Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Ever since the days of ancient Hawai'i, Moloka'i has been steeped in mysticism and lore.
It's believed to be home of Laka, goddess of the hula, and Halawa Valley is believed
to be one of the oldest settlements in Hawai'i. Human sacrifices were performed at the
'Ili'ili'opae Heiau. Even today the power and
mana
of this little-known island is evident
in everywhere you visit.
Captain James Cook first spotted Moloka'i on November 26, 1778, but because it
looked bleak and uninhabited, he bypassed it. Eight years later Captain George Dixon
sighted the island and decided to land although little about this first encounter was recor-
ded in his ship's log. Moloka'i slipped from the attention of the Western world until Prot-
estant missionaries arrived at Kalua'aha in 1832 and reported the native population at ap-
proximately 6,000.
From the time of missionary arrival until the 1850s, Moloka'i remained almost unchanged.
The Great Mahele of 1848 provided for private ownership of land, and giant tracts were
formed into the Moloka'i Ranch. About 1850, German immigrant Rudolph Meyer came
to Moloka'i and married a high chieftess named Dorcas Kalama Waha. Together they had
11 children, with whose aid he turned the vast lands of the Moloka'i Ranch into pro-
ductive pastureland. In 1875, Charles Bishop had bought half of the 70,000 acres of Mo-
loka'i Ranch, and his wife, Bernice, a Kamehameha descendant, inherited the remainder.
In 1898, the Moloka'i Ranch was sold to businesspeople in Honolulu for $251,000. This
consortium formed the American Sugar Co. But after a few plantings, the available wa-
ter on Moloka'i turned brackish, and once again Moloka'i Ranch was sold. Charles Cooke
bought controlling interest from the other businesspeople in 1908 and remained in control
of the ranch until 1988.
In 1921, Congress passed the Hawaiian Homes Act, which set aside 43,000 acres on the
island for people who had at least 50 percent Hawaiian blood. By this time, however, all
agriculturally productive land in Hawai'i had already been claimed. The parcels given to
the Hawaiians were poor and lacked adequate water. Also many Hawaiians had long since
left the land and were raised in towns and cities. Now out of touch with the simple life of
the taro patch, they found it difficult to readjust. However, to prevent the Hawaiians from
selling their claims and losing the land forever, the Hawaiian Homes Act provided that the
