Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-01-18
PIONEER TELLS OF FIRST HAWAIIAN HISTORICAL
SOCIETY MEETING AND ORGANIZATION OF CLUB

formation they could on the question
given out, commit each his infOrma
ton to writing and be ready to read
II on day and hour appointed. At
the time OF meeting each scholar read
what he had written, discrepancies
wc:C reconciled and corrections made
and all compositions handed to me.
out Of which | endeavored to make
one connected and true account. At
last a volume was prepared and print
ed in the Hawaiian language.
The results of this plan were four
~ 4 history CT the islands which is
now a classic on IN interest in his
tory aroused in the minds of the older
and more prominent Hawaiians, as
they saw the benefit of preserving the
ancient history of their own people,
60 body of the best-educated Ha-
waiians trained along the line of his
torical research. a. each one Of these
men was drilled many months in the
art of EXPIRE ssing in writing the ideas
received in his conversations with the
older people.
Dibble was sent to the United States
to sec if he could recover from
threatened pulmonary troubles. His
pupils evidently Continued the work
with varying degrees of success. In
later years valuable historical articles
by several of these men were contrib
uted to the native papers and two,
David Malo and s. M. Kamakau, have
written and published enough mate
rial to make two or more volumes of
Hawaiian lore. To David Malo we
owe the best description we have of
Hawaiian customs and to Kamakau we
are indebted for the most comprehen-
sive historical statements especially
concerning the life Of Kamehameha
the First
When Dibble returned to Lahaina
he renewed bis endeavor to collect
Hawaiian history. He writes in 1913:
"a Royal Historical Society has been
formed by means of which some in
formation has been gained"
We would have no farther knowl-
edge concerning this society If Kama
kan had not made a record of its orr
gin and end and printed it in the
Kuokoa of 1865.
started at Lahainaluna according to
the desire OF the teachers. As the
people of AIebioDe CAlbion) had their
British history and read about = the
Saxons and William. SO the Hawaiians
should read their history. So in 1S41
the society was organized"
Kamehameha III, John Young "a
son OF the friend of Kamehameha ~
Haalilio. David Malo, D. Baldwin. Will
liam Richards. S. Dibble, Kamakau
and many others were present. Ka-
mehameha III was elected president,
William Richards yice-president, S.
Dibble secretary and s. M. Kamakau
treasurer.
The king said he thought the his
tory of all the islands should be pre-
served from first to last"
To David Malo was given the history
of Uni, to, John Young was allotted
the coming of the first foreigners, to
Haalilio the childhood of Kamehame-
ha /; KihapiiIani was allotted to Ka-
makau, and the first ships anchoring
at Lahaina to A. Moku. The mission
aries and wise people from Hawaii to
Kauai were given questions about the
places where they lived.
For about three years this society
"paai"-i. e., did its work faithfully,
but when Dibble died and the king
moved to Honolulu because of the new
legislature started there, the work
of collecting the ancient things of the
islands became "hemahema"-i e.,
very faulty, and the society came to
an end.
Kamakau says, IF Dibble had lived
we should have had full story of
Hawaii" ,s-
About his own work he says in