Hoakalei Cultural Foundation

This index includes several of the primary records of conveyance of lands in Honouliuli Ahupua‘a. The major focus is on the larger tracts of land which were subsequently developed into saltworks, ranching, plantation, and military operations. Several of the conveyances also provide samples of how and when native tenant kuleana were transferred to larger landowner shares. For lands of the Hoakalei preservation sites and lagoon area, only the large ahupua‘a conveyance deeds cover transfer of title as no small parcels were held in fee by individuals.

In addition to naming traditional residents and noted places of Honouliuli, the records of the Māhele ‘Āina also provide us with important information on residency, land use practices, physical features—today’s cultural sites, and some of the plants or resources which were tended as food crops by the people who lived on the land.

Another important facet of the records compiled as a part of the Māhele ‘Āina are the place names of Honouliuli. Some 182 place names were cited in the claims, testimonies, and surveys of native tenants lands in Honouliuli. The names are often descriptive of i) the terrain, ii) an event in history, iii) the kind of resources a particular place was noted for, or iv) the kind of land use which occurred in the area so named. Sometimes an earlier resident of a given land area was also commemorated by place names.

The records of the Māhele ‘Āina are a significant source of firsthand accounts from native tenants of Honouliuli whose residency generally spanned the period from ca. 1800 to 1855. The records describe native Hawaiian residency and land use practices.  They identify specific residents, types of land use, fishery and fishing rights, crops cultivated, and features on the landscape.

Pu‘uloa, the land area of Honouliuli, and the lochs of the harbor played a major role in Hawai‘i’s political history and eventual loss of sovereignty. The narratives under Related Documents below take readers through the decades of turmoil in development of sugar plantations, trade agreements, the “Reciprocity Treaty” (1875 & 1884), and eventual military control of Pearl Harbor and large tracts of Honouliuli Ahupua‘a by the United States.

The making of pa‘akai—sea salt—was one of the significant traditional practices associated with the coastal lands of Honouliuli. There are a number of Māhele claims by native tenants of the larger Pu‘uloa land division for salt-making sites. While no specific claim was identified for the wetland or shoreline zone within the Hoakalei program area, it is reasonable to assume that the making of pa‘akai was done in the area.

By the time of the Māhele ‘Āina (Land Division) of 1848, which granted chiefs, native tenants, and a number of foreigners fee-simple title to land, major changes in the Hawaiian way of life—residency and subsistence practices—were occurring across the islands. Among the notable changes in Honouliuli was that the southern, ocean-facing shore of Honouliuli was all but abandoned by the native tenants. The one exception was along the inland shores of Pu‘uloa, where foreigners gained control of the land and engaged native Hawaiians as employees of newly developing businesses.

The epic tradition of the goddess Pele and her youngest sister, Hi‘iaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele, a.k.a. Hi‘iaka, was referenced in "A Little Story and Some Chants: Traditions of Hi‘iaka-i-ka-poli-o-Pele." From 1860 to 1928, several important Hawaiian-language publications provided readers with variations in the telling of this tradition.