Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-04-13
QUEENS OF HAWAII.
PLAYED PROMINENT PARTS IN THE
 ISLAND KINGDOM.

ISLAND KINGDOM.
 How Queen Kaahumanu Established "woman's Rights''-Royal Processions, In One of Which B Dowager Wore Sev- enty-two Yards of Cashmere.
 When the missionaries arrived at Ha- waii, March 30, 1920, the condition of woman was that of a 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 q drunken orgie out on the ocean in a canoe, and urged him to throw down the idols in 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 a very diff fe, ent character from his famous father, sat down and publicly ate some of their food. The cry went up, "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 jealous convert and remained to the time of her death, ill 1882, at the age of 5S, firm and conscientious Chris tian, beloved by those who intimately knew her and universally respected for her abilities. She had ruled us consort of the great conqueror, as joint sovereign with his son, Liholiho, and as regent dur ing the minority of Kauikeouh.
 Kamamalu, the queen of pleasure low ing Liholiho, was fond of display. On a state occasion in 1893 she was carried in procession, seated i'll 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 d 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 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 a column or plume of scarlet feathers of F feet in diameter and from 12 to 14 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 ill scarlet pau, a 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 afloat in the wind. The two dowager queens appeared in this | procession. One of them wore 12 yards of cashmere of double width, one-halt being orange and the other half scarlet | This was wrapped about her figure till her arms were supported by the mass ill a horizontal position, while the remain, | der, forming an extensive train, was sup. ported by a retinue selected for that pur. pose.
 The richness and variety of the dresses l. l,n siNi% nf h. wealth and power of the chiefs, their hereditary symbols of rank, the stately kahilis, splendid cloaks and helmets, and necklaces of feathers, intermingled with 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 ill 1893. 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 a sensa. tion 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 fot the first time encircled their ample waists, and the London ladies. in their rage for the new lions sought patterns of 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 cofins framed in wood and covered with crimson velvet, were sent to Honolulu in the frigate Blonde in charge of Lord Byron, cousin of the poee.--Godey' Msgaztns.