HILO, Hawai'i — A new documentary tracing the historical connection between the paniolo, or Hawaiian cowboys, and the California vaqueros will be shown Nov. 11 at the Ukulele & Slack Key Guitar Institute 2007 in Waimea.

"Holo Holo Paniolo" is the third documentary in a series that follows the vaquero style of cowboying across the West. The latest offering by director Susan Jensen and producer Paul Singer sketches out the ways riding, roping and crafts such as saddle making evolved from vaquero traditions to become distinctly Hawaiian.

Cattle were introduced into the Islands in 1793, and King Kamehameha I placed a kapu on the animals to give the first small herds a chance to breed. That herd was initially confined by a tall stone wall that enclosed 400 acres at the western slope of Hualalai on the Big Island, and portions of the wall still stand on land that is now the Wall Ranch.

The aggressive cattle soon ran wild and caused huge problems for taro farmers and residents, forcing extensive construction of rock walls to try to keep the animals out of homes and crops.

In 1838, Kamehameha III sent to California for help, and three vaqueros, or Spanish or Mexican cowboys, arrived at Kawaihae Harbor with cow ponies to train Hawaiians to control the cattle.

One of the original three vaqueros, known to the filmmakers only as Ramon, stayed in the Islands, and the documentary includes a brief interview with Ramon's descendent, Godfrey Kainoa, who still works on Kahua Ranch.

The vaquero influence lingers today, according to the husband-and-wife team of Jensen and Singer, of Santa Barbara, Calif.

The 98-minute documentary highlights the ways the paniolo adapted riding and roping techniques to the rough volcanic terrain, and features footage from working ranches on Maui, Moloka'i, Kaua'i and the Big Island.

"A lot of it was really influenced by the environment and the terrain," Singer said. "The paniolos had to get the job done under some of the most adverse conditions."

While the vaqueros were accustomed to comparatively gentle terrain that was well-suited for working cattle, the paniolo had to figure out efficient ways to manage wild cattle in extremely mountainous terrain strewn with lava, he said.

The documentary describes the ways paniolo would track cattle, and sometimes wait until the animals came out at night looking for water. The Hawaiian cowboys would rope them and lash them to trees to hold them in place until daylight, when the ranch hands would return.

The paniolo in the documentary describe the adrenaline rush when the captured cattle had to be released to move them, with the huge animals lunging wildly at horse and rider. For bulls that refused to move, boys with sticks would sometimes have the job of jabbing the animals' rumps to get them to follow the mounted cowboys.

Gear was adapted from the Spanish design to suit new uses, such as saddles that could be quickly stripped down after old-time paniolo spent the day rushing in and out of salt water on horseback, herding cattle to boats for transport.

The documentary features descriptions of the horses and training methods used by the paniolo, and portrays close-knit communities where manpower from one ranch is still readily loaned to another for a round-up or a branding. Slack-key guitar work punctuates the production.

In September, Singer and Jensen went to the Big Island to collect more footage with paniolo crews who were clearing wild cattle from lands at the Hokukano and Kealakekua Ranches, and the filmmakers were impressed.

"One of the guys was roping, and he roped about five of them. He ran out of trees to tie them to; it was amazing," Singer said.

Jensen said the couple were worried that when they came to Hawai'i they would find just the remnants of paniolo culture, and were relieved to find so much has been preserved even as the working ranches try to modernize.

"I think some of those ranches are really, really staying true to the traditions, especially the Hawaiian saddle, and there seemed to be such an appreciation and love for the paniolo across the board," she said. "We were very glad to see that those traditions were still there."

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.