Every opportunity is afforded
wherever possible for the stranger to mingle on equal terms with
the residents. The outdoor life favors such mingling, the life
around the hotels, sea beaches, the homes with their wide-open
porches, or "lanais" as the Islanders term them; the town clubs
and the country club; the army posts and navy station, the
varied forms of public amusement, all tend to bring the stranger
into the midst of the social life of the capitol.
Trips to other islands on the little steamers cause friendships
which mean week-end opportunities at some of the beautiful
homes of the planters. Even the voyage from the coast to Hono
lulu in the splendid steamers which now ply across the smooth,
sun-kissed expanse of ocean, makes opportunities for new friend
ships, which give social opportunities later on.
There is much in Honolulu to give charm to luncheons, dinners
and garden parties. The pleasant lanais, cool and airy, looking
out into enchanting gardens, the wealth of flowers and ferns
with which the tables may be garnished ; the palms and crotons,
the hybiscus and orchids with which the house may be decorated,
ONLY THRONE ROOM IN AMERICA 337
are all possibilities in Honolulu, to be realized with very little
trouble.
In nine houses out of ten the Chinese or Japanese cook deserves
the decoration of a cordon bleu; he is an artist whose salads and
entrees, cakes and ices, are perfections. With all this there is a
list of fresh fruits to draw upon that bewilder the stranger by
its wonderful variety.
While in many of the best houses in Honolulu wine was never
served, a moral principle inherited from the early missionaries by
their descendants — in others, it was an influence surviving from
the old days of the monarchy This was also due to the number
of Europeans living in Honolulu, who were, and are, among
the most hospitable and delightful entertainers. Where a lunch
eon is given at a seaside villa, it is often preceded by a swim
in the ocean. They reappear after the dip, again accoutered in
proper habilments, and as though they had just come in after a
stroll in the garden. Moonlight swimming parties are common, for
the water is always a comfortable temperature.
The garden party dinner served on the lanai ; moonlight motor
trips, sometimes half around the island; dances at the beautiful
country club, a dance or dinner party at one of the numerous
army posts, or at the naval station, all combine to make a round
of festivities of which Honolulu seems never to lack.
There is the smart set; there is the conservative set; there is
the royalty set; there are many social circles in Honolulu. The
home of the late Prince Kalanianaole was the scene of brilliant
gatherings, where he was assisted by the Princess Kalanianaole,
who was a high chiefess before her romantic marriage with the
patriot prince. She still presides with charming dignity at "Pua-
leilani," Waikiki.
Golf and polo are played all over the islands, tennis courts
abound even at the remote villas of sugar planters far away from
town; the motor car is everywhere, even going now to the very
edge of the living molten lava crater of Kilauea on the Island
of Hawaii. There is now a fine 18-hole golf course on the brink
of the volcano, the natural fissures, from which steam escapes,
being covered withe wire-netting to save the balls.
338 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Isolated as Honolulu may be geographically, its society other
wise, is in close touch with the great world, and is in no sense
insular. It is ready to do its part with credit to the distinguished
strangers whom it may receive, and its representatives are at
home in any land wheresoever business or pleasure may take
them.
CHAPTER XXX
SURF-RIDING HAS BACKGROUND OF PAGAN
RITES
OLD Father Neptune is one of Hawaii's closest neighbors,
one of its best-liked and in a sense one of the most helpful,
for it is Neptune who has given the Hawaiians that rarest
of aquatic sports — surf-riding with their great surf-boards and
with their wonderful outrigger canoes. The vast ocean with its
changing colors, increasing in alteration of hues the nearer one
approaches the shore line, is always cool and inviting, and the
Hawaiians, the ancients, created the sport that has made Waikiki
Beach and all Hawaii famous the world over.
No more picturesque scene is found in any waters than that
seen almost daily at Waikiki, when bronze-skinned, stalwart
youths of magnificent physical proportions toboggan in on the
crest combers standing, kneeling or lying down upon their boards ;
and it must be said that visitors to Hawaii become as proficient
today in this exhilarating art, for it is an art.
But I wonder how many devotees of surf-riding today, even
including the young Hawaiians, know that behind that art of the
sea is a mountain-high background of pagan prayers and of cere
monials by the ancient priesthood, participated in even by the
kings and the great chiefs?
It was a favorite pastime of the ancient Hawaiians and was
one of their expressions of racing when chiefs and commoners
put all their wealth into the proficiency of champion surfers. Often
the kings and chiefs gathered upon the shore for festivals and
staged surf-riding races, when there came two rivals, probably
the best of that particular island, to display their prowess with
the great boards. Oftentimes a famous surf -rider from another
island was present and then the contest narrowed down to an ex-
340 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
hibition of utmost skill, with the spectators on shore often di
vided into two factions, betting upon their favorites.
Native legends abound with the exploits of those who attained
distinction among their fellows by their skill and daring in this
sport, indulged in alike by both sexes, and frequently, too, the
gentler sex carried off the highest honors. These legendary ac
counts are usually interwoven with romantic incident, as in the
abduction of Kalea, sister of Kawaokaohele, Moi (king) of Maui,
by emissaries of Lo-Lale, chief of Lihue, in the Ewa district of
Oahu; the exploit of Laieikawai and Halaaniani at Keeau, Puna,
Hawaii; or for chieftain supremacy, as instanced in the contest
between Umi and Paiea, in a surf-swimming match at Laupa-
hoehoe, which the former was challenged to, and won, upon a
wager of four double canoes ; also of Lonoikamakahiki, at Hana,
Maui, and others.
How early in the history of the race surf-riding became the
science with them that it did is not known, though it is a well-
acknowledged fact that, while other islanders may divide honors
with Hawaiians for aquatic prowess in other respects, none at
tained, until recent years, the expertness of surf sport, which early
visitors recognized as a national characteristic of the natives of
this group. In recent years, however, through the efforts of the
Outrigger Club, at Honolulu, the art of surf-riding, which had
nearly vanished, was revived. Young white men and women
took up the sport and became proficient. Hawaiians again took
it up and there ensued a keen rivalry, which is still in vogue at
Waikiki Beach. Now the art of surfing has been acquired by
travelers, and naturally photo-albums in thousands of parts of
the world are adorned with pictures of the owners standing in
front of their boards uplifted on the sandy beaches.
It would be interesting to know exactly how the Hawaiians,
over all others in the Pacific, developed this into a scientific sport.
That it became national in character can be understood when we
learn that it was identified, to some extent at least, with the cere
monies and superstitions of kahunaism (witchery, witch-doctor
ing), especially in preparation therefor, while the indulgence of
the sport pandered to their gambling propensities.
BACKGROUND OF PAGAN RITES 341
Old Hawaiians who have told the story of surfing, as handed
down in chants and by mouth to mouth, say that much valuable
time was spent in ancient times in practising the sport. Neces
sary work for the maintenance of the family, such as farming,
fishing, mat and fa/?a-making, and such other household duties
required of them and needing attention, by either head of the
family, was often neglected for the prosecution of the sport.
Betting was made an accompaniment thereof, both by the chiefs
and the common people, as was done in all other games, such as
wrestling, foot-racing, quoits, checkers (konane), holua and sev
eral others known only to the ancient Hawaiians. Canoes, nests,
fishing lines, tap as, swine, poultry and all other property were
staked, and in some instances life itself was put up as wagers,
the property changing hands, and personal liberty, and life itself,
sacrificed according to the outcome of the match.
There were only three kinds of trees known to be used for
making boards for surf-riding, namely, the wiliwili, ulu, or bread
fruit, and koa, of the acacia family. The uninitiated were natur
ally careless, and indifferent as to the method of cutting the
chosen tree, but among those who desired success upon their
labors, rites were carefully observed.
Upon the selection of a suitable tree a red fish called kumu was
first procured, which was placed at its trunk. The tree was then
cut down, after which a hole was dug at its root and the fish
placed therein, with a prayer, as an offering in payment therefor.
After this ceremony was performed, the tree trunk was chipped
away from each side until reduced to a board approximately of
the dimensions desired, when it was pulled down to the beach
and placed in the halau (canoe-house) or other suitable place con
venient for its finishing work.
Coral of the corrugate variety termed pohaku puna, which
could be gathered in abundance at the sea beach, and a rough
kind of stone called oahi, were the commonly used implements for
reducing and smoothing the rough surfaces of the board until
all marks of the stone adze were obliterated. As a finishing stain
the root of the ti plant (Cordyline terminalis), called mole kit or
the pounded bark of the kukui (candle-nut) tree, called hili, was
342 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
the mordant used for a paint made with the root of burned kukui
nuts. This furnished a durable, glossy black finish, far prefer
able to that made with ashes of burned cane leaves or amau fern,
which had neither body nor gloss.
Before using the board there were other rites or ceremonies to
be performed, for its dedication. As before, these were disre
garded by the common people, but among those who followed the
making of surf-boards as a trade, they were religiously observed.
There are two kinds of boards for surf-riding, one called the
olo and the other a-la-ia, known also as omo. The olo was made
of wiliwili, a very light, buoyant wood, some three fathoms long,
two to three feet wide, and from six to eight inches thick along
the middle of the board, lengthwise, but rounding toward the
edges on both upper and lower sides. It is well known that the
olo was only for the use of the chiefs, and forbidden the common
people. They used the a-laria, which was made of koa, or ulu.
Its length and width was similar to the olo, except in thickness,
it being but of one and a half to two inches thick along its center.
The line of breakers is the place where the outer surf rises
and breaks at deep sea. This is called the kulana nalu. Any
place nearer or closer in where the surf rises and breaks again,
as they sometimes do, is called the alma, known also as kipapa
or puao.
There were only two kinds of surf for riding, one called the
kakala, known also as lauloa, or long surf, and the ohu, some
times called the opuu. The former is a surf that rises, covering
the whole distance from one end of a beach to the other. These
at times form successive waves that roll in with high, threatening
crest, finally falling over bodily. The first of a series of surf
waves usually partake of this character, and is never taken by a
rider, as will be mentioned later. The ohu is a very small comber
that rises up without breaking, but of such strength that it sends
the board on speedily toward the shore. This is considered the
best, being low and smooth, and the riding easy. The lower por
tion of the breaker is called honua, or foundation, and the portion
near a cresting wave is termed the muku side, while the distant or
clear side, as some express it, is known as the lala.
BACKGROUND OF PAGAN RITES 343
During calm weather when there was no surf there were two
ways of making or coaxing it practiced by the ancient Hawaiians,
the generally adopted method being for a swimming party to take
several strands of the sea convolvulus vine, and, swinging it
around the head, lash it down unitedly upon the water until the
desired result was obtained, at the same time chanting sonorously
as follows:
"Ho ae — "ho ae alune i ka pohuelme,
Ki apu mii lawe mai —
Ka ipu iki waito aku."
The swimmer, taking position at the line of breakers, waits for
the proper surf. As before mentioned, the first one is allowed
to pass by. It is never ridden, for its front is rough. If the
second comber is seen to be good it is sometimes taken, but
usually the third or fourth is the best, both from the regularity
of its breaking and the foam-calmed surface of the sea through
the travel of its predecessor.
In riding with the olo or thick board, on a big surf, the board
is pointed landward and the rider, mounting it, paddles with his
hands and impels with his feet to give the board a forward move
ment, and when it receives the momentum of the surf and begins
to rush downward, the skilled rider will guide its course straight,
or obliquely, apparently at will, according to the splendid char
acter of the surf-rider, to land himself high and dry on the beach
or dismount when nearing it, as he may elect.
In the use of the olo the rider had to swim out around the line
of surf to obtain position, or be conveyed thither by canoe. To
swim out through the surf with such a buoyant bulk was not
possible, though it was sometimes done with the a-la-ia. Various
positions were assumed in riding by the old-time experts. This
skill died out and was only revived by the Outrigger Club. They
stood, knelt, sat and now come in, one performer sitting astride
the shoulders of a companion who stands on the board.
There are certain surfs running to various islands that are
famous for surf-riding.
"Halehuawehe" is the name of the 'great surf off Waikiki,
344 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
which attracted the chiefs of olden times and now often referred
to as the "Queen surf/' because it rolled toward the beach home
of the late Queen Liliuokalani, now the home of the Princess
Kalanianaole.
Hula and Ahua were surfs at Hilo, Hawaii, the latter off Cocoa-
nut Island. Punahoa, a chiefess, was the noted rider of Hilo
during the time of Hiiakaipoli.
Kaloakaoma, a deep-sea surf at Keaau, Puna, Hawaii, famed
through the feats of Laieikawai and Halaaniani, as also of Kii-
akaipoli and Hopoe.
"Httiha," at Kailua, Kona, Hawaii, was the favorite surf
whereon the chiefs were wont to disport themselves.
"Kaula" and "Kalapu," at Heie, Keauhou, Kona, Hawaii, were
surfs enjoyed by Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) and his sister,
the Princess Nahienaena, whenever they visited this, their birth
place.
"Puhele" and "Keanini" at Hana, Maui, and £70, at Lahaina,
Maui, were surfs for the exploits of chiefs of early days.
"Makaiwa," at Kapaa, Kauai, famed through Moikeha, a noted
chief of that island immortalized in old meles as follows :
"Moikeha is contented with Kauai,
"Where the sun rises and sets;
The bend of the Makaiwa surf —
The waving of the Kalukalu —
Live and die at Kauai."
UNMATCHED THOUGHTFULNESS AND ALOHA
HOSPITALITY and thoughtfulness went hand in hand in
ancient days, despite the belief of travelers today that the
principal pastime of the Hawaiians of those days was war
fare. There were times when war was broken off and the people
turned to peace. Hospitality was always a trait of the people,
and although their command of the world's riches is perhaps not
as great as in former times, when their monarchy was on the
UNMATCHED 'THOUGHTFULNESS 345
high crest of domination, their trait of hospitality is still one of
the pleasant elements that foreign residents and travelers find in
their contact with this race.
For instance, near the volcano of Kilauea, on the Island of
Hawaii, there were vast areas of ferns, a species of the pulu,
which grew breast-high. The heart and root yielded cones of nu
tritious substance. Everywhere the land around the volcano is
dotted with steam and heat fissures.
A Hawaiian traveling across this land breaks the ferns and
places the fern heart and root in the fissures. The heat cooks
them. He is provided with food. Before leaving he places other
fern hearts and roots in the fissures (pukas) so that the next
traveler will find nourishment. No Hawaiian could partake of
the food and fail to provide for the next one to pass along. His
conscience, his hospitality, his thoughtfulness would not permit
him to do this good deed for another, although a perfect stranger.
Seldom elsewhere in the world is such an example of thoughtful-
ness for one's fellow being. It was the law of Pele, Goddess of
Volcanoes.
Even when the Hawaiians took away awa-root, they always
planted a branch that the groves would not be diminished. The
Hawaiians had this element of thoughtfulness to the nth degree.
Can this example of thoughtfulness for others be matched in
the civilized world?
It is little wonder, then, that the word ff Aloha" has such a depth
of warm feeling, the Hawaiians' expression of love, sympathy,
joy and sorrow, a word of many meanings.
Aloha is synonymous with Hawaii, and perhaps is one of the
Polynesian words which has traveled farthest into foreign lands
and remained.
Visitors to Hawaii are quickly attracted by the frequency of its
use both by Hawaiians and haoles. It not only greets their ear
in conversation and in the popular music of the band and glee
clubs, but they find it worked in various articles of jewelry, souve
nirs and mottoes of home adornment. The word has equal value
as one of welcome or as a farewell greeting.
