CHAPTER VII:
PU'UKOHOLA HEIAU NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
Overview of Hawaiian History
by Diane Lee Rhodes
(with some additions by Linda Wedel Greene)
https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/kona/history7.htm
1. Village of Kawaihae
The terraces of Pu'ukohola Heiau dominate the side of a prominent hill overlooking Kawaihae Bay. Despite the nondescript nature of the early village of Kawaihae, as recorded in the journals of early Euro-American voyagers to the islands, it has played a conspicuous role in Hawaiian history. In both prehistoric and historic times, its spacious natural harbor has distinguished it from the other coastal settlements of leeward Kohala, making it not only the safest mooring spot in that district, but also one of the best anchorages on the island of Hawai'i. Kawaihae is where Kamehameha confirmed his position as ali'i-nui of the island upon the death of his chief rival, and it remained his residence from about 1790 to 1794 while he planned the invasion of the other Hawaiian Islands. According to Marion Kelly, Kawaihae was a popular surfing area in ancient times. The name means "Water-of-Wrath" and refers to the battles over the life-giving waters of one of the springs in the area. Kelly states this water source reportedly was destroyed by harbor development, but it could also have been impacted by destructive high floodwaters in the gullies during heavy rains.
According to trader William French, who owned a store in Kawaihae, the settlement was extremely active during the time of Kamehameha's reign. Its harbor and its proximity to the fertile uplands of Waimea ensured its status as an important stopover for many early European voyagers and merchantmen needing to make repairs and resupply their ships. Because King Kamehameha firmly controlled all trade and other intercourse with Euro-American ships, all sea captains arriving in the Hawaiian Islands had to obtain his permission before initiating any activities with his subjects. Therefore ships were constantly stopping at Kawaihae to pay their respects and gain his blessing when he was in residence. If he was not there, visitors contacted John Young, Kamehameha's business manager and governor of the island from 1802 to 1812, an important foreign political figure who, while he lived at Kawaihae, exerted a strong influence on its social, political, and economic life, and about whom more will be presented later. For all the above reasons, for many years Kawaihae served a crucial role in the importation of foreign goods, the distribution of local products, and the spreading of new ideas and mores during a time of great change for the Hawaiian people. After Kamehameha's death, it was to this place his son returned from the royal residence at Kailua to unite his supporters, formulate his policies, and consecrate his new leadership role.
Kii: Kawaihae abt. 1880, Monsarrat Collection
2. Historical Accounts of Kawaihae Bay Area
The earliest European observers of Kawaihae Bay were members of Captain James Cook's exploratory and scientific expedition. Arriving at the mouth of the bay in February 1779, they were little impressed, Captain James King noting that A month later, revisiting the harbor after Cook's death, King still found nothing of particular interest: Although the NEern part of the bay which . . . is call'd Toe-yah-ya [Kawaihae] looks green & pleasant, yet as it is neither wooded or hardly any signs of culture, & a few houses, It has certainly some defect, & does not answer the purposes of what the natives cultivate.
We now come to Ko-Harra [Kohala] the NW & last district. It is bounded by two tolerable high hills, & the Coast forms a very extensive bay calld Toe Yah-Yah. . . . In the head of the bay as far as we could judge distant [blank space] the Country lookd tolerably, but the s side is partook of the same nature as Kao, & along the NE side of the bay close to which we Saild, It is very little Cultivated, & we saw but few houses; the Peoples appearance shewd that they were the lowest Class that inhabited them.
George Vancouver, captain of the Discovery, visited Kawaihae in February 1793 and found a watering placesituated in a small sandy bay, where, over a space of twenty yards of rugged rocks and stones, a fine stream empties itself, whose water is easily to be procured by landing the casks on the sandy beach, and having the water brought in smaller vessels to fill them; a service the natives will readily perform for a trivial reward.
