> [!info] See also research on Incan [[quipu]] > [!todo] > - [ ] research *pakukai* which Mills translates as food supply. Wehewehe and nupepa offer little so far. ![[quipu-day_1947-p4.png | 600]] --- As the Hawaiian state system evolved, management of tribute and tax evolved in kind. In La Croix's [-@lacroix_2019] work on the coevolution of political and economic institutions in Hawaiʻi, he distinguishes *archaic states* from other political orders by their use of institutions such as redistributive taxation. Noting that within these well-organized states of Hawaii "property rights in land were well specified and enforced, and a system of post-harvest taxation facilitated risk sharing and mobilization of state resources for war" [-@lacroix_2019, p. 2]. He finds three forms of taxation prior to the 1600s. First is corvée labor, with a day per week owed "in the fields of the aliʻi ai ahupuaʻa and on public projects in the ahupuaʻa", second is consumption by a traveling chief and their household/retinue, finally tribute, which LaCroix terms hoʻokupu, collected by tax agents during makahiki. Mills work on sailing in the Hawaiian Kingdom notes varying terminology for this latter form of tribute: > One Hawaiian term for tribute is “ho‘okupu,” which literally translates as to “cause to grow,” and evokes the shared relationships of a system of generalized reciprocity. A second term is ‘auhau, which is more directly linked to redistributive networks, and is often translated as a tax or a levy. (The same term is used to refer to the stem of a wauke or papermulberry tree, which can be stripped to make kapa, but that does not kill the plant.) [@mills_2022, p. 28] @lacroix_2019 speaks to the fluctuating volume of tax levied. Kirch and others work explores how ecological and climate conditions shaped dues within and between seasons. Hommon expands on levied rates: > Though the taxes and corvée an average commoner family was assessed are difficult to quantify, it is possible to estimate the flow of one prized item of wealth: pork. As noted earlier, in addition to their other labor, commoner women were largely responsible for pig husbandry. If the calculations in chapter 4 are accurate, in addition to levies of staple crops and nonfood items, farmers paid a tax in pigs to the chiefs that amounted to between 2.4 and 4.8 percent of the production of Hawaii Island’s high-potential rain-fed lands. [@hommon_2013, p. 237] Hommon summarizes a key change during state formation, namely that the "community land that commoners considered their āina came to be referred to by government officials as an ahupuaa tax district [@hommon_2013, p. 258]. Law of 1839 mostly replaced these other forms of taxation with monetary payments. 1842 laws reduced payments owed based on the number of children, with families of three or more children paying nothing. This affords a least a couple centuries during which time taxation were levied in-kind with no formal writing system in use. A question however is what were the mechanisms applied in diverse and then consolidation Hawaiian states to enumerate and track taxation owed and paid. ## Tax Cordage All identified references to a cordage based tax tracking system derive from British missionaries Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet during a visit to the islands in 1822. Each subsequent reference either directly [see @day_1967; @jacobsen_1983; @sizer_2000] or indirectly [see @lacouperie_1934] draws from Tyerman and Bennet. While @jacobsen_1983 notes similar cordage in Polynesia, he adds there are no "specimens" in the Bishop Museum collection. So, was this documentation by Tyerman and Bennet an apocryphal understanding? A regional aberration? Or something else altogether. ### Tyerman & Bennet (1822) In the census of ship arrivals prior to 1860 @judd_1974 lists the Tyerman and Bennet arriving on March 29, 1822 on the Mermaid, a 61 ton sloop under British registry, accompanied by Reverend William Ellis, and Prince Regent The Mermaid commanded by a Captain Kent, likely the mariner John Rodolphus Kent active in early trade between Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii, soon departed before returning again on July 29, 1822 and finally departing with Rev. William Ellis, Daniel Tyerman, and George Bennet on August 22, 1822. Tyerman and Bennet's apparent, and thus far the only, documented account of tax-gatherers using cordage for tax tracking purposes elaborate on form and purpose. > ==The tax-gatherers, though they can neither read nor write, keep very exact accounts of all the articles, of all kinds, collected from the inhabitants through- out the island. This is done principally by one man, and the register is nothing more than a line of cordage from four to five hundred fathoms in length. Distinct portions of this are allotted to the various districts, which are known one from another by knots, loops, and tufts, of different shapes, sizes, and colors. Each tax-payer in the district has his part in this