The word Aloha, however, is not of ancient Hawaiian use, in
346 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
the sense it is now employed as a term of recognition or saluta
tion, and it is possible that the intercourse between Hawaiians
and foreigners in the past 140 years is responsible for its use, if
not coinage. There are many who incline to the belief that it is
a contraction of the English word "Hello," the change to the
Hawaiian method of pronunciation being obvious. For in
stance, the English word mosquito is pronounced by Hawaiians
"makita." John Young, the Englishman who remained with
Kamehameha the Great after arrival here on a merchantman,
was called by the Hawaiians, "Olohana" It is believed this is
a contraction of the sea phrase, "All Hands !" and possibly was
extensively used by Young. The Hawaiians3 ear got it as "Olo-
hana." The Hawaiians refer to a pussy cat as "popoki." It is
said the missionaries, while stroking a cat, said, "poor pussy,"
over and over, and the Hawaiians' nearest pronunciation was
"popoki."
The original definition of Aloha, however, is love. From this
we have those attributes which love dominates, such as gratitude,
affection, good-will, kindness, compassion, sympathy, grief, etc.
In this sense its general use as a farewell is but the good-will
expression at separation, and requires no special elasticity of the
language to express the similar good-will feeling at meeting.
Hawaiians, however, often greet an approaching party with the
exclamation, "he mai,JJ an abbreviation of {(hele mai*' meaning
"come here."
"A-no-ai" was the ancient term of warm salutation, and "We-
li-na" also had recognition and use in a similar sense, the latter,
however, being used mostly as a reply to or in recognition of a
salutation, inasmuch as it applies to the person of the house when
addressed to a stranger.
"Aloha" is the more modern and generally used term. It has
a soft, sympathetic expressiveness which even a stranger in the
Islands can easily understand and appreciate, and according to
the length of time dwelt on the middle or accented syllable, so is
the depth of feeling conveyed in the greeting.
HAWAII'S FAR OUTER POSSESSIONS 347
HAWAII'S FAR OUTER POSSESSIONS
IF it so happens that a ship is wrecked ori one of the numer
ous small islands considerably to west, southwest or south
of the Hawaiian group, it is almost certain to be a part of
the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Honolulu. He is mayor of
Midway Island several hundred miles west of Hawaii where a
cable station is located. He is mayor of the Palmyra Islands,
hundreds of miles south, and now becoming a fishing base for
Honolulu's markets. Now, under the announcement made by
L. A. Thurston, of Honolulu, Kingman's Reef, was taken pos
session of on May 10, 1922, in the name of the United States
of America, and the American flag raised. A power sampan
took the Thurston party to Kingman's Reef, which heretofore,
has been rather mythical and never set down correctly on charts.
Thurston named it Leo Island. Washington, on receipt of the
cabled news from Honolulu, where the news was first pub
lished in The Advertiser of May 20, 1922, expressed disbelief
in the discovery or possession, suggesting the " finders" were on
Fanning, Washington or Christmas Island.
Mr. Thurston, however, took possession of the reef formerly
known as Kingman's Reef, the resting place of many wrecks. He
annexed the island to the United States as he did the Hawaiian
Islands in 1898.
The Islands to westward of the Hawaiian group are comprised
in what is called the Hawaiian Bird Reservation, set aside by
President Roosevelt, with laws promulgated to preserve the bird
life therein.
All these islands have formed part of the Hawaiian domain.
Nihoa, or Bird Island, was taken possession of in 1822, an
expedition for that purpose having been fitted out by direction of
Queen Regent Kaahumanu and sent thither in charge of Capt.
William Sumner.
Laysan Island became Hawaiian territory May 1, 1857, and on
the 10th of the satire month Lysiansky Island was added to Ka-
mehameha's realm by Capt. John Paty.
348 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Palmyra Island was originally taken possession of by Capt.
Zenas Bent, April IS, 1862, and proclaimed Hawaiian Territory
in the reign of Kamehameha IV, as per "By Authority" notice
in the Polynesian of June 21, 1862. Palmyra Island, however,
was left much to itself, and after a time, was considered British.
It was bought by Judge H. E. Cooper, of Honolulu for $750, and
is now leased to a Honolulu fishing company. The British gov
ernment, through the captain of the British cruiser Calcutta,
which was a visitor at Honolulu in March, 1922, made no claim
to Palmyra.
Ocean Island was acquired September 20, 1886, as per proc
lamation of James H. Boyd, empowered for such service during
the reign of King Kalakaua.
Necker Island was taken possession of May 27, 1894, by Capt.
James A. King, on behalf of the Hawaiian government.
French Frigate Shoal was acquired, also by Captain King, and
proclaimed a part of Hawaii on July 13, 1895.
Gardener Island, Mara or Moto Reef, Pearl and Hermes Reef,
Gambia Band, and Johnson or Cornwallis Island have also been
claimed as Hawaiian possessions.
Fanning Island, the site of the British All-Red cable station
between Canada and New Zealand, is British, as are also Wash
ington and Christmas islands.
CHAPTEE XXXI
THE SAINT OF MOLOKAI
A VOICE FROM THE LEPER TOMB
OUT of the silence of the Land of Living Dead where men
and women have patiently waited for Death to claim
toll, tragically realizing in the past that the gates to the
outer world were closed against egress because the fearful blast
of leprosy had seared their limbs, has finally come a Voice, like
unto that which came out of the Wilderness, the voice of Brother
Joseph Dutton, the martyr self-exiled lay brother who, for nearly
40 years, has laved the unhealed sores of leprous wards of Ha
waii, who has finally unlocked his heart and revealed the reason
of his life-long penance — "sowing wild oats" after he was mus
tered out of the army at the close of the Civil War.
In the vigor of his manhood Brother Dutton arrived in Hono
lulu 36 years ago — July, 1886 — and asked permission to go to
Molokai's leper settlement to nurse the stricken of Hawaii —
without official position, without compensation. A Catholic, he
was granted his strange request, for Catholics, priests and nuns,
had long devoted themselves to soothing the desolate lives of
the exiles to Molokai — then a "bourne whence no traveler ever
returned."
There, year after year and decade after decade, Brother Dut
ton labored at the Baldwin Horrte for Boys, almost in the
shadow of the picturesque stone church where Father Damien,
the priest had labored for so many years and where he died. He
was a victim of this strange, mysterious malady.
Brother Dutton, educated, refined, veteran of the Civil War,
a member of the Grand "Army of the Republic, offered all his
subsequent years to aid the sufferers of Molokai. His lips re-
350 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
mained sealed concerning his reason for renouncing every-day
life and a future among whole men, to imprison himself forever
and remain absolutely apart from the throbbing flow of healthy
mankind.
In all his service at Molokai he has never left that tiny penin
sula. For years he has never passed out of the little village of
Kalawao, miles distant from the seaport village of Kalaupapa,
where the one steamer from Honolulu arrives only once a week
with supplies and now and then more lepers. For years he has
rarely absented himself from the compound of the Baldwin
Home except to cross the road to enter the stone church, hal
lowed by Damien's martyrdom, to offer his devotions.
For decades, legislatures and government officials have jour
neyed from Honolulu across the channel to Molokai's settlement,
and asked the lepers to file their complaints, express their wants
and offer their praises, if any. Always the visitors have called
upon Brother Dutton. Always he was smiling, bright and even
witty in conversation, always at ease among the healthy men he
met at his compound every two years. Always they found him
in his dungaree smock, and always they knew that during the
long night before he had labored among his wards, dressing their
sores and ministering to their ailments.
Each year they saw his once black beard turning slightly grey
and then greyer and finally white. They saw the patriarchal
beard become sparce and his cheeks sunken, but they saw the
same burning glow of animation in his eyes despite his 80 years
of age.
They saw his headquarters walled with books and magazines,
for he is an inveterate reader — when he finds time — and always
books flow in upon him from the outer world, from his admirers
and well wishers in the Seven Seas, from people who are amazed
at his devout and unflinching martyrdom. And always they see
his desk littered with mail, stacks upon stacks of envelopes, and
they see letters, piles of them, the product of his pen, waiting
to be mailed to his hundreds of friends abroad.
Brother Dutton is old-fashioned. He remembers the outer
world as it was away back in the SO's. His implements are those
THE SAINT OF MOLOKAI 351
of that period. His letters are those of a literateur, the style
of the literary geniuses of half a century ago, whose dictum was
smooth, eloquent, their thoughts lofty. He is happy in corres
pondence with old friends and comrades of the Civil War. He
is contented in correspondence with men of today, and he dis
cusses questions of the hour with power of expression and keen
knowledge of events that astonishes those who know he is im
mured and apart from their world.
Brother Button wrote me a few years ago that he was then
500 letters behind in his correspondence. I suggested that his
friends in Honolulu would be happy to supply him with a type
writer machine to enable him to catch up. It was a suggestion
I regretted for I had endeavored to bring this Knight of the
Round Table, this chivalrous scourge of disease, into a modern
world, and give him today's implements. He said he never used
one — hoped never to be known to have touched one. An auto
mobile was almost an abhorrence to him and he hoped never
to see one.
Diplomatic and even insidious efforts have been artfully em
ployed for nearly 40 years to unbosom the secret that lies at the
bottom of his determination to immure himself on Molokai. Of
ten I have led up to the topic, always with a degree of trepidation,
only to be met by a master rapier thrust in the Queen's English,
which shattered my own blade and rendered me peculiarly de
fenseless and ashamed against the stern determination written
across his countenance. That secret was as securely locked
as the secret of the Sphinx.
And now, like a bolt from the bluest of soft Hawaiian skies,
Brother Button, just replying to a letter I wrote him recently,
in which I inquired after his health and some incidents in his
life, sent me his latest photograph taken on his 78th birthday,
April, 1921, on the back of which, in his own delightful chiro-
graphy, is an epic, for it is the martyr's story of his penance, the
secret so long isolated. Here is what he wrote :
"Am beginning 36th year of voluntary penance for some years of
'sowing wild oats' (as politely expressed), chiefly soon after the Civil
War. Not conscious of injuring any one else — no financial entangle-
352 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
merits — "but, for evil of it all on 40th birthday offered to God rest of
my life in reparation — work — no pay.
"So, you see, my life here has not been simply to help my neighbor,
but to help my own soul. Joyfully yours, Joseph Button.77
What particular incidents may have driven Joseph Button's
soul to unrest and caused his vision to become conscious of the
sufferings on Molokai, in those days when there appeared to be
no remedy, no specific that would ease the torments of the
afflicted, when the medical world had reached the conclusion that
leprosy would always be leprosy, Brother Button offered his
life and gave up the world outside to reside in Molokai to the end
of his days. It was a martyrdom which has had few parallels.
Ira B. Dutton was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, on April 27,
1843. In July, 1886, he became Brother Joseph Dutton, lay-
brother in the Catholic church to remain Joseph Dutton to his
final hour.
As Ira B. Dutton he enlisted in the Union Army in 1861 and
soon became quartermaster-sergeant. He was a member of
Company B, 13th Wisconsin Regiment, of which his friend D. 1-1.
Wood was captain. Wood and Dutton formed a friendship In
1857 which lasted until Wood's death in 1912.
Dutton became a second lieutenant in February, 1863, first
lieutenant in February, 1865, and regimental quartermaster Match
24, 1865, and unknown to him, he was recommended for ap
pointment as captain in the United States volunteers by Major
Generals George H. Thomas, J. L. Donaldson, L. H. Rousseau
and Robert S. Granger. Captain Dutton was on the staff of
General Granger from June, 1864, to October, 1865. The war
over, Dutton left the service after having performed a useful
service in transferring the 'Uiiion dead from battlefields to
national cemeteries.
If Brother Dutton "sowed wild oats" the closest companion
of his youth and in later years, never knew it, for D. H. Wood,
In writing in the National Tribune, Washington, in 1914, of
"Comrade Dutton," said that he was "as a boy, clean, correct of
speech and deportment, and evidently a lover of home and of
his mother, who was his teacher and companion." He had few
THE SAINT OF MOLOKAI 353
companions but was reserved and dignified even in boyhood."
The Grand Army of the Republic has never forgotten Comrade
Joseph Button. At the 47th Encampment of the G. A. R. at
Chattanooga in 1913, Ex-Comrade Dutton was lauded by com
rades of '61, and a beautiful American flag was voted by the
encampment and sent to him.
Early in June, last year, Brother Dutton sent me a photograph
showing that beautiful G. A. R. flag being lowered to half-mast
in front of his little office at Kalawao, on May 30, 1921 — Memo
rial Day — and he himself is seen handling the halyards. Behind
the office and the fringe of leper boys one sees the towering
precipices (palis) which form the background of the peninsula,
or tongue of land, which comprises the settlement upon the island
of Molokai — a precipice which is unscaleable to the inmates.
It was at the 47th Grand Army encampment that the follow
ing resolution was unanimously adopted :
"JResolved, that this 47th Annual Encampment of the Grand Army
of the Republic assembled at Chattanooga acknowledge the greeting of
'Aloha' from the far Pacific from Brother Joseph Dutton, in charge of
the Leper Settlement at Kalawao, and return his greeting and extend
to him this tribute of our love and esteem, hoping the Great Commander
may continue him on special detail for many years. "
On every national holiday and on Hawaiian holidays the pat
riotic Civil War veteran flies the G. A. R. flag from the Kalawao
flagstaff, when it is saluted by the patriotic Americans there,
for Hawaii being a territory of the United States, gives the status
of Americans to all Hawaiians. They are all a patriotic people,
and their courage and loyalty was shown by the large number
who served America and Britain overseas during the World
War.
Concerning his correspondence and other matters, he wrote
me recently :
"About the Leper Settlement I shall say I have always felt it up to
me to touch those chords very gently; in personal letters I seldom men
tion the Settlement. Correspondents on the mainland are bright and in
teresting, mostly very affectionate, long-time friends, with many edi
fying mutual questions on tap, so the Leper Settlement is usually not
reached at all. It's myself, however, to be always behind with this side
of it. My unanswered letters are now about 500, piled up in and around
354 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
my big desk here. About 50 keep on writing me whether or no. iSome
liave 24 pages to a letter. Here is a package of letters of a dear old
Sister — a nun in my boyhood town. Another in Milwaukee, the Mother
(they are Sisters of Mercy), writes long letters of about 40 pages of
beautiful handwriting. Then there are letters from Civil War comrades. ;;
Brother Button writes much at night by the light of his oil
lamp, when his cares for the day are supposed to be ended. In
a note on the back of a photograph just received from him he
refers to his night work, when he said he hoped to write about
several photographs adding : "not sure ; it depends upon the nights
— how much time and how wakeful!"
Despite his 78 years of age, his handwriting is strangely beau
tiful, a fine Spencerian, as clear and firm as that of a girl of 20.
In his letter to me about his work, in which it is evident he is
writing just before dawn, he says:
"The chickens are crowing; I must get my bath, change clothes and
go to Mass (I don't mean Mass-achussetts).
"Half of my nights is open for personal scribbling with dear old
friends, and some not so very old.
