[ Natural History ] [ Arts & Culture ]
[ Braddah-Nics ] [ Local Grinds ] [ Spotlight On ]

Natural History

‘OHI’A LEHUA
(Metrosideros collina polymorpha)

The ‘ohi’a lehua is a slow-growing indigenous Hawaiian tree that was connected to various gods of ancient Hawaii. One legend has it that the tree is an earthly manifestation, a kino lau, of the god Ku, the god of war. It is said that in those days the ‘ohi’a was used primarily for carving temple images, enclosures and images. The wood was carved only by skilled craftsmen who were well-versed in religious rituals. The flowers were a symbol of strength and the first man killed in battle was called a lehua.

The groves of ‘ohi’a in the Puna district of the Big Island were said to be the prized possessions of Hi’iaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele. They had been given to her by her older sister Pele, to whom the trees were sacred. Once, in a jealous rage, Pele destroyed her sister’s groves with streams of lava. It was said that if a person picked lehua blossoms on the way up into the mountains, mist would obscure the path and rain would make it slippery. However, it was permissible to collect the beautiful flowers on the way out of the forest as proof that one had gone to visit the goddess.

In honor of the goddess Pele, the flowers were picked and made into lei by tying the clusters of leaves and flowers by their stems to a central cord or by securing clusters of leaves and flowers by their stems into a plait of fern or other natural materials. It was very rare for the blossoms to be pierced and strung on a cord. The “love slaves for the lehua of Kaana,” is a line from an old song that refers to the time, skill and patience required to make the lei.

Another legend says the goddess Hina took the form of an ‘ohi’a tree and kept watch over a small youth in Waipio valley. At last the goddess assumed that form permanently and was worshipped under the name of Hina-ule-ohia.

The native name for the plant is confusing. ‘Ohi’a is the tree. Lehua applies only to the flowers of the tree. The word means “hair” recalling the pompoms of many conspicuous hair-like filaments that are actually long red stamens. This attractive plant is probably the most abundant of all the native trees in the Hawaiian forest. It occupies many different types of environments from sea level to over 8,000 feet. It is obviously very adaptable. In fact, its scientific name “polymorpha” means many forms. In the 1930’s Botanist Otto Degener quipped, “In the Hawaiian Islands the (‘ohi’a) plants are so extremely variable in size, leaf-shape, presence or absence of air and other features that botanists are still puzzled as to the exact number of kinds found here.”

There are very small, naturally bonsai prostrate forms in wet bags and dry cliffs as well as 80-foot giants living in deep fertile soils of some forest areas. The seeds of the ‘ohi’a lehua are tiny. Two will tuck into the top space of the letter “e”. They are easily blown great distances to new areas. They come as pioneers on fresh lava flows, forming pure stands. As the process of “natural succession” begins to work, the pure stands of ‘ohi’a are gradually replaced by other species until the ultimate climax forest is a mixture of a few very large old ‘ohi’a trees with up to forty other kinds of trees. The big trees provide microhabitats for several small ferns, herbs, mosses, liverworts, and lichens that grow on the branches of the widespread trees. Natural succession is a very long process that is not yet fully understood, and scientists are now studying it seriously.

It has been found that when ‘ohi’a are crowded together, they are killed off in a variety of ways – by disease, insect attack, starvation due to overcrowding and so on. Sometimes large areas of ‘ohi’a trees die off in a very short time. This may be largely a natural process, the scientists who study such things say. In some areas the die-off was triggered by some sort of human activity. In other places, it has been known to have been caused because the ground became too warm due to underground volcanic activity.

The size, shape and surface features of leaves differ from tree to tree as well as from region to region. In general, the leathery leaves may be a dull or shiny green on the upper surface and whitish gray below. They are more or less reddish when new and can be oval, rounded or elongated. Sometimes the leaves are blunt and sometimes they are pointed. The leaves grow opposite each other and are often so closely spaced on the twigs that they appear to be cupped together.

The blossoms lack petals. They are a cluster of stamens and pistils which grow from a calyx cup in which the nectar collects. The pompom-like clusters of multiple florets are generally red, but they may be pink, salmon-orange, peach, strong yellow, gold, or (rarely) white. The whole cluster is usually about two to 3 inches in diameter and may have a honeyed fragrance. Native birds as well as bees and butterflies feed on the flower nectar.

The flower was popular in Hawaiian songs and stories and was often associated with love and passion. In Emerson’s MYTH OF PELE AND HI’IAKA, the red lei lehua is mentioned more than a dozen times. At least once, it is used to suggest sexual arousal. Hi’iaka, angry that her sister has destroyed her beloved ‘ohi’a groves, retaliates by using lei lehua to seduce Lohi’au, the handsome young chief she fetched back from Kauai for her sister Pele.

