“I was destined to grow up away from the house of my parents. Immediately after my birth I was wrapped in the finest soft tapa cloth, and taken to the house of another chief, by whom I was adopted.”
“Konia, my foster-mother, was a granddaughter of Kamehameha I, and was married to Paki, also a high chief; their only daughter, Bernice Pauahi, afterwards Mrs. Charles R. Bishop, was therefore my foster-sister.”
“In speaking of our relationship, I have adopted the term customarily used in the English language, but there was no such modification recognized in my native land. I knew no other father or mother than my foster-parents, no other sister than Bernice.”
“I used to climb up on the knees of Paki, put my arms around his neck, kiss him, and he caressed me as a father would his child; while on the contrary, when I met my own parents, it was with perhaps more of interest, yet always with the demeanor I would have shown to any strangers who noticed me.” (Lili‘uokalani)
“My own father and mother had other children, ten in all, the most of them being adopted into other chiefs’ families; and although I knew that these were my own brothers and sisters, yet we met throughout my younger life as though we had not known our common parentage.”
“This was, and indeed is, in accordance with Hawaiian customs. It is not easy to explain its origin to those alien to our national life, but it seems perfectly natural to us.”
“As intelligible a reason as can be given is that this alliance by adoption cemented the ties of friendship between the chiefs. It spread to the common people, and it has doubtless fostered a community of interest and harmony.”
“The house she lived in, ‘Haleakala,’ “was completed in 1851, and occupied by Paki until 1855, when he died. … It was there that the years of my girlhood were passed, after school-days were over, and the pleasant company we often had in that house will never cease to give interest to the spot.”
It was “one of the most beautiful and central of the mansions in Honolulu. To it came all the high chiefs then living there, also the foreign residents; in fact, all the best society of the city.” (Lili‘uokalani)
“In the course of time Mr. and Mrs. Bishop were induced to take up their abode at ‘Haleakala,’ which, with other property, became hers as an inheritance from Paki.”
“This charming home, which immediately became the centre of all that was best, most cultivated, and refined in Hawaiian social life, has been graphically described by a cousin of Mr. Bishop, Mrs. Allen, who arrived in Honolulu in 1864 from California, on a visit.”
“It may be said that a warm and enduring friendship was formed at that time between the two, which continued unbroken during the lifetime of Mrs. Bishop. Of ‘Haleakala,’ as the house was called, and its picturesque life Mrs. Allen wrote:”
“‘At that time her home was the most beautiful in Honolulu, the house large and pleasant, the grounds full of beautiful trees, shrubs, and vines and so well cared-for. I shall never forget my first night’s rest in the home, and the satisfaction of waking in such pleasant surroundings.’”
“‘At that time there were at each end of the premises large yards with long low buildings on two sides, which were divided into rooms and occupied by numerous families attached to her as their chiefess to whom they looked for counsel in all their affairs—joys and sorrows.’”
“‘I was always interested to see her out under a large tamarind tree surrounded by her people, many of whom had come in from the country to advise with her. She would sit for hours with the utmost patience listening to them .’” (Allen; Krout)
Pauahi died October 16, 1884. “When the will of Mrs. Bernice Pauahi Bishop was read, in which she disposed of her own estate, I did not happen to be present …”
“… but her husband, Hon. Charles R. Bishop, informed me that I had been duly remembered, that his wife had bequeathed to me the lands of Kahala, island of Oahu, Lumahai on Kauai, Kealia in Kona, Hawaii …”
“… besides which he sent to me a pair of diamond wristlets, a diamond pin with crown which had once belonged to the Princess Ruth, and a necklace of pearls beautifully chased and set in tigers’ claws.”
“But nevertheless I must own to one great disappointment. The estate which had been so dear to us both in my childhood, the house built by my father, Paki, where I had lived as a girl …”
“… which was connected with many happy memories of my early life, from whence I had been married to Governor Dominis, when he took me to Washington Place, I could not help feeling ought to have been left to me.”
“The estate was called Haleakala, or House of the Sun, and the residence received the name of Aikupika; but both these are forgotten now in that of the Arlington Hotel.”
“This wish of my heart was not gratified, and, at the present day strangers stroll through the grounds or lounge on the piazzas of that home once so dear to me.”
“Yet memories of my adopted parents still cling to that homestead, and rise before me not only when I pass its walls, but I recall in a foreign land the days of my youth.” (Lili‘uokalani)
“The place was maintained as a chief’s residence for many years. It can only have been turned to other uses during the past fifteen years; at the outside. Mrs. Bernice Pauahi Bishop left the estate to her husband, who turned the property over to the Kamehameha estates.” (Bishop, Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 6, 1900)
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