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Natural History

Waiawi, Strawberry Guava
(Psidium cattleianum)

Strawberry guavas, like their cousins, the common guavas, are natives to tropical America. They were first recorded in Hawaii in 1825.

The juice and pulp of their much-smaller, cherry-sized red (or yellow) fruit is sometimes used in mixed juices, in jams, jellies and preserves, and sometimes fermented to make wine. At least one cook called it a tedious job to gather and process the smaller fruits, but, she said, it was well worth the effort. Both varieties of strawberry guava are called waiawi by the Hawaiians.

The plant has smooth, shiny leaves and its smooth bark frequently has flaky, peeling patches. The wood is quite hard and makes good fire wood. Landscape artists sometimes use them as specimen plants because of their beautiful bark and shape.

Unfortunately strawberry guavas (like their cousins) have a tendency to become wild, weedy shrubs and trees that take over native forest areas. Their hard, indigestible seeds are spread far and wide by pigs, cattle, horses, and introduced birds who like eating the fruit. Their decaying fruits provide an ideal breeding ground for fruit flies.

As if this wasn't enough of a problem, the strawberry guava is a small tree that doesn't need very much room to grow. The plants can form very tight, impenetrable thickets with their trunks just inches apart, through which it is impossible to walk without wielding a machete. The trees are also said to produce soil chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants as well.

Also, because the strawberry guava is hardier than the common guava, it is more numerous in certain areas at higher elevations where the common kind is rare.

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Arts & Culture

Huialoha Congregational Church

On the rugged, windswept Mokulau peninsula that juts out into the sea at Kaupo stands the radiant white-walled sanctuary called Huialoha Congregational Church. As you round Mokuia Point, on the dirt road from Hana, you can catch a glimpse of the church. It always lifts your heart up.

On one side there is the steep climb of Haleakala sweeping up across Manawainui Valley to the sudden cleft of Kaupo Gap and beyond. On the other side the ocean churns out whitecaps, dancing across the deep blue of the sea and dashing itself among the stones of the place called "many islands." (Just off the eastern shore are the wave-washed rock islets for which the peninsula is named.)

It is an enchanting place. A beautiful saying about the place goes, "Na leo o kamakani ke kahu o na pohaku o Mokulau," which translates as, "The voices of the wind are captured in the stones at Mokulau." Little wonder that this was the home of one of Maui's most powerful kings as well as a renowned windsurfing spot.

The Kaupo hillside overlooking the rocky, driftwood-strewn shoreline is literally covered with heiau. Since the coastline was used by the battling ali'i of Maui and the Big Island for launching and landing massive invading fleets of canoes, temples propitiating their gods proliferated.

During the 18th-century reign of Maui High Chief Kekaulike, three great heiau were raised in this region. One of the largest in the district was Loaloa Heiau, built on the west side of Manawainui Gulch, on a high hill that can be seen from almost any point in Kaupo.

Loaloa is considered to be the longest heiau on the island of Maui, measuring 510 feet from east to west. It is 100 feet wide. Legend has it that the Menehunes built this heiau, but folklorist Thomas G. Thrum says it was built, together with two smaller heiau, Puumakaa and Kekalauae (also called Kanemalohemo), by Kekaulike about 1790, just before the chief started raiding the Kona coast villages, taking advantage of the civil war that ensued after the death of Big Island chief Keawe.

Later, when Kamehameha's invasion fleet landed there in 1802 on its way to Kauai, the Big Island chief made a point of rebuilding these three heiau as well as the Maulili heiau at Kipahulu. Afterwards he dedicated the heiau to his war god. Kamehameha's son Liholiho was empowered with the sacred duties of temple consecration in connection with this place as well.

Mokulau is a sacred, many-storied place and perhaps it was partly for this reason the Congregationalist missionaries decided to build a church there despite daunting obstacles. It was not an easily accomplished goal. The people of Kaupo had very little money. The generosity of the people kept the missionaries supplied with food, kapa, mats, and other products from the land and from their hands, but buying needed supplies for building a church was not an option. Fundraising luaus were held to help with the costs of the construction, but it was never enough.

It took five years of dedicated effort by the missionaries and by the members of the congregation to get the church built. They called it "Huialoha," a gathering of love." It took an additional ten years to gather the funds together to finally purchase a bell for the sanctuary.

