Chapter 1: Before the Written Record

A. Formation and Description of the Hawaiian Archipelago

Hawaii comprises the northern apex of the Polynesian Triangle (Illustration 1), the name given an area in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean stretching from New Zealand on the south to Hawai'i on the north to Easter Island on the east and encompassing several island groups. All of these populations are thought to be descended from a common ancestral society. The Hawaiian chain is among the most isolated areas in the world, lying approximately 2,100 nautical miles southwest of California and more than 4,000 miles from Japan and the Phillipines. As a consequence of their location, these islands were among the last areas in the world to be discovered and populated but also have served as an important link between North America and Asia. The greatest single distance between any two of the larger Hawaiian Islands is the eighty miles from Kaua'i to O'ahu, while the distances between adjacent islands average twenty-five miles or less. Except for certain wide and dangerous channels that limited communication in some directions, the earliest inhabitants were able to voyage among most islands of the group with relative ease by paddling or sailing canoes.

Illustration 1. Polynesian Triangle, with Hawaiian Islands at northern apex. All peoples within this area are thought to have common ancestry. (Figure 13 in Kirch, Feathered Gods and Fishhooks, p. 23.)

The entire Hawaiian archipelago consists of 132 islands, islets, sand cays, and reefs. Most of the total land area, however, is made up of five major islands — Hawai'i, Maui, O'ahu, Kaua'i, and Moloka'i — and three smaller ones — Lana'i, Ni'ihau, and Kahoolawe — stretching across the Tropic of Cancer. The island of Hawai'i, commonly known as the "Big Island," contains more than twice as much land as the other seven islands combined. The group lies between latitudes 19 degrees and 29 degrees North and longitudes 154 and 179 degrees West. The northern and central, most westerly, leeward islands are small, almost uninhabited, volcanic rocks and coral atolls. The two exceptions are Nihoa and Necker, which were uninhabited at the time of European discovery but contain archeological evidence of earlier human occupation.

The larger islands of the Hawaiian chain comprise the emerged summits of a 1,600-mile-long northwest-southeast trending range of volcanic mountains resting on the Pacific Plate. These shield-shaped basaltic domes have been built up by successive outpourings of lava from vents along a crack in the earth's crust that cooled to solid rock bodies. These islands vary considerably in configuration, land area, rainfall, and vegetation. The oldest eruptive centers are at the northwest (Kaua'i, O'ahu) end of the chain, while the youngest, still active volcanoes are at the southeast end, including Kilauea and Mauna Loa (the world's largest active volcano) on Hawai'i Island. This youngest island has been the focal point of active vulcanism during the period of human occupation. Volcanic eruptions have been a frequent cause of population dislocation, burying settlements and agricultural land under sweeping lava flows. These flows preserve numerous important archeological sites.

The different geological ages of the islands of the Hawaiian chain mean great differences in topography, bespeaking various stages of formation and erosion. The larger islands, which are all dome volcanoes, exhibit a gentle, gradual slope from summit to ocean. The central, mountainous parts of these islands are generally rugged and cover considerable area. Through the years volcanic flows have been subjected to various weathering processes. First chemical weathering gradually works upon the lava, resulting in formation of soil. That action is followed by rainfall-induced stream erosion associated with north-east trade winds — the dominant feature of the Hawaiian climate. Erosion is usually greater on the windward side of the islands where the greatest amounts of rain fall, causing the formation of steep valleys and cliffs, often cut by permanent streams. These predominantly wet, cool areas are forested where not cultivated. It has been estimated that almost fifty percent of the total area of the main islands (6,435 square miles) was forest land in pre-European times. The warmer and drier leeward sides of the islands, more sheltered from the rain, undergo much more gradual erosion and are mostly grassland and scrub, characterized by shallower, trough-like valleys, coastal plains, flat sand or cobble beaches, and occasional coral reefs.

The mild, subtropical climate of Hawai'i has been favorable to the growth of introduced vegetation. Plants and animals native today are descendants of those that arrived over a long period of time by one means or another and spread gradually throughout the islands. Hawai'i's flora and fauna are highly specialized because of their isolation and the great variations in environment on the different islands.

B. Origins of the Hawaiian Population

Probably beginning about 1000 B.C. or earlier, small groups of people from western Melanesia or southeast Asia migrated toward the Pacific into the western part of Polynesia. Their colonization attempts were highly successful for several reasons. A seafaring population, they had developed strong double-hulled outrigger canoes that could carry many people and supplies and travel great distances. They had well developed celestial and other navigational skills that not only allowed far-flung colonization efforts but also enabled round trips between parent and daughter colonies. Finally, they had perfected the horticultural, hunting, and fishing technologies needed to sustain fledgling populations on previously uninhabited islands. These colonists, who became the ancestors of a hybrid people known today as Polynesians, ultimately spread to all other islands of the Triangle.

The Hawaiians are a branch of these peoples inhabiting the eastern tier of islands in the Pacific Ocean. The other principal branches were the Maori of New Zealand and the Samoans, Tongans, Tahitians, Cook Islanders, and Marquesans. According to Anthropologist Patrick Kirch, there is strong evidence from a number of early Hawaiian archeological sites that initial colonization of some of the islands had occurred by at least the fourth or fifth centuries A.D. by people from the Marquesas Islands.

It is thought there were additional waves of immigrants to Hawai'i beginning in the twelfth century from the Society Islands (Tahiti). Evidence exists, and Hawaiian tradition suggests, that the route between Tahiti and Hawai'i was traversed frequently by large double-hulled canoes during this later period, return voyages possibly being made to renew contacts and secure skilled labor and additional plants and animals. The role of external contacts (migrations) in the evolution of Hawaiian culture is still actively debated.

Important new cultural elements forming the framework for the later Hawaiian labor system, social structure, and religious order were introduced during the final migratory period and superimposed upon the aboriginal society of earlier migrations. The leaders of these last arrivals were the ancestors of the ali'i, the chiefly class of Hawaiian society noted by the early discoverers, whose origin and cultural heritage were distinct from those of the older Hawaiian population. After this period of "long voyages" ended, communication ceased between Hawai'i and other areas of Polynesia, and the Hawaiians lived in nearly complete isolation from outside influences until 1778.

C. Origins of Hawaiian Culture

The early migrants from Central Polynesia did not arrive in Hawai'i totally unprepared for life in a new island setting. They brought with them a collective knowledge accumulated over thousands of years of migration from southeast Asia relative to subsistence activities, engineering techniques, adaptation to environmental constraints, and handicrafts that were suited to dealing with the raw materials of a tropical environment. The Polynesian culture of which these settlers were a part emphasized fishing and farming supplemented by dependence on domesticated animals. The development of this culture had also resulted in traditional ways of thinking and patterns of social behavior and formation of specific attitudes towards relationships among individuals and between individuals and nature.

Peter H. Buck, a former director of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu, points out that there was no single Polynesian culture when foreigners first made contact. The only common culture would have existed when people were living in one island group before dispersing elsewhere. From that point on, each island group proceeded to develop its own culture, specializing in different directions while still retaining some fundamental elements of the early common culture. When the term "Polynesian culture" is applied to that functioning at the time of European contact, it is an abstraction referring to common features or general similarities underlying local differences in culture within Polynesia.

The first voyagers to the Hawaiian Islands would have brought with them only some of the cultural variations and subsistence items present in the various Polynesian societies, which would have become the basic agricultural staples of the Hawaiian economy. Not only did these prehistoric peoples make extensive changes in the Hawaiian landscape, modifying and manipulating the habitat to suit their needs, but they also had to live with certain constraints exercised by nature that greatly affected the development of their culture. These factors set certain directions in terms of needed skills and a subsistence base and gradually led to a culture very distinct from the Polynesian homeland. The social and political organization and the religious practices that emerged as part of this new Hawaiian society were related to the peoples' past experiences as well as to their adaptations to the ecosystems of their new home. 

D. Development of Hawaiian Culture

1. Early Environment of the Hawaiian Islands

The Hawaiian Islands consisted of high volcanic landforms separated by miles of open water. A great diversity of environmental conditions existed among islands and upon each one. The first Polynesians reaching this new homeland found a virtually unspoiled landscape. Although somewhat barren and dusty in places, there were as well undisturbed reefs and lagoons, sandy beaches, dense inland rain forests, broad alluvial plains, precipitous cliffs, high peaks, and moist valleys and uplands, in addition to a mild, salubrious climate. And until European contact the area remained relatively pest and disease free.

The most serious deterrent to technological advancement was the absence of metals, such as copper and iron, in a usable form, forcing reliance on stone, wood, shell, and bone for tools, weapons, and household implements. Fortunately, one of the assets of their new home was an abundance of volcanic rocks, some of which were hard enough to be used as adzes, cutting implements, and abraders, while others could be broken up into blocks suitable for construction. Other types of stones, such as waterworn pebbles and talus fragments, were also used in building.

The volcanic nature of their new home affected many aspects of the developing Hawaiian culture. The percentage of land available for cultivation was small. The rugged, mountainous interiors were neither conducive to habitation nor good for agriculture due to excessive rain and scarce sunlight. Some areas of the islands had abundant water, while others were very dry. Tidal waves, mud and rock slides, and volcanic eruptions were a constant threat, undoubtedly causing considerable damage and loss of life. Seasonal flooding, droughts, and other environmental conditions seriously affected agricultural as well as maritime pursuits and necessitated careful planning and community cooperation to insure an adequate and constant food supply.  All things considered, however, these pristine tropical islands offered an abundance of raw materials and a favorable environment for the formation of a distinctive socially and politically complex culture.

The archeological profession is still actively debating the nature of pre-Western contact Hawaiian culture. This has resulted in the formation of several models illustrating the evolution of Hawaiian settlement and subsistence patterns, material culture, and socio-political organization. A detailed analysis of each of these models is not presented here, but rather a summary of the probable general development pattern of Hawaiian society prior to the arrival of Europeans.

