152 



The Ancient Hawaiiaii House. 



Here we maj^ meution a pleasing custom of tlie Hawaiians which has survived 

 within my own observation, for a chief to bend down a young coconut tree in token of 

 taking possession, and ever afterwards the tree was known by the name of that chief, 

 and on gathering the first nuts, the chief had them made into cups for presents to 

 friends. Several such cups are in this Museum, as the cup of Pauahi, the mother 

 of Keelikolani, that of Queen Kamamalu, and that of Liliha, Madame Boki and 

 daughter of Hoapili: the last two cups 

 were from the famous grove of palms at 

 Kalapana on Hawaii. 



The cups shown in Fig. 135 were 

 such as described. Beginning on the left 

 of the figure. No. 5016 was a cup of Pauahi, 

 mother of Keelikolani; No. 1521 belonged 

 to Liliha, daughter of Hoapili and wife of 

 Boki. The next is No. 5028, an umeke 

 kou used for poi by Queen Emma when a 

 child. No. 15 19 also belonged to Liliha; 

 No. 5012 to Pauahi; No. 1520 to Liliha, 

 and the last one. No. 5017, belonged to 

 Queen Kamamalu, daughter of Kameha- 

 meha L \\ho with her husband Liholiho 

 died in England in 1824. 



Umeke I/aau. — Implements of wood 

 were bj' far the most interesting as well as 

 most numerous of all the domestic iitensils 

 in Hawaiian housekeeping, and we shall 

 find much to surprise us and not a little to 

 commend. From their material they were 

 more durable than the vessels of gourd ; from the labor bestowed upon them they were 

 proportionately valued ; and like the precious feather Mork were preserved in families, 

 and handed down from generation to generation, until the foreigner has come to the 

 Islands and appreciating the workmanship and grace, has tried to imitate them on the 

 lathe, but with poor success and has ended in gathering to himself the choicest remains 

 of this "Age of Wood", and a genuine hand-made umeke is now a rare and costly treas- 

 ure; fine ones have been sold for more than five hundred dollars. 



[336] 



FIG. 131. FIJIAN CUP AND WIPKR. 



