Kanaina | Page 2 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

Captain Cook spent the month of December beating around the eastern and southern sides of Hawaiʻi, and finally anchored in Kealakekua Bay January 17, 1779 – having returned to make repairs to a broken mast. (Alexander)

Cook’s reception this time presented a striking contrast to his last. An ominous quiet everywhere prevailed. No one greeted them. A boat being sent ashore to inquire the cause, returned with the information that the king was away, and had left the bay under a strict taboo. (Jarves)

During the king’s absence the chiefs Palea and Kanaʻina kept order among the people. After Cook’s ships had anchored, the chiefs came on board and informed Cook that Kalaniopuʻu would be back in a few days.

Another prominent man, Koa, was apparently the highest officiating priest of the place (in the absence of the high-priest who accompanied Kalaiopuʻu.) (Alexander)

“Being led into the cabin, he approached Captain Cook with great veneration, and threw over his shoulders a piece of red cloth, which he had brought along with him. Then stepping a few paces back, he made an offering of a small pig which he held in his hand, while he pronounced a discourse that lasted for a considerable time.”

“This ceremony was frequently repeated during our stay at Owhyhee, and appeared to us, from many circumstances, to be a sort of religious adoration. Their idols we found always arrayed ill red cloth in the same manner as was done to Captain Cook, and a small pig was their usual offering to the Eatooas.” (King; Cook’s Journal)

“That same afternoon Captain Cook landed and was received by Koa, Palea, and a number of priests, who conducted him to the Heiau (Hikiʻau,) just north of the Nāpoʻopoʻo village and at the foot of the Pali. Here the grand ceremony of acknowledging Cook as an incarnation of Lono, to be worshiped as such, and his installation, so to say, in the Hawaiian Pantheon took place.” (Fornander)

The next day (Friday) the damaged masts and sails and the astronomical instruments were landed at the former camp, and the friendly priests tabued the place as before.

On Saturday afternoon, matters rapidly went from bad to worse.

Some of Palea’s retainers stole a pair of tongs and a chisel from the armorer of the ‘Discovery,’ leaped into their canoe, and paddled with all haste to the shore. Several muskets were fired after them in vain, and a boat was sent in chase.

Palea, who was on board, offered to recover the stolen articles, and followed in another canoe. The thieves reached the shore first, beached their canoe, and fled inland.

Mr Edgar, the officer of the boat, undertook to seize this canoe, which belonged to Palea, who refused to give it up, protesting his innocence of the theft. A scuffle ensued between them, in which Edgar was worsted, when a sailor knocked Palea down by a heavy blow on the head with an oar.

Upon this the whole crowd of natives looking on immediately attacked the unarmed seamen with stones, and forced them to swim off to a rock at some distance.

Palea, however, soon recovered from the blow, dispersed the mob, called back the sailors, and restored the missing articles as far as he could.

The following night the large cutter of the ‘Discovery’ was stolen by Palea’s people, taken two miles north, and broken up for the sake of the iron in it. (Alexander)

“This was the same Palea who from the first had been the constant, kind, and obliging friend of Captain Cook and all the foreigners, and who, only the day before Cook’s death, had saved the crew of the pinnace of the ‘Resolution’ from being stoned to death by the natives, exasperated Palea himself.”

“The boat had been at the brutal and insolent manner in which Palea had been treated by an officer of the ‘Discovery.’”

“It was during the night after the above fracas, the night of the 13th February, that the cutter of the ‘Discovery’ was stolen from her mooring, as King himself admits…”

“… ‘by Palea’s people, very probably in revenge for the blow that had been given him,’ and not by Palea himself. The boat had been taken to Onouli, a couple of miles higher up the coast, and there broken to pieces.” (Fornander)

Captain Cook commanded Kalaniopuʻu, the king of the island, to make search for the boat, and restore it. The king could not restore it, for the natives had already broken it in pieces to obtain the nails, which were to them the articles of the greatest value.

Captain Cook came on shore with armed men to take the king on board, and to keep him there as security till the boat should be restored. (Dibble)

On February 14, 1779, Cook was killed. (The image shows a drawing of Palea by William Ellis.)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

William_Ellis_–_Palea,_a_sub-chief_under_Kalaniopuu-1779

Kekāuluohi (the niece and former wife of Kamehameha I) became one of the wives of Kamehameha II; but when Christianity was introduced in the Islands, Kamehameha II allowed her to marry Kanaʻina (descended from Līloa of Waipiʻo, Hawaiʻi and Piʻilani of Maui.)