string, and the number of dollars, hogs, dogs, pieces of sandal- wood, quantity of taro, &c., at which he is rated, is* well defined by means of marks, of the above kinds, most ingeniously diversified==. It is probable that the famous quippos, or system of knots, whereby the records of the ancient Peruvian empire are said to have been kept, were a similar, and perhaps not much more comprehensive, mode of reckoning dates and associating names with historical events. [@tyerman.bennett_1832] The reference the the quipu of Incan Peru is instructive, opens question of the extent to which their understand of Hawaiian use is a projection based on knowledge of Peruvian application. All subsequent references, explored below, ultimately trace back to this passage. ##### @lacouperie_1885 @lacouperie_1885 > 22.In the first half of the present century, cord-records were still generally used in the Indian Archipelago and Polynesia proper. The tax-gatherers in the Island of Hawaii by this means kept accounts of all the articles collected by them from the inhabitants. A rope 400 fathoms long was used as a revenue book. It was divided into numerous portions corresponding to the various districts of the island; the portions were under the care of the tax-gatherers, who with the aid of loops, knots and tufts of different shapes, colours and sizes, were enabled to keep an accurate account of the hogs, pigs, and pieces of sandal wood, etc., at which each person was taxed. > > Polynesia was the way through which apparently the custom of knotted-cord records reached the new world. The remarkable instance of dissemination we have to quote further on about the Easter Island inscriptions is highly suggestive of such a fact. It is by the Peruvians that the cord system of mnemonics was carried to the greatest perfection,& and the name of quippus they gave to them might be taken as a generic appellative for the system. @lacouperie_1934 offers two sources for this data: Cf. Wuttke, op. cit. p. 143.—C. P. Keary, The Dawn of History, p. 181. German historian and scholar of writing systems Heinrich Wuttke's (1818–1876) 1877 and is often cited in studies on the origins and typology of writing systems.*“Die Entstehung der Schrift, die verschiedenen Schriftsysteme und das Schrifttum der nicht alfabetarisch schreibenden Völker”*, which translates roughly as “The Origin of Writing, the Various Writing Systems, and the Literature of the Non‑Alphabetic Writing Peoples.” [Page 143-144](https://archive.org/details/dieentstehungde01wuttgoog/page/142/mode/2up?q=hawaii) reads: > In Hawaii, führte vor einem Menſchenalter der Steuereinnehmer feine Rechnung mit einem Strickwerk von vier bis fünfhundert Fäden, die durch Knoten, Schlingen und Büchel von verfchiedener Geſtalt, Größe und Farbe unterfchieden waren. Für jeden Ab» gabepflichtigen gab es eine beftimmte Stelle an ſolchem Stride, aus der fih genau entnehmen ließ, was und wieviel ihm an Schweinen, Hunden, Taro, Sandelholz u. ſ. w. zu entrichten oblag. — Bedentt man die Art und das Alter folcher Knotenſchürzungen und daß diefelben gemeinlich zu Berechnungen angewendet wurden, fo drängt fih die Bermuthung auf, es möge diefes Knotenſchürzen zu der Auffaffung des Zahlenwerthes nach der Stellung hingeleitet haben. Which Google Translates to: > In Hawaii, a generation ago, the tax collector kept his accounts with a system of four to five hundred threads, distinguished by knots, loops, and bundles of varying shapes, sizes, and colors. For each taxpayer, there was a specific place on this string from which it could be precisely determined what and how much he owed in pigs, dogs, taro, sandalwood, and so on. Considering the nature and age of such knotted cords, and that they were commonly used for calculations, the suspicion arises that this system of knotted cords may have led to the concept of positional notation for numerical values. Wuttke in turn references a translation of E. B. Tyler, Researches into the early history of mankind. London 1865, ch. which iself draws from Tyerman and Bennet for this section. Tyler, Translation p. 202 from Tyerman and Bennet, Journal, London 1831, 1. 455. Also cited by de Lacouperie is Charles Francis Keary’s book _The Dawn of History_, specifically [page 181](https://archive.org/details/dawnofhistoryint03kear/page/180/mode/2up), which itself reads: > In the Eastern Archipelago, and in Polynesia proper, these cord-records were in use forty years ago, and by means of them the tax gatherers in the Island of Hawaii kept clear accounts of all articles collected from the inhabitants of the island. The revenue book of Hawaii was a rope 400 fathoms long, divided into portions corresponding to districts in the island, and each portion was under the care of a tax-gatherer, who by means of knots, loops, and tufts of different shapes, colours, and sizes, managed to keep an accurate account of the number of hogs, dogs, pieces of sandalwood, &c., at which each inhabitant of his district was rated. Keary offers