The Story of Hawaii (Illustrated Edition). Fowke Gerard

They are still used to some extent by Hawaiians as well as by other residents.

      Inland, low walls of stone or earth, or both, surround hundreds of old taro patches, one variety of these plants requiring an abundant supply of water during its growth. The poi made from taro was the principal vegetable food of the inhabitants. Sweet potatoes were also a leading article of diet. The fields in which they were grown may still be identified here and there by the little ridges heaped up. All these, with the addition of migratory birds and fowls which at certain seasons swarmed on the different islands, supplemented by various nuts and fruits growing spontaneously, provided a varied and ample food supply. Mammals, except the pig, dog, and rat (really a large mouse), which came in with the early natives, were unknown prior to the advent of the whites. There were no land reptiles and few indigenous noxious insects; although mosquitoes, not to mention certain domestic pests, abound in a few places, and there are some scorpions and centipedes; but these, like measles, smallpox, tuberculosis, and worse diseases, are adjuncts of an enforced civilization. The mongoose, brought in to destroy rats, and the myna bird, to devour insects, are themselves now beginning to be detrimental.

      Along the coasts, on the headlands and lower hills, and to a less extent farther inland, are village sites, foundations of temples and houses, garden patches inclosed by stone walls, and long rows of stones, some of which are borders of roads or trails, others being for purposes which are undetermined. Among these, taro beds and sweet potato patches may still be traced.

      The most remarkable among the remains are the great temple site on Senator Cooke's ranch, toward the east end of the island, and the "paved trail" 10 miles down the coast from Kaunakakai, the principal village and harbor. The former is rectangular in outline, built on irregular ground, of stones large and small, to form a level platform on which a thousand persons could assemble without being hampered for lack of room. The outer faces of the walls vary from 3 to 20 feet in height; and except at the lowest parts there are terraces or steps all around, about 5 feet in height and of differing width. Surrounding this platform, extending for half a mile up the little valley of which it marks the entrance, on the slopes to either side, and on the nearly level area reaching down to the sea in front, are all the indications of a populous settlement.

      It is said that the ruins were formerly much more numerous and extensive, the larger part of them being swept out of existence by a great rush of water from the mountains "a long time ago."

      The "paved trail" is a causeway of large stones. Some parts of it are obliterated by slides and encroaching ravines; other parts preserve the original condition and appearance. The width is not quite uniform, as the stones are of different sizes, but it departs very little either way from 6 feet. So far as can be judged in its present overgrown state, it extends in a straight line for about 2 miles, from the beach to a point on the hill at an altitude of fully 1,000 feet. To what it led, or why it was built, are questions awaiting an answer.

      All of these places are now abandoned except a few villages along the coast. The people are not here to occupy them, and even if they were the conditions have become so changed that residence about them is no longer feasible. At the temple site, for example, the extent of the old taro beds predicates an abundance of water; at present, the one family living near by must carry it in a dry season from the well or spring of a neighbor. There is no steady water supply within miles of the "paved trail."

      Clearly, extensive changes have taken place in recent times in climate and perhaps in topography. Fifty years ago forests of large trees grew over hundreds of square miles on the southern slopes of Molokai where at the present time there is only grass, or where algaroba trees, similar to the mesquite of the southwestern United States, are now spreading. This deforestation is still going on; dead or dying trees fringe the timber still standing. The cause of this progressive barrenness has not, so far, been, fully ascertained; there is undoubtedly a connection between it and the diminished water supply, though which is cause and which is effect, or whether both are due in common to some atmospheric phenomenon, is unknown. One result, however, is apparent. The roots of the forest trees do not extend deep into the earth, but spread out over the surface like those of pine trees. Thus much of the rainfall was prevented from escaping rapidly and such as was not absorbed by the roots made its way into the ground beneath the upper soil, whence it percolated downward to feed the springs. Now the greater part of the water runs off and is lost. For this reason large areas once well populated are no longer habitable.

      Molokai, like other islands of the group, contains no stone except of volcanic or coral formation. There is no chert or similar material from which chipped implements can be made; nor, as would naturally be expected, is there any obsidian suitable for such manufacture. It may occasionally be seen on the sites of villages, but always in small angular fragments seldom more than half an inch in any dimension, always coarse-grained, even porous, and never of a quality which can be flaked into definite forms. No doubt its only use was as an abrasive, after being pounded fine. Rarely, quartz or chalcedony is found; it resembles the deposit around hot springs or in fissures, and, like the obsidian, is in fragments too small to be utilized except as a grinding or polishing material for smoothing wrought objects.

      Manufactured stone specimens are confined principally to three general classes: Adzes, for working in wood; pestles, for pounding the taro root; and discoids, for games. The last are exactly similar to the chunkey stones so abundant in the States, except that none of them have concave or hollowed faces, and they are used in the same way. There were three forms of the game: To hurl or roll a disk farther than an opponent; to strike a pole or other mark set up; and to test the inherent magical powers of the stones by rolling them in such a way that they would collide, the object in this case being to see which one might prove victorious by breaking the other or forcing it out of its course. A suitable arena for the contest was prepared by carefully leveling and smoothing a straight, narrow strip of ground to any length desired, a slight wall being thrown up along each margin.

      Pottery was unknown, there being no clay suitable for making it. Calabashes or gourds and wooden trays served as receptacles, though stone dishes or bowls are sometimes found. Along the coast occur sinkers, either plummet-shaped or half-ovoid like an egg divided lengthwise. This form has a groove around the longer diameter, crossing the flat face, and was tied to a white shell as a sinker in catching squids or cuttlefish, a hook being attached to the line. Coral was much used as files or rasps. There are a few objects whose purpose is problematical; and some highly polished black disks which, laid flat and covered with a film of water, make excellent mirrors; but aside from what is here mentioned, not much worked stone is found. Wood, bone, and shell served as the raw material for nearly all other needs.

      Graves, or what are supposed to be graves, marked by cairns 3 or 4 feet high, or perhaps by only one or two layers of stones, are found, though rare. Many so-called caves—which are merely "tunnels," "bubbles," or "blow-holes" in the lava—were utilized as burial vaults. The natives vigorously protested against an attempt to excavate any of these, claiming that their ancestors or members of their families are buried in them and must not be disturbed. In the dunes human skeletons are frequently exposed by the shifting of the sands by the high wind. The natives seem to have little regard for these. Perhaps they are of the "common people," while cairns cover the chiefs or priests. There is a tradition that in "the old times" most of the dead were cast into the ocean as an offering to the Shark God.

      There are no mounds or other structures of earth; everything was built of stone. All structures began at the surface of the ground. No evidence has been found of an occupation earlier than that of the present Hawaiian people. At no point examined in ravines or cliffs was there the slightest hint of human life at a period antedating that beginning with the race discovered by Captain Cook. Consequently no extended excavations were attempted. The results of some examinations made in three different places will be presented.

      About 10 miles in an air line from Kaunakakai and the same distance from Mr. Cooke's home, on a mountain known as Mauna Loa, is a narrow, sharp ridge extending nearly south and terminating abruptly at the junction of two deep ravines. On the end of this are two house sites, or heiaus, which had never been disturbed. They are as nearly rectangular as the irregular stones of which they are built will permit. The larger (A) has its south wall at the edge of the low cliff, with its sides nearly on the cardinal lines. Omitting