KAMEHAMEHA'S WAR CLOCK.

Dunstan Times, Issue 536, 26 July 1872, Page 3

KAMEHAMEHA'S WAR CLOCK.

—o— An Auckland paper publishes the following respecting the feather cloak, of Kameliameha the First, King of the Sandwich Islands :—“ This feather war cloak of the king occupied nine generations of monarchs in its fabrication. Its length is four feet, and it has a spread of eleven and a half feet at the bottom. The sacred bird O’o (Melithreptes Pacifica) from which the minute, bright yellow feathers are procured, furnishes only two, one being found under each wing, so that an inconceivable num" her of birds must have been caught to provide material for this magnificent mantle, the groundwork of which consists of very tine netting, made from the hark of the o'.oney, which is nearly transparent, and | can be separated and reseparated into strands equal to that of the finest silk thread, and it is to this that those delicate feathers are attached with a skill and grace worthy of the most civilised art. The time and labor expended in capturing these birds by the natives, and in their ingenuity in doing so, must have consumed an unlimited period, and particularly so when it is known that the birds are only found upon the volcanic and most mountainous parts of Hawaii, no other specimens having been seen mother parts of the group), nor yet in any of the islands of the South Seas. The | feathers forming the border of the cloak are reverted, the whole presenting a bright yellow color of marvellous beauty. Five of these feathers were valued at e’ight shillings, and it isimpossibletocdlculatehow many have been consumed in the formation of the robe ; hut the supposition is that the value of the feathers, according to this estimate, would amount to upwards of five millions of pounds sterling. Such a garment Would he a fitting portion of the regalia of any Oriental or European monarch. Viewing it in the scarcity of the article of which it is composed, and the immense amount of taste, patience, and skill required for the manufacture of this golden mantle, would make its nominal value far more costly than the brightest ami purest gems in the crowns of Europe. A sight of this cloak can only be obtained through much inconvenience and difficulty, and it is only on such occasions as a coronat on or the death of a king that the mantle is publicly exhibited. As far as can be ascertained, the feathers were procured through the agency of despotism and superstition, by the hcathen ,, pricsts intimating to the natives that the feather god would pass round the mountain upon a certain night, and visit all the separate altars where he expected to find the feathery offerings, and also hark of the oloney, and in the event of being disappointed at any one of these altars the god would call upon the volcano to swallow up and utterly destroy both the natives and villages : and several places ate pointed out where this frightful judgment fell upon some villages from their disregard to the solemn advice and warning of Pui-kema-paa- The O’o—or Mamo, as ho was more frequently called by the natives, is a jet-black bird, and in size not nn’ike the English jack-kaw, though differing very considerably in the expression of the bill and the feet