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The harbor's other ancient name tells you what made it rich. Hawaiians called it Wai Momi, “the waters of pearl,” for the beds of pipi — native pearl oysters — that once carpeted its shallows. The momi (pearls) inside meant little to those who gathered them; it was the oyster itself, eaten fresh or dried, and the bright mother-of-pearl shell, carved into fishhooks and ornaments, that made Wai Momi a place of plenty. A third name, Puʻuloa, “long hill,” marked the low ridge of land that framed the water. Pearl, garland, long hill — three names for one place, each older than the harbor's later fame.
Change came with contact. After Captain Cook reached the islands in 1778, foreign visitors learned the worth of the pearls the Hawaiians had set aside, and Kamehameha — who drew the islands together into one kingdom by 1795 — claimed the oyster beds as his own. Dredging and silt from the 1840s onward smothered the beds, and by about 1901 the pearl oysters of Wai Momi were effectively gone. The harbor's modern course was set by treaty: the Kingdom granted the United States use of the inlet under the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, and exclusive use as a coaling and repair station in 1887, beginning the long naval era that would carry the place's name around the world.
