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Hawaiian legends and historical stories written by Dr. W. D. Westervelt remain popular for good reason. They are stories well told. The original editions of his books have become rare collector's items. However, reprints of several Westervelt titles have put these charming books once more into the hands of the general public. These include: Hawaiian Legends of Ghosts and Ghost Gods, Hawaiian Legends of Old Honolulu, Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes, and now Hawaiian Historical Legends.

Hawaiian Historical Legends presents a variety of stories, both legendary and historical. The author also considers the question of Polynesian origins and the speculative subject of Spanish visitants. Since anthropological and historical research has come half a century since this book was written, it would be appropriate in this introduction to provide the non-specialist reader with more up-to-date observations. For example, Dr. Westervelt rejects the suggestion that Samoa was an early Polynesian homeland, yet modern science says that Samoa along with Tonga—an area settled by proto-Polynesians about a thous and years before Christ—served as a primary base where distinctive Polynesian culture first put down its roots. Polynesia, meaning "many islands," was never known to old-time Polynesians; it is the word Western scholars coined for that South Sea region and its people.

Who were the Polynesians? Who were the Hawaiians? Where did they come from? The answer is now clear, in outline at least. Malayo-Polynesian groups occupied vast areas of Indonesia and the coastal regions of Asia for several millennia. Some, in search of new homes, ventured out into the Pacific in their canoes, gradually finding and settling islands. The voyages they planned for the purpose included their children, women, dogs, pigs, fowls, and food plants. The story is a marvel of human endeavor and courage, particularly as their technology was not past the neolithic or polished stone-tool level of development.

Before European seafarers dared to leave the coastal waters of the eastern Atlantic, these sea gypsies of the Pacific had settled the far-flung islands of Polynesia.

The islands on the western fringes of Polynesia, namely Samoa and Tonga, are believed to have been first occupied about three thousand years ago. By the ninth century this remarkable people had discovered and settled all the habitable islands in the Polynesian triangle—an area encompassed by New Zealand to the south, Easter Island to the east, and Hawaii to the north.

Anthropologists say Hawaii was first settled about the eighth century from the Marquesas Islands. Later, in the fourteenth century, it seems that warlike immigrants from the Society Islands came to Hawaii's shores and imposed on the aboriginal settlers their religion, customs, and their own aristocracy.

Hawaiian culture, as it existed when Captain James Cook found the islands in 1778, was an amalgam of these two Polynesian peoples. As both groups shared many of the same gods, culture heroes, and specific stories, the mythological tradition merged without difficulty or conflict.

Much knowledge has been lost, but the labors of men such as Judge A. Fornander put much into written language (e.g., An Account of the Polynesian Race). Even though he worked in a comparatively late era, Dr. Westervelt makes a valuable contribution to the preservation of Hawaiian legends. In retelling these stories he relied to a large extent on his excellent library.

Many old-time Polynesians preferred to die with their learning rather than pass it on; they regarded such information as too sacred a trust. To them it was esoteric knowledge. The traditional way of preserving information, in the absence of any written script, was to cultivate the memory. Recitation by rhythmical chant was usual and absolute accuracy was expected of the trained person. Any error, such as an omitted word, could cause disaster. Misfortune and even death itself were thought to result from such carelessness. Maui, the semi-divine Polynesian superman about whom Dr. Westervelt writes, received a fatal flaw when his father made a mistake at Maui's baptismal ritual. For this reason Maui became vulnerable to death and, ironically, he died while seeking immortality for mankind.

The termination of the great tradition of rote learning as a means of preserving tribal history, genealogy, events, and sacred lore declined rapidly after the rejection by the Hawaiians of their religion in 1819—just before the arrival of the first New England missionary party. The introduction of pen, paper, and books made rigid memorizing obsolete, while the need for such a system had waned with the destruction of the old ways.

A written Hawaiian language literally began the day Captain James Cook romanized Hawaiian words in his journal and on his maps. However, the adoption of a set Hawaiian alphabet, and a general agreement as to how to spell Hawaiian words, were the later work of committees of New England missionaries who needed to translate books of the Bible and to teach writing.