"•Speaking of 'official reports/ such relate simply to this Baldwin
Home, my special charge. The charge grew on to me inavoidably. I
came here to do penance, to work as a servant, and was permitted by
Premier "Walter Murray OKbson (premier in the cabinet of the late King
Kalakaua of Hawaii), president of the Board of Health, to come here
and work, as I stipulated, without pay. This was in July, 1886. The
various officials since then have respected that arrangement, but, in the
ordinary sense, I have no official status. Having consented to take
charge of the construction of this Home, when W. 0, Smith was presi
dent of the Board of Health, in the '90 's} taking on its operation natur
ally followed.
"In -the three years with Tather Damien (who died in 1889) I was
two days each week at Kalaupapa, but have not been there now for
many years. The last time was on April 15, 1893 (nearly 30 years ago),
to arrange Father Damien ?s effects for shipment to Louvain, Belgium,
for the Museum (all were destroyed by the Germans in 1914). I was
his executor. Have not been away from this Baldwin Home yard since
that time, 23 years ago.'; (Brother Button wrote this letter to me sev
eral years ago, and the time has lengthened to nearly thirty years)
"Kalaupapa,77 he resumes, "is, as you know, on the opposite side
from here, of our little peninsula.
THE SAINT OF MOLOKAI 355
"It's a gay town now — sports, etc. Our inmates, those who like
and are able, go there one evening a week for the movies. Some of
the Brothers go along.'7
A life of self denial is led by Brother Button. He asks for
nothing, but gives much, all his time, all his kindness, his great
heart bursting at all times to succor his suffering fellow man.
His work hours are the twenty-four on the clock dial. He is
available by day and by night. With absolute Spartan valor he
takes each afflicted sufferer and makes clean the leprous sores,
a daily, sometimes oftener, routine. He is amateur physician and
surgeon to them, their teacher, friend, mentor, philosopher and
adviser, for these children who have been infected with what
has been believed to be an incurable disease. It is now being
throttled by Chaulmoogra oil.
There is a lofty majesty about the labor of Brother Button
and his life's work at Kalawao. Serving as he began to serve
40 years ago without pay, working as he began then, denying
himself luxuries or even the opportunity to prepare himself for
a visit back to the land of health and activity, the land with a
future, he prefers to remain where he is, stirring never more
than a mile away from his little village, apart from much that
civilization affords. To show this Civil War veteran the latest
invention of the army, Maj.-Gen. Charles Morton, U. S. A.,
commanding general of the American army in Hawaii, sent army
airplanes from Honolulu to Molokai that Brother Button might
be enlightened. The planes hovered and wheeled and "stunted"
over the Settlement, a thoughtfulness of the commanding gen
eral which Brother Button appreciated, for he fought in a war
60 years ago when airplanes were unknown.
One day, years ago, Brother Button broke his routine. He
left the village and wandered to the mountains, climbed half way
up and there sat half a day until eventide smothered the sun in
the western sea.
The lepers wondered. Brother Button's apparent wish for
solitude -was respected. Why did he go there, has often been
asked? Bid he meditate over his past and think of his future?
Bid he pine for the haunts of civilized men? Bid he reflect, even
356 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
as Christ did upon the Mount, commune with his soul, fight his
last battle of the desires of the flesh, when possibly the activities
of life once again in the midst of his fellow men attracted him?
did he finally decide to give every last shred of his life to the
cause he had accepted ?
It must have been the last, for from that day Brother Dutton
has rarely stirred out of Kalawao. By day he sees only the
little tongue of land called peninsula before hinr, a broken shore
upon which the sea breaks ceaselessly, and beyond a tiny islet
rising jaggedly out of the sea, and beyond that only the waste
of waters called the Pacific, and nothing tangible beyond except
rest for his sanctified soul.
CHAPTER XXXII
THE LAST WORD
ANSON'S MAP PUBLISHED BEFORE COOK'S
DISCOVERY
Since the foregoing chapters were written, I found in the old
Chamberlain mission library, where former Governor G. R.
Carter has placed his splendid collection of books about Hawaii, a
copy of a book published in London, in 1756, for D. Browne J.
Osborn and J. Shipton, etc., etc., entitled, "A Voyage Round the
World, in the Years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV, by George Anson,
Esq., Now Lord Anson, Commander-in-chief of a Squadron of
His Majesty's Ships, sent upon an Expedition to the South Seas,
Compiled from His Papers and Materials, by Richard Walter,
M.A., Chaplain of His Majesty's Ship the Centurion, in that
Expedition."
This book was published twenty-three years before Captain
Cook, R. N., discovered ( ?) the Hawaiian Islands, in 1778.
A chart showing the track of the Centurion around the world
is shown as a frontispiece, and off the coast of California are
shown a group of six or seven little isles, approximately in the
location of the present Hawaiian Islands.
This chart was prepared from the records of the Anson expedi
tion, and shows that the Centurion sailed within a few leagues
of the Hawaiian Islands, although the Centurion did not touch
at them.
The Isles of Hawaii (as afterwards known), were set down on
this chart from a Spanish map which was captured by Captain
Anson from a Spanish galleon. The map is also published in this
remarkable book, and gives conclusive evidence that Cook had
358 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
knowledge of the Hawaiian group when he sailed on his last
and fatal voyage.
The battle in which Anson captured the Spanish galleon, its
vast treasure of a million and a half dollars and its maps and
charts, was in June, 1755, the name of the Spanish galleon being
the Nostra Signora de Cabadonga, commanded by General Don
Jeronimo de Montero, a Portuguese. She had one hundred fifty
men and thirty-six guns mounted for action. Commenting on
the material found aboard the writer of the Anson journal says:
"I shall only add that there was taken on board the galleon
several draughts and journals; from some of which many of the
particulars recited in the tenth chapter of the second book are
collected. Among the rest there was found a chart of all the
Ocean between the Philippines and the coast of Mexico, which
was what was made use of by the galleon in her own navigation.
A copy of this draught, corrected in some places by oun own
observations, is here inserted, together with the route of the gal
leon traced thereon from her own journals. This is1 the chart
formerly referred to, in the account of the Manila trade. But
to render it more complete, the observed variation of the needle is
annexed to several parts, both of the Spanish and English track ;
which addition is of the greatest consequence, as no observations
of this kind in the northern parts of the Pacific Ocean have yet
to my knowledge been published."
Captain George Beckley, English friend and military adviser of
Kamehameha the Great, and first commander of the old Hono
lulu fort in 1816. He was granted chiefly rank by the
Conqueror. His descendants claim for him the design
ing of the beautiful Hawaiian flag. From
rare oil painting.
CHAPTER XXXIII
KOTZEBUE'S REMARKABLE STATEMENTS
RUSSIAN FOUND CIVILIZATION IN 1816
Side by side with the Lord Anson volume appeared another,
"Kotzebue's Voyage of Discovery/' 1815-1818, written in 1820,
and published in 1821, relating- all the extremely enlightening
incidents of the visit of the Russian ship Rurick, with Lieutenant
Kotzebue, in command, to the Hawaiian Islands, in 1816.
There is an astonishing array of facts presented in the most
graphic, interesting and charming manner by Kotzebue of his
meetings with Kamehameha the Great, whom he called "the cele
brated" and of the modern civilization which they obtained
throughout the Islands four years in advance of the arrival of
missionaries.
Kotzebue found many one-story houses of white stone (coral)
constructed in the European manner. The fashions of Europe
were already in Honolulu, for John Young's wife (he was an
Englishman and she an Hawaiian), wore a dress of European
cut and made of costly China silks.
Kamehameha the Great invited Kotzebue to a fine house which
was furnished with a handsome table and chairs and there poured
wine for his distinguished guest from St. Petersburg.
Kamehameha had many handsome uniforms of European de
sign which he wore on different occasions.
The impression has been prevalent that the first American
pioneers in 1820 arrived in a land of savagery, with few, if any,
elements of civiliation, and yet for more than a quarter of a
century a large number of white men, Englishmen and Americans,
had resided in the Islands, many in the service of the king, and
ships of war and merchantment often dropped anchor and the
360 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
officers were entertained by the king and he in turn by them
aboard ships, thus affording this remarkable monarch an oppor
tunity to learn of European customs.
Kotzebue confirms the fact of a large amount of civilization
even to the fact that Kamehameha spoke English to an extent, and
was quite familiar with the names of monarchs and affairs in
other parts of the world.
Kotzebue, sailing along the coast of Hawaii, came to Tocahai
(Kawaiahae) Bay and there "we now saw Young's settlement
of several houses built of white stone, after the European
fashion."
At Kailua, Kotzebue went ashore at the King's invitation, and
went to his settlement, where among straw houses were also
houses of stone "after the European fashion.3' A number of
Islanders, armed with muskets, were lined up on the shore. The
king met the Russian near the landing place.
"I now stood at the side of the celebrated Kamehameha, who
had attracted the attention of all Europe, and who inspired me
with the greatest confidence by his unreserved and friendly be
havior," the Russian wrote. In his palace "they offered us
European chairs, very neatly made, and placed a mahogany
table before us. Though the king has houses built in European
fashion, he prefers his simple dwelling," says Kotzebue.
"Kamehameha's dress, which consisted of a white shirt, blue
pantaloons, a red waistcoat and a colored neckcloth, surprised me
very much, for I had formed very different notions of the royal
attire," continues the navigator. "He, however, sometimes
dresses very splendidly, having several embroidered uniforms.'*
Now, listen to this discussion of the Hawaiian kingdom and
its affairs by this Kamehameha the Great, this ruler of an insular
and isolated state, as recorded by Kotzebue:
"I learn that you are the commander of a ship-of-war and are
engaged in a voyage similar to those of Cook and Vancouver and
consequently do not engaged in trade. It is therefore, my inten
tion, not to carry on any with you, but to provide you gratis with
everything that my Islands produce. I now beg you to inform
me, whether it is with the consent of your emperor that his sub-
KOTZEBUE'S REMARKABLE STATEMENTS 361
jects began to disturb me in my old age? [referring to a Russian
visit a short time before]. Since Kamehameha has been king of
these Islands, no European has had cause to complain of having
suffered injustice here. I have made my Islands an asylum for
all nations, and honestly supplied with provisions every ship
that desired them. Sometime ago there came from Sitka some
Russians, a nation with whom I never had intercourse before.
They were kindly received,, but ill-rewarded me and threatened
us with ships of war which were to conquer these Islands, but
this shall not happen as long as Kamehameha lives 1"
Kotzebue says Kamehameha conversed, mainly through his
interpreter, Cook, with a vivacity surprising at his age, asked
various questions respecting Russia, and made observations.
The navigator was witness to many evidences of Kameha-
meha's desire to be of the big world, by the number of modern
ships in his employ. He saw a large European barge at the
shore, and later saw the little warship Kaahumanu. The king
exerted himself to draw European shipwrights and paid them
liberally for their instruction in boat building.
This ruler, who believed in gods of wood and stone, who,
when he bowed to the idols of his heiau nearby, turned to Kotze
bue and said: "These are our gods, whom I worship; whether
I do right or wrong, I do not know ; but I follow my faith, which
cannot be wicked, as it commands me never to do wrong," caused
Kotzebue to study this man with increasing admiration, "This
declaration, from a savage, who had raised himself by his own
native strength of mind to this degree of civilization, indicated
much sound sense, and inspired me with a certain emotion."
It was shortly after this time that Kotzebue met Capt. George
Beckley, the Englishman, in the train of Kamehameha, at Oalua,
on this island. The High Chief Kalanimoku, Governor of the
island, designated Beckley to accompany the navigator on a tour
of Oahu. Kotzebue met Beckley at the new fort which John
Young and Kalauimoku, built by order of Kamehameha at
Honolulu, Beckley having been chosen as commandant. The
Russian was halted in true fortress style by sentries.
He also refers to Beckley's house at which he called, which was
362 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
built of stone in modern style. The officers went to Moanalua and
to the salt lake where Beckley, according to Kotzebue showed he
had been used to shooting in Europe, for he spoke of the migra
tions of certain ducks, Kotzebue saying "this information, which I
could not doubt, as Beckley, from his love of the chase, often
remains for days on this lake, led me to suppose there must be
some undiscovered land in about latitude 45 degrees whence
these birds of passage came."
On leaving Honolulu the Rurick saluted Kalauimoku with
seven guns and Captain Beckley, at the fort, did not neglect to
return this politeness. The European custom had that day, De
cember 14, 1816, been introduced into the Sandwich Islands.
"It gave me much pleasure to be the first European who had
exchanged salutes with a fort there, and when Honolulu has
once become a flourishing city, people may say, the Russians have
consecrated our fort, and its first shot was fired in honor of
their Emperor, Alexander the First/' said Kotzebue.
The object of these quotations from Kotzebue's journal is to
demonstrate the fact that Kamehameha the Great was a superior
man, who was well acquainted with the ways of civilization, with
the names of rulers and conditions in far off countries, with the
use of civilized apparel; with modern houses and "furnishings;
with the ceremonials of foreign nations ; was an advocate of a
merchant marine for his kingdom; understood the English lan
guage; had a European doctor and English advisers in military
and naval science and navigation; that some of the Hawaiian
women already used European costumes; that silks and em
broideries and costly furnishings such as four poster beds had
long been brought to Honolulu from China ; that on the walls of
the homes of European residents there hung beautiful pictures,
paintings for the most part, many of which were brought to
Honolulu from Mexico, some even from the Spanish churches,
and which today are being restored by artists because of their
rare beauty.
Reading between the lines of the Kotzebue's book, Kotzebue
innocently indicates that Kamehameha was a crafty and brilliant
diplomat. Kotzebue was lulled into security by Kamehameha's
KOTZEBUE'S REMARKABLE STATEMENTS 363
splendid hospitality, but although he did not so understand, he
was being watched constantly, for Kamehameha and his people
had been seriously used by other Russians, particularly by a Dr.
Scheffer.
Therefore, Kamehameha did not see Kotzebue until he had
had many reports from his trusted lieutenants. When Kotzebue
invited him to go aboard the Rurick, the King said he would like
to make the visit, but his chiefs would not permit him; and
when Kotzebue left Hawaii for Honolulu, he was accompanied
by Manuia, a confidential messenger, ostensibly as guide, but
actually to carry Kamehameha's secret instructions to Kalani-
moku (Kaleimoku), Governor of Oahu, to keep close watch.
When a boat approached the Rurick from shore, Manuia leaped
overboard and met the boat, which turned and took him ashore,
the quicker to see the Governor. In Honolulu were Kameha-
meha's most trusted men — Kalanimoku, John Young, Captain
Beckley, who was made a tabu chief by the King; Captain Adams,
and Kekuahanoha, of Moanalua. It is significant that Kotzebue
was halted when he endeavored to enter the new fort, and that
Beckley, or another man in the King's service, was always with
the Russian. Kotzebue saw only what was pleasing and so
wrote, but he was a Russian and was under observation every
minute. Everything that Kamehameha did showed him the true
diplomat, as keen as any in a foreign land.
Kamehameha had even staged a sham battle between fighting
forces to show their skill in the use of ancient and modern arms,
himself able to catch many javelins and spears thrown at him as
though in battle, but it was done with a purpose — to give Kot
zebue an idea that in the event of a clash between the Russians
and Hawaiians, the latter were prepared to give a good account
of themselves. But Kotzbue never dreamed that he was a sub
ject of suspicion, or that the mimic battle was staged, not as a
mere entertainment, but for a real, deep diplomatic purpose.