Going on shore to visit the inhabitants, Vancouver noted that Toeaigh [Kawaihae] is situated in a grove of cocoa-nut trees, just behind a sandy beach. A reef of coral rocks, extending thence about three quarters of a mile into the sea, rendered it inaccessible to our boats in a direct line, but we landed very commodiously in a narrow channel, between the reef and the shore, near the morai [Pu'ukohola], to the S.E. of the beach, from whence we had about two miles to walk. . . .The village consisted only of straggling houses, of two classes; those appropriated to the residence of the inhabitants were small, mean, miserable huts; but the others, allotted to the purposes of shading, building, and repairing their canoes, were excellent in their kind. . . . In about the middle of the village is a reservoir of salt water, nearly in the centre of a large inclosure, made by walls of mud and stones. Between these walls and the reservoir the whole space is occupied by shallow earthen pans, of no regular size or shape, nor placed in any order or degree of elevation. The reservoir . . . constantly affords a sufficient quantity of excessively salt water, for supplying the numerous pans. . . .
Kii: Kawaihae Bay and village, ca. 1880s. Taken from Pu'ukohola Heiau toward landing, supposedly from site where Keoua sacrificed. Courtesy Hawaii State Archive, Honolulu. |
Captain Richard J. Cleveland, anchored off "Toiyahyah" Bay in 1799, described the approach of a large number of canoes carrying hogs, potatoes, taro, cabbages, watermelons, muskmelons, sugarcane, and a variety of other produce for trade. A local chief came on board to maintain order and regulate the number of persons allowed on the vessel at one time. He also acted as a broker for the crew and as a facilitator for the bartering process.
Isaac Iselin, supercargo on the Maryland, visited Kawaihae in the early 1800s:
This Bay of Toeigh [Kawaihae] is very open; an extensive reef runs near it nearly level with the water, and altogether it is no inviting place to anchor at. The country around it looks like a hilly barren desert; nothing grows within ten miles of it, except a few cocoanut trees, of which a fine grove stands near the beach. The inhabitants and huts are thinly scattered along the shore, far less numerous than about Karakakooah, and seem more indigent, indeed, having to go so far for their subsistence, they are not seldom in want of the supports of life.
Iselin also mentions visiting "several salt ponds or pans, the arrangement of which displays much industry and ingenuity."
Jacques Arago, draftsman on the French expedition (1817-20) under command of Louis de Freycinet (in the corvette Uranie), noted that About two hundred huts compose the town of Toyai [Kawaihae]; they are low, small, and badly covered. Many of them are not more than six or eight feet in length. The people who inhabit them will however bear no comparison with those whom we saw at Karakakooa. You breathe in the first-named anchorage; here you seem to be stifled: though the court of Tammeamah might be expected to give a little life to the scene.
De Freycinet described the town in terms equally unflattering: Less spread-out and more irregular than Kayakakoua [Kealakekua], Kohaihai [Kawaihae] is surrounded by even sadder, even drier grounds, if that is possible. Here, in fact, not an atom of greenery appeared before our eyes. One could have said that it had been ravaged by fire. On an elevation near the southern section of the village, a morai [Mailekini] surrounded by a rock wall had the appearance of a European fort. Mr. Young's house, built in European style, could be seen farther off on the shore to the north.
3. Historical Appearance and Activities of Kawaihae
a) Fishponds
Frenchman Louis Duperrey, an officer of the de Freycinet expedition, drew a map of Kawaihae Bay in 1819, showing about ninety structures along the shoreline. The main portion of the settlement contained three rows of houses parallel to the coast. The first group abutted the shore, with the last row lying near the base of the Kohala Mountain slope. This map also delineates a small inland body of water, probably one of two fishponds that existed there. One was located near the homestead of John Young at the mouth of Makahuna Gulch; the other lay near the old salt pans to the north. Historian Russell Apple has determined that the Makeahua pond existed from before 1819 at least through 1848.
