St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1888-08-18
WORTH A MILLION,
The Red-and-Yellow Royal Cloak of tho
Kamehameha Dynasty.

81 don't care; wouldn't wear it."
But see what it cost You don't
mean to say you wouldn't wear cloak
that cost million dollars?" said the
stout man in a satirical tone that indi-
Gated that the woman he addressed was
his wife.
The pair had stopped before the royal
feather cloak from the Sandwich Islands
| that is spread out fan-shaped in case
! in the National Museum. This cloak is
computed to have cost in labor 81, OOO,-
900. The native name for it is mans.
In the days when a Hawaiian beau or
| belle wanted little clothing, but wanted
that gorgeously colored, this cloak or
| mantle would have been considered of
more value, Psthetically and intrin-
sically, than a shipload of Worth cos
tunes, and its happy posses5or might
truly be said to be in high feather.
Since the natives have adopted wide
trousers, laWn-tennis shirts and four-in-
hand ties, its value lies chiefly in the
traditions that surround it. The man.
tie, which is semi-circular. is / feet
long Or deep, and it is II 1-2 feet wide
at the bottom and % inches at the top
where 1t goes around the neck. The
entire outer surface is made Of feathers
Of fine texture, giving the whole the
appearance of plush. The prevailing
colors are red and yellow or orange.
The body is decorated with large fig
ures, crescent-shaped, of either red or
yellow feathers The upper and lat
eral borders are corded and decorated
with alternate tufts of red, black and
yellow feathers.
A legend on label states that this
feather cloak formerly belonged
to Kehuarkalani, one of the high
est chiefs of the Sandwich Islands.
After the abolition of idolatry in
1919 that chief rebelled against the
reigning king and attempted to re-estab-
lish the ancient religions. A sanguin-
airy battle was fought and Kehuarkalani
was slain, and this cloak, which
he then had on, fell into the
hands of the conquerors and
thus became the property of King
Kemehameha, by whom it was present.
ed to Captain J. H. Aulick, U. S. N,
in 1871. The cloak is now the property
of Captain Aulick's grandson, Rich
mond Ogston Aulick, who deposited it
in the National Museum. The great
value of the cloak is due to the long
time required to secure the feathers that
compose it and to manufacture the
cloak
The foundation is a network of olona,
or native hemp, and to it are attached
by fine thread of the same material the
feathers of birds found only in the
Hawaiian Islands, and very rare there.
Recent writer's have declared that the
bird is now extinct. The feathers are
woven in so as to lap each other and
Lie fiat, forming smooth, plush-like
surface. The inner surface is without
lining and shows the olona network
and the quill-ends of the feathers The
cord of the upper margin is prolonged
so as to serve as a fastening at the
throat. The yellow feathers are OBJ
tanned from the % or Uho, and as stat
I'D, are of great value, as the bird is
are, very shy and difficult to capture,
and it has but very small tuft of these
feathers upon each shoulder. The
black feathers are from the head and
pack of the same bird-its general
olumage being a glossy black. The %
S caught alive by means of bird lime;
he yellow feathers are then plucked
md the bird released. The red feathers
IRE from the body and neck of the Ore
'anis Coccinea, the most abundant bird
# the Sandwich Islands.
The Hawaiian Spectator, newspaper
published in 1889, refers to this, or a
imilar mantle, as follows: ''Kaw-
,eauH has the mans, or feather war;
loak of his father, Te-Meha-Meha. 1t
vas not completed until his reign, hav-
ng occupied eight preceding ones in it's
abrication. A piece of nankeen,
alued at one dollar and half, was
ormerly the price of five of the yellow .
gathers. BY this estimate the value of
he cloak would equal that of the purest
in several of the European
egalla, and, including the price of the
gathers, not less than a million dollars
rorth of labor was expended upon it at
ne present rate of computing wages"
A bunch of the yellow feathers called
ulu was received by the king from his
objects in payment of poll tax, and
required many years to collect the
laterial and manufacture one of these
lantles. Until recent years these
lantles were the royal robes of state
nd considered the principal treasures
the crown, but European clothing
as entirely superseded them and they
re not now manufactured. A beauti-
IL head-dress for women, called leis,
as made of these feathers
Another authority states that two
elbow feathers only are obtained from
ach %, and these are found under the
ings. When the much-prized feathers
re plucked the bird is set at liberty.
he price of the feathers, according to
lis authority, was one dollar and half
n three, and the time occupied in
aklng the cloak was estimated from
FtV to one hundred wears - W4Shi72OtOIl