One observation made by Kamehameha at this time gives an
insight into his mental attitude. He had entertained the Rus
sians at dinners in European style, and then partook of food
himself in Hawaiian style. He remarked : "I have been watching
364 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
the Russians eat; now you can watch Kamehameha eat. I will
not change my mode of living/'
GONE ARE THE OLD DAYS
THE passing of the old and the coming of the new is evi
denced particularly on the harborfront of Honolulu. As
"waterfront reporter for a score of years I have seen the old
pass and the new harbor, the equal of any in the world, come
into existence, but the change has brought many sad memories,
and so this little story written in The Advertiser, a year ago,
tells my thoughts, but the editor had to make an explanation;
and here are both explanation and story :
This story needs an explanation from the editor. Last evening A. P.
T., as is his duty, went down to the waterfront to meet an incoming
vessel. It was the Ecuador and while waiting for her to come into
the channel, A. P. sat him down on the end of Pier 7 and gazed into the
dusk. He gazed for half an hour before the ship he awaited finally
poked her nose into the harbor, and while he waited . Well, anyhow,
when he came back to the office, he had a long sad look on his face and
it is possible that there were faint red blotches on his cheeks. A. P. T.
grunted that there was nothing of an exciting nature on the Ecuador
and, sitting down at his typewriter, he wept out the following:
Gone is my waterfront of long ago; gone is my romantic old-time
harbor; gone are the days of the old ramshackly, low-lying wooden
wharves and wide harbor ; gone are the little islets across the smooth
waters and gone is the old Naval Eow where sailing ships with tower
ing masts once anchored by the dozens and lay idly at their anchors;
Gone are the days of the rollicking old-time Hawaiian stevedors with
lei-bedecked hats, with guitars and ukuleles near at hand to lighten
their tasks, days when no alien competitors mingled to mar the Poly
nesian picture or abridge the aboriginee's labor supremacy;
Gone are the days of the wooden-hulled steamers, long and narrow,
with lofty rakish masts and wide-flung spars and sails that wind might
aid steam in propelling them across the Lazy Latitudes of the Pacific
from Occident to Orient and to the four corners of the earth.
'The loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean
Hawaii, '; so Mark Twain wrote in Ms New England home.
AMERICA RECEIVED FIRST SALUTE 365
G-one are the old "boat days" with, their little brightly-painted row
boats, the "Aloha/7 " Lively/ ; "Manu,;; "Emma, 7; and so on; gone
are the old, never-to-be-forgotten soft nights when serenaders with,
guitars and ukuleles drifted about the harbor with its twinkling lights
spearing long paths in the undulating waters, singing their ear-haunting
melodies, entrancing sailormen aboard warships and merchantmen alike;
•gone is the day of the old-time Hawaiian fishermen with his nets and
outrigger canoe and his loads of fishes and his legends;
G-one is the day of the old-time breezy, comrade-like purser of a former
day, a gladhander and not a mere machine; gone are the days when the
waterfront reporters scampered over an incoming steamer for a stray
copy of a newspaper giving the very "latest newsj; of the outside
world; gone is the day of Hawaii's isolation with its romance and eharni
locked within its coral-bound shores, long before the cable and radio
made Alohaland into the all- American pattern of frigid and torrid zones;
G-one are the good old "steamer days" down on the waterfront when
" everybody J; journeyed to the wharf in the good old hacks of yester
day, when the ladies wore holokus and lei-adorned native lauhala hats,
and the old Royal Hawaiian Band was there and maybe a prince or two,
and
Gone is my old harbor and all its "good old days,M rny harbor of
Honolulu has lost its romance.
AMERICA RECEIVED FIRST SALUTE
AMERICA'S national salute was first fired in the harbor
of Honolulu on December 7, 1794, from the decks of the
American Snow Lady Washington, commanded by Cap
tain Kendrick, and answered immediately by the guns of the
British ship Jackall, commanded by Captain Brown, who earlier
in the year discovered the Harbor of Honolulu. Within a few
minutes after the first American national gun salute was fired,
Captain Kendrick was dead, for a solid shot from the Jackall
pierced the Lady Washington, killing Captain Kendrick as he
sat at his table in the cabin.
Bruce Cartwright, Jr., son of the Bruce Cartwright who was
a beau Brummel of Honolulu for years and whose family had
been prominent socially and officially in the reigns of the later
Kamehamehas, particularly in that of Kamehameha IV and
366 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Queen Emma, has but recently found an old ship journal, that
of John Boit, Jr., covering a voyage around the world in 1795
and 1796, with a visit to the island of Hawaii in December,
1795. The grandfather of the present Cartwright was an im
portant figure in those days, and his grandmother was a beautiful
woman, greatly admired in court circles.
The journal sheds a new light on the massacre of Captain
Brown and Captain Gordon and members of the crews, respec
tively of the ship Jackall and the tender Prince Le Boo, both
British, by natives, following the tragic death of Captain Ken-
drick.
On arriving off Kohala, Hawaii island, Boit's vessel was
boarded by John Young, the Englishman, who had been
detained by Kamehameha I from the American Snow Eleanora,
commanded by Captain Metcalf, the latter being killed by the
natives on another occasion. Young told him of the arrival in
February, 1794, of the ship Jackal, Captain Brown, and tender
Prince Le Boo, Captain Gordon. While making changes in the
vessels, the chiefs of Oahu, so Young informed Boit, had "made
him a formal present of the island of Whoahoo (Oahu), with
all its contents, which he accordingly took possession", and that
"On December 3, Captain John Kendrick, of the Snow Lady
Washington, of Boston, arrived at Fairhaven, and met with a
very friendly reception by Captain Brown, and on the 6th of ye
same month in consequence of a long quarrel between the chiefs
of Whoahoo and Atooi (Kauai), a battle was fought and was
gained by the King of Whoahoo, by the assistance of Captain
Kendrick, who immediately informed Captain Brown that on
the morrow he should cause the flag (the flag) of the U. S. to
be hoisted and fire a federal salute, which he beg'd might be
answered by the two Englishmen, and Capt. Brown ordered three
guns to be unshotted for that purpose and about ten next morning,
the ship Jackall began to salute, that on coming to the third gun it
was discovered not to be so, so ye apron of ye 4th gun was
taken off, which was fir'd, and being shotted with round and
grape shot, it pierced the side of ye Lady Washingon and killed
Captain Kendrick as he sat at his table. Shortly after the Snow
AMERICA RECEIVED FIRST SALUTE 367
put to sea bound for Canton. A few weeks after the unfor
tunate affair the chiefs of Whoahoo order'd a great quantity of
hogs and vegetables to be brought to the landing place as a
present to Captain Brown."
The chiefs asked that the captain send their boats for the
gifts. This action left the two captains aboard the ships alone.
The crews were not massacred, but the ships boarded and the
masters killed, apparently because of the death of Captain Ken-
drick, who had aided the Oahuans in battle. The crews were
put aboard with native guards, but the latter were overpowered
and the vessels sailed for Canton.
Boit remained in Hawaiian waters only a day or two and in
that time gained enough information from John Young to write
a tabloid history of the Islands. In this discussion with Young
he learned that Kamehameha was a really great man and ruled
his people with an iron hand, which was a necessity, for there
were many unruly and traitorous chiefs, and Kamehameha's
battles were to the death. Young informed him of the death
of Tiana, an unruly and powerful chief, in the battle of the
Nuuanu only the year before. Kamehameha had thousands of
muskets and several cannon, was building modern ships at
Oahu, and was at that moment assembling thousands of canoes
at Oahu to invade Kauai, but Young was opposed to this
invasion.
Boit's arrival at the Islands was at the time when history had
just been made, when the battle of the Nuuanu had been fought,
the harbor of Honolulu only recently discovered, but at a time
when it was not known that the natives would be friendly to
visiting ships, so Boit sailed away without making any other
anchorages.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF IMPORTANT EVENTS
IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
1555 Supposed discovery of the Hawaiian Island by Juan Qaetano, the
Spanish navigator.
1736 Kamehameha the Great born.
1740 Paleiholani, king of Oahu, on passage to Holokai, said to have
sighted a strange ship.
1752 Kalaniopuu, king of western Hawaii, ruling when Capt. Cook
visited the Islands, born.
1773 Kaahumanu born at Kauiki, east Maui, of Keeaumoku, the great
chief and general of Kamehameha, and Namahana, his wife,
ex-queen of Maui. Kaahunianu became wife of Karnehameha
and gave practical aid to the missionaries in establishing
Christianity among her people.
1778 Discovery of Hawaiian Islands (Kauai and Oahu), by Capt. James
Cook, British navy, in the ships Discovery and Resolution, while
enroute from South Seas to 1he Northwest Arctic Passage,
anchoring off Waimea, Kauai, Jan. 18.
1778 On return voyage from the Northwest Passage Captain Cook dis
covered Island of Maui, Nov. 26, and Island of Hawaii, Dec. 1.
1779 Capt. Cook anchored in Kealakeku Bay, Hawaii, January 17.
Capt, Cook slain in a melee at Kaawaloa, Keelakekua Bay, Feb. 14.
Ships Discovery and Resolution, commanded by Capts. King and
Clerke, departed from Hawaii.
1782 Kalaniopuu, king of Hawaii, died in April, leaving the districts
of Kaui, Puna and Hilo to Kiwalao, his own son, and Kona,
Kohala and Hamakua, to Kamehameha his nephew.
Battle of Mokuhae, July, between Kamehameha and Kiwalao at
Keomo, Hawaii; Kamehaineha triumphed; Kiwalao slain by
Keeaumoku; Keoua, brother of Kiwalao, became king of Kau,
and Kewaemauhili, king of Puna ajad Hilo.
Kaahumanu is set apart as the wife of Kamehameha, at the age
of eight years.
Keaulumoku composed the mele, "Haui Ka Lani, " or a pro
phecy of the overthrow of Hawaii by Kamehameha I. Poet
died 1784.
17S4 Captains Portlock and Dixon, with the ships King George and
Queen Charlotte, visit Hawaii and Oahu, and inaugurate trade.
1786 Commander La Perouse, with two French frigates, visits Lahaina,
May 28.
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 369
1787 Kaiana, a high chief, visits China with Lieut. Hears in the Nootka,
returning the following year with Capt. Douglas, in the Iphi-
genia, from Oregon.
1789 Kamehameha I invades Maui and wages fierce battle with Prince
Kalanikupule in mountain passes between Wailuku and Olualu.
Battle called Kapaniwai, from the bodies of the numerous slain
which damned loa Valley stream.
Keawemauhilo slain by Keoua in battle at Hilo, Hawaii.
First American ship, Eleanor, Capt. Metealf, visits Islands.
1790 February, massacre of 100 natives by Captain Metcalf off Olualu,
Maui.
Schooner Fair American, 26 tons, tender to the Eleanor, and com
manded by young son of Capt. Metcalf, cut off March 17, by
Kameeiaumoku, an ally of Kamehameha, in which he drowned
young Metcalf and had the others, except Isaac Davis, killed.
Same day, John Young, boatswain of the Eleanor, prevented by
Kamehameha from rejoining his ship at Kealakekua.
1791 Keel of first vessel built in Hawaiian Islands laid Feb. 1.
Naval battle off Kohala, Hawaii, between Kamehameha and
Kaeo, king of Kauai, and Kahekili, king of Oahu, in which
the allies were repulsed. Battle called Kapuawahaulaula (the
red-mouthed gun), from the victors using a swivel mounted in
one of the war canoes.
1792 March 3, Captain Vancouver in the Discovery and Chatham, tender,
first visited the Islands and left cattle, sheep, etc.
May 11, the Daedalua, store ship, visits Waimea, Oahu; Lieut.
Hergest, Mr. Qooeh and one seaman killed by the natives.
Keoua was slain at Kawaiahae, Hawaii, by Keeaumoku, as he
was landing to surrender to Kamehameha. His body with sev
eral of his attendants were offered in sacrifice at the temple
just then completed at that place.
Kamehameha I became sole ruler of all Hawaii.
1793 Kamehameha entertains Vancouver and his omeers with sham
battle at Hawaii, March 4.
1794 January 12, final visit of Vancouver, taking his departure from
Kauai in March, having touched at various ports.
Kahekili, king of Oahu and Maui, died at Waikiki, Oahu, and
Kalanikupule, his son, reigns.
Honolulu harbor discovered in December, by Captain Brown, of
British ship Butterworth ,* schooner Jackall, tender to same, first
vessel to enter, followed shortly by the Prince Le Boo and
Lady Washington.
1795 February, Kamehameha subdues Maui, Lanai and Molokai.
April or May, Battle of Nuuanu, Oahu, fought in valley, in which
370 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Kalanikupule, and Kaiana, who had seceded from the con
queror's ranks to join in opposing him, were slain; thus Oahu
fell into the hands of Kamehameha and he established his head
quarters at Waikiki beach.
1796 January, H. B. H. S. Providence, Captain Broughton, touched at
Kealakekua, and left the grape vine.
Kamehameha prepared to attack Kauai and Niihau and embarks
for that purpose in a fleet of war canoes, but is driven back
to Oahu by a violent wind.
July, rebellion of Namakeha, brother of Kaiana, on Hawaii;
Kamehameha returns from Oahu and subdues the same by
the battle of Kipalaoa, Hilo, in which Namakeha is slain.
July 30, Providence visits Niihau; massacre of the marines. -This
was the last of such destruction of life by the Hawaiians.
1797 Liholiho (Kamehameha II), born on Hawaii, of Keopuolani, wife
of Kamehameha I.
179S "Work of digging out a fleet of war canoes known as Peleleu,
commended; these were of a new kind, short and broad, capable
of carrying many men.
1801 Peleleu fleet arrives at Kawaiahae, Hawaii.
1802 Peleleu arrives at Lahaina, Maui.
Kameeiamoku died at Lahaina.
1803 January 23, first horse in Hawaii landed from a Boston vessel.
Peleleu fleet arrives at Oahu.
1804: Kamehameha plans another attack on Kauai, and prepares a fleet
of 21 schooners, but through appearance of a great pestilence
called ahulau okuu (cholera), it was abandoned.
Keeaumoku, father of Kaahumanu, died.
John Young named Governor of Hawaii Island.
1808 Hawaiian flag said to have been designed; family traditions
credit design to Capt. George Beekley, English navigator and
military adviser to Kamehameha I.
1809 Kaumualii, king of Kauai, visits Oahu to meet Kamehameha I,
to whom he cedes his island; hence the group became one king
dom under Kamehameha I.
1810 Isaac Davis died in April.
1814 March 17, Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III) born of Keopuolani,
at Kailua.
1815 Bussian settlers arrive at Kauai.
1816 Princess Nahienaena born of Keopuolani.
Building of fort at Honolulu commenced by Kalanimoku, finished
following year; commanded by Capt. George Beckley.
1819 May 8, Kamehameha the Great (I), died at Kailua, and Liholiho,
as Kamehameha II assumes sovereignty.
Princess Berniee Paualii Bishop, whose great wealth and vast acres in
Hawaii were bequeathed to establish the Karaehameha Schools for
the education of Hawaiian boys and girls*
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 371
In October, Liholiho, urged by Kaahumanu, breaks the tabus 'on
the night of Kuakahi, by eating with the women, theretofore
forbidden under penalty of death; all tabus overthrown, and
proclamation issued by king to destroy all idols and temples;
nation stripped of its religion.
October, American missionaries sail from Boston in brig Thaddeus
for Hawaiian Islands to spread gospel.
