<Begin Segment 9>

TI: So I'm gonna move on to some other things that you did as a boy. And one thing was when you got your rowboat. Why don't you tell me about how the rowboat was made for you and what did with the rowboat.

TM: Well, my father had two huge boats for his fishing work and when we got old enough, my father said we're able to manage a boat. So, he had a boat built for us, big enough for three of us to get in, and during those days the boats were built at Kakaako. And, you had boat builders that were specialized builders so they could build a boat specifically according to how you wanted it. And ours was a plain boat with a compartment where you could put the fish that you catch, and had water circulating around it, and strictly was a rowboat, and no motor to it. So we fished around the shore lines and out to the deep, but not far. And the fish that we caught that was quite common, you know. You had small uluas, papios, wekes, oamas, and kihikihis, so fish was plentiful, in other words, you could just go out one afternoon after school and come home with fish.

TI: And what would you do with the fish after you caught it?

TM: Well, we didn't catch that (many) fish and so my mother would cook the fish. But if we caught enough, my father would auction it downtown. So you know we had access to how to use the fish. And of particular interest was catching Samoan crab. We had Samoan net which was actually lobster net about six feet height, and then we put baits around the net and laid the net around certain, you know, areas where the Samoan crab would come in. You (left) that net overnight and next morning the crabs would be trapped in the net. And I recall several times when we caught Samoan crabs as large as six or eight pounds. And what happened was that the crabs were sold downtown and, as I recall, we got twenty cents a pound for the crabs. So that was huge money for us.

TI: And so when you were able to make money from catching these things, your father would give you the money? He wouldn't like... you wouldn't give it to the family? This would be your spending money?

TM: Right, in other words, whatever fish we caught and surprisingly he didn't take any commission. [Laughs]

TI: That's a good story. You know, another one was something that you did as a kid that later on helped the family, and that was with the maunaloa flowers?

TM: Yes.

TI: So tell me that story.

TM: Apparently, when we were young, we used to roam around different places and one of the places that we loved to go was at an area where they had hau trees and it was actually the Heeia Wireless Air Station, (turned) by the navy. And around the shoreline we would gather the hau branches and make swords and use that for our games. But, surprisingly, around that area you had maunaloa plants growing and I, for one, took three seedlings, took (them) back home and grew them. One was a white maunaloa plant, the other two were the purple more common one. And my father said, "You couldn't have three because it's going to get to become a forest. You're allowed to have only one." So I kept one and I nursed the plant, got it large enough, had fences made for the vines. Eventually it started getting flowers, the buds, and then flowers. And it kept expanding and this was, as I recall, when I was only about six years or seven years old.

TI: Now why did you do that? This is kind of unusual thing for a six year old boy to do.

TM: Because I love flowers (...) I thought I can grow something and it kept growing and eventually over the years had enough flowers that could be sold downtown to the lei makers.

TI: Right, and we'll get to that later because that comes up during the war a little bit so this is when you're only six and sounds like it was almost, to your father, it was almost a nuisance, you know, to have this... because these were vines, the type that once they start growing, they just keep spreading and spreading and spreading... so interesting, okay.

TM: Surprised they didn't require much care. You water it, wait until the vines get larger, and it keeps expanding. And the fortunate part was the fact that seeds that dropped also sprout out so that actually one plant ended up with maybe dozens of others, you know, plants coming up and that kept growing.

TI: Now, was this plant not very common? Or did other people have lots of maunaloa?

TM: Well, I think wasn't common because, as I recall, you need to have a huge fenced area and you have to take good care of it and then the picking of the flowers. You have to do it, picking early in the morning when they were in the bud state.

TI: And so growing up, did you always kind of care for these flowers a little bit or did they just start growing wild?

TM: Well, after school I used to water it every so often, but just let it go, go wild. And then you built more fences and just kept going, and so you had a huge, actually fenced area with the vines growing. And they were strong, you know, the plants were strong. As new plants came out, they got all mixed up, so didn't know which was (the) younger plant or the larger one but you kept getting the buds.

TI: And then during the day, like, how many flowers would be there, I mean, on these fences?

TM: Well, initially you started with maybe fifty or so, and then it kept expanding and then if you don't pick the flowers (they) would get into seeds and they fall down. So normally you pick the flowers, or even if you don't need the flowers. Just pick 'em.

TI: I'm curious, at any time when you're growing up, did your parents think it was just a nuisance and they thought well, let's just rid of all these vines?

TM: No, they were kind enough to figure that I was so attracted to the flowers and took such good care of it. They let me go ahead and keep on expanding the flowers.

TI: Okay, good. Okay so we'll come back to that again another time.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.