Hawaii's hidden treasures [antikvár]

¦®1B By Hannah Kihalani Springer, Haiuaiian 'O au no 'O Hannah Kihalani Springer. 'O au ka pulapula o Kihalani laua me Pilipo. 'O au he kama a ku^u *aina aloha. 'O Kukui'ohiwai ka inoa. 'O au no he kama'aina. "I am Hannah Kihalani Springer. I am the off-shoot of my parents, Kihalani and Pilipo. I am a child of my beloved homeland. Kukui'ohiwai by name. I am kama^aina, a child of the land." The above declaration, in Hawaiian and English, is both fact and metaphor. It establishes my relationship with my family and with my home, 2,000 feet up on the northwest flank of Hualalai on the island of Hawaii. Kukui'ohiwai has been my family's home for five, going on six, generations. We live with a view of the place where a set of my seven-times-great-grandparents lie at rest by the sea. I am the only child of a first-born child of an only child of a first-born child of an only child—and we are all female and carry the name Kihalani. As a lifelong student of Hawaii, I claim the perspective of a kama'aina— with an affinity for and an intimacy with my islands. When I learn something new of my homeland, it is like a memory from a cherished elder. As a Hawaiian, I believe that my elders are recalled by voicing certain words and names, by visiting certain places, or by seeing certain life-forms. The sight of a pueo— a Hawaiian owl—swooping across the grasslands evokes wonderment in any of us, but I have been taught that this bird is an alternate body form associated with a revered ancestor from the Lahaina area of Maui. Hawaii is the most isolated archipelago in the world. From where I live, I can see black expanses of lava flows 200 years old that are being slowly colonized by plants. During the eons before my time, the volcanic islands of Hawaii were similarly colonized: A unique mix of plants and animals drifted here from other parts of the globe and evolved into life-forms found nowhere else. Much of Hawaii's natural environment has been irrevocably altered by development and by tenacious invaders—exotic plants and animals that overwhelm native species. Golf courses, resorts, housing, a cemetery, and a college, all this and more have been proposed near my home. Massive earth-moving equipment is doing in hours what centuries of erosion could not do. My mother tongue—soft and lilting when spoken, confusingly vowel-rich in print—uses symbols perhaps unfamiliar to many readers of this book: Glottal stops—reverse apostrophes—represent a break in mid-sound in a word; a macron over a letter indicates a long vowel. Hawaii's Hidden Treasures offers an opportunity for all of us to benefit from kama'aina insight. Many of the people whose lives we touch in this book, people who are working with diligence, sincerity, and aloha for the survival of remnants of Hawaii's unique places, are indeed kama'aina. You will recognize us. Images here—both in photographs and in words— give insight into the natural and cultural forces that have shaped me and my kin. They are the images of Hawaii. They are a portrait of my family. Traditional ti leaves comprise a dancer's skirt, but for her xuristlets she uses dyed domestic feathers; Hawaii's yellow-feathered birds are now largely extinct. RICHARD ALEXANDER CCX>KE ill 11