Kane'ohe
Any narrative history of Hawaiian land and water use should
begin with a statement on the relationship between Hawaiians
and their environment in Hawaiian times (before 1778). Unfortunately,
descriptions of Hawaiian life were first recorded by foreigners;
their writings, in most cases, suffered from their partial
view of the culture they observed and from varying degrees
of culturally conditioned selective perception and moral judgement.
To make a statement today that might achieve an acceptable
degree of adequacy regarding the relationship of Hawaiians
to the land and sea in Hawaiian times would require the application
of the most rigorous criteria to the sources of available
information and to their content, and an appreciation for
the impact on Hawaiian society of specific elements of Western
society that were introduced from the earliest moments of
contact (Kelly 1967). There is neither the time nor the space
in a report such as this to do justice to the subject. Therefore,
only the barest hint of some elements of this relationship
and its implications are presented here. Much more needs to
be done in this area.
The early history of the lands of Koolaupoko is deeply intertwined
with legends about Hawaiian gods and demi-gods. One of them,
the favorite younger sister of Pele, is Hiiaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele
(Hiiaka-of-the-breast¬of-Pele), who is associated with
many places in Koolaupoko (Beckwith 1940:
175). Another is Hina-i-ka-malama (Hina—of--the-moon),
who left the earth to go and dwell on the moon (Pukui 1926).
Still another is Kane, one of the four principal Hawaiian
gods. It was for Kane that the land of Waikane was named because
“it was here that Kane first dug for water” (ibid.).
Kane is said to be the god “of creation,” an
ancestor of the people, chiefs and commoners alike (Westervelt
1907:82). Kane’s name is associated with many epithets
that can be considered aspects of Kane: thus, Kane¬wahi-lani
is Kane of the heavens; Kane-lu-honua is Kane of the earth;
Kane-huli-koa is Kane of the ocean; Kane-holo-pali is Kane
of the pali; Kane-pohaku is Kane of the stones (Malo 1951:83).
“The number of the gods who were supposed to preside
over one place or another was countless” (ibid.).
Hawaiian gods are not only found in legends, but are found
to have been incorporated into everyday life. Prayers, in
the form of chants, were offered before each new event to
smooth the way and to insure success for a new undertaking,
and to give thanks for aid upon the successful culmination
of an event. The kapu (taboos) of the particular god concerned
with an undertaking were applied, and behavior modified to
suit the requirements of the occasion. The essence of such
customs can be interpreted as the ways in which Hawaiians
sensitized themselves to their environment in order to be
in tune with it. Assigned the role of creators of man and
his environment, the gods were also ascribed the duty of providing
sanctions to assure long-term productivity. Adherence to such
concepts could never result in wanton destruction of the environment.
Man was part of the total environment, and while he modified
it, whatever benefit or misery derived was experienced directly
by the farmer and fisherman and their families. Living in
close proximity to their cultivations and to the sea, Hawaiians
were at one with the resources of nature. Taking from the
sea only what was needed, and cultivating the land carefully
to achieve maximum productivity with minimum effort, they
protected their environment from any massive, destructive
change caused by the human factor.
Man’s relationship to the land in Hawaiian society
can be summarized by two principles. One is that everyone
had the right to all the things required to live; the other
is the principle of conserving and generally taking care of
their resources (malama 'aina).
The first principle is revealed in the Hawaiian system of
land division, particularly the districts (moku 'aina), sub-districts
(ahupua’a) and divisions within sub-districts (‘ili
and mo ‘o ‘aina). Through their mauka—rnakai
(mountainward-seaward) orientations, these land divisions
emphasize the concept of accessibility of all the resources
provided by nature. Thus, Lyons wrote:
Hawaiian life vibrated from uka, mountain, whence came wood,
kapa, for clothing, olona, for fishline, ti leaf for wrapping
paper, ie for ratan lashing, wild birds for food, to the kai,
sea, whence came i'a, fish, and all connected therewith [1875:104].
