Oahu Trails. Kathy Morey
culture passes
Literacy replaced the rich Hawaiian oral tradition, and many legends and stories were forgotten before someone thought to write them down. The significance of many place names, apart from their literal meaning, has been lost forever. Zealous missionaries and converts believed that the native traditions were evil, and they nearly succeeded in eradicating all traces of the native culture.
A nation passes
Hawaiians saw that their only hope of surviving as an independent nation in the modern world was to secure the protection and guarantees of freedom of one of the major powers. The Hawaiian monarchs would have preferred the British, but British influence was ultimately inadequate to withstand American influence. American missionaries doled out God’s grace. American entrepreneurs established plantations and businesses. American ships filled the harbors. Economic and cultural domination of Hawaii eventually passed into American hands, particularly after the new land laws of 1850 made it possible for foreigners to own land in Hawaii. The Hawaiian monarchy lasted until 1893, but most of its economic and therefore its political power was gone. Hawaii as an independent nation disappeared soon after.
A race passes
The native Hawaiian people lost much of their importance in the changing, Westernized economy early in the nineteenth century. The burgeoning sugar and pineapple plantations needed laborers, and the Hawaiians were diligent, capable hired hands when they wanted to be. But they did not comprehend the idea of hiring themselves out as day laborers for wages. Planters began to import laborers from other parts of the world: China, Japan, the Philippines, Portugal. Many imported laborers stayed, married, raised families, and went on to establish their own successful businesses. The Hawaiians were soon a minority in their own land.
The numbers of full-blooded Hawaiians declined precipitously throughout the 19th century. Beginning with the tragic introduction of venereal disease by Cook’s men, venereal diseases swept through the native population who, particularly at Makahiki, exchanged partners freely. Venereal disease often leaves its victims sterile, and many who had survived Western diseases, wars, and the sandalwood trade were unable to reproduce. Others married foreigners, so their children were only part Hawaiian. Today most authorities believe that there are no full-blooded Hawaiians left, not even on Niihau, the only island where Hawaiian is still the language of everyday life.
Hawaii becomes American
In the late 19th century, the Hawaiian monarchy seemed to some powerful businessmen and civic leaders of American descent to get in the way of the smooth conduct of business. They thought Hawaii would be better off as an American territory. Queen Liliuokalani did not agree. She wanted to assert Hawaii’s independence and the authority of its monarchs. The business community plotted a coup, deposed Liliuokalani in 1893, formed a new government, and petitioned the United States for territorial status. The United States formally annexed Hawaii in 1898.
Military projects and mass travel brought mainland Americans flooding into Hawaii. Many stayed, and so the majority of people in Hawaii came to see themselves as Americans, though a minority disagreed (some still do). After many years as a territory, Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959.
Things to come
The huge tourist industry is both a blessing and a curse. Massive development pushes the Hawaii-born off the land to make way for hotels and golf courses. Displaced Hawaiians, whatever their ethnic background, find themselves having to survive as waiters, chambermaids, clerks—in essence, as the servants of those who have displaced them. Many also fear that tourism will result in the Hawaiian paradise being paved over and lost forever; others feel that it already has been.
The 100th anniversary of the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy was January 17, 1993. On November 23, 1993, the U.S. belatedly offered a formal apology. Today, a growing movement seeks to return to people of native Hawaiian ancestry some of the lands they lost as well as some degree of autonomy, ranging from that granted Native Americans to full independence for a new Hawaiian nation. The idea is just, but implementing it is controversial. Hawaii’s evolution is far from over.
Life is complicated and not for the timid. It’s an experience that when it’s done, it will take us a while to get over it. We’ll look back on all the good things we surrendered in favor of deadly trash and wish we had returned and reclaimed them.
—From Leaving Home by Garrison Keillor
Bishop Museum
The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu houses what is considered to be the finest collection of Hawaiiana available for public viewing anywhere. The museum is located at 1525 Bernice St., and it’s open seven days a week from 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. Admission may seem a bit steep, but the museum complex offers far more than Hawaiian artifacts: a planetarium, hula exhibits, crafts demonstrations, and a special exhibit that changes from time to time.
Head for the Hawaiian exhibits. The museum’s collection of Hawaiian featherwork (capes, helmets, and the feathered standards called kahili) and of tapa (the native barkcloth, also called kapa) is unmatched and irreplaceable. Hawaii produced the finest featherwork and tapa in all of Polynesia. Particularly interesting is a series of cases comparing the material cultures of the different Polynesian societies: for example, the uses to which various societies had put coconut shells and fibers.
Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831–1884) was a high chiefess and the last direct descendant of Kamehameha I. She was offered the crown of Hawaii twice and both times declined it. She had been raised in missionary ways and believed her place was in the home with her American-born husband, Bishop, Charles R. Bishop, who had become a citizen of Hawaii. She dedicated herself to helping her fellow Hawaiians adjust to the changes that had overwhelmed their homeland. She saw that her people were falling into political insignificance and dire poverty in the new Hawaii and believed that education would help elevate them to their rightful place. She inherited a great deal of wealth in the form of land, and she used her wealth to found the Kamehameha Schools, which accept as pupils only children who are of Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian ancestry. The Bishop Estate continues to be a powerful force in Hawaii.
Bernice Bishop’s husband founded the Bishop Museum in her memory entirely from his own funds; it is independent of Bishop Estate.
Highways, Transportation
and Trail Maps
Driving
On the other islands, visitors find that a rental car is almost a necessity. On Oahu, it can be more of a curse than a blessing. Honolulu offers driving conditions from hell. From San Diego to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Vancouver, B.C., no Pacific coast city I’ve been in has worse driving conditions for visitors than Honolulu (which includes Waikiki). Here are some of the reasons driving in the greater Honolulu area is such a nightmare:
The street system is laid out like the aftermath of a spaghetti fight in a school cafeteria. Honolulu sprawls over a wide area, including some very steep hills. Streets wander first this way, then that; change names for no apparent reason; crisscross one another randomly; dump you onto freeways; lead you into dead ends; or abruptly become one-way (probably the wrong way for you) with little or no warning. Count on it: You’ll get lost almost every time you try to drive somewhere, in spite of the help of my directions and the best street maps.
On weekdays, the direction of traffic on major streets is altered by police to accommodate commuter traffic. The street system, which makes no sense to start with, gets even more confusing when this happens. Hapless visitors may find themselves anywhere—or nowhere.
You can’t return the way you came. It is usually impossible for you to simply retrace the route you took to the trailhead in order to return to your hotel. You will have to figure out two different routes, one out, one back. One-way streets are particularly responsible for this problem.
You can’t get back on the freeway where you got off it. Freeway on- and off-ramps are almost never logically paired. The freeways do not link parts of the city; rather, they slice the city apart. The freeways’ purpose is to link major military installations (Hawaii, particularly Oahu, is full of military sites). This