Kaahumanu | Page 10 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

December 3, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Ka‘ahumanu Learns the Letters

“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.)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

July 5, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

“Call the little baby Kīna’u.”

“I was born in the ‘Old Mission House’ in Honolulu on the 5th day of July, 1831. When I was but a few hours old, ‘Kīna’u,’ the Premier, came into the bedroom with her crowd of ‘kahus,’ took me into her arms and said that she wanted to adopt me, as she had no girl of her own.”

“My mother, in her weak state, was terribly agitated, knowing that the missionaries were unpopular and entirely dependent on the good-will of the natives, so feared the consequences of a denial. They sent for my father in haste, who took in the state of affairs at a glance.”

“’We don’t give away our children,’ he said to Kīna’u. ‘But you are poor, I am rich, I give you much money,’ replied the Chiefess. ‘No, you can’t have her,’ my father answered firmly. Kīna’u tossed me angrily down on the bed and walked away, leaving my poor mother in a very anxious frame of mind.” (Wilder; Wight)

“She accordingly went away in an angry and sullen mood, and was not heard from until the infant was being christened a few weeks later, when she again appeared, elbowed the father to one side, and exclaimed in the haughtiest of tones, ‘Call the little baby Kīna’u.’”

“Fearing that a second refusal would result disastrously, the parents agreed, and the child was accordingly christened Elizabeth Kīna’u Judd.” (The Friend, May 1912)

Kīna’u “seemed somewhat appeased after the (christening) ceremony, and, as I was the first white girl she had ever seen, deigned from that time on to show a great interest in me, either visiting me or having me visit her every day.” (Wright, Wight)

Kīna’u, daughter of Kamehameha I, became a Christian in 1830. She succeeded her aunt Kaʻahumanu as Kuhina Nui upon the latter’s death in 1832.

She acted as the Regent for her brother Kauikeaouli when he became King Kamehameha III, from June 5, 1832 to March 15, 1833. She would rule with him until her death. She was responsible for enforcing Hawaiʻi’s first penal code, proclaimed by the king in 1835.

Gerrit and Laura Judd were in the 3rd Company of missionaries. In 1839, at the request of King Kamehameha, Judd, a physician, looked after the royal children in the Chiefs’ Children’s School.

Judd left the mission in 1842 and for the next 10+ years served the Kingdom in various positions, including translator, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Interior and Commissioner to France, Great Britain & US.

The Judd’s child was not the only missionary child named for Hawaiian Chiefs or Chiefesses.

Maria Kapule Whitney was born October 19, 1820 to the Pioneer Company missionaries/teachers, Samuel and Mercy Whitney. She was “the first haole girl to be born in the Hawaiian archipelago,” and named for Kauai Chiefess Kapule, wife of Kauai’s King Kaumualiʻi.

Maria went to the mainland at the age of six to be educated; she returned to the Islands with the 11th Company. She married bachelor missionary Reverend John Fawcett Pogue of the 11th Company.

Reportedly, the daughter of Samuel and Nancy Ruggles (missionaries/teachers of the Pioneer Company) born on December 22, 1820, was named Sarah Trumbull Kaumuali’i Ruggles. (Some suggest her Hawaiian name was Ka‘amuali‘i.)

The Whitneys and Ruggles escorted Humehume (Prince George,) King Kaumuali‘i’s son, back to Kauai, where they set up a missionary station.

Lucia Kamāmalu Holman was daughter of Thomas and Lucia Ruggles Holman of the Pioneer Company (Lucia was Samuel Ruggles sister.) Holman was the mission’s first physician and was stationed in Kona. She was born March 2, 1821 on Kauai and named after Queen Kamāmalu, King Kamehameha II’s wife.

Elisabeth “Lizzie” Kaahumanu Bingham was born March 8, 1829 in Honolulu to Reverend Hiram and Sybil Bingham, leaders of the Pioneer Company of missionaries. She was named after Queen Kaʻahumanu, favorite wife of King Kamehameha I and a friend of the mission.

In 1840, Lizzie returned to the mainland with parents and, after graduating from Mount Holyoke, taught on the continent. Lizzie returned to Hawai‘i in 1868 to work at Kawaiahaʻo Seminary (until 1880.) She died November 27, 1899 in Honolulu.

Mary Kekāuluohi Clark was born to Ephraim and Mary Clark (from the 3rd Company of missionaries) on September 20, 1829. She was named for Kekāuluohi, who later became Kuhina Nui (as Kaʻahumanu III;) Kekāuluohi was mother of King Lunalilo.)