The second principle finds expression in the unwritten rule
that one takes only what is needed, and in the daily religious
practices of the Hawaiian farmers and fishermen. For example,
in selecting a tree, for wood to make an 'o‘o (digging
stick):
the ancestral gods, akua ‘aumakua, of the mountains
to whom it was believed the trees belonged were invoked thus:
O Ku—who—spreads—greenery,
O Ku—of—the—thickets,
0—Ku—in—the—mountain—regions,
0 [Ku] Kupa—who—eats—defects,
0—Ku—who—makes—slippery— the—pali,
I am hewing the trunk of the tree
And cropping off the top with [an adz of] ‘ala;
Look toward me as I carve an ‘~ ‘3,
An ‘~‘~ of kaujia to be used on kula lands,
To plant sweet potatoes for food,
Dryland taro for food,
Yams for food,
Bananas for food,
Wauke for “food,”
Sugarcane for food.
Look toward me, the mighty planter,
Turn to your offspring of this world,
‘Amama, the kapu of the prayer is freed [Kamakau 1976:26].
The Hawaiians also believed that “food was a child
to be cared for, and it required great care” (Malo 1951:206).
When a crop had ripened, it was the custom to perform a religious
service to the gods. After the ceremony the farmer was free
of tabu (noa), and he might then help himself to the food
at any time without repeating the ceremony. However, every
time he cooked an oven of food, he would offer a potato or
taro to his god before eating anything (ibid.:207).
Before starting out to fish, fishermen held special ceremonies
during which they or their kahuna addressed the gods (Malo
1951:209). When the ceremony was ended the fishermen spent
the night at the sanctuary, observing the kapu (ibid.:210).
There is no doubt that such deep concern, attention to detail,
and close observation for signs from the gods made the Hawaiian
farmers and fishermen very much in tune with their environment,
and among those in their society least alienated from nature.
In the 1840s and 50s the desirability of commercial agriculture,
and the possibilities of its success, were discussed by members
of the foreign community. Considerable emphasis was placed
on the differences between the techniques used by the Hawaiian
farmer and those used by Western, large-scale, industrial-type
plantation farming.
... the modes of agriculture among the natives need to be
entirely changed. In the cultivation of taro indeed there
can be perhaps but little improvement; a large amount of this
excellent vegetable can be produced on a very small amount
of land; and when once prepared, taro land requires but little
labor. Here natives are at home; all the implement they need,
is their own lance—looking little spade. But where any
considerable amount of land is to be broken up, as is necessary
in producing corn, potatoes, coffee, melons, or sugar cane,
and the like, for market, they make but little progress, working
in their old way, consequently accomplish but little and soon
get discouraged. The truth is, in cultivating upland, natives
do not generally think of breaking up the whole surface of
the soil; but only a spot here and there, where the seed,
whether it be corn, potatoes, bananas, cane, or any other,
is to be deposited, and leave the intermediate spaces to be
wrought afterwards. But what meagre crops could be expected
from such a method of tilling land as this?
The labor, too, with the implement they use for working the
soil, is excessively hard; their position while digging, is
most unnatural and therefore uneasy; it is neither sitting,
standing nor yet lying down, but rather a combination of all
these postures. Is it any wonder then, that natives, unless
compelled, or strongly urged, work on their lands, so small
a portion of their time? They work hard and accomplish but
little.
... a foreigner with a good plow will turn over an acre in
a day with ease...
Greater production, the writer continued, was to be brought
about by:
... introducing the plough, the harrow, the cultivator, the
hoe; and by bringing their [the Hawaiians’] useless
droves of horses into the harness, and their numerous fine
cattle under the yoke. ——Let this be done extensively
and it will put a new face on the agriculture of the country...
[The Polynesian 1849].
Thus the Hawaiian horticultural techniques were disparaged
by persons primarily concerned with large-scale agriculture
for the purposes of selling the product; a quite different
set of values was motivating them. With the Mahele of 1848
and the Kuleana Act of 1850, land became a commodity, to be
purchased by those with money and sold by those who needed
money. A new era of large-scale commercial agriculture took
root.
In 1930, when McAllister did his survey of the remaining
sites on Oahu, the land of Koolaupoko had been plowed over
already by the commercial interests of sugar, rice, and pineapple.
His informants told him about many cultural activities that
had not been practiced by most Hawaiians for more than a hundred
years. Still, McAllister was able to obtain information about
at least seventy separate sites in the Kaneohe Bay area; one-third
of these were religious structures, and another one-third
were walled fishponds (McAllister 1933:167-185). The largest
deficiency in McAllister’s survey was the sparse record
of agricultural terraces and irrigation ditches. Handy (1940;1972)
attempted to fill this gap and did provide information about
some of the remains of Hawaiian agriculture. Many sites had
already been destroyed, particularly in the lowlands and plains.
