RECENT HAWAIIAN HISTORY. 



313 



the bones, and they were tied up in tapa, and concealed so 

 effectually that they have never since been found. A holocaust 

 of three hundred dogs gave splendour to his obsequies. 

 " These are our gods whom I worship/' he had said to 

 Kotzebue, while showing him one of the temples. " Whether I 

 do right or wrong I do not know, but I follow my faith, which 

 cannot be wicked, as it commands me never to do wrong." 



Kamehameha the Great died in 1 8 1 9, and his son, Liholiho, who 

 loved whisky and pleasure, was peaceably crowned king in his 

 room, and by his name. He, with the powerful aid of the Queen 

 Dowager Kaahumanu, abolished tabu, and his subjects cast 

 away their idols, and fell into indifferent scepticism, the high 

 priest Hewahewa being the first to light the iconoclastic torch, 

 having previously given his opinion that there was only one great 

 akua or spirit in tarn, the heavens. This Kamehameha II. 

 was the king who with his queen, died of measles in London 

 in 1824, after which the Blonde frigate was sent to restore their 

 bodies with much ceremony to Hawaiian soil. 



Kamehameha III., a minor, another son of the Conqueror, 

 succeeded, and reigned for thirty years, dividing the lands 

 among the nobles and the people, and conferring upon his 

 kingdom an equable constitution. The law officially abolishing 

 idolatry was confirmed by him, and while complete religious 

 toleration otherwise was granted, the Christian faith was estab- 

 lished in these words : — " The religion of the Lord Jesus 

 Christ shall continue to be the established national religion of 

 the Hawaiian Islands." His words on July 31st, 1843, when 

 the English colours, wrongfully hoisted, were lowered in favour 

 of the Hawaiian flag, are the national motto : — " The life of 

 the land is established in righteousness." In his reign Ha- 

 waiian independence was recognised by Great Britain, France, 

 and America. His Premier for some time was Mr. Wyllie, 

 who with a rare devotion and disinterestedness devoted his life 

 and a large fortune to his adopted country. 



Kamehameha IV., a grandson of the Conqueror, succeeded 

 him in 1854. He was a patriotic prince, and strove hard to 

 advance the civilisation of his people, and to arrest their 

 decrease by reformatory and sanitary measures. He was the 

 most accomplished prince of his line, and his death in 1863, 

 soon after that of his only child, the Prince of Hawaii, was 

 very deeply regretted. His widow, Queen Kaleleonalani, or 

 Emma, visited England after his death. 



He was succeeded by his brother, a man of a very different 