Harriet Keōpūolani Williston Richards was born in 1829 to Reverend William and Clarissa Richards of the 2nd Company of missionaries. (Harriet was sent to the continent and lived with the Willistons; when her father died, she was adopted by the Willistons and took their name.)

Harriet was named for the mother of King Kamehameha II and III. When the 2nd Company arrived in the Islands (1822,) Richards and others escorted Keōpūolani to Lahaina where Richards was stationed. William Richards left the mission in 1838 at the request of King Kamehameha III to become the King’s translator, counselor and political advisor.

Douglass Hoapili Baldwin was son of Reverend Dwight and Charlotte Baldwin of the 4th Company of missionaries. He was born in 1840 and died in 1843; Hoapili was Governor of Maui and lived in Lahaina (where the Baldwins were stationed at the time of Douglas’ birth.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Elizabeth_Kinau_Judd-WC

Elizabeth_Kinau-1836

Kinau-Returning from Church-PP-98-2-007-1837

Gerrit and Laura Judd

Elizabeth Kaahumanu Bingham gravestone

Queen_Kaahumanu

Hiram and Sybil Bingham-1819

Maria Kapule Whitney Pogue

Samuel and Mercy Whitney-1819

Samuel and Nancy Ruggles-1819

Thomas and Lucia Holman

April 11, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sybil’s Rocking Chair

Some mission children seemed to have a sharper understanding of economics than either their missionary parents or the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM.)

Seventeen-year old James Chamberlain (1835-1911,) who worked in the mission depository for Samuel Castle and Amos Cooke, ridiculed the Board for sending out “a great many rocking chairs sent out all set up, while if they had been packed in boxes ten times the amount of freight would have been saved.” (Schulz)

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the ‘Missionary Period,’) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the ABCFM in the Hawaiian Islands.

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company. Among them were Hiram and Sybil Bingham (he was the leader of the mission.)

The early missionaries had not brought much furniture (if any) with them, so boxes in which goods had been packed served as tables and chairs. There were no furniture stores and no lumber yards in Honolulu then.

Bingham, like most Yankees at that time, was handy with tools and with a piece of driftwood from the northwest, a stick of sandalwood given him, some Koa and seal skin for the seat, he managed to make a rocking chair. (Restarick; Forward in Sybil Bingham’s Diary)

“On our arrival at the Sandwich Islands … most of the missionaries, & Mrs B & myself in particular were destitute of chairs, as the Islands were so universally.”

“There were none in the market. Though tools and timber were scarce, & I had never made a chair, & enough else demanded my time & labor I undertook and constructed for Mrs B a rocking chair”. (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

“To-day I have been presented with what I may call an elegant chair, the labor of the same kind hands. A rocking-chair too. You smile. But with all my fondness for one, how do you think I have done without, with all my hard work?”

“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 every thing.”

“I think no workman would have made a seat more firm and comfortable, while the sandal-wood and young seal skin, with neat workmanship, render it elegant.”

“Our friend, Mr Green, is now looking at it – rates it at twelve dollars, comparing it with one for which he gave ten. I suspect you would not be purchasers if I should put my price upon it.” (Sybil Bingham, June 22, 1820)

On Sundays the rocker was taken to the old grass Kawaiahaʻo church as a seat for the pastor’s wife. (Restarick; Forward in Sybil Bingham’s Diary)

The rocking chair had its admirers, including Queen Kaʻahumanu.

“On seeing and trying Mrs B’s chair, the first, probably, ever made at those islands, Ka‘ahumanu, then in her haughty heathen state, wished me to make her one in every respect like it, for she said it exactly fit her.”

“Feeling no ambition to become chair maker to her Majesty, & having little or no time to devote to such purposes except as matters of necessity, I gave her little or no encouragement.”

“For a period of nine or ten years, she occasionally named the subject to me, but my time was demanded by what I thought more important work for the nation though I felt desirous to oblige her.” (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

Later, “I thought I might as healthful exercise & recreation, perform a good service for our cause by making the queen a rocking chair, in accordance with her continued wishes. But the difficulty which I felt originally, the want of tools & timber &c, I felt here in the wilderness.” (The Binghams were stationed in Waimea on the Island of Hawa‘ii at the time.)

“I easily constructed a rude lathe, the iron work of which consisted of a broken auger which I employed a native to cut in two with a small file, & with the parts inserted in head blocks, made the center points, on which I turned the parts of the chair which required turning, & that without a wheel.”