Even after western contact, the flower was connected to love. One 19th century poem, written by Princess Liliuokalani, has a man thinking about his sweetheart. In part it says, “Entranced with beauty/The lehua blossoms,/I come quickly to find/A flower to place upon my heart.” In modern times, the red lehua is the official flower representing the Big Island because the flower leis were a Big Island specialty and the flowering trees were such a part of the landscape of that island. There is a beautifully evocative allusion in an old song -- “the sun in the flower nets of Hilo,”-- recalling the setting sun seen through lehua blossoms.

The fruits of the ‘ohi’a are three-parted capsules a quarter-inch in diameter. The calyx remains as a five-pointed ring around the middle of the capsule which is light gray-green when new and dark brown when mature. They are filled with many, many tiny seeds.

The twigs are light brown and they age to medium brown. The new growth starts out smooth, gradually roughening until they are scaly. The bark on the twisted old trunks can be very loose and shredded. A black dye used for decorating kapa was made from the bark.

According to one ancient source, the ‘ohi’a tree had “...a human voice, and a groan was audible when it was cut into.” (Perhaps this is why the wood was reserved for sacred images and temple enclosures in ancient times.) The wood ranges from light to deep red, of medium texture and is very dense and hard. Poi boards, couplings and gunwales for canoes, anvils and mallets for beating kapa, bowls, and weapons were made from the wood once the ancient strictures were relaxed. It was sometimes used for house-building, but was not considered the best wood for that purpose. When the plantation railroads were used for transporting harvested cane, it was ‘ohi’a wood that made the best railroad ties.

Modern uses for the wood include paving blocks, posts, flooring, and furniture and other interior furnishings. The wood is also used for fuel.

Various parts of the plant were used medicinally. The young reddish-crimson leaves called liko lehua, was steeped with other herbs to make a tonic tea. The bark or the young leaves were sometimes used as a gargle for sore throat. The flowers, according to one source, were said to aid in childbirth.

[ Top ]

Arts & Culture

HALE PAAHAO (House Stuck-In-Irons)

The Old Fort on the water front is an authentic-looking reconstruction of a fort that existed between 1832 and the 1950s. The remains of the Old Fort guard the south corner of Canal Street, makai (on the seaward side) of the banyan tree. Made of coral blocks hewn from the nearby reef, the fort wall was 20 feet high and enclosed one acre of ground. The fort was built by royal command during the whaling era when unruly behavior was rife. At one time 47 cannons sat atop its walls.

The original fort was disassembled to construct a larger prison compound, Hale Paahao (House Stuck-in-Irons), about a block inland from the old fort location. In his annual report to Mr. Metcalf, Marshall of the Sandwich Islands, in 1850, Lahaina’s Sheriff Swinton reported, “The amount of crimes and misdemeaners for the last year has been steadily on the increase, which is attributed mainly to the vast influx of foreigners from California. The gold brought by these has been the cause and means of a general laxity of morals and prostitution has been carried out to an almost unparalleled extent. Within no previous period have there been so many cases of petty larceny and one or two cases have recently occurred of thefts of a large amount....”

In 1851, Sheriff Swinton told Metcalf that the fort doctor said the town needed a place where the prisoners could sleep above ground so they would avoid the chills and fevers and other diseases plaguing the lawbreakers in confinement. Before the end of the year negotiations were under way to acquire the land to build the prison. The prison house of planks was completed in 1852. However, funds for the coral stone wall that surrounds the prison was not made available until 1853. The prisoners carted coral blocks and rubble from the old fort wall and used them to build a high wall around the small wooden structure. A letter from the superintendent of public works in Lahaina reported,“ I would say that during the quarter I have had an average of 17 to 20 prisoners at work on the prison wall in getting stone, burning lime and making mortar and otherwise helping the masons....”

Prisoners were routinely used for work on various public projects and the cost of their upkeep was charged to the project. In 1854, for example, the Market House appropriation account for the quarter ending December 31, 1854, shows the following expenses: poi for prisoners ($33.00), fish ($47.00), 8 shovels ($8.00), bread for prisoners ($12.63), wages to December 31 for the project overseer ($34.13) and for the superintendent ($45.00).

After 1871, the “Hawaiian whaling fleet,” as the New England and other whalers that headquartered in Hawaii was called, disbanded forever. The remnants of the shrinking fleet headed north in the spring as usual to be on hand for the whales summering off northern Alaska, and the captains were determined to get every last bit of oil and blubber they could. The demand for whale oil (and the price per barrel) had been seriously undermined when petroleum was discovered in Pennsylvania. Because of this economic pressure, the captains took chances they might not have ordinarily. The fleet stayed until it was so late into the fall that the entire fleet was nearly trapped in a sudden freeze.