2. Settlement Patterns and House Styles

Over the last twenty years archeologists have begun intensive investigations into the nature and patterns of aboriginal cultural adaptations to the varied environmental situations found in the Hawaiian Islands. The term "settlement patterns" refers to the nature and distribution of dwellings and other buildings reflecting the natural environment, level of technology, class differences, trade patterns, warfare, political and religious systems, and cultural traditions.

Little is known about the earliest Hawaiian population, but because of their Polynesian background as fishermen and agriculturalists, during this formative time settlement probably began along the coastlines near rich fishing grounds. These scattered, often temporary, coastal homesteads, consisting of a few houses, were probably occupied by extended family groups. Although the character of a shoreline might seem promising for a village site, its selection depended upon shelter from winds and the availability of fresh water. In ancient times, water was available from several different sources. Surface streams in the larger valleys provided water for domestic use and later were used for irrigation purposes. Along the coastal plains, ground water was available in volcanic rock, limestone, and gravel. This lower-level fresh water (basal water) floats on the salt water because of its lesser specific gravity. Where there were no streams, coastal villages depended on basal water obtained from shallow wells dug in the sand a few feet from the shore. In some areas fresh water escaped along the coasts, causing springs under the surface to erupt through the salt water. This water could be captured in gourds for use. Settlement also extended into the lowland zone of alluvial windward valleys where there were fertile agricultural resources.

Initially, some of the settlers living farther away from the coast on the hillsides and in the valleys where there were many rock caves, might have used these for housing. At some point these first arrivals began constructing shelters and arched dwellings of wood and bark on level spots along the curves of the land, along sandy shores and the banks of streams, on ridges and hills, and in gulches and wooded areas — wherever suitable material for thatching existed. Some evidence has been found that these early settlement structures contained fire hearths and that cooking was done in traditional Polynesian earth ovens.

In time, the focus of permanent settlement became the fertile, well-watered windward valleys, but with continued exploitation of rich fishing grounds. Activities were not confined to the windward lowlands, and eventually small permanent nucleated settlements became dispersed throughout ecologically favorable locations on all the major islands. The archipelago's population was probably increasing, due in large part to the lack of restrictions on agricultural land and to plentiful natural resources.

Evidence of house structures from this period reveals small, round-ended huts with internal, stone-lined hearths. Other types of houses, including rectangular shelters, might also have been present.

Explosive population growth ultimately necessitated expansion into even the most arid and marginal regions of the archipelago. During that time, the population established numerous new sites and settlements, mostly in previously unoccupied areas. Small clusters of houses continued to appear in the interior portions of windward valleys, away from the coast, and along leeward coastlines. The first settlements in these latter areas were situated at the most favorable spots, near natural fishponds or around sheltered inlets. This period was characterized by the rapid dispersal of population from the fertile windward regions into leeward valleys and along leeward coasts. Throughout this period the continued settlement and development of less favorable areas occurred.

Large numbers of rockshelters now served for both temporary and permanent occupation. Houses with rounded ends persisted in limited numbers, but the dominant permanent house style was rectangular. These structures frequently rested on stone-faced, earth-filled rectangular terraces, and a pattern of separate dwellings and cookhouses was established. The C-shaped shelter also appeared during this time, correlating with the development of leeward agricultural field systems.  Just prior to contact, there were few significant lowland tracts not subject to some level of occupation and exploitation. An apparent decline in growth rates, however, led at this time to a leveling off of the population. The effect of such controls as abortion, infanticide, and warfare on this trend is uncertain. 

3. Material Culture

Little is known about the earliest Hawaiian material culture. Stone adzes of various types were certainly used, and because these people were fishermen, depending initially almost entirely upon the sea and its produce for their subsistence, simple fishhooks were manufactured as well as trolling lures. Other items found from this early period include coral abraders and flake tools. Cultural items most susceptible to change during the settlement period would have been those used in sea exploitation, because of the different raw materials, marine conditions, and types of marine resources in Hawai'i.

Ultimately certain distinctive patterns of Hawaiian material culture did begin to develop. Fishing gear was refined to adjust to local marine environmental conditions and available materials. Elaborate two-piece bone fishhooks appeared and trolling lures became more distinctive. Styles of coral and sea-urchin files, awls, scrapers, and flake tools remained about the same.

Few new portable artifact types developed over the years, and the basic Hawaiian material culture inventory changed little until the arrival of Europeans and the introduction of foreign goods and materials. However, elaboration of elite status goods, such as feather capes and whale ivory pendants, and wood carving increased. Craft specialists standardized and controlled the production of these valued goods as well as of utilitarian items.  At the time of European contact, these status items were much admired for their design and artistry.

4. Subsistence

If the Hawaiian settlers had been totally dependent on the land resources of the islands they were settling, it would have been very difficult to survive. The upland forests, often extending to the foothills, provided some food plants such as pandanus and edible ferns. The forests also were habitat for bats and birds, which could be utilized for food, while the feathers of the latter also became an important aspect of personal ornamentation. In addition, the fertile soil and water resources could be exploited for agricultural purposes. These indigenous island resources were supplemented by a limited number of plants and animals the voyagers brought with them by canoe. These included taro, yams, and breadfruit (not successfully transplanted until the 1200s); fiber plants like the paper mulberry whose bark could be manufactured into clothing and decorative items; medicinal plants of many varieties; and a few domesticated pigs, dogs, and fowl. However, careful tending of these food plants and domesticated animals for several years would have been necessary before they could provide an adequate food supply.

The early settlement period, therefore, was probably characterized by primary dependence on the sea and its products for subsistence. On adjacent land, however, if sufficient rainfall and protection from salt spray allowed, the villagers could raise sweet potatoes or yams. Expert fishermen, the first settlers were adept at exploiting the rich marine resources found in nearby reefs and bays, including fish, shellfish, squid, crustaceans, marine mammals, and seaweed. They not only rapidly became familiar with the various habits and characteristics of the different kinds of fish on the coasts and the best places and times to catch them, but also acquired an intimate knowledge of their breeding places and feeding grounds. This almost total dependence on the sea would last until crops were growing well and domesticated animals were reproducing in sufficient numbers, allowing the Hawaiians to expand into a land-oriented economy.

In time there was extensive development and intensification of all aspects of food production. Fishing and shellfish-gathering continued as a major specialized activity. The Hawaiians not only became adept at spearing and poisoning fish, but also at formulating precise techniques for the manufacture of fishhooks, lures, basket traps, and nets with sinkers. The population also collected salt for treating pork and fish in dry coastal areas by evaporation, frequently in natural or manmade saltpans.

Economic production intensified with the development of large irrigation works, dryland field systems, and methods of aquacultural production. There is direct archeological evidence for taro Irrigation in the form of stone-faced pondfields and irrigation channels constructed in interior valleys. These irrigation systems reflect the intensification of production in areas that had already been occupied for centuries. Leeward areas, however, also underwent rapid agricultural expansion as dryland forests and scrub were cleared and various kinds of field systems were laid out. The first true fishponds and associated aquacultural techniques probably developed during the latter half of this period. The earliest ponds were constructed by the fifteenth century and Increasingly thereafter as chiefs could command the labor necessary to transport the tons of rock and coral used in the enclosing walls. These ponds, which yielded several hundred pounds of fish per acre annually, were not only feats of engineering technology, but reflected chiefly power and were a major symbol of the intensification of agricultural and aquacultural production. Many of the larger pondfield irrigation systems in the valley bottoms appeared in the final centuries prior to European contact. In addition, a large number of fishponds were constructed along the island coasts, under the direct control of the chiefly class.

During the early colonization period in the islands, Hawaiian society probably remained structured along the lines of its ancestral concept of hereditary chieftainship, with settlers organized into corporate descent groups. The rank differential between chiefs and commoners was probably not great for the first few centuries after settlement when bonds of kinship would still have been important in a small population group. The precise nature of the religious beliefs of this early population is unknown, although the pan-Polynesian concepts of mana (spiritual or supernatural power) and kapu (taboo) were probably still a part of their social and ritual lives. Sacred places were probably only designated by small platforms or some type of enclosure.

Eventually a distinctive Hawaiian cultural pattern began to emerge. Although little is known about this stage of socio-political and religious systems, the discovery of some elaborate burials from this period indicates that some sort of status differentiation between chiefs and commoners existed. Probably the ancestral pattern of corporate descent groups had not yet given way to the later rigid class stratification.

In time, the socio-political structure of Hawai'i underwent a radical change, resulting in new forms of religious belief and ritual, in increasing rank differences, and in formation and stabilization of the basic social and political framework found at European contact. The increase in population was a major factor underlying these substantive changes. The spread of settlement into previously unoccupied lands, the establishment of inland field systems, and the dispersed residential pattern provided significant opportunities for agricultural development and intensification, for territorial and political reorganization, and for intergroup competition.

Ultimately, corporate descent groups no longer held land in common. That system was replaced by the ahupua'a pattern characterized by territorial units under the control of subchiefs owing allegiance to a central chief and subject to redistribution in the event of conquest and annexation by a new ruling chief. The establishment of the ahupua'a as the central unit of territorial organization probably dates from this time. As the amount of land available for agriculture diminished, the definition of territorial boundaries increased and local conflicts over arable land brought about intergroup warfare and competition among chiefs. Success in warfare enabled increasingly powerful chiefs to annex conquered lands and place the control of ahupua'a units in the hands of their lesser chiefs. Ultimately, rigid class stratification and territorial rather than kin- based social groupings were established.

Because it was so closely interrelated with these social and political changes, the religious system underwent significant development and elaboration. The Makahiki ceremony, closely tied to the ahupua'a pattern of territorial organization, probably began at this time, developing by the end of this period into a ritualized system of tribute exaction. The rise of intergroup warfare and conflict probably arose with the elaboration of the Ku cult, which was accompanied by an emphasis on increasingly massive temples (heiau).

By the end of this period, Hawaiian culture had been substantially transformed from its ancestral Polynesian predecessor; the basic technological, social, political, and religious patterns witnessed at European contact were now in place.