Reportedly Kanaʻina was named after his uncle Kanaʻina I, a name that means “The conquering;” it is said Kanaʻina I was one of the two chiefs along with Palea who may have struck to final blow, killing Captain Cook in 1779.

High Chief Charles Kanaʻina and High Chiefess Kekāuluohi “are among the most interesting of the aristocracy; and, of their claims to respect and attention, we needed no other proof, than that afforded on the present occasion.” (Stewart, 1831)

Kanaʻina was a noble of Hawaiʻi and a man of wisdom; Kekāuluohi, was a beautiful woman of large stature. After the death of Kamehameha the Great she took the name ʻAuhea, meaning “where has he gone.” Her Christian name was Miriam (during the reign of Kamehameha III she was Kuhina Nui (Premier) and known as Kaʻahumanu III.) (Galuteria)

“They both write with great readiness; and (Kanaʻina) with a freedom and command of hand that would class him among good penman anywhere.”

“The entrance (to their home) is by a large folding door—the lower pannels painted green, and the upper part of glass—into a spacious room floored with mats, and furnished, as that we had left, in its whole length on one side with an inviting lounge, and, on the opposite, with a side table and mirror.”

“A semicircle of chairs, with a centre table, occupied the middle; and at each of the further corners, stood a handsome cabinet, surmounted by a bookcase top, with glass doors and silk hangings.”

“At the one, the lady of the house was seated, and at the other her husband ; both engaged in writing, with books, slates, and papers around them.” (Stewart, 1831)

in 1834, they built an elegant two story house of rock coral, near the mission houses, at Honolulu, “received and entertained, one evening, at a well-furnished table, thirty-three missionaries, including men and women, presiding herself with the dignity of a Christian matron.” (Bingham)

They had two sons, Davida (who died quite young) and William. His mother was ambitious for William and she said others are high in rank but this is highest of all and he shall be named “Lunalilo”, that is so far up on high as to be lost out of sight – “luna” meaning above and “lilo” lost. (HHS)

Lunalilo’s parents wanted him to have the best possible education. They enrolled him in the Chiefs’ Children’s School which was being established for the children of Hawaiʻi’s aliʻi.

It was a boarding school where the children lived away from their homes. Mr. and Mrs. Amos Starr Cooke were the teachers. When the school opened its doors in 1839 Lunalilo stepped in as one of its first pupils. He was just four years old. (Galuteria)

He received “a liberal English education, and as he possessed naturally a quick mind, he became one of the best scholars in the school. For English classical literature he had great fondness, and “his familiarity with the English poets was remarkable.”

Lunalilo later served as a writer for Robert C Wyllie, the foreign minister. However, Lunalilo was never offered any employment or responsibility by the ruling king. He was never given any public office by any king. He was never asked to travel abroad officially. He was kept on a small allowance of money. His cousin, King Kamehameha V, ignored him.

Lunalilo had many fine qualities. In spite of his many fine qualities he was overcome by one weakness. He became addicted to liquor.

In 1858 Kanaʻina, out of love and concern for his son, petitioned the court to appoint guardians for him. Lunalilo agreed to this idea even though he was twenty-three years old. So the court appointed his father and two others, Dr. Richard Armstrong and James W Austin, as guardians.

The prince remained under guardianship for fourteen years. His last guardians were Kanaʻina and Charles Reed Bishop, husband of Princess Bernice Pauahi. On December 31, 1872, after the death of Kamehameha V, the Probate Court ended the guardianship when it appeared that Lunalilo would be the next king. (Galuteria)

Prince David Kalākaua and others not in the Kamehameha lineage chose to run against Prince Lunalilo. At noon on January 8, 1873, the Legislature met, as required by law, in the Courthouse to cast their official ballots of election of the next King. Lunalilo received all thirty-seven votes.

On Tuesday February 3, 1874, at 8:50 pm King Lunalilo died at thirty-nine years of age. Those present around his bed included His Highness Charles Kanaʻina, the king’s father; the Honorable Mrs Bernice Pauahi Bishop; Her Excellency Ruth Keʻelikolani; the Honorable Mrs Fanny Naʻea; Robert Stirling, minister of finance and two attending physicians, Dr George P Trousseau and Dr Richard Oliver.

Before his death Lunalilo did not name a successor to the throne. As the people had selected him, so he insisted that the choice of the next monarch should rest in the hands of the people. (Galuteria)

The featured image shows Kaʻahumanu; several claim the young attendant and kahili bearer is Kanaʻina, father of the future King of the Islands.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger