Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands - Queen Kaahumanu (Part9)

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Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands
" Keepers of the Culture "
A study in time of the Hawaiian Islands
As told by the ancients--
Queen Kaahumanu -- Part 9
Queens death 
by Darlene E. Kelley
November 28, 2000

http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374

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As told by the ancients--
Queen Kaahumanu -- Part 9.

After Boki's death Liliha continued as governess of the island of Oahu.
Clouds of trouble broke into a storm. Liliha, still urged by her
unscrupulous advisors, tried again to usurp the government. The young
King was not wise in his choice of associates, and, through the
influence of Liliha, he failed many times in his allegiance to
Kaahumanu. This, to her, was both trouble and cause for alarm.

In 1832, Kaahumanu returned from her last educational tour. She was
failing in health and felt her demise was approachng. She had written to
the American Board in Boston; " I and he whom I have brought up [ the
young King ] have indeed carried the word of our Lord through from
Hawaii to Kauai; with the love of the heart towards God was our
journeying, to proclaim to the people his love and his law and to tell
them to observe them."

Kaahumanu invited Dr. and Mrs. Judd to accompany her to her home in
Monoa Valley, her favorite resdence. It was there, surrounded by her
friends and devoted servents, that she spent her last days. It may have
been at this time that she made the final arrangement for her affairs.
The great and important matter was the succession of the Regency. This
she passed on to her stepdaughter, the noble Kinau, daughter of
Kamehameha l. With all things in order, the Queen quietly awaited the
closing of the doors of her long and eventful life.

For many years Kaahumanu's greatest joy had been the study of the
scriptures. Mr. Bingham records that she was especially fond of the
writings of St.Paul. She commented that Paul had a great many friends,
and it pleased her that he called his disciples by name. Shortly before
her death, Mr. Bingham rushed through the press copies of the New
Testament in Hawaiian. He had a special copy bound for Kaahumanu in red
Morocco leather aith her name embossed in gold letters on the cover.
He carried it to her and placed it in her hands. Slowly turning the
leaves, she made sure that it was all there from Matthew to Revelation.
Then, wrapping the book in her handkerchiefs, she pressed it to her
breast, and folding her hands over it, she fell asleep. Toward evening
she awoke and asked for Mr. and Mrs.Bingham. Speaking to them, she said.
" I am going where the mansions are ready."

Mrs. Laura Judd, in her fine story of early missionary life in the
Islands, tells how hundreds of native people campe within a mile square
of Kaahumanu's home, waiting for the final word of her passing, When the
word came on June 5, 1832, it traveled from camp to camp, and the
wailing of the old Polynesia filled the valley. The Queen was dead.
Governor Adams, Kaahumanu's brother, called for silence, and, from the
open door of the Queen's home. Mr. Bingham committed the stricken nation
to the care of God, the Father.

Kaahumanu, born of great warriors and capable in her own right of
wielding power, intelligently through the reigns of three Hawaiian
rulers, carried the nation from the dark days of barbarism to the
establishment of a modern and Christian government, verifying the trust
which Kamehameha the Great had placed in her keeping.

In reviewing Hawaiian history. Kaahumanu stands today with such women as
Catherine of Russia and Victoria of England --- honored and revered.