8 minute read
by John Lacoutoure
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by John Lacoutoure
AS IN NEW BEDFORD and on Nantucket many persons of Portuguese ancestry live in the Hawaiian Islands as one of the legacies of the New England whaling era. In the 1970 census citizens of Portuguese ancestry constituted 11.6% of the population of Hawaii and have provided a Portuguese flavor to the Islands' food, ceremonies and traditions.
The decline of the Pacific whaling industry in the early 1870's saw the rise of the sugar industry in Hawaii to replace it. This rapid expansion of the sugar industry depended on an increasing supply of cheap labor which was not available from the native Hawaiians who had suffered a considerable loss in numbers to the "whiteman's" diseases.
Initially Chinese men were brought in to fill this labor shortage, but Chinese women could not be induced to emigrate. It was not long before this large influx of Chinese men only met with resistance from the general public who wanted immigrants to bring their families to replenish the population of the islands as well as to meet the acute labor shortage.
As a result its sugar planters cast about for another labor source at minimum cost. At this time there were about 400 Portuguese sailors from whaling ships who had settled in the Islands and had proved to be useful and desirable citizens. Most of them were small farmers or dairymen or served on the plantations and ranches.
The suggestion was made to bring over additional numbers of Portuguese from the impoverished Azores and Madeira Islands. On 6 November 1876 the Hawaiian government voted to provide the costs of bringing 200 people from the Portuguese Islands at a cost of $45 per man, $50 per woman, and half price for children and to transport the immigrants on ships belonging to New England shipping and whaling companies. Although never consummated, this was the first proposal to promote the immigration of Portuguese to the Hawaiian Islands.
The actual inauguration of Portuguese immigration was due largely to the efforts of Dr. William Hildebrand. Dr. Hildebrand had lived in the Islands for several years, but returned to Germany in 1871 and was living temporarily in the Madeiras in 1876. Aware of the labor shortage in the Hawaiian Islands, he wrote from Madeira noting the similarities in climate and in produce and mentioning conditions were favorable
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for emigration from the Madeiras. He indicated he would be willing to assist in such an enterprise, if asked to do so by the Hawaiian government. He praised the residents of the Azores and Madeira Islands as sober, honest, hardworking and peaceable as well as being accustomed to living and working in a tropical climate. He further claimed their education, ideas of social requirements, abilities to withstand privation, mental capabilities and habits of work would insure higher status in the next generation.
As a result Hildebrand was appointed commissioner of immigration for Hawaii in the Portuguese Islands. The Hawaiian board of immigration agreed to pay $75 per adult for transportation with a contract providing for three years of service on arrival at wages of ten dollars per month. This called for 26 working days per month working ten hours per day. It also provided a daily food ration, suitable family lodging, a garden plot to work for his own needs and free medical care. Women and children were to receive smaller wages but with similar perks.
Hildebrand arranged with Hackfield and Company for Bremen for a ship to transport the first Portuguese immigrants to Hawaii. The first group of 60 men, 27 women and 38 children departed on the German bark Priscilla, arriving in Honolulu on 29 September 1878.
The arrival of the P r i s c i l l a in Honolulu marked the beginning of an immigration period lasting ten years (1878-88) during which time 17 ships transported 11,057 Portuguese immigrants from Madeira and the Azores to the Hawaiian Islands. It was a long passage across the Atlantic, through the Straits of Magellan, up the west coast of South America and across to Hawaii, often lasting over three months. It was not unusual to have several births and deaths on board ship during these long voyages.
After the arrival of the P r i s c i l l a , the Hawaiian government set up a contract with the English company of Hoffnung and Company to transport the Portuguese immigrants to Hawaii. During this contract there were many deviations from instructions which caused extra expense to the Hawaiian government. Yet the Portuguese were viewed as valuable accessions to the population and the government chose to continue the program but with instructions to their agents to insure stricter adherence to contract terms. In 1881 King Kalakawa made a trip around the world during which he visited Portugal where he received a royal welcome. After his return Portuguese immigration policies were reviewed and the call went out for 700 more Portuguese families.