Tyler's Early History of Mankind as a reference for his chapter which, as Wuttke noted, derives from Tyerman and Bennet. #### @day_1967 @day_1967, p. 15: > In Hawaii an extraordinary “tax-gatherer’s memorandum cord” was seen by Tyerman and Bennet in 1822. The tax-gatherers, though they can neither read nor write, keep very exact accounts of all the articles, of all kinds, collected from the inhabitants throughout the island. This is done principally by one man, and the register is nothing more than a line of cordage from four to five hundred fathoms in length. Distinct portions of this are allotted to the various districts, which are known one from another by knots, loops, and tufts, of different shapes, sizes, and colors. Each tax payer in the district has his part in this string, and the number of dollars, hogs, dogs, pieces of sandal-wood, quantity of taro, &c, at which he is rated, is well defined by means of marks, of the above kinds, most ingeniously diversified. It is probable that the famous quippos, or system of knots, whereby the records of the ancient Peruvian empire are said to have been kept, were a similar, and perhaps not much more comprehensive, mode of reckoning dates and associating names with historical events. > [Page 15](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/F8DP2TKU?page=15) @day_1967, p. 15: > The most distinctive characteristic of this cord, aside from its astonishing length—nearly half a mile—is the fact that the knots, loops, and other objects attached to it were of different kinds, colors, and materials. Hence anyone who knew the code could “read” it, for the knots and other objects not only served as reminders, but also provided information. #### @jacobsen_1983 @jacobsen_1983 also references @tyerman.bennett_1832 at lenght: > Anthropologists have known for some time that knotted strings were used, for any of several possible purposes in the Marquesas Islands (near Tahiti). A few specimens of these are in the Bishop Museum in Honolulu which is famed for its collection of Polynesian artifacts. These particular museum specimens, however, are thought to have recorded genealogical data. Their use as accounting devices in the Hawaiian Islands is not generally known and has not been researched until now. Unfortunately, ==there are no specimens of knotted string records in the Bishop Museum collection, but they were written about by travelers and others interested in Polynesia==. @jacobsen_1983, p. 55-56 > Evidence of the early Hawaiian use of knotted string records for accounting purposes is found in a journal kept (1821-29) by a representative of the London Missionary Society "deputed . . . to visit their various stations in the South Sea Islands, China, India, etc." > > He writes: > The tax-gatherers, though they can neither read nor write, keep very exact accounts of all the articles, of all kinds, collected from the inhabitants throughout the island. This is done principally by one man, and the register is nothing more than a line of cordage from four to five hundred fathoms in length [a fathom is six feet]. The physical characteristics of the cords permitted a recording by the tax gatherer-accountant of the dual nature of the collection: the recipient chief (district, fund) and the source (commoner-taxpayer). > > The cords also made possible a subsidiary classification of the collection by objects (dollars, hogs, dogs, etc.) according to this missionary who continues: > Distinct portions of this \[cordage] are allotted to the various districts, which are known one from another by knots, loops, and tufts, of different shapes, sizes, and colors. Each taxpayer in the district has his part in this string, and the number of dollars, hogs, dogs, pieces of sandalwood, quantity of taro, etc., at which he is rated is well defined by means of marks, of the above kinds, most ingeniously diversified. > > Prior to this 1921-29 \[sic] description, a noted historian, Terrien de Lacouperie, was even more explicit (in 1885) about the nature of the knotted strings in Hawaii: > The tax gatherers in the Island(s) of Hawaii by this means \[cord records] kept accounts of all articles collected by them from the inhabitants. A rope four hundred fathoms long was used as a revenue book. It was divided into numerous portions corresponding to the various districts of the island; the portions were under the care of tax gatherers, who with the aid of loops, knots and tufts of different shapes, colours and sizes, were enabled to keep an accurate account of the hogs, pigs, and pieces of sandalwood, etc. at which each person was taxed \[emphasis added]. #### @sizer_2000 Finally, @sizer_2000 also references the Tyerman and Bennet findings in his piece on Traditional Mathematics in Pacific Cultures. ## See also @kee_1993 on data processing and accounting through history ## Mathematics @hughes_1982 @bender.beler_2006 Questions the functional vs poetic application of large number (e.g. 40,000) in non-written cultures. Has a greatly