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Natural History
Koa
(Acacia Koa)
 Koa trees were the kings of the forest once. Protected by a powerful god, these long-lived monarchs were well-respected. The name means "bold, brave, fearless, warrior." There is a blessing which goes, "E ola koa!" (Let him live with the health, wealth and well-being of a koa tree.) The tree symbolized health, wealth and general well-being and was especially prized for its reddish-brown, fine-textured wood. Woodworkers like its low shrinkage, workability and tendency to cure from green wood to finished product without cracking. It provided the early Hawaiians with wood to build houses, canoes, surfboards and household items.
Koa, it is said, does best in the cooler uplands, in deep, fertile soils. The flowers are pale greenish-yellow globular clusters about ½ inch wide. The sickle-shaped foliage are not made up of true leaves but are enlarged, flattened petioles or stems which ordinarily connect the stems and branches. The fruit is a broad, flat pod.
The koa may be the most ancient tree species in the Hawaiian archipelago. Scientists believe that, as a species, koa is millions of years old. As proof they point to the number of insects that live exclusively on koa. (It takes a long time for a species to adapt to one sort of plant.) Nearly 50 species of endemic insects live on koa, more than on any other Hawaiian plant. Many cannot survive anywhere else. (In comparison, the Polynesian-introduced coconut palm, which has lived in Hawaii for about 1600 years, still has no native insects.)
Several species of Hawaiian finches were associated with koa. Many of them are rare or possibly extinct now. It has been speculated that just as the trees were essential for the birds' survival, it could be that the birds were necessary for the survival of the forest. No one can know for sure. For several decades now, foresters trying to grow koa trees commercially have battled insect damage and disease that were, perhaps, kept under control by the birds that are no longer there.
There is some speculation that koa's ancestral homelands are probably in Australia or Mauritius Island in the Indian Ocean where its closest relatives grow. However, the seeds are relatively heavy and they do not float, so nobody knows for sure how the plants could have reached Hawaii.
The ancient Hawaiians recognized koa as a high-quality hardwood. Its straight bole and close grain were invaluable. Like North America's redwood, koa does not warp even after years in seawater. Koa, therefore, was the wood of choice for the native sea-going, deep-water fishing and voyaging canoes.
The care given the giant koa trees in the forest and the ritual and prayer connected with harvesting the wood reflected the importance of canoes to the native culture. The god of the koa forest, Kupulupulu, was honored in the ritual with many offerings, and there were prayers before, during, and after a tree was chopped down.
On most of the islands, the suitability of a tree that had been chopped down was determined by the actions of an 'elepaio, a small, brown-and-white speckled bird who, like a woodpecker, feasted on the insects and caterpillars in mature tree. 'Elepaio was considered to be a manifestation of Lea, goddess of the canoe maker. It was she who determined whether a tree that had been felled for use as a canoe was worthy of the months-long project. A fallen tree that an 'elepaio found interesting could not be used for canoe-making. It was likely that the trunk either had many cracks or was beginning to disintegrate and that it was riddled with rot and insect damage. Otherwise, curious, perky 'elepaio would not be digging around in it. The bird, like
many of the other native birds, is now a rarity.
(It is interesting to note that Maui apparently never had 'elepaio. However, the largest double canoes ever reported originated in Maui's Kipahulu Valley. Each hull measured 120 feet long and 9 feet deep. The trees from which these hulls were carved must have been tremendous!) In a culture where dreams were recognized as prophetic messages from ancestors, to dream about koa was considered beneficial. The best dream was to see a koa tree growing taller than the surrounding trees, with one prominent tree towering to immense height. The majestic koa grove represented wealth. The neighboring trees signified close friends. The giant tree symbolized the dreamer, who would be the wealthiest and most popular of all.
Captain James Cook was the first Westerner to see koa. He noticed the superficial resemblance between koa and the Australian eucalypts, which also have curved leaves. (The pungent smell of eucalyptus leaves and its cup-shaped seedpods differentiate the eucalyptus from the koa, which has leafy-smelling leaves and long, bean-like seedpods.)
Cook wrote, "There are only two kinds of trees that can properly be denominated timber. The first, in the shape of its leaves, bears a strong resemblance to the spice trees of Van Diemen's Land [Australia], and grows to a great height; of this the natives make their canoes."
