The Press., 1894-07-05
QUEENS OF HAWAII.
PLAYED PROMINENT PARTS IN THE ISLAND KINGDOM.

PIRfEO FROMtNeNI FAX , lIN f7E
 ISLAND KINGDOM.
 "Woman's Rishts''--RoyaI Processions,
 In One of Which a Dowagcr Wore Sev- enty-two Yards of Cashmere.
 When the missionaries arrived at Ha- waii, March 30, 1920, the condition of woman was that of slave. She could not eat cocoanuts. bananas, oranges or fish, and one of the curious tabus, or in- terdictions, forbade her eating any kind of food with men.
 Queen Kaahumanu sent for the new king, Liholiho, who was engaged in drunken orgie out on the ocean in a canoe, and urged him to throw down the idols i'll the heaiaus, or temples, and to clinch the matter by eating in public with a group of women who were feast ing by themselves at little distance from the royal abode. Staggering over to them, Liholiho, who was very diff ferent character from his famous father, sat down and publicly ate some of their food. The cry went up, 1.-The tabu is broken"
 The torch was applied to the idols, and woman's emancipation began. Queen Kaahumanu was huge, heavy mortal, and like all the chiefs she was proud and cruel. At first she treated the mission aries with disdain, offering only the tip of her little finger in salutation, but she became zealous convert and remained to the time of her death, in 1832, at the age of 58, Q firm and conscientious Chris tian, beloved by those who intimately knew her and universally respected for her abilities. She had ruled as consort of the great conqueror, as joint sovereign with his son, Liholiho, and as regent dur ing the minority of Kauikeouli.
 Kamamalu, the queen of pleasure lov- ing Liholiho, was fond of display. On @ state occasion in 1923 she was carried in procession, seated in whaleboat on a frame of wickerwork borne on the shoul- ders of 70 men.
 The boat and platform, 30 feet long by 12 feet wide, were covered with costly broadcloth relieved by beautiful colored tapas (native bark cloth). The queens dress was, scarlet silk mantle and a feather coronet. An immense Chinese umbrella, richly gilded and decorated with tassels and fringes of the same gaudy color, supported by d chief wear ing helmet, screened her from the sun. Chiefs held aloft kahilis, or royal staffs, 30 feet high, the handles sur rounded by alternate ivory and tortoise shell rings, beautifully wrought and highly polished, the upper part being ar ranged so as to form column or plume of scarlet feathers of 1t feet in diameter and from 12 to IA feet long. A more magnificent insignia of rank, conveying at once the ideas of grandeur, state and beauty, as they lowered and gracefully nodded above the multitude, was never devised by barbarians.
 Another royal lady, Kinau, who after. ward shared authority with Kamehame ha III (KauikeoulD, her title being Kaa humanu II, appeared in a scarlet pau, 8 long piece of silk wound round the body and limbs, with two long streamers. The pau is very graceful costume, especial ly when worn by a wahiue (native wo man) on horseback, with the gayly col ored streamers afoat in the wind. The two dowager queens appeared in this procession. One of them wore 72 yards of cashmere of double width, one-hali | being orange and the other half scarlet This was wrapped about her figure till her arms were supported by the mass in horizontal position, while the remain der, forming an extensive train, was sup ported by retinue selected for that pur pose.
 The richness and variety of the dresses and colors, and the exhibition of the wealth and power of the chiefs, theil hereditary symbols of rank, the stately kahilis, splendid cloaks and helmets, ant necklaces of feathers, intermingled witt the brilliant hues and deep green of the flowers and wreaths from their native forests, rendered the spectacle at once unique and attractive. Groups of sing CTS and dancers, to the number of many hundred, ever and anon met the process sion, enthusiastically shouting their adu. lation in the willing ears of the chiefs.
 Queen Kamamalu and Liholiho made a voyage to London in 1923. Before the ship weighed anchor at Honolulu the queen chanted farewell:
 70 heaven! O earth! o mountains o sea! o my counselors and my sub- jects, farewell!"
 The royal travellers created sensa. ton in London. Queen Kamamalu ex- hibited herself in loose trousers and a long bed gown of colored velveteen, but Parisian modistes soon clothed the ladies in all the gear of fashion. Corsets for the first time encircled their ample waists, and the London ladies, in their rage for the new lions, sought patterns ot the turban that graced the brow of the queen.
 But, alas, the royal pair caught the measles and died in London, poor chil- dren of nature that they were, far from the palm groves and bosky bowers of their native isles! The bodies, in lead coffins framed in wood and covered with crimson velvet, were sent to Honolulu in the frigate Blonde in charge of Lord Byron, cousin of the poet.-Godey's