detailed description of use and counting, along with numeric and linguistic comparisons to other Polynesian locales. @meaney.etal_2017 @gon.etal_2021 > The Hawaiian pantheon is far larger than just the major deities discussed above, but is typically characterised around the male deities using the Hawaiian numeration system, one that is based on 4 10$^n$ (Kanepuu 1867; Hughes 1982). This has been expressed narratively as: ‘the four, the 40, the 400, the 4000, the 40 000, the 400 000 gods’ (Beckwith 1951). Each of these are represented by very specific kinolau corresponding to both native and Polynesian-introduced taxa. The overall inference of this is that every living plant and animal in the Hawaiian universe serves as a physical manifestation of a deity, and is, therefore, a focus of conservation in the context of ‘Indigenous resource management’ (IRM; sensu Winter et al. 2018a, 2020a). Indeed, as there were also deities associated with climatic processes (e.g. manifestations of clouds, winds and rains), geological features (e.g. boulders, mountains and freshwater features), and astronomical phenomena, it stands to reason that the Hawaiian worldview would associate a deity to every natural feature and process in the universe around them. The reason for the 4 10n–based multiplication of gods can be seen in the names of this multitude. Many, if not most, of them take on the name of one of the primary gods, then adds a descriptive addition; here, for example, are some of these named deities that specifically evoke plants or animals: Ku%‘io‘iomoa [Ku% of the chirping chickens], Hinakauluhenuihihikoloiuka [Hina great tangled mats of uluhe fern crawling in the uplands], Ka ̄nepua‘a [Ka ̄ne the pig], Lonoika‘o ̄wa ̄li‘i [Lono in the ‘ ̄owa ̄li‘i fern]. #### Other stuff See also @bender.beller_2014 on Mangarevian integration of binary into counting systems ##### @apple.etal_1977 @apple.etal_1977 (p. 63-66) has some sections about taxation, including relationship to ahupuaa: > [!quote] Apple et al 1977, p. 63-66 > TAX COLLECTORS IN OLD HAWAI'I > > No short forms, 1040's or social security numbers existed back then, but the ancient Hawaiians paid taxes. Commoners paid not only at the big, formal makahiki tax time and at the half-year point when taxes were collected without ceremony, but any time the word was passed. > > Chiefs were on the receiving end, and used the goods collected to support themselves, their families, retainers, staffs, priests, specialists, and court advisers. The retainers, staffs, priests, specialists, and advisers in turn supported their families and attendants on the bounties given them by the chief they served. > > A ruling chief was at the top of the pyramid and received the most, but he also had the most people to support. Chiets tried to cache away some surplus durable goods against hard times, and to even out the peaks and valleys of supply. > > Unlike America's tax policy, which zeroes-in on an individual, ancient Hawaiian taxes were levied on families. This fit the social order, since the Hawaiian family -the ohana- worked and operated as a close-knit unit. The levy on each family was based on its ability to pay; a realistic tax, tailor-made to match the family's production potential. The levy took into account the lands allotted, family specialties and size, and the current state of nature. > > The tax was collected by the man who managed and was most familiar with the families and lands under his direction. The resident manager was the konokiki, who worked for the landlord, usually an absentee chief. The chief fired a konhiki who didn't come up with the goods he demanded. A smart konohiki came up with an excess, and presented the overage as a gift. > > But a smart konohiki also didn't oppress the lands and families he managed. Too frequent or too excessive levies could cause a family to pack up and leave. Unlike European peasants, Hawaiians were not bound to the land on which they lived and worked. They could seek better living elsewhere. > > The following is a description of how a tax might be levied > > A ruling chief would say to a staff chief, to whom he had allotted lands, "I want ten fat pigs from you next week." The staff chief would send a message to his resident manager, the konohiki, to inform him that 15 pigs were needed at court next week. The konohiki would say to each of the ten farming families he oversaw that two pigs were needed by Monday. > > Early Monday morning the konohiki would receive 21 pigs. One of the families has made him a gift of an extra pig. > > The konohiki would keep five pigs to run his own establishment. He would ship 16 live, squealing pigs to court, the extra pig a gift to his chief. The pigs would be dispatched by canoes or on the backs of men. The chief would receive 16 pigs, of which he would owe ten to the ruling chief. Depending on his respect and love for the ruling chief, or on his immediate political needs, the chief would deliver the ten pigs, or 11 or 12, retaining the rest