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

HAU
(Hibiscus tiliaceus)

Hau, a member of the mallow family, grows wild throughout the islands and much of the tropical Pacific in tangled thickets along the windward coastlines, up to around 2,000 feet in elevation. Its masses of green, heart-shaped leaves sprinkled with bright yellow five-petaled flowers that change color throughout the day are easy to recognize. (It is still planted today as wind protection and to help stabilize coastal soils.)

In the wild, there are some branches of hau sufficiently upright for the tree to be said to be 20 feet tall. It can be grown as a tree or shrub in more domesticated settings. Experts say the plant is not native to Hawaii. Along with breadfruit, taro, sweet potatoes and other useful plants, hau seeds and cuttings had a place in the canoes of the Hawaiian voyagers.

It is said that hau is sacred, a gift from the gods. The flowers are about four inches in diameter, with centers of yellow or nearly purple. They unfurl yellow in the morning, turn orange in the afternoon and wither, turning brown-orange and dying by nightfall. They are considered a metaphor for the human soul, some say. The flower does not last long, but it is beautiful in all its stages. The fruit is a downy, ovoid capsule about one inch long. It has five valves with three seeds in each compartment.

Twigs of the hau bush are light gray, browning with age. They are smooth with a tough bark. The smaller trunks are smooth, light yellowish-gray. On larger trunks the bark is broken into thin irregular plates. The heart wood is light brown while the sapwood is white with a pinkish cast.

Hau has been used for centuries by oceanic peoples. An entire book could be written about all of its uses. Because of its usefulness, hau was held in such high regard by the Hawaiians that it was a grave offence for a commoner to cut any of its branches without first getting permission from a chief.

Coarser grades of kapa cloth, hula skirts, and footwear were made from the best fibers from the bark, as were rope, and fishing gear (nets and lines). The extremely tough, pliable inner bark, the ilihau, was stripped from the trees and used for rope. Several such strands of rope plaited together formed a hawser with which logs of koa, roughly hewn into the shape of canoes, were dragged from the mountains to the shore, where the work of the finishing the canoe was continued.

Biologist Otto Degener says that in 1824 the natives on Kauai collected “an enormous quantity of hau bark with which they made strong hawsers several thousand feet long. Three cables, each made from twelve of these hawsers wee then fastened to the wreck of the royal “Cleopatra’s Barge” in a vain attempt to drag it ashore.”

Adornments like lei from the flowers and leaves, and medicines (laxatives, lubricants, and enemas) were obtained from the flowers, leaves and bark. A demulcent hauoki was also prepared from the bark and given as a medicine in childbirth. Tools (strainers and handles for hand tools) were made from the tough wood. The curved branches were sought for use as the arms for attaching the floats made from lightweight wood to the body of the dugout canoes. Fish net floats were made by drying branches that were about two inches in diameter. These branches were then cut crosswise into pieces at least three inches long. A hole was then easily made through the pieces by removing the soft, central pith. A cord passed through the pith cavity was used to tie the floats to the nets at intervals of one or more feet.

Games (including kites and carved toys), spectacular fireworks displays, and ritual objects were made from hau as well. One game involved the use of spears made of hau wood. It is reported that these spears could be hurled by strong men for a distance of 1,000 feet! Oahi, fireworks displays, involved flinging burning, oiled, dried sticks of hau or other light wood off sheer sea cliffs into the sea at night. The blazing wooden sticks were often lofted by the strong trade winds around the cliffs and dropped very slowly into the ocean. As fast as these sticks were lit, the performers cast them into space until, to the spectators below, the sea seemed to be ablaze with comets and shooting stars, rising and falling, crossing and recrossing each other as they were caught in the winds.

Hau was traditionally used in the making of fire. A pointed stick made from hard wood was rapidly rubbed in the groove of a block of soft hau wood. The heat generated by the friction of rubbing ignited the small heap of powdered wood that accumulated from the rubbing. The smoldering spark was usually transfered to a handful of dry grass and this was waved about in the air until it burst into flames. Legend has it that it was the Maui brothers (Maui-mua, Maui-hope, Maui-kiikii and Maui-o-ka-lana) who tricked the curly tailed alae (mudhens) into revealing this method of fire-making.

The four brothers used to go fishing, launching their canoe at sunrise from the beach near their home below Kaupo Gap at the base of Haleakala. Whenever they left the beach, the brothers could see the mudhens building a fire to roast some bananas stolen from the boys. When the brothers turned back to shore, the mudhens would scratch out the fire and run away.

After several attempts at fooling the birds, the boys finally outwitted the alae by dressing up a calabash in kapa and setting it in Maui-mua’s place in the canoe. Maui-mua hid among the rocks on the shore and lay in wait for the birds as his brothers set out for their fishing grounds. When the unsuspecting birds made their fire, Maui-mua leaped out and grabbed one of the birds, threatening to kill it unless it revealed the secret of fire.  The alae tried to fool him by telling him to rub different things together, but none of them produced fire. Maui-mua got impatient and started throttling the bird who finally squawked out the truth. In retribution for the bird’s trying to fool him, Maui-mua rubbed the top of the bird’s head with a stick until it turned red with blood. To this day, the alae bird’s head is still red where Maui-mua rubbed it.

During certain seasons, usually coinciding with spawning time, the kapu of the fishing god Kuula was in effect. Besides these religious restrictions, fishing along the shore and in shallow waters was sometimes subject to kapu placed by the chiefs. When cut hau branches were placed along the high-water mark, it was a sign that the god’s or the chief’s kapu on juvenile fish feeding along the shoreline was in effect. No one could take fish from the shallows or around the reefs until the kapu was lifted. The young fish were allowed to grow and develop without being disturbed during that all-important time. During these times, the people resorted to the deep sea for food.

Hau branches also served as emblems for the armies contending in a battle. When the armies met, a priest bearing a branch of the hau preceded each side. These branches were set in the ground by the bearer for each side. During the battle, the armies respected the hau emblem of the enemy and the kahuna guarding it. When one side was finally defeated, its hau branch was allowed to fall.

[ Top ]

Bailey House Museum

Hale Ho’ike’ike or “House of Display” is the name the Maui Historical Society has given to the renovated home of Edward Bailey, an early missionary. This charming museum is located at 2375A Main Street, on the left side as you drive up towards ‘Iao Valley.

Set amid spacious grounds and mature shade trees, the museum retains a sense of tranquility in the midst of busy Wailuku town. Visitors are transported to bygone days as they view the collection of Bailey’s oil paintings that depict the life around him, as well as artifacts from Stone Age Hawaii including kapa cloth, koa calabashes and poi pounders, and missionary items like 19th century furniture, handmade quilts and the like.

The museum’s artifacts collection is one of the largest public collections on Maui. Upstairs, in what was the family’s living quarters, there are displays of everyday items typical of the things the Baileys probably used. Special exhibits are presented periodically.

Listed in the National Register of Historical Places, the house was built in several stages between 1833 and 1850 on land given to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1832 by Governor Ho’apili and King Kamehameha. Its 20-inch-thick limestone coral walls did not suffer the same fate as the original Ka’ahumanu Church, which eventually disintegrated. (The builders knew the secret of adding goat hair to the mortar to act as a binding agent.)

Edward Bailey, The Man of Many Parts

Edward Bailey (1814 – 1903) was sent to Maui as a teacher, but like almost every missionary to these islands, he seemed to have been a “a man of many parts.” Bailey served as an agriculturalist, architect, engineer, physician, botanist, surveyor, poet, musician, artist, and entrepreneur as well as a teacher and school administrator during his years on Maui.

Edward and Caroline Bailey sailed from Boston to Honolulu, arriving there in 1837. They were part of the Eighth Company of American Missionaries and had been married only a month before their departure.

The couple was stationed at Kohala in 1837. In 1839, they moved to Lahainaluna and then, between 1840 and 1848, they were assigned to the Wailuku Female Seminary, the site of the museum. Bailey was to serve as principal at the mission school, which was then called the Central Female Boarding Seminary.

The Baileys left the mission in 1850. Bailey went on to build and operate his own wheat and sugar mill and to manage the newly formed Wailuku Sugar Company. Besides acting as principal for the Seminary and taking care of his own family’s needs, it is remembered that Edward Bailey also helped native Hawaiians file land claims under the kingdom’s land distribution program, directed the construction of roads and bridges in and around Wailuku, and for helped organize a much-needed smallpox inoculation program.

For many years Edward Bailey and his wife also helped in creating and maintaining the Mauna’oulu Girls’ School at Makawao. That school was founded in 1861 as the East Maui Female Seminary and evolved into Maui’s first institution of higher learning until it finally closed in 1964.

Edward Bailey and his wife moved to California in 1885, where Bailey died in 1903. He was the last male survivor of the workers sent by the Boston mission between 1820 and 1850. The Baileys had five sons and created a home and life that combined the cultures of two very different worlds.

As for the Bailey House, during World War II, it served as Civil Defense Headquarters. Today it is operated by the Maui Historical Society.

[ Top ]

STANDARD ENGLISH: I looked in the store but I didn't see anything I wanted.
BRADDAH-NICS: I went go look inside, but nevah had nothing.

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD ENGLISH: You don't say!
BRADDAH-NICS: Shoot! I nevah know dat!

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD ENGLISH: No, I refuse to embarrass myself.
BRADDAH-NICS: No ways! I not goin' make 'A' in front everybody!

[ Top ]

Local Grinds

Chow Fun Noodles

Ingredients:

2 T cooking oil
1/2 lb char siu or beef strips
1 small onion, sliced
1 medium julienned carrot
3 sheets chow fun noodles (1/2 inch strips)
2 T soy sauce
2 T oyster sauce
1/4 t pepper
1 pkg bean sprouts
1/2 c green onion (1 inch)

Instructions:

Heat oil in a large skillet or wok. Stirfry char siu or beef for 15-20 seconds, then add onion and carrots and stirfry another 20 seconds. Add remaining ingredients; stirfry an additional 10 seconds.

 [Top ]

Palapala Ho'omau Church

Originally built with limestone coral in 1857, the Palapala Ho'omau Church in Kipahulu was fully restored by Samuel F. Pryor in the mid-twentieth century. Pryor commissioned the unique hand-painted window displayed in the side of the church, depicting Jesus Christ dressed in Hawaiian robes, which overlooks  the serene grounds of Palapala Ho'omaui and the grave of Pryor's good friend, Charles Lindbergh.

Lindbergh--who made history in 1927 as the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean--discovered a safe haven in Kipahulu from the mid 1960s until his death on August 26, 1974.  According to Lindbergh's own specifications and design, friends and neighbors dug his 12-foot deep grave, lined it with lava rock, built a plain eucalyptus coffin in which Lindbergh was buried, then covered the grave with smooth beach pebbles.  Inspired by life and immaculately maintained, Lindbergh's grave can still be found beneath a plum tree, his tombstone bearing the inscription taken from Psalms 139:9: "If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea..."

[ Top ]