Events

Natural History

Gardenia
(Gardenia spp.)

Popular in tropical and subtropical gardens and used as a houseplant in temperate climates, the kiele, common gardenia (Gardenia augusta), is a native of South China. It is a medium-sized shrub and is a member of the large Coffee family of plants which includes 450 genera and 5,500 species. The plant has been cultivated in the western world since 1763. It is named after a Dr. Alexander Garden, who corresponded with the famous naturalist, Linnaeus.

This flower was introduced to Hawaii from China in the 1830's, and took its place beside the endemic gardenias or nanu (G. Brighamii, G. Remyi and G. Mannii) which have since become a rarity.

A medium-sized shrub with shiny, dark evergreen leaves that are pointed at both ends, the plant has pure white flowers, often double, which are very strongly scented and appear more or less continuously on a healthy plant in the tropics. The flowers are typically 1-1/2 to 3 inches across. They turn yellow as they age. Their fruity fragrance is intoxicating.

The blossoms soon became a favorite with the lei maker, either strung together with strong string or woven with other plant materials. (There is nothing more glorious than a strung double gardenia lei.) As other kinds of gardenias were introduced, they, too, were used to make lei.

The intensely fragrant gardenia lei is associated with love and lovemaking by Hawaiians. It was featured in at least one Hawaiian standard, "Halona" by J. Elia, which says, "A gardenia lei is my love...to whom I go with throbbing heart."

Numerous cultivars have been developed including one with variegated leaves and a dwarf variety. Another species, G. carinata, the Malaysian Tree Gardenia, flowers less profusely than the shrub varieties. There are 60 known varieties of gardenia in the world.

The tiare (G. taitensis) is believed to be an ancient introduction throughout Polynesia. Native to the Solomon Islands, it is most frequently found on coastal limestone rock and occasionally in coastal forest near the shore. Tiare flowers are especially loved by the Tahitians, who wear them singly in the hair, use them for making lei and wreaths and for scenting a wellknown fragrant oil, mono'i. In Tahiti, a tiare worn over the left ear means t wearer is "quite content" romantically. If on the right ear, the wearer is looking," and if on both ears, "has some and wants more."

In Tahiti and the Cook Islands the tiare is used extensively for a wide variety of ailments, but researchers say that this is because of "perceived supernatural benefits rooted in ancient tradition than for any specific medicinal property of the flower itself." The first recorded use of the flower was for migraine headaches. The sufferer immersed his or her head in a solution containing the bruised flowers. Cook Islanders simply smelled the flowers as a treatment for headaches....an early example of Polynesian aromatherapy!

Other medicinal remedies from various places in Polynesia included a leaf-tea used for cleansing the blood in prenatal care and in the treatment of diabetes, a bark infusion believed to be effective in inducing abortion, and another bark infusion dripped into the eyes and nose as a "ghost medicine.

Tiare is a fairly recent (less than 100 years old) introduction to the Hawaiian Islands. They have a lifespan of over fifty years and, in Tahiti, can grow trunks with diameters of over two feet wide.

According to master lei-maker Marie A. McDonald, the native gardenias, nanu, once grew on trees in the wet and dry forests on all of the major islands. The plants are rare now, but nanu lei were always considered prized possessions, preferred for their elegance and their fragrance. In the legend of Ka'ala and Ka'aiali'i, the women of Lana'i presented nanu lei to Kamehameha and others when they came to Kealia for sport.

 

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Arts & Culture

The Mapping Of Hawaii

The maps of Hawaii that are used today in describing and delineating all land transactions are, perhaps, unique among American maps because they are not divided into the ubiquitous rectangular patterns of property divisions called the Public Land Survey System. Instead they follow a triangular grid system originally instituted by the Hawaiian Government Survey, a centralized agency that would develop a way to pinpoint just where a property begins and ends in Hawaii.

William DeWitt Alexander was appointed as Surveyor General in 1870. It was his vision that determined how all land parcels would be legally described. When the perennially under-funded agency's work ended in 1900, the small, dedicated staff had developed a uniquely Hawaiian approach to mapping the land that recorded and retained traditional place names as well as the ancient system of land divisions, while at the same time modernizing the system.