De Freycinet sailed from Kailua to Kawaihae to visit the new king, Kamehameha II. The above is a detail of the chart "Plan de la Baie de Kohai-Hai" drawn by Capt. L.I. Duperrey of the French Royal Navy, 1819. Note the houses of the king in the Pelekane area, John Young's residence, and the two heiau. Figure 24 in Kelly, Hawai'i in 1819, p. 104.
b) Salt Pans
The salt pans constructed for the extraction of salt from sea water were an extremely important aspect of Kawaihae's subsistence — perhaps its major industry for many years. Because of its shoreline's lack of fertility, Kawaihae was always foremost a fishing village; in the mid-1830s it was reportedly the best place to buy fish on the entire island. This distinction resulted not only from its abundant marine resources but also from its status as an important trading center to which people from other communities along the Kohala coast brought their catches. The ready availability of salt there allowed the immediate preservation of excess fish for use as trade items or for future local need. The locals traded this salt to Kona as well as other sections of Kohala for the necessities they lacked — such as cultivated food and kapa.
Hawaiian salt, used to season and preserve fish and meat, was one of the first items of exchange between the natives and foreign fur traders in the early nineteenth century. Extensive areas in certain parts of the islands were reserved for the production of this commodity. On Hawai'i Island, Kawaihae boasted the largest salt pans. Hawai'i exported salt from around 1840 to 1881, reaching a peak production about 1870. Hawaiian salt was later used in curing hides in addition to salting meat, requiring construction of larger pans as the Waimea cattle industry expanded; these were destroyed by a tidal wave in 1946. According to Marion Kelly, Kawaihae informants told her the earlier salt pans had been destroyed during construction of the modern harbor.
As Reverend William Ellis traveled around the island of Hawai'i in 1823, he visited Kawaihae twice, recording 100 houses there in 1824. Ellis mentioned several interesting activities and sites in Kawaihae, including some warm springs a short distance south of the heiau, in which he enjoyed a refreshing bath:
These springs rise on the beach a little below high-water mark, of course they are overflowed by every tide; but at low tide, the warm water bubbles up through the sand, fills a small kind of cistern, made with stones piled close together on the side towards the sea, and affords a very agreeable bathing place. . . . The water is comfortably warm . . . various medicinal qualities are ascribed to it by those who have used it.
Ellis also described salt production at Kawaihae, noting that Hawaiians partook of this item liberally with their food besides utilizing large amounts to preserve their fish catches:
The natives of this district manufacture large quantities of salt, by evaporating the sea water. We saw a number of their pans, in the disposition of which they display great ingenuity. They have generally one large pond near the sea, into which the water flows by a channel cut through the rocks, or is carried thither by the natives in large calabashes. After remaining there some time, it is conducted into a number of smaller pans about six or eight inches in depth, which are made with great care, and frequently lined with large evergreen leaves, in order to prevent absorption. Along the narrow banks or partitions between the different pans, we saw a number of large evergreen leaves placed. They were tied up at each end, so as to resemble a shallow dish, and filled with sea water, in which the crystals of salt were abundant.
c) Sandalwood Trade
On his second visit to Kawaihae, Ellis stayed with John Young, where, one morning
Before daylight . . . we were roused by vast multitudes of people passing through the district from Waimea with sandal wood, which had been cut in the adjacent mountains for Karaimoku [the high chief Kalanimoku]. . . and which the people of Kohala, as far as the north point, had been ordered to bring down to his storehouse on the beach, for the purpose of its being shipped to Oahu.
The sandalwood trade was another extremely important industry in this area — a commercial activity that reached its peak in the 1820s. At this time the Kohala Mountain forests were abundant, reaching almost to the Kawaihae shore in 1815. John Young oversaw the measuring and loading of logs, while, according to Ellis, thousands of natives were forced to cut and haul timber, penetrating ever deeper into the interior as supplies dwindled. This intensive business venture denuded the forests and precipitated their retreat inland. The prospering herds of wild cattle and goats in the Waimea area prevented new growth from surviving, as did the diversion of streams to support the community there. All these factors contributed to Kawaihae's appearance as a desolate place.
4. Missionary Activities at Kawaihae
American missionaries arrived in the islands in 1820. During a brief sojourn at Kawaihae they met some members of Hawaiian royalty, including two of Kamehameha's widows. The Reverend Hiram Bingham also visited Pu'ukohola Heiau with the high chief Kalanimoku and left a description of the structures that will be presented in the next section of this report. Because the new king was living in Kailua at this time, however, the missionaries' ship proceeded on down the coast to ask his permission to begin their work.
