Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 5, Number 12, 1 December 1988 — Niʻihau: "Get The Drift And Bag It" [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Niʻihau: "Get The Drift And Bag It"

By Clarence F.T. Ching, Trustee, O'ahu

A family story about Ni'ihau that goes a long way back in my memory continues to pique my interest in that island. Not only that, but Ni'ihau is the only one of the major Hawaiian islands that I have not had the privilege to visit and intimately know.

The Ni'ihau Lady had either been born on or had lived there as a young woman. Among other things, when she spoke in Hawaiian, she spoke with the "t" substituted for "k" in the musical sounding language that I recognize now as "Ni'ihau" Hawaiian. One of the stories told by the Ni'ihau Lady was that she onee had a "fish" stone. She had been walking on the beach one day and she noticed a stone was following her. So she took the stone home with her. Following suggestions that it was a fish stone, she discovered that moi would be attracted to the stone when placed in the water, the fish being easily caught. Thereafter, she and her family were always able to get moi when they wanted. The end of the story though, is like other similar stories — the stone was eventually stolen, and the thief died for some mysterious reason. For many people like me, Ni'ihau, like Robinson Crusoe's island, continues to conjure up thoughts of mystery and intrigue. Being called the "forbidden" island by others has added more to its mystique, although such stories are scoffed at by skeptics. Almost all of the Ni'ihau residents are pure, or almost pure Hawaiian, and Hawaiian is the prineipal language. They are all OHA beneficiaries. Ni'ihau is an island owned principally by the Robinson family (no relation to Crusoe), where ranching

activities continue, where charcoal is produced from the abundant kiawe trees and where the pupu that make up precious Ni'ihau shell leis are gathered. The word "principally" is intentionally used here because there were at least two other kuleana on the island — the two lands known as Kahuku and Malawela granted in Royal Patent (R.P.) 5573 to Koa Kanu and a 50 acre tract granted in R.P. 1615 to Papapa, six apana (parcels) reserved under School Grant No. 42 totalling 14.76 acres and some church lots, all of whieh were excepted (left out) in the grant to the Sinclairs, the predecessors of the Robinsons. In addition to the surface interests, the mineral rights were reserved to the Hawaiian government by the deed of Kamehameha V in 1864. The island is usually a peaceful plaee, and its residents are ma'a to the way of life as lived there. Ni'ihau is the last of the Hawaiian places where Hawaiians live as tenants under a kind of ancient konohiki system. The Robinsons have attempted to keep the island private for their family and the approximately 200 Hawaiians who live on the island. They also elaim that some illegal landings have driven away some of the protected Hawaiian monk seals from the island. On October 23, under the eloak of the "Get the Drift and Bag It" litter campaign, the island was "invaded" by a self-appointed group, mostly haole, who went there to "document" the amounts and kinds of litter occurring on Ni'ihau. The Robinson reaction to the invasion was that they owned the land down to the water and not to the high water mark as claimed by the invading group and by Mayor Tony Kunimura of Kaua'i County. The "high water mark" definition was adopted by the state in 1974 as Section 115-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes. The Robinsons say, however, that the statute does not apply to them. My guess is that the question will eventually be decided by the courts whieh may interpret the land-ocean

boundaries to the detriment of the Robinsons. In response to these highly opposed viewpoints, I had the concerns of the Ni'ihau residents on this incident placed on the November 9 agenda of OHA's External Affairs Committee chaired by Unele Tommy Kaulukukui. The committee decided that contact should be made with our people on the island to assess their feelings. Trustees Tommy Kaulukukui and I were assigned to attend the Kekaha Homestead Association's meeting on November 14 to whieh Ni'ihauans were invited. In the meantime the Robinsons quickly became concerned about the inquiry by OHA. They were still uncomfortable with OHA's involvement in the Robinson's helicopter tours permit applieahon last OHA's interest in Ni'ihau stems from its eoneem for the people's health, welfare and the protection of the culture. At the Kekaha meeting, the message was loud and clear. "Leave us alone!" was the message from Gilbert (Junior) Pahulehua, the Robinson's head foreman, who was also the spokesman for the Ni'ihau group. When the other Ni'ihau residents attending (some had eome over from the island especially for the meeting) were asked if they concurred, all nodded their agreement. That they have maintained the old practice of having a "konohiki" speak for the group (with no dissenters) seems unique in this day and age. Yet, on November 15, the day after the Kekaha meeting, I was very pleased to hear that Ni'ihau people approached the commander of the Pacific Missile Range Facility about the hazardous military waste that ends up on Ni'ihau beaches with all the other oeean trash. The commander agreed to work with them to elean up the military trash. Further agreements should probably be made with the military to elean up the unexploded ordnance that are discovered by divers in Ni'ihau waters from time to time. See Ni'ihau, page 23