A Dictionary of Hawaiian Legal Land-Terms. compiled and edited by Paul F. Nahoa Lucas. Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation and the University of Hawai'i Committee for the Preservation and Study of Hawaiian Language, Art and Culture 1996. 177 pp. + maps.

Western contact brought disease, invasive species and foreigners with strange ideas to Hawai'i. Though rats, insects, noxious plants and disease ravaged and continue to threaten the ecosystem that sustained pre-Contact Hawaiians for nearly a millennia, perhaps it was the concept of private land ownership that irreparably damaged Hawaiian society. Some Hawaiian scholars, mostly notably Lilikalâ Kame'eleihiwa in her comprehensive treatise on the Mâhele, believe this to be the single greatest tragedy suffered by native Hawaiians. As if Hawaiians didn't have enough problems with influenza, tuberculosis, venereal diseases and mosquitoes, they now had to contend with greedy foreigners who used this bewildering and alien concept of land ownership, then unknown in Polynesia, to rapidly divide their lands and stake claim to them. Though Hawaiian as a written language was still in its infancy, Hawaiians were rapidly becoming literate to comprehend new words introduced by the foreigners for familiar land forms, and to make sense of numbers that now divided land into linear and cubic measurements. The final assault was the new legal system thrust upon them, causing the decline of both mâlama 'âina (caring for the land) and the aliÿi/makaÿäinana stewardship land tenure system that carried the Hawaiian people through countless generations.

The use of Hawaiian words and phrases created as a result from the move to private land-ownership were limited to legal documents, government circles and courts of law. Though some terms did filter down to the general public, and were recorded by Mary Kawena Puku'i, Thomas Thrum and Lorrin Andrews, a number of land terms existed only on the wordlists of individuals who translated land-conveyance documents. Paul F. Nahoa Lucas is to be commended for using these sources to compile a compact volume of Hawaiian landterms and legals phrases accessible to all. Additional sources used by Mr. Lucas include the Hawaiian language newspapers, and the works of Nathaniel Emerson, Craig Handy, S.M. Kamakau and others. Intended to provide the reader with "a general understanding of the words and phrases that were commonly used in Hawaiian land-conveyance documents," this work is especially helpful to those who have a command of 'ôlelo Hawai'i (Hawaiian language). Mr. Lucas' intent is "to familiarize the reader with various land documents written in Hawaiian during the nineteenth century" but he cautions readers against using it as a document translation tool. Entries are arranged in alphabetical order. Each contains a definition rendered by a court of law as the primary source. If no court has rendered a legal definition of the entry, a secondary, non-legal source is provided. If multiple definitions exists for a single entry, the one with the meaning more commonly used in the law comes first, followed by more obscure interpretation(s).

Entries are first listed as they originally appeared in primary source documents without the "marks" contained in almost all Hawaiian language materials today. Concerned with correct pronunciation and spelling, Mr. Lucas follows the orthographic standards created by the "Recommendations and Comments on the 'Ahahui 'Ôlelo Hawai'i 1978 Spelling Project" by Emily Hawkins and William H. "Pila" Wilson, and later adopted by the 'Ahahui 'Ôlelo Hawai'i. The entry is listed again, with 'okina (glottal stops) and/or kahakô (macrons).

The dictionary has three valuable appendices. Mr. Lucas includes samples of legal documents in Appendix A, among them examples of Land Commission awards relating to declarations of held property, definitions of boundaries and enclosures, and a Palapala Ho'okô (Certificate of Award). Other well-reproduced examples include a Palapala Sila Nui (Royal Patent), copies of Mâhele awards, deeds, leases, mortgages, bills of sale, adoption, wills and probate, all with Hawaiian and English texts. Appendix B contains an alphabetical listing of 19th century surveyors, with commentary on the strengths and weaknesses of each, e.g., W.A. was "one of the most careful surveyors of that time," A.B. "had no conception of the value of accuracy," J.T.G was "a very careless surveyor," while J.R. "must have used a very defective compass; his distances are good, while his bearings in most cases are quite unreliable." Appendix C contains a conversion table of various measurements (e.g., square yards to square feet and acres, links to feet, etc.). Lastly, maps of each island are included that give the square miles of each and indicate the better known ahupua'a of each island.

As a reference librarian and subject specialist in Hawaiiana who frequently fields land-conveyance document questions, I thank Mr. Lucas for contributing this valuable work to the people of Hawai'i. A required purchase for all public and private Hawaiian collections.

Kevin M. Roddy, University of Hawai'i at Hilo