In 1810 Kamehameha completed the unification of the Hawaiian Islands, basically ending the old political order. This was also the approximate time that foreign goods and ideas began to make serious inroads on the native culture. A wealth of oral traditions handed down by such nineteenth-century scholars as Samuel Kamakau, John Papa I'i, David Malo, and Abraham Fornander provide much information on the political developments of Hawaiian society at this time. (Kmakau, Papa I'i, and Malo were native historians. Fornander is an important source whose writings should be carefully evaluated due to religious influences and some questionable interpretations.)

The political history of all the major islands during the final two centuries prior to European contact comprised constant attempts by ruling chiefs to extend their domains through conquest and annexation of lands, with campaigns often extending beyond the borders of individual islands. The expansion of a chiefdom was generally short-lived due to usurpation by a junior chief enlisting the aid of various malcontents. The later political history of the islands was therefore very cyclical. Another significant aspect of this late-period political organization was the system of marriage alliances between ruling lines of various islands. During this period, high-ranking women were regarded as the main transmitters of rank and mana.

Various cultural elaborations resulted from the intense rivalry and warfare and cyclical conquest characteristic of highly advanced chiefdoms as they attempt to unify and emerge as states. The Ku cult rose in importance, resulting in construction of increasingly massive luakini (temples of human sacrifice). The kapu system, especially the sanctions surrounding the high chiefs, also underwent further elaboration.

E. Major Aspects of Traditional Hawaiian Culture

The previous sections have provided the reader with an overview of the origins of the colonizers of the Hawaiian Islands, the type of environment the original inhabitants encountered, and some idea of the major trends in the development of Hawaiian society during specific cultural sequences. Pu'ukohola Heiau National Historic Site and Kaloko-Honokohau and Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Parks contain a vast number of resources representing the evolution of Hawaiian settlement patterns and house types; fishing and agricultural activities; social, political, religious, economic, and land use systems; and recreational and artistic pursuits. These resources include habitation, recreational, and religious sites; items of material culture, such as tools, utensils, and artwork; roads and trails; and structures associated with agriculture, husbandry, and fishing, including shrines, windbreaks, fences, and animal pens. In order to better understand the contexts within which these remains attain their significance, it is necessary to describe in more detail some of the developments in Hawaiian culture up to the time of European contact.

1. Social Organization

     a) Stratification

During the period from about A.D. 1400 to European contact, Hawaiian society underwent a systematic transformation from its ancestral Polynesian descent-group system to a state-like society. The stratification that came to characterize Hawaiian society — consisting of a highly cultivated upper class with territorial control supported by a substructure of an underprivileged lower class — was somewhat reminiscent of ancient Mediterranean and Asian civilizations as well as of medieval Europe, and indeed has been referred to as feudal in nature.

The ali'i attained high social rank in several ways: by heredity, by appointment to political office, by marriage, or by right of conquest. The first was determined at birth, the others by the outcomes of war and political intrigue. At the time of European contact in 1778, Hawaiian society comprised four levels: the ali'i, the ruling class of chiefs and nobles (kings, high chiefs, low chiefs) considered to be of divine origin; the kahuna, the priests and master craftsmen (experts in medicine, religion, technology, natural resource management, and similar areas), who ranked near the top of the social scale; the maka'ainana, those who lived on the land, the commoners — primarily laborers, cultivators, fishermen, house and canoe builders, bird catchers who collected feathers for capes, cloaks, and helmets, and the like; and the kauwa, social outcasts! "untouchables" — possibly lawbreakers or war captives, who were considered "unclean" or kapu, that is, ritually polluting to aristocrats. Their position was hereditary, and they were attached to "masters" in some sort of servitude status.

     b) Rights and Duties of Each Class

Earlier it was stated that the ali'i are thought to have arrived in the Hawaiian Islands after initial colonization had occurred. According to E.S. Craighill Handy, the origin and cultural heritage of the ali'i, who had earlier invaded and conquered aboriginal populations in central Polynesia, distinguished them from the older Hawaiian population. Historically and socially different, they maintained the purity of their blood and the integrity of their cultural heritage through barriers of kapu that isolated them from the lower echelons. Varying degrees of sanctity existed among the ali'i, the highest kapu belonging to an ali'i born to an ali'i of supreme rank and his full sister. In his/her presence, commoners prostrated themselves. The Hawaiian Islands are the only place in Polynesia where this type of extreme inbreeding was sanctioned, although only among the chiefly class, and the only place where the prostration kapu (kapu moe) was imposed.

Recognized degrees of superior sacredness demanded special deference. All nobles of lesser rank had to observe prescribed forms of obeisance to those of the several sacred ranks and avoid their persons and personal property. Death resulted from failure to observe the proper form of homage. Lesser nobles occupied degrees of rank that were significant in connection with marriage and offspring but not in relation to the entire community. The mass of the people, the maka'ainana, probably descended from the aboriginal Hawaiian population. They performed many duties for their social superiors, producing food, supplying items for clothing and home furnishings, and laboring on community projects such as roads, water courses, taro patches, fortifications, and temples.

A division existed not only between classes but also between the duties of commoner men and women. While men engaged in farming, deep sea fishing, manufacturing tools and weapons, building houses, and conducting religious rituals, women raised the children, helped in some agricultural tasks and in-shore fishing, collected wild foods, and made barkcloth, mats, and baskets.

     c) Role of the Kapu System

The Hawaiian concept of the universe embodied the interrelationship of the gods, man, and nature. The former, although the ultimate controlling influence in this system, granted their direct descendants — the nobility — secular control over the land, the sea, and their resources:

The aristocracy fiefed these resources to commoners, and commoners allowed the pariah to attach themselves to their households in domestic servitude. In return, pariah served commoner directly with his labor; commoner exploited the resources and delivered tribute to the aristocracy; the aristocracy served the gods with lavish religious observances in their honor; the gods communicated their satisfaction, or dissatisfaction, through the forces of nature and by influencing the outcomes of human affairs.

Power and prestige, and thus class divisions, were defined in terms of mana. Although the gods were the full embodiment of this sacredness, the nobility possessed it to a high degree because of their close genealogical ties to those deities. The priests ratified this relationship by conducting ceremonies of propitiation and dedication on behalf of the chiefs, which also provided ideological security for the commoners who believed the gods were the power behind natural forces. Commoners possessed little mana and were therefore prohibited from entering any of the holy places where nobles and gods communicated, such as the heiau in which the aristocrats honored their gods. Pariah, with no mana, could interact with commoners but not approach aristocrats.

Mana was the central concept underlying the elaborate kapu system of Hawai'i, the major social control perpetuating rigid class distinctions and conserving natural resources. As Handy states:

It is evident that kapu determined and regulated the three castes. For the ali'i, the kapu of sanctity was at once a wall of protection and the source of prestige and authority. The same kapu determined for the commoners their social and economic relationship to, and their reverential attitude towards their overlords. As for the kauwa, their segregation and exclusion from the social organism was due to a kapu of defilement.

2. Settlement Patterns

     a) Location of Houses

Ancient Hawai'i contained no large villages because of the need to reserve as much land as possible for cultivation or as fishing sites and because concentration of the population for governmental and business purposes was not integral to the functioning of society. The terms "village'' and ''town" as used in this report regarding early Hawaiian settlements do not denote a corporate social entity as they do today, but a forced proximity of homes to each other because of the topography or physical character of an area or the concentration of a particular activity, such as fishing, at that location. Most permanent villages initially were near the sea and sheltered beaches, which provided access to good fishing grounds as well as facilitating canoe travel between settlements. The majority of the population maintained these permanent residences along the coast and erected temporary shelters inland for use while exploiting forest products and working in taro and sweet potato fields.

Both windward and leeward coasts of the Hawaiian Islands had their virtues and defects. As habitation sites, windward coasts were well watered but susceptible to choppy seas, a lack of sunshine, and often harbored steep cliffs. Leeward coasts offered safer navigation, were sunny and warm, but sometimes lacked water for agricultural and domestic use. Leeward coasts possessed of abundant water were considered ideal habitation sites. According to Archeologist Ross Cordy, recent study indicates that the first population centers on the larger Hawaiian islands existed on the windward sides, probably primarily in fertile valleys but extending into areas with good fishing. Permanent occupation of leeward areas did not begin until later. By about A.D. 1400 population had begun expanding inland from the coast, increasing throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as scattered homes and small settlements were established near extensive permanent inland irrigation fields and in specialized agricultural areas.

The district chief resided mostly among the largest centers of population, near the most productive resource areas, where there was enough food to feed his immediate family and relatives. His retainers, including lesser chiefs, warriors, and priests, settled nearby, creating a village atmosphere. Tenants of the ahupua'a provided food and goods to the court. District chiefs tended to move about, concentrating on good surfing or fishing areas, and distributing the burden of their support among the people. This constant movement also enabled them to keep a critical eye on their subjects and ferret out any unrest.

     b) Construction Techniques

Houses of many different construction types existed in the Hawaiian Islands. Usually a commoner constructed his house with the help of friends. When a chief needed a house, however, his retainers assembled the materials and erected the structure under the direction of an individual (kahuna) expert in the art of erecting a framework and applying thatch. Every step of the house building process, from the selection of the site to the final dedication, required careful religious supervision. Certain prescribed rules governed not only the house's location, but also the method of construction, the arrangement of the mats for sleeping, and the procedure for moving in. Blessings such as long life were expected to result from proper respect of these rules.

