French sea captain Auguste Dehaut-Cilly made round-the world travels between 1826 and 1829; all of the following is from his account of the Islands following his trip from California to Hawai‘i, in 1828.
“The crossing was uneventful; on the seventeenth day we came in sight of the island of Oahu and we then sailed along the southeast shore past Koko Head. All this coast appears quite arid at first, but on coming closer one soon perceives greenery and human habitations.”
“This point projects prominently to the southeast coast turning sharply to the west, forms a shallow bay two Ieagues around and terminated by Diamond Head.”
“This low mountain is all the more remarkable in that it stands Isolated alongside the sea, rising out of a low terrain a league from the first high ground of the interior.”
“Its shape, quite round and truncated horizontally, is that of a volcanic crater; it doubtless owes its origin to one of those fire-belching eruptions. At the summit there is a small lake of fresh water filled with excellent fish.”
“West of Koko Head the island takes on a more pleasant aspect; the mountains, cut by deep valleys, are covered with forests of densely growing trees.”
“As soon as we had passed the Diamond we found ourselves opposite a magnificent grove of coconut palms whose broad leaves cast shade on the pretty village of Witite or rather Waitite., where ships used ordinarily to moor before the establishment of port of Anaroura (Honolulu), one league farther west.”
“At a distance of one mile and in a depth of eight or nine fathoms we coasted along the line of reefs that borders the shore and came to cast anchor at eleven fathoms in front of the harbor, where we could see a number of ships.”
“Seldom can one enter the harbor of Honolulu in the middle of the day. The narrow channel leading in is a tortuous opening in the reef, two miles long. If there is not a favorable wind, which there rarely is, on must await the calm of early morning and let the ship be towed in by small boats.”
“This difficulty has created in Honolulu a tradition dear to the fraternal alliance of all seamen among ourselves. On the day a ship is to enter the port, boats from all the other ships arrive before sunrise ready to perform this service.”
“A captain who refuses this touching ceremony would cover himself with shame in the eyes of all others.”
“The harbor of Honolulu Itself is a twisting channel where twenty-five ships can be moored in safety over a mud bottom from three to six fathoms.”
“When the ship was settled in its mooring berth we shot off a salute of thirteen guns, which was returned immediately from the fort in the same number.”
“I then called on the young king Kauikeaouli or Kamehameha III. He was at the house of the regent Boki, seated with no special marks of honor in an armchair similar to the one offered me.”
“He was dressed quite simply in white with a yellow neck-piece of pandanus seeds. Even this was not, as I thought at first, a sign of distinction since many other people, both men and women, wore similar ones.”
“This young prince, then seventeen years old, wore a melancholy air. His features were interesting, his face bearing several marks left by the smallpox, and his color was a dark chestnut brown.”
“He spoke little and looked at me closely for a long time. I had on board portraits of the king, his brother, and of the queen, who had both died in London in 1824, and I offered them to him through the interpreter.”
“He accepted with little show of feeling at first; it was only several days later, when they had been delivered to him, that he was struck by the perfect resemblance and fine execution.”
“For several days these two pictures excited great emotion among all his people; by shedding real tears they demonstrated the great attachment that they felt for their sovereigns.”
“Almost all the women had broken off the two incisors of the upper jaw, a sign of mourning in these islands for the death of the monarch.”
“The house where I found the young king was, as I have said, that of the regent Boki. In exterior appearance it is quite the same as all other houses in the town of Honolulu.”
“The Interior, carpeted with mats like the others, differed only in its European furniture, standing in every corner and mixed with the native furniture.”
“Nothing could have been more strange than to see a magnificent porcelain vase of French manufacture paired with a calabash, a work of nature…”
“… two splendid twin beds with curtains of embroidered stuff and of eiderdown; two hanging mirrors with glided frames meant to display beauties in their most elegant toilette but reflecting instead dark skin half covered with dirty tapa cloth.”
“However that may be, this dwelling would have been clean and decent if it had not been crowded with officials and servants stretched out on the mats and so close to each other that you could scarcely take a step without putting a foot on someone.”
“There was barely free space for four or five people. Since the king was no more than a child, the regent Boki was the most considerable person in the realm; he was always surrounded by the principal chiefs of the archipelago, some of whom lived at his expense.”
“One might think, to observe them, that positions of authority derive directly from size; the highest in rank are also the fattest, and as they are generally tall, we appeared to be pygmies beside them.”
“I often inquired about the extreme obesity of the chiefs, and this was always attributed to the lack of exercise and the abundance of food.”
“These must have something to do with the matter of weight, but why are they taller than the others? There is reason to believe that their origin is different from that of the lesser people …”
“… and that they are descended from the conquerors of these islands as the feudal seigneurs of medieval France descended from the Frankish chieftains who invaded the conquest the privileged nobles of England.”
“The tradition mingled with fale, on which is based the history of the Sandwich Islands, seems to indicate that they were conquered in some remote time by strangers of a race different from that of the first inhabitants.”
“That they do not now have the same facial structure is support from this conjecture. The profiles of most of the chiefs, instead of being straight or even pointed like most of the native people, are concave in form; if you put a straight rule to forehead and chin, it would hardly touch the nose.”
“I do not wish, however, to state as fact a matter so little attested. As for Kauikeaouli, he had purely indigenous features, and he was afflicted by being thin so that the embonpoint of the others was a continued source of jealousy to him.”
“Among the chiefs and courtiers who surrounded the king and regent and who overfilled the house, some were dressed in the European style, that is, in pantaloons and white shirts, while others had wrapped themselves in tapa, a piece of cloth made in this country from the bark of the paper mulberry.”
“But most of them go naked, wearing around the waist only a malo, a band of cloth so narrow that it is nearly always insufficient for the use intended.”
“Some of the women wore dresses and had combs in their hair as our ladies do, but the most usual garment of the sex is a large and billowing white chemise – I speak only of its color.”
“Princess Boki, having accompanied her husband to London when he went there with King Liholiho, had a greater taste for European style than the others and was thus better attired than they.”
“All of them retained one feature of their national costume, a band of feathers, usually red, green, and yellow and worn sometimes around the neck and sometimes on the head like a crown. The lattr manner becomes them marvelously.” (Duhaut-Cilly, 1828) (I am not sure what images were given; the images here are from when Liholiho and Kamamalu were in Europe.)
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