Читать книгу Oahu Trails. Walks Strolls and Treks on the Capital Island онлайн

39 страница из 68

Head for the Hawaiian exhibits. The museum’s collection of Hawaiian featherwork (capes, helmets, and the feathered standards called kahili) and of tapa (the native barkcloth, also called kapa) is unmatched and irreplaceable. Hawaii produced the finest featherwork and tapa in all of Polynesia. Particularly interesting is a series of cases comparing the material cultures of the different Polynesian societies: for example, the uses to which various societies had put coconut shells and fibers.

Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831–1884) was a high chiefess and the last direct descendant of Kamehameha I. She was offered the crown of Hawaii twice and both times declined it. She had been raised in missionary ways and believed her place was in the home with her American-born husband, Bishop, Charles R. Bishop, who had become a citizen of Hawaii. She dedicated herself to helping her fellow Hawaiians adjust to the changes that had overwhelmed their homeland. She saw that her people were falling into political insignificance and dire poverty in the new Hawaii and believed that education would help elevate them to their rightful place. She inherited a great deal of wealth in the form of land, and she used her wealth to found the Kamehameha Schools, which accept as pupils only children who are of Hawaiian or part-Hawaiian ancestry. The Bishop Estate continues to be a powerful force in Hawaii.