 Besides canoes, the Hawaiians also carved canoe paddles and the long, heavy surfboards that were primarily used by the chiefs from koa wood. From the bark, they made dyes and the leaves were used in medicines. However, the wood was not used for making wooden food bowls and calabashes since it imparted a bad taste to the poi. In more modern times, koa is a favorite of wood turners for making bowls that show the beauty of the wood.
In 1792, fourteen years after Cook's visit, botanist Menzies made the same comparison. Menzies was the foremost among Western botanists in his time to study, collect, and record the hundreds of endemic species. He was their most extravagant admirer. Ironically, Menzies was the same botanist who introduced cattle to Hawaii. His intention, of course, was to provide fresh meat for travelers and to help the natives by introducing a new source of protein. He could not have foreseen how this innovation would devastate Hawaii's native forests and cause the disappearance nce of hundreds of the endemic
plants and animals he cherished.
The medium-elevation lands where the koa forests once flourished enjoyed moderate rainfall and well-drained soil. It was prime ranching land. Vast areas were chopped down or grazed heavily and what used to be the second most abundant trees in Hawaii's native forests dwindled in number. Although koa does regenerate from roots exposed by erosion, the widespread grazing of domesticated and wild cattle, goats and sheep greatly reduced the distribution of these trees.
Koa wood remains the wood of choice for the ukulele, an instrument adapted from one brought by early Portuguese immigrants. It was also used extensively during the Monarchy and the plantation era as lumber for house walls and floors, for veneer and cabinetry as well as furniture and bowls and other vessels. It is said that to build and furnish King Kalakaua's 'Iolani Palace on O'ahu, the forests of Makawao, Olinda, Piiholo and Kokomo were stripped of koa. It was never the same again. In spring, there is no longer the pervasive, gentle sweetness of koa's blossoming pompom flowers. There are few trees that reach the heroic proportions of the old forest giants when trees could grow up to 100 feet with trunks as wide as 10 feet in diameter.
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Arts & Culture
Mount Eke
 In the late 1800's, Reverend James Alexander hiked to the summit of Mount Eke more than once, traversing the West Maui Mountains. He started from Waiehu, hiked through the desolate foothills from Waiehu to Kahakuloa and clambered through the wet and drippy rain forests of the upper reaches of the Waihee ridge until he reached what he called "the crater of Eeke." It is one of the earliest descriptions of the Mount Eke at its most pristine.
The trek through the West Maui Mountains to Mount Eke is considered to be very treacherous. One modern guidebook for adventuresome tourists warns, "You can't walk there - too far and too dangerous, with tangles of greenery, muddy rockslides, and lava tubes ready to slurp up a wayward hiker....Foliage presents a defeating obstacle and rain at this point would be downright demoralizing."
Mount Eke stands at the head of Kahakuloa Valley and extends half a mile to the Honokohau Valley. It is the well-preserved core of an extinct volcanic cone north of Iao Valley, in the western part of the island.
Due to its elevation of almost 4,500 feet as well the topography of the surrounding area, the mountain is almost always covered with clouds. On rare occasions, usually in the early morning, its summit is exposed to the direct rays of the sun. It gets some 30 feet of rain every year.
According to Otto Degener, a biologist who wandered around the national parks of the islands in the 1920's cataloguing indigenous and naturalized plants growing in the national parks, the summit of Mount Eke is "essentially a circular plateau about half a mile in diameter covered with impervious clay. Here and there are shallow pools of water fed by the heavy rains and mists, and in a few depressions, there are seemingly bottomless pits with slippery sides of clay."
Degener described the entire plateau as treeless. He said it was covered almost entirely by low sedges with clumps of silversword and greenswords (a rare variety of silversword with green-tinged leaves).
Alexander's description is more lyrical. He said, "It rises abruptly from the mountain side several hundred feet in height with its sides spangled with silver swords and shining grasses. It is so situated with all its sides higher than the surrounding land that it has received no debris from the wash of the mountain, and therefore has its thirty pits still open and apparently bottomless.
"I ascended it the first time early one morning after a still and cloudless night, and found columns of steam like smoke rising from seven of these pits. It was the warm breath of these volcanic throats turning into vapor in the cold upper air. The cavernous depths of this crater evidently form vast reservoirs, not now for molten rock, but for water to supply the neighboring valleys. The chief parts of the streams of Honokohau, Kahakuloa, and Waihee gush forth from its sides and base."
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Braddah-Nics Lexicon
Maunalei Gulch - Lanai
