The evening times., 1899-01-25
New Yorh cotton Market.
DIRECTIONS IN HAWAII.
An Island Which Has No North
south. East or West.

(From the Chicago Record.)
Visitors to Honolulu are often perpleXed
TO get the points of the compass fixed in
their minds with reference to streets and
locations. They are still more pefp exed
10 find nobody who knows them and no.
body who feels the need of knowing them.
To the visitor, especially from the Mis-
sissiDpi Valley, where the Congressional
survey of public lands has laid out every
thing four-square, so that directions and
distances are always thought OF in their
relation to north, south, east, or west,
this is incomprehensible.
But 1t does not take a very long resi-
dence here to learn that the points OF the
compass in the ordinary matters OF direc-
ton are of very little practical use, and
the prevailing system CT inSicating !oca-
ton and direction, adapted from that used
by the native Hawaiians and continuing
the use of their nomenclature, is a very
practical one and we'll adapted to condi-
| tionS.
The islands are all small and of volcanic
origin There is at least one main range
| of mountains on each island, though there
| NAV be subsidiary ones. AS is well known.
| mountains do not run with special refer
| ence to the points of the compass. ana
| the narrow valleys cut and eroded out OF
the volcanic mass and extending from the
|
| ciable relation to them. So that II one
were to establish the points OF tne en-
| pass with relation to any one OF th=s
| valleys a quarter of mile would bring
| him to another, where he would have 10
! cake his bearings all afresh.
| But there are two objects he can never
get out of sight Of These are the mount
| ain and the sea. And on this fact the
! basis both of the nomenclature and of the
vale rtfNr,
| to any point the two cardinal directions
are toward the mountain and toward the
| sea- Now, the native Hawaiian terms for
these are ''mauka,'' toward or in the direc-
ton Of the mountain, and ''makai' (pro-
nounced makhi, the long,, toward or in
the direction of the sea.
The topography Of the country, series
of valleys extending from the mountain tc
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 districts-moku, as the larger
were called; ahupuoa, the next smaller
and ILL., those still smaller. but all, with
very few exceptions, extending from The
seashore to the top of the mountain. II
this way the common people, restricted tc
their own ills, yet had access to the sea
to fish and swim and ride the surf, to tht
mountain for firewood and bsilding ma
l
vate taro. The boundaries of these dis
tricts were all carefully defined in time
immemorial and remain the same today
| Moreover, each district had its name, ant
| that name remains.
With mountain above and the sea beloy
and the narrow districts in succession, eac!
with it's boundaries and name well defined
the basis of the system and nomenclature
of direction was complete. given poin
or object is "mauka," toward the noun
tain. or ''makai'' toward the sea, in rela
tion to another object or point; and it i
"waihihi,' in the direction of the distric
of Waihihi, or "ewa." in the direction O
the district of Eva, for the other relation
of direction.
II So that in Honolulu for instance, wher
no street runs north and south, or east an
west, and few streets run straight in an
direction for any great distance, no on
speaks of the north or south side Of th
street-no one can; nor of the east an