Ali’i / Chiefs / Governance | Page 19

June 7, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Buried at Sea

“Directly in front of the Archives building in Palace square, Honolulu, is a circular, grassy mound hedged with hibiscus. At or near that mound was situated the royal tomb of the Kamehamehas from about 1825 to 1865.”

“… in that tomb were placed the remains of many famous persons. Here it was that Dr GP Judd concealed the national archives from Lord George Paulet in 1843. It is an historic spot and the visitor to our fair city should be helped in some way to recognize it and know its story.” (McClellan, Advertiser January 26, 1927)

Reportedly, in 1858, Kamehameha IV brought over the ancestral remains of other Aliʻi – coffins and even earlier grave material – out of their original burial caves, and they are buried in Pohukaina.

During the reign of Kamehameha IV, there was talk of building a new royal mausoleum (at the time, Hawaiʻi’s ruling chiefs were buried in the crypt enclosure on the ʻIolani Palace grounds, known as Pohukaina, sometimes called ‘the mound’.)

“When the new Royal Mausoleum at Nuʻuanu Valley was completed in 1865 the remains of all the Kings, Princes and Princesses were removed there ….” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 22, 1892)

In 1865, the remains of 21-Ali‘i were removed from Pohukaina and transferred in a torchlight procession at night to Mauna ‘Ala, a new Royal Mausoleum in Nuʻuanu Valley.

“Doubtless the memory is yet green of that never-to-be-forgotten night when the remains of the departed chiefs were removed to the Royal Mausoleum in the valley.”

“Perhaps the world had never witnessed a procession more weird and solemn than that which conveyed the bodies of the chiefs through our streets, accompanied on each side by thousands of people until the mausoleum was reached …”

“… the entire scene and procession being lighted by large kukui torches, while the midnight darkness brought in striking relief the coffins on their biers.” (Kapena, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, January 3, 1880)

“Earth has not seen a more solemn procession what when, in the darkness of the night, the bodies of these chieftains were carried through the streets, which were lined with thousands of people on either side along the whole march ….”

“Not a sound was heard. The flaming torches, made of kukui nuts and of gigantic size, on either side of the procession, made the darkness beyond impenetrable and centred all light upon the procession”. (Harris, Hawaiian Gazette, January 14, 1880)

“(T)he remains of all the kings, princes and princesses were removed there excepting that of Princess Kekāuluohi, mother of Lunalilo.”

“This act of disrespect of Kamehameha V to the remains of his mother made Lunalilo sorely indignant, and he swore that he would not have his remains buried at the Royal Mausoleum.”

“He kept his word. As there was no proper place for the burial of his mother (she died June 7, 1845, at the age of 50,) he ordered his native servants to take the bones of his mother and bury them in the bosom of the deep, where no mortal could disturb them.”

“At the dead of night, the canoe bearing the remains of Kekāuluohi, manned by a crew of native kahu (attendants) left Waikiki. They went to a point many miles off Diamond Head. When they reached the place, prayers (kanaenae) were offered according to the ancient rites of burial.”

“When the ceremony was over, the bones of Kekāuluohi, carefully wrapped up in white clothes, were consigned to the deep. One of the crew … testified that when they threw the royal remains into the ocean, phosphorescent light illuminated the spot, and they could distinctly see the remains descending slowly towards the bottom. …”

“The crew returned from their solemn mission, but they were in honor bound not to reveal the exact position where they buried Kekāuluohi.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, March 22, 1892)

“Before he died … (Lunalilo) willed … that he be buried in the Cemetery (Kawaiahaʻo) with the People who elected him … rather than in the Royal Mausoleum.” (Lunalilo died February 3, 1874 at the age of 39.)

“His Tomb in Kawaiahaʻo Church Yard, not being ready, his remains were temporarily deposited in the Royal Mausoleum … So, Lunalilo had two funerals.”

