The citizen., 1899-07-14
PERPLEXlNG HAWAII
AN ISLAND WI CH HAS NO NORTH
SOUTH, EAST OR WEST.

The Diiiiculiy of Getting Ones Bearings-
Term Us,d in Indicating the Different
side, Il ,trcet>-Are official and Used in
All Legal Documents.
Visitors To Honolulu are often per-
picked to get the points of the compass
tiyrG in their minds with reference to
streets and locations. They are sui
more pcrplcxed to find nobody who
knows them and nobody who feels the
need of knowing them. 70 the visitor
especially from the Mississippi valley,
where the Congressional survey OF
puhlic lands has laid out everything
four-square. so that directions ana
distances are always thought OF III
their relation to north, south, east or
west. this is incomprehensible.
But ii does not take a very long re-
sidCnce 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 indl-
eating locations AMI direction, adapted
from that used by the native Hawaii
ans and continuing the use of their no
menclature is a very practical one ana
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 he subsidiary ones.
As IS well known, mountains do not
run with special reference to the points
of the compass. And the narrow val
leys 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 If one
were toestabliSh the points of the COM
with relation to any one of these val
leys a quarter of n mile would bring
him to another. wEere 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 dl-
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, 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 We're 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 vet had access to the sea
/ 10 fish and swim and ride the surf, to
the mountains for frew0od and
building material. and to land be
/ tween to cultivate taro. The Boundaries
4 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 its boundaries and
name well defined, the basis of the
system and nomenclature of direction
was complete. \ given point or object
! - iituNst' ioNdih lHt DlOuuld VI
"makai." toward the sea, in rela
ton TO another object or point: and
and it is "waihihi. or "ewa." in the di
rcction 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 rur
straight in any direction for any grea
distance. no one speaks of the north ol
south side Of the street-no one can
nor of the east and west sides. Bu
every street has mauka and maka
side. or waihihi and eva side 81
particular corner may be precisely
and accurately described as the ma
uka- waihihi corner, or the maka-ewa
These terms are not only colloquial
but official. They are used in contra cts
deeds wills and statutes. They sui
conditions and have grown out ot
them.