Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Since the arrival of the original Polynesians, the fertile valleys and shorelines of eastern
Moloka'i have supported the majority of the island's population. The mountains provide
freshwater for farming and pigs and deer to put on the dinner table. The lowlands and
river valleys provide fertile ground for planting crops such as taro. The fishponds lining
the shoreline provide a bounty from the sea which has been sustainably managed for more
than 1,000 years. Many of the residents of eastern Moloka'i still maintain this subsistence-
based lifestyle: the people serve as the stewards of the land and it, in turn, provides the
people with the nourishment to live.
Given that eastern Moloka'i has historically been the population center, there are also
a number of visitor sites which are worth your time. Many of the historical sites in this
area have limited access due to their being situated on private land. Out of respect for the
landowners, places such as 'Ili'iliopae
heaiu
(the largest
heiau
on the island once used for
human sacrifice) are not included here so as not to be disturbed.
EXILES IN KALAUPAPA
With leprosy spreading at an alarming rate throughout the Hawaiian Islands, Kame-
hameha V in 1865 signed into law the Act to Prevent the Spread of Leprosy. Initially
patients where quarantined at a hospital in Kalihi on the island of O'ahu, but it be-
came evident that more space would be needed.
The remote Kalaupapa Peninsula-separated from the rest of Moloka'i by tower-
ing
pali
(cliffs) and buffeted on three sides by heaving surf-offered an isolated space
to send the tortured souls rotting away from the horrible affliction. In 1866, the first
leprosy patients were brought to the town of Kalawao on the peninsula's eastern
shore. Those already living in Kalawao were told to vacate the area. Kalaupapa was
never viewed as a place for lepers to live out their lives-it was a place for them to
die.
Once someone was sent to Kalaupapa, there would be no return. The afflicted
hid rather than be shipped away. Bounty hunters roamed the countryside. Babies,
toddlers, teenagers, wives, grandfathers-none were immune. Anyone with any skin
ailment was hounded, captured, and sometimes killed. Suspected lepers were torn
from their families and villages and loaded onto a ship, where they were kept in
cages open to the elements. They were allowed only one small tin box of posses-