“They were made to revolve by a thong some yards in length from the hide of a wild bullock (taken in that region,) presented me by the friendly Mauae”.

“The dimensions, fashion and balance of the chair were made to correspond well with the one made for Mrs B in 1820. The hind posts are Koaia a Cloth Mallet wood which was hard to work. The ivory ferrules on the front posts are from the wild herds of those mountains.”

“The cloth was furnished by the queen; the brass nails and varnish were sent me by Mr Goodrich from Hilo about 100 miles distant. The side pieces arms and front posts are Koa a valuable wood, commonly selected for canoes, formerly, now used for various other purposes, as well as canoes.”

“When I closed my missionary sojourn at Waimea at the end of the year 1830, I traversed the wilderness with my family about 60 miles, having the chair carried with us, to the head of Kealakekua Bay, where I presented it to our Christian Queen near the spot where Cook fell 50 years before.”

“She highly prized it, and had it conveyed to her residence on O‘ahu, where she often used it with pleasure in her subsequent life.” (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

The Ka‘ahumanu rocking chair, modeled after Sybil’s, is one of the earliest known pieces of koa furniture in Hawai‘i. At Kaahumanu’s death, the heirs returned it to Bingham and he gave it to the mission. (A reproduction of Ka‘ahumanu’s rocking chair is on display at the Hawaiian Mission Houses.)

Sybil’s rocking chair, “which a thousand times rested her weary frame & gave her much comfort … proved to be remarkably easy as to its form & balance, light, strong and durable having now been in use about 30 years”. (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

In 1840, the Binghams left Honolulu for the United States, Sybil’s rocking chair was taken with them, and when they reached Boston Sybil refused to part with it for a fine piece of upholstered furniture.

Sybil’s wish was that when the last summons came she might be found in that chair … and her wish was granted when she died in her rocking chair on February 27, 1848 in New Haven Connecticut. (Restarick; Forward in Sybil Bingham’s Diary)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Sybil Bingham (L) Kaahumanu (R) Rocking_Chairs

Sybil_Bingham_Rocking_Chair

Hiram_(I)_and_Sybil_Moseley_Bingham,_1819,_by_Samuel_F.B._Morse

Kaahumanu Rocking Chair

Kaahumanu-_retouched_image_by_J._J._Williams_after_Louis_Choris

Sybil Bingham (L) Kaahumanu (R) Rocking_Chairs-1821_House_in_background

April 4, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Kīnaʻu

Kīnaʻu was the daughter of Kamehameha and Kalākua Kaheiheimālie (Hoapili Wahine.) She was a niece of Kaʻahumanu. Kīnaʻu was born probably in 1805 at Waikiki.

She was first married to her half-brother Liholiho (1797–1824) who became King Kamehameha II with the death of their father 1819. Liholiho died in London with his favorite wife (Kīna‘u’s sister) Queen Kamāmalu.

Her second husband was Kauai Governor Kāhalaiʻa Luanuʻu, a grandson of Kamehameha I. Her third husband was O‘ahu Governor Mataio Kekūanāoʻa’s (1791–1868.)

Kīna’u was the highest in rank of any of the women chiefs of her day. With Kekūanāoʻa she had several children, including Lot (afterwards Kamehameha V,) Alexander Liholiho (afterwards Kamehameha IV) and Victoria. (Liliʻuokalani)

Pauahi was born to Pākī and Kōnia and was hānai (adopted) to her aunt, Kīnaʻu. (Bernice Pauahi lived with Kīnaʻu for nearly eight years.) On September 2, 1838, Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha was born to Caesar Kaluaiku Kapaʻakea and Analeʻa Keohokālole; Liliʻu was hānai to Pākī and Kōnia (she later became Queen Liliʻuokalani.)

“When I was taken from my own parents and adopted by Pākī and Kōnia, or about two months thereafter, a child was born to Kīnaʻu. That little babe was the Princess Victoria, two of whose brothers became sovereigns of the Hawaiian people.”

“While the infant was at its mother’s breast, Kīnaʻu always preferred to take me into her arms to nurse, and would hand her own child to the woman attendant who was there for that purpose.”

