The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-02-26
FROM OLD TINES IN HAWAII.
]. w. GIRVIN.

One OF my friends is one of the last
of the high chiefs and is a walking
encyclopedia OF anecdotes of the times
since 1910. It has been my delight to
evolve from his remarkable memory
incidents relating to the times when
the natives were numerous and when
the sway of the chiefs maintained.
His mother was a high chiefess having
a a-kuauhau or recorded pedigree
Iatterly, or one which was passed
down from father to son from ancient
times as was the custom in the
families of the. chiefs. The city home
Of the family was a large thatch
house with broad lanais situated on
the vacant lot at the rear of the Cum
Minis Block on Fort street above Mer-
chant. In those early days the COM
mon people had not gotten from un-
der the thraldom of the chiefs and
their retainers obeyed implicitly.
To order an ai-puupuu, or servant,
to bring from favored ponds at Waia-
Iua (38 miles distanD certain fish for
the kings breakfast was a common
occurrence. Men would leave there in
the night with calabashes of live fish
in water and have them in town be-
fore ten o'clock a m. These servants
were called ai-puupuu, or men with
Jumps on their necks, callosities form
ed through carrying great weights sus-
pended from mamakas or long sticks,
as we see Chinese today carrying vege-
tables and fruits from door to door.
These servants had a pride in being
the retaiTers of such and such a chief
and delighted in singing the oils and
meIes (songs and sagas) in which We're
recounted the feats of arms or love
OF the ancestors of their chiefs AS
they climbed hills or in a jog trot
crossed the plains they kept up con-
tinuous chant only relieved when
swinging the mamaka from shoulder ,
to shoulder. Notwithstanding that |
their work was hard it was inherent
to obey and good chiefs did not forget
to reccmpens4 faithful servants we'll. /
Neglect to do so on the part of the |
chiefs soon brought it's retribution in
the desertion of the servant. We find |
some chiefs called alii-kanaka- ole, !
chief without retainers, for the reason
that he or his father had been too !,
hard on their men either in not remun-
Grating them adequately or in taking
too large a proportion of the products
of their lands or livestock as pigs,
dogs, chickens, etc.
In ancient times, before artificial
wants multiplied through the introduce
ton by foreigners of clothes, horses,
cattle, rum, and the myriad of other
necessities. the life of the native was
exceedingly simple. Grass-house build
ing and the collecting of materials
therefor from the mountains as pou,
oa( posts and rafters), ohe or bamboo ]
on small straight branches of which
the grass on the roof and sides was
dashed by Irvine made from the olona,
with fishing and cultivating
the soil was the principal work of the
men. The women twisted the Irvine
for lashings and for lines and nets
and made the cloth, kappa, from the
bark of the wauke, and plated mats
from the leaf of the hala or pandanus S
AS amongst other peoples there were s
those who were skilled in the fine arts '
as printing beautiful patterns on ka- '
pas. making kahilis and necklaces from d
feathers. and many of them We're c
adopts in hewing and carving canoes, n
ala bashes agricultural implements e
and weapons of war. The men cooked Il
md made the poi from taro, bread L
,ruit. sweet potatoes, etc, as rule. "
It was the duty of the women to care s
or the poi and cleansing the dishes a
md caIaba shes. Naturally, amongst e.
| people whose food was so largely b
he product of the sea there were many p
Who were extremely expert as fisher a
men. We have seen the ruins of many CT
# the sea walls along the shoals of b
Iolokai and elsewhere where ponds fe
we're made by impounding the water tt
through the building miles of stone IL
vail The labor for this and the ST
them against the unruly 50
ga was enormous. Only by the grasp h
Which the chiefs had on the common m
eople in feudaI times could such i'm tn
lense work be accomplished. We have ri
cen the paved road of Uni. running TO
long HuaIalai and ascending Mauna- tn
"a. on Hawaii, which was miles in of
.ngth, which must have entailed the w
ervices Of thousands of villeins. Also in
somewhat similar road on East tr
[aui. in the Kipahulu District. Also fu
e know that wherever there is q rs
.ream the chiefs compelled the build Gt