Biographical Sketch of David Malo
It is a commentary on the fleeting character of fame and human distinction that, even at this short remove from the life of one of Hawaii's most distinguished sons, it…
From: 1793 C.E. To: 1853 C.E.
Location: Kahaluu-Keauhou, Hawaii, United States
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
“Biographical Sketch of David Malo” by Nathaniel Bright Emerson from Hawaiian Antiquities by David Malo, 1903.
It is a commentary on the fleeting character of fame and human distinction that, even at this short remove from the life of one of Hawaii's most distinguished sons, it is with no little difficulty that one can obtain correct data as to the details of his career; it is also an index of the rapidity with which the plough-share of evolution has obliterated old landmarks.
The materials from which this sketch of David Malo's life is pieced together have been derived from many sources, both oral and written, as will be indicated in the course of the narrative.
Malo was the son of Aoao and his wife Heone, and was born at the seaside town of Keauhou, North Kona, Hawaii, not many miles distant from the historic bay of Kealakeakua, where Captain Cook, only a few years before, had come to his death. The exact year of his birth cannot be fixed, but it was about 1793, the period of Vancouver's second visit to the islands. It was the time of a breathing spell in the struggle for military and political supremacy over the entire group in which the chief actors were Kahekili, the old war-horse and veteran of Maui, Kalanikupule, his son, the weak and ill-fated king of Oahu, and Kamehameha, the oncoming conqueror of the group.
Aoao, the father, was attached as a follower in some capacity to the court and army of Kamehameha and moved west with the tide of invasion; but I have found no evidence that his travels took him so far as Oahu, which was the western limit of his master's operations.
During his early life Malo was connected with the high chief Kuakini (Governor Adams), who was a brother of Queen Kaahumanu, and it was during this period specially that he was placed in an environment the most favorable to forming an intimate acquaintance with the history, traditions, legends and myths of old Hawaii, as well as with the meles, pules and olis that belong to the hula and that form so important and prominent a feature in the poesy and unwritten literature of Hawaii. But his attainments in these directions are even more to be ascribed to his happy endowment with a shrewd and inquiring mind as well as a tenacious memory, which had to serve in the place of writing and of all mnemonic tablets.
If we may trust the authority of the writer of a brief sketch of Malo (See The Polynesian of Nov. 5, 1853), it was largely from association with one Auwai, a favorite chief of Kamehameha I, who excelled in knowledge of Hawaiian lore, including an acquaintance with the genealogies (kuauhau) of the chiefs, the religious ceremonials under the tabu system, and the old myths and traditions, that Malo was enabled to acquire his knowledge of these matters. In ancient Hawaii it was at the king's court that were gathered the notable bards, poets, and those in whose minds were stored the traditional lore of the nation.
Brought up under circumstances well fitted to saturate his mind with the old forms of thought and feeling, it would be surprising if he had not at some time given evidence of ability in that form of composition, the mele, which represents the highest literary attainment of the old regime. Such a production by him we have,—a threnody celebrating the death of the beloved regent. Queen Kaahumanu, who died June 5, 1832. It is entitled, He Kanikau no Kaahumanu, a poem of real merit that combines in itself a large measure of the mystery of ancient pagan allusions with a tincture of such feelings as belong to one newly introduced to the stand-point of a Christian civilization. (A copy of this poem will be found in The Friend of Aug., 1859, together with a translation by C. J. Lyons.)
Such good use did Malo make of his opportunities that he came to be universally regarded as the great authority and repository of Hawaiian lore.
As a natural result of his proficiency in these matters, Malo came to be in great demand as a raconteur of the old-time traditions, meles, and genealogies, as a master in the arrangement of the hula, as well as of the nobler sports of the Hawaiian arena, a person of no little importance about court. In after years, when his mind had been impregnated with the vivifying influence of the new faith from across the ocean, his affections were so entirely turned against the whole system, not only of idol-worship, but all the entertainments of song, dance and sport as well, that his judgment seems often to be warped, causing him to confound together the evil and the good, the innocent and the guilty, the harmless and the depraved in one sweeping condemnation, thus constraining him to put under the ban of his reprobation things which a more enlightened judgment would have tolerated or even taken innocent pleasure in, or to cover with the veil of contemptuous silence matters, which, if preserved, would now be of inestimable value and interest to the ethnologist, the historian and the scholar.