1820 Insurrection, January, on account of breaking of tabus, and
battle at Kuamoo, Hawaii, succeeded by another at Waimea,
Hawaii, in which rebellious leaders were killed and followers
fled or surrendered.
First American missionaries arrive at Kailua, Hawaii, in brig
Thaddeus, from Boston. Rev. Asa Thurston and wife land at
Kailua.
April, first missionaries arrive at Honolulu, including Rev. Hiram
Bingham I.
Missionaries Euggles and Whitney sail for Kauai.
December, first whaler, Mary, Capt. Allen, enters Honolulu harbor.
Liholiho commences tour of the Islands, first to Maui, then to
Oahu and Kauai.
1821 Sept. 15, first house of Christian worship dedicated at Honolulu;
site now occupied by Kawaiahao church, erected 1841.
1822 January 7, printing first commenced in Hawaiian Islands.
Eev. William Ellis, English missionary, arrives at Oahu, from
Tahiti, accompanied by two visiting 'missionaries, in Prince
Regent, gunboat, a present from King George of England, to
Liholiho.
Idols burned by order of Kaahumanu, regent.
August 22, departure of Rev. Mr. Ellis and companions for Tahiti.
1823 Feb. 4, return of Eev, M. Ellis and family from Tahiti.
April 23, arrival of the second company of American missionaries
in the Thames, from New Haven, Conn,
Mission established at Lahaina.
Sept. 16, Keopuolani, "the queen mother, " died at Lahaina, aged
45 years.
Nov. 27, Liholiho, Queen Kamamalu and attendants sail for
England in the English whaleship L'Aigle leaving the kingdom
in charge of Kaahumanu, as regent.
1824 March 23, Keeaumoku, governor of Kauai, died.
May 22, Hawaiian royal party landed at Portsmouth, England.
May 26, Kaumalii, ex-king of Kauai died at Honolulu.
Mission station established at Hilo.
Queen Kamamalu died in London July 8, and King Kamehameha
II died there July 13.
372 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Rebellion of George Humehume, on Kauai, in which. Kiaimakani,
the leader, was killed and his supporters fled.
Kapiolani, high chief ess, descended into the volcano of Kilauea
to defy the dread goddess Pele, goddess of all volcanoes, who
was supposed to dwell in Kilauea, there by flouting the super
stitious dread of the natives, one of the greatest acts of moral
courage known.
1825 Departure of Bev. Mr. Ellis and wife on the Russell for New
Bedford.
Chief Boki and his companions return from England with the
bodies of Kamehameha II and his queen in the English frigate
Blonde, commanded by Lord Byron.
First coffee and sugar plantations eoctameneed in Manoa Valley,
Honolulu.
1827 Feb. 8, Kalanimoku died at Kailua.
1828 March 30, third company of American missionaries arrived in the
Parthenia, from Boston.
July 3, first meeting house at Honolulu dedicated.
Boki and his company sailed away from Honolulu and were lost.
1830 Dec. 11, Kamehameha V was born.
1832 June 7, the fourth company of American missionaries arrived in
the Averiek, from Boston.
June 5, Kaahumanu died in Manoa Valley, aged 58 years.
High Chief ess Kinau appointed premier (Kuhina ISTui), in June.
1833 Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) assumes reins of government in
March and confirms Kinau as premier (Kuhina Nui).
Sixth company of American missionaries arrived May 1.
Bethel church at Honolulu built.
1834 Feb. 9, Kamehameha IV (Alexander Liholiho) was born.
Feb. 14, first newspaper printed in the Hawaiian Islands, called
the Lama Hawaii, at Lahainaluna, Maui.
The newspaper Kumu Hawaii commenced at Honolulu.
1835 Jan. 31, William C. Lunalilo (afterwards King Lunalilo, 1873-4),
born of Kanaina and Kekauluohi.
Sugar planting commenced systematically at Koloa, Kauai.
Prince Leleihoku and Princess Nahienaena were married.
June 6, seventh company of -missionaries arrived.
1836 January 2, the Queen Dowager Emma was born.
Female seminary at Wailuku, Maui, commenced.
November 16, David Kalakaua (afterward King Kalakaua), born
at Honolulu, of Kapaakea and Keohokalole.
December, Princess Nahienaena, wife of Leleihoku, died at Hono
lulu, aged 21 years.
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 373
1837 Feb. 4, Kamehameha III and Kalama were married.
Eighth company of missionaries .arrived.
July 3, Rev. William Richards resigns from the mission to join
the Hawaiian government.
The business of laying out the public streets of Honolulu was
commenced.
Nov. 7, remarkable rise and flow of the tide throughout the
Islands.
1838 August, the chiefs commence to study political economy with
Mr. Richards.
Nov. 1, Princess Victoria Kamamalu was born of Kinau and Gov
ernor Kekuanaoa.
1839 April 4, Premier Kinau died at Honolulu.
April 5, Kekauluohi became premier (Kuhina ISTui).
May 10, the printing of the first edition of the Hawaiian Bible
finished.
July 9, French man-o7-war 1'Artemise (Captain LaPlace) arrived.
1840 School for young chiefs commenced at Honolulu, Mr. and Mrs.
A. Cooke, teachers.
January, Hoapili, governor of Maui, died.
Stone meeting house at Kawaiahao commenced.
August 3, Eev. Hiram Bingham and family returned to the United
States.
September, U. S. Exploring expedition under Commodore Wilkes
arrived.
Oct. 8, Kamehameha III gives first written constitution to the
people of the Hawaiian Islands.
1841 Kapiolani died May 5, at Kaawaloa, Hawaii.
May 9, ninth missionary company arrived.
•School for children of missionaries at Punahou, Honolulu, com
menced; now Oahu college; land given by Boki and Liliha for
educational purpoo^s
1842 July 8, High Chief Haalilo and Eev. Mr. Richards sailed as Com
missioners to the Courts of France, England, and the United
States.
Stone meeting house at Kawaiahao finished.
Tenth missionary company arrived.
1843 The United States consents to the independence of the Hawaiian
Islands.
Establishment of Masonic Order in Honolulu.
February 25, Lord George Paulet, of England, seized the Ha
waiian Islands and raised the English flag.
July 31, sovereignty of the Islands restored by Admiral Thomas,
British navy, who repudiated action of Paulet.
374 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Establishment of the Masonic order in Honolulu.
Dr. G. P. Judd, American, appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The national motto of Hawaii, "Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka
pono" "The life of the land endureth in righteousness/' was
an utterance of Kamehameha III on Eestoration Day, July 31,
1843, in the Thanksgiving service in Kawaiahao Church.
184:4: Belgium consents to the independence of the Hawaiian Islands.
Fifteenth company of missionaries arrives, November, on the
Globe.
First silk grown in Islands, 197 pounds — exported,
1845 Eobert Crichton Wyllie, appointed Minister of Foreign Relations.
April 2, Representatives first chosen from the common people
under the constitution of October, 1840.
Kekauluohi, the premier, died at Honolulu.
John Young (Keoni Ana) appointed premier (Kuhina Nui).
First export of coffee — 248 pounds.
1846 Commissioners appointed to settle land claims.
Dec. 10, Excelsior Lodge No. 1, I. 0. 0. F., established, Honolulu.
1847 Mr. Richards, Minister of Public Instruction died.
Governor Kuakini, of Hawaii, died.
First appearance of Mormon missionaries at Honolulu, enroute
to California.
Sept, 11, Honolulu's first theater, "The Thespian," opened on
Mauna'kea Street.
1848 Leleihoku (William Pitt), husband of Ruth Keelikolani, Govern
ess of Hawaii, died.
Twelfth company of missionaries arrived.
First attempt at Reciprocity with the United States made by
J. J. Jarvew in behalf of Hawaiian Government; first on Oct.
26, with Mr. Buehanana, and second on Nov. 23, with Mr.
Clayton, of the U. S. Government.
1849 Honolulu fort seized by Admiral Tromelin, of the French navy.
Beef first exported from Islands — 158 barrels.
Princes Royal Liholiho and Lott, accompanied by Dr. G. P. Judd,
embarked for the U. S.
1850 Hawaiian post office established by decree of Prrvy Council,
Dee. 22.
James Young, Kanehoa, died.
First iron pipes for government waterworks arrived May 9, from
Boston.
Kaonaeha, widow of John Young, Sr.7 died.
First fire engine (" Honolulu'') initiated into service; Honolulu
volunteer fire department organized.
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 375
1851 Hawaiian Missionary Society organized.
Court house at Honolulu built.
First whale oil and bone transshipped.
First postage stamps, printed from type, issued Oct. 1.
1852 First ice imported, a few tons, from San Francisco, sold at auc
tion, 25 cents paid.
Eruption of Mauna Loa, February, with flow running toward
Hilo, stopping, within seven miles of same in April.
February, subject of Eeeipiocity Treaty with United States again
mooted in Privy Council.
1853 The small pox, mai puupuu Irlii, swept over the islands, destroying
many lives.
November 14, steamer S. H. "Wheeler arrived from San Francisco
and entered coastal and inter-island trade under name of
Akamai.
Koloa plantation, Kauai, has first steam engine, for mechanical
purposes.
1854 Fort at Lahaina demolished by order of the government.
July 31, corner stone of Sailors' Home laid.
'Steamer Sea Bird arrived from the coast and entered inter-island
service.
Steamer West Point arrived in October to enter inter-island trade.
December 15, Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli), died, and Kameha-
meha IV became sovereign.
1855 Jan. 10, W. P. Leleihoku, afterwards Prince, bom.
March, second effort for Eeciprocity Treaty with United States,
Hon. W. L. Lee, commissioner. A treaty was signed July 20
by Marcy (U. >S.) and Lee but not ratified.
Paki, a high chief, died at Honolulu.
Flour exported — 463 barrels.
Eruption of Mauna Loa with flow again running towards and
threatening Hilo.
1856 Steamer Kalama wrecked on Kauai (Koloa).
March, lava flow from Mauna Loa ceased, distance five miles
from Hilo.
Kamehameha IV and Emma Eooke united in marriage.
Sept. 1, Sailors' Home, Honolulu, opened.
1857 Fort at Honolulu demolished by order of the Government.
July, John Youn (Koena Ana), premier, died. Victoria Kama-
malu appointed premier (Kuhina 3STui).
Governor John Adams (Kuakini), of Hawaii, died.
David Malo, eminent Hawaiian historian, died.
1858 May 20, the Prince of Hawaii (Ka Haku o Hawaii), born.
376 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Bice first systematically cultivated near Honolulu by Dr. S. P.
Ford.
1859 February, eruption of Moana Loa, with flow running toward
Wainanalii.
April 26, laying of corner stone of Odd Fellows' hall.
July, first Civil Code published.
G-as light first introduced into Honolulu.
September 9, William Pitt Kinau, son of Leleihoku and Ruth
Keelikolani died at Kohala, aged 17 years.
Dee. 9, initial movement toward establishment of Episcopal
church, from England.
1860 February, Customs House built at Honolulu.
May, arrival of Japanese embassy enroute to United States.
July 17, corner stone of Queen's Hospital laid.
Eev. E. Armstrong, minister of public instruction, died at Honolulu.
1862 Palmyra Island, in lat. 5" 50' North, long. 161" 53' W., taken
possession of by Capt. Z. Bent, for Kiamehameha IV and his
successors, and subsequently declared by Eoyal proclamation
to be a part of the Hawaiian domain.
Death of Prince of Hawaii, aged 4 years, 3 months. Funeral
took place Sept. 7.
Reformed Catholic Mission arrived at Honolulu, Oct. 11.
1863 Nov. SO, His Majesty Kamehameha IV died, aged 29 years, and
Prince Lot Kamehameha ascended the throne as Kamehameha V.
1864 March 20, Hon. H. E. Allen, accredited to Washington in behalf
of a treaty, as Minister Plenipotentiary.
Convention of delegates to amend the constitution called by the
King, May 5.
Convention dissolved and constitution abrogated, Aug. 13,
New Constitution granted by the King, Aug. 21.
1865 Hon. E. C. Wyllie, Minister of Foreign Relations, died, aged 67.
Departure of Queen Emma on a visit to United States and Europe.
1866 Jan. 27, arrival of steamship Ajax from California, inaugurating
monthly steam service.
May 29, H. E. H. Princess Victoria Kamamalu died, aged 27
years.
Oct. 22, return of Queen Emma.
1867 Effort toward a Eeeiprocity Treaty with the United States re
newed.
1868 Kaona rebellion at Kona and murder of Sheriff Neville.
Great earthquake on Hawaii, with tidal wave at Kau, and consid
erable loss of life.
April 7, eruption of Mauna Loa, with flow running through
Kahuku to the south point of Hawaii.
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 377
Nov. 4, His Highness Mataio Kekuanaoa, father of the late
Kings Kamehameha IV and V, died, aged 75 years.
1869 April 9, organization of first lodge of Good Templars — Ultima
Thule No. 1.
July 21, arrival of H. B. H. Alfred Ernest, Duke of Edinburgh,
in command of H. M. S. Galatea.
Aug. 2, lighthouse at entrance to Honolulu harbor permanently
lighted.
1870 April 4, fiftieth anniversary of the landing of the first mission
aries celebrated in Honolulu by a grand jubilee.
April 19, arrival of the S. S. "Wbnga Wonga, pioneer vessel of the
Australian and California line of steamers from Sydney, con
necting at Honolulu with the Idaho.
Present Hawaiian Band dates from this year under brief leader
ship of W. Northcott.
Arrival of the Flying Squadron — British — from Victoria, enroute
to Valparaiso.
Death of Queen Dowager Kalama, consort of Kamehameha III,
at Honolulu.
1871 April 16, arrival of the Nevada, pioneer vessel of Webb's line
of California and Australian steamers, from San Francisco for
Sydney.
Sept. 14, loss of 33 ships of Arctic whaling fleet, only seven saved.
1872 February, laying of corner stone of new government building.
June, Capt. Henri Berger arrived from Germany to direct Eoyal
Hawaiian Band.
Opening of Eoyal Hawaiian hotel, built by the Hawaiian govern
ment.
Oct. 2, death of Laura F., wife of Dr. G. P. Judd, aged 68, one
of the second band of missionaries.
Dec. 11, death of Kamehameha V, at Honolulu, aged 43 years,
leaving throne vacant, without heir designated.
Dec. 26, death of Mrs. M. P. Whitney, one of the pioneer band
of missionaries who arrived at the Islands in 1820.
1873 Jan. 8, Prince W. C. Lunalilo as king of the Hawaiian Island by
special session of the Legislature.
King Lunalilo takes the oath of office at Kawaiahao church.
July, death of Dr. G. P. Judd, at Honolulu, aged 70 years, who
arrived at the Islands in mission band of 1828, and joined the
government in 1842.
Eenewed effort for Eeciprocity Treaty with the United States,
on the basis of a cession of Pearl harbor and river for a naval
base.
378 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
The Pearl Harbor cession offer is withdrawn by the Hawaiian
government.
Sept. 7, emeute at the Eoyal Household Barracks, and abolition
of the army, by Boyal Command, Sept. 12.
1874 February 3, death of King Lunalilo at Honolulu, aged 39 years,
leaving throne again vacant without heir designated.
Feb. 12, election of Hon. David Kalakaua as King of Hawaii
by a special session of the legislature.
Riot at the Court House by anti-Kalakauaites wherein a number
of representatives were severely hurt. Armed forces from
American and English warships in port quelled disturbance.