The principal objections to the Portuguese labor source were the
PORTUGUESE IN HAWAII 21
high costs of transportation and the large percentage of women and children (30% men, 22% women and 48% children). However, Portuguese immigration continued unabated until 1888 at which time successful inauguration of a cheaper program of immigration from Japan caused the end of the Portuguese program except for two more shiploads, one in 1895 and one in 1899, carrying about 830 more immigrants, bringing the total to 12,870. Actually three more ships carrying 3,400 more Portuguese arrived in the 1906 to 1909 time period, but most of these late arrivals left immediately for California.
Of the approximately 13,000 oldest Portuguese settlers over one half left the Islands at different times mostly attracted to California with very few returning to their old homeland. The Portuguese, however, are a prolific race and as previously mentioned constituted 11.6% of the Islands' population in the 1970 census.
One of course finds the same Portuguese family names in Hawaii as found on Nantucket. For example on Oahu alone there are over 300 "Silva" listings and over 150 "Santos" listings in the phone book with commensurately large numbers of these names listed in the other Islands' phone books.
When they first arrived as immigrants all the Portuguese men worked as field laborers on the sugar plantations. Many, however, soon moved up to "lunas" or foremen on the plantations or took over jobs of mechanics, teamsters and cowboys. A few expert stone cutters started a thriving construction business building substandard homes of hewn lava rock. As a result of these quick job promotions, the Portuguese gained a social and economic power foothold much faster than the Oriental and Filipino immigrants.
Many now are bankers, lawyers or hold executive positions in the larger business houses. Others work for the railroad companies and in the iron works. Notably honest, virtuous, law abiding, and patriotic, the Portuguese now constitute about 20% of Hawaii's National Guard where they are regarded as fine officers and soldiers.
By the 1930's Portuguese members of the Hawaiian community had become Chief Justice of the Territory's Supreme Court, territorial secretary and acting governor and Catholic Vicar Apostolic of the Hawaiian Islands. Much credit for the early success, stability and prosperity of Hawaii's Portuguese community must go to Portugal's first consul to Honolulu, Senor A. de Souza Canararro, who in this post for 30 years became the guide, protector and defender of the Portuguese immigrants.
An additional factor in the quick and successful growth of the Por-
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tuguese community was the formation of their own benevolent societies. The first of these societies, the San Antonio Society, was started in 1877 by the Portuguese whalers from New England whaling ships who had settled on the Islands. These benevolent societies provided sick benefits, death benefits, invalid pensions and care of orphans to society members and to any person in need of Portuguese ancestry. The Sociedade Lusitana with its magnificent clubhouse in Honolulu is the largest of these welfare societies and still exists today. The Patria Society founded in 1905 had a somewhat different objective which was the founding of schools for teaching the Portuguese language.
Throughout the Islands the Portuguese have maintained their Portuguese traditions and festivals and brought with them their food, music and dress. Some of their festivals can be traced back to the Middle Ages. A classic example is the post-Easter series of festivals known in Portuguese Hawaii as the Seven Domingos or Holy Ghost festivals sponsored by still surviving Portuguese Holy Ghost societies which maintain several clubhouse chapels on the Islands.
During the seven weeks of "festa" entire families participate in old style prayer and merrymaking, which include a succession of parades, dances and singing of old Portuguese folk songs to the accompaniment of Portuguese folk musicians, many playing the ukelele. The climax arrives on the Seventh Sunday when the "festa", queen, the "rainha de festa", leads a glittering parade of the royal court all in opulent costumes with many little girls costumed as angels through the Portuguese sections of the larger towns.
As part of their culture the Portuguese from the first shipload of immigrants brought with them their lively style of folk music and a small four stringed instrument called the "braza" or "braguinho." The second shipload of immigrants brought over not only musicians but also craftmen who could make "braguinhos".
In 1879 an Englishman, Edward Purvis, an ex-Army officer, arrived in Hawaii, made friends with the newly arrived Portuguese, and soon became adept at playing the "braguinho". Purvis was small in stature and very quick with his hands as he played the "braguinho". Before long his Hawaiian friends nicknamed him uku lele, the "leaping flea", and soon the "braguinho" also became known as the ukulele. As the missionary influence declined Hawaiians began to sing and dance again and it was not long before most Hawaiian homes had a ukulele.
Another important Portuguese contribution to Hawaii's culture has been Portuguese food. Possibly the most common item is the spicy Portuguese sausage available in most restaurants for breakfast in three