“The first when he was interred in the Royal Mausoleum (in 1874) and the second on November 23, 1875, when he was removed from there to where his earthly remains rest today.” (Webb; McClellan)

“When the casket of Lunalilo was being carried out of the Royal Mausoleum on November 23, 1875 … a glaring flash of lightning and an earsplitting peal of thunder welcomed it.”

“Volley after volley resounded through the Heavens, and continued until the Royal Burden was safely and reverently placed within the final tomb”.

“When the procession arrived at Kawaiahaʻo Church and just as the casket was entering the tomb, a most terrific clap of thunder burst from a heavy cloud. “

“According to the count of many Hawaiians this was the twenty-first of these thunder-peals and the last was the most thunderous. It sounded as if the whole city of Honolulu had been dashed to ruins and it startled the whole population.”

“We all believed that it was a heavenly recognition of the high rank of our Ali‘i – a discharge from the artillery-of-the-clouds, a royal salute sent from Heaven to honor our beloved sovereign.” (Webb; Galuteria)

Kawaiahao_Church-Lunalilo_Tomb-PP-15-12-023-00001

Kekauluohi-WC

The young Prince William Charles Lunalilo in his teens

Lunalilo Mausoleum-PP-50-11-004-00001

King_Lunalilo

Lunalilo’s_Tomb-(DMYoung)

Mauna Ala Entrance

The_chapel_at_Mauna_‘Ala,_the_Royal_Mausoleum

Mauna_Ala-(DMYoung)

Illustrated_London_News_on_the_Funeral_of_the_King_Lunalilo-1874

Chapel_at_Mauna_‘Ala-interior

June 5, 2024 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Ka‘ahumanu’s Death

Almost 200 years ago, the American Protestant missionaries arrived in the Islands. Their leader was Reverend Hiram Bingham – Sybil … his wife of 2-weeks … joined him. They are my great-great-great grandparents.

They were preachers and teachers. It was important to them that Hawaiians had a personal experience reading the written “Word of the God of Heaven;” but back then, Hawaiian was only spoken, not written. That meant that each needed to learn to read.

So, Hiram and others developed an alphabet and formulated a written language, taught Hawaiians to be literate in their own language and translated the Bible for them to read. The missionaries learned the language, and were soon teaching their lessons in Hawaiian, rather than English.

As teaching expanded, the missionaries’ focus was on the Head, Heart and Hand. In addition to the rigorous academic drills (Head,) the schools provided religious and moral guidance (Heart,) and manual and vocational training (Hand.)

In collaboration with the aliʻi, Hiram and the other missionaries:
• Introduced Christianity to the Islands
• Created the written Hawaiian language and brought about widespread literacy
• Helped formulate a constitutional government
• Made Western medicine available, and
• Introduced a distinctive musical tradition with harmony and choral singing

About a year after Hiram arrived, Kaʻahumanu visited the mission and gave them supplies; it was the first time she showed interest in the teachings of the missionaries, and her first request for prayer. From that point on, Kaʻahumanu came into constant contact with the mission.

Hiram found a friend in Kaʻahumanu – she and other ali‘i visited often. In the wood frame house at Missions Houses, you can correctly say, “Kaʻahumanu slept here.”

A little side story on Hiram and Kaʻahumanu … shortly after arriving in the Islands, with a piece of driftwood, Hiram made a rocking chair for his wife – in describing it, Sybil said, “A box or trunk has been our only seat. My husband, I believe, was never a chair-maker before, but happy for me and the Mission family, that he is everything.”

On Sundays, the rocker was taken to the thatched Kawaiahaʻo church as a seat for Sybil, the pastor’s wife. Her wish was that when she died, she might be found in that chair … her wish was granted when she died in her rocker on February 27, 1848.

The rocker had its admirers, including Kaʻahumanu. She asked Hiram to make her one just like it – he did, it is one of the earliest known pieces of koa furniture in Hawaiʻi.

That was not the only gift Hiram gave Kaʻahumanu.

In 1825, Kaʻahumanu was baptized. Lucy Thurston noted, “She became distinguished for her humility, kindness and the affability of her deportment, regarded the missionaries as her own children, and treated them with the tenderness of maternal love.”

