Natural History

Pohuehue, Beach Morning Glory
(Ipomoea pes-caprae)

Along the beaches and sand dunes, especially along the southern coasts of many islands, pohuehue flourishes. This vigorous, trailing beach morning glory can grow to 16 feet long. It grows above the high-water line and is able to absorb salty water and thrive. The sun does not shrivel its leathery, thick leaves, which are between two and four inches long.

The vine has green stems several yards long and form roots at the joints (nodes). The main root is long - as much as 12 feet long and two inches thick. The numerous roots along its stems dig deep into the shifting sands and hold them firm. Landscapers and land managers have used it extensively to stabilize large areas of sand, preventing erosion from wind and waves. Pohuehue works better than the more technological solutions, it seems.

Occasionally the trailing vines may be seen planted inland, above sea level to the 1,500 foot elevation.

The scientific name for pohuehue translates as "the wormy vine with leaves like a goat's foot track." (The leaves are either an inverted heart shape or they are shaped like a goat's foot with a notch at the tip. Sometimes the leaves are broader than long, with two lobes folded up along the mid-vein.) This pretty much describes the plant, although it doesn't include a description of the typical funnel-shaped, mauve or dusty pink morning glory flowers with their five-pointed central stars. The flowers bloom singly or a few in a cluster. They tend to open up in the morning.

In ancient times, surfers apparently didn't have to wait for the cry, "Surf's up!" They called the waves to them. Each surfer yanked at the stems and dived into the water. They would swing the vines around their heads and bring them forcefully down, lashing the water in unison as they chanted,

"Arise, arise, ye great surfs...
The powerful, curling waves.
Arise with the pohuehue,
Well up, long raging surf."

More practically, the vines had many uses. The vines served as cordage in home construction and for weaving baskets and fishnets. The vines were sometimes used to drive fish into waiting nets. In legend the long stems of the pohuehue were stripped and tied together to form hawsers several hundreds of feet long. These sturdy cables were used to lower heroes deep down into the underworld of departed spirits.

Small amounts of the plant roots and leaves were used as famine food and also as an ingredient in preparations that treated lung trouble, sprains and as a blood cleanser. The young leaf buds were eaten by pregnant women. Stems were cut into short lengths and slapped onto the breasts of women who had just given birth. The plant's milky white sap, with help from the god Ku and the goddess Hina, was supposed to stimulate the flow of milk to feed the newborn baby. After circumcision, the lavender trumpet flowers were placed over a small boy's penis where the flower quickly shriveled, covering the sore spot. The enclosing blossom helped promote quicker healing. Besides this, the seeds were eaten for their laxative effect.

Typically there are four small downy seeds contained in little round woody capsules, which are excellent floaters that remain viable after months at sea. In this way the plant colonized the islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and the surrounding continental landmasses.

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Arts & Culture

Ko'ie'ie Fishpond

There were at least three or four walled fishponds, loko kuapa, built along the Kihei coastline, the name of only one still remains. Ko'ie'ie Pond lies at Ka'ono'ulu Beach County Park along South Kihei Road between the Menehune Shores apartment building and the office of the Hawaiian Island Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. It is also known as Kalepolepo fishpond and is on both the National and State Registries of Historical Sites. According to one source, among the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Islands, Hawaiians were the only ones to develop a true aquaculture by using ponds to raise fish (as opposed to just trapping them with weirs).

The ancient fishpond was built sometime in 1400 to 1500 AD. Many stories connect the pond to the ali'i of the time since it was a royal pond, stocked with the best fish for the use of the highest chiefs and their extended families.

"Ko'ie'ie" means "rapid current." It is a walled pond using lava rock and coral walls to keep the water circulating while a wooden sluice gate called a makaha lets small fish enter the pond to feed but prevents them from leaving once they get big. The walls of the pond had to stand two or three feet above the high-tide level. It took many, many rocks to make these long walls.

Historian Samuel Kamakau wrote that a land with many fishponds, loko i'a, was called a "fat" land, 'aina momona. The ponds not only beautified the area, as Kamakau said, but also were a reliable source of food. Kamakau argues that their presence speaks for the peaceable nature of the people of the area. Otherwise, he says, they would not have been able to "work together in unity to make the walls that enclosed the ponds." The bigger ponds were a large civic project and required a time of peace and a large labor force commanded by a king with skilled engineers.

In fact, the coastline that includes the Ko'ie'ie Pond was called Ka Ipu Kai a Hina (the meat dish of Hina) and was famous for its abundance of fish.

When the stonework was done and the sturdy timbers for the sluice gate were put into place, ceremonial offerings of prayers by the kahuna (priests) asked for ho'oulu i'a, to make the fish population increase. During the nights of the full moon and high tides, a keeper, the kahu kia'i loko, stood in a shelter beside the sluice gate to guard against thieves. As the fish came pouring in, the kahu would cry out, "Ola ka 'aina!" (Life has come to the land!)

Once the walled pond was completed and fish began to fill it, the pond could be efficiently run by a small group of specialists who were often an extended family who worked the pond for the chief.

Farmed fish in ancient Hawaiian aquaculture included fish that naturally lived in lagoons and inside the rocky recesses of reef and shore: 'anae and 'ama'ama (mullet), 'o'opu (guppies), manini (convict tang) and 'aholehole (Hawaiian flagtail), as well as 'opae (shrimp) and puhi (eels). At high tide, the pond would be filled with many other sea fish, including the ulua (crevalle and pompano), kahala (amberjack), kumu (goat fish), palani (surgeonfish), 'o'i'o (bonefish) and uhu (parrot fish).

