“She would amuse herself for hours at cards, or in trimming and stringing the bright, yellow nuts of the Pandanus, for odoriferous necklaces or rude coronets, listen to vile songs and foolish stories, and sometimes make interesting inquiries.”
“Her stiffness towards the missionaries, to whom her little finger, instead of a right hand, had been sometimes extended, had unbent from the time of her severe illness …”
“(T)here was reason to hope that continued kindness and God’s blessing would bring her over, and make her a friend and coadjutor.”
“Deeming it of great importance to induce her, if possible, to substitute the reading of divine truth for her heathenish or trifling engagements at this period – more than two years after commencing our work – Mrs. B and myself called at her habitation, in the centre of Honolulu.”
“She and several women of rank were stretched upon the mats, playing at cards, which were introduced before letters. It was not uncommon for such groups to sit like tailors, or to lie full length with the face to the ground …”
“… the head a little elevated, the breast resting on a cylindrical pillow, the hands grasping and moving the cards, while their naked feet and toes extended in diverging lines towards the different sides or extremities of the room.”
“Being invited to enter the house, we took our seats without the accommodation of chairs, and waited till the game of cards was disposed of, when the wish was expressed to have us seated by her. We gave her ladyship one of the little books, and drew her attention to the alphabet, neatly printed, in large and small Roman characters.”
“Having her eye directed to the first class of letters – the five vowels, she was induced to imitate my voice in their enunciation, a, e, i, o, u.”
“As the vowels could be acquired with great facility, an experiment of ten minutes, well directed, would ensure a considerable advance.”
“She followed me in enunciating the vowels, one by one, two or three times over, in their order, when her skill and accuracy were commended. Her countenance brightened.”
“Looking off from her book upon her familiars, with a tone a little boasting or exulting, and perhaps with a spice of the feeling of the Grecian philosopher, who, in one of his amusements, thought he had discovered the solution of a difficult problem, leaped from the bath, exclaiming “Eureka! I have found,” the queen exclaimed, ” Ua loaa iau! I have got it”, or, it is obtained by me.”
“She had passed the threshold, and now unexpectedly found herself entered as a pupil.”
“Dismissing her cards, she accepted and studied the little book, and with her husband, asked for forty more for their attendants.”
“The next day, securing the co-operation of Kamāmalu, we invited her to accompany us to church. Hawaiian etiquette would hardly allow her to turn off the daughter unheeded.”
“Directing her plain, American-built wagon, with unpainted covering, to be brought to her door, though she had no trained steeds or coach-horses to draw it, she mounted it, and drawn by her willing servants, was conveyed half a mile, to the place of worship.”
“Numbers, at the same time, moved on over the plain, at the sound of the church-going bell, and came to the house of God in company, and listened to the teaching of Divine truth.”
“The following Sabbath, the church was full.”
“The Gospel was proclaimed, the Savior’s dying love was commemorated at his table, and the praise of God resounded in the songs of Zion, and all our hearts were encouraged by the decisive evidence of a new and important impulse being given to our cause.”
“The need of a great increase of native teachers and of the labors of a native ministry was now apparent.” (The entire text here is from Hiram Bingham, speaking of Ka‘ahumanu.)
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