Feb. 13, Kalakaua takes oath of office at Kinau Hale.
Feb. 14, Prince W. P. Leleihoku proclaimed Prince Regent.
June, passage of act allowing distillation of rum on sugar plan
tations.
July 5, death of Mrs. C., wife of Bev. Daniel Dole, at Honolulu,
who arrived in Hawaii in 1837.
Oct., renewed effort for a Eeeiprocity Treaty with the United
States, and Hons. E. H. Allen and H. A. P. Carter sent as
commissioners to Washington on the 19th.
Nov. 17, departure of His Majesty King Kalakaua on a visit to
the United States in the U. S. S. Beneeia, accompanied by
Governors Dominis and Kapena.
1875 Feb. 15, return of King Kalakaua and suite on the U. S. S.
Pensaeola.
Aug., first typewriter machine introduced in Hawaii by Dilling-
ham & Co.
Oct. 19, arrival of the Casco de Gama, pioneer vessel of the
Pacific Mail line of steamers from San Francisco for the
Colonies.
Nov., Hon. E. H. Allen returned to Washington on treaty business.
Oct. 16, H. E. H. Princess Kaiulani born.
Eemains of King Lunalilo placed in mausoleum at Kawaiahao
church expressly constructed by his wish.
1876 February, government forwarded an exhibit to the Philadelphia
Centennial Exposition.
Eeeiprocity Treaty between United States and Hawaiian King
dom ratified, permitting entry of Hawaiian raw sugar into
United States free of duty, the first real impetus to the sugar
industry in Hawaii.
1877 July 23, the first telegraph and telephone line was constructed on
Maui, connecting Haiku and Lahaina.
1878 March 13, His Highness, C. Kanaina, father of King Lunalilo, died.
Inter-Island steamer Likelike arrived at Honolulu.
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 379
1879 The Kahului Railroad, from Kahului to Pai, opened.
First steam fire engine imported.
Cornerstone of lolani Palace, laid December 31, under Masonic
auspices. King Kalakaua was a high Mason.
1880 First artesian well bored at Honolulu.
System of telephonic communication (Bell) established at Hono
lulu, between Palace and king's boathouse. First instrument
now in Bishop Museum.
1881 January 20, King Kalakaua set out on his tour of the world.
April 9, cornerstone of the "Lunalilo Home/7 for aged and
indigent Hawaiians, laid; established under will of King Luna-
lilo.
Jubilee exercises held at Lahainaluna, Maui, in commemoration
of 50th Anniversary of establishment of the seminary.
October 29, King Kalakaua returned from his journey around the
world.
November, great lava flow which reached Halai Hill, Hilo, before
it stopped.
18S2 Postage stamps for the Postal Union were first issued in Hono
lulu.
Dec. 1, Eev. Titus Coan, early missionary, for many years pastor
of Hilo Church (native), Hilo, died.
1883 Feb., statue of Kamehameha the Great unveiled in Honolulu.
Jan. 1, marine railway for docking vessels, opened.
Feb. 12, formal coronation of King Kalakaua and Queen Kapio-
lani took place at lolani Palace.
April 21, first Y. M. C. A. building in Honolulu dedicated.
H. E. H. Princess Ruth Keelikolani, formerly Governess of
Hawaii, of the Kamehameha dynasty, died, aged 65 years.
Oct., the Oceanic S. S. C. Js steamer Alameda arrived on her first
voyage between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Inter-Island steamer Kinau arrived. Still in service in 1922.
Dee. 16, the first installment of "Kalakaua" money arrived,
dollars, halves, quarters and dimes. Now rarities.
1884 Jan. 14, Kana-kaua coinage put in circulation.
Jan. 1, postal notes were issued.
March, foundations laid of Hall of Eeeords (Kapuiwa Hale),
now board of health building.
June 13, first Portuguese immigrants (917) arrived at Honolulu
from Portugal and its islands.
Eev. W. P. Alexander, for many years principal of Lahainaluna
Seminary, died at Oakland, Cal., father of Prof. W. D. Alex
ander, the historian.
Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, wife of Charles E. Bishop,
3SU UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
banker, died. Her fortune was left to endow the Kamehanieha
Schools for Boys and Girls (Hawaiians), and the Bishop
Museum.
1885 Feb. 5, foundations of new police station (Kalakaua Hale), laid.
Queen Emma, widow of Kamehameha IV, died, April 25.
1886 April 18, great fire in Honolulu, destroying million and a half of
property.
July 10, postal savings bank established.
Sept. 21, Ocean Island became a dependency of the Hawaiian
kingdom; noted for its guano fertilizer deposits.
Oct., Rev. L. Lyons, for 54 years missionary at Waimea, Hawaii,
died, 79 years.
Nov. 16, Jubilee Anniversary of King Kalakaua 's birthday cele
brated.
1887 Feb. 2, H. B. H. Princess Likelike (Mrs. Archibald Cleghorn)
died, aged 36.
Queen Kapiolani and Princess Liliuokalani set out on their visit
to England to attend Queen Victoria's Jubilee.
Great political mass meeting held in Honolulu, June 30, to re
quest a new Constitution. Also asked dismissal of the Gibson
ministry.
July 7, New Constitution promulgated. New cabinet named
July 1, "W. L. Green, premier.
'Sept. 13, general elections to the first legislature under the new
constitution were held.
October 20, supplementary convention between the IT. S. and His
Majesty, the King of Hawaii, to limit the duration of the con
vention respecting the Commercial Eeciproeity concluded Jan
uary 30, 1875, ratified by the King, and November 9, pro
claimed by President Cleveland.
Hon. A. Fornander, fourth associate justice, died, aged 75 years.
November 3, first legislative assembly under the new Constitu
tion meets at Honolulu.
Sanford B. Dole appointed fourth associate justice, Hawaiian
Supreme Court.
Treaty of [Reciprocity with the United States, extended for seven
years, with right of entrance to Pearl Harbor, for a coaling
and repair base, for American warships. Since annexation
base is developed as one of greatest under American flag.
1888 First diffusion process plant for sugar manufacture received,
introduced by Col. Z. S. Spalding for Makee Sugar Co., Kaniai.
January 21, "Walter Murray Gibson, ex-minister of Foreign Affairs
under Kalakaua, died at San Francisco.
March 23, electric lighting of Honolulu streets established.
Eare daguerreotype of a Hawaiian beauty of
the reigns of Kamehameha III and IV, of
the royal social set. From collection
of Princess Elizabeth Kalaniana-
ole, "Pualeilani," Waikiki.
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 381
Lighthouse at Barber's Point, Oahu, erected.
Ground broken for street railway system (mule-drawn).
June 29, Mrs. W. P. Alexander, of the 1832 missionary arrivals,
died.
July 28, Samuel G. Wilder, one of Honolulu's most prominent
citizens, promoter of steamship line and other enterprises,
dies, aged 82 years.
September 4, Oahu Steam Railway franchise granted to B. F.
Dillingham and associates, on Oahu. Now a system connecting
with the greatest sugar plantations on island, carrying all
sugar and pineapples to city for shipment to Pacific Coast.
Bee, 28, opening of street car system by Hawaiian Tramway Co.
1889 March 1, parcels posts system with United States inaugurated.
First turf for Oahu Railroad turned.
April 15, death of Father Damien, Catholic priest, at the Leper
Settlement, Molokai, aged 49 years. t
April 24, death of Mrs. Mary Dominis, mother-in-law of Princess
Liliuokalani, aged 86 years, resident of Honolulu since 1837.
May 10, departure of Princess Kaiulani for England to finish her
education.
July 12, track laying for Hawaiian tramways completed; 12 miles.
July 30; insurrection of R. W. Wilcox and party of malcontents
quickly subdued; six insurgents killed, twelve wounded, and
remainder surrendered.
August 12, first section of inter-island cable laid between Maui
and Molokai.
September 4, first trial over Oahu Railroad, called ' ' Dillingham 's
Folly/' now an example of farsightedness.
Nov. 18, opening of Oahu Railroad to traffic between Honolulu
and Aiea and Ewa; three trains daily.
1890 April 2, cable laid between Oahu and Molokai, but its first mes
sage proved its last, owing to inferior quality of cable.
April 11, Rev. Hiram Bingham II completes his translation of the
entire Bible into the Gilbert Island language.
June 13, Reform party cabinet resigns on a tie "Want of Con
fidence^ vote.
June 27, first ostriches (three) introduced from California by
Dr. G. Trousseau, followed a few months later by others from
the British Colonies.
November 25, departure of King Kalakaua on the IT. S. S. Charles
ton for San Francisco in search of health, a voyage from which
he returned to Honolulu a few weeks later, dead; in his absence
H. R. H. Princess Liliuokalani appointed Regent of the King
dom.
382 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
December 28, official census of Islands taken under direction of
Dr. C. T. Eodgers.
1891 January 20, death of King Kalakaua in $an Francisco, aged 54
years. Masons took charge of the body in cooperation with his
suite. His remains brought back to Honolulu on the Charleston
nine days later. State funeral held in Honolulu February 15th.
January 29, Liliuokalani proclaimed Queen of the Hawaiian
Islands.
February 25, Cabinet resigns at request of Queen, and a new
ministery of her selection appointed.
March 9, Princess Kaiulani, niece of queen, proclaimed heir
apparent.
May 8, last of the "mission band" of 1833 died, aged 88 years.
June 3, cornerstone laid of Central Union Church.
June 25, Semi-Centennial anniversary of founding of Oahu Col
lege celebrated.
August 27, E. H. E. John Dominis, Prince Consort, died at Wash
ington Place, Honolulu, aged 60 years.
November 1, H. A. P. Carter, Hawaiian Minister Resident at
Washington, died, aged 56 years.
1892 January 5, total loss, by fire, of American whaleship John P.
West in Oahu-fMolokai channel. Crew, in boats, towed to port
by passing vessel.
January 11, Hawaiian Historical Society formed.
February 3, Australian ballot system adopted.
April 16, deepening of Honolulu harbor bar commenced.
May 20, arrest of E. W. Wilcox, V. V. Ashford and sixteen others
for conspiracy. After a slow trial Wilcox and five others
committed. Ashford left the Islands.
August 30, Lottery Bill introduced in Legislature for a twenty-
five years' franchise.
August 30, "Want of Confidence » resolution against cabinet
carried by a vote of 31 to 10.
September 12, new cabinet appointed with C. E. Macfarlane, as
premier.
September 15, a new "Want of Confidence" resolution fails by
one vote. Protest entered and question being referred to
Supreme Court (Hawaii), confirms President's ruling.
September 20, completion of deepening harbor bar to 30 feet, at
an expenditure of $175,000.
October 17, "Want of Confidence" resolution carries on a vote of
31 to 15.
Cornwell-Nawahi cabinet formed; rejected same day on vote of
26 to 13.
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 383
November 8, Wileox-Jones cabinet appointed.
December 4, dedication of Central Union Church.
December '27, cornerstone laid of Masonic Temple, corner Alakea
and Hotel streets, the mecca of Shriners from America in
June, 1922, when J. S. (" Sunny Jim") MeCandless, of Aloha
Temple, Honolulu, was elected Imperial Potentate (at San
Francisco), of all Shrinedom.
December 31, opium license bill passed the House by large ma
jority.
1893 January 11, Lottery Bill passed on a vote of 23 to 20.
January 12, on the success of the lottery bill the cabinet is voted
out by a majority of nine.
January 13, Parker- Co rnwell, Colburn-Peterson cabinet appointed.
January 14, the Queen signs the opium and lottery bills, and
prorogues the Legislature.
Same day, the Queen attempts to abrogate the Constitution and
proclaims a new one, but is thwarted by her ministers. Citizens
organize Committee of Safety.
January 16, a mass meeting at the Armory confirms the Com
mittee of Safety organization and empower it "to devise such
ways and means as may be necessary to secure the permanent
maintenance of law and order and the protection of life, liberty
and property in Hawaii. Marines from the U. S. S. Boston
landed at 5 p. m.
January 17, Committee of Safety takes possession of the Govern
ment building, and proclaimed the monarchial system of gov
ernment abrogated and a provisional government established in
its stead till terms of union with the United States may be
agreed upon. Resignation of Judge Sanford B. Dole from the
(Supreme bench to assume the head of affairs.
January 19, special commissioners leave in steamer Claudine for
Washington via San Francisco, to negotiate a Treaty of Annex
ation.
February 1, United States Minister Stevens, at request of Pro
visional Government, proclaims United States protectorate over
Hawaii, pending results at Washington. American flag hoisted
over the Government building.
February 14, annexation treaty signed at Washington; sub
mitted to the Senate by President Harrison on the 17th.
March 1, Bureau of Agriculture and Forestry established.
March, Annexation Club organized.
March 9, President Cleveland (Dem.) withdraws the Annexation
Treaty from the Senate at Washington.
March 27, arrival of the revenue cutter Richard Rush from San
384 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Francisco with President Cleveland's special commissioner
Blount to investigate the situation.
Commissioner Blount orders the American flag lowered and the
naval forces back to their warship.
August 8, departure of Commissioner Blount for "Washington.
October 20, opening of new macadamized road between Hilo and
the volcano of Kilauea, 32 miles distant.
November 4, U. S. Minister Willis arrived, accredited to President
Dole and the Provisional Government, and opens negotiations
with Lilinokaictui wilh a view of her restoration.
November 25, mass meeting in Honolulu protesting against
President Cleveland's restoration of Liliuokalani, and pledging
support to resist attacks on Provisional G-overnment contrary to
usage of nations.
December 14, U. S. revenue cutter Corwin arrives with special
despatches for Minister Willis; strong rumors of restoration of
Liliuokalani follow.
December 18, to relieve strain of political suspense President Dole
enquires of, and prominent men wait on Minister Willis, for
proposed plans.
December 19, Minister Willis submits to President Dale that
President Cleveland had assumed to arbitrate in behalf of
Liliuokalani and concluded she was deposed through aid of
United States forces; therefore, requested the Provisional Gov
ernment to restore the Queen her authority.
December 23, President Dole replies to the demand of the United
States through Minister Willis declining to accede, and refuting
President Cleveland's right of self -assumed arbitership.
December 24, the Corwin departs for San Francisco with United
States dispatches only.
1894 January 14, celebration of first anniversary of establishment of
the Provisional Government.
May 27, Neckar Island taken possession of by Capt. J. A. King,
on behalf of Hawaii.
May 30, Constitutional Convention convened, concluding their
labors on July 3.
July 4, declaration of the new Republic by Hawaii, by President
Dole in accordance with the new Constitution.
July 14, S. 1ST. Castle, a highly esteemed resident since 1837, dies.
December 19, Kamehameha Girls7 School completed and opened.
1895 January 1, Schooner Wahlberg, from San Francisco, transfers
arms and ammunition to steamer Waimanalo to be smuggled
ashore, which is carried out at Diamond Head, Honolulu.
January 6, party of Hawaiians under leadership of Sam Nowlein
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 385
and E. W. Wilcox are surprised at dusk at Diamond Head arm
ing to overthrow the government and restore the Queen. A
squad of police and citizens' guards are fired upon. C. Lu
Carter fell mortally wounded.
4 January 7, death of C. L. Carter. Martial law proclaimed.
Battle of Moiliili, securing 33 prisoners; one of Capt. Zeigler's
company wounded.
January 9, Battle of Manoa y alley; three rebels killed, but night
fall enabled rebels to escape.
January 14, Sam Nowlein and three aids captured in hiding.
Wilcox also found in fishing hut at Kalihi.
January 16, arrest of Liliuokalani who is confined in the executive
building, formerly the Royal Palace.
January 17, 'Military Commission for trial of those implicated in
uprising. Sittings continued to end of February.
January 24, Ex-Queen sends to President Dole an abdication and
renunciation of all sovereign rights, admitting and declaring the
Eepublie of Hawaii to be the lawful government, to which she
certified her oath of allegiance.
February 5, Liliuokalani appears before the Military Commission
for trial charged with misprison of treason.
February 27, sentence is passed on Liliuokalani, being found by
the Commission " guilty as charged. "
March 1, Military Commission closes its labors, having considered
190 eases, many of which pleajd guilty, and but six acquitted.
May 1, street letter boxes reestablished.
First typesetting machine in Hawaii operated in "The Honolulu
Advertiser" newspaper office.
July 7, extension of Oahu Eailroad to "Waianae,
July 13, French Frigate Shoals taken possession of by Capt. King
for Eepublie of Hawaii.
August 18, first ease of Asiatic cholera discovered in Honolulu;
believed to have been introduced from Orient by S. S. Belgic;
August 18, strict quarantine established, inter-island travel
inderdieted. Later business practically suspended to stamp
out disease. Expense, $60,000.
Princess Euth mansion, Emma street, purchased by Board of
Education to be used for high school.
Liliuokalani released from custody, but subject to certain re
strictions of movement.
November 13, initial export shipment of 486 cases canned pine
apples.
1896 February 7, restrictions on movements of Liliuokalani removed.
April 21, Mokuaweoweo, the summit of the volcano of Mauna Loa,
386 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
burst forth in activity for a brief spell.
July 11, volcanic activity at Kilauea renewed.
September 24, official census of Islands taken.
October 23, Council of State votes a full pardon to Liliuokalani,
November 5, opening night of the rebuilt music-hall, by -&nnis
Montague-Turner and local amateurs, in opera of II Trovatore.
1897 January 6, A. S. Willis, U. S. Minister, died at Honolulu, aged
54 years.
March 20, several hundred Japanese immigrants, failing legal re
quirements, denied right to land.
May 5, Japanese cruiser Naniwa, commanded by Capt. (afterward
famous Admiral) Togo, with special commissioner arrives to
investigate immigration matters.
June 16, new Annexation Treaty negotiated at Washington, with
President McKinley.
September 8, special session of Senate called to ratify Treaty of
Annexation, which on the 9th carried unanimously.
November 9, return of Princess Kaiulani after an absence abroad
of eight years.
1898 January 6, President Dole leaves for Washington, D. C., in the
interest of annexation.
January 18, completion of Honolulu's new central fire station.
March 4, return of President Dole.
March 16, Treaty of Annexation withdrawn from the Senate.
May 5, Eepresentative NeWlands of Nevada introduced an annex
ation joint resolution in the House of Representatives.
June 2, Dowager Queen Kapiolani presents the U. S. S. Charles
ton with a silk American flag in grateful remembrance of the
honor shown King Kala'kaua.
June 6, Bed Cross Society organized by ladies of Honolulu.
June 9, first excursion train of Oahu Eailroad over their extension
to Waialua, now a sugar estate.
June 15, annexation resolution passed House of Eepresentatives
on a vote of 209 to 91. The Senate confirmed the same July 6,
by a vote of 42 to 21.
July 7, Joint Eesolution of Annexation signed at the White
House by President McKinley.
August 3, arrival at Honolulu of Admiral Miller on U. S, S.
Philadelphia, empowered with IT. S. Minister 'Sewall to carry
out the act of transfer.
August 12, flag raising day. President Dole formally cedes juris
diction and property of the. Hawaiian Government to the
United States of America. Hawaiian flag hauled down in
presence of American and Hawaiian government officials,
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 387
American flag raised; marines saluted. Hawaiian government,
under the American flag, continues as a Republic until a Com
mission decides on the form of government for Hawaii. The
interim government continued with President Dole governing
until June 14, 1900, when Hawaii became a de facto territory
of the United 'States. President of the United States appointed
Sanford B. Dole as first G-overnor of the Territory of Hawaii.
In this year American troops enroute to Philippines, landed at
Honolulu for rest; naval vessels called here for coal; the War
Department established a military camp at Kapiolani Park and
created the Military District of Hawaii, with regulars and vol
unteers in garrison. The Navy Department established a sta
tion at Honolulu, and prepared to create Pearl Harbor into
a naval station.
Senators Morgan of Alabama, Cullom of Illinois, Representative
Hitt, arrive to join with President Dole and Chief Justice
Frear in framing the Organic Act for the government of Ha
waii.
Camp MeKinley, military post, established at Kapiolani Park.
Brig. Gen. Charles King, U. S. A., arrives to assume command
of district.
1899 First case bubonic plague showed itself in Honolulu December 12
and held sway for three months. In the work of purifying
city part of the city, particularly Chinatown, was accidentally
destroyed by fire, Januar 20, 1900, sweeping 38 acres.
1900 Pioneer electric railway in Hawaii was Pacific Heights Ry.
scenic route, Honolulu. Regular rapid transit system of Hono
lulu Rapid Transit & Land Co., inaugurated Aug. 31, 1901.
June 14, Hawaii became a de facto territory of the United States,
with S. B. Dole as first governor.
Wireless telegraphy introduced, but company (Marconi system),
did not open for business until March 2; 1901.
1902 Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, titular prince of the former
monarchy, elected delegate to U. S. Congress, as Republican.
Dredging Pearl Harbor bar at entrance, beginning of develop
ment of naval station, began February 19.
U. S. Senatorial Commission begins investigation of affairs in
re proposal to make changes in the Organic Act, particularly
with reference to lands.
Transfer of Anglican church to Protestant Episcopal Church of
America from His Lordship Bishop Alfred Willis to Bishop
Nichols, of California. Bishop Willis sailed for Tonga.
Commercal Pacific Cable line landed at Waikiki, Honolulu, De
cember 28, by cableship Silvertown, connecting San Francisco
388 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
with Honolulu. Messages exchanged immediately; greetings
from President Eoosevelt and Clarence Mackay. Reception and
ball in evening at Palace for officers of Silvertown.
1903 January, S. S. Korea (Pacific Mail) makes record between San
Francisco and Honolulu in 4 days, 22 hours, 15 minutes.
Legislature creates county government, making each island a
county.
Torrens Land Title system established,,
July 31, Alexander Young Hotel opened.
Sugar crop for year 437,991 tons.
August 3, completion of dredging of Pearl Harbor bar.
Gilbert Islanders sent back to their island by S. S. Isleworth.
Eobert Wilcox, revolutionist, died.
County Act by Legislature, framed, effective January 4, 1904,
dividing islands into five counties, viz, Oahu, Maui, Kauai (with
Niihau), and Hawaii (divided into East and West). Supreme
Court declared one portion of the Act unconstitutional.
Governor Dole leaves exeeutiveship of Territory, through appoint*
ment by the President as federal judge.
George E. Carter, secretary of the Territory, appointed governor.
Inauguration November 23. A. L. C. Atkinson named as secre
tary.
May 13, new Industrial School for Boys opened at Wailee, Oahu.
July 1, Torrens Act for registering and confirming titles to land,
passed by Legislature, in effect.
New Oceanic wharf constructed. Plans for excavation of slips
for great wharves facing on Allen street.
Old Odd Fellows' building being replaced by four-story brick
structure to cost $70,000.
Eapid Transit lines extended into suburbs.
All islands produced banner sugar crop of 437,991 tons for ship
ment.
August 3, completion of deepening of Pearl Harbor bar; now 30
feet deep at low tide, with width of 200 feet for 27000 feet.
October 18, crew of French bark Constable de Eichmont, wrecked
on French Frigate Shoals, October 10, reach Mihau island.
October 22, Schr. Julia E. Whalen, with supplies for Midway
Island cable from Honolulu, wrecked on Midway Island.
October, all Gilbert Islanders brought here years ago for planta
tion service, sent home by S. S. Isleworth.
1907 Legislature provides for establishment of Agricultural College.
Governor Carter resigns governorship, August 15. Judge W. F.
Frear appointed and inaugurated that date.
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 389
February 25, second lot of Filipinos for plantation field service
arrive Nippon Maru; third shipment July.
March, Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce excursion party arrives
on S. S. Ohio.
April 27, Oahu Country Club, Honolulu, opens.
May, first party of Congressmen from Washington visited Ha
waii to learn about Islands, $15,000 expenses paid by Legisla
ture.
June, more immigrants from Madeira Islands arrive on S. S.
Kumeric.
Japanese government, by arrangement with U. S., limits emigrants
to Hawaii to 200 a month.
Banner year in Hawaii's sugar crop, with 440,017 tons output.
Pineapple industry assuming proportions.
July 20, Commercial Club opens.
Makapuu lighthouse under construction east end of Oahu, to have
most powerful light in Pacific.
Hawaii's koa lumber finds market on American mainland.
February, $410,000 improvement in Honolulu harbor begun by
War Department.
1908 March, bids opened for Hilo breakwater. Construction com
menced September 12.
Kahului harbor breakwater practically completed at private ex
pense.
Tobacco plantation established at Kona, Hawaii, by Jared Smith.
May, Hawaiian Pineapple Growers' Association organized.
July 16, famous Atlantic Fleet, Bear Admiral Sperry, reaches
Honolulu on world cruise.
September 2, Pacific Fleet arrives from San Francisco, Rear
Admiral W. A. Swibburne, commanding.
Hawaii presents Mark Twain with koa mantel piece on his birth
day in recognition of his friendly interest.
September 11, new McKinley High School opened.
Work begins on additional buildings for Fort Shafter, Honolulu.
Dr. Eobert Koch, world's eminent bacteriologist, stops at Hono
lulu; visits leper settlement on Molokai.
1909 January 4, new municipal government of City and County of
Honolulu inaugurated with J. J. Fern, its first mayor.
Pier 7, Honolulu's modern pier, finished.
New royal mausoleum crypt for bodies of members of the Kala-
kaua dynasty completed at cost of $25,000.
Kauai completes twelve miles railroad from Makaweli to Koloa,
company capitalized at $125,000. Euns through sugar plan
tations.
390 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
Hilo Eailroad Company has completed fifteen miles to Hakalau
from Hilo along scenic Hamakua coast.
Prof. T. A. Jaggar proposes that Massachusetts Institute of Tech
nology establish observatory and laboratory for study of earth
quake and volcanic phenomena on brink of Kilauea volcano,
Island of Hawaii, as being best location in world. Proposition
promised local aid.
October 21, first lot of Eussian immigrants from Siberia arrive,
comprising fifty families. This and later experiments were not
successful and plan was abandoned.
Brig. G-en. John Pershing visited Honolulu; also John Burrroughs,
famed naturalist.
Lighthouse established and lighted at Makapuu Point, Oahu;
Kalawao, Molokai; Kailua, Hawaii.
August 5, new University Club buildings opened at Haalelea
Lawn.
New Methodist church and new Kaumakapili (native) church
approaching completion. Mid-Pacific Institute completed.
Memorial arch erected at Kailua, Hawaii, in memory of first
missionaries and of Opukahaia and his native Christian com
rades.
Revenue cutter Thetis captures twenty-three Japanese bird poach
ers on Laysan Island, west of Hawaii (part of group). Value
of plumage taken was $122,000.
1910 April 15, second federal census of Hawaii taken under direction
Dr. Victor S. Clark; total of 191,909 souls, as against 154,000
in 1900.
Dec. 31, "Bud" Mars introduces aviation at Moanalua, near
Honolulu.
1911 February, cholera outbreak controlled; under authority of U. S.
Public Health Department, all banana plants in Honolulu cut
down to prevent yellow fever entering city, on ground they
were breeders of mosquitoes.
Honolulu petitions that federal building be located on square
opposite old royal palace, instead of on the Mahuka site, in
business district.
April 13, S. S. Orterie arrived from Portugal with 1,451 Spanish
and Portuguese immigrants.
Naval dry dock work at Pearl Harbor naval station progressing;
2,500 piles driven in coral floor of site for a firm foundation.
February, " Pan-Pacific Travel Congress" launched to promote
amity between countries in and bordering upon the Pacific.
February 27, Schooner Moi Wahine and U. S. Lighthouse tender
Kukui collide in Molokai ehanner, former sinking. All hands
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 391
lost except Captain Sam Mana, who swam twenty miles to
Lanai Island.
Lava brick plant established at Kaimuki, Honolulu, capacity
20,000 bricks per day.
Bubber plantation at Nahiku, Maui, appears to be flourishing,
with 350,000 trees set out.
McKinley statue in front of McKinley High School unveiled.
Dr. Frank Perret, of volcanic research renown, and Dr. E. S.
Shepherd, of the Carnegie Institute, "Washington, study Kilauea
volcano; secure temperature reading of molten lava, July 30,
recording 1010 centigrade.
May, Sheffield Choir, 200 voices, give concerts in Honolulu.
June 18, French aviator Masson makes successful monoplane
flight, Schofield Barracks to Kapiolani Park, Honolulu, 6 a. m.
June 22, residents observe Coronation Day in honor of King
G-eorge V and Queen Mary.
Sousa's Band gave two concerts at Honolulu.
July 9, mass meeting passes resolutions favoring unlimited arbi
tration between England and United States; Dr. David Starr
Jordan talks on International Peace.
August 13, Duke P. Kahanamoku, of Hui Nalu club, makes two
amateur swimming records; 100 yards, 552-5 seconds; 50 yards,
24 1-5 seconds.
1912 January 22, cornerstone of College of Hawaii laid; building com
pleted in July, cost $66,000.
Library of Hawaii built at cost of $105,000.
Site being dredged on harbor front for Inter-Island Steam Navi
gation Company's floating dry dock.
June 2, Alice Mackintosh memorial bell tower of St. Andrew's
Cathedral completed and dedicated by Bishop Eestarick.
Fire department commences change from animal to motor equip
ment.
July 28, Federal Telegraph Co. (Poulson system), opened news
service between Pacific Coast and Oahu.
December 14, U. S. S. California first big warship to steam, up
newly dredged channel from sea to Pearl Harbor Naval Station.
Duke P. Kahanamoku, Hawaii's champion swimmer, goes to
Sweden, via New York, making the American team for the
Olympic games at Stockholm. His 100-meter dash at Stockholm,
July 6, won victory for America and gave him championship
of the world; record time, 62 2-5 seconds. Broke own record
at Hamburg and at other places. Accorded royal welcome at
Honolulu and presented with house and lot at "Waikiki.
1913 February 17, Naval drydock, Pearl Harbor, collapsed when water
pumped out; new plans for holding bottom discussed and ex-
392 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
perts sent by navy to Honolulu to determine new method con
struction.
Big building year.
Hilo railroad reaches its terminal goal, Paauilo, in Hamafe&a.
January 30, bronze memorial unveiled at Oahu College on 74th
birthday anniversary of late Gen. Samuel C. Armstrong, of
Hawaii, Civil War general, and founder of Hampton Institute,
Virginia.
June 28, Eev. H. H, Parker completes 50th anniversary of occu
pancy of Kawaiahao church pulpit, Honolulu.
