| Abstract: |
Introduction: Terraces for the irrigated cultivation of taro once occupied a significant area within every major stream valley on O'ahu. Taro pondfields (<i>lo'i kalo</i>) were particularly numerous in Kailua and Kane'ohe <i>ahupua'a</i> (traditional land divisions) in Ko'olau Poko District, on the windward side of the island (Fig. 1). Both of these <i>ahupua'a</i> were of central importance to early rulers: Kailua had once been the capital of O'ahu
and Kane'ohe was so favored by Kamehameha I that he retained the land division as his personal property when other conquered lands were distributed to his soldiers and retainers in 1795 (Devaney et a1. 1982: 5). Both areas figured importantly in economic and political developments prior to European contact (pre-A. D. 1778). This article applies agricultural evidence from Kailua, Kane'ohe, and other valleys to research questions concerned with the evolution of the pre-Contact state system of government in Hawai'i.
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