“So she frequently declared in the presence of my adopted mother, Kōnia, that a bond of the closest friendship must always exist between her own baby girl and myself as aikane or foster-children of the same mother, and that all she had would also appertain to me just as if I had been her own child”. (Liliʻuokalani)

Kīnaʻu “was sedate, courteous, and reliable, a little haughty in her deportment toward strangers, but a loving, exemplary wife, a tender mother, and a warmhearted, unwavering friend.” (Judd)

“June 5, 1832, was an epoch in the nation’s history, although the death of the Queen Regent (Kaʻahumanu) was not followed by any outbreak or disorder. Kīnaʻu, eldest daughter of Kamehameha I, was publicly recognized as her lawful heir and successor, with the title of Kaahumanu II.” (Judd)

“Hear ye, ye head men, common people, chiefs, and men from foreign countries … The office that was held by my guardian (Kaʻahumanu) until her departure, now belongs to my mother (Kīna’u) from Hawai‘i to Kauai. …”

“We two, who have been too young and unacquainted with the actual transaction of business, now for the first time undertake distinctly to regulate our Kingdom.” (Kauikeaouli; Joint Proclamation by Kamehameha III and Kīna‘u)

“The office which my mother (meaning Kaʻahumanu, actually her aunt) held until her departure is now mine. All her active duties and authority are committed to me.”

“The tabus of the king, and the law of God, are with me, and also the laws of the king. My appointment as chief agent is of long standing, even from our father (Kamehameha) ….” (Kīna‘u, Joint Proclamation by Kamehameha III and Kīna‘u)

She acted as the Regent for her brother Kauikeaouli when he became King Kamehameha III, from June 5, 1832 to March 15, 1833. She was responsible for enforcing Hawaiʻi’s first penal code, proclaimed by the king in 1835.

Her term of office was marked by discord as the young King Kamehameha III, her half-brother, struggled with her and the chiefs for political power. (Archives)

Kīnaʻu soon found herself opposed by Kamehameha III, a still unsettled, self-indulgent eighteen year old. (Kelley) “Kīna‘u stood nobly in defense of virtue, decency, and good order, but the king refused to listen to her advice, and even threatened her with personal violence, if she dared to venture into his presence.” (Judd)

”ln her despondency she made us a visit one day, and said: ‘I am in straits and heavy-hearted, and I have come to tell you my thought. I am quite discouraged, and can not bear this burden any longer. I wish to throw away my rank, and title, and responsibility together, bring my family here, and live with you, or we will take our families and go to America; I have money.’” (Judd)

Mrs Judd referred her to the story of Esther, and pointed out to her the necessity of maintaining her rank and responsibility as the only hope of her people.

Fortunately for the country, she accepted this advice and remained at her post. Like the great queens of England, both she and
Kaʻahumanu displayed much wisdom in their choice of advisers, whose opinions both respected. (Krout)

Kīnaʻu became a Christian in 1830, and was involved in the persecution of Hawaiian Catholics and attempts to expel French priests. This contributed to a diplomatic confrontation with France that threatened Hawaiian sovereignty. (Archives)

Kīnaʻu died on April 4, 1839, not long after the birth of her youngest child, Victoria; her father Kekūanāoʻa then raised Victoria. She was educated at Royal School along with all her cousins and brothers.

At the age of 17, Victoria Kamāmalu was appointed Kuhina Nui by her brother Kamehameha IV soon after he ascended the throne in December 1854.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Holoku-Kinau_returning_from_church-Masselot-1837

Princess_Kinau,_watercolor_and_ink_wash_over_graphite,_1836,_Honolulu_Academy_of_Arts-Barthélémy_Lauvergne

Kinau_(head,_1837)

Hale Kauila in Honolulu-meeting of King Kamehameha III and Kinau with the French Captain Du Petit Thouars-(Nahienaena_is_in_attendance)-(WC)-1837

Barthélémy_Lauvergne_-_’Princess_Kinau’,_watercolor_and_ink_wash_over_graphite,_1836

Proclamation-Kinau-Kuhina Nui-July 5, 1832

February 5, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Possibly the Last Human Sacrifice

“In 1804 when Kamehameha was on his way from Hawaiʻi to invade Kauai he halted at Oahu with an army of eight thousand men at Oʻahu.”

“The yellow fever broke out among the troops, and in the course of a few days swept away more than two thirds of them. During the plague, the king repaired to the great marae (heiau) at Wytiti, to conciliate the god, whom he supposed to be angry.”

“The priests recommended a ten days’ tabu, the sacrifice of three human victims, four hundred hogs, as many cocoa-nuts, and an equal number of branches of plantains.”

“Three men, who had been guilty of the enormous turpitude of eating cocoanuts with the old queen, were accordingly seized and led to the marae.”

“But there being yet three days before the offerings could be duly presented, the eyes of the victims were scooped out, the bones of their arms and legs were broken, and they were then deposited in a house, to await the coup de grace on the day of sacrifice.”

