Natural History

And The Ships Kept On Coming . . .

Beginning with Captain Cook, crews of the sailing ships that stopped in Hawaii bartered with Hawaiians, exchanging iron and manufactured items for food. Regular trade in agricultural products developed as more European and American ships stopped in Hawaii to replenish stores.

During the latter part of the 18th century, ships sailing from the Pacific Northwest to China with cargoes of fur, stopped in the islands for provisions. The earliest ships traded for staples of Hawaiian agriculture: pigs, bananas, taro and sweet potatoes. The endemic 'olona (Touchardia latifolia) produced fiber that made extremely strong cordage that was valued for ship rigging by the western sailors.

Small sandalwood trees with a fine fragrance grew thickly on the mountainsides of every island, and British and American traders saw the potential for selling the wood to China where it was in high demand for decorative pieces and burning as incense. The trade began slowly around 1810 and spread as the Hawaiian chiefs recognized its value. The fur traders piled in the sandalwood on top of their other cargo..

Since sandalwood was the most valuable commodity the ali'i, the chiefs, could trade for coveted foreign goods like furniture, clothing, household goods, guns and ships, they pushed their people to cut down the trees in massive numbers. The men used iron adzes to chop the trees into pieces that could be carried on their backs to the waiting ships in Lahaina.

Then, in 1824, despite the rapidly dwindling sandalwood forests, Kamehameha III and his chiefs required their subjects to make their annual tax payments in sandalwood. At the same time, the same law allowed the commoners to cut down a certain amount for themselves.

Some of the chiefs, in their greed for more and fancier consumer goods, coerced their people so intensely that their subjects were kept from cultivating their own food crops. Sir George Simpson, a visitor to the islands, was astonished to see Hawaiians "driven like cattle to the hills, to every cleft in the rocks that contained a sampling of the sacred fuel." Often, in individual acts of rebellion, the commoners took to uprooting young sandalwood saplings so that their children would not have to do this backbreaking work. Within five years after the law was promulgated, the supply of sandalwood had dwindled to almost nothing. After almost 200 years later, the sandalwood has not recovered.

The North Pacific whaling trade started around 1819. The discovery of rich sperm whale grounds off Japan brought the world's whaling fleet rushing to the Pacific. The trade grew by leaps and bounds. .

Firewood was especially necessary for the whaling ships. The boilers that rendered the oil out of the whale blubber were fueled with wood. During the early 19th century, the demand for firewood among the whaling ships was so great that the hillsides around the port were denuded. Entire forests were cut down to supply the ships.

The demand for firewood was enormous. In 1854, for example, 158 cords of wood (a volume representing at least several hundred trees) were supplied at just one port. In some years there were more than 500 whaling ships leaving the islands with their holds crammed with firewood. A ship might return with as much as 1,000 barrels of rendered oil. This trade in firewood was sustained for more than 50 years.

Although Lahaina was the only port on Maui capable of accommodating the whaling ships, the whole island was affected by the boom. Farmers in the rural areas brought meat, produce and firewood to the Lahaina market. Extensive cultivation of Irish potatoes in Kula was a significant reason why whalers preferred to land in Lahaina rather than Honolulu, it is said.

Unlike the brief contacts made by sandalwood traders, whaling vessels stayed in port for four or five months a year. In the whaling heyday, as many as 1,500 sailors at "liberty" roamed the streets of Lahaina and the town became famous as a center of rowdy good times and drunken debauchery. In 1825, there were 23 grog shops within a mile of the waterfront (many of them owned by Hawaiian chiefs). This did not sit well with the American missionaries who had arrived in the town in 1820.

Around 1826, Chief Hoapili, the governor of Maui (a Christian convert), forbade rum-drinking and prostitution in Lahaina. The number of ship arrivals lessened. After his death, 12 years later, the rowdiness, vice, and debauchery started up again.

Poor whale catches, the introduction of kerosene for use in oil lamps after the first commercially successful oil well in Pennsylvania was dug in 1859, and the co-opting of sailing vessels for the American Civil War sent the whaling trade into a severe decline. The declining whaling ship trade lasted into the late 1860s. The final blow to the American whaling industry (and to Lahaina as the fantasy port town for thousands of sailors) came when 33 whaling ships stayed in the North Pacific whaling grounds too long and were lost in the crushing winter ice.

