A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Kapiolani
KAPIOLANI
Was wife of Naihe, hereditary counsellor in the court of King Liholiho, at Honolulu. As wife of one of the highest chiefs, Kapiolani had great influence, which she used in favour of the missionaries, and in aid of the improvement of the people of Hawaii. She did much to prevent infanticide, debauchery, and drunkenness; but the heroic deed which distinguishes her name was the overthrow of the idolatrous worship of Pele. The immediate region around the crater of Kilauea, being remote from all the mission stations, remained for several years under the influence of the priesthood of this goddess, the most fearful of all the deities of Hawaii. Sacrifices were there offered, and the wicked rites of heathenism practised. The priests taught that whoever insulted the tabu or withheld the offerings required, would be destroyed by Pele, who would spout forth liquid fire, and devour her enemies; and their poor ignorant followers believed them. But early in the year 1825, their credulity was staggered by the boldness of Kapiolani, who, with a daring which, when her previous associations are considered, does her infinite credit, determined to convince its votaries of the falsity of their oracles. She visited the wonderful phenomenon; reproved the idolatry of its worshippers, and neglected every rite and observance which they had been taught to consider as necessary for their welfare. In vain the priests launched their anathemas, and denounced upon her the vengeance of the offended deity. She replied, she feared not; and would abide the test of daring Pele in the recesses of her domains: the fires of the volcano were the work of the God she worshipped. Venturing to the brink of the abyss, she descended several hundred feet toward the liquid lava, and after casting the sacred berries into the flames, an act than which none more sacrilegious according to their ideas could have been done, she composedly praised Jehovah amid one of the most sublime and terrible of his works. There is a moral grandeur in this deed, worthy of a Christian philosopher. The sincerity of her faith could not have been put to a severer test.