3-016-777 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Palace of the late King of the Sandwich Islands at Honolulu, 1864. 'We have lately heard much of a growing civilisation and Christianity in that important group of islands which forms a half-way station between America and Asia, in the North Pacific Ocean. The young King, whose untimely death is now lamented by all who feel an interest in the moral and intellectual progress of the Hawaiian race or in the political independence of the Sandwich Islands, was indeed a fine fellow, with the mind and manners of an English gentleman...Kamehameha IV...died in the palace of Honolulu, on Nov. 30. On the Sunday following, in the church, hung with black, Bishop Staley preached his funeral sermon, which was printed at full length in the native Hawaiian newspaper. The King's body, dressed in military uniform, lay in state for many hours, in a room lit by funeral candles, where stood the widowed Queen, the Queen Dowager, the Princess Royal, and all the great personages of the Court; while thousands of the people, thronging to the palace as soon as the news of this national calamity had reached them, were admitted by turns to look upon their deceased monarch and to cry aloud with the voice of mourning for his loss. Such is the custom of the country'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.