This collection of 26 written Hawai‘i articles by John W. Perry is devoted to the Islands’ history, mythology, and natural history. All but four of the articles were published in an edited version between the years 1998 and 2007 in a Hawai‘i-based airline’s in-flight magazine. Those published articles are here published in the original manuscript text.
In the Hawaiian language, the word for history is mo‘olelo, meaning story, tale, myth, legend, record, article, and tradition. It is derived from the word mo‘o‘ōlelo, meaning “succession of talk.” This is because before contact with Europeans and Americans all Hawaiian stories were oral, not written.
Selected text excerpts:
During Kamehameha’s 30-year struggle to establish himself as paramount chief, the Kohala Coast, tucked away in the northwestern region of Hawai‘i Island, served as a welcome retreat. —From 6: “A Warrior-King’s Royal Coast.”
On a clear Hawai‘i night, I look into a telescope (an ‘ohe nānā or ‘tube for looking’) and observe the starlit universe of the Kumulipo, Hawai‘i’s celebrated chant of creation. —From 14: “Voice of Creation.”
When Samuel Clemens (1835–1910) arrived in Honolulu in March 1866, at age 30, he was a literary nobody with an odd pseudonym (Mark Twain) and a creative-writing talent yet to be discovered. —From 16: “Huckleberry Finn’s Glorious Hawai‘i.”
The first time I saw Hawai‘i’s forest birds as drawn by the English artist F.W. Frohawk, I was reading illustrated books about birds in a natural history library in London, England, far from the highland forests of Maui and Kaua‘i. —From 25: “Feathered Avian Treasures.”
About the Author
John W. Perry is a semiretired Hawai‘i-based freelance writer who has written numerous magazine articles about Hawai‘i. A confirmed islomane (one who finds islands irresistible), Perry’s pastimes include reading 19th-century travel books, especially those about Hawai‘i and other Pacific Islands, drinking beer in the late-night bars of Waikīkī, and watching American and British made-for-television detective shows. Perry has resided since 1977 in Honolulu.
In the Hawaiian language, the word for history is mo‘olelo, meaning story, tale, myth, legend, record, article, and tradition. It is derived from the word mo‘o‘ōlelo, meaning “succession of talk.” This is because before contact with Europeans and Americans all Hawaiian stories were oral, not written.
Selected text excerpts:
During Kamehameha’s 30-year struggle to establish himself as paramount chief, the Kohala Coast, tucked away in the northwestern region of Hawai‘i Island, served as a welcome retreat. —From 6: “A Warrior-King’s Royal Coast.”
On a clear Hawai‘i night, I look into a telescope (an ‘ohe nānā or ‘tube for looking’) and observe the starlit universe of the Kumulipo, Hawai‘i’s celebrated chant of creation. —From 14: “Voice of Creation.”
When Samuel Clemens (1835–1910) arrived in Honolulu in March 1866, at age 30, he was a literary nobody with an odd pseudonym (Mark Twain) and a creative-writing talent yet to be discovered. —From 16: “Huckleberry Finn’s Glorious Hawai‘i.”
The first time I saw Hawai‘i’s forest birds as drawn by the English artist F.W. Frohawk, I was reading illustrated books about birds in a natural history library in London, England, far from the highland forests of Maui and Kaua‘i. —From 25: “Feathered Avian Treasures.”
About the Author
John W. Perry is a semiretired Hawai‘i-based freelance writer who has written numerous magazine articles about Hawai‘i. A confirmed islomane (one who finds islands irresistible), Perry’s pastimes include reading 19th-century travel books, especially those about Hawai‘i and other Pacific Islands, drinking beer in the late-night bars of Waikīkī, and watching American and British made-for-television detective shows. Perry has resided since 1977 in Honolulu.