Lucy continued, “Her influence and authority had long been paramount and undisputed with the natives, and was now discreetly used for the benefit of the nation.”

In mid-1832, Kaʻahumanu became ill and was taken to her home in Mānoa. Hiram came to her bedside. “Her strength failed daily.”

Hiram noted, “About the last words she used were: ‘Here, here am I, O Jesus, … Grant me a gracious smile.’”

“A little after this she called (Hiram) to her and as (he) took her hand, she asked. ‘Is this Bingham?’ (He) replied, ‘It is I.’”

She finished, “‘I am going now.’” Hiram replied: “‘May Jesus go with you, go in peace.’”

Hiram noted, “The slow and solemn tolling of the bell struck on the pained ear as it had never done before in the Sandwich Islands.”

“In other bereavements, after the Gospel took effect, we had not only had the care and promise of our heavenly Father, but a queen-mother remaining, whose force, integrity, and kindness, could be relied on still.”

“But words can but feebly express the emotions that struggled in the bosoms of some who counted themselves mourners in those solemn hours; while memory glanced back through her most singular history, and faith followed her course onward far into the future.”

Her death took place at ten minutes past 3 o’clock on the morning of June 5, 1832, “after an illness of about 3 weeks in which she exhibited her unabated attachment to the Christian teachers and reliance on Christ, her Saviour.” (Hiram Bingham)

Hiram’s gift to Kaʻahumanu … and one that he shared with all Hawaiians across the Islands … was love … and hope … and guidance to the way of the Lord, salvation and eternal life.

Kaahumanu,_retouched_image_by_J._J._Williams_after_Louis_Choris

June 3, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Fairy

Victoria (named after Queen Victoria) Kaʻiulani Kawekiu I Lunalilo Kalaninuiahilapalapa Cleghorn was the only child of Princess Miriam Likelike (the sister to King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani) and Archibald Scott Cleghorn, a Scottish businessman.

At the age of 15, Kaʻiulani was proclaimed Crown Princess of Hawaiʻi by Queen Liliʻuokalani and was a future ruler of Hawaiʻi. (KSBE)

One of her godmothers, Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani, gave her the famed 10-acre Waikīkī estate, ‘Āinahau, as a birthday. Originally called Auaukai, Princess Likelike (Kaʻiulani’s mother) named it ʻĀinahau; Princess Kaʻiulani spent most of her life there.

The family built a two-story home on the estate. At first the home was used only as a country estate, but Princess Kaʻiulani’s family loved it so much, it soon became their full-time residence. They built a stable for their horses.

“Princess Kaiulani was a thoughtful young lady, but always frank and candid. She was intensely devoted to the out of doors. It was the same from the time she was a little girl up to a few days before her death.”

“She was a skillful horsewoman. She liked both riding and driving. For driving she had a double rig and a single rig and generally handled the lines herself.”

“As a little girl she was a splendid swimmer and the old natives along the Waikiki beach will willingly tell you how the young alii would always go further out into the breakers than any one else. …”

“The Princess had at Ainahau a tribe of peafowls and everyone of the birds would eat from her hands. She admired them very much, made a study of them.” (PCA, March 13, 1899)

“But if Ka’iulani truly loved anything nonhuman at ‘Ainahau, it was her snow-white riding pony, Fairy. By age seven she was an accomplished equestrian.”

“She was often seen riding, accompanied by a groom, to visit Diamond Head Charlie at the lookout (from which he alerted O’ahu of arriving ships), or into town, where she would visit ‘Uncle John’ Cummins, one of Honolulu’s leading citizens, who she was certain had the best cows on the island.” (Sharon Linnea)

First Miss Barnes, then Miss Gertrude Gardinier, and later Miss de Alcald served as governesses to Kaʻiulani. Kaʻiulani’s governess, Miss Barnes, of whom the family was very fond, died unexpectedly in 1883.

Replacements were tired, but the arrival of Gertrude Gardinier from New York changed that. Kaʻiulani’s mother, Likelike, approved immediately and the young Kaʻiulani and Miss Gardinier took to each other immediately.