for his own establishment. > > Pigs were delivered on the hoof, and once arrived at the level of management where they were to be kept, their upkeep also was transferred. A wise local chief only kept enough livestock on hand to care for immediate needs. They had to be fed, fattened, and watered until used. Back on the farm the farmers took care of them, and pigs were always on call. > > However, a ruling chief always kept a large number of pigs on hand because a visiting relative and his retinue could sail into the bay and expect hospitality without advance notice. He also had frequent needs for pigs as offerings to the gods, and for the entertaining he was required to do as head of church and state. Conspicuous consumption was expected of the highest chiefs, and part of the role to which they were born. > > Pigs were only one form of taxes produced by commoners and passed up the line. Other goods expected as taxes and gifts were bird feathers to be made into capes and helmets; cordage and rope; fishing nets and line; stone adzes; sheets, loincloths and skirts of bark cloth; bone and shell fish hooks; and woven mats. But these non-food items were usually collected only once a year, at makahiki time, and with great religious ceremony. Food items, such as pigs, dogs, fowl, and vegetables were more or less on call as needed. > > Planning on each level of management, with each taking its cut from the top, was necessary to insure adequate food at all levels. An excessive inventory meant that servants and local commoners would spend too much time in feeding and watering, to the neglect of other duties. Management's task was to pace the supply of food items from the lower levels with anticipated demand, yet keep a comfortable reserve for emergencies. > > Once a year, sometimes twice, the warehouses of the chiefs were refilled with the durable items. Issues from the warehouses were made as needed to the chiefs' families, retainers, staffs, priests, specialists and ad-visers. By control of the goods collected, chiefs controlled others. But always, the basic source of supply was the commoners. > > Commoners owned neither land nor personal property. Everything they had, even their lives, belonged to the ruling chief. The word "taxes" implies personal property, and in this sense the ancient Hawaiians paid no taxes. They gave to the rightful owner, in the form requested and when asked, the goods entrusted to their care. In return for their loyalty, service, life and sustenance, commoners received from chiefs leadership, security, and topics of gossip. > > But most important, the chiefs took care of their principal chiefly business--that of communication with and propitiation of the major Polynesian gods. The chiefs insured the goodwill of the gods, and the commoners supported the chiefs. Both chiefs and commoners considered this to be a normal and an equitable arrangement. ## References Apple, R., Apple, P., & Jenkins, I. (with Internet Archive). (1977). _Tales of Old Hawai’i_. Norfolk Island, Australia : Island Heritage. [http://archive.org/details/talesofoldhawaii00appl](http://archive.org/details/talesofoldhawaii00appl) Bender, A., & Beler, S. (2006). “Fanciful” or Genuine? Bases and High Numerals in Polynesian Number Systems. _Journal of the Polynesian Society_, _115_(1), 7–46. [https://doi.org/10.3316/informit.217092155342453](https://doi.org/10.3316/informit.217092155342453) Bender, A., & Beller, S. (2014). Mangarevan invention of binary steps for easier calculation. _Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences_, _111_(4), 1322–1327. [https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1309160110](https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1309160110) Day, C. L. (1967). _Quipus and Witches’ Knots: The Role of the Knot in Primitive and Ancient Cultures_. University Press of Kansas. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1p2gkwx](https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1p2gkwx) Gon, S. M., Winter, K. B., & Demotta, M. (2021). KUA–LAKO–MO‘O: a methodology for exploring Indigenous conceptualisations of nature and conservation in Hawai‘i. _Pacific Conservation Biology_, _27_(4), 320–326. [https://doi.org/10.1071/PC20020](https://doi.org/10.1071/PC20020) Hommon, R. J. (2013). _The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society_. OUP USA. Hughes, B. (1982). 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Selin (Ed.), _Mathematics Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Mathematics_ (pp. 253–287). Springer Netherlands. [https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4301-1_14](https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4301-1_14) Tyerman, D., & Bennett, G. (with New York Public Library). (1832). _Journal of Voyages and Travels by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennett, Esq.: Deputed from ..._ J. Leavitt. [http://archive.org/details/journalvoyagesa04socigoog](http://archive.org/details/journalvoyagesa04socigoog)