Statewide County HI Archives News.....Wiki Mo’olelo – Part 21 – A. – Early Commercial Trade. December 23, 2008 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Darlene E. Kelley donkeyskid@msn.com December 28, 2008, 8:01 pm Keepers Of The Culture, A Study In Time Of The Hawaiian Islands December 23, 2008 Contributed for use in UsGenWeb by Darlene E. Kelley donkeyskid@msn.com December 23, 2008. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Hawaii Keepers of the Culture – A study in time, of the Hawaiian Islands. Wiki Mo’olelo – Part 21 – A. – Early Commercial Trade. by Darlene E. Kelley ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Wiki Mo’olelo – Part 21 – A. EARLY COMMERCIAL TRADE. After the departure of the Resolution and the Discovery, where the Hawaiians traded commodities for iron and the likes, no foreign ships are known to have visited the islands for several years. It was the development of the fur trade along the northwest coast of America that brought ships of many nations into the North Pacific; that trade was a direct consequence of Cook’s last voyage, but took several years for its trade to get under way; when it did, the Hawaiian Islands very soon became a familiar resort for the fur traders. In 1786, four foreign ships visited the islands. Two of them, commanded by Captains Portlock and Dixon, were connected with an English commercial Enterprise; the other two were French navel vessels under the command of the celebrated explorer La Perouse. The English ships came twice in 1786 and returned again the following year for a short stay. From then on, not a year passed without one or more ships visiting the islands, and in a very short time Hawaii was established as a port of call and wintering place, not alone for ships engaged in fur trade but also for those engaged in more general trade which grew up between Asia and the west coast of North and South America. It was not long until foreigners of various nations began to see how desireable it would be to get possession of the Sandwich Islands, either for colonization or for the promotion of commerce. In 1789 a Spanish navel officer, Ensign E. J. Martinez, who had been on the Northwest Coast, wrote about the Sandwich Islands and called attention to their fruitfulness and their convenient location; he suggested to the viceroy of New Spain that it would be useful for the Spanish Government to make a settlement on the islands for the purpose of conquoring the Hawaiians and preventing other nations from using the islands to the disadvantage of Spain. The viceroy was not convinced of the advisability of attempting such an occupation, but he sent one of his naval officers, Lt. Manual Quimper, in the spring of 1791, to make an exploration, instructing him to collect information about the commerce, situation, and natural products of the islands and secure the good favor of the inhabitants by kind treatment and by gifts of various kinds. Quimper made the exploration as directed; but Spain was then not then in position to undertake such a project as Martinez had proposed. Captain John Meeres, one of the early English traders, who visited Hawaii in 1787 and in 1789, thought the islands might be made to “ answer very important commercial purposes,” and gravely expressed the idea that Providence intended them to belong to Great Britain. Captain George Vancouver, who visited Hawaii five times, twice as a junior officer under Captain Cook in 1778 and 1779 and three times as commander of an exploring expedition in 1792, 1793, and 1794, was impressed with the value of this group of islands and earnestly sought to attach it to the British empire. The ships captains who brought their ships into Hawaiian waters during these early decades were mainly interested in obtaining fresh supplies of meat and vegetables, water, salt, firewood, and rest from the hardships of a sea voyage; but they discovered another valuable commodity, man power, and before long began to recruit sailors from among the sturdy sons of Hawaii. Ordinarily, the Hawaiians were glad to go, but in at least one case of which there is record, in 1795, several natives were kidnaped for service on a voyage to the Northwest Coast. Strangely enough the very first Hawaiian employed on a foreign voyage, indeed the first to leave the islands, was a woman. The British ship Imperial Eagle, visited the islands in May, 1787. The Captain, Charles W. Barkley, was accompanied by his wife and she engaged a young Hawaiian woman to go with her as lady’s maid. The lure of foreign travel strongly attracted many of the Hawaiian. Captain Meares, at the islands in August, 1787 stated that numbers “pressed forward with an expressible eagerness to accompany him to “ Britannee.” Mortimer two years later noticed the same eager desire of many of the natives to go abroad. Besides those Hawaiians who enlisted as sailors on various ships, there were a number who traveled to foreign lands somewhat in the manner of tourists, as guests or personal servants of sea captains, and whose experiences in detail would make an interesting story. The most distinguished of these early Hawaiian tourists was the high chief Kaiana, who went away with Meares in 1787 and returned the following year after having visited China and the Northwest Coast. Many of these sailors who signed aboard, did not return to the islands, but remained in foreign ports, perhaps by finding wives for themselves and inter- marriage, or just jumping ship. [ Thus is said the decline began in Native Hawaiians .] THE SALT TRADE. Hawaiian salt, used to season and preserve fish and meat, was the first item of exchange between the natives and fur traders. Extensive areas in certain parts of the islands were reserved for the production of this commodity. On Hawaii, Kawaihae boasted the largest salt pans. It was used later in curing hides in addition to salting meat. The Hawaiians also used this item liberally with their food besides utilizing large amounts to preserve their fish catches. The natives manufactured large quanities of salt, by evaporizing the sea water. They generally had one large pond near the sea, into which water flows by a channel cut through the rocks, or carried thither by the natives in large calabashes to the pond. After remaining there for some time, it is conducted into a number of of smaller pans of of about six or eight inches in depth, which are made with great care, and frequently lined with large evergreen leaves. In order to prevent absorption. Along the narrow banks or partitions between the different pans, a number of large evergreen leaves are placed. They are tied up at each end, so as to resemble a shallow dish, and filled with sea water, in which the crystals of salt was abundant. Care is taken in the gathering of these crystals. Much care is taken of this commodity, as the natives revered it in their fish curing. It was gathered and traded to other islands as well as for their own foods. When the fur traders came, the Hawaiians traded it for other commodities. THE FUR TRADE. There were two factors which combined to create and maintain this early commerce at the Hawaiian Islands. One was the exisistence of the fur trade on the Northwest Coast of America after the last voyage of Captain James Cook and as a consequence of that voyage; and other was the expansion of American commerce immediately following the Revolutionary War. Many have told how Americans – good traders and good sailors, but desperately poor after the long struggle of independence –eagerly traveled to all parts of the world in search of opportunities for trade. They sought the markets of China, but were handicapped by the lack of silver or other articles of exchange suitable for that market. In order to get such articles, they sailed on roundabout voyages, visiting different ports and countries, turning over their cargoes again and again until they obtained what they needed for China. It was a circuitous trade that brought the Americans into the Pacific and led them to take part in the maritime fur trade. The Chinese were willing to pay high prices for furs, and the traders could get them at comparatively small cost –though at some risk – from the Indians. For a few years after its beginning (about 1785), traders of several nations pursued the fur trade on the Northwest Coast. Luckily for the Americans, the nations of Europe were embroiled in the Wars of the Napoleonic period and the merchant adventurers of the United States were left to ply this trade with very little competition for a quarter of a century. In the routine of the fur trade the Hawaiian islands occupied an important place. Ships from the United States ordinarily came into the Pacific around Cape Horn. Going north they might visit the islands or go direct to the coast. After a season’s operations in collecting skins, they either sailed for Canton, stopping at Hawaii for refreshments or spent the winter at the islands, returning to the coast in the spring for a second season. As years passed and conditions along the coast became safer, the ships ceased to winter at the islands, but they still visited them for the purpose of obtaining supplies of food, water, firewood or other necessities. At an early date Hawaii was well established as a convenient recruiting ground for sailors, the sturdy islanders having very quickly demonstrated their fitness and their eagerness for a seafaring life. From simple traffic with the Indians along the Northwest Coast the fur traders diversified their operations. They discovered the possibilities of profit In a contraband trade with the Spanish settlements along the Coasts of California and Mexico. They became a regular source of supply for the Russians in Alaska and Kamchatka, taking furs in exchange; and entered into a combination with them, by which they gained the services pf hundreds of Aleut Indians to gather otter and seal skins on the coasts and islands of the Upper and Lower California. And before long they began to add sandal- wood from the Hawaiian islands, which afforded a convenient base of operations. By 1812 we find at least one agent established in Honolulu to coodinate the operations of several ships and to handle the business in the islands. SEA OTTERS The sea otter ( Enhydra lutris ) is the only member of the genus Enyydra and largest member of the family Mustelidae, which includes weasels, skunks, and badgers. It is the smallest marine mammal and hunts, sleeps and mates in the sea. It is found around the Coast of the North Pacific from the Kurils to California where it forms a close relationship with the great kelp beds in which it spends most of its life. The sea otter dives for sea urchins and other botton-dwelling marine life that it then kills using rocks as tools before eating. The coat of the animal is extremely dense to act as insulation in the cold water and, as such, is very warm. The indigenous peoples of the North Pacific Region used the pelt of the sea otter as clothing and, when Europeans arrived in the eighteenth century, the pelts became one of the main items of trade. James Cook’s third voyage to the Pacific visited the Nortwest Coast of America, Alaska, and Kamchatka. During the course of the voyage, his crew traded with the local people and the expedition acquired many sea otter pelts. When the ships reached Macao, the pelts were sold in Canton for a considerable sum of money. The news of this transaction, in 1780, quickly spread and soon companies were forming plans to sail to the North Pacific to exploit this new bonanza. This trade in sea otter pelts would nearly lead to the extinction of the animal. Fortunately, an international treaty halted the trade in 1911 but considerable damage had already been done. Millions of animals had died to grace the backs of rich Asians, Europeans and Americans. The sea otter had been killed off in huge stretches of the Northwest Coasts and only remained in very small numbers in isolated colonies. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Wiki Mo’olelo part 21 continued in part A – next Early Commercial Trade. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/hi/statewide/newspapers/wikimool117nnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/hifiles/ File size: 12.7 Kb