The earliest hand written letter written by the hand of Princess Ka‘iulani was a May 13, 1885 letter to her new governess’s mother. In part, Ka‘iulani wrote, “Miss Gardinier and I are going to ride horseback some day when she learns to.”

“I have a pretty little pony of my own and I am not afraid to ride it. My pony is only four years old, and I am nine years old. Goodbye, from Ka’iulani Cleghorn.”

At the age of 13, Princess Kaʻiulani sailed to Europe to begin her education abroad; she spent the next eight years studying and traveling in Europe.

“When Kaiulani left for England her saddle pony ‘Fairy’ was turned out to pasture. It remained resting till she returned and she mounted its back the first day she was in the Islands again. ‘Fairy’ she called the beast to the last.” (PCA, March 13, 1899)

Later, Ka‘iulani had gone to the Waimea on the Big Island to visit Helen and Eva Parker, daughters of Samuel “Kamuela” Parker (1853–1920,) grandson of John Parker (founder of the Parker Ranch.)

While attending a wedding at the ranch, she and the girls had gone out riding horseback on Parker Ranch; they encountered a rainstorm. She became ill; she and her family returned to O‘ahu.

Tragically, after a two-month illness, Princess Kaʻiulani died on March 6, 1899 at her home, ʻĀinahau, at age 23. It is said that the night she died, her peacocks screamed so loud that people could hear them miles away and knew that she had died.

“The birds have been acting as if they were wondering why she was neglecting them and so have the horses. Old, faithful ‘Fairy’ deserted for the second and last time by his mistress simply mopes around.” (PCA, March 13, 1899)

June 2, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Feathers

“Feathers were important symbols of power for Polynesians; in Hawai‘i, feathers were more highly prized than other types of property.”

“Feathers used for crafts were obtained from at least 24 bird species, however, the golden feathers of ‘ō‘ō and mamo birds made them primary targets for birdhunters; both birds became extinct by the late 1800s.”

“Feathers were utilized for many items, including ‘ahu‘ula [cloaks], mahiole [war helmets], and kāhili [standards]. Most garments utilized a considerable number of feathers; a cloak for Kamehameha consumed the golden feathers of 80,000 mamo birds.” (Perez)

“The feathers of birds were the most valued possessions of the ancient Hawaiians. The feathers of the mamo were more choice than those of the oo because of their superior magnificence when wrought into cloaks (ahu). The plumage of the i‘iwi, apapane and amakihi were made into ahu-ula, cloaks and capes, and into maho-ole, helmets.”

“The ahu-ula was a possession most costly and precious (makamae), not obtainable by the common people, only by the alii. It was much worn by them as an insignia in time of war and when they went into battle. The ahu-ula was also conferred upon warriors, but only upon those who had distinguished themselves and had merit, and it was an object of plunder in every battle.”

“Unless one were a warrior in something more than name he would not succeed in capturing his prisoner nor in getting possession of the ahu-ula and feathered helmet of a warrior. These feathers had a notable use in the making of the royal battle-gods. They were also frequently used by the female chiefs in making or decorating a comb called huli-kua, which was used as an ornament in the hair.”

“The lands that produced feathers were heavily taxed at the Makahiki time, feathers being the most acceptable offering to the Makahiki-idol. If any land failed to furnish the full tale of feathers due for the tax, the landlord was turned off (hemo). So greedy were the alii after fathers that there was a standing order (palala) directing their collection.” (Malo)

In the first writing of Hawai‘i, Captain Cook’s Journal notes, “Amongst the articles which they brought to barter this day [Jan 21, 1778], we could not help taking notice of a particular sort of cloak and cap, which, even in countries where dress is more particularly attended to, might be reckoned elegant.”

“The first are nearly of the size and shape of the short cloaks worn by the women of England, and by the men in Spain, reaching to the middle of the back, and tied loosely before.”

“The ground of them is a network upon which the most beautiful red and yellow feathers are so closely fixed that the surface might be compared to the thickest and richest velvet, which they resemble, both as to the feel and the flossy appearance.”

