DECEMBER F O R E C A S T 1 9 4 9

Hcioles Discover Waikiki

O U T R I G G E R C A N O E C L U B - H O N O L U L U

H A O L E S D I S C O V E R W A I K I K I By Edwin North McClellan

Waikiki—Spurt ing-Water—centuries ago was wi thou t fishers, swimmers, canoe-paddlers and surf-boarders. Shark-Gods and Shark-Queens glanced toward this glis-ten ing coral-strand and saw no man or woman. Later , maybe five centuries af ter Christ was born, the Menehuncs— Hawai ian aborigines—might have been seen drag-ging their d i m i n u t i v e outrigger-canoes from the valleys to Waik ik i Beach. It is said that their voices could be heard at Waikiki all the way f rom N u u a n u and Kalihi .

Abou t six centur ies later, more and bigger Polynesian pioneers arr ived in O a h u and discovered that Waik ik i was a good place at which to en joy life.

Polynesians con t inued to popu la t e Oahu—with its magnif icent Kalelniawehe N i l and f reshwater s tream of Apua-. y h a u near where the m o d e r n Out r igger Canoe C l u b is s i tuated today. O a h u Kings and Queens f rom ancient days selec ted Waik ik i as their royal residence. Royal prerogatives mean t taboos and Waikiki , bccausc of them, o f ten was a t aboo-Beach reserved for su r fboa rd ing

and surf-canoeing by royalty of O a h u a n d their champions upon w h o m thev laid wagers.

There were n u m e r o u s legal actors who played royal roles in the Drama of Wai-kiki long before Kahaliana—son of Pele-ioholani — became King of O a h u abou t 1773, a n d lived at U l u k o u in Waikiki . Kahal iana p robab ly was at Waikiki , on January 18, 1778, when Cap ta in fames Cook—discoverer of Hawaii—and Ameri • SJi J o h n Ledyard became the first liaoles

J icc any of the Hawa i i an Is lands as they looked nor theas t by east at O a h u and at Waik ik i . N o n e of the Cook Expedi-t ion l anded on O a h u at this t ime and it is improbab l e tha t they visited Waik ik i when tha t expedi t ion anchored off Wind-ward O a h u on Februa ry 27, 1779, and some of its officers and men went ashore on O a h u .

THE HAOLES COME

T h e r e may have been Americans serv-ing aboard the ship c o m m a n d e d by Cap-tain J o h n H a n n a that visited Hawai i in 1785—the first since Cook—but it is no t known whether this vessel anchored in Waik ik i Bay. However , the fol lowing year of 1786 the first liaoles saw Waik ik i . T h e y were o n board the King George

(Na than ie l Port lock) and Queen Char-lotte (George Dixon) .

" O n the first of J u n e (1786) we came to anchor in a bay on the south side of W h a h o o (Oahu) ," recorded Cap ta in Dixon.

" W e came to anchor in the bay which I d is t inguished by the name of King George's Bay," expla ined Cap ta in Port-lock. T h i s is Waia lac Bay. Cap ta in Port-lock called the east po in t of this bay, Point Dick in honor of Sir John Dick, the expedi t ion ' s first pa t ron . T o the west po in t of King George's Bay, Port lock gave the n a m e of Point Ross a f te r George Ross, his second pa t ron . T h i s was Dia-m o n d Head .

T h e ships no sooner had come to anchor than canoes were observed pad-dl ing a r o u n d D i a m o n d Head f rom Why-teetee (or Whi te te t t e ) which we now call Waik ik i — which the haoles soon learned was the home of King Tahee-teere (Kahekil i) . T h e natives b rough t coconuts, p lanta ins , sugarcane, a n d a sweet root ( t i ) . In r e tu rn for this food the visitors gave the Hawai ians small pieces of iron, nails and tr inkets.

"Grea t n u m b e r s of bo th sexes were in the water , impel led by curiosity to pay us a visit, no twi ths t and ing o u r distance f rom the shore," wrote Port lock w h o m the natives called Pot ipot i . D ixon re-ceived Ni t t i e as his H a w a i i a n name.

Early on the m o r n i n g of J u n e 2, 1786, Cap ta ins Port lock and D ixon went ashore. T h e y f o u n d excellent water b u t the coral reef m a d e it impract icable to get it aboard ship wi th haole boats. How-ever, the Hawai ians solved this p rob lem by carrying the water in their outrigger-canoes to the ships in gourds or cala-bashes. T h e i r wages were i ron nails.

[ 5 ]

WAIKIKI BAY, CALLED QUEEN CHARLOTTE

O n J u n e 3d, Mates Samuel Hayward of the King George anil George W h i t e of the Queen Charlotte r e tu rned f rom a reconnaissance of the west area of King George 's Bay. T h e y repor ted to Cap ta in Por t lock t ha t f r o m a rise of land (prob-ably Ka imuk i ) they had observed Point Ross (D iamond Head ) a fine bay. This, probably , was Waik ik i Bay. Port lock antl D ixon sailed for N i ihau on June 5, 1786, w i thou t visi t ing Waik ik i Bay.