Most houses at the time of Cook's discovery of the Hawaiian Islands consisted of a framework of posts, poles, and slender rods — often set on a paving or low platform foundation — lashed together with a coarse twine made of beaten and twisted bark, vines, or grassy fibers and covered with ti, pandanus, or sugarcane leaves, or a thatch of pili grass or other appropriate material. When covered with small bundles of grass laid side by side in overlapping tiers, these structures were described as resembling haystacks (Illustrations 2 and 3). One door and frequently an additional small "air hole" provided ventilation and light, while air also passed through the thatching. Grass or palm leaves covered the raised earth floors of these houses.

     c) Size of Residences

Residences of the Hawaiian people varied in size because of differences in use based on class and social status. A commoner's family probably occupied only one or two structures — a sleeping house and perhaps a cooking or utility house, with an associated work plaza for kapa making and other outdoor activities (Illustration 4) Households by the sea kept their canoes in sheds and farmers might have storehouses. Furnishings in the homes of commoners were almost nonexistent, consisting only of some mats used as floor coverings and, when covered with kapa, as beds; a variety of containers; poi boards and calabashes; some simple tools; fish lines and nets; and weapons of war.  Commoner's houses were primarily used only for storage and shelter in inclement weather; most daily household activities, such as cooking, took place outside. These houses also served as places of security or hiding places for commoners and lesser chiefs during kapu periods while high chiefs and high priests conducted important religious activities, such as burials or temple ceremonies, that needed to be free from prying eyes.

The families of chiefs occupied their structures day and night, good weather or bad. The household of a Hawaiian of rank or position, therefore, would need six or more houses. This is because separate structures had to be built for different purposes, the kapu forbidding eating and sleeping under the same roof and prohibiting men and women from eating or working together. The typical household cluster of a chief or other person of rank or position would include one or more of the following: a common sleeping house, a men's house for eating and cooking that was kapu to women, a women's eating house, a women's work house for making mats and beating kapa, a private retreat house for women during their menstrual period, and a heiau or house temple for worship of the family gods. At least one house of each chief's complex served as an office, conference room, and reception area for important visitors. Chiefs tended to stay inside most of the time, shielding their person and their mana from the view of commoners. 

A high chief possessed at least one complex of permanent thatched houses surrounded by a fence, while a ruling chief and other high-ranking individuals maintained several such complexes in different locations or districts. A ruling chief moved his court as desired, travelling along the coasts by canoe with his retinue and setting up temporary establishments at certain sites for purposes of business or pleasure. Numerous individuals, possibly as many as 100 people including family members, relatives, friends, and servants, attended and supported each chief. These retainers, each with specific duties such as preparing food or carrying the chief's spittoon, lived near the chief and moved when he did. Most of the families in this complex organization lived outside the chief's enclosure, but also required thatched houses for storage, shelter, and security during kapu periods. Probably the higher a chief's rank, the larger his stockade and more numerous his houses.

     d) Shelters

Shelters at worksites for farmers, canoe makers, bark scrapers, salt makers, fishermen, and quarrymen; at short-term special-use camps for those working at a distance from their permanent home or involved in resource procurement; or at rest stops along trails when traveling were a necessity (Illustration 5). These temporary abodes took a variety of forms, including caves, stone wall windbreaks, lava tubes, lean-tos, hollow trees, simple A-frame structures, or bark houses. Shelters in the non-irrigated inland agricultural areas and in the forests where people were raising crops, hunting birds, gathering vines, or cutting timber, protected against heat, cold, wind, and rain. Shelters on the coasts, and especially on barren lava flows, provided relief from the sun or inclement weather or were used as windbreaks when sleeping. Chiefs and their retinues lived in temporary shelters when travelling by canoe along the coasts to establish temporary settlements for business or recreational pursuits. Apparently some commoners, regarded somewhat as vagrants by the rest of the population, used caves, lava tubes, or lean-tos as permanent abodes. Sheds thatched only on the roof were erected near the shore to provide shelter for canoes during construction and storage periods and shade for craftsmen working on them.

3. Subsistence

     a) Marine Activities

          (1) Inshore and Offshore Fishing

               (a) Techniques

Abundant marine resources, including aquatic plants such as seaweed and edible algae and animals such as crustaceans and shellfish, provided the primary protein component of the Hawaiian diet because of the limited supply of other protein foods such as pig, dog, chicken, and wild birds. The ancient Hawaiians quickly became familiar with the various species of fish frequenting the waters adjacent to their shores, closely studying their habits and feeding grounds and adopting gathering methods suited to their particular characteristics. Although a constant,

Fishing took place both inshore and offshore. Many fishing techniques were used, each demanding different equipment and procedures. The principal open sea marine exploitation practices at the time of European contact included hand catching, snaring, spearing, basket trapping, netting, hook and line fishing, and poisoning.

Inshore fishing was probably the most productive and reliable source of seafood for the ancient Hawaiians, yielding fish, echinoderms, crustaceans, molluscs, and edible seaweed. Women and children participated in this type of fishing, although canoe fishing and even several of the reef methods were restricted to men. Several types of fish, including crabs, lobsters, eels, sea urchins, shellfish, octopi, and shrimp, could be caught by hand along the rocky coasts in shallow coral reef areas and shoreline pools or by divers in underwater caves.

Eels and lobsters could be caught by snaring with a noose hung from a pole. When an eel stuck its head outside its hole to get at the bait on the other side of the noose, the noose was drawn tight and the eel ensnared and raised to the surface. Using hardwood spears about six feet long, underwater divers stood on the bottom of the shore and impaled fish as they swam by. Spears were used above water for turtles, octopi, and fish that were mesmerized by torches at night in shallow water.

Women used basket traps to catch shrimp and fish. Woven of vines or branches and filled with bait, these baskets could be lowered to the shallow bottom. Women then dove down and brought the filled traps to the surface. More sophisticated baskets had conical woven entries, making it impossible for the fish to find their way out.

Several types of gill nets were used, according to the type of fish to be caught and the type of habitat. The three techniques of fishing with these involved setting up a stationary net in which fish became entangled as they swam about; driving the fish into a stationary net; or moving the net to encircle the fish. Seine nets were also used in shallow water and trapped fish by impounding them within a complete circle formed by the net or between the net and the shoreline. Bag nets were made into enclosed purses with one open end in which bait attracted fish.

A leguminous plant called 'auhuhu was pounded to make a material called hola; this was applied to holes or tidal pools to stupefy the fish, which floated to the surface where they could be retrieved in scoop nets. Or divers stuffed the pounded fibers into an underwater cave that had been sealed earlier to trap the fish inside. In a few minutes the dead fish were retrieved by hand. Another plant, called akia, found in the forests and foothills also served this purpose.

Professionals did most of the offshore fishing, using canoes to reach the deep sea fishing grounds. Only through long and careful training did men become acknowledged fishermen. The head fisherman of a group, for whom this activity was a profession and sole occupation, was the po'o lawai'a. He could be a chief of lower rank or a commoner and often supervised a company of apprentices. Knowledge of the habitats and movements of different species of fish, of the methods of capturing them, and of the types of fishing apparatus needed and of how to manufacture them (these were usually made for him by craftsmen) had been handed down to him. It was therefore his duty to choose pupils to whom to transmit his expertise so the cycle could continue. His assistants helped in fishing beyond the reef, an activity that needed to be done in concert. Often one member of the party stayed on shore to watch for the schools of fish, whose location he signalled to the fishermen. The po'o lawai'a could be commanded to accompany the high chief for a sporting fishing expedition, he could be ordered to fish for the chief, or he could go whenever he wanted.

Knowledge of the location of good fishing places off shore was a family or community possession. These spots were defined by taking bearings on natural features on shore. Several kinds of line fishing from canoes were practiced. The primary type was trolling for tunas with an unbarbed trolling hook, or lure. At other times a one-piece bone or shell hook was attached to a line, sometimes 600 feet long, weighted at the bottom with a stone sinker. Hooks were fastened to the ends of short sticks standing out at right angles along its length, which caught different kinds of fish frequenting different depths.

The first fish caught were reserved for the gods and offered on altars on shore or given to priests as soon as the canoes landed. The best fish of the catch were then set aside for the chief's personal needs and those of his household. After apportions had been made to the various kahuna and konohiki (resident land manager of the high chief), the common people finally received their share according to their need.

Resources caught along the coasts and on reefs were usually eaten raw. Fish were caught mainly for immediate consumption, but surpluses could be preserved by drying or by salting and drying on racks in the sun along the beach. Salt fish went especially well with poi, the staple Hawaiian plant food. Preserved fish could be stored for later food needs or became an important article in internal and external trade or exchange. Fish could also be wrapped in ti leaves and cooked in an imu (underground oven), laid on coals and cooked, or boiled in a calabash (gourd bowl).

As mentioned earlier, salt was an important adjunct to the fishing industry, with villagers collecting and evaporating sea water in either naturally or artificially pan-shaped rocks along the shore. The extraction of salt from ocean water for domestic use was an ancient art.

               (b) Religious Aspects

As with so many other activities in early Hawaiian life, success in fishing was closely tied to signs, omens, and the will of the gods. At the beginning of the fishing season, many ceremonies took place in which offerings such as pigs, coconuts, and bananas were made. There were also specific ceremonies surrounding the christening of a new canoe, the initial use of a new net or hook, and the catching of the first fish.

Many deities were associated with fishing. Although an ancient noted fisherman Ku'ula-kai, his wife Hina-hele, and their son Aiai, were the chief deities of this activity because they supposedly presided over the sea, each fisherman also had his own god, which might be a stone or image of the family guardian spirit ('aumakua), which would bring good luck in fishing and to which he said prayers and made offerings. 'Aumakua belonged to and protected families, or a group of kinsmen, and passed from generation to generation. They were thought to be ancestors of these kinship groups. Good-luck stones, sometimes carved with human form or in the shape of a fish, were either taken along when fishing or left at home facing the sea. In addition, a variety of shrines and altars were placed along the shore near villages or fishing places. Fishing shrines (ko'a), comprising a pile of stones usually of coral or limestone, were erected on promontories or headlands overlooking the ocean. Ko'a also took the form of small thatched temples built on rock platforms, which were enclosed with wooden fences or rock walls and sheltered by banana trees. All these structures were designed to entice the deities to attract shoals of fish to the area, and offerings of fish and sometimes fishhooks were placed on them prior to setting out to sea. After successful fishing expeditions, fishermen again placed offerings of fish on their altars.