Kawaihae was the site of one of the first mission stations in the Hawaiian Islands, although it was only briefly looked after by Elisha Loomis beginning in 1821. Kawaihae and Puako were ultimately included in the area served by missionaries Dwight Baldwin from 1832 to 1835 and Lorenzo Lyons from 1832 to 1876. Lyons landed at Kawaihae in 1832 before proceeding to Waimea to establish a station. He noted that Kawaihae was "about as desolate a place as I have ever seen, nothing but barrenness, with here and there a native hut." His Waimea parish eventually included the districts of Kohala and Hamakua, making it the largest mission station in Hawai'i. During his tenure, Lyons was responsible for the erection of fourteen churches, including one at Kawaihae.
Kawaihae had supported some type of meetinghouse since the earliest days of the Protestant mission, though it amounted to little more than a rude grass sanctuary. In 1843, however, the parish began construction of a stone meetinghouse, probably covered by a thatched roof. Stones for the walls were found nearby, while coral collected from the beach was burned to produce a lime for mortaring. The final dedication ceremony on January 13, 1859, involved a procession, prayers, speeches, and songs. Toward the end of the service, the parishioners marched over to the old heiau of Pu'ukohola where they prayed and sang. This church underwent renovation in 1884 and repairs in 1903; it was torn down in 1959.
5. Cattle Industry in the Kawaihae-Waimea Area
In time it was the lush pastures of the upper slopes of Kohala Mountain that sustained the Kawaihae economy. Travel between the two areas was possible via a number of trails that led from the seacoast, past periodically cultivated agricultural plots, to the Waimea Plain. In the early 1820s three major population centers existed there, about two miles apart, at Keaalii, Waikoloa, and Pu'ukapu.
After the supplies of sandalwood and pulu disappeared, resulting in the failure of those business enterprises, South Kohala turned to cattle for its livelihood. The cattle industry had begun in the early 1800s with government-controlled bull hunting. An American who greatly impacted this activity was John Palmer Parker, a seaman who came to Kawaihae in 1815 and then moved to Waimea. Enlisted to hunt wild cattle on the slopes of Mauna Kea, he was to thin the herds, descended from cattle introduced by Vancouver, that had multiplied so rapidly that they were a danger to people and destructive of the landscape and cultivated upland fields. The government and king, who jointly owned all the wild cattle on Hawai'i and sold or leased slaughter rights to private parties, encouraged the capture of these animals to procure beef, hides, and tallow. Because Hawaiians did not yet eat beef, it was the needs of the whalers, arriving in great numbers in the 1840s, that spurred this enterprise. Parker soon built up a thriving business with foreign, and later interisland, trading vessels in meat treated with salt from Kawaihae and tanned hides. Over the next thirty-two years, Parker expanded his activities, importing Spaniards from Peru as ranchhands and shipping out hides, tallow, and soap. Parker received two acres of land on the Waimea Plain from King Kamehameha Ill in 1847; this landholding ultimately developed into the famous Parker Ranch. Exporting its cattle became Kawaihae's principal activity.
The wild descendants of Vancouver's original cattle comprised the herds of Hawai'i's first ranches prior to 1830. After that time, however, as a flourishing by-products industry took hold, most wild cattle were killed, and imported animals were brought in to stock the ranches. The cattle industry slowed in the late 1830s and early 1840s due to overkilling. By 1850, however, cattle raising was again a thriving industry in Waimea, with cattle driven to Kawaihae for shipment to Honolulu's slaughterhouses. The old road between Waimea and Kawaihae is supposedly the route of the historical Parker Ranch cattle drives. More modern cattle holding pens are located across from the small boat harbor; the massive rock walls near the present canoe club are said to be the remnants of older corrals where cattle were held until shipment.
6. Agricultural Activity in the Kawaihae-Waimea Area
A slight decline in Hawaiian agricultural production began in the 1830s. Author and journalist James J. Jarves described Kawaihae in the late 1830s as barren and almost destitute of inhabitants. . . . A well-built store and a few houses constituted the only appearance of a town. There was no vegetation to be seen. . . . Kawaihae is merely a depot for goods for the interior. A good coast-road leads to Waimea. . . .
