The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-06-06
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THE ROYAL TOMB IN HONOLULU.
Description Of the Burial Place of the
Kings Of the Sandwich Islands.


Description of the Burial Place of the
Kings of the Sandwich Islands.
The attention of all Americans is
now drawn to the Sandwich islands.
The political possibilities which now
exist of those fair daughters of the
tropics, Oahu. Kauai and Molokai. be-
coming either the sisters or the wards
of our states. have excited the interest
and the curiosity of everyone. and every
biz of information regarding these isles
of the Pacific is eagerly read
Among the many interesting things
to be seen in Honolulu is the royal
tomb. As the visit to be described oc-
CURED q certain number of years ago,
it is possible that things may not be
now as they were then. but it is not
probable that anyone has violated the
sanctity Of the grave.
The royal tomb is situated immedi-
ately contiguous to the palace grounds.
IT is composed of single chamber of
fair size and height. It's walls are of
massive coral. and a high and heavy
wall of the same material surrounds
the vault. Close around the coral in
closure is grove of shade trees, and
among them the gentle breezes that
come in from the ocean seem to hymn
forth a requiem for the departed
monarchs The entrance to this abode
of defunct royalty is guarded by
keeper, who bears as sign of his au-
thority the ponderous key of the sacred
repository. The bolt obeys his efforts
and the heavy door swings back on its
rusty hinges. A collection of en-
biazoned collins at once meets your
gaze. They are covered with purple
satin and gold velvet of the same hue,
and rest one. d bove the other on frames
of koa-thc wood of the acacia. The
grave of Kamehameha. the conquercr,
remains a profound secret unto this
day. The dead, whose collins in
scrupulous order before us are
those royal personages who have de-
parted this life since 1925. 1t was
then that the method employed by mod
ern nations was adopted in the Sand
witch islands Everything about the
tomb suggests a~profound regard for
the inviolate sanctity of their individual
repose.
Standing among their lifeless dust it
was difficult to avoid feeling an mex
pressibie sadness, mingled with a sense
of awe. There they lay. few dusky
monarchs. and some of their descend
ants. They had swaycd the scepter of
absolute despotism. Some Of them had
seen human blood flow from the man
gled and quivering limbs of victims laid
on the affairs oftheir old gods. At that
moment and amid such hellish orgies
they little thought of or cared for the
spot that was TO mark their earthly
oblivion. Some of them had gone on
the long journey in the blacklist gloom
of paganism: others under the light Of
a divine revelation and the influence of
Christianity.
The first royal dead inferred in this
tomb were ,Liholiho. or Kamehameha
H., and his consort, Kamamelu. both
of whom died while visiting England
in 1924 Their remains were brought
back to their native islands by an
English frigate. under command of
Lord Byron, a relctive of the poet. BY
a curious coincidence. Ealakaua. while
king. died. as will he rerneln bered. in
the United States. and his remains were
conveyed TO Hawaii by an American
Charleston. They prob !
ably now repose in the royal tomb.
The most conspicuous of the collins !
was the one which contains the remains /
IF the great and good Kaahumanu, the |
favorite wife of the old conGueror. 1t /!
was of immense proportions. for the /,
queen was woman immensely large. /,
But her vast physical buik was good /
Emblem of the imperious tone of her |
character when a pagan queen and of |
her noble department when converted ,
to Christianity. Never was there a |
greater change produced in human /
being. Never was death scene more !
happy than her own. Her life after her |
was such as would have I
the records of Christian /
heroism. Her simple tomb gives one a /
clearer view of the end of all earthly /
power and glory than all the glorious /
that mark the graves of the /
heroes of the old world.-N Y. World