Missionary William Ellis, describing his tour around Hawai'i in 1823, mentions that upon

Leaving the heiau [Kauaikahaloa], we passed by a number of smaller temples, principally on the sea shore, dedicated to Kuura [Ku'ula], a male, and Hina, a female idol, worshipped by fishermen, as they were supposed to preside over the sea, and to conduct or impel to the shores of Hawaii, the various shoals of fish that visit them at different seasons of the year. The first of any kind of fish, taken in the season, was always presented to them. . . . This custom exactly accords with the former practice of the inhabitants of Maui and the adjacent islands, and of the Society islanders.

As mentioned, the protective spirit of an 'aumakua was considered to be related to a specific kinship group. This was because the Hawaiians thought that the spirit of an illustrious deceased relative or young child could be ritually induced to enter some kind of fetish, either an inanimate object, a carved image, or an animal, and thus become a patron. The animal selected as the receptacle of the spirit would be treated as a pet, and a familiar relationship between its species and the family would be established. The early Hawaiians regarded certain sea animals, such as sea turtles, eels, squids, porpoises, and most notably sharks, as the physical embodiments of personal gods ('aumakua).

Ellis conjectured that

In some remote period, perhaps, they had observed the sharks chasing or devouring these fish, as they passed along among their islands, and from this circumstance had been led to deify the monster, supposing themselves indebted to him for the bountiful supplies thus furnished by a gracious Providence.

If a species of shark were 'aumakua, any of its members received offerings for special favors, such as good luck at sea and protection from drowning, prior to embarkation of a fishing expedition. Many fishermen, however, regularly fed a shark at a special spot along the shore or from a canoe and came to recognize them as individuals and even as pets. According to J. S. Emerson,

The shark was perhaps the most universally worshipped of all the 'aumakuas, and, strange to say, was regarded as peculiarly the friend and protector of all his faithful worshippers. . . . Each several locality along the coast of the islands had its special patron shark, whose name, history, place of abode, and appearance, were well known to all frequenters of that coast. Each of the sharks, too, had its kahu (keeper), who was responsible for its care and worship. The relation between a shark-god and its kahu was often times of the most intimate and confidential nature. The shark enjoyed the caresses of its kahu as it came from time to time to receive a pig, a fowl, a piece of 'awa, a malo, or some other substantial token of its kahu's devotion. And in turn it was always ready to assist the kahu, guarding him from any danger that threatened him.

Religious practices related to fishing not only helped ensure successful fishing ventures, but the kapu related to fishing and fishponds also helped conserve the sea's food supply. These kapu were rigidly adhered to, not only through tradition, but because it was the will of the chiefs and of the gods and one could expect severe punishment for ignoring them. Hawaiian exploitation patterns were designed to preserve fishing grounds by tapping specific types of marine biota at certain periods. Kapu, or closed, seasons on certain fish during their spawning time helped in the conservation of that species. Elaborate religious ceremonies accompanied the switches in open fishing seasons. Other kapu involved prohibiting fishing at certain places along the shore when deep sea fishing was open; alternating fishing times at inshore fishing places; and making certain that seaweed remained off limits at certain times of the year to preserve it as fish food and thus ensure good shore fishing. The ancient Hawaiians were not only skilled and knowledgeable fishermen, but they also respected the customs and traditions associated with this activity, which was a mainstay of their life. Fishing kapu were considered especially important because they were the method of preserving the harvest of the sea for coming generations, and they were observed with great care.

          (2) Aquaculture

               (a) Fishponds

                    i) Origin

Anthropologist William Kikuchi has broadly defined Hawaiian aquaculture as "the indigenous, economic, technological and political control of natural pools, ponds, and lakes, and of man-made ponds, enclosures, traps, and dams for the culture and harvest" of various marine resources to ensure year-round food availability. The Hawaiian fishponds comprised an early attempt to prudently manage and control the sea's resources for use by man. Fishponds held and fattened fish captured in the sea and served as a source of fish under kapu during their spawning season. The growing of fish in ponds and their conservation for future needs was an advancement on simply capturing food to fill immediate demands and denotes an increasing awareness of the need to manage food systems as the population expanded. Fish did not spawn in the ponds, however, and the level of stock management in them was very limited. The productivity of these historic Hawaiian fishponds was not great because of limited food availability, inter-species competition, and uncontrollable predation. Fishponds did, however, help provide chiefs and their retinue with much of the large quantity of fish they required.

Nowhere else in Polynesia was true aquaculture developed and nowhere else in the Pacific did fishponds exist in the types and numbers found in prehistoric Hawai'i. Where the concept of aquaculture came from and when it was introduced into the Hawaiian Islands is unknown, but it is thought that the idea of fishtraps, probably coming with migrants from the Society Islands, preceded that of fishponds. Probably the earliest aquacultural system in ancient Hawai'i consisted of simple fishtraps, dams, weirs, and natural pools, which were in the hands of the commoners. The Hawaiians ultimately developed the more dependable and efficient ponds. Prehistoric Hawaiian aquaculture encompassed the seven major islands of the group — Ni'ihau, Lana'i, Maui, Kaua'i, O'ahu, Moloka'i, and Hawai'i — but fishponds were particularly extensive on the latter four. Kikuchi states that at least 449 ponds are known to have been constructed prior to A.D. 1830, mostly during prehistoric times in periods of intensification of production to feed large populations. Only on Hawai'i was there an intensive effort to utilize practically every form and body of water for agricultural and aquacultural use.

Ancient Hawai'i's broad aquatic food production system, then, included structures built to catch mature fish as well as structures and practices related to true aquaculture. These latter structures existed throughout the islands and included numerous manmade and natural enclosures of water in which fish and other products were raised. Hawaiian tradition associates a large number of ponds with particular chiefs who directed their construction. Based on genealogies, the first true fishponds may have been built as early as the fourteenth century; there are many definite references to their construction throughout the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. By the end of the eighteenth century, high chiefs are known to have owned more than 300 fishponds. Ownership of one or more fishponds was a symbol of chiefly status and power. According to Apple and Kikuchi, accessibility to some prehistoric fishponds and their products was limited to the elite minority — the chiefs and priests. Because these ponds were kapu to the common majority, they yielded them no direct benefit. Indirectly, however, royal fishponds insured less demand on the commoners' food resources.

                    ii) Types and Construction

The extent and distribution of fishponds depended on the local topography. In areas where broad, shallow fringe reefs existed close to shore, numerous ponds could easily be formed by constructing semicircular stone walls arcing from the shoreline. Although Hawai'i Island does not have this type of coastline, it does have many natural ponds in lava basins along the shore; the addition of walls and gates made these operational as fishponds.

Loko is the general Hawaiian term for any type of pond or enclosed body of water. The two major categories of loko were shore ponds and inland ponds. Hawaiians recognized five main types of fishponds and fishtraps: loko kuapa, loko pu'uone, loko wai, loko i'a kalo, and loko 'ume'iki (Illustration 6). Ruling chiefs owned the first three types, and perhaps some of the larger and more productive of the other types, because they produced consistently and in sufficient quantity throughout the year to be highly prized. Common people and the konohiki mostly constructed and utilized the inland types, which primarily comprised natural freshwater holding ponds (loko wai) in which fish were placed and allowed to fatten, smaller fishtraps, and small irrigated taro plot ponds (loko i'a kalo), which provided only small and erratic yields. Other inland ponds were much larger, requiring collective labor forces for construction, and were almost exclusively for use by the chiefs.

The three royal types of fishponds comprised: loko kuapa, the most important type of shore pond, artificially enclosed by an arc-shaped seawall and containing at least one sluice gate (makaha); loko pu'uone, an isolated shore fishpond containing either brackish or a mixture of brackish and fresh water, formed by development of a barrier beach paralleling the coast, and connected to the ocean by a channel or ditch; and a loko wai, a natural freshwater inland pond. The loko kuapa pond type is unique in Polynesia to the Hawaiian Islands. It was constructed either by building walls in relatively shallow water from two points along the shore into a semi-circular seawall or by constructing a seawall (kuapa) across the opening of a natural embayment. Ponds of this type, built within embayments, occur at several sites along the west coast of the island of Hawai'i. (The loko 'ume'iki [fishtrap] will be discussed later.)

Although many different kinds of fish filled these large ponds, the main inhabitants were mullet ('ama'ama) and milkfish (awa). The algae they fed on grew best when sunlight, salt, and fresh water combined in just the right proportions. Therefore, these walled fishponds needed to be shallow, from two to five feet in depth, so that sunlight could penetrate. Some ponds had fresh water springs in them or were located at the mouths of streams so that fresh water could combine with ocean water within its walls. The larger a pond's acreage, the greater the rate of evaporation, and the greater the need for an adequate supply of fresh water that could be diverted into the pond when necessary. Balancing the salinity, the food supply for the fish, the temperature, and other environmental needs was important to the success of the loko kuapa.

Materials used in the construction of prehistoric fishponds came from local sources and included stone and coral for the walls; lithified sand, alluvium, and vegetable materials for filling, surfacing, and cordage; and timber for sluice grates. The main seawall of one of these ponds comprised coral boulders or rocks or unworked basalt and ranged in width from three to nineteen feet, five feet being average. They were usually three to five feet high and faced on both sides with block construction. They were always massive and well built compared to secondary and tertiary walls within the confines of some ponds, which probably served to segregate fry from predators. The construction of fishponds involved men standing in a line from the source of the building material to the construction site and passing rocks of huge size along the human chain. Some of the fishponds were massive, their assembly being intensive, lengthy, and costly in terms of material, manpower, and the expense of feeding or housing workers.