The inventory of island trade goods increased as the crews of the sailing ships as well as new residents introduced new crops. Within sixty years after the first contact, there were at least 111 non-native plant species growing in the islands. The first recorded western introductions into Hawaii were pumpkins, melons and onions planted during Cook's visit. By the 1830s, a great variety of fruits and vegetables were available in Honolulu markets to provision the ships.
The California Gold Rush of the 1840s created a demand for agricultural products that were partially met by Hawaiian farms. During this decade more than 80,000 barrels of potatoes were exported to the West Coast of North America each year.
Most of the alien plants that were introduced during this period were primarily fruit trees, vegetables, and ornamentals, all of which required cultivation. Later introductions included many ornamentals and useful plants from all over the world that might have some commercial value. Many of them did not become naturalized or turn into pests. (Notable exceptions were the guava, strawberry guava and koa haole which become major invaders of lowland ecosystems.)

Eventually, of course, the ships did stop coming. However, they were replaced by airplanes.

[ Top ]

Arts & Culture

The Story Of Kaulu

Kaulu was a legendary demigod credited with magical feats, usually in contests of power with spirits. As with any legendary demigod, he is said to have been born in a number of different places (including Maui). Everybody throughout Polynesia agrees that Kaulu was born in the form of a rope and his major attribute was his powerful hands. They say his life was filled with adventure and he spent his time contesting with assorted spirits and making forays into the realm of the gods Kane and Kanaloa as well as making a general nuisance of himself. He is one of Polynesia's beloved tricksters, although not as famous as the demigod Maui.

Among many other things, Kaulu was credited with creating the surf by breaking up the long walls of waves sent by the gods to block him on his quest to rescue his older brother, Kaeha, from them. He used his strong hands to make the gods' long dog, Ku-'ilio-loa, into many little dogs (the forerunners of our dogs today) and he made the sea salty by swallowing it and spitting it out. He carried away food plants from the god realms and introduced them into this world, dodged thunderbolts, killed the gods' shark, Ku-kama-ulu-nui-akea, whose body was thrown up into the Milky Way….and on and on. Kaulu was a pesky fellow.

On Maui he was known as the "Breadfruit Boy" because as a young boy he uprooted his father's breadfruit saplings as a prank. Kaulu was severely punished for this major transgression. He was set adrift from Makaiwa Beach, south of where the Hyatt Regency is today. Before shoving Kaulu's canoe into the sea, his father, the village chief, armed the boy with a sacred spear.

Some time later, landing in nearby Lanai, he found a community under control of evil spirits, which he chased away. Kaulu then took the sacred spear and drew a circle around the village, protecting it from further harm. Returning to Kaanapali, he was greeted with aloha. And, they say, to this day, whenever new buildings or businesses are dedicated in Hawaii, a lei of the fragrant maile vine is draped across the entrance, symbolizing the protective circle of Kaulu.

[ Top ]

Braddah-Nics Lexicon

STANDARD: Retro is in now.
BRADDAH-NICS: Dis old-fut stuffs so coooo.....

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD: It was so nice of you to come.
BRADDAH-NICS: Nice you went come.

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD: I believe they'll be performing.
BRADDAH-NICS: I think so they going stay play.

 

[ Top ]

Local Grinds

Chop Steak

Ingredients:

• 1 tray boneless chuck steak
• 2 medium round onions
• 1 tray fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 cup oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp shoyu
• 1tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• Salt and pepper to preference

Procedure:

Slice your beef into thin stripes Cut your onions into stripes Wipe the mushrooms, do not rinse In a skillet pan over medium heat, add the vegetable oil When oil is hot enough, add the beef to the pan Brown the beef til until all liquids are gone Add the garlic powder, salt and pepper, oyster sauce, and shoyu Stir evenly Add the onions and mushrooms Let cook for 2-3minutes and turn heat off. Close skillet with cover and let the steam cook.

 

Cucumber with Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tbsp relish (optional)

Procedure:

Peel the cucumber to your preference Cut into thin slices In a small bowl, add the mayonnaise Stir mayonnaise until it gets creamy Add in the ketchup and stir well

[ Top ]