E n r o u t e to N i i h a u , as the two ships ap-proached Poin t Ross (Diamond Head ) a vast n u m b e r of double-canoes came out of Whytce tce (Waikiki) Bay which Cap-ta in Port lock named Q u e e n Char lo t t e Bay, a n d described as an excellent body of water . Por t lock n a m e d the flattish-po in t f o r m i n g the bay's sou thern ex t reme Bank 's Po in t in memory of Sir Joseph Banks. As the ships breasted D i a m o n d Head , an old f r iendly priest boarded the King George and presented Cap ta in Port-lock with a "good lea thered cap as a present" I rom King Kaheki l i . Por t lock and Dixon r e tu rned to O a h u anchor ing the i r ships in Waia l ae Bay on Novem-ber 30, 1786. T h e Uaole visitors f o u n d ou t tha t a t aboo was on by order of tilt-King. Port lock sent presents to Kaheki l i wi th a rec]iK'st that the taboo be l i f ted.

"My old f r iend, the priest ," came along, side in a large double-canoe "decora ted with branches of coconut ," recorded Portlock. T h e priest h a n d e d u p f rom his n inoe a small pig, and told Cap ta in Portlock tha t King Kaheki l i had just ar-rived in the Bav with a large fleet of canoes and soon would be on board the King George, when the taboo would be oil. K ing Kahceteere (Kahekil i) arr ived, as announced , in a very large double-canoe paddled by sixteen stout men . A royal kava-chewer named T o w a n o o h a (accompanying the King) told Port lock

of an exceedingly snug ha rbo r (named Whyteetee) where the ships could lie with safety. On ano the r visit, the King had with him two of his nephews—Piapia (son of the King of Kauai) and Myaro (son of the sister of T a h c e t e e r e or Kahe-

kili) . Kaheki l i m a d e many o ther visits to the haole ships.

HAWAIIAN HOSPITALITY

The haoles saw, or heard ol, many Hawa i i an customs. T h e y saw the hula and heard H a w a i i a n songs. Cap ta in Port-lock expla ined tha t " in their songs, or hcevas, they a t tend more to the gesticula-t ions of the body than the managemen t and m o d u l a t i o n s of the voicc," and that the "women are the best per formers in their amusements of this k ind . "

John Nicol, who served aboard the King George, wrote tha t almost every one aboard took a nat ive w o m a n for a wife; tha t in the evenings the women would call for their husbands by name and spend the n igh t aboard ship. Nicol expla ined tha t the G u n n e r chose for a wife the "fat tes t w o m a n " he ever saW "we were forced to hoist her on b o a r i r and "no hammock in the ship would hold her ." O n e day, when the taboo against women being on the ships was operat ing, bccause a woman had eaten pork on ship, Cap ta in D ixon learned that there had been a festival at the top of a h i l l -probably in the heiau on the slope of D i a m o n d Head—in which a human-sae-lilice had been offered.

A l though these haoles described the prowess of Hawai ians at swimming, div-ing a n d canoeing, they did not ment ion surf-boarding. For a brief period they m a i n t a i n e d the first hospi ta l -camp oil Oahu—near D i a m o n d Head—but had to give it u p because of the curiosity of the Hawai ians .

T h e na tu ra l desire of the Hawaii ; ( to acqui re haole things created some fric-tion between the natives and the whites, bu t n o t h i n g serious occurred. As an ex-ample , in reciprocity of a gift of a large shark by Cap ta in Dixon , King Kahekili sent a big fine hog as an equiva len t of the shark, by his son (probably Ka lan ikupu lc who succeeded Kahekil i as King and was defea ted at Waik ik i and N u u a n u Pali in 1795 by Kamehameha ) bu t that Prince, expla ined Dixon , "wi th a degree of honesty pecul iar to this country, sold us the hog for a large toe."

Cap ta in Port lock finally got a r o u n d to reconnoi ter ing Waikik i . O n the thir-teenth of December he despatched his Third Ma te Samuel Hayward and Dix-

[ 6 ]

oil's Third Male George While in the King George's long boat (which had been schooner - rigged and decked) around Diamond Head (Point Ross) to Waikiki (Queen Charlotte) Iiav, which Towanooha had described and which the /moles had observed from their ships. I Iavward was instructed to make an ac-curate survey of the Bay.

DESCRIBES WAIKIKI

I Iavward's party returned on the fif-teenth, Mate While reporting that "Tee-rclecrc (Kahekili) generally resided in litis Iiav, which is (ailed bv the natives, Wiiitette Bay." According lo Portlock, Mate I Iavward was guided bv I'owa-•Vioha to a small inlet in Oucen Char-.Jlllc Iiav, "with very deep water but noplace lor a ship to ride in salctv. (loselo a sandv beach where the natives gen-erally landed with their canoes. Adjoin-ing "to the beach, in a beautiful vallev,surrounded bv line groves of coconuttrees and a delighllul eountrv. there wasa large town where (as Towanooha in-formed him) the King (Kahekili) gen-erally resided, and the district around itwas (ailed Whvtecice" (Waikiki). Andso. the first litiolr.s had discovered Wai-kiki. But. Captains Portlock and Dixonagain sailed away Ironi Waialae Bay with-out ancoring their ships in Waikiki Iiavor paving King Kahekili a visit in histhatched palace amidst the coconut groveof I Iukou at Waikiki.