Grills or grates (makaha) composed of straight sticks tied to one or more crossbeams obstructed the openings through the seawall (Illustration 7). The upright sticks stood close enough together that the sea water and young fry could pass in and out but larger fish could not. The makaha were stationary, with no movable parts, and were sometimes placed across a sluice or ditch, channels formed by two parallel rows of stone walls running into the pond from the grill opening. These sluices carried water into the pond from an agricultural irrigation system or from a river, spring, or the sea, creating a brackish water environment. There are no traditional standard locations for these grates, which were probably placed to provide flow into and out of the pond to reduce silting and inhibit stagnation. This sluice gate, the most distinctive and unique feature of the Hawaiian aquacultural system, was probably the technological innovation that allowed prehistoric Hawaiians to move from high tide-dependent fishtraps and from enclosed ponds with no sea access to artificial estuaries that could be controlled at all times of the tide.

The sieve-like nature of the sluice grates and the permeable seawalls allowed a wide range of sealife to enter the fishponds. To insure a supply of preferred fish, fingerlings of the desired kinds were captured and transported over the walls into the ponds. Stocking occurred on a seasonal basis because kapu prohibited the catching of fish during spawning. Mature fish ready for harvesting congregated on the pond side of the grate during incoming tide and on the sea side during outgoing tide. Fishing in the ponds usually involved hand nets, dip nets, seines, or surround nets. The most common method of harvesting fish utilized scoop nets on the pond side of the gate on the incoming tide.

                    iii) Products and Maintenance

As mentioned earlier, the fish most frequently raised in loko kuapa ponds were mullet ('ama'ama) and milkfish (awa). In early times, both species were kapu for all but the chiefs. Both thrive in slightly brackish water and are vegetarians, feeding on algae at the bottom of the ponds and on the roots of plants growing along the water's edge. Often stones with seaweed attached were set in the ponds to increase their food supply. Because neither of these fish reproduced in ponds, fingerlings captured in the ocean were deposited in the pond to augment supplies. In addition, excess ocean catches were allowed to grow in the ponds and then recaptured for consumption.

Each royal fishpond had a resident male keeper (kia'i loko) who stayed in a small guardhouse near the makaha when the tide was high and the fish more accessible to guard against poaching or destruction by pigs and dogs. Balancing all elements of the pond environment to ensure healthy growth was a practiced art in early Hawai'i. Maintenance of fishponds required repairing the seawall, cleaning the pond of silt and overgrowth, repairing the makaha, and eliminating predators such as barracudas and eels. Probably the kia'i loko and his staff handled routine maintenance operations but coordinated with the konohiki, who controlled the laborers, for the large-scale construction, repair, and cleaning of the ponds. The kia'i loko also fertilized the ponds artificially with sweet potatoes, taro, breadfruit, mussels, and seaweed.

                    iv) Religious Aspects

Strict kapu against poaching or pollution helped insure fishpond production. In addition, guardian spirits were believed to inhabit fishponds, and regular offerings to them were made at shrines near the walls. Usually these guardians were 'aumakua mo'o, female marine creatures who appeared as lizards, turtles, or as a woman sitting alongside the pond combing her long black hair. They are considered the feminine equivalents of shark 'aumakua. Mo'o were reportedly seen on rare occasions. A mo'o is associated with the fishpond at Kaloko, in the Kona District of Hawai'i Island. Major shrines for royal fishponds, called 'aoa, often contained two stones representing Ku'ula and his wife Hina.

                    v) Role in Hawaiian Society

Royal courts were very mobile before European contact, none of the chiefs establishing a permanent capital. During the absence of the ali'i, royal fishpond managers administered these food resources. When a mobile court took up temporary residence near a royal fishpond, a fresh supply of fish and other pond products was available whenever needed. Fishponds in conquered chiefdoms became the personal property of the conquering high chief and their harvest helped support him and his court. As the Hawaiian kingdom took form, royal fishponds in different parts of the islands supplied Kamehameha's appointed governors and district chiefs by his order as owner of all fishponds by right of conquest.

The coastal fishponds and their resources were the exclusive property of the district chief and were not a major economic resource to the general population, who were prohibited by kapu from fishing, collecting seaweed, or polluting the pond. Commoners, especially women, were seldom in the vicinity of royal fishponds. There was little advantage for commoners to live near a pond for fear of breaking the kapu. Possibly after abandonment of the kapu system in the early nineteenth century, the population concentrated more around these ponds because the resources became available to them. Coastal fishponds probably played a more important role in early Hawaiian social and political systems than in the economy. Coastal fishponds owned by the district chief increased his wealth, giving him greater political power. They were an important factor in interahupua'a and interdistrict politics and social structure, giving wealth and status to the ali'i while at the same time demanding labor from the commoners to maintain them. [87] Conspicuous ownership of food sources in Hawai'i was the sign of a powerful chief. The value of fishponds as symbols of power continued through the mid-nineteenth century. In the Great Mahele of 1848, which imposed Western-type land registration on the traditional Hawaiian land ownership pattern, fishpond ownership and high status remained linked, and larger fishponds remained with the nobility.

This is not to say that fishponds were not of some economic and social value to the early Hawaiians. During certain periods of the year when particular fish were kapu and could not be harvested in the open ocean, fishponds provided a source for those species. A stocked fishpond could also sustain a population through periods of poor fishing. Robert Renger believes that social restrictions on these pond resources, however, would have been a limiting factor before the abandonment of the kapu system in 1819. The actual yield of prehistoric Hawaiian fishponds is not known, but estimates of from 300 to 500 pounds of fish per acre per year have been made.

After 1800 there was a steady decline of aquaculture throughout the islands due to movement of people from rural to urban areas, decrease in population within the transportation range of fishponds, changes in eating habits, and a more Western orientation in terms of material culture and monetary value. The diversion of streams for agricultural purposes, changing shoreline use, and commercial/resort development along the ocean also impacted aquaculture practices.

The differences between aquacultural sites in the Hawaiian Islands and fish devices elsewhere in the Pacific were many: the emphasis in Hawai'i lay in stocking and raising fish rather than trapping them; Hawai'i had a much more extensive number of aquacultural sites; Hawaiian aquacultural practices were more technically advanced, including sluice grates, channels, and canals; and finally, in Hawai'i fishponds were primarily owned by the ali'i, whereas in other societies, families or villages owned fish trapping and holding facilities.

Only a small number of Hawaiian fishponds remain in existence, and they have undergone vast physical changes since prehistoric times. Factors threatening their existence through the years have included warring chiefs, siltation from upland runoff, overgrowth, introduced marsh plants and grasses, general disrepair, and pollution. Lava flows from Mauna Loa and Kilauea volcanoes on Hawai'i Island in 1801 and 1859 and from Haleakala on Maui in historic times have adversely impacted several known fishponds. Other natural disasters, such as earthquakes, landslides, faulting, storms, and tsunami (tidal waves), have also affected ponds.

               (b) Fishtraps

Prehistoric fishtraps were not as economically important as fishponds. Because their harvest was dependent on the tides, they were a much less reliable source of food. And because they were accessible to commoners as well as to women, they were also of less religious and political significance. They are, however, representative of overall aquacultural practices of the early Hawaiians.

A loko 'ume'iki, a shore pond with numerous lanes leading in and out, was actually a very large fishtrap, whose walls were submerged at high tide, enabling fish to enter, and slightly above sea level at low tide. Fish were not continually raised or stored inside these structures, but were trapped and used immediately after capture. These ponds were fished by netting during the ebb and flow periods through the entrance lanes.

     b) Agricultural Activities

          (1) Crops

The early Hawaiians were primarily fishermen and cultivators. On their colonizing trips from their homeland they brought in their canoes planting stocks of their primary staple food crops as well as of plants yielding materials for housing, clothing, and utensils and of ornamental and medicinal value. Establishing and nurturing these plants in the fertile and well-watered soil of their new home, they eventually formed the basis of a well-developed agricultural economy. Kirch divides agricultural development in Hawai'i into three major processes. The first is adaptation, adjusting cultivation practices to local conditions. Second is expansion, turning a natural landscape into an agricultural one as populations grew. This involved clearing forests and terracing slopes. The final phase is intensification, with greater labor efforts to achieve greater yield to support a denser population and a complex hierarchy of nobility.

A few edible food plants were indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands. Those used and carefully tended were pandanus and some ferns and probably 'ohelo and 'akala. The main native farming implement consisted of the o'o, a digging stick of hard wood of variable length, from six to nine feet long, with either a flat point or a flat blade. With the additional use of adzes, fire, and cutting implements, the early Hawaiians were able to clear vegetation; control streams by constructing dams, irrigation ditches, canals, and terraces; cultivate the soil of mountain slopes and valley bottoms; and build stone walls to arrest erosion. 

Sometime during the settlement period, probably after crops were growing well and domesticated animals were reproducing, an economic shift from the sea to the land took place. As the population grew, this would have provided a more efficient means of subsistence than total reliance on fishing. Some farming was done in open grassland and forests, where irrigation was not necessary because of sufficient rainfall. Other crops grew in the lowlands or alluvial valley bottoms, where flowing water provided irrigation.

The most widely cultivated food plant of the early Hawaiians was the taro, whose tubers were baked, pounded, and mixed with water to make poi, staff of life of the Hawaiian culture, Wet taro, requiring abundant fresh water, was planted in pond fields near springs and freshwater marshes and on the flood plains of perennial streams, arranged in terraces so that diverted water could flow from the higher to the lower patches. Canals, constructed of earth and stone embankments, channeled water from streams or springs to irrigate these fields. Dry or non-irrigated taro required less water and was cultivated in upland grasslands, rain-soaked forest areas, and under mulch.

Several other dry land crops were also important food items. They were cultivated by means of swiddening — clearing vegetation by cutting and burning, followed by alternate periods of planting and leaving the land fallow. Sweet potatoes comprised the main crop where insufficient water occurred to grow taro. Breadfruit trees were planted in groves in sheltered areas with fertile soil and little wind. Numerous varieties of bananas grew in clumps around taro patches and in gulches. Yams were raised to some extent in the early days, but because of their mealy texture were not a favorite food. Later they were grown to sell to sea captains because they spoiled less quickly than taro or sweet potatoes. Other vegetables in the Hawaiian diet included coconuts, sugarcane, arrowroot, and seaweeds. Other plants extensively cultivated were the paper mulberry for manufacturing barkcloth (kapa), the 'awa for use as a narcotic, bottle gourds used for containers and musical instruments, screwpine (pandanus) used in making mats, and a variety of other useful plants.