1914 Primary laws effective at year's elections.
March 17, Centenary of Kamehameha III observed at Kawaiahao
church; also at ETeauhou, Kona, Hawaii; his birthplace, where
a tablet was unveiled. Queen Liliuokalani and the High
Chiefess Kekaniau Pratt attended both observances.
Coffee crop for year large, estimated at 45,000 bags.
Sugar output estimated at 620,000 tons, with low market price.
May 27, Chamber of Commerce and Merchants' Association
amalgamate, under name of Chamber of Commerce.
February 2, new Matson Navigation Company steamer Matsonia
arrives, five days, 4 hours, 6 minutes.
March, new Matson steamer Manoa arrives.
March 2, Capt. H. C. Houdlette, commanding the Oceanic S. S.
Sierra, on arrival, rounded out its 100th voyage between San
Francisco and Honolulu.
German refugee ships sought and received shelter in Honolulu
harbor. German gunboat Geier was interned; sixteen merchant
steamers also interned. Japanese battleship Hizen, cruising off
Honolulu, captured German schooner Aeolus, and burned and
sank prize with copra cargo, outside three-mile limit. Vessel
and cargo valued at $80,000.
Mary Castle Trust trustees donate old Kawaiahao Seminary lot
in Mission Center to Hawaiian Board of Missions for Mission
Memorial building. *
August 2, Capt. Henri Berber's 70th birthday honored by special
band concert, attended by high officials, when he was decorated
with a gold badge in token of esteem for his 42 years of service
as director of the old Eoyal Hawaiian Band.
1915 June 29, P. C. Jones resigns treasurership of Oahu College after
40 years' service.
March 25, U. 'S. Submarine" F-4 sinks while entering the channel
to Honolulu harbor from sea cruise. Efforts to raise the sub
marine were estraordinary and vessel was brought up from
50 fathoms depth of water. She was in a broken, bruised con-
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 393
dition and only bones and other almost unidentifiable remains
of the officers and crew were found.
1915 December 6, S. S. Great Northern departs from Honolulu, 11 p. m.,
reaches San Francisco in record breaking trip, 3 days, 18 hours.
1916 Year of road building on all islands.
Piers, 8, 9 and 10 under construction at cost of $285,000, all con
crete piers and decks.
Kuhio wharf, Hilo, completed. Protected by breakwater.
Inter-Island S. S. Co. in-stalling second coaling plant.
Coaling plant, with wharf, railroad and hoisting towers in opera
tion at Pearl Harbor naval station; 1,000-foot concrete wharf
at head of drydock is nearing completion at navy yard; naval
high power radio station practically complete.
United States accepts Civic Center site for Federal building,
giving up original Mahuka site. To construct million-dollar
building.
Cornwell ranch on Maui sold to H. W. Eice for $215,000.
Princeville plantation property, Kauai, sold to Lihue Sugar Plan
tation for $250,000,
Fifteen new buildings finished at Fort DeEussy, cost $100,000.
Hilo Federal building, costing $200,000, almost completed.
Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association, in view of high prices for
sugar, evolved plan for bonus payments to all employees, office,
mill and field. Estimated bonus payments $4,000,000.
Government plans restoration of the more important ancient
Hawaiian temples (heiaus) found worthy of preservation.
Mme. Melba revisits Honolulu and gives concert.
November 30 -December 2, Maui holds its first county fair at
Wailuku.
February 4, interned German steamers Holsatia, Setos, Pommern,
Prinz Waldemar and others, set fire to by their German crews,
and machinery wrecked. Gunboat Geier likewise wrecked.
American bluejackets and marines save Geier from destruction.
Captain Grasshof surrendered his vessel which was under pa
role. Officers and men taken to military posts for imprison-
March 19, severe rain storm sweeps Oahu; 13.36 inches rain fall
in 24 hours; roads badly damaged.
June 5, former Mayor J. J. Fern (Dem.) reelected.
Hawaii enters war by giving liberally to all calls for funds to
conduct the war against Germany. First Liberty loan drive,
in June, contributed $4,857,850, far above estimate; the second,
in October, $8,060,800, going over allotment by $5,000,000. The
army alone subscribed $1,269,150. Bed Cross funds contributed
totaled $233,291.25.
394 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
meat. Other merchant vessels were Longmoon, Straatssekreter
Kraetke, Gouverneur Jaesehke and schooner Hermes; also
steamer 0. J. D. Ahlers, at Hilo.
German gunboat Geier, reconditioned, renamed TJ. S. S. Carl
Schurz, commissioned and goes to Atlantic where later it was
sunk in collision with an American ship.
Island of Lanai sold to F. F. and H. A. Baldwin for $588,000 for
a cattle ranch.
Eoyal Hawaiian hotel sold to Army and Navy "Y" for $250,000.
Ainahau, once home of Princess Likelike and Princess Kaiulani,
at Waikiki, sold and divided up into small building lots.
Big building schedule underway in outer suburb's and far into
valleys back of Honolulu.
tl Honolulu Hale," adjoining old post offi.ee on Merchant street,
built of coral blocks, constructed in 1843 as Hawaii's first
executive building, razed.
April 13, new Matson liner Maui given an ovation on her maiden
voyage from San Francisco. Soon afterward the Maui, 'Matsonia
and Wilhelmina were commandeered by the U. S. government
as transports in the Atlantic.
May, Kilauea volcano unusually active.
July 31, war registration throughout Hawaii, with total of 25,970.
October 30, officers and crew of Schr. Churchill, wrecked on
French Frigate Shoals, brought to Honolulu in sampan.
November 1, draft day, 300 men being drawn in eacb of the sis
draft districts.
November 11, former Queen Liliuokalani dies at Washington
Place. State funeral week later from former Eoyal Palace.
Interment in Kalakaua crypt, at Eoyal Mausoleum in Nuuanu
Valley.
November, another Congressional party from Washington visits
Islands on invitation of the Hawaiian Legislature, all expenses
paid. Trip halted by death of Queen Liliuokalani.
1917 January 23, Hindu poet, Eabindranath Tagore, visits here a day.
April 3, Sir Ernest Shackleton, explorer, a visitor.
Eev. H. H. Parker, pastor 'of Kawaiahao (native) church for
54 years, resigns.
Dr. W. T. Brigham, director of the Bishop Museum, Honolulu,
from 1889, resigns and is appointed curator emeritus.
Capt. William Matson, founder of the Matson Navigation Co.,
old time master of sailing vessels between iSan Francisco and
Hilo, dies at San Francisco.
Sept. 28, new Pearl Harbor radio station formally opened, ex
changing messages with Sayville, L. I.
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 395
November 1, copper pennies, 5,000, imported by banks because of
small war taxes needs; first to be used here.
1918 December 3, gale blowing 52 miles an hour struck Honolulu,
lasting three days, uprooting thousands of algaroba trees,
wrecking telephone-electric wire poles. Damage estimated
$500,000.
1919 Hawaiian senate votes down female suffrage.
April 21, Fifth Victory Loan drive raised $5,005,650, or $217,650
above quota.
April — Summary of Hawaii's share in various war loans, Red
Cross, United War Work, etc., covering war objects, showed
total of $34,000,000.
April 30, fiftieth anniversary establishment Y. M. C. A. in Hono
lulu observed.
June 11, Kaniehameha Day, one hundredth anniversary of death
of Kamehameha the Great observed with historical procession.
July 3, two army seaplanes left Luke Field 9:10 a. m. with one
bag mail, and arrived at Hilo 1 p. m., 190 miles.
Bank of Honolulu owned by Irwin interests, sold to Honolulu
capitalists.
August 21, formal dedication Pearl Harbor Naval Station dry-
dock, with Secretary of Navy Josephus Daniels, principal
speaker, accompanied by Admiral Parke, engineer of dock.
Said it would be available to merchant marine vessels. Daniels
arrived on U. S. S. New York.
Sept. 29, eruption of Mauna Loa, at elevation of 10,000 feet.
Lava flowed rapidly down mountain, crossing government road
in Kona district and fell into sea at Alika. Followed by tidal
wave of Kona coast, October 2. Eruption ceased Nov. 11.
October 31, Admiral Lord Jellicoe, hero of Jutland, visits Hono
lulu on H. B. M. .S. New Zealand.
Territory purchases Ala Moana property (Kewalo), to dredge
ship slip and build wharf for lumber carriers; purchase price
$125,000.
Territory purchases shore frontage at Kapiolani Park for War
Memorial Park, cost $200,000.
1920 — April 11, opening of hundredth anniversary of arrival of first
American missionaries in Hawaii; special guests from main
land representing missions, churches, colleges; included his
torical procession, historical Hawaiian pageant at Rocky Hill,
Punahou, depicting old Hawaiian life, arrival of missionaries,
education of Hawaiians, etc. Eminent mainland speakers at
Kawaiahao church. Celebration lasted week. Prince of Wales
was special guest at the Hawaiian Pageant, April 13.
396 UNDER HAWAIIAN SKIES
April 13— Prince of Wales arrives on H. B. M. S. Eenown.
1921— Gov. C. J. McCarthy (Dem.) resigns office to accept Honolulu
Chamber of Commerce representation at Washington.
Wallace K. Harrington (Eep.) named Governor by President
Harding.
July 9, Hawaiian Homes Act (Eehabilitation Act, passed by
Congress, providing for Hawaiian Homes Commission at Hono
lulu, to set apart territorial lands for Hawaiians in "back to
soil plan.7' This was life hope of Prince Kalanianaole, dele
gate to Congress. First experiments to be on Molokai.
Eeclamation of Waikiki Swamps (Honolulu) commenced; pro
vides for drainage canal to open sea and filling in.
T. H. Davies & Co., business block ($1,600,000), an art structure
of unusually attractive design completed.
August, Pan-Pacific Educational Conference convenes, to discuss
possibilities and needs of education in the several countries,
viewed from standpoint of their civilization, form of govern
ment, etc. Delegates present from many countries.
September 19, S. S. Empire State makes run from Yokohama to
Honolulu in 8 days, 40 minutes. Following month Golden State
(Pacific Mail), made run in 7 days, 18 hours.
Oysters planted at Pearl Harbor and Kaneohe Bay, Oahu; also
rainbow trout eggs from Utah, Colorado, placed in Kauai island
streams.
November 2, Behr. Carrier Dove wrecked at Kalae o Kalaau
Point, Molokai, with copra cargo from Tonga. Total loss.
August 2, Historic Ainahau, residence in monarchy times of
Princess Likelike and daughter, Princess Kaiulani, burned.
English steam yacht Cutty Sark (Maj. Henry Keswick, M.P.);
Swedish yacht Fidra, formerly Lord Dunraven's racing yacht
Caseiadj American steam yacht Aloha (Commodore James, N.
T.), visited Honolulu.
October, Aloha Press Congress (Press Congress of the World)
convened at Moana Hotel, delegates from all parts of world,
to discuss press service.
1922 January 7, Prince Jonah. Kuhio Kalanianaole, last titular prince
of the monarchy, nephew of King Kalakaua, delegate to Con
gress from Hawaii for 20 years, dies at Waikiki.
January 7, hundredth anniversary of first printing in Hawaii on
missionary press, Honolulu.
April 1, opening of million- dollar Federal building, Honolulu.
April 20, opening of historic Washington Place mansion as Gov
ernor's official residence.
Princess Royal Victoria Kamamalu,
sister of Kamehameha IV and V,
a dashing beauty of their courts
and an accomplished musician
who began the "quintet
club'7 movement.
"The wind from over the sea,
Sings sweetly Aloha to me;
The waves as they fall on the sand,
Say Aloha, and bid me to land."
— From Redding 's "A Song to Hawaii."
CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 397
June 22, J. S. McCandless, Aloha Temple, Honolulu, new Imperial
Potentate of all Shrinedom, returns home accompanied by 2,000
mainland Shriners as honor guard.
July 17 — Arrival of S. S. City of Los Angeles, inaugurating new
Los Angeles Steamship Company service to Honolulu, Other
liner, City of Honolulu.
398
A. P. TAYLOR
Albert Pierce Taylor is a "Western
man, whose home is now in Hawaii,
where for twenty years he has been
connected with the editorial force
of "The Honolulu Advertiser," of
Honolulu, He has made a study of
and is a recognized literary au
thority today on things pertaining
to Pearl Harbor aftd the defenses of
Hawaii, and Hawaiian history. Dur
ing the 1896 campaign of the Na
tional Silver Committee at Washing
ton, Mr. Taylor was assistant sec
retary of that organization. Later
in 1896 he joined the Cuban revolu
tionists and was arrested by the
Spanish, imprisoned at Havana by
Gen. Weyler and deported. In 1899,
as a newspaperman he was aboard
the U. S, army transport Slam, that
was almost engulfed in a typhoon
off Luzon, losing 371 out of 373
horses and mules. Mr. Taylor's
graphic description of the disaster
went around the world. For two
years Mr. Taylor occupied the posi
tion of chief of detectives in Hono
lulu. In every way he is qualified
to tell the story of Hawaii as it
should be told.
He was born in St. Louis, Decem
ber 18, 1872; lived in 'Denver, to
1876; was almost the first boy to
go to Leadville, Colorado, 1876-1877,
when it was a roaring mining camp.
Lived in Salt Lake City from 1882 to
1895; was assistant secretary Silver
Party convention, St. Louis, 1896.
Secretary to Hawaiian Annexation
Commissioner at Washington, 1897-
98. Arrived in Honolulu, August,
1898, and was one of secretarial
force with the U. S. Senate Com
mission which gave (Hawaii its Or
ganic Act. In 1913-14 represented
Hawaii at Panama-Pacific Exposi
tion, San Francisco; secretary Ha
waii Promotion Committee, Hono
lulu, 1915-1917. With Honolulu Ad
vertiser editorial staff again from
1917. —Mid-Pacific Magazine.
RULERS OF HAWAII 399
RULERS OF HAWAII
KINGDOM OP HAWAII— KAMEHAMEHA DYNASTY
Name. Birth. Accession. Death.
Kamehameha I Nov. — , 1736 1795 May 8, 1819
Kamehameha II
Kamehameha III
Kamehameha IV
Kamehameha V
Lunalilo
1797
Aug. 11, 1813
Feb. 9, 1834
Dec. 11, 1330
Jan. 31, 1873
May 20, 1819
June 6, 1825
Jan. 11, 1855
Nov. 30, 1873
Jan. 8, 1S73
July 14, 1824
Dec. 15, 1854
Nov. 30, 1S63
Dec. 11, 1872
Feb. 3, 1S74
KINGDOM OP HAWAII— KALAKAUA DYNASTY
David Kalakaua Nov. 16, 1836 Feb. 12, 1874 Jan. 20, 1S91
Liliuokalani Sept. 2, 1838 Jan. 29, 1891 Nov. 11, 1917
Monarchy abrogated, January 17, 1893.
Provisional Government established January 17, 1893.
Republic of Hawaii established July 4, 1894.
Hon. Sanftxrd B. Dole named President of Hawaii January 17, 1S93;
again, July 4, 1894; retained Presidency to June 14, 1900.
GOVERNORS OF HAWAII, TERRITORY OF UNITED STATES,
FROM JUNE, 1900
Sanford B. Dole
George R. Carter Appointed
Walter F. Frear by the
Lucius E. Pinkham President of the
Charles J. McCarthy , United States
Wallace R. Farrington (App't'd 1921)
5
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