The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1860-01-05
EXPORTS.
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
THURSDAY, JAN. ).

THURSDAY JAN. 5.
WERE our estimate Of the Hawaiian character
to be favorably influenced by their regard for the
names of their dead, then it should be a high
one, for among no people, similarly situated in
respect TO civilization, is the feeling stronger of
reverence for the bones of their ancestors. The
ancient Romans used to treasure the ashes of
their dead in vases, and it was considered a mark
of irreligion to neglect this sacred duty. The
Hawaiians were equally particular in preserving
the bones of their friends, especially those of the
chiefs, and they were prepared and guarded with
great care and secresy by either some relative of
the deceased or one of his favorite followers.
They were handed down from father to son with
strict injunctions, and an instance has never
transpired of a voluntary abandonment of the
trust. Shortly after Queen Kaahumanu EN-
braced Christianity, and during her tour of
Hawaii in 1880, she gave orders for a general
collection of these relics, of which she made a
funeral pile, doubtless for the reason that she
desired, in her zeal for her new faith, to destroy
as far as possible. everything which might tend
to keep up in the minds of the people a reverence
for the men and ideas Of the heather regime.
Whatever she may have gained in that respect,
she lost in personal popularity, for those who
were forced thus to reveal the hiding places of
their well-kept relics, never forgave her what
they must have considered as downright sac
rilege, while numbers eluded the search of her
officials by rehiding their forbidden treasures.
There are at the present time many among the
former followers of the chiefs, who are the I'M
known guardians of the i,cis (bones) of long
lines of chieftains, of forgotten name and story.
The western shore of Hawaii was the favorite
residence of the principal chief families in olden
times, and there their remains were deposited
some in secret caves, known only to a select few,
as at Honaunau and Kekaha, and some preserved
in the residences of the faithful clansmer. The
whole of the bones were not, however, thus pre-
served, those of the arms and legs only being
selected. Five days and nights after the death of
the chief, his immediate attendants, or kahus,
proceeded in great secresy to dissect the body.
The flesh was carefully scraped from the bones
of the arms and legs, which were then separated
at the joints, and after being thoroughly dried,
were neatly made up in a bundle and tightly
wound with sinet and fine white tapa, when
they were committed to the person in whose
charge they were to remain; who, as before re-
marked, was either a relative or intimate friend
of the deceased, but generally the latter. The
other portions of the body were then made up
into a bundle with weights to make it sink, and
taken out to sea at night, until a certain star,
which was called ska hoku hookele uaa,'' or
ss canoe guiding starr appeared directly over
head, when the remains were committed to the
deep. So, when the late Kuakini (Gov. John
Adams) was dying, he is said to have addressed
several of his intimate retainers thus When l
am dead, don't let me be buried in a box, as is
the fashion of the forei .,ners, but bury my body
in the ocean, as were those of my ancestors.e
And this was done, after the principal bones had
been removed. Yet the heavy lead and koa collins,
supposed to contain his remains, were conveyed
from Hawaii to this city with all ceremony and
respect, for none knew but a select few that the
chiefs body was not there. So say those who
ought to be good authority. 1t is even asserted
though perhaps without foundation-that the
Royal Mausoleum at Honolulu, with but one or
two exceptions, contains only ga beggarly &C
count of empty boxes their supposed occupants
having been disposed of in the same manner as
was Kuakini.
Thus much in regard to the practices of the
chiefs on this grare subject. The common peo-
always had their ilinas or burying grounds,
sacred to the dead of each particular family, but
it was not customary to preserve the bones like
those of the chiefs. At the present day. beyond
the limits of Honolulu, and other large towns, it
is often the case that each family in good cir
cumstances has its little hale kxpopau'' (house
of the deadly in close proximity with that of the
living. 1t is kept with great care and ~neatness,
periodically swept and busted, and made tcom-
fortable''-for that is the expression. Within
it, side by side, or one on another, and covered
with a silk spread, may be seen the handsomely
polished and profusely brass-naiied collins of
parents and children, uncles and aunts. 1t is a
fact not generally keown. that it is an almost
practice among those who can afford
the expense, to enclose the body in a lead coffin,
to preserve it either with alcohol and an in
fusion of corrosive sublimate, or by packing the
coffin with pulu, which, being an excellent alb
sorbent, will it is said, prevent any disagreeable
effects of retaining the corpse above ground.
All this talk upon what some may term an
unpleasant subject, goes to prove that the Ha-
waiians, with all their faults, are not destitute of
what st. Paul calls natural affection" 1t is
profitable at times to walk among the graves and
get into that melancholy thoughtfulness, which, |
to a rational creature, is far from disagreeable.
:: Reflections in Westminster Abbey
are better worth preservation than a thousand
sermons on death "When l look upon the
tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in
me when l read the epitaphs of the beautiful.
every incrdinate desire goes out when L meet
with the grief of parents on a tombstone, my
heart melts with compassion; when L see the
tomb of the parents themselves, l consider the
vanity of grieving for those whom We must
quickly follow when / see kings lying by those
who deposed them, when 1 consider rival wits
placed side by side, or the holy men who divided
the world by their contests and disputes, reflect
with sorrow and establishment on the little COM
petitions, FACTIONS and debates of mankind.