The Washington bee., 1899-06-24
PERPLEXlNG HAWAII
AN ISLAND WI CA HAS NO NORTH
SOUTH, EAST OR WEST.

The Difficulty of Getting Ones Bearings
Terms Used in Indicating the Dinsrsn
Sides Of streees-Are OEicisl and Used u
All Legal Documents.
Visitors to Honolulu are often per
picked to get the points Of the compass
fixed in their minds with reference "a
streets and locations. They are sui
more perpleXed to find nobody Wns
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 and
distances are always thought Of Id
their relation to north, south, east On
west. this is incomprehensible.
But 1t does not take very long re
sidence there to learn that the points
of the compass In the ordinary matters
of direction are of very little practical
use, and the prevailing system indt
eating locations and direction, adapted
from that used by the native Hawaii
ans and continuing the use or their no
menclature, Is very practical one an0
well adapted to conditions.
The islands are small and OF volcanic
origin. There Is at least one main
range Of mountains on each Island
though there may be subsidiary ones
As is well known. mountains do not
run with special reference to the points
of the compass. And the narrow val
leysc cut and crowded out OF the Volcan-
ic mass and extending from the noun
tains to the sea bear still less appreci
able relation to them. So that II one
were to establish the points Of the com
with relation to any one OF these val
leys a quarter of a 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-
lation to any point the two cardinal dt
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 OF
the sea.
The topography Of the country, a ser
les Of valleys extending from tn,
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 ilts, yet had access to the sea
to fish and swim end ride the surf, to
the mountains for firewOod and
building material, and to land be-
tween to cultivate taro. The boundaries
of these districts were all carefully de-
fined In time immamorial and remain
the same to-day. Moreover, each dis
trict had it's 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 well 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 tbs
other relations of direction.
SO that in Honolulu, for instance,
where no street runs nDrth and south,
or east and west. and few streets run
straight in any direction for any great
distance, no one speaks of the north OF
south side of the street-no one can.
nor of the east and west sides. But
every street has mauka and makai
side, or a waihiti and eva side So
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 0f
them.