Agricultural activity revived somewhat in the late 1840s and early 1850s, primarily due to the demand for sweet and Irish potatoes. Although the former had always been a much-sought-after item for ships' stores, it was not until the early 1830s that Irish potatoes were also cultivated in Hawai'i. Increased whaling activity after 1840 brought new demands for both types. Another short-lived increase in potato production began in 1849 to help make up for a lack of that vegetable in California during the Gold Rush. This trade had diminished by 1852, although that with whalers continued for several more years.
In 1853 Edward T. Perkins, anchored in a ship off Kawaihae Bay, judged this to be one of the most lonely places dignified with the name of port I ever visited; it consists merely of half a dozen framed houses, scattered at wide intervals along the rocky shore, and perhaps a couple of dozen native huts. . . . a few cocoanut trees charitably extend their broad plumes over the miserable abodes that craved their protection. With all its faults, Kawaihae must not be too hastily condemned, for it is but the humble gate to a paradise among the mountains; I mean Waimea. . . .
By 1857 Kawaihae was described as an important port shipping produce from the rich uplands of Waimea, one of the finest agricultural districts in the islands: Forty or fifty whale ships have annually visited this port for the last few years, to procure salted beefs and Irish potatoes, which are considered the finest produced in the islands.
Other exports included fresh beef, pork, fowl, beans, wool, bullock hides, goatskins, and tallow. By the mid-1800s, then, Kawaihae hosted an active port, where visiting ships low on provisions traded foreign goods for produce, sandalwood, pulu, firewood, fresh water, and local salt. While there, the ships' officers usually met with any high-ranking personnages who happened to be in the area.
An 1880s photo of the Kawaihae landing (Illustration 30) shows a group of buildings that may include William French's warehouse for storing sandalwood, wool, salted beef, and hides to be shipped to Honolulu or California in the 1830s and 1840s. French obtained property near the landing from Governor Kuakini in 1838 for the storage of cargo.
Kii: Kawaihae landing 1889 Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum
Map of Kawaihae 1903 A.B. Lobenstein
7. Decline of Kawaihae
The Reverend Lorenzo Lyons noted in 1841, while preaching in Kawaihae, that its population stood at 726 people, 300 less than the previous year. His letters attribute this decrease to its being such a "wretchedly poor place," offering so little to eat that families were forced to relocate to more fertile regions.
Throughout the 1800s, the population of the Waimea-Kawaihae area seems to have been in decline. It probably fluctuated due to a number of circumstances, including people moving periodically to certain areas for specialized public work projects, such as coming in from all over Kohala to build Pu'ukohola Heiau or to carry sandalwood from Waimea to Kawaihae Bay. Other population shifts would have involved families visiting relatives elsewhere for periods of time; chiefs and their entourages moving from site to site, always attracting the curious and various hangers-on; neighboring residents coming in to watch the arrival of ships, anxious to see the foreigners and engage them in trade; and residents moving to other places for new and better commercial opportunities. In addition to this constant movement, reduced fertility and increased mortality changed the population figures. A smallpox epidemic in Kawaihae in 1853, for instance, took half the population.
Isabella Bird Bishop, visiting Kawaihae in the 1870s, was able to make the small town seem appealing despite the slow tempo of its life: A foreign store, a number of native houses, a great heiau, or heathen temple on a height, a fringe of cocoa-nut palms, and a background of blazing hills, flaring with varieties of red, hardly toned down by any attempt at vegetation, a crystalline atmosphere palpitating with heat, deep, rippleless, clear water, with coral groves below, and a view of the three great Hawaiian mountains, are the salient features of this outlet of Hawaiian commerce.
