History of Hawaii's Sandalwood

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Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands - Kamehameha l (Part 8)

 

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Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands

" Keepers of the Culture "

A study in time of the Hawaiian Islands

Kamehameha l

and stories told by the ancients -- part 8

Capt John Kendrick

Sandalwood

by Darlene E. Kelley

November 10, 2000

 

donkeyskid

 

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As told by the ancients -- part 8.

 

Captain John Kendrick [ 1740 --1794 ]

 

Captain John Kendrick was a former privateering captain in the American

Revolution. Kendrick was sent out from Boston in company with Robert

Gray to trade furs on the Northwest Coast of America. On that coast

Kendrick, master of the Columbia Rediviva, traded commands with Gray of

the Lady Washington. The latter vessel first arrived in the Hawaiian

Islands in the autumn of 1791; it returned under Kendrick in 1793 and

1794.

Kendrick and several of his officers were killed in December, 1794, when

William Brown fired a victory salute after a battle in which Kaeo was

killed near Pearl Harbor. A gun from a nearby ship, accidentlly loaded

with grapeshot, crashed through the side of the Lady Washington, which

had to sail to China under another Captain. Kendrick was a pioneer in

the Sandalwood trade ; in 1790 he left two men on the island of Kauai to

collect a cargo of this valuable wood.

 

Sandalwood --

 

Sandalwood is an evergreen tree, semi parasitic tree native to Asia,

Pacific, and Australasia. The tree is medium sized which when the center

of its slender trunk [ the heart wood ] has the greatest oil content.

The heartwood and roots are fragrant and contain the oil. The bark and

sapwood are odorless.

 

Its use was used primarily in making perfume and beauty products, soaps,

and medicines. However, it was used in carvings and in making beautiful

scuptures. Also was used for its beauty and fragrance in fine furniture.

It has a lasting odour and makes an excellant non irritant, non toxic,

fixative in perfumes and soaps.

 

It was used as a oil in uninary anti-septic. It is a pulmonary

anti-septic useful in the treatment of dry persistent coughs. The

soothing of sore throats is an effective application for the oil. Also

used for its strong effect on throat conditions such as laryngitis.

Other uses include dry eczema, relief of itchng and inflamations,

sensitive skin, tension, stress, nausea and vomiting, and sunstroke.

 

Once the oil is extracted, it is matured for six months so that it can

achieve the right maturity and perfume. It has a heavy, sweet, woody and

fruity aroma which is pungently balsamic. the flowers of the tree are

small pinky-purple and must be at least 30 years old before it produces

the essential oils.

 

It is interesting of note; Sandalwood had uninterupted sacred 4000 year

history being mentioned in sanskit and chinese manuscripts. The oil was

used in religious ritals, and many deities and temples were carved from

its wood. The wood is soft to carve and one frequent use is for fragrant

carvings. The ancient Egyptians imported the wood and used it in

medicines, embalming and ritual burning to venerate the Gods.

 

Captain Kendrick. the American commander of the Lady Washington is given

the credit for discovering sandalwood in Hawai'i. While sitting before

an open fire, he detected the sweet odor of the burning wood.

Investigation revealed that the islands were filled with the precious

trees, and so began the nefarious trade which wrecked many lives. India,

where sandalwood was first known, had for centuries been the only base

of supply. The orient was calling. Both India and China were willing to

pay exorbitant prices for sandalwood, and men grew rich from the

fragrant forests of Hawai'i.

 

The story of sandalwood in the Hawaiian Islands is a stark and unhappy

tale. It was through sandalwood that slavery touched the freedom of the

people. The native workers were treated like cattle. Up the mountain

trails and down again they toiled, logs of sandalwood strapped to their

shoulders by ropes and thongs of hibiscus and coconut. Men started to

become deformed through the weight of the wood on their backs.

Agriculture was at a standstill. food became scarce, and famine stalked

the land. Disease and death marked the trail of sandalwood from mountain

to waterfront.

 

Kamehameha was swept along with the tide. His great desire was to own

European and Oriental goods of all sorts. These he acquired in such

quantities that he was forced to build storage houses to care for his

treasures, for many of which he had no use. The monopoly on sandalwood

was his own. He tabooed the oyster beds of Pearl River that he might

alone profit from the sale of the pearls. His love for beautiful and

shining things tempted him to purchase a looking glass for which he paid

$ 800.00, and for a brass cannon he spent

$ 1,000.00.

 

Kamehameha was not blind to the ill-effects the sandalwood trade was

having upon the kingdom and his people. When its ravages became clear to

his conscience, he stopped the sandalwood destruction and ordered his

chiefs, instead, to cultivate their lands again. To set an example for

the people, he personally labored at tilling his own lands and planting

his crops. It was not until after Kamehamha's death and sandalwood

monoply was divided among his chiefs, each greedy for a share in the new

mine of wealth, that its scourge was felt again in the Islands.

 

Meanwhile, Kamehameha's successes in trade had proved so profitable that

he determined to go into the shipping trade himself. From Mr. James

Hunnewell, of Charleston, Massacusetts, he bought the Bordeau Packet and

sent the ship to the Orient with a cargo of sandalwood. This was the

first Hawaiian ship to enter any foreign port, and the venture was a

great disappointment. In Canton, the port charges were so heavy and the

crews, including the captain, became so dissipated that, when the vessel

returned, Kamehameha found he was in debt over $ 3,000,00. The matter of

port charges, however, which included pilotage, storage, and customhouse

fees, suggested to Kamehameha that he might raise funds from the same

sources, and he

shortly established such fees for the islands.

 

Kamehameha's astuteness in trade won for him great distinction among the

foreign merchants. There are many records of what the white man thought

of Kamehameha, but little is known of what he thought about the

foreigner. He kept his own council. and in matters and at all times he

was the master of the siuation. Men who knew him best both admired him

and trusted him. Even in the ealy days when Kamehameha had had little

contact with the outside world, those who saw him were impressed with

his mind and judgement and his word was the law.

http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/hi/keepers/koc26.txt