The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1899-04-14
NO COMPASS POINTS.
Hawaii Has No North, South, East
or West.
The Mountain and the Sea Furnish
the Only Basis of Direction
in the Island - OIL
clal Terms.

Visitors to Honolulu are often per-
picked to get the points of the compass
fixed in their minds with reference to
streets and locations. They are still
more perplexed to find nobody who
knows them and nobody who feels the
need of knowing them. To the visitor,
especially from the Mississippi valley,
where the congressional survey of pub
lie lands has laid out everything four
square, so that directions and distances
are always thought of in their relation
to north, south, east or west, this is in
omprehensible.
But it does not take very long resi-
dence here to learn that the points of
the compass in the ordinary matters of
direction are of very little practical use,
and the prevailing system of indica ting
location and direction, adapted from
that used by the native Hawaiians and
continuing the use of their nomencla-
ture, is very practical one and we'll
adapted to conditions.
The islands are all small and of vol
canic origin. There is at least one
main range of mountains on each is
land, though there may be subsidiary
ones. AS is we'll known, mountains do
not run with special reference to the
points of the compass. And the narrow
valleyscut and eroded out of the volcanic
mass and extending from the mounta
to the sea bear still less appreciable re-
lation to them. So that if one were to
establish the points of, the compass
with relation to any one of these val
leys a quarter of mile would bring
him to another, where he would have
to take his bearings all afresh. But
there are two objects he can never get
out of sight of. These are the noun
tain and the sea. And on this fact the
basis both of the nomenclature and of
the system of direction rests. With re-
laton to any point the two cardinal di-
rections are toward the mountain and
toward the sea. Now, the native Ha-
waiian terms for these are "mauka,"
toward or in the direction of the noun
tain, and "makai" pronounced makhi,
the long), toward or in the direction
of the sea.
- The topography of the country, Sc
ries of valleys extending from the noun
tain to the sea, and the feudal tenure
under which land was held in the an
cient day, led to the division of the
country into narrow strips, or dis
tricts-moku, as the larger were called;
alhupuoa, the next smaller, and iii,
those still smaller, but all, with very
few exceptions, extending from the sea-
shore to the top of the mountain. In
this way the common people, restricted
to their own Ills, yet had access to the
sea to fish and swim and ride the surf,
to the mountain for firewood and build
ing material, and to the land between
to cultivate taFo. The boundaries of
these districts were all carefully de-
fined in time immemorial and remain
the same to-day. Moreover, each dis
trict had its name, and that name re-
mains.
With the mountain above and the sea
below and the narrow districts in sue
cession, each with its boundaries and
name well defined, the basis of the sys-
tenn and nomenclature of direction was
complete. A given point or object is
"mauka," toward the mountain, or
''makai," toward the sea, in relation to
another object or point; and it is "wai-
hihi," in the direction of the district of
Waihihi, or "ewa," in the direction of
the district of Eva. for the other rela
tions of direction.
So that in Honolulu. for instance,
where no street runs north and south,
or east and west, and few streets run
straight in any direction for any great
distance, no one speaks of the north
or south side of the street-no one can;
nor of the east and west sides. But
every street has a mauka and a makai
side, or waihihi and eva side. So &
particular corner may be precisely and
accurately described as the mauka-
waihihi corner, or the makai-ewa.
These terms are not only colloquial,
but official. They are used in contracts
deeds, wills and statutes. They suit
conditions and have grown out of them.
Chicago Record,