COMMERCIAL EISHERIES OF THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 
759 
Although practically nothing is known of the history of the people for some 
time after they first settled on the islands, it is probable that they lived in a patriarchal 
manner, followed later on by a tribal or communal system. In the meantime certain 
men by force of character and natural talents had become recognized as chiefs, and 
these men gradually usurped the rights of the common people and in time came to 
own everything. When a king or chief died his successor claimed the right, and 
exercised it in most cases, of redistributing the land amongst his own friends and 
adherents. This continued during the reigns of many petty chiefs and kings until at 
last all the islands fell through conquest under the sway of Kamehameha I. The king 
at once divided the lands among his principal warrior chiefs, retaining, however, a 
considerable portion for himself. Each chief divided his lands among his inferior 
chiefs, who subdivided them again and again down to the lowest class of tenants. 
When Kamehameha II ascended the throne he wanted to redistribute the lands as of 
old, but during the long reign of Kamehameha I the landed interests had become so 
strong that he found it impossible to disturb the existing order of things, except in a 
few instances. Trading in lands now became common, but it was not until 1839 that 
the ownership of land became vested in others than the king. In the bill of rights 
which Kamehameha III issued on June 7 of that year, occurs the following rather 
vague paragraph relating to land tenures: 
Protection is hereby secured to the persons of all the people, together with their lands, their 
building lots, and all their property, while they conform to the laws of the kingdom, and nothing 
whatever shall be taken from any individual except by express provision of the laws. Whatever chief 
shall act perseveringly in violation of this declaration shall not longer remain a chief of the Hawaiian 
Islands, and the same shall be true of the governors, officers, and all land agents. But if anyone who 
is deposed should change his course and regulate his conduct by law, it shall then be in the power of 
the chiefs to reinstate him in the place he occupied previous to his being deposed. 
It was not, however, until 1818 that land tenure was put upon a solid legal basis 
by the division of the lands between the king, the chiefs, and the tenants, and vesting 
the titles in each. 
Each island was divided into “moku,” or districts. The subdivisions of a 
“moku” were “ahupuaa,” which is really a unit of land in the islands. An 
“ahupuaa” was generally a long, narrow strip, running from the mountain to the 
sea, and included the mountain, the plateau, and the shore, and extended a certain 
distance out to sea. This distance was to the reef, if there was one; if not, to one 
geographical mile from shore. The owner of this portion of the sea naturally had 
the right to control it, so far as the fishing was concerned, the same as he did his 
land. When he placed a tabu on it branches of the hau tree were planted all along 
the shore. The people seeing this token of the tabu respected it. With the removal 
of the hau bi’anches, indicating that the tabu was lifted, the people fished as they 
desired, subject only to the tabu daj^s of the priest or alii, when no canoes were 
allowed to go out upon the water. 
In accordance with a law which went into effect June 14, 1900, the fishery rights 
ceased on June 14, 1903. Some of these rights are of considerable value. Close to 
Honolulu are two, belonging to one person, which bring in a yearly rental of $1,375. 
The fisheries on Oahu are the most valuable, owing to the excellent market at 
Honolulu. On Kauai only a few of the fisheries are of sufficient value to be rented, 
these being mainly around Waimea and Hanalei. One of them rents for $200 a year, 