Some evidence, including agricultural terraces, stone walls,
stone pavements, and irrigation ditches, are still unrecorded,
tucked away in the recesses of the valley heads, hidden by
recent forest growth.
Each valley around Kaneohe Bay is an ahupua’a, the
largest subdivision of a district (moku ’aina). The
nine ahupuata of the bay area (Fig. 1), beginning at the boundary
between Koolauloa and Koolaupoko Districts and moving eastward,
are Kualoa, Hakipuu, Waikane, Waiahole, Kaalaea, Waihee, Kahaluu,
Heeia, and Kaneohe (see Appendix A). The ahupua’a of
Heeia and Kaneohe also included portions of Mokapu Peninsula;
Heeia took in Moku-o-Loe (Coconut Island); Kahaluu included
Kapapa Island; and Kualoa included Mokolii. The bay itself
was also divided among the various ahupua’a, as fisheries
(see Figs. 81, 82) and parts of the fisheries were designated
as belonging to various ‘ili within an ahupua’a. |
EARLY
HISTORIC TIMES
In early historic times, when Kahahana ruled Oahu, he sometimes
lived in Kaneohe. After defeating Kahahana in 1783, Kahekili
and most of his famous warriors lived in Koolaupoko at Kailua,
Kaneohe, and Heeia (Fornander 1969:225; Kamakau 1961:138).
When Kamehameha I apportioned the conquered Oahu lands in
1795 to his warrior chiefs and counsellors (Ii 1959:69-70),
he retained as his personal property the ahupua’a of
Kaneohe. One of his personal gods, the akua poko, collected
tribute from Kaneohe during the makahiki (Ii 1959:75-76).
Much of Kaneohe and all of Kahaluu and Kualoa were inherited
as personal lands by Kamehameha’s sons Liholiho and
Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha II and III (Indices... 1929:27-28).
Prior to the Mahele of 1848, the king’s lands in Pali
Koolau (Koolaupoko) and throughout Oahu were administered
by Chief Boki. After Boki left in December 1829 on his ill-fated
voyage to the New Hebrides,* the lands were administered by
his wife, Kuini Liliha, in her role as Governess of Oahu.
To assist her with the administration of Kamehameha III’s
Oahu lands, Liliha appointed agents in various parts of the
island. Liliha was Governess of Oahu until she was removed
in 1831.** One of her agents, Kaiakoili, ±was appointed
as konohiki of the Koolaupoko District, of which Kaneohe was
the most valuable part (Kamakau 1961:303). Not all of Liliha’s
lands were taken away from her, nor all her power, for she
continued to play the *Boki, as Governor of Oahu, was responsible
for collecting one-fourth of the debts (about $48,000.) of
the Hawaiian king and chiefs claimed by the American resident
traders in 1829, and for his own personal debts to the foreign
merchants. He hoped to pay off all debts with sandalwood collected
in the New Hebrides. Unfortunately, the ship he sailed on
was never heard from again, and the second ship failed to
bring back any sandalwood (Kuykendall 1938:97).
**Liliha had participated in a coup that failed, and Kamehameha
III was forced to remove her from office and from any official
control over his lands (Kamakau 1961:302-303).
Kaiakoili was the son of Naeole, the Kohala chief whose
family had nurtured Kamehameha I in his infancy (ibid.:68-69).
governess role in Koolaupoko into the mid-1830s. When the
Mission Station first opened in 1835, “high chief Liliha,
who officiated as a sort of ‘Mother-superior’
of the place [Koolaupoko], located her ‘new teachers’
[Missionary Parker and his family] on a little bluff on the
edge of a beautiful bay [Kaneohe Bay]” (Parker Ms.:3).
Probably as a result of the availability of large quantites
of fresh water, mainly from constantly flowing springs located
high in the mountains, the land around Kaneohe Bay was once
one of the most productive areas on Oahu. The fishing resources
of the Bay were also highly developed and included about two-dozen
walled fishponds. It is not surprising, therefore, that this
area was one of the primary population centers on Oahu. |
