Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 7, 1 July 1992 — A new look at the plants of old Hawaiʻi [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A new look at the plants of old Hawaiʻi

Book review

by Ann L. Moore Any thoughtful person who reads about precontact Hawai'i discovers that Hawaiians ate and drank well, clothed and adorned themselves, built shelters, travelled inter-island, developed medicines, made weapons of war, musical instruments, and religious images, without benefit of Western technology, even 18th century technology. The maka'ainana provided a bounty in crops, enough to support the needs of the ali'i, those who gave special services to the ali'i, the priestly and the warrior classes. A people capable of doing that were surely far better agriculturists than the "subsistence farmers" oft-cited by Westerners. ■ — »-i— — — n-t

Hawaiians could not have spent a lot of time lounging around, as some Westerners imagined. There was plenty to keep them busy producing the raw material of everyday life. A new book by Isabella Aiona Abbott, "La'au Hawai'i, Traditional Hawaiian Uses of Plants,"

bears this out. One of the best things about "La'au Hawai'i" is how easy it is for the reader to find out what plants were grown and used ii\old Hawai'i and how they ean be cultivated and used today. Even people who have no interest in botany, agriculture or gardening will find the author's use of historic detail and descriptions interesting. For example: What material was used and how was the regalia of the ali'i made? Consult the chapter on "Warfare and Chiefly Regalia" for the answers. What plants were used in hula? What plants used for cordage? Household implements? Medicines? It is all there under easy to find headings that relate the plants to their uses. And it gets even better. Author Abbott weaves in history, the evolving relationship of the Hawaiians to land and crops and the religious dimensions of agriculture in interesting, understandable prose. In her introduction, Abbott says the book is set up to demonstrate the vital link between the Hawaiian flora and the culture. Abbott notes that, "in naming eommon plants that grew around them, and a large number of forest plants as well, the Hawaiians showed extraordinary powers of observation. By the time modern botanists became aware that Hawaiian classifications were highly accurate, and in some cases highly sophisticated, most of the old-timers who knew the names and could apply them were gone." She notes that Bishop Museum has a great deal of information on that subject that scholars have yet to analyze. Efforts to revive Hawaiian culture, Abbott writes, rely heavily on protecting traditional plants and the perpetuation of knowledge about their cultivation and uses. Hula, for instance, requires lei making and most instruments for hula are derived from plants. She argues that the cultural survival of Hawai'i is dependant on preserving the environment in whieh the rich Hawaiian culture developed. The book is liberally illustrated with old photographs and eaeh chapter starts with an appro-

priate quotation in Hawaiian with English translahon. Abbott uses Hawaiian names for plants (i.e. kalo rather than taro) to encourage the use of the Hawaiian terms and strengthen the movement to speak Hawaiian. Readers who are not literate in Hawaiian will have no trouble following the text and may enrich their vocabularies while also enriching their knowledge of the plants of Hawai'i.

"One must be faithful to words as to plants it they are to endure," Abbott says. Abbott is a professor of botany at the University of Hawai'i and a professor of biology, emerita, at Stanford University. An internationally known phycologist, she is the author of more than 100 scientific papers and co-author of "Marine Algae of California." "La'au Hawai'i" will be used in Abbott's ethnobotany course at UH-Manoa. "La'au Hawai'i" is published by Bishop Museum Press. It is available for $22.95 at bookstores statewide or from the Bishop Museum, 1525 Bernice St., P.O. Box 19000A, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96817-0916. The telephone is (808) 847-3511, fax 841-8968. Museum members receive a discount when they buy the book at the museum's Shop Pacifica. Nonmembers ean enter Shop Pacifica, just inside the main lobby, without paying a museum entrance fee.

lsabella Alona Abbott, author of "La'au Hawal'l, Tradltional Hawaiian Uses of Plants."