Buch 
Narrative of a tour through Hawaii, or, Owhyhee : with observations on the natural history of the Sandwich Islands, and remarks on the manners, customs, traditions, history, and language of their inhabitants / by William Ellis
Entstehung
Seite
455
JPEG-Download
 

THROUGH HAWAII.

455

Oahu, by whom I learned that Mrs. Ellis, though veryill, was better than she had been at some periods sincemy departure.

I waited on Keopuolani, the kings mother, whom Ifound ill; Karaimoku, Kaahumanu , Kalakua, and seve-ral other chiefs, were reclining around her, weeping.After some time, Karaimoku proposed that they shouldunitedly pray for her recovery, and his proposal wasacceded to.

At four l. si. a corpse was brought to the place ofworship, and, previously to its being interred, I gavean exhortation to a multitude of people.

Towards evening, I visited the governor of the island,and also the king, who was then at Maui . The subse-quent voyage of the latter to Great Britain, accom-panied by his queen, and the melancholy event whichterminated their lives while in London , excited consi-derable interest, and will probably be considered suffi-cient apology for a short account of them, althoughthe event took place after my visit to Maui at thistime.

The late king of the Sandwich Islands was the sonof Tamehameha, former king, and Keopuolani, daughterof Kauikeouli, and Kakuiapoiwa. He was born inthe eastern part of Hawaii , in the year 1795 or 179G.The name by which he was generally known wasRihoriho, w hich was only a contraction of Kalanimii-rihoriho, literally, the heavens great blackfrom Kulend, the heavens, nui, great, and rihoriho, applied toany thing burnt to blackness. On public occasions, hewas sometimes called Tamehameha, after his father,though names are not always hereditary. Besidesthese, he had a variety of other names, the most com-