"Planter"
Collection of The Four Seasons Resort Hualalai
This picture is available as a stock image. Phone: 808-935-3082

Standing among his taro plants, a planter (mahi'ai) holds a hardwood digging stick ('o'o) and a stalk of taro.* "Wetland" taro was grown in shallow, earthen walled ponds (lo'i) irrigated by water diverted from streams, the water circulating through each pond, then spilling to the pond below it. "Dryland" taro was grown in rainy uplands or wherever water could be carried to the plants.**

Behind the planter, a man carries bananas and breadfruit ('ulu) suspended from a carrying pole. At left, gourds (ipu) are grown in an enclosure of rock wall filled with humus—decomposed grass cuttings and other plant waste. A trellis of poles is laid over the enclosure and the vines trained so the fruit will hang from the trellis. Large gourds may be supported by cushions of leaves. Gourds can be decoratively shaped as they grow by tying them with cords, creating patterns where the cords restrict growth. Wherever there was no topsoil, planting was done in humus-filled enclosures. Breadfruit (upper left) flourished in large groves as a labor-free source of food, until cattle and goats, imported by Europeans, ate the sprouts of young trees.

Women did some light work, usually associated with the cultivation of sweet potatoes ('uala). At right, a girl harvests sweet potatoes from another rock-walled enclosure. Rising behind her is a stand of sugar cane (ko), a patch of banana (mai'a), and coconut palms (niu).

Page 81, Ancient Hawaii

*In the 19th century the Hawaiian language changed. T becoming K and R becoming L. The names of two plants, taro and ti, changed to kalo and ki in formally spoken Hawaiian. However, the ancient pronunciations (which have also been adopted by English speakers) remain in the widest use, and are used in this text.

** Good examples of "Wetland" taro growing can be seen today in Waipi`o valley on the northeast coast of the island of Hawaii.