In summary, the earliest agricultural period in ancient Hawai'i involved both taro cultivation in irrigated pond fields and dryland cultivation of crops such as taro and sweet potatoes. The extent of wet taro pond systems was small at first because of the restricted needs of a small population. As agricultural productivity became a more efficient and reliable means of subsistence, however, a rapid population growth occurred. Settlements probably remained scattered and small as a rule, although in alluvial valleys pond fields had been developed to the extent of supporting larger, more concentrated settlements. Concurrently, changes began to occur in the technology of farming relative to engineering techniques, in plant adaptations, and in environmental factors affecting crop yields. Increasing population pressures encouraged a greater emphasis on more elaborate, high-yield wet taro systems. In addition, changes occurred in gently sloping leeward areas, where vast dry field systems began to be constructed. The intensification of agriculture resulted in even more densely populated settlements whose larger populations could provide the labor needed for vast public works projects such as the creation of more dry land field systems. Aspects of Hawaiian culture related to ensuring maximum productivity of the land probably flowered during this period, including the elaborate land tenure system that will be discussed later.

As with all other aspects of Hawaiian culture, agricultural practices closely interfaced with religion, traditions, and customs. Because this endeavor was so dependent on the powers of nature, every step of the agricultural cycle — preparing the land, planting crops, caring for plants, and harvesting — was accompanied by appropriate ceremonies.

          (2) Animal Husbandry

As mentioned earlier in this report, the Hawaiian Islands supported some edible land animals, such as birds and bats, when first colonized. The settlers brought with them, however, domesticated land animals — pigs, dogs, and chickens — that they carefully bred and raised as a supplementary food source. Chickens were the least popular food item. Although the dog was considered superior to the pig in taste, both were favorites of the commoners and the chiefs and both were bred and nurtured in large numbers. More chiefs than commoners consumed pork and dog meat, the right to the fattest and largest number of pigs and dogs being a privilege of rank. Both animals were tendered as tribute and as ritual offerings at ceremonial feasts of the chief on demand. Chickens and dogs lived near dwellings, the latter feeding on poi, breadfruit, and sweet potatoes. Pigs ranged more widely, rooting for food, but also living off sweet potato vine cuttings, taro leaves, sugarcane, and garbage. Captain Cook and other European navigators later introduced goats, cattle, sheep, and horses.

4. Political Organization

     a) High Chiefs and their Advisors

The pre-contact political hierarchy of the Hawaiian Islands was rigidly organized, with a variable number of high chiefs controlling different parts of an island, a whole island, or several islands. Although historically there were several attempts by chiefs to expand their domain over other islands, none was successful until Kamehameha, who, in addition to possessing great intelligence and a strong personality, was aided by the weaponry and military expertise of European advisors. By the time of Captain Cook's arrival, four high chiefs ruled the eight main islands of Hawai'i. One kingdom included Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i, and Kahoolawe, while a second comprised Kaua'i and Ni'ihau. O'ahu and Hawai'i each had its own chief.

These independent chiefdoms were each ruled by a supreme chief, or ali'i-'ai-moku (chief possessing an island or district); at times he was referred to simply as ke ali'i or ke ali'i-nui (the chief, or the great chief) to distinguish him from lesser chiefs. Ideally the ali'i-'ai-moku was also the person of highest rank among the nobility. Therefore he was sometimes referred to as the king or Moi (mo'i, supreme male ali'i). Although individuals usually attained this position on the basis of genealogical inheritance, a junior collateral relative could also gain it by force or because he had the personal qualifications to make himself leader.

The ali'i-nui had complete control over his lands and its products, over the lives of his subjects, and over their personal property. He derived these rights from his close genealogical ties with the Hawaiian gods and was considered one himself. Generally the will of the ruling chief was the law of the land, but there also existed a large body of traditional or customary law relating to such things as water rights, fishing rights, and land usage.

Two high officers assisted the ali'i-nui with governmental functions. The kahuna-nui (chief priest) conducted important religious ceremonies, observed and interpreted natural phenomena, consulted the auspices for favorable omens, and advised the king on how to remain in favor with the gods. Although the king sometimes consulted his lesser chiefs on important matters, he relied mainly on his kal'ai-moku, a counselor who served as prime minister and chief administrative officer, advising the king on the distribution of lands and positions and on military strategy. This position was highly important because the judicious assignment of lands to chiefs and the maintenance of control over them was the key to successful governing. Larger districts, for example, were never assigned to the higher chiefs, thus preventing them from accruing enough power to rebel. The tie between these two counselors and the high chief was the strongest in the government in pre-European times. (With the collapse of the ancient religion in 1819, however, the power of the priests was broken and the position of kahuna-nui abolished.) The kahuna, occupational specialists, fit into this political structure at points depending on their genealogical ranking and specialty. Each ali'i-nui also maintained a court of advisors, religious specialists, and personal servants, which followed its leader from place to place within the kingdom.

     b) Lower Levels of Government

After the ali'i-nui had gained power, either through orderly succession or victory in battle, he took the lands he wanted and divided the rest among his chiefs, who in turn rewarded their retainers, thus establishing a sort of feudal relationship. No system of permanent land tenure existed under the ancient system, because upon the accession of every new supreme chief, ahupua'a could be reapportioned among the high chiefs and 'ili (smaller land divisions) among lower chiefs and supporters. It was to a new chief's advantage, however, to maintain some stability relative to tenancy among the commoners to ensure a steady supply of food and goods. The chiefs below him to which the ali'i-nui allocated portions of his kingdom did not acquire title to the land but could use it, its products, its people, and their possessions. These chiefs then allocated use rights in their portion of the kingdom to chiefs below them and so on down to the lowest chiefs in the hierarchy. Just below the chiefly ranks were the konohiki, administrative functionaries who controlled a specific parcel of land, such as an ahupua'a, and who assumed responsibility for the smooth running of the sophisticated Hawaiian agricultural and aquacultural systems, the fair allotment of water, and the enforcement of fishing rights, and who collected taxes and supplied armies in case of war and laborers for state enterprises such as heiau and fishpond construction.

     c) Political Unrest

Commoners, the bulk of Hawaiian society, had no voice in political matters. The king held the authority to draft an army, assess taxes, condemn or pardon criminals, or banish subjects, all without appeal. Depending largely upon an ali'i-nui's abilities as a leader, his people suffered or prospered. They did not feel irrevocably bound to their chiefs, however, sometimes dispossessing an unjust ruler, killing him, or moving to another kingdom if the situation became too unbearable. In addition, senior nobles, acting as tenants-in-chief, could transfer their fealty and form coalitions to replace a ruler. At the same time, each paramount chief ideally tried to expand his kingdom by conquering and incorporating rival chiefdoms. Overall, the pre-contact political situation in the islands was variable — disputes over succession, land control, and individual ambitions, and quarrels between neighboring districts, were frequent disruptions to a routine way of life.

5. Economic System

     a) Summary of Change in the Economic Structure

Originally Hawaiian land units were semi-independent chiefdoms whose inhabitants were related by bonds of kinship and whose chiefs were senior relatives in a corporate descent group. This ancestral Polynesian social and land-tenure system existed while the population concentrated along the coast but changed radically during the pre-contact years as the population expanded inland. At that time the pattern of economic exploitation changed from the coastal zone to a coastal-inland axis. With the formation of self-sufficient ahupua'a, kinship ties slowly disintegrated and the gap between chief and commoner widened. The highest chiefs, at the tip of a hierarchical pyramid, gained sole stewardship of the land, while the commoners, who had no ownership rights and worked the land, formed the broad supporting base. Competition among chiefs over control of productivity led to formation of socio-political boundaries through force. Power rather than kinship determined control and led to the formation of the Hawai'i emergent state.

     b) Competition for Resources Increases

According to the native Historian Samuel Kamakau, no formal division of land existed in ancient Hawai'i while the population figures remained low. Holdings depended upon possession and use. As the number of inhabitants increased, however, a need arose for apportioning the land equally, and formal land divisions were established. While arable land, water, and other resources were plentiful and kinship groups dominated the social system, land could peacefully be held in common, with possession and use deciding rights. As the population increased, however, and resources became less plentiful, competition for them also increased. Intensification of agricultural activities, with the resultant labor involved in constructing irrigation systems, aquacultural facilities, and dryland field and wet taro systems to support a larger population, increased the value of certain land parcels, making them very appealing to the growing ranks of rival chieftains.

The establishment of a formal and rather elaborate land tenure system, then, based upon an investment of labor implying ownership in land and permanence of settlement and improvements, resulted from the expansion of settlement inland from the coast, an increase in population, the intensification of agricultural activities to ensure maximum productivity, and intergroup competition for resources. Ultimately politics and the extension of chiefly powers through landownership and personal aggrandizement promoted the growth of feudalism. The growing necessity for personal protection caused lesser chiefs and commoners to attach themselves to a high chief who afforded protection in return for service and a portion of the resources of the land. One by one, smaller chiefdoms allied themselves with more powerful chiefs for security against rising warrior chiefs until finally each island came under the control of a high chief, all of whom finally came under the sovereignty of Kamehameha.

     c) Land Divisions

Each of the Hawaiian Islands supported several environmental zones or exploitation areas. Initial occupation during the colonization period was of the deep sea and inshore zone, which provided fish, marine food animals, seaweed, and salt. Food crops grown along the shoreline or coastal flat on which homes were built included coconut palms, sweet potatoes, and sometimes breadfruit trees. Between this shoreline habitation zone and the forest belt lay the kula, or open country slopes. In many leeward areas, the lower portion of the kula consisted of a broad, arid expanse where little cultivation was possible. On the island of Hawai'i, this zone consists of bare lava with scattered soil patches on which small numbers of sweet potatoes and gourds could be grown. Inland from this area lies the upper kula, whose greater rainfall creates well-developed soils that allow cultivation of extensive fields of sweet potatoes, dry taro, paper mulberry, and sugar cane. Crops of the upper kula mostly grew in isolated plots separated by unimproved land or fallow fields. The forest above the upper kula agricultural zone provided timber for making canoes, house frames, weapons and utensils, and craft items. Bananas were grown along the lower forest margins, and sometimes small plots in the middle of the forest were planted in taro. The forest also provided wild plants that supplemented the Hawaiian diet.