“The manner of varying the mixture is very different, some having triangular spaces of red and yellow alternately; others a kind of crescent, and some that were entirely red, had a yellow border which made them appear, at some distance, exactly like a scarlet cloak edged with gold lace.”

“The brilliant colours of the feathers, in those that happened to be new, added not a little to their fine appearance, and we found that they were in high estimation with their owners, for they would not, at first part with one of them for anything we offered, asking no less a price than a musket.”

“[M]en and women … are joined together in great numbers in climbing into the forests to snare birds [kapili manu; kawili manu]. And the number of birds caught by a person in a day is from six to thirty. The bird being caught is the Oo of the forests.” (Kuokoa, Mar 17, 1866)

“Initial bird-catching or feather-gathering was probably conducted by commoners (maka‘āinana) of each community land (ahupua‘a) as part of their tribute to chiefs, rather than exclusively by a special class of chiefly retainers (bird-catchers).

“Wives of bird-catchers sometimes accompanied their husbands and plucked, sorted and fastened together feathers. Women probably wove the helmet and cloak fibre frameworks and nets (of ‘ie‘ie and ‘olonā fibers).

“Women may have attached the feathers to cloaks and helmets – manufactured the cloaks and helmets. These cloaks and helmets were probably made in chiefly households by skilled female retainers.”

“Capes (cloaks) and helmets were probably not sacred and kapu until the finished products became identified with certain wearers.” (Cordy)

Vancouver notes in his journal, “Tamaahmaah (Kamehameha) conceiving this might be his last visit, presented me with a handsome cloak formed of red and yellow feathers, with a small collection of other native curiosities; and at the same time delivered into my charge the superb cloak that he had worn on his formal visit at our arrival.”

“This cloak was very neatly made of yellow feathers; after he had displayed its beauty, and had shewn me the two holes made in different parts of it by the enemy’s spears the first day he wore it, in his last battle for the sovereignty of this island, he very carefully folded it up, and desired, that on my arrival in England, I would present it in his name to His Majesty, King George …”

“… and as it had never been worn by any person but himself, he firmly enjoined me not to permit any person whatever to throw it over their shoulders, saying, that it was the most valuable thing in the island of Owhyhee (Hawai‘i), and for that reason he had sent it to so great a monarch, and so good a friend, as he considered the King of England.”

“This donation I am well persuaded was dictated by his own grateful heart, without having received the least hint or advice from any person whatever, and was the effect of principles, highly honorable to more civilized minds. The cloak I received, and gave him the most positive assurance of acting agreeably with his directions.” (Vancouver, March 1793)

May 29, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Tamana

“If placed within its international context, the Sv. Nikolai’s 1808 voyage has significance for Russian expansion in North America that might be compared, for example, to the 1540 expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado on the northern borderlands frontier of New Spain.” (Preface, Wreck of the Sv Nikolai)

The Sv. Nikolai (a 45-50-foot schooner,) owned by the Russian American Company, set sail from New Arkhangel (modern-day Sitka, Alaska) to explore and identify a site for a permanent Russian fur trading post on the mainland south of Vancouver Island in the Oregon Country.

Heavy seas drove the ship aground on the Washington coast just north of the mouth of the Quileute River, forcing twenty-two crew members ashore.

Over the next several months the shipwrecked crew clashed with Hohs, Quileutes and Makahs; they lived in hand-built shelters roughly 9-miles up the Hoh River.

The tribes captured and enslaved several of the crew members. In 1810, an American captain sailing for the Russian American Company ransomed the survivors. (Owens)

OK, but what about Hawaiʻi? … Let’s look back.

Throughout the years of late-prehistory, AD 1400s – 1700s, and through much of the 1800s, the canoe was a principal means of travel in ancient Hawaiʻi. Canoes were used for interisland and inter-village coastal travel.

Most permanent villages initially were near the ocean and sheltered beaches, which provided access to good fishing grounds, as well as facilitating canoe travel between villages.

