32 BRIG HAM ON HAWAIIAN FEATHER WORK. 



der bought the other cape which he afterward gave to Kalakaua in return for a deco- 

 ration the king had conferred upon him (see below, now in the Kapiolani Estate). 

 Where was the malo? A. F. Judd, Esq., President of the Museum Trustees, seems to 

 have solved this. The malo (or a malo) was known to be in the possession of the 

 Kalakaua family and I feel justified in quoting the very interesting letter of Mr. Judd 

 to me as Director of the Museum: 



"When at the request of the Trustees, in May, 1910,' I called on the Queen to 

 receive from her the heirlooms and relics which she desired to place in the Museum, I took 

 particular pains to inquire of her the story of the 'Kaumualii Malo'. She seemed loath 

 to discuss the question, and would only say 'I got it from Kalakaua'. I spoke of the 

 fact that she referred to it as Kaumualii's Malo, and naturally wanted the story, as that 

 would make the ahuula of greater interest. How did Kalakaua get it? Was it not 

 improbable that it was a product of Kauai? Might it not have been given to Kaumu- 

 alii by Kamehameha? Did not Kalakaua consider that it was originally Kameha- 

 meha's, for he had apparently ordered it used when the statue of Kamehameha was 

 made, etc., etc.? I spoke to her in Hawaiian as well as English. Colonel laukea, who 

 was present also, joined in the interrogation, but all the Queen would say was 'I got it 

 from Kalakaua'. 



"Colonel laukea has said that, whenever the Queen was absent from Honolulu, 

 he placed the ahuula in the vaults of Bishop & Company for safe keeping, and that 

 the dampness or other conditions there surrounding it showed that the Museum would 

 be a better depository, as some of the feathers had become detached. He further stated 

 that the Queen took the ahuula with her from the palace in 1893. 



"Having had my curiositj' thus quickened, I made a S3'stematic campaign among 

 my Hawaiian friends, to learn if there was any one who knew anything about the 

 'Malo'. I was familiar with the painting of it in the Museum Picture Gallery. 



"The only native who said he knew of the 'Malo' was A. K. Palekaluhi, now 

 deceased. You may remember him as the fine-looking, light-skinned Hawaiian who 

 for many j^ears owned a very pretentious, half-constructed frame house on School Street 

 just ewa and makai of the bridge over Nuuanu stream. Palekaluhi said that his family 

 on Kauai had been retainers of Kaumualii, and had been the Kahu of this 'l\Ialo'. 

 Early in Kalakaua's reign, the King had gone to Kauai and compelled the then Kahu 

 to surrender to him the 'Malo', as he, the King, was entitled to it. 



"Palekaluhi, on my first interview was disinclined to tell me about the 'Malo' as 

 the 'gods' had not been propitiated. The knowledge which he had was private, but if 

 the omens were satisfactory, he felt he could pass on to me the story of the 'Malo' as 

 it was now in my custody. I gave him the means to square the gods, and he talked 

 freely to me at the next interview. The Bishop Estate Collector, W. C. Amana, was 



' Curiously enough on Uie one hundredth anniversar)' of the presentation of the malo to Kaxnnualii, although neither 

 party to the transfer seems to have notictil this. 