The ice floe took 33 ships out of a fleet of 42, crushing them like toys and sending them to the bottom. By some miracle, no lives were lost. The 42 ships had crews totaling 1,252 men and their officers. All of them escaped over the ice floe to the few ships that made it out of the danger zone. They were brought back to Hawaii and those who did not choose to remain in the Sandwich Islands returned eventually to the Mainland.

In 1957, the Hawaii legislature appropriated funds to take down the old prison building and reconstruct it. The building was again put up by prisoners, this time from Olinda Prison, this time under the direction of the Maui Historic Sites Commissioner. It was dedicated in November, 1959. It looks pretty much as it did 125 years ago, except that the openings in the wall, about two-thirds of the way up from the ground, once contained heavy beams on which a catwalk was built along the entire length of the inside of the wall. Guards walked these catwalks constantly to keep the prisoners inside.

Ship desertion, drunkenness, and furious horse riding and violating fishing taboos (along with your run-of-the-mill fornication and assault) were offenses that led to imprisonment in Hale Paahao. Making noise of any kind was prohibited. The prison had cells complete with shackles for hardened criminals, but most of the inmates were rowdies who yahooed around town on the Sabbath.

Fines were stiff. For example, a list from 1844 says: $20 for “lewd, seductive and lascivious conduct,” $50 for rape, $6 for desecrating the Sabbath and $10 for “coming ashore with a knife, sword-cane or any other dangerous weapon.” Relative to salaries, such prices for misconduct were exorbitant. For FOUR YEAR’S WORK, a captain received the grand sum of $380 while at the lower end of the scale a cabin boy pocketed a mere $28.

(It is said that mosquitoes were introduced to Hawaii in 1826 by disgruntled sailors off the whaling ship Wellington, who had returned for rest and recreation to Lahaina. They were told there were to be no grog shops, no brothels or even women swimming out to the ships. New laws and fines were imposed for misdemeanors. The sailors emptied a water cask, last filled in Mexico into a freshwater stream. Within the cask lived larvae of the Mexican night-flying mosquito (Culex quinquefasciatus). From this fateful date, mosquitoes have bitten every resident and visitor to the Hawaiian Islands.)

Braddah-Nics Lexicon

STANDARD: I don't understand.
BRADDAH-NICS: What'chu talkin'?

* * * * * *

STANDARD: Oh, dear. What a lot of wasted effort!
BRADDAH-NICS: Oh, wow! Talk about suck wind!

* * * * * *

STANDARD: I won't say anything.
BRADDAH-NICS: I no going tell nothing.

* * * * * *

[ Top ]

Local Grinds

STUFFED LYCHEE

Ingredients:

• 2lb 8oz canned lychee
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon sherry
• 3 tablespoons macadamia nuts, chopped
• 2 tablespoons crystalized ginger, chopped
• a dash of salt

Procedure:

• Remove lychee form can(s) and drain.
• In small bowl of electric mixer, beat
• Place cream cheese with sherry and salt into bowl or mixer, beat until mixture is smooth.
• Stir in nuts and ginger.
• Stuff lychees.
• Makes approx 48.

[ Top ]

Spotlight On….. HAUOLI LA HANAU

In Hawaii, all lu'au, or feasts, are celebrations of love, family ties and abundance. Visitors to the islands and those who choose to go the catered route get a taste of the abundance of food and frivolity as an end-product of well-organized efforts by some hired kitchen crew. The entertainment is professional and usually very good.

For most family affairs, however, the lu'au begins long before the food hits the table and the musicians set up on stage. There's collecting the ingredients for the feast, which could include trips to the mountain and to the beach for all of the different must-have traditional delicacies. Fishermen and hunters in the family stockpile their catches for the feast. Gardeners offer their flowers, produce, ti leaves, banana trees and taro leaves. Freezers start bulging as the time gets closer.

Organizing the work crew made up of family, neighbors and friends requires the strategic skills of a general and the tact of a professional diplomat. Someone has to direct the army working on setting up and decorating the physical party area. The musicians and dancers are either hired or are family members or friends who volunteer to help out.

The most significant lu'au for many local families is the one celebrating a baby's first birthday.

The head cook (usually male) oversees the entire cooking operation. Probably this cook learned the proper way to put together a lu'au from his father or an uncle, who had a reputation as a great cook. "A great cook," according to the island way of thinking, makes plenty of good-tasting food, which everyone enjoys and which doesn't make anybody sick. That last bit is an important consideration since many of the traditional ethnic foods are served raw.

Certain other family members or friends will be asked to make special dishes that are family favorites. Everyone pitches in, everyone offers to help. They know that when it's their turn to have a party, this family will be available to kokua, help.

For the children, the excitement of a lu'au includes the weeks of preparation beforehand, when aunties and uncles and cousins visit back and forth, talking and planning and doing all of the things necessary to make the affair a success.

[ Top ]