 |
|
|
 A visit to the Lyman Museum: The First Hawaiians and Early Immigrants
Island Heritage Gallery
The First Hawaiians:
The first thing you see as you enter the displays is a comparison of ancient and modern tools. Early tools were made of natural materials such as rock, wood, shell, coral, bones, and fibers. An example of an early/modern comparison would be "rock/ax".
To give the visitor an idea of early life in Hawaii, models and instructions are provided for building a 125-foot canoe, a hut and a bowl with this tools. For instance, a canoe would have been made from a koa tree, the ax used to hollow the tree would have been made from a glaciated volcanic rock known as a clinker stone, and the canoe would have been sanded with the underside of the breadfruit tree leaf.
Many additional examples of how early Hawaiians made use of native materials for tools and products. For instance, the coconut midrib was used for light and red clay soil was used medicinally.
The lifestyles of these people showed they consciously took care of the very things they exploited so there would always be enough. For instance, there were "kapu" times of year when fishing was not allowed. This would allow the fish numbers to increase following periods of harvest. The early people also practiced aquaculture by crating stone walls to enclose fish. These were the oldest fish ponds.
Upena fish nets were made from fibers, fish hooks from human or animal bones, baskets were woven from the lele vine for fish traps, and bait sticks were used for trolling.
Cowries were used as baits, gourds were used to hold drinking water, and stones were used as anchors.
Weapons also were made from native materials. Some of the stone weapons included sling stones, tripping stones and canoe breakers.
Kapa bark was pounded to make blankets (firm and strong) or window coverings (like lace).
Bamboo stamps used to be carved with shark teeth. (Today, exacto knives are used.
The primary gods were:
Kane, father of all living things;
Ku, god of chiefs and war,
Lono, god of agriculture and peace;
Kinaloa, god of the great ocean and sea life
The Heiau was the temple of the gods.
A Kahuna was a doctor. It took at least 20 years of intense study to become a doctor, and there were specialties such as navigation, architecture, agriculture, fishing, medicine (including specialists such as orthopedic surgery), and bird catching.
Later Immigrants:
After the missionaries and plantation operators arrived, many other nationalities of indentured immigrants descended upon Hawaii in waves. These included:
Chinese - 1852
Portuguese - 1878
Japanese - (1868) 1885
Korean - 1903
Flipino - 1907
South Sea Islanders - 1859
Scots - 1880's
Scandinavians - 1881
Germans - 1881
Galicians (Poles from Austria) - 1897
Puerto Ricans - 1900
Spanish - 1907
Russians - 1909
Written By
Ellen Kelley
|
|
|
|
|
|
