Parables of culture
for all ages
From the Mountains to the Sea - Early Hawaiian Life By Julie Stewart Williams (Kamehameha Schools Press, 1977); softcover; 191 pages; $11.95A new book on pre-Western contact Hawaii is clear as a fast-flowing kahawai (stream).
Julie Stewart Williams' "From the Mountains to the Sea - Early Hawaiian Life"features chapters on water, land, nature, spirituality, fishing, farming, music and more.
Short chapters read like parables - concise explanations of deceptively simple subjects, always with a profound cultural or historical message.
For example, the Hawaiian word kanawai means law, and derives from the concept of fair allocation of natural resources.
Williams writes that, "The mahi'ai (farmer) was expected to take only his fair share of water and safeguard, as well, his neighbor's water rights. This was to be done without greed or selfishness. These practices gave Hawaiians their word for law - kanawai, or 'the equal sharing of water.'"
The book's credibility benefits from a substantial bibliography as well as sources such as artist Herb Kawainui Kane, author O.A. Bushnell and educator and Bishop Estate trustee Lokelani Lindsey.
Robin Yoko Racoma contributes quietly lovely, black-and-white stipple illustrations. The most exquisite shows four rare birds.
The book also features an airy, reader-friendly design and type size.
Geared for students - even a precocious 1st grader - the book, nevertheless, offers new nuggets of information that the most avid Hawaiiana buff can cull from the cool, rapid currents of a kahawai.
Catherine Kekoa Enomoto, Star-Bulletin