Prior to European contact, each of the major islands or independent chiefdoms in the Hawaiian chain comprised a mokupuni. Each island was divided into major districts, or moku, administered by high-ranking chiefs. They were either relatives of the high chief of the island, trusted supporters, or high ranking individuals who pledged their support to the high chief but were allowed to remain relatively independent. In ancient Hawai'i, land division and the resulting economic system reflected both geographic conditions of the environment and characteristics of the social organization of the people. The land pattern established in Hawai'i was based on the wedge-shaped land divisions typical of mountainous islands in Polynesia. These divisions (ahupua'a) radiated from the interior uplands, down through deep valleys, and past the shoreline into the sea. They became the basic unit of the Hawaiian socio-economic organization (Illustration 8). This type of land division allowed exploitation of all the resource zones of the island — forests, agricultural land, shoreline, and ocean — by a single socio-political group and guaranteed them some degree of self-sufficiency and economic independence. These zones provided fish; taro fields; logs for firewood, ridgepoles, and canoes; bark for kapa cloth; and bird feathers for cloaks and helmets. They represented a continuous range of environmental conditions in terms of rainfall, soils, and species of vegetation, provided diverse natural products, and supported a variety of crops and domestic animals. The boundaries of these land divisions, each of which had a specific name, were determined by topographical features, such as ridges and streambeds, rather than by artificial delineations. Initially, as in other Polynesian systems, kinship-based corporate descent groups occupied these divisions. In Hawai'i, however, this system of land tenure eventually developed into a local variant that was much more politically based. The determination of socio-political boundaries by the exercise of power rather than through kinship ties is a formulative characteristic of emergent states.

All of the resources within this strip were restricted to use by its inhabitants. The name derives from ahu, an altar erected at the intersection of the land division boundary with the main road around the island, and pua'a, a pig, represented by a carved wooden image of a hog's head placed on the altar. Because a pig was an acceptable tribute, it represented any tribute-in-kind. Residents deposited gifts at this site each year during the annual harvest festival (Makahiki). The size of the ahupua'a varied, the larger ones on the island of Hawai'i being located in the interior.

The ahupua'a were often divided into 'ili ('ili'aina), long, narrow strips of land running lengthwise along the ahupua'a that could be discontinuous, or 'ili lele (jump strips), which comprised one segment near the ocean and another in the uplands or on the plains, continuing the ahupua'a rule of equitable land division but on a smaller scale. These were portions of ahupua'a land allotted to the families who lived on them and cultivated them. The right to continue to use and cultivate these stayed with the 'ohana (extended families) living on them regardless of any transfer of title to the ahupua'a. The 'ili was a land division, the ahupua'a a tax unit. Long strips of arable land within an 'ili were called mo'o (strips). There were in addition smaller land divisions comprising special plots of cultivated land.

Rights to irrigation water and fishing areas, considered very valuable economic assets, were strictly controlled within an ahupua'a. Water rights were codified to assure the equitable distribution of free-flowing waters for irrigation. Inshore fishing rights were explicitly stated. Normally only members of an 'ohana had rights to exploit specific water areas of the 'ohana lands. These rights usually included the inshore waters out as far as a man could stand upright with his head above water. A chief or konohiki, however, could place kapu on the use of certain types of fish and other marine resources at certain times or by certain people.

     d) Sharing

The Hawaiian economic system functioned within the context of these land divisions and within the concepts of certain social relationships. Research to date indicates that large-scale trade between districts was not a major aspect of the Hawaiian pre-contact economic system. Because of the diversity of environments and products available within each ahupua'a, they were probably fairly self-sufficient, providing not only necessary resources for its inhabitants, but also enough to contribute to the political hierarchy.

Effective economic distribution of goods and services within an ahupua'a was accomplished by sharing and mutual cooperation. This type of socio-economic system, providing a means for resource distribution between the upland and coastal exploitation zones, was most effectively accomplished within a family organization, where ties of kinship dictated sharing of the resources of the family land (Illustration 9). The fundamental social unit in Hawaiian culture was the dispersed community of 'ohana mentioned above — relatives by blood, marriage, or adoption — some living inland and some near the sea in a geographical locality to which they were tied by ancestry or sentiment. The functional unit within the 'ohana was the household, including the immediate family as well as unrelated dependents. Between households within the 'ohana constant sharing and exchange of food, articles, and services occurred. Those households living inland raising taro, sweet potatoes, breadfruit, bananas, and kapa, and needing coconuts, salt, and marine foods, would take a gift to a 'ohana household living near the sea and receive in return fish or other needed items. The 'ohana constituted the community within which the economic life of Hawai'i centered. This constant circulation of food products and services within the land area controlled by a family became the basis of the ahupua'a land division economic system.

     e) Tribute

The right of the commoners to live on the land and cultivate it, instead of naturally resulting from membership in a corporate descent group as in their ancestral homeland, depended on the regular payment of labor and tribute, or "offerings," to the "god-descended" chiefs at the top of the social scale. In this system, farmers and fishermen, for example, were required to offer a specific share of their labor and their yield to the chiefs, who in return ritually interceded with the appropriate deities to assure peace and plenty.

The economy of ancient Hawai'i was closely interwoven with the political system, creating a vertical economic structure. The ruler of each independent chiefdom controlled the use rights to all lands and products in his kingdom; as a group, therefore, these chiefs controlled the economic organization of the islands at the state level. They supported themselves and their retinue through two annual Makahiki rituals, during which time taxes in the form of produce and personal property were gathered. One collection was made for the political hierarchy, others for the religious specialists and members of the chief's court. The chief could also levy special assessments at any time. In return, the commoners expected intercession with the gods on their behalf and on behalf of their fishing and farming endeavors, prosperity, protection in time of war, and the benefit of major public works such as religious temples, field systems, and fishponds.

The levy of the ali'i during the tribute collection of the Makahiki festival fell on the 'ohana rather than on individuals or single households. The tax levy per family was based on its ability to pay, taking into account the type and extent of holdings and the size of the family. The konohiki, as the absentee chief's resident land manager, collected the taxes. Because Hawaiians were not bound to the land on which they lived, they could move elsewhere if the konohiki became too oppressive. This tended to prevent too frequent levies. Taxes included food items, such as pigs, taro, potatoes, dogs, and vegetables, and personal goods, such as bird feathers, rope, fishing nets, fishhooks, tools, bark cloth, and mats. These latter items were collected only once a year, at Makahiki time, whereas animal and produce items were on call as needed. Actually because the chief upon whose lands they lived owned all the land and resources in an ahupua'a, in a sense the tenants were only giving these resources to the rightful owner, in a useful form and upon demand, on a gift-tax basis. He kept a part and passed the rest on to the chief to whom he owed allegiance and so on up to the ruling chief, who distributed the goods to support himself and all the members of his household, including his retainers, specialists, priests, and political advisers, who in turn supported their families on these bounties.

The annual harvest festival of Makahiki was the most important Hawaiian religious festival, lasting from October until February. During the first part of the celebration, work and war were kapu. At this time activities focused on recognizing and sanctioning the position held by the chiefs and priests within the total Hawaiian social structure. During the course of the year each household had produced the extra items required for presentation to the chief during this festival. At a designated time, the people of each land division carried those offerings to altars established at the point where the main trail around the island crossed the border of their ahupua'a. These were symbolic offerings to Lono, god of peace and agriculture, whose image was transported around the islands by the priests and high chief to acknowledge the offerings. When the circuit was completed, the kapu was lifted and the period of feasts and merrymaking started, marking the completion of the year's agricultural labors. The Makahiki ceremony symbolized an important aspect of the Hawaiian economy — the fact that the maka'ainana were both able and required to produce a surplus for the support of an economically non-productive chief and priest class. The ceremony would also have particular significance in relation to the arrival of Captain Cook in Hawai'i.

Because the prestige and mana of the chiefs depended upon their ability to mobilize labor and exact tribute, pressure from the top of the pyramid was constant for more intensive economic development to keep the infrastructure intact. A rapidly increasing population and the resultant growing labor base made this intensification possible. With a wealth of available agricultural lands supporting plentiful natural resources, population growth rates during the period from A.D. 600-1100 continued to be high. Conversely, as the infrastructure developed, these larger populations could be supported. The limits to this growth depended on the changes and alterations made to the island environment. This self-perpetuating cycle could continue only if certain management controls were exerted on the Hawaiian ecosystem.

6. Religion

     a) Gods

Religion was the paramount aspect of Hawaiian life, permeating every daily activity, every aspect of secular affairs, and every significant event, such as birth, marriage, death, house construction, fishing, agriculture, and war. Also important were the regular calendrical celebrations to ensure the peoples' prosperity and well-being. All activities were accompanied by appropriate rites, religious ceremonies, and prayers to establish and maintain proper relations with the spirits. The ancient Hawaiians believed these spirits, who pervaded the world and shaped events, had the power to inflict injury if directed or if angered by the breaking of their kapu, but could be approached and persuaded to act in one's behalf. The Hawaiians worshipped a vast number of deities, of which there were two main categories. Akua represented nature's elements — they were the personifications of great natural forces. The 'aumakua mentioned earlier were the familiar ancestral protective gods.

All parts of nature were thought to be manifestations or particular functions of one of these gods. A distinct difference in their "personalities" was reflected in the kind of phenomena and natural processes with which they were associated. A particular manifestation of one of a god's functions was regarded as a separate being. One god, in his different aspects, could be a patron of