en-us Copyright 2008 - All Rights Reserved. Sun, 22 Nov 2009 10:50:13 GMT 15 By Jessica Duarte

Imagine visiting an island isolated from the rest of the world. Sixty-six-year-old Stella Duarte, a lifelong Kauai resident, had that opportunity when she was a young girl. She still loves to tell the story. Stella had the pleasure of visiting the forbidden island of Niihau. Niihau is located 18 miles southwest of Kaua'i. For over a century, access has been limited to those Hawaiian families who work on its privately owned cattle and sheep ranch. In 1819, Eliza McHucheson married a former Royal Navy officer, Francis Sinclair, after the death of Kamehameha I. Then they moved to Honolulu, where the king offered them land stretching from downtown Honolulu to Diamond Head in Waikiki for $10,000. But the Sinclairs turned it down because they felt it was unsuitable for farming. Instead they purchased the island of Niihau for $10,000, which was inhabited by native Hawaiians. When Eliza Sinclair died in 1892, she left it to her grandson Aubrey Robinson. When he passed away in 1936, the island was inherited by his children, and today it is managed by his two grandsons, Keith and Bruce Robinson. Because of its size, dry climate, and lack of fresh water, Niihau has always had a small population. Today the island shelters about 250 residents. Their modest wood-frame houses, plumbing and electricity are provided by Niihau Ranch. Niihau today is very different from Niihau in old Hawaii. “The Kanahele family invited my mother and her family over to the island of Niihau in the late 1950s,” Duarte said. “The only way back then was to be invited through family connections and you needed to be able to understand and speak Hawaiian very well. Today you don’t need to speak Hawaiian, you just need to be invited, but a bit of Hawaiian would help in some cases. “To show respect you would bring food and water or other drinks with you to share with the family you were staying with. This was a sign of respect,” she said. The people she described and knew were very proud and hard working. “No one had time to waste. Their day was always productive. “Transportation was very simple there, you were either picked up by truck or by horse.” But getting food was hard work. You grew your own food and traded with others. Water, however, “came from the heavens.” “Water was caught in rain catchers that were always full in the morning.” Everything was scarce because supplies for the island were only rarely brought in by barges. “No one ever wasted; that was pretty much looked down upon,” Duarte explained. The school there only went up to 12th grade, so students who wanted to further their education were sent off island with the ranch on Niihau funding it. The island's pastures support 2,000 head of cattle, 3,000 wild turkeys, and 12,000 sheep grown mostly for wool. Other exports include pond-raised mullet, honey, and charcoal made from keave trees. “Niihau is known for the tiny seashells that residents gather off the beaches and string into beautiful leis and that’s what people did for fun,” she said. “There were no malls or movie theaters, people just hung out at the beach and had family parties.” Stella Duarte believes that change is not always a good thing. “Niihau is an untouched island and I hope that it will remain the same so that the Hawaiian people have something to look back on and to remember.” ]]> Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:45:00 GMT