The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-11-15
PERPLEXING HAWAII
AN ISLAND VIII CHI HAS NO NORTH,
SOUTH, EAST OR WEST.

The Difficulty of Getting Ones Bearings
Terms Used In Indicating the Different
Sides CT Strcets-Are official and Used in
All Legal Documents.
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 sui
more Derplexed 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
public lands has laid out everything
four. square, so that directions ana
distances are always thought Of IN
their relation to north. south, east or
west. this is incomprehensible.
But it does not take a very long re-
Sidence there to learn that the points
of the compass in the ordinary matters
of direction are Of very little practlcal
use. and the prevailing system lndl-
eating locations and direction, adapted
from that used by the native Hawaii
ans and continuing the use OF their no,
menclature, is very practical one ana
we'll adapted to conditions.
The islands are small and OF volcanic
oririn. There is at least one nam
range of mountains on each lsland'
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 val
levs cut and crowded out Of the volcan-
ic mass and extending from the noun
tains to the sea bear still less apprecl-
able relation to them. So that II one
we're to establish the points Of the COM
with relation to any one OF these val
levs a quarter of a mile would prlnS
him to another, where he would nave
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-
lation to any point the two cardinal di-
rections are toward the mountain and
toward the sea- Now, the native Haw-
allan terms for these are "mauka," to-
ward or in direction Of the mountain,
and "makai' toward or in direction or
the sea.
The topography Of the country, ser
les Of valleys extending from the
mountain to the sea, and the feudal
tenure under which land was held in
the ancient day, led to the division OF
the country into narrow strips, or dis
tricts-moku, as the larger were called;
ahupuoa. the next smaller, and iii,
those still smaller, but all, with very
few exceptions, extending from the
seashore to the top Of the mountain. In
this way common people, restricted to
their own Ills, yet had access to the sea
to fish and swim and ride the surf, to
the mountains for frewood and
building material. and to land be-
tween to cultivate taro.. 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 it's boundaries and
name we'll defined. the basis Of the
system and nomenclature Of direction
was complete. A given point or object
is "mauka," toward the mountain, or
'makai," toward the sea, in rela-
ton to another object or point; and
and it is "waihihi, or "ewa," in the di-
rection Of the district Of Eva, for tie
other relations 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 mauka and makal
side or a waihiht and eva side So
a particular corner may be precisely
and accurately described as the ma
uka- 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