The Florence tribune., 1899-04-08
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 = Ofsi-
 cial Terms.
Visitors to Honolulu are often per- plexed to get the points of the compass

plexed to get the points of the compass fixed iu their minds with reference to streets aud locations They are still more perplexed lo find nobody who bnovs thgm and nobody who feels the need ci knowing them. % the risitog. especially from the Miessippi Ya.isy. where the congressional surrey q ppb lie lands has laid out everything four. square. so that directions and distances are always thought of in their relation to north, south, east CT west, this is in- comprehensible.
 But it coes 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 cf ina.cating location and direction, adapted from that used by the native Hawaiians and continuing the use of their nomencla- ture, is a very practical one and we'll adapted 10 conditions.
 The islands are all small and of vol canie origin. There is at least enc main range of mountains on each is land. 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 valleyscuta and erodeduutcf the volcanic mass and extending from the mountains 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 10 any one of these val leys quarter of mile would bring him to another, where be 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 thin 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 ua- waiian terms for these are ''mauka,' toward or in the direction of thc rrnrr- ain, end "makai' (prouounce3 makbI he long)i toward or in the direction of the seq.
 The topography of the country. a se- ries Q valley seXtendiug from the noun tain to tie sea, and the fe1dal tenure inder which laGd was held .n the an- cie1t oa5, .eL to the oisision ot the country into narrow strips, or dis tricts-m moku, as the larger were called; alhupuoa, the next smaller, and ii, 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 ilis, yet had access to the sea to fish ard swim and ride the surf, to the mountain for firewood and build ing material, and to the land between 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 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 10 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 nc 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 6 mauka and makai side, or a waihibi and esa side So particular corner may be precisely and accurately described as the mauka- waihihi corner or the makai-ewa.
 These terms are Hot only colloquial, but official. They are used in contracts, deeds. wills and statutes. They suit conditions and have grown out of them. l-Chicago Record.