It is a matter of vain regret from the stand-point of the student that this should have been the case, and that there should not have survived in him a greater toleration for the beauties and sublimities, as well as the darker mysteries, of that unwritten literature, which the student of to-day finds dimly shadowed in the cast-off systems of heathendom. But it is not to be wondered at that David Malo should have been unable to appreciate at its true value the lore of which he was one of the few repositories. It could be expected only of a foreign and broadly cultivated mind to occupy the stand-point necessary to such an appraisal. The basis of this criticism will be evident to every attentive reader of this book.
The attitude of David Malo's mind toward the system of thought—from which he was delivered "the pit from which he was digged,'' as some would put it, was, from the circumstances of the case, one of complete alienation not to say intolerance, and gives ground for the generalization that it is hopeless to expect a recent convert to occupy a position of judicial fairness to the system of religion and thought from which he has been rescued. While this may be reckoned as a tribute to the depth and sincerity of his nature, it cannot but be deemed an index of the necessarily somewhat narrow view of the mystic and the convert. The application of Malo's energies to the task of setting forth in an orderly manner his knowledge of the history and antiquities of his people was due to the urgent persuasions of his teachers, and shows their broad-minded appreciation of the value of such information.
While still a young man and before leaving Hawaii, Malo was married to a widow-woman of alii blood, by the name of A'a-lai-oa, who was much older than himself and said to have been a daughter of Kahekili, the great king of Maui; but it seems hardly probable that she was so closely related to that distinguished monarch. The marriage with this woman was in the language of the time called a ho-ao. This, though not according to Christian rites and forms, was none the less a regular, honorable and legitimate form of marriage, according to the ideas and customs of the time. One may conjecture, however, that in this case the union was one in which the husband was the chosen rather than the chooser. Such marriages were not at all uncommon in ancient Hawaii, it being considered that the woman made up by her wealth and position what she lacked in physical attractiveness. There was no issue, and the woman died while Malo was still at Keauhou, on Hawaii.
The date of Malo's removal to Lahaina, Maui, marks an important epoch in his life ; for it was there he came under the inspiring influence and instruction of the Rev. William Richards who had settled as a missionary in that place in the year 1823, at the invitation of the queen-mother, Keopuolani. Under the teachings of this warm-hearted leader of men, to whom he formed an attachment that lasted through life, he was converted to Christianity, and on his reception into the church was given the baptismal name of David. There seems to have been in Mr. Richards’ strong and attractive personality just that mental and moral stimulus which Malo needed in order to bring out "his own strength” and develop the best elements of his nature. In the case of one of such decided strength of character and purpose there could be no half-way work; in whatever direction the current of will turned, it flowed as one full and undivided stream.
From his first contact with the new light and knowledge of Christian civilization, David Malo was fired with an enthusiasm for the acquisition of all the benefits it had to confer. He made efforts to acquire the English language, but met with no great success: his talents did not lie in that direction; one writer ascribes his failure to the rigidity of his vocal organs. His mental activity, which was naturally of the strenuous sort, under the influence of his new environment seemed now to be brought to a white heat.
In his search for information he became an eager reader of books; every printed thing that was struck off at the newly established mission press at Honolulu, or afterwards at Lahaina-luna, was eagerly sought after and devoured by his hungry and thirsty soul. He accumulated a library which is said to have included all the books published in his own language. In taking account of
David Malo's acquirements as well as his mental range and activity of thought, it is necessary to remember that the output of the Hawaiian press in those days, though not productive of the newspaper, was far richer in works of thought and those of an educational and informational value than at the present time. It was pre-eminently the time in the history of the American Protestant Mission to Hawaii when its intellectual force was being directed to the production of a body of literature that should include not only the textbooks of primary and general education, but should also give access to a portion of the field of general information. It was also the time when the scholars of the Mission, aided by visiting friends from the South, were diligently engaged in the heavy task of translating the Bible into the Hawaiian vernacular, the completed result of which by itself formed a body of literature, which for elevation and excellence of style formed a standard and model of written language worthy to rank with the best.
On the establishment of the high school at Lahaina-luna in 1831, Malo entered as one of the first pupils, being at the time about thirty-eight years of age, and there he remained for several years, pursuing the various branches of study with great assiduity.
It was while at Lahaina, before entering the school at Lahainaluna, that he for the second time entered into marriage; and as before so on this occasion, it was with a woman of chiefish blood and older than himself that he formed an alliance; she was named Pahia. The marriage ceremony was conducted in accordance with the Christian forms by his friend and spiritual father, Mr. Richards. Like his former union, this was non-fruitful; and after the death of Pahia, Malo married a young woman of Lahaina named Lepeka (Rebecca) by whom he became the father of a daughter, whom he named A'a-laioa, in memory of his first wife. To anticipate and bring to a close this part of the narrative, his union with this young woman proved most disastrous; her dissi- lute ways were a constant thorn in the side of her husband, driving him well nigh to distraction, and ultimately proved the cause of his death.
