He Moena Pawehe Kuikawa = A Specially-Designed Mat

Aia aku aia mai, e ho'opuka hou 'ia ana he Palapala Ho'oilina kūikawā. He hō'ike ke ki'i kā'ei kua o ka 'ili alo o nēia puke pai i ka moena makaloa (Cyperus laevigatus), he meakanu ulu i ke ālia a i kaulana loa ho'i i kona ulana maiau launa 'ole 'ia 'ana ma ka mokupuni 'o Ni'ihau.

'O kekahi o nā moena makaloa kaulana loa 'o ia ka i ulana 'ia ma ka ho'omaka 'ana o nā makahiki 1870 e kekahi wahine Ni'ihau, 'o Kala'i kona inoa. Ma kahi o ka 'ehiku kapua'i i ka 'eono kapua'i ka loa me ka laulā o kēia moena i pa'u nui 'ia a pa'a maila ka ulana 'ia 'ana o nā lau makaloa māku'e me nā lau 'āhiehie mai he noi kupaianaha i ke aupuni e ho'ēmi 'ia ka 'auhau ma luna o nā holoholona. Na Larry Kimura, he Polopeka Ha'awina Hawai'i ma Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani o ke Kulanui o Hawai'i ma Hilo, i ho'omaopopo 'olu'olu mai i kēia puke pai nei no ua moena kahiko a makamae lā. Ke ho'omaika'i aku nei kēia puke pai iā Roger Rose i pa'i 'ia kona noi'i 'ana no ua moena lā i loko o kāna 'atikala 'o "Patterns of Protest" mai ka Bishop Museum Papers, Iune 1990 (30:88-117). Ke ho'omaika'i pū aku nei i nā limahana o ka Hale Waihona Puke o ka Hale Hō'ike'ike o Kamehameha i ko lākou kōkua.

Ua unuhi kekahi laekahi 'ōlelo o kēia puke pai i ka hapanui o nā palapala ma lalo iho nei. Ua unuhi 'ia nō na'e ka 'atikala "He Moena Pāwehe Makana" o Ka Nūpepa Kū'oko'a o ka lā 2 o Mei, 1874, a me ka 'ōlelo ma ka moena, i hō'ike 'ia 'ekolu manawa, na Mary Kawena Pukui mai loko mai o kāna Hawaiian Ethnological Notes.

From time to time, the journal presents special Legacy Materials. The background photograph on the cover of this issue shows a mat woven from the makaloa perennial sedge (Cyperus laevigatus), a solid-stemmed marsh plant unique to Hawai'i that was best known for its semi-cultivation on Ni'ihau where the weaving of makaloa mats flourished.

One of the most well-known makaloa mats was woven in the early 1870s by a Ni'ihau woman named Kala'i. Approximately seven feet by six feet, the mat was painstakingly woven with reddish-brown reed sheaths and lighter-colored reeds of the makaloa to produce an elaborate petition to the government requesting a reduction in taxation on the people. Larry Kimura, Professor of Hawaiian Studies in Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, kindly brought this important historical artifact to the attention of the journal. The journal acknowledges Roger G. Rose for his research on the mat published in his article, "Patterns of Protest" from Bishop Museum Occasional Papers, June 1990 (30:88-117) and also thanks Bishop Museum Library staff for their assistance.

Most of the documents presented here were translated by a journal language specialist. However, the article "He Moena Pāwehe Makana" (A Gift of a Patterned Mat) published May 2, 1874, in Ka Nūpepa Kū'oko'a (The Independent Press) and the translation of the mat's text, which appears three times, is reproduced as part of the Hawaiian Ethnological Notes by Mary Kawena Pukui.

He ki'i kēia i ho'opilipili 'ia nā 'āpana ki'i he 'ekolu a ho'okahi ma kahi o ka makahiki 1990. Ua pa...