The History of Natural History in Hawaii

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The History of Natural History in Hawaii

• Post-Contact History
• from 1778 to modern times

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3 Phases to Modern Era of Science

• Explorer/Naturalists (ca. 1778 - 1850)
• Resident Naturalists (ca. 1820 - 1900)
• Professional Scientists (ca. 1900 - now)

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1 Captain James Cook
Captain James Cook
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Four-Fold Purpose of Voyage

• To find the North-east or North-west Passage from
  Pacific to Atlantic Oceans
• Carefully observe soil and produce (including
  animals and fowl)
• Observe any metals, minerals, valuable stones, or
  any extraneous fossils
• Bring back samples of trees, shrubs, plants,
  fruits, grains (with seeds)

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Two Ships Resolution and Discovery

• 100 feet long by 29 feet wide
• crew of 100 sailors, doctors, navigators,
  artists, naturalists
• Meager supplies
• water, salt-pork, hens, sheep, citrus, etc.
• tools and instruments

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Some Crew Members

• William Anderson - Surgeon, expedition naturalist
• William Ellis - surgeon mate, painted birds
• John Webber - commissioned artist
• David Nelson - Botanist from Royal Botanical
  Gardens, Kew
• William Bayley - Astronomer
• And

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3 William Bligh
William Bligh
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Land Ho

• Landed in Waimea, Kauai January 19, 1778
• Cook named the Sandwich Islands
• Killed at Kealakekua Bay, 1779

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4 Waimea Bay by John Webber
Waimea Kauai - 1778
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5 Waimea now from site found by Alison Kay
Waimea Valley, Kauai - Today
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10 Apapane
Apapane
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6 Apapane
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7 feathered capes
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Map of the Hawaiian Islands and Kealakekua Bay by
Bligh
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8 Kealakekua Bay
Kealakekua Bay at time of Captain Cook
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9 Kealakekua Bay
Drawing of Kealakekua Bay by Lucy Thurston, ca.
1830
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• Impressed by birds
• 5 of 11 birds described on Hawaii now extinct
• Described and collected plants (136)
• Crew members brought memorabilia
• shells
• artifacts
• Crew members brought memorabilia
• Noted island ages and volcanic origins
• Ships left
• Ram and Ewe
• Boar and Sow

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11 iiwi
Iiwi
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12 Bee eater
Bee eater
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13 Flightless rail
Flightless Rail
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14 Sida fallax collected on Cook voyage
ilima Sida fallax Specimen collected by David
Nelson
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Other Voyages Soon Followed

• By 1850, 161 ships had visited Hawaii (not
  all were explorations)
• Visits from
• England - France - Denmark
• Russia - Prussia - United States

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2nd Voyage - Capt. Portlock

• 1789
• Crew found tree snails and brought back
• Shells were from Leis traded with Hawaiians

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3rd Voyage - Capt. Vancouver

• Made mention of Active Volcanoes
• Brought cattle to the islands
• Botanist on-board was Archibald Menzies
• Climbed Hualalei and Mauna Loa
• Collected many samples and has 8 plants still
  named after him
• (Bidens and Dubautia are two genera to be covered
  later)

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Others

• La Pérouse - reported last lava flow on Maui
  (between 1786 1793)
• Russian Voyages (1815, 1823)
• Built fort on Kauai
• near Waimea
• Naturalist Eschscholtz
• described butterfly
• Vanessa tameamea

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Others

• Lord Byron on the Blonde (1825)
• James Macrae described the silversword on Mauna
  Kea
• William Swainson described the genus Achatinella

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Others

• Capt. Louis de Freycinet on Uranie
• Charles Gaudichaud Beaupre was botanist
• Collected extensively (More later!)

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Others

• David Douglas (1830s)
• Collector, intrigued by islands
• Climbed Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea
• Hiked from Kohala to Hilo
• Suspicious circumstances around death

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Others

• Wilkes Expedition (1840-1841)
• Charles Wilkes
• Team of professionals
• Many collections taken back for other scientists
• reports encompass 24 volumes

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Resident Naturalists

• Often very well educated
• Mostly missionaries, but also physicians,
  business men, wives, etc.
• Missionaries were very well educated, some from
  Yale
• Students there of Benjamin Silliman, editor of
  American Journal of Science
• Sent accounts that were published in journal
  (starting 1825)

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15 Reverend Titus Coan-Bishop of
Kilauea-described activity and appearance of
volcanoes
Reverend Titus Coan - Bishop of Kilauea
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Sarah Joiner Lymanrecorded earthquakes in Hilo
area from 1833-1885
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17 Lymans earthquake notes
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Edward BaileyList of Fernsof Hawaii
(1882)Notes on otheraspects of Flora
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Bailey settled in Wailuku, Maui in 1837 until
1888 Operated the Wailuku Female Seminary for
Girls Painted many pictures of Hawaii
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Sanford Ballard DoleJurist and President of
Republic of HawaiiChecklist of birds
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John T. Gulick(1832 - 1923)Son of
MissionariesCollected and Studied Land
ShellsCollection locations!
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21 achatinellid Land shells
Achatinella Land Snail Collection
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Gulick visited with Charles Darwin (argued role
of Natural Selection vs. Isolation in importance
to evolution)wrote-Evolution Racial and
Habitudinal (1905)
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Others

• David Baldwin - worked on land snails, published
  many papers
• Titus Coan (son of Bishop Coan) continued to
  work on Volcanism
• of 80 recorded names of missionaries, 1/4
  involved in study of natural history!

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Important Non-Missionaries

• William Hillebrand
• German Doctor
• wrote Flora of the Hawaiian Islands (1888)
• Extensive Garden (now Foster Gardens)
• Isabella Sinclair
• Collected and painted flowers of Kauai and Niihau
• Indigenous Flowers of the Hawaii Islands

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23 Isabella Sinclair painting of Hibiscus
arnottianus
Isabella Sinclairs Hibiscus arnottianus
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24 Photo of Hibiscus arnotianus
Hibiscus arnottianus
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Ohia lehua Metrosideros polymorpha
Mao (cotton) Gossypium tomentosum
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Aeae Lycium sandwicense
Puahanui Broussaisia arguta
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Professional Scientists

• At turn of 20th Century,
• University of Hawaii
• Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association (HSPA)
• (now Hawaiian Agricultural Research Center -
  HARC)
• Bishop Museum
• Volcano Observatory
• Other Professional Associations

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Three Points

• We know what we do now because of PEOPLE - what
  they saw and heard
• This did not happen quickly, but over a 200 year
  plus period (and our knowledge is constantly
  changing)
• People relating their story were not afraid to
  share it, even if it went against commonly held
  views