Having been ordained to the Christian ministry and settled over a church in the district of Kula, Maui, David Malo made his home at the forlorn seaside village of Kalepolepo, on the lee of East Maui, where he continued in the duties of the Christian ministry and in the pastorate of the little church there located during the remaining few years of his life. The shame and disgrace of his wife's conduct told upon him, and at length came to weigh so heavily on his mind that he could not throw it off. He refused all food and became reduced to such a state of weakness that his life was despaired of. The members of his church gathered about his bedside, and with prayer and entreaties sought to turn him from his purpose, but without avail. His last request was to be taken in a canoe to Lahaina, that thus he might be near the site which he had selected as the resting place of his body, which he had indicated to be Pa'u-pa'u, on the hill called Mount Ball that stands back of Lahaina-luna. It would, he had hoped, be above and secure from the rising tide of foreign invasion, which his imagination had pictured as destined to overwhelm the whole land.
His request was fulfilled, and after his death, which took place October 21, 1853, his body was deposited in a tomb on the summit of Mt. Ball, where for nearly half a century it has remained as a beacon to his people.
Lahaina appears to have been the continued place of residence of David Malo from the time of his first coming thither—on leaving Keauhou—probably some time in the twenties—till he went to the final scene of his labors at Kalepolepo, a period that must have extended over about twenty-five years and included the most useful activities of his life.
lt was during the period of Malo's stay at Lahaina that certain lawless spirits among the sea-rovers collected in that port instituted attacks on the new order of civilization that was winning its way, which were directed—most naturally—against its foremost representative, Mr. Richards. The result was an investigation, a trial, it might be termed in which the issue practically resolved itself into the question whether Mr. Richards was in the right and to be defended or in the wrong and to be punished. Malo was present at the conference and it was no doubt largely due to his native wit and the incisive common sense displayed in his putting of the question that justice speedily prevailed and the cause of law and order triumphed.
While at Lahaina David Malo also occupied for a time the position of school-agent, a post of some responsibility and in which one could usefully exercise an unlimited amount of common sense and business tact; there also was the chief scene of his labors for the preservation in literary form of the history and antiquities of his people.
To confine one's self to that division of David Malo's life-work which is to be classed as literary and historical, the contributions made by him to our knowledge of the ancient history and antiquities of the Hawaiian Islands may be embraced under three heads: First, a small book entitled "Moolelo Hawaii," compiled by Rev. Mr. Pogue from materials largely furnished by the scholars of the Lahaina-luna Seminary. (The reasons for crediting Malo with having lent his hand in this work are to be found in the general similarity of style and manner of treatment of the historical part of this book with the one next to be mentioned; and still more conclusive evidence is to be seen in the absolute identity of the language in many passages of the two books.) Second, the work, a translation of which is here presented, which is also entitled Moolelo Hawaii, though it contains many things which do not properly belong to history. The historical part brings us down only to the times of Umi, the son of Liloa. There was also a third, a History of Kamehameha, a work specially undertaken at the request of the learned historian and lexicographer. Rev. Lorrin Andrews, and completed by David Malo after a year's application, during which he made an extended visit to the island of Hawaii for the purpose of consulting the living authorities who were the repositories of the facts or eye-witnesses of the events to be recorded. This book was side-tracked very soon after its completion—even before reaching the hands of Mr. Andrews—and spirited away, since which time it has been hidden from the public eye.
David Malo was a man of strong character, deep and earnest in his convictions, capable of precipitate and violent prejudices, inclining to be austere and at times passionate in temper, yet kind and loving withal, with a gift of pleasantry and having at bottom a warmth of heart which not only made friends but held him fast to friendships once formed. Though nurtured in the superstitious faith and cult of old Hawaii, and though a man of tenacious opinions, when the light reached him, the old errors were dissipated with the darkness, as clouds are dissolved by the rising sun, and his whole intellectual and moral nature felt the stimulus and burst forth with a new growth. Judging from frequent references to such matters in his writings, there must have existed to a more than usual degree in Malo's nature and spiritual make-up that special hunger and thirst which was to be met and more or less assuaged by what was contained in the message of Christian civilization from across the water. So great was the ardor of his quest after knowledge that it is said to have been his custom to catechize the members of his family not only on points of doctrine and belief, but along the lines of general information, on- such points as were of interest to himself: the whale, the lion, the zebra, the elephant, the first man, the wind, the weather, the geography of the world—these were some of the topics on which he quizzed the young men and women, as well as the older ones, who gathered in his family. There was room for no educational laggards under his roof.
