File:Hawaii, past and present (1921) (14576513690).jpg

Identifier: hawaiipastpresent00cast (find matches)
Title: Hawaii, past and present
Year: 1921 (1920s)
Authors: Castle, William R. (William Richards), 1878-1963
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, Dodd, Mead and company
Contributing Library: Brigham Young University Hawaii, Joseph F. Smith Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Consortium of Church Libraries and Archives

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ls were made of stone, orsharks teeth, or wood, yet with these rude imple-ments the people carried on extensive agriculturalworks, terraced the land when necessary, built irri-gation ditches and tunnels, and constructed fieldsfor the growing of taro. This was their principalcrop, as it was, and is, the staple food. The bestof it, and indeed the larger proportion, grows infields which must be covered with water to thedepth of a few inches and which must, therefore, bevery carefully laid out. The root is boiled orsteamed until soft, pounded with stone pestles intoa paste, mixed with water, and allowed slightly toferment. This is poi, the national food, veryhealthful, and, to those who are accustomed to it,very good. (It may be noted that the glutinousqualities are such that it is used also as a pastein hanging wallpaper.) In addition to taro, theancient Hawaiians cultivated sweet potatoes, yams,and bananas. Of animal food they had only porkand dogs. Fishing was, therefore, a most impor-
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c w THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE 21 taut industry, and the fishermen, who formed a classby themselves, were expert in the use of hook andline, net, and spear. Fish, too, were preserved inhuge fish ponds, which were made by building rockwalls, sometimes a mile or more in length, in rudesemi-circles into the sea, each end resting on theshore. These walls were built close enough to pre-vent the fish from escaping, while the tide watercould still pass through them. Some of these fishponds are still in use, but the most interesting arethe ancient ones, now, owing to the subsidence ofthe land, many feet under water, which one seesfrom the hills of Molokai. Fish, meat, and vege-tables were prepared in underground ovens. Meatand fish were wrapped in leaves and laid on heatedstones; water was then poured into the cavity andthe whole covered, the food being cooked by steam.Houses, varying in size according to the rankof the owner, consisted of rough wooden frames,tied together, and thatched over with gr

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