HAWAIIAN FUNERALS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 2055, 31 July 1885, Page 2

HAWAIIAN FUNERALS.

IJaw;iiin State funovals (writes a correspondent of tjie IJ.Z. Herald), arc curious beautiful, because, in addition tp all the paraphernalia of a great pifblip funeral ejaewhere, a great nujnbpr of hajuljs are jpnp before and aroijnd the hearse, The kahili is a great tuft of feathers, borne at the end of a long pole, and it appears to have always been the custom for Hawaiian chiefs to vie with one another m to who should possess thp finest display of them. The feathers are commqrily arranged jn the form of a t}ruii) upon some light internal frai)iowork, but they are of great variety, bofl} of sfylo f|nd qf' nizo, In tlie torchlight prqcoasioi), in thq n# pf which her body was carried frpn) her late residence to the church last Saturday night, Queen Emma's kahilis made a very beautiful appearanoe, They are about seventy in number (without counting any small ones), each on a pole ten or twelve feet high, the feather heads of some being nearly three feet high by a diameter ef twenty or more inches. These at present stand on either side of the .aisle of the church, and around the coffin, which is on a platform at the further end. Night and day tho beloved and lamented queen is watched by a guard of retainers, each bearing a kahili of different style to the one just spoken oMlons pliant wand clothed witl} jqng" feathers 'for half it-9 length, for a while you will seo these men standing still and orect, with their kahilis' upright against their shoulderß. At a given signal the kahilis are broiigt forward to meet one another across the coffin, and are gently waved from Bide to side. % a aWed time at)}f ta'pritect tlie' qofljri %n'any- i thihfif that might alight oii' it.; The up- i right position is aeain resumed, and after a while the waving ceremony is again repeated, all the watchers moving together with admirable precision.