The Hawaiian Archipelago - Six Months Among The Palm Groves, Coral Reefs, And Volcanoes Of The Sandwich Islands By Isabella L. Bird
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So
The Flesh Was Separated From The Bones, And They Were Tied Up In
Tapa, And Concealed So Effectually That They Have Never Since Been
Found.
A holocaust of three hundred dogs gave splendour to his
obsequies.
"These are our gods whom I worship," he had said to
Kotzebue, while showing him one of the temples. "Whether I do right
or wrong I do not know, but I follow my faith, which cannot be
wicked, as it commands me never to do wrong."
Kamehameha the Great died in 1819, and his son Liholiho, who loved
whisky and pleasure, was peaceably crowned king in his room, and by
his name. He, with the powerful aid of the Queen Dowager Kaahumanu,
abolished tabu, and his subjects cast away their idols, and fell
into indifferent scepticism, the high priest Hewahewa being the
first to light the iconoclastic torch, having previously given his
opinion that there was only one great akua or spirit in lani, the
heavens. This Kamehameha II. was the king who with his queen, died
of measles in London in 1824, after which the Blonde frigate was
sent to restore their bodies with much ceremony to Hawaiian soil.
Kamehameha III., a minor, another son of the Conqueror, succeeded,
and reigned for thirty years, dividing the lands among the nobles
and the people, and conferring upon his kingdom an equable
constitution. The law officially abolishing idolatry was confirmed
by him, and while complete religious toleration otherwise was
granted, the Christian faith was established in these words: - "The
religion of the Lord Jesus Christ shall continue to be the
established national religion of the Hawaiian Islands." His words
on July 31st, 1843, when the English colours, wrongfully hoisted,
were lowered in favour of the Hawaiian flag, are the national
motto: - "The life of the land is established in righteousness." In
his reign Hawaiian independence was recognised by Great Britain,
France, and America. His Premier for some time was Mr. Wyllie, who
with a rare devotion and disinterestedness devoted his life and a
large fortune to his adopted country.
Kamehameha IV., a grandson of the Conqueror, succeeded him in 1854.
He was a patriotic prince, and strove hard to advance the
civilization of his people, and to arrest their decrease by
reformatory and sanitary measures. He was the most accomplished
prince of his line, and his death in 1863, soon after that of his
only child, the Prince of Hawaii, was very deeply regretted. His
widow, Queen Kaleleonalani, or Emma, visited England after his
death.
He was succeeded by his brother, a man of a very different stamp,
who was buried on January 11, 1873, after a partial outbreak of the
orgies wherewith the natives disgraced themselves after the death of
a chief in the old heathen days. It is rare to meet with two people
successively who hold the same opinion of Kamehameha V. He was
evidently a man of some talent and strong will, intensely patriotic,
and determined not to be a merely ornamental figure-head of a
government administered by foreigners in his name.
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