The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-06-29
WHEN TARO
WAS TABU
Long Years Ago It Was
Not Eaten
POISONOUS SAID PEOPLE
Story Of the Rise of Poi Vegetable
Told by a Native
Youth.

In ancient times Of Hawaii mel. the
I people considered the taro poisonous.
and they did not dare to cook or eat II.
AS the taro was never pulled, II grew
abunuanty. After many years stran-
ger came and lived among the Hawaii
ans, He noticed this plant growing,
very beautiful, as always ls the case OF
the taro. He pulled some and cooked It,
| When the people saw him doing this
they warned him. but he needed them
not, because they thought taro was n
poisonous plant. The strang r took the
taro. cooked some. but the rest OF the
people were very much terrified, 30
they watched him closely to see what
would be the penalty of this disobedient
man; but after all. as the taro was
cooked. the stranger tasted II first,
then began to eat the whole OF It. no
death came to him, as the people had
expected.
After the people saw that the man
was not killed. they themselves came
and tried the taro; II tasted fine. At the
same time large feasts were he'd In
honor of the first one who found out
that taro was living food. Soon their
superstitious belief disappeared After
the feast, heralds were sent to the other
parts of the Island to notify that taro
was food. The people began to save
the hulis which grew near their houses.
When the king heard that taro was
food he sent messengers around the is.-
and to forbid the common peop.e to
plant taro for their own. but for the
royal families. so the common peop.e
were not allowed to share III the use OF
ms valuable food.
Traction tens US of man named
Kamapuaa, who was a demi-god. lie
nad the power OF assuming the form OF
/ gigantic hog. once he made tour
around the Island ana married wife.
de took his wife and lived near the
klng's house This king was pos per-
Jus man, having many acres of both the
Iry-land taro and the water or LOi tarJ.
After living there famine came u.ion
hat part OF the Island. kame puaa was
"a a bad fix for food. one night, as
lark as could be. he rose and changed
Iimsef into the form of gigantic hog,
secretly went out and besdu to dug
acre and there with his nose, He Thea
hanged into the form of man and ia
aided the kings taro patch, puued up
nauy acres aud carried the taro aau
lulis into his field and there he p antcL
hem. when his work was done he
vent to bed. Al daybreak when the
people aWUke they saw turu growing /,
Namap-aa's land; they wonder d whe. Q
II came from, and they came to see
Iamapuaa, but he was In bed. When
hey told him all ABOUT 1t he seemed to
De surprised and pretended that he ala
,ot know anything about II, and he
vent out, pulled the taro and shared 1t
al L. ftria As
AS time went on the kiIg's workmen
we're surprised to see that the tarO in
heir iie DIS always disappeared, They
finally went and told the king. The
king wished to find the robber, so n
set watch in all the feds. N,ght after
hight, month after month they watch
| I'd, but they did not find out the thief.
| AS time went on l<amapuaa dad not
| keep at this. He waited till he saw the
| crops were ripe and then he Weut odt
| and dug up some more taro, so he could
! plant what he stole from somebody
ises field. one dark night while h.
| was out hustling around in the king S
taro patch, one of the watchmen came
| that way. At first he saw b ack
| thing as he came nearer saw II moving.
| by this time kamapuaa had changed
| Himself into the form of man and
was going to pull a big taro, when sud
| denly he felt someone holding him.
w
hands of a tall man but after n hard
struggle Kamapuaa escaped, because
| he was good wrestler In every way.
Before he disappeared the Waterman
discovered who he was and went i.nme-
diately and told the king. Ear.y in the
morning the king sent some men to
bring Kamapuaa to him. When they
reached his house he was working as
hard as he could pretending that moth
ing had happened In the night. They
tried to arrest him. but he was too pow
erful ard he escaped and they had to
give 1t up.
Thus IL was that Kamapuaa gave the
common people taro in order to share
with the royal families the use of this
valuable food
Taro is cultivated In three different
ways, on dry land. In marshy soil call
ed the Loi taro. and another called the
iipi taro. In planting the water taro
i, is necessary to pant the best hulis
only. for all kinds of hulis will grow on
ury land, but with the water taro only
the hulis that Will not decay in the
water viii produce good taro.
Ihe Kipi taro is planted much In the
same way as the dry-land taro, except
that a ditch OF water runs around the
taro patch. In planting taro | have
seen people open the stalk a little wide
They say 1t VIII then bear n large crop.
When a person Is skillful In the pro-
duction of taro, he is fpoken of as the
Lima hua." or the Fruitful hand"
In olden times the various tools for
planting taro we're the 90 made of
ohia, cocoanut. opiko hala, koa, guava.
sharpened at the end and fashioned so
you can hold II easily. These the an
Client Hawaiians used when they had
no iron. But now we use a shovel, pick
ak. 90. iron rar and hoe.
There were over one hundred diff
ferent varieties of taro In ancient times.
The taros most commonly used ~ olden
times were the Lehua, Maha-e-yic, Ia
ua, Wehiwa, Mana -ula-ula ant Ala.
GEORGE KAUHi,
Kamehameha Manual School.