Channels of the Hawaiian Islands Channels of the Hawaiian Islands In an archipelago like the Hawaiian Islands the water between islands is typically called a "channel" or "passage". Described here are the channels between the islands of Hawaiʻi, arranged from southeast to northwest. The ʻAlenuihāhā separates the island of Hawaiʻi and the island of Maui. The maximum depth of this channel is , and the channel is 30 miles wide. There is a significant wind funnel effect in the channel, which is subject to scientific investigations. ʻAlenuihāhā means "great billows smashing." The ʻAlalākeiki Channel separates the islands of Kahoʻolawe and Maui, at a distance of
Hawaiian kinship females of his parents' generation as "Mother" and all of the males as "Father". In the generation of children, all brothers and male cousins are referred to as "Brother", all sisters and female cousins as "Sister". The Hawaiian system is usually associated with ambilineal descent groups. It is found in approximately one third of the world's societies, although these are usually small societies. The Hawaiian system is named for the pre-contact kinship system of Native Hawaiian people in the Hawaiian Islands. Today the Hawaiian system is most common among Malayo-Polynesian-speaking cultures; the Hawaiian language itself is Malayo-Polynesian. This form of