Culture & Art

Once Upon a Time on Molokai

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

A look back at the village of Pelekunu.

If you look down while flying over Molokai’s North Shore, keep an eye out for a village that once flourished in Pelekunu.

By Marie Yamashita

PELEKUNU! It was high adventure for my husband, Henry, when he went on a camping trip with some Lions to Pelekunu in mid 1940’s. An avid outdoorsman, he had hunted and fished in many places on Molokai, but never in Pelekunu and probably for the others too, this was their first time to the remote and isolated valley on the windward coast of Molokai. He was excited about the trip and some of his excitement passed on to me. With great expectations he started out with the others early one summer morning.

Meanwhile, I waited for him to come home and tell me about his trip. Not one to give a long narrative, he gave me what I refer to as a “nuts and bolts” description of his experiences when he returned.

The adventure began, he said, when the boat that took them anchored off shore and they all swam to the beach with their camping gear. His friend, Ray, was having difficulty so he had helped him swim ashore. They set up camp, went exploring, caught enough fishes and picked even more hihiwai. Incidentally, I had my first taste of hihiwai from the pile he brought home.

He described a lush, green valley, with flowing streams and everything growing wild. No one lived there, he said, but there was talk that at one time there was a thriving village in Pelekunu. That sparked my curiosity. People lived in the remote valley? Of course I had heard stories like that, but….a village?

All speculations ended in August 1952 when the Honolulu Star Bulletin carried a most interesting article about Pelekunu and Wailau. In it, the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu John Wilson recalled living in Pelekunu. He and his wife, Jenny, had lived there for 14 years and were authorities on the region. Mrs. Wilson was born in Pelekunu and was the postmistress there. Mr. Wilson, an engineer and contractor, made Pelekunu his headquarters while he had jobs elsewhere. He frequently hiked over the mountains to Kamalo or else came in the easier way, over the Wailau Trail to the beach and then by canoe to Pelekunu.

According to the mayor, Wailau and Pelekunu valleys grew “the best taro in the world.” He explained that taro requires lots of cold running water all the time and both valleys had it. Apparently taro was grown extensively even before his time. Mr. Wilson raised oranges, limes, peaches, coffee, and alfalfa but taro was the cash crop for which the valley was best suited. He and others in Wailau organized to bid for a contract to supply paiai for poi eaten at Kalaupapa Settlement. When growers in Oahu underbid them, Pelekunu suffered an economic blow from which they never recovered, he said.

In 1900 there were about 70 people in each of the valleys and there was a school in Pelekunu with 40 children enrolled.

In the meantime, his wife was not enjoying the continual rains in Pelekunu. So, in 1914, while he was away on a job in Nahiku, Maui, she took bold action. She commandeered the captain of the boat that came to load all of their belongings – pigs, chicken, household furnishings, and the “first and only piano in Pelekunu” and moved to Kamalo.

Shortly after that the steamer stopped coming to Pelekunu. With no doctor, no postmistress, and no one to buy their poi, the other families left. By 1939 when the mayor revisited the valley it was a deserted town. Apparently, such was the condition that Henry and his fellow Lions found when they went there in the 1940’s.

Finally, whatever that may have been left of the village was wiped out in the tidal wave that hit Molokai in 1946.

Now, should you ever happen to fly along the windward coast of Molokai, look for Pelekunu and perhaps in your mind’s eye you may see the village that existed there once upon a time.

Learning Through Lei

Wednesday, August 27th, 2008

Early Builders of the Fishponds

Sunday, August 10th, 2008

The second in a series.

By John Kaimikaua
Dispatch Archive April 1, 1992

When the early architects (Kahuna Kuhi Kuhipu’uone) of Moloka’i designed the fishponds, great amounts of stone were required for building material. Although there are stretches of rocks and boulders strewn across the lowlands and hills of east Moloka’i, those found there are of poor quality and unsuitable for use as building material. The early architects designed the fishponds to last for hundreds of years so as to provide a continuous means of obtaining fish for future generations. The only type of stone that met this requirement was the ‘ala (basalt), found in great quantities along the shoreline of Pelekunu and Wailau valleys on the north-side of the island.

To construct a single fishpond required tremendous work and organization. Because the ‘ala were found in great quantities on the north side, it took the help of thousands of people to form a human chain from the site of construction, over the mountains, and down to Pelekunu or Wailau to gather the stones. The ‘ala were passed from person to person, over the mountains, and then down to the building site. The effort of constructing a fishpond by the people of Moloka’i is astounding.

Another amazing fact of stone gathering by the ancients of the island was the season in which the ‘ala could be gathered on the north side. During the summer months when the ocean is calm on the north side, the waves bring the sand in, covering the rocky shore, and the ‘ala is unattainable at this time. Only during the winter months when the waves are high and wash the sand from the shore are the stones exposed and the builders are able to gather the ‘ala. Therefore, the gatherers contended with the rain and cold during the storms of the winter months, especially those who were alined in the mountains.

The building of the fishponds spanned over a period of 350 years. The first fishpond was constructed under the chief and priest Ka’olo’olo. The stones for this pond were gathered at Wailau valley and was a task never before accomplished on Moloka’i during that early period. Because of the great organization and support it took, under the keen direction of Ka’olo’olo, the whole ahupua’a that the first fishpond was constructed in front of was named Puko’o, meaning “Complete Support’, in commemoration of the great work required in building the first fishpond.