At least there was an abundance of well-worn rounded stones at the water's edge, an easily accessible source of materials for the foundation and thick walls of the church. But, the lack of a natural protective coral reef meant there was no ready supply of coral to crush and burn for mortar to hold the rocks together.

Divers collected the needed coral in specially woven baskets from the ocean floor, sometimes diving many fathoms down, while canoes waited on the surface to transport the material to shore.

Once the coral had been gathered together, fresh water was needed to mix into the crushed rock to make lime plaster, a crude form of mortar. However, nearby Punahoa spring and Manawainui Stream run sporadically. Somehow the church builders persevered and the church slowly grew on the peninsula.
At its peak, the congregation numbered several hundred members. Often, during the Sunday services, there were crowds of people standing outside the church, looking in through the six windows.

As times changed and the search for jobs led to an exodus of Kaupo residents to more populated areas, the membership of the congregation became less and less. By the early 1950's, regular services were no longer held in the church and the building slowly fell apart.

By the 1970's the old building was riddled with dry rot and termites. In 1976, during America's bicentennial celebrations, when President Nixon requested that every church bell in the nation be rung on July 4, there were few people who could remember bell ringing in the old church in Kaupo. Some Hana residents and former residents of Kaupo traveled out to the Mokulau peninsula and with will power and applied muscle, managed to move the old bell that had been rusted frozen for decades and make it ring out loudly.

Shortly afterwards, an ambitious restoration project was launched by the people of Kaupo and Hana to save the deteriorating old structure. After most of the renovation work was completed, a worship service to rededicate Huialoha Church was held on Easter Sunday, March 26, 1978. Additional work was done in 1984 and again in 1991.

Services are now held only on major Christian holidays. Thousands of yearly visitors still stop to visit. Often, horses graze in the churchyard.

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Braddah-Nics Lexicon

STANDARD: My brother lives in the mountains and my sister lives by the beach.
BRADDAH-NICS: My braddah, he stay mauka; my sistah, she stay makai.

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD: My aunt is very skilled at making Hawaiian quilts.
BRADDAH-NICS: My aunty, she good make kapa pili.

* * * * * * * *

STANDARD: I wish she would make one for me.
BRADDAH-NICS: I like her for make me one.
 

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Local Grinds

Man Doo


Ingredients:

Procedure:

In a large saucepot, combine chicken, pork, water, salt and monosodium glutamate. Cover and simmer until chicken is tender. Remove skin and bones from chicken; finely chop chicken and pork. Cool broth; skim off layer of fat, and strain.  Cook bean sprouts for 3 minutes; drain. Chop very fine. Drain kim chee; chop very fine. Place tofu in cloth; squeeze and drain. Combine chicken, pork, bean sprouts, kim chee and tofu for filling. Put 1 teaspoon of filling in center of each won ton wrapper. Dampen edges slightly, fold in half diagonally, and pinch to seal. Bring broth to a boil, add dumplings, and cook for 5
minutes. Serve soup in bowls; sprinkle with sesame seed and green onions. Makes 8 servings.

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Spotlight On…

Sandalwood Pit Kamiloloa - Molokai

At the turn of the 18th century, the port of Molokai was a hotbed of activity. Bustling with Western trader ships, who filled their hulls with fragrant Hawaiian Sandalwood marked for clients in the Far East. Striking a deal with King Kamehameha, the Westerners agreed to give the monarch 1 vessel for each that was filled to capacity with the precious wood. Delighted by these new toys, the King set forth that the commoners shall create a pit the size of a ship's hull, raid the forests of any Sandalwood to be had, and place the commodity into the pit until it overflowed. Once full, the Sandalwood trees were to be carried more than 10 miles though treacherous terrain, to be loaded onto waiting ships. This practice, while extremely profitable to the King and his heirs, was incredibly taxing on not only the common worker hauling the wood, but also on the Sandalwood population of Hawaii. So harsh were the working conditions - many men were reported to have died en route - it is said the workers took to uprooting Sandalwood seedlings; destroying future generations of trees, but saving future generations of workers from the harsh collection process. While these actions led to the demise of the old time Sandalwood trade in Hawaii, they also contributed to the near extinction of the prized tree . . .

Fortunately, some Hawaiian Sandalwood specimens still exist, and thanks to the work of diligent volunteers, more of these prized pieces of nature are sprouting forth; Hopefully one day creating forests filled with their sweet fragrance once again.
 

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