In reading these stories we should keep in mind the nature of traditional Hawaiian culture and its ancient attitudes toward nature with its belief in aumakua—a spirit world of gods, ghosts, ancestral spirits, and totemic creatures (such as the owl, shark, and lizard). To the traditional Hawaiians all the things of nature such as the sea, sky, earth, animals, fish, rocks—and even such unsubstantial objects as the rainbow—were thought to have an indwelling spirit and a personal existence. There was no clear division in the Polynesian mind between man, the spirit world, and the natural environment. Interpretations of the world were poetic and not scientific.

All things were seen as having an inner essence, called mana, which was the vital force of an object. This mana was protected by taboos (kapu in Hawaiian), which were a collection of prohibitions that protected the part of a person or thing which gave power and effectiveness. Kapu was inconvenient, and dangerous if infringed. Many a slave or commoner died for letting his shadow fall across a seated chief—mana had been interfered with and a kapu broken! Such was the law of old Hawaii. No police force was necessary.

Once discovered by Captain James Cook for the Western world, the Hawaiian islands became a convenient refreshment place for exploring expeditions, whalers, sandalwood traders and the like. A half-century of such contacts passed before the arrival of the missionaries who introduced the semblance of Western society and social order. Before the arrival of the missionaries, various drifters, beachcombers, and adventurers, both good and bad, imposed themselves on the Hawaiians. Everybody who came wanted something of the Hawaiian people, whether it was wood, water, pigs, potatoes, women, or sandalwood. It says much for Hawaiian patience that more ships were not taken and more heads broken by clubs.

Dr. Westervelt uses the old forms of Hawaiian spelling. There are no hamzas to mark the glottal closures or macrons to indicate a vowel lengthened in pronunciation. But in the interest of preserving this unusual collection intact, it was decided to let the book stand exactly as it was first published.

It is, however, necessary to draw attention to the two controversial issues raised by Dr. Westervelt that have been since resolved. The first is the question of a pre-Cook Spanish discovery of the Hawaiian Islands, and the second is the charge that Captain Cook was an immoral man and a desecrater of temples.

The truth is, no scholar has succeeded in establishing any historical evidence for a Spanish discovery prior to that of Captain Cook. As for the character of Cook, he was a singularly chaste man who declined all offers of women. This unusual behavior for a sailor was even remarked on by the men who sailed with him and who best knew his habits. As for the allegation that Cook desecrated a Hawaiian temple, the structure concerned was in decay and the wooden fences around it were taken by Cook's men after the Hawaiians had given their permission and received payment for the wood. The Hawaiians probably intended that only the fence be removed, but the sailors assigned to the job had little respect for images of gods and took them too. It was a shocking act to which Cook was not a part, and when the Hawaiians asked for the return of one particular figure it was given to them.

The story, "The Ivory of Oahu," also calls for some explanation. It would help the uninformed reader to know that a special type of necklace of old Hawaii was made from the tooth of a sperm whale carved into a hook-like form, then suspended with yards of finely plaited human hair looped many times and passed through a hole drilled in the tooth. This ornament is called a lei-niho-palaoa, which means a lei or necklace with a whale tooth. Such necklaces were worn only by persons of high rank. The hair used to make them was probably from the head of an important person, such as an immediate ancestor, and they were precious and kapu. (The head was the most sacred part of the body; the mere touching of a chief's head was a death warrant to a commoner.)

Dr. Westervelt came to Hawaii in 1889 for two years of missionary work. After a brief return to the United States mainland, he came back to the islands in 1905 where he lived until his death in 1939. He married a Miss Caroline D. Castle of a pioneer missionary family and settled down to an active life of preaching, writing, and helping others in his adopted society. The Westervelt home at Waikiki was for decades a democratic gathering place for those interested in art, music, or literature. Regardless of race, creed, or rank, all were welcome.

Dr. Westervelt did as much as anyone to popularize Hawaiian legends and historical tales. On the dedication page he refers to Hawaiian Historical Legends as his sixth book; it is certainly one of his most charming collections of stories. First published in 1923, this book went through several editions in the 1920s, but until now it has not been readily available for several decades.

Terence Barrow, Ph.D.