AHUULA OF KAUMUALII. 31 



probably several years older). On the death of his mother, a date not recorded but 

 probably soon after the death of Kaeokulani, Kaumualii became Moi of Kauai. 



All the accounts of this prince picture him as an intelligent and worthy sover- 

 eign. Quoting Alexander: ' "From his personal qualities, both of mind and body, he 

 was the beau ideal of a Hawaiian chief, and was universally beloved by his subjects 

 and by foreigners. He was the only Hawaiian who had learned to read and write the 

 English language to any extent." And again (I.e., p. 175), "At Kaumualii's urgent 

 request Messrs. Whitney and Ruggles went to reside at Waimea, Kauai. No chief gave 

 Christianity so cordial a reception, or made such rapid improvement as Kaumualii." 

 His wife Kapuli or Deborah as afterwards christened, exercised great influence over 

 his mind. (Jarvis, Chap. VH.) 



In 1810 Kaumualii was persuaded to visit Kamehameha on Oahu to consider 

 the political position of Kauai which alone remained to complete his conquest of the 

 Group. It required no little courage on the part of the young king in view of the fate 

 of Keoua who returned to the gods on the altar of Kamehameha's new temple at Kawai- 

 hae, but the interview proved a pleasant one so far as Kamehameha was concerned, and 

 Kauai and its adjoining islands were ceded to the Conqueror and Kaumualii was re- 

 instated as Moi for life with the understanding that he should make Liholiho (Kameha- 

 meha II) his heir. This was afterward carried out in spite of the opposition of Hume- 

 hume (George Kaumualii) a son by a woman of low rank. At this interview, it is said, 

 Kamehameha gave Kaumualii the malo, with a mahiole (helmet, B. P. B. Museum, 

 No. 959), and some feather capes. 



Now comes in modern history and we find that Kaahumanu the widow of Kameha- 

 meha, and guardian of his son Kauikeaouli, afterwards Kamehameha III (Liholiho, 

 Kamehameha II having in the meantime died in England), moved perhaps by the 

 political influence and activity of Kapuli, ordered Kaumualii to visit her at Honolulu. 

 He came, but expecting death (it was a convenient way to dispose of a rival chief by 

 killing and throwing the body into the sea on the often rough passage between Kauai 

 and Oahu), he deposited his prized insignia the mahiole and two feather capes, but not 

 the nialo, with his good friend Mrs. Whitney of the American Mission. On his arrival 

 at Honolulu, having escaped a watery grave, he fell into the fire by having to marry 

 the ponderous alii Kaahumanu who afterwards married his son Humehume to have the 

 whole family in hand. It made peace on Kauai, but Kaumualii never saw his insignia 

 again. I saw one of the capes when visiting Mrs. Whitney in 1864 and she evidently 

 thought that the king had given it outright. At her death half a century after the 

 deposit, her personal effects were sold at auction to settle her estate, and Mr. C. R. Bishop, 

 then Minister of Foreign Affairs, purchased the mahiole and presented it to the Govern- 

 ment Museum. Chief Justice Judd purchased one of the capes (now in the Bishop 

 Museum, No. B 130, by the kindness of the Judd family). Mr. Henry Riemenschnei- 



' A Brief History of the Hawaiian People, p. 155. 