By 1890 Henry Whitney reported that: Kawaihae itself is a small village, which thirty years ago was of some importance, and did a considerable trade with the whalers that then visited it. It has dwindled very much since then. At present it is the landing for the cattle ranches of South Kohala
Caspar Whitney verified this view of Kawaihae's decline in 1899:
Since, many years ago, Kawaihae was a thriving port, where the whalers came for the potatoes raised on the hills directly back of the settlement, and people lived here and prospered. Now the settlement owes its life to the weekly arrival of the steamer from Honolulu. Small wonder its handful of residents shake off sleep to view this periodical deliverance from utter stagnation!
8. "Modern" Kawaihae Village
Not until modern times, with the dredging of its harbor and the opening of luxury resorts, did the forgotten village of Kawaihae again become a prominent site on the Kohala coast. In 1949 construction of a deep-draft harbor was recommended for the bay, which by that time was a small port shipping sugar, steers, pigs, and sheep to market on interisland vessels. In 1957 a contract was let to build causeways, a dike, and a revetment; the new deep-water port of Kawaihae Harbor was finally completed in 1959. Three years later the Corps of Engineers decided to widen the harbor's entrance channel and its basin, extend the existing breakwater, and construct a small boat harbor.
By that time the Corps and the Atomic Energy Commission had begun a joint research program focusing on the use of nuclear explosives for construction purposes. Some of the types of projects amenable to nuclear excavation included water channels, highway cuts, harbors, and dams. The army's Nuclear Cratering Group was anxious to try chemical high explosives in excavating the small boat harbor and entrance channel at Kawaihae. "Project Tugboat" would be the army's first major construction project using that method of excavation. Some local opposition arose, concerned about detrimental impacts on marine life and on historically significant structures such as the nearby heiau. Before setting off the explosions, engineers braced the walls of Pu'ukohola Heiau and placed a seismograph next to the structure to monitor movement. Three phases of detonations were required to accomplish the job, which also involved construction of an 850-foot-long breakwater to protect the new basin. The project was considered a complete success, but expensive. No known damage occurred to historic structures.
Today Kawaihae Bay and its coastline differ drastically from the views described in historical journals. In Young's day, the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the original hardwood forests stretched almost to the beach. Freshwater streams flowing down gulches from Kohala Mountain provided the water supply of Kawaihae and potable water for ships. Ultimately logging activities related to the sandalwood trade and to the repair of visiting ships, clearing for agricultural terracing, and uncontrolled cattle grazing and tree removal caused the forest to recede. As streams dried up, erosion intensified, creating a semi-barren desert environment. While the town evolved into a specialized port for salt and cattle-related products, many of its residents left for the bustling major ports such as Lahaina and Honolulu.
During excavation of the harbor, the dangerous coral reef, which formerly stretched just under two miles south from the area of the town, was cut and scraped and the dredged material formed into a landfill to support the harbor terminal facilities, oil storage tanks, and other buildings. Excess material was stockpiled and its outer edge revetted with stones.
Kawaihae village itself also little resembles the settlement seen by early European explorers and merchants. It consists of frame dwellings, a few stores, and other local businesses. Kawaihae is now a major shipping center for raw sugar. Structures in the harbor facility include storage tanks for oil and molasses, a bulk sugar warehouse and conveyor system for loading ships, a metal warehouse, a service terminal, and a concrete bulk chemical warehouse. The town is also the major supply point for Pohakuloa Training Area. Development farther south along the coast includes Spencer Beach County Park, residences, and the Mauna Kea Beach resort hotel.
Two highly visible structures in Kawaihae served as landmarks for ships heading into Kawaihae Bay in the early historic period. One was the grave of George Hueu Davis, son of Isaac Davis. The other was the grave of George W. Macy, a sea captain who was in business with an early Waimea merchant. Macy's grave was described as a "conspicuous white obelisk" on a hill behind the village. Significant prehistoric and historical manmade structures around Kawaihae include numerous stone features of early Hawaiian civilization such as agricultural enclosures, homesites, fishing shelters, and graves. The ruins of John Young's Kawaihae home overlook the bay, and two structures of extreme importance in Hawaiian history — Pu'ukohola and Mailekini heiau — still stand quietly by the sea. The history, appearance, and significance of these structures will be discussed in the next section.
Kii: Kawaihae Monsarrat Collection- Hawaii state Archives
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