Ke Alahou, Volume I, Number 2, 1 December 1979 — KANAKA WILLIAM [ARTICLE]

KANAKA WILLIAM

by Yvonne Mearns Klan Mai ka "Beaver"

(Continued kom November issue> Why did the Hawaiians leave their sun-blessed* islands for the cold and rain-swept north? And, when their contracts had expired, why did many elect to re-6ngage rather than to return to their homeland? Initially, adventure and lurē of distant lands enticed many young men and women away from the Islands. Some eventually rose to positions whieh carried oiore prestige than they could ever hope to attain if fhey returned to Hawaii. Even with their meagre many could ? earn more by working in the Columbia District than they could by working in the Islands. Those who were thrifty enough to save money returned home relatively wealthy men; those less frugal were ashamed to return empty-handed and wanted anothet ehanee to make good' in America. If the Company's discipline was sometimes severe, it was no worse than that inflicted by short-tempered foremen in Hawaii. The sandalwood trade was particularly notorious for its brutal treatment of workers. Many Hawaiians along the coast acquired Indian wives, had children, and werejinwilling to abandon these ties. Those who manned the dismal and lonely little forts upcoast had to obtain permission from a senior officer to take an Indian wife, and often this permission was granted only if the man re-engaged for u further two-year period. Other Islanders were reluctant to tmde the comparitively easy-going llfe on the Columbia for the oppressive missionary regime in Hawaii where gambling, working on Sunday. and drunk-

A Publication of the Hudson's Bay Company enness were indictable offences, and any hint of sexual punished. Perhaps it was the Hawaiians' gleeful response to Fort Vancouver's free-wheeling society whieh prompted Chief Factor McLoughlin, in 1844, to request the Company s Honolulu agents k to search out a trusty Hawaiian of good character to read the scriptures and assemble his people for public worship.' The candidate would also be rfiiquired to serve as ā teacher and interpreter. His salary would be £10 per annum. This was not a very large salary' noted the Honolulu newspaper Ka Elele, because necessities are very expensive there.' ; , McLoughlin's request was passed on to Dr. G.P. Judd, one of Hawairs foremost mis§ionaries, who quickly responded: . . . Wm. R. Kauleheleheisthe teacherl have procured to go to the Columbia . . . His wife accorapanies him. Although not as well qualified as the person at first selected, I hesitate not to give him a good characteY> and high recommendation as a faithful, industrious Skilful Teacher, and in reguiar standing as a member of the church. v He will be competent to act as ehaplain to the Hawaiians in the Columbia. Mary S. Kaai, his wife, is highly recommended to me . . . and I have no doubt will prove herself useful. The Hawaiian eouple arrived at Fort Vancouver on 23 June 1845, and from this time William R. Kaulehelehe heeame known as Kanaka William. 'Kanaka' derives fron| the Hawaiian word for man, kane, and becagie the popular term for 4 Hawaiian. Thus KanakaOeek, Kanaka

Flats, Owyhee River, Kanaka Falls and Kanaka Bar commemorate Hawaiian pioneers in the Pacific Northwest, and many frontier settlements had a 'Kanaka Row.' At Fort Vancouver the ehaplain and his vvife were lodged in"the Kanaka section of the village 4 a boisterous little «*Gommunity beside the fort where the Company's employees of lower rank — Iroquois, Soottish, Hawaiian, French and Metis — lived within the fort with their famiiies. To their dismay, William and Mary were given a hostile reception by the Hawaiian eommunity, who feared that the new ehaplain had eome to curtail the freedom and pleasures they had found on the Columbia. In.a letterte Juddl William wrate: . . during the days we wereJiving with the Hawaiians there was mueh abuse, malicious speaking, a very few people loved us. I was told by someone t&at they disliked us and I think the reason for it was because we wanted them to observe the Sabbath, because on that day they did their carpentering, horse riding, agriculturing, and the like. Fortunately, a Mr. Kakeleiki (probably James Douglas) learned of the tense situation in the Hawaiian community and moved William and Mary to a house inside the fort. William's letter continues: ... we were taken to the enclosure. We went and lived in the house furnished us and we are living comfortable and well.There is nothing wrong with us, we are being well taken care of.