The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-08-21
QUEEN
Iron a Kansas Gir's Letter.l

EFrom a Kansas Girls letter.
The following letter from an Abilene
girl now in Honolulu tells of a quaint
ceremony:
Honolulu, July 1.-THE last queen of
the native races has passed away. The
queen doWager of Hawaii, Kapiolani,
died in Honolulu, June "a, and her fun
eral, held July 2, was one of the most
impressive ceremonies ever known
among the people of the islands. Like
a requiem for a dying race was the inn
posing state funeral of the widow or
King Kalakaua, for, though the ex-
queen, LiliOukalani, still survives, she
was only an elective sovereign and has
never laid deep hold on the sympathies
of the people over whom she one time
ruled.
Kapiolani was a direct descendant of
the only monarch whom the great
Kamehameha was unable to subdue-
In addition to being the last of the race
of crowned heads who ruled by divine
right of kings" she had endeared her
self to all Hawaiian people by her
noble character, her generous aid to
unfortunate Iepers and her long life of
constant effort for the uplifting of the
women of her race.
Her death was the occasion for
spontaneous Outburst of grief among
the natives throughout the islands
They gathered from the remotest viii
lagos as the news spread and almost
literally lived near the dead queen I'M
til the last opportunity for loving
tribute was past. The men eagerly bid
for the honor of waving the "kahili,"
their unique badge of royalty, over the
royal bier, night and day. The women
tOiled laboriOusly putting the kahilis
together, for these emblems are made
of costly feathers taken from rare birds
now extinct and only are brought out
when there is service to be performed
for one of kingly blood. Two feathers
only are found on each bird, and as for
the ceremony there is a solid cylindri-
cal mass of them tied to a pole, one
can easily realize the expense and
and preparation. Some of the poles are
made of human bones tied together
bones of long conquered enemies.
The dead queen lay in state, first in
her humble home, then in the historic
native church, built of white coral. The
floral gifts at both places were as album
dant and beautiful as a f1Ower-loving
people in a land of flowers could devise.
The royal insignia of crown and ka-
hills, of purple arches and feathered
robes above the bier and the gorgeous
attire of officers in attendance were in
strange and pathetic contrast with the
simple dress of the simple subjects who
Wept at the departure of their beloved
queen. The constant waving of the
imperial plumeS over the coffin added
weirdness to the dirges of the band and
to the piteous wailing of the natives
as they chung to each other or stood
up in the crowded church to give their
last testimony of grief.
Five hundred chosen natives drew the
catafalque to the royal mausoleum ana
the slow-moving car was surrounded
by sixty kahilis borne aloft amid the
people. Six hundred women in black
''hOlokus' familiar to American wom-
en- as Mother Hubbards,') some of
them barefooted and all expressing the
deepest sorrow, marched in solemn
procession behind the servants and re-
tanners of the queens household.
It is vOuched for by the oracIes of the
natives that the shores of the sea
abound with peculiar red fish whenever
there is an i'll omen to the Hawaiian
peopIe-as at the time of the revolu-
ton and at the death of the Princess
Kailulani, when the shores were
bloody red with the myriads of these
finny creatures. 1t would be interest
ing to know how Jared the red fish at
this last great display of Hawaiian
customs and national feeling. When
the procession had turned from the
tomb when the imperial kahiIis were
carried reverently to their places of
safe keeping, when the feathered robes
were laid away, and the stirring strains
of Star Spangled Banner pealed bold
~ forth, did the summons of a new rule
and new civilization send them sour
rying into the depth of the ocean?