What was black and green and read all over?
Cover Image: Masthead of Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, printed on May 23, 1863 on green paper.
Aloha Nūhou Monday!
The answer to the riddle above is tricky if you have only seen the black and white images of the newspapers pages digitized from microfilm. On May 23, 1863, the Kuokoa was printed on green paper! You will find under the column, “NA MEA HOU O HAWAII NEI,” this announcement:
Image: “I na Makamaka.” Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, May 23, 1863, p. 2. Printed on green paper.
FRIENDS.—All our friends will see that our Kuokoa of this week was printed on strange paper; the reason that it was printed on this paper was due to a lack of paper, because the ship with the paper did not arrive. And it was yesterday that the ship Young Hector docked with our paper. Do not fault us, O Friends, for not printing the decoration on the sides of our precious,1 being that the reason for not printing it was because it was impossible considering how small the size of the paper was to print on; and if it did go in, then the space for the ideas to go in would be small. Siince our paper has arrived, our troubles are over. We considered not printing a paper this week, but thinking that we would suffer from not having something to read during our times of relaxation, we therefore printed on paper of strange color.
1The “decoration [kāhiko] on the sides of our precious” refers to the decorative borders that the Kuokoa usually had on its pages. Not only were the borders left out, but the masthead itself was put together simply.
2Another copy of this issue is printed on paper with a pinkish hue.
Image: Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, May 23, 1863, p. 1. Printed on light-pink paper.
This post is part of He Aupuni Palapala: Preserving and Digitizing the Hawaiian Language Newspapers, a partnership between Bishop Museum and Awaiaulu with assistance from Kamehameha Schools. Mahalo nui loa to Hawaii Tourism Authority for their support. Learn more about this project here.
