62 



sea. Before the coming of the missionaries there were no fruits 

 except bananas, cocoanuts, and the mountain apple, and none of these 

 were ever abundant, except the mountain apple or ohia,« which is 

 plentiful only during July and August in the mountain valleys wher- 

 ever there is a heavy rainfall. 



It was because of this limited food supply, no doubt, that the early 

 Hawaiians learned to use for food almost every living thing, both plant 

 and animal, found along their coasts. Almost everj"^ kind of seaweed 

 that could possibly be eaten was used for food by some Hawaiians, 

 while certain of the more attractive algse were universally used wher- 

 ever and whenever it was possible to secure them from the sea. The 

 people living in the mountain valleys used, in addition to marine algse, 

 several kinds of the soft green fresh-water algse from the streams and 

 ponds. Nothing edible, from tiny shellfish or minnows an inch long to 

 great sharks, escaped the hungry Hawaiian fisherman. Likewise he 

 gathered seaweeds, large and small, and also the fine green algse of the 

 fresh water to satisfy his hunger for vegetable food. The limu had to 

 take the place of all green vegetables — as onions, lettuce, beets, beans, 

 peas, etc. — as well as fruits, and must have helped very much to vary 

 the monotony of a diet of fish and poi, which were then as now the two 

 staple foods of the native Hawaiians. 



There are over seventy distinct species of algse or limu used for food 

 by the Hawaiians. Of these seventy species not more than forty are 

 in general use. The other thirty or thirty-five are used only by a 

 few people in certain small areas where they are found in limited 

 quantities. There are perhaps a dozen or more common species of 

 algse, mostly marine, that are termed by the Hawaiians simply limu, 

 or with some descriptive appellation, like limu make, meaning poison- 

 ous limu. Each edible limu has its own special appellation besides 

 the generic name limu with which it is combined either as a descrip- 

 tive adjective or as a suffix. 



The following notes and observations have been collected during the 

 last three years from various sources, and from personal study in the 

 markets and along the beaches wherever the limu gatherers were at 

 work collecting or preparing algse for food. In addition to this, much 

 information has been secured from Hawaiian friends who have very 

 kindly assisted the writer in various ways in collecting both the speci- 

 mens and data. The writer is especially indebted to Mrs. Emma Met- 

 calfe Nakuina, Mrs. W. L. Bowers, Mrs. Elizabeth Kahanu Gittle, 

 Mrs. Rosina Shaw Leslie, Mrs. Kepoikai, Mr. B. K. Kaiwiaea, Mrs. 

 Deverel, Judge Kahele, and many others for the native names, speci- 

 mens for study, and descriptions of the methods of preparing them 



" Eugenia malaccensis, in the valleys and mountain slopes in the lowest forest zone. 

 Fruit sweetish, juicy, about size of early June apple, and resembling a red apple, 

 except in flavor. 



