Evening star., 1899-01-28
DIRECTIONS IN HAWAII
Little Attention is Paid to the Points Of the
Compass
Locations Are Described as to Their
Relation to the Sea or the
Mountains,
Honolulu Correspondence Chicago Herald.

Honolulu Correspondence Chicago Herald.
Visitors to Honolulu often perpIexed
| to get the points of the compass fixed in
their minds with reference to streets and To-
cations. They are still more perplexed to
lind 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 and distances are
always thought Of in their relation to mort h.
south, east or west, this is incounrehen
sible.
But it does not take a very long residence
hear to learn that the points of the com
pass in the ordinary matters of direction
are OF very little practical use, and the pre-
Falilng system of indicating loca ZION and di-
rection, adapted from that used by the ma
i've Hawaiians, and continuing the use of
their nomenclature, is very practical one
and well adapted to conditions
Ihe islands are all small and of volcanic
origin There is at least one main range of
mountains on each island, though there may
pc shhsld1ary ones. As is well known.
mountains do not run with special refer
ence to the points of the compass. And the
narrow valleys cut and eroded out of the
volcanic mass and extending from the
mountains to the sea bear still less appreci-
able relation to them. So that if one were
to establish the points of the compass with
relation to any one of these valleys a quar-
ter 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 mountain and the sea. And on this fact
the basis of the nomenclature and of the
system OF direction rests. With relation 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 direction of
the mountain, and ''makai" pronounced
makhi, the long,. toward or in the direc-
ton of the sea.
The topography of the country, a series 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 narraw strips
or diStricts-moku. as the larger were call
ed. ahuDuoa, the next smaller and ILL
those still smaller: but ALL with very few
exceptions, extending from the seashore 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 fire.
wood and building material and to the land
between to cultivate taro. The bounda ries
OF these districts Were all carefully defined
IN time immemorial and remain the same
today Moreover. each district had it's
name. and that name remains.
WITH the mountain above and the sea be-
low and the narrow districts in succession
each with its boundaries and name well de-
flne'. the basis of the system and nomen-
clature of direction was complete given
point or object * ''mauka," toward the
Mountain. or ''makai." toward the sea in
relation to another object or point: and it
is .waihihi." in the direction of the district
of Naihihi or eva" in the direction of
the district of Eva, for the 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 south side of the
street.-the one can: nor Of the east and
west sidse- But every street has a mauka
and makai side Il wahihi and eva side
SO particular corner may be precisely and
accurately described the mauka-w wahihi
corner the makai-ewa.
These terms are nor only colloquial. but
Official. They are used in contracts deeds
wills and statutes. They suit conditions
and have grown out of them.