“While these maimed and miserable creatures were in the height of their suffering, some persons, moved by curiosity, visited them in prison, and found them neither raving nor desponding, but sullenly singing the national huru (anthem) – dull as the drone of a bagpipe, and hardly more variable – as though they were insensible of the past, and indifferent to the future.”

“When the slaughtering time arrived, one of them was placed under the legs of the idol, and the other two were laid, with the hogs and fruit, upon the altar-frame. They were then beaten with clubs upon the shoulders till they died of the blows.”

“This was told us by an eye-witness of the murderous spectacle. And thus men kill one another, and think that they do God service.” (Journal of Tyerman And Bennet, 1832)

But that wasn’t the last …

“Kaʻahumanu was a woman of the chiefly stature and of celebrated beauty … her husband (Kamehameha) cherished her exceedingly. He had the indelicacy to frame and publish an especial law declaring death against the man who should approach her, and yet no penalty against herself.”

“And in 1809, after thirty-four years of marriage, and when she must have been nearing fifty … Kanihonui, was found to be her lover, and paid the penalty of life”. (Stevenson)

Kanihonui was a handsome 19-year old. Reportedly, Kaʻahumanu had seduced the boy while she was intoxicated; in addition, the boy was the son of Kamehameha’s half-sister – and, Kamehameha and Kaʻahumanu raised him.

Kanihonui was put to death at Papaʻenaʻena Heiau on Leʻahi (Diamond Head) for committing adultery with Kaʻahumanu.

“After the death of Kanihonui the mind of Kaʻahumanu dwelt thereon; she could not readily dismiss the thought. This event was preceded by the death of Keʻeaumoku, the father of this chiefess, by the plague; therefore she was sent to a disconcerting place, but to no purpose.” (Thrum)

“She sought to recover from her anger but was unable to do so; and she considered … taking the kingdom from the king by force and giving it to the young chief, Liholiho.”

“Before she laid her plans for the war, a holiday for the purpose of surfing at Kapua in Waikiki was proclaimed, because the surf was rolling fine then.”

“It was where one could look up directly to the heiau on Leʻahi, where the remains of Kanihonui were, all prepared in the customary manner of that time.”

“It was said that only Kaleiheana, who was a Luluka, watched over the corpse from the time of death until it was decomposed.”

“The chiefess had heard something about her lover’s remains being there, and perhaps that was why the proclamation was made.”

“On the appointed day, chiefs, chiefesses, prominent people, and the young chief Liholiho went to Kapua. When all had assembled there, the king gathered his men together in readiness for trouble.”

“He sent a messenger, Kinopu, after Kaahumanu’s followers to find out what they were planning. It is said that three things were done at Kapua: surfing, lamenting, and more surfing; and it is said that they had intoxicants with them.”

“Thus they whiled away the time until evening.” (John Papa Ii)

“And thus it was the young prince was before them and the chiefs at the time when Kalanimōku asked him, whilst the chiefs were assembled together: ‘What think you? Let us take the government from your father, and you be the king, and your father be put to death?’”

“When the child heard these words he bent forward and thought deeply of the question’s meaning. Straightening himself up and looking at the assembly, he replied: ‘I do not want my father put to death.’”

“By this answer all the chiefs who were gathered together at that time were greatly gratified.” (Kuokoa, August 4, 1869; Thrum)

George W. Bates, in 1854, describes a heiau at the foot of Leʻahi (believed to be Papaʻenaʻena) as: “Just beyond Waikiki stand the remains of an ancient heiau, or pagan temple. It is a huge structure, nearly quadrangular, and is composed merely of a heavy wall of loose lava stones, resembling the sort of inclosure commonly called a ‘cattlepen.’”

“This heiau was placed at the very foot of Diamond crater, and can be seen at some distance from the sea. Its dimensions externally are 130 by 70 feet. The walls I found to be from six to eight feet high, eight feet thick at the base, and four at the top.”

“On climbing the broken wall near the ocean, and by carefully looking over the interior, I discovered the remains of three altars located at the western extremity, and closely resembling parallelograms. I searched for the remains of human victims once immolated on these altars, but found none; for they had returned to their primitive dust, or been carried away by curious visitors.”

Later (at about 1856,) Queen Emma ordered her workers to take rocks from Papaʻenaʻena heiau to build a stone wall around her property at Waikīkī.

“After the death of Kanihonui at Waikiki … Kamehameha … moved to Honolulu from Waikiki.” (Laʻanui, Kumu Hawaiʻi, 1839; Thrum)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger