Royal Hawk and Spouting Water

History, Myth, and Natural History in Hawai'i

This collection of 26 Hawai'i articles is devoted to the Islands' history, mythology, and natural history. All but three of the articles were published in an edited version in a Hawai'i-based airline's in-flight magazine. Those published articles are here published in the original manuscript text. Article titles include "Captain Cook's American," "Regal Hawaiian Ladies," and "The Island Princess."

   Selected text excerpts:

   During Kamehameha's 30-year struggle to establish himself as paramount chief, the Kohala Coast, tucked away in the northwestern region of Hawai'i Island, served as a welcome retreat. —From 6: "A Warrior-King's Royal Coast."

   On a clear Hawai'i night, I look into a telescope (an 'ohe nānā or "tube for looking") and observe the starlit universe of the Kumulipo, Hawai'i's celebrated chant of creation. —From 14: "Voice of Creation."

   When Samuel Clemens (1835–1910) arrived in Honolulu in March 1866, at age 30, he was a literary nobody with an odd pseudonym (Mark Twain) and a creative-writing talent yet to be discovered. —From 16: "A Writer's Glorious Hawai'i."

   The first time I saw Hawai'i's forest birds as drawn by the English artist F.W. Frohawk, I was reading illustrated books about birds in a natural history library in London, England, far from the highland forests of Maui and Kaua'i. —From 25: "Feathered Avian Treasures."