The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1903-06-12
KAMEHAMEHA.

NAmC0AWCOA.
The position in affairs which came to
kamehe meha l, whose memory al 1la-
wal celebrates today, was due at tie
outset to the determination Of the MEM
bers of his clan, secretly arrayed
against the inter-island Kings and
chiefs to oppose rule by any other issue
of Keoua, the father of Kamehameha.
1t was one hundred and sixty-seven
years ago. that this opposition to
Keoua's other descendants began, for
in the year 1886 Kamehameha was born.
This event took place at Halawa, ko-
hala. island of Hawaii, but not on June
IL. 1t was in November of that year,
and June IL was settled upon in the
last century as a day upon which to
celebrate Kamehameha's memory ow-
ing to Hawaii's Independence Day be-
ing celebrated on November 2S, which
would have made two holidays in the
same month.
Kamehameha did not begin his career
from obscure surroundings as did Be-
naparte. for his father was half-brother
of Kalaniopuu, the King of Hawaii,
who honored Captain Cook when the
latter landed at Kealakekua in 1777.
War in all its details was to be the
most important feature of Kamehame-
has education, and its lessons We're
taught him almost as soon as he was
out of his babyhood. He was taught
the phrase "E moe imua, mai hoi hope
(Go Forward, Never Go Backward,)
which afterwards became his battle
cry.
1t had been whispered that the chiefs
would make way with the issue of keo-
ua and his wife, Kekuiapoiwa III, and
before Kamehameha's birth, Kahaopu-
lani twin sister of Kahakuiakea (k),
lived with the mother and watched over
her jealousy until the birth of the flu
ture conqueror. She took the boy to
her home in Kohala, with all his re-
tinue of trusted attendants and nursed
him. She reared him to boyhood and
every article of food prepared for him
she tasted first to ascertain whether
poison had been placed in 1t. When
he could talk, the'battle-cry was taught
him. and then the art of war was alb
eorbed by him by degrees. He was told
that the first essential of war was to
be. kind and to teach the people. by
kindness, to love him. He should be
Eyes" ne must mean 1t and vice versa.
A portion of his boyhood was spent in
the care of Alapai, one of the chiefs,
and his wife Keaka- When close to his
majority he was taken by the twin war
rior princes. Kameeiamoku and Kama
nawa, whose figures are to be seen
upon the Hawaiian coins in the coat-of-
arms, who We're giants and noted for
l,o. at,1 n
club. These two princes brought Ka-
mehameha up to manhood and taught
him all the ultimate arts of war. The
first thing they did upon assuming care
of him was to offer up prayer to the
war god, asking that kamehameha be-
come great warrior. This prayer was
called "Hamauku, ka Puaa ka Lima.
The signs to these two princes We're
favorable and they declared to their
own clan that the god promised to make
a great warrior of the youth, and that
he would be victorious in his battles.
His training in times of peace was
put to the test early during an in
ter-island war. He distinguished him
self at once. One of his feats in the
use of war implements, was to catch
heavy spears, such as We're used in his
day, when thrown at him with tremen-
dous force. These spears he caught
or parted, attesting to his marvellous
strength. The princes also taught him
that when he should command his own
army he should lead them to encamp,
during war, in places away from food
centers, and to make his soldiers build
store houses in which to place the pro-
visions, for as long as he controlled
the food, the troops would remain by
him
In Kamehameha's later wars much
of his success was due to John Young
and Isaac Davis, two white men who
came into his service in the nineties,
whose military knowledge was of "reat
assistance to the conqueror in subduing
the Kings of Maui, oahu and Kauai.
These two men were the first to in
troduce fire arms among Kamehame-
has troops and they personally trained
the two field pieces on Kamehameha'
enemies, generally with deadly effect
Kamehamehas conquest of the various
islands was accomplished steadily until
in 1910 the island group became one
kingdom with himself as the sole SOW
ereign.
II rs Strange concurrence lhdl Ma
mehameha should die at Kailua, Ha-
wall, and that the first missionaries
should land at the same place. These
two events occurred within a year of
each other, Kamehameha dying on May
8. 1919, and the first missionaries land
ing from the American brig Thaddeus
on March 81, 1920 the men from New
England shaping the kingdom which
Kamehameha had prepared to meet
great change.
Y. 10. os,a,, hoa., aa..o......al A..