^RISTMAS IN HAWAII> The ollicers and men ol the King

George and Ouern Clmrlot te were the first Imoh's to celebrate Christmas in Ha-waii; but not at Waikiki. Ashore at Kauai, oil Christmas l'.ve, 17H(i, Captain Portlock sat down with his Hawaiian hosts to a Christmas Dinner of "hog and a dog" and a large quantity ol taro. On Christmas (lav Captain Portlock and his Hawaiian friends exchanged presents.

" This being Christmas," wrote Cap-tain Dixon, "we spent our time as agree-ably and with plenty of as good cheer as we could proline, such as roast pig, sea pie, etc., etc., and to show our refined taste, even in our liquor, we no longer drank grog mixed with simple water, but

TWO OF A KIND Christmas Matching

S u i t s . . .

Hand-tailored by Mar mo

of Imported and Domestic

\\roolens

C h o i c e of a num-ber of co lors and p a t t e r n s p l u s H o u s e of Marino dis t inct ive h a n d ta i lor ing — n o w w i t h i n t h e price range of ready-m a d e su i t s ! H a v e your Chris tmas fit-t ings n o w !

7

\

jjjf

THE HOUSE OF MARMO

Ladies' and Men's Tailoring S E C O N D F L O O R

Y O U N G H O T E L B U I L D I N G

[ 7 ]

offered our Christmas libations in punch, mixed with the juice of the coconut, toasting our friends and mistresses in bumpers of this liquor."

MORE HAOLES COME

Ships continued to arrive at Waikiki. A haole ship again was seen at Waikiki

Bay on January 1, 1789, when the Iphi-genia (William Douglas), according to John Meares, "worked around the south-east end of the Island of Whahoo (Oahu)," and on New Year's Day an-

chored in "Witctee (Waikiki) Bay." Captain Douglas despatched presents to King Kahckili, and on that afternoon the King visited the Ipfiigenia under a salute of lour guns. Captain Douglas went ashore in his jolly-boat with King Kahc-kili to the beach at Waikiki where the King entertained him with a luau and hulas.

The .Yortlrwest-America (Robert Fun-ter) joined the Iphigenia on January 10, 1789. When the Hawaiians stole some anchors and cable from both ships Cap-tain Douglas issued an ultimatum to King Kahckili—return the stolen goods or Waikiki "town should be laid in ashes." The articles immediately were returned to the I moles.

Probably tile first American ship to visit Waikiki was the brigantine Hope commanded by Captain Joseph Ingra-ham who wrote on May 27, 1791. "We hauled in for Woitictee (Waikiki) Bluffs (Diamond Head) " and "anchored in

Woitictee Bay in eleven fathoms of water, the morai (heiau) bearing north; our distance offshore, two miles." At this time Captain Ingraham had on board ihe Hope, Pyamano (Piliamu) , son of King Kahckili. After procuring about lour hundred gallons of water, some coconuts and potatoes, and putting Pili-niau ashore, the Hope sailed away on May 28, 1791.

Mrs. Seymour Obermer, who was re-cently on Maui, reports that she saw David Kahanamoku, that he is feeling fine and sends his Aloha to all his old Iricnds at the Club.

Uollsijbcrll SpotUic

The Open Doubles Volleyball Tourna-ment is off with a bang. Eleven teams are entered and games are played Sunda\ mornings at 10:00-11:00 and 12:00 a.m.

T he teams are: 1. O'Connor-Brightman. 2. Ackerman-Cooke. 8. Chaney-Thomas. 1. Brcwe-Sorrell. r). Kesner-O'Sullivan. <). Barnhart-Philpotts. 7. Ackerman-Arnott. 8. Casey-Bud Ackerman. 9. Pritchard-Muirhead.

10. Dolan-Dick. 11. Bennet-Parker. It is too early to make predictions ex

cept that this tournament will bring oiu brilliant volleyball and thrilling compe-tition. Come down Sunday mornings, have breakfast and loot for your favor-ite.

TloicA on ihe faM

Lt. Buster Tribble was in town during operation MIKI. Buster is now stationed in San Diego and is living at Coronado Beach. Joe Rastetter, Jr., was an umpire during the same operation.

Punahou's little scat-back, Doug Phil-potts, copped his share of the honors when he was named on Bill "The Knee" Pacheco's weekly All-Star interscholastic football team on his KGU radio pro-gram.

We regret to hear of the death of our Iriend, Commander John Dalison, repre-sentative in Canada of the British Navy, who visited here with the Canadian fleet and made many friends. We'll miss you, John. Aloha-

[ 8 ]