Malo was one of that class to whom the prophetic vision of the oncoming tide of invasion—peaceful thought it was to be—that was destined to overflow his native land and supplant in a measure its indigenous population, was acutely painful and not to be contemplated with any degree of philosophic calm; and this in spite of the fact that he fully recognized the immense physical, moral and intellectual benefits that had accrued and were still further to accrue to him and his people from the coming of the white man to his shores. And this sentiment, which was like a division of councils in his nature, controlled many of his actions during his life, and decided the place of his burial after death.
David Malo was not only a man of industry, but was able so to shape his enterprises as to make them serve as guides and incentives to a people who stood greatly in need of such leading. At a time when a movement was on foot looking to the industrial development of the resources of the islands, he entered heartily into the notion—it could not be called a scheme—and endeavored to illustrate it by his own efforts, to such an extent that he went into the planting of cotton—on a small scale, of course—purchased a loom and had the fibre spun and woven by the members of his own family under the direction of Mrs. Richards and Miss Ogden. Afterwards, when walking about arrayed in a suit of his own homespun, on being asked where he had obtained the fabric—it was not of the finest—with beaming satisfaction he pointed to the earth as the source of its origin. At the time also when the sugar industry was yet in its earliest infancy in this country, he turned his hand in that direction also, and so far succeeded as to produce an excellent syrup from sugar cane of his own raising.
In the "Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition," by Charles Wilkes, U. S. N., while commenting upon observations made during the year 1840, Admiral Wilkes, apropos of the book-making work under the care of the American missionaries and the writers of the various publications, says, ''Some of them are by native authors. Of these I cannot pass at least one without naming him. This is David Malo, who is highly esteemed by all who know him, and who lends the missionaries his aid, in mind as well as example, in ameliorating the condition of his people and checking licentiousness. At the same time he sets an example of industry, by farming with his own hands, and manufactures from his own sugar cane an excellent molasses.'*
In physique Malo was tall and of spare frame, active, energetic, a good man of business, eloquent of speech, independent in his utterances. He was of a type of mind inclined to be jealous and quick to resent any seeming slight in the way of disparagement or injustice that might be shown to his people or nation, and was one who held tenaciously to the doctrine of national integrity and independence.
The real value of David Malo's contributions to the written history and antiquities of ancient Hawaii is something that must be left for appraisal to the historian, the critic and student of Hawaiian affairs. The lapse of years will no doubt sensibly appreciate this valuation, as well as the regret, which many even at the present time feel most keenly, that more was not saved from the foundering bark of ancient Hawaii. If the student has to mourn the loss of bag and baggage, he may at least congratulate himself on the saving of a portion of the scrip and scrippage—half a loaf is better than no bread.
The result of Malo's labors would no doubt have been much more satisfactory if they had been performed under the immediate supervision and guidance of some mentor capable of looking at the subject from a broad standpoint, ready with wise suggestion; inviting the extension of his labors to greater length and specificness, with greater abundance of detail along certain lines, perhaps calling for the answer to certain questions that now remain unanswered.
As a writer David Malo was handicapped not only by the character and limitations of the language which was his organ of literary expression, but also by the rawness of his experience in the use of the pen. It was only about half a score of years before he broke ground as a literary man that scholars, with serious intent, had taken in hand his mother tongue and, after giving it such symbols of written expression as were deemed suitable to its needs, clothing its literary nakedness with a garb, which in homely simplicity and utility might be compared to the national holoku—the gift of the white woman to her Polynesian sister—and then, having sought out and culled from many sources the idioms and expressions that were pertinent and harmonious to the purpose, had grappled the difficult undertaking of translating the Christian Bible into the Hawaiian language. The result of these scholarly labors was indeed a book, which in fitness, dignity and sublimity of expression might ofttimes be an inspiration to one whose mother tongue is none other than the Anglo-Saxon speech. But this work was not fully completed until 1839, which time Malo must have been several years at his labors; and though its effect is clearly discernible in the form in which he has cast his thought, yet it would be too much to expect that its influence should have availed to form in him a style representing the best power and range of the language; certainly not to heal the infirmities and make amends for the evolutionary weaknesses of the Hawaiian speech.
N. B. Emerson.
Malo, David. Hawaiian Antiquities: (Moolelo Hawaii). Translated by Nathaniel Bright Emerson, Hawaiian Gazette Co., 1903.
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