With “contact” (arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778,) a new style of boat was in the islands and Kamehameha started to acquire and build them. The first Western-style vessel built in the Islands was the Beretane (1793.)

Through the aid of Captain George Vancouver’s mechanics, after launching, it was used in the naval combat with Kahekili’s war canoes off the Kohala coast. (Thrum)

Encouraged by the success of this new type of vessel, others were built. The second ship built in the Islands, a schooner called Tamana (named after Kamehameha’s favorite wife, Kaʻahumanu,) was used to carry his cargo of trade to the missions along the coast of California. (Couper & Thrum, 1886)

Then, on June 21, 1803, the Lelia Byrd, an American ship under Captain William Shaler, arrived at Kealakekua Bay with two mares and a stallion on board – they were gifts for King Kamehameha.

The captain left one of the mares with John Young (a trusted advisor of the King, who begged for one of the animals) then left for Lāhainā, Maui to give the mare and stallion to Kamehameha.

During his stay, Shaler asked Kamehameha for one of the chief’s small schooners. Wanting bigger and better, in 1805, Kamehameha traded the 45-ton Tamana and a cargo of sandalwood for the Lelia Byrd,) a “fast, Virginia-built brig of 175-tons.” It became the flagship of Kamehameha’s Navy.

Kamehameha kept his shipbuilders busy; by 1810 he had more than thirty small sloops and schooners hauled up on the shore at Waikīkī and about a dozen more in Honolulu harbor, besides the Lelia Byrd. (Kuykendall)

That, then, takes us to the Tamana and her fate.

Shaler’s agent, John Hudson, sailed the Tamana east to Baja California. Within a year, Hudson sold the Tamana to Russian Captain Pavl Slobodchikov for 150 sea otter skins.

Slobodchikov renamed the Tamana to Sv. Nikolai.

With a makeshift crew of three Hawaiians and three Americans, Slobodchikov sailed the newly-named Sv Nikolai back to Hawaiʻi, and later returned to New Arkhangel (Sitka, Alaska) in August 1807 where the boat served the Russian fur traders along the Northwest Coast of North America.

At the time, the Northwest was unsettled territory. To bypass hostile Native Americans in the Northwest, the Russian American Company contracted with American ships to carry Russian fur traders to California.

Then, the Sv. Nikolai took the fateful trip in 1808 (as noted in the introductory paragraphs, above.)

Under Nikolai Isaakovich Bulygin, the Sv. Nikolai sailed to explore the coast of Vancouver Island and select a site for a settlement on what is today the Oregon coast.

The expedition did not succeed. Near Destruction Island the ship was becalmed and they aimlessly drifted. Then, on November 1, 1808, Sv. Nikolai was pushed onto a rocky reef by a heavy squall.

The ship did not sink immediately, and everyone on board reached shore safely. At low tide the crew returned to the vessel to salvage sail canvas, food, munitions and other supplies. (NOAA)

The survivors (including Anna Petrovana Bulygin (Captain Bulygin’s wife) – reportedly the first western woman to set foot in Washington state (Cook & Black) were crossing the Hoh River and three of the group, including the captain’s wife, were captured.

The rest of the crew then followed the Hoh River inland. They spent the winter in the valley, foraging for food and constructing a boat which they hoped would take them down the river and out to the freedom of the ocean.

In February 1809, they attempted to leave in their new boat, but at the mouth of the river it capsized. All the rest of the crew was taken captive. They lived in captivity for about 18 months.

In May 1810, an American vessel arriving in Neah Bay learned of their plight and attempted to arrange their release. All but seven members of the expedition were eventually freed. However both the captain and his wife died in captivity. (NOAA)

A monument was constructed on Upper Hoh Road to commemorate the 1808 shipwreck of a Russian sailing vessel near Rialto Beach. It was created to remember the lives lost when the Russian brig Sv. Nikolai (formerly owned by King Kamehameha and known as the schooner ‘Tamana’) beached in heavy squalls along the Pacific coast of the North Olympic Peninsula.