lO 



Old Hawaiian Cari<iuQ-s. 



carved figures, mostl}^ grotesque, were doubtless hidden by the devout priests from the 

 mob violence that generally accompanies such changes ; witness the terrible destruc- 

 tion of architetftural statues, even tombs and painted glass in "civilized" countries 

 during the reformation. But more important was the custom of depositing in some 

 cache the especial propert}* of a departed chief. Not hy anj- means with his remains 

 to wliicli tlicy might serve for identification, a thing to be most carefullv avoided, as 



FlC. 



CAKVK.K BOWL. 



we shall see beloAV, but in some cave {pnoa)^ possibly on another island from that 

 which concealed his bones, such deposits being left in the care of a kaliu who would 

 generally appoint his successors, and while in the early days of the Christian mission 

 on these islands, the converted kahu would perhaps bring an idol from its place of 

 concealment to serve as offering to his new spiritual father and proof of the sinceritj' 

 of his conversion,^ generally the secret of the place of deposit was faithfully kept. 

 I have known of several traditionary' caves of which the entrance was carefully con- 

 cealed, and although the kahu was known, nothing would induce him (or her) to dis- 

 close the secret. 



■'The war god of tlie great Kamchameha, Kukailinioku (Mus. No. 7855) figured in the essay on Hawaiian 

 Feather Work, Memoirs, vol. i, p. 32, fig. 22, was thus given to the missionary, and it is probable that the image 

 (Mus. No. 7656) was a similar offering. 



[172] 



