Happy King Kamehameha Day!
An Ipu Kuha, spittoon. Containing human teeth. It belonged to King Kamehameha and his favorite wife Kaahumanu.
I read about Kaahumanu's summer home in Manoa while researching my last post. It was said that it was the first place where goldