Images of Old Hawaiʻi

by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Entourage

On November 27, 1823, L’Aigle, an English whaling ship, took Kamehameha II (Liholiho), Kamāmalu and their entourage to England to gain firsthand experience in European ways. The king and his chiefs agreed that Liholiho needed a competent interpreter to travel with him and Frenchman John Rives went as interpreter.

Liholiho’s chosen party were Governor Boki and his wife, Liliha, Kapihe, Chief Kekuanaoa, steward Manuia, Naukana (Noukana), Kauluhaimalama, servant Na‘aiweuweu, and James Kanehoa Young. In London, Liholiho and Kamāmalu became ill; Kamāmalu (aged 22) died on July 8, 1824, Kamehameha II (age 27) died six days later, on July 14, 1824. The British Government dispatched HMS Blonde to return them back to Honolulu; they arrived on May 6, 1825.

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Kalākua

Kalākua (also Kaheiheimālie) (c. 1778–1842) was daughter of Keʻeaumoku, a chief from Hawaiʻi Island and Namahana, from the royal family on Maui. She was described as physically being ‘tall and gigantic,’ like her siblings. Her siblings included Queen Kaʻahumanu, Hawaiʻi Island Governor John Adams Kuakini, Maui Governor George Cox Kahekili Keʻeaumoku II and Lydia Namahana Piʻia. She first married Kalaʻimamahu, the younger brother of Kamehameha I. Her first daughter, Kekāuluohi, became Kamehameha’s youngest wife.

Kekāuluohi later married Charles Kanaʻina. By Kanaʻina, had a son William Charles Lunalilo (future king of the Islands.) Kalākua married Kamehameha I and had four children: their two sons died as infants; the oldest daughter, Kamāmalu, became wife of Liholiho (Kamehameha II,) and the youngest daughter, Kīnaʻu, later became Kuhina Nui. Kīnaʻu later married Mataio Kekūanāoʻa; they had several children, including Lot Kapuāiwa (Kamehameha V,) Alexander Liholiho (Kamehameha IV) and Victoria. She later married Hoapili. Kalākua was mother of two Queen consorts and grandmother of three future Kings.

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Tea Party

“On Tuesday of last week (December 11, 1827,) Mrs Bingham & Mrs Richards, undertook to make a ‘tea party’ to bring all the chiefs in the place & the members of the mission family together to join in a friendly & social cup of tea, to shew Christian kindness & civility to our Sandwich Island neighbors and to promote kind feelings among the chiefs themselves now assembled from the different Islands.” Those in attendance included, Ka‘ahumanu, Kalākua, Pi‘ia, Kauikeaouli (Kamehameha III,) Nahienaena, Kuakini, Naihe, Kapi‘olani, Hoapili, Kaikioewa, Keaweamahi, Kapule, Kaiu, Kekāuluohi, Kīna’u, Kekauōnohi, La‘anui, Keli‘iahonui, Kana‘ina, Leleiōhoku and Kamanele.

“But look, for a few moments, at the present group: twenty-one chiefs of the Sandwich islands mingling in friendly, courteous and Christian conversation with seven of the mission family, whom you have employed among them. Contemplate their former and their present habits, their former and their present hopes. They have laid aside their vices and excesses, and their love of noise and war.”

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Kekūanāoʻa

His name (literally, the standing projections) is said to refer to ships’ masts seen in the harbor when Kekūanāoʻa was born. “As a young man he was a favorite and attendant of the declining years of Kamehameha I. With Liholiho he was a punahele, or intimate attendant and friend”. He married Pauahi, formerly a wife of Liholiho. They had a daughter, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani. (Keʻelikōlani later passed her great land holdings to Bernice Pauahi Bishop; it was the land base that formed Kamehameha Schools / Bishop Estate.)

In 1827, Kīnaʻu, daughter of Kamehameha, became Kekūanāoʻa’s wife. They both publicly professed the Christian faith in 1830. Kīnaʻu and Kekūanāoʻa had five children: Prince David Kamehameha (who died as a child;) Prince Moses Kekūāiwa (who died in 1848;) Prince Lot Kapuāiwa (later Kamehameha V;) Prince Alexander Liholiho (later Kamehameha IV) and Princess Victoria Kamāmalu. As the last Kuhina Nui, Kekūanāoʻa essentially presided over the demise of the office. Kekūanāoʻa died November 24, 1868.

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The 5th Gate

The cornerstone for ‘Iolani Palace was laid on December 31, 1879 with full Masonic rites. Construction was completed in 1882; in December of that year King Kalākaua and Queen Kapi‘olani took up residence in their new home. The Palace area was originally enclosed by an eight-foot high coral block wall with wooden gates. Then, Robert Wilcox and other revolutionaries broke into the grounds; after this, a decision was made to tear down the wall surrounding the grounds. In 1889, it was lowered to 3’6″. In 1892, it was topped with the present painted iron fence. New gate arrangements were made, as well. The gates before this time had been flush with the wall, but as part of the improvements, curved walls were built, recessing the gateways into the grounds.

The four principal gates each display the Coat of Arms of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and have a distinctive name and purpose: Kauikeaouli – was used for ceremonial occasions (fronting King Street;) Kīna’u – was used by tradesmen (fronting Richards Street;) Hakaleleponi – used by servants and retainers of the royal household (mauka – facing Capitol;) and Likelike – was reserved for private use by the royal family (facing State Library.) But those are not the only gates onto the Palace grounds – a smaller 5th gate is located on the mauka-Ewa wall (fronting on Palace Walk, just mauka of the Barracks.) Lili‘uokalani added a 5th gate to allow her husband (John Owen Dominis) informal access to the grounds. (There is another gate at the corner of King and Richards.)