Much of this was due to the meticulous work that Alexander insisted upon and that his original staff and those who came after them maintained. Much of it was also because the man did not involve himself in the turbulent politics of the time and kept the focus of his agency on making sure the naming and descriptions of the land were as accurate as they could make it.

One of the reasons Alexander was chosen for the job was a map he made of Haleakala Crater in 1869. The map was probably the most scientific land survey of Hawaii to that date, and Alexander completed it as part of his summer vacation on Maui. While visiting his in-laws (Rev. Dwight and Charlotte Baldwin) he went up to the Haleakala Crater several times, camping there for a week during one of his treks. He accurately mapped out all of the geographical features of the caldera, placing each one in its correct location and relationship to the other features of the volcano.

He also took the opportunity to make observations about the way the massive volcano causes demonstrably wide variations in the direction of "true north." In order to double-check his measurements of the direction of true north, he made repeated nighttime observations of the North Star. This technique proved to be invaluable for ensuring the accuracy of his map.

When he was appointed, Alexander told his superiors that, using the most advanced equipment of the time, he planned to "cover the country with a network of triangles, measured with precision, to serve as a skeleton or framework on which the local surveys are to be based." His intention he said was to map each district so the boundaries of the district's ahupua'a and 'ili (two uniquely Hawaiian divisions of land) were exactly represented.

The triangles he was talking about make up what is called a "geodetic network." To make one, you need to determine the geographic coordinates of a large number of points on prominent natural features (like mountain peaks, for example). Then you measure as precisely as possible the distances and angles between these points. Once you've established these so-called "benchmarks," they can be used to describe the beginning points of other, smaller surveys, measuring smaller and smaller parts of the landscape. It is possible then, to connect all of these smaller surveys until you have an accurate map of an entire island.

Another of Alexander's goals was to develop and produce basic maps of the islands that delineated features like coastlines, ridges, streams and roads - details that helped officials and the public understand the landscape.

In order to accomplish these aims, Alexander had to put together a team of intrepid young men who were not only highly proficient in a fairly high level of math (geometry and trigonometry), as well as skilled in the Hawaiian language and familiar with the culture, but also strong enough to haul their instruments all over the islands and hardy enough to endure the often miserable conditions in the field.

HGS surveyors often spent months blazing trails and lugging delicate, expensive equipment through tropical forests and dense underbrush. They had to ford raging streams, and clamber over rocky, treacherous slopes and rough lava, through blazing sun and drenching rain. They had to be meticulous in their measurements and observations. They had to be able to gather information from native informants. They also had to work as a team to coordinate all that measuring so that all the triangles, angles and lines matched up more or less precisely.

These young men became instrumental in fostering the development of a scientific community in Hawaii. As they did their work, they had time to also talk to the native people and learn about the Hawaiian culture, and to study wildlife and plant life as well as natural phenomena like the ocean, the weather and volcanoes.

In time, each one became an acknowledged expert in whatever field caught his interest. Team members were sought out by scientists from all over the world. One fledgling science, the study of volcanoes, got a major boost because of the work a number of these men did while they laid out their maps and accurately recorded the features of each of these fascinating landmarks.

By the time of annexation, the agency had already gathered about 2,000 maps along with the field books used in making them and copies of all the land descriptions, grants, and awards involved. HGS had also developed a way of describing an area of land that was clear enough so everyone could be sure they were talking about the same piece of land.

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Braddah-Nics Lexicon

STANDARD: How can I help?
BRADDAH-NICS: An' den, what you like me fo' do?

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD: Listen to me!
BRADDAH-NICS: Eh! Moe-lepo eyah! LIsten!

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD: And my mother said, "Look who thinks she's so grown-up!"
BRADDAH-NICS: My moddah she tell, "Look who t'ink she pro-Joe grown-up mature! Tsa!"

 

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Local Grinds

Sweet an Sour Spareribs

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs spareribs
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs salad oil
• 2 tbs flour
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 small ginger root
• 2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cups vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup light brown sugar

Procedure:

Crush garlic and ginger root. Slice spareribs into 1 1/2in pieces. Cover lightly with flour and soy sauce and mix gently. Heat oil in a large saucepan, add spareribs, garlic, and ginger, and let cook until brown. Drain fat and all remainder of ingredients. Let simmer for 45 minutes and serve.
Make approximately 6 servings.

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