Unique Hawaiian Cultural Practices
1778. From Captain Cook’s journal, some little known facts about Hawaiian manufacture and living.
Hair Style. Ordinarily black hairs of natives were stained with a mix of gray clay and powdered shells, and made into balls. Later chewed into a soft paste. Then smeared over the hair, rendering it yellow and smooth. Men also wore wigs of human hair, twisted into several inch-thick tails that reached to the lower back. [Bishop Museum has a sample]
Houses. Were like “oblong corn stacks.” Their doors so low, to enter folks bent over into a near crawl. Since hale or houses were dark indoors, a hole was pushed open in the thatched wall, but later closed as needed. Floors were covered with “dry hay” (likely pili grass) layered over with mats for sleeping. [Bishop Museum has a single-room structure on exhibit]
Bark Cloth. Usually dyed to pretty and pleasing appearance. Hawaiians created lots of patterns – “…which show Elegance, & taste that would lead one to suppose their figures [designs] were borrowed from the productions of more enlightened Nations.” [Bishop Museum has thousands in its collection drawers, proof that native women daily fashioned them]
More tidbits on pages 281-284, and throughout THE VOYAGE OF THE RESOLUTION AND DISCOVERY, 1776-1780, Part I, edited by J.C Beaglehole
Tags: Hawaiian Stories