The ocean fish that swam into the pond at high tide were considered to be drawn to the pond by the prayers of the kahuna and were reserved for the ali'i. Despite heavy penalties for breaking the kapu, however, poaching was a problem.

The fish were kept in the pond to breed and their offspring were "raised like pet pigs" so they could be caught by hand. The common food on which the fish were raised was taro, according to one source. In the months when the southerly kona winds blew, the fish were taken to be eaten by the ali'i and their entourage or for barter. Around that time the sluice gate would be choked with fish persistently swimming into the fresh wind. If they were not taken at that time, they would die in the warm sun.

Over the years, as the times brought more and more changes and the old ways were forgotten, the pond was neglected and silt and sand filled it as the relentless waves overcame the stone walls and broke it down. In 1996, 'Ao'ao O Na Loko I'a O Maui (Association of the Fishponds of Maui) began renovating Ko'ie'ie Pond, working with the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. The restoration of the pond which was such a part of the history of the area was a good thing.

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Hawaiiana

West Maui

Over the next couple of months we will share information on Maui place names based on district. This month's subject: West Maui.

Lāhainā:
Cruel Sun (Said to be named for droughts)

Old pronunciation of Lahaina.

Hono:
Bay

There are six famous west Maui bays possessing names that begin with Hono. Combined they are known as Nā Honoapi’ilani, meaning the bays acquired by chief Pi’ilani. Honoapi’ilani is also the name of the west Maui highway that connects the six bays.
The six bays are:
Honokōwai, Honokahua, Honolua, Honokōhau, Honokeana, & Hononana

Honokōwai:
Bay drawing water

Honokahua:
Sites bay

Honolua:
Two bays or twin bays

The first voyage of the Hawaiian double hulled voyaging canoe began here on May 1, 1976.

Honokōhau:
Bay drawing dew

Honokeana:
The cave bay

Hononana:
Animated bay

Olowalu:
Many hills

Many Hawaiians were killed or wounded here because of the battle with Captain Simon Metcalfe in 1790. This incident is said to be called the Olowalu massacre. The story begins that when Captain Simon Metcalfe anchored his ship, the Elinor, off shore (Honua’ula), some Hawaiians killed a watchman and stole one of his small boats. Metcalfe was angered by this, and fired several rounds of his cannon at the village, killing many people and wounding others. Unsatisfied with his counter attack, Metcalfe sailed towards Olowalu after learning that the boat thieves resided there. Upon his arrival, he encouraged the natives to approach his ship for trading. Once the canoes reached the ship, he and his crew opened fire with the ships guns. In this incident, over 80 Hawaiians were killed and many more were wounded. The chief of Olowalu was very enraged after hearing what happened. He retaliated by capturing one of Metcalfe’s ships and killed the entire crew except for one man. That man is presumed to have felt pretty lucky.

Launiupoko:
Short coconut leaf

Kā’anapali:
Cliff division

At Kā’anapali Beach there is a cinder cone called Pu’u Keka’a, commonly known as “Black Rock”, that divides the beach in two. The section between Hanakao’o Beach Park and Black Rock is known as “Dig Me Beach”. The other section is between Black Rock and Honokowai Point, and is known as “North Beach”.

Waine’e:
Moving water

Kahana:
Cutting or turning point

Pu’unoa:
Hill freed of taboo

Mōpua:
Melodious, pleasant, as of a voice, rare
(said to be the name of a legendary character)

Māhinahina:
Silvery haze (as of moonlight) or pale moonlight

Kapunakea:
The clear spring or white coral

Pu’ukoli’i:
Koli’i shrub hill (Koli’i is a native lobelia shrub)

Māla:
Garden

This is a wharf in Lahaina that was dedicated by Governor Wallace R. Farrington. It was built to help accommodate the inter-island steamers so they wouldn't have to anchor off shore. Unfortunately, because of strong currents and heavy surf damage in this location, they started anchoring off shore again. Until 1950, the warf was only used by small boats.
 

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Braddah-Nics Lexicon

STANDARD: This is impossible.
BRADDAH-NICS: No can, dis kine.

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD: Of course we can do it.
BRADDAH-NICS: Shuah...us can da kine.

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD: It's nothing much.
BRADDAH-NICS: On'y small kine.

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Local Grinds

Ham And Pineapple Pizza

Ingredients: 

• 6 oz. fully cooked smoked ham
• 1/2 of a pineapple
• 1 package of shredded cheese (depends on how much cheese you want on your pizza)
• Pizza sauce (depends how much cheese you want on your pizza)

Dough:

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2/3 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Procedure:

Cut pineapple and ham into bite size pieces and preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Add yeast and sugar to the cup of warm water. Stir slightly and let sit for about 10 minutes. Mix 1 2/3 cups flour and salt, then add in the yeast mixture, and then add in the olive oil. Mix until the mixture can come into a ball.

Roll dough on a floured surface, making a circle. If dough is sticky, just add more flour. Roll dough into 15 inch flat circle. If dough does not want to roll, let stand and try again. Once dough is rolled put on a 15 inch non stick pan. If you do not have a non stick pan, use pam or oil, so it won't stick to the pan.

Once the dough is rolled and on the pan, add pizza sauce onto the dough. Add as much sauce as you want, for your tasting. Then add cheese onto the sauce, as much as you want for your tasting. Add the ham and pineapple, spreading it throughout the pizza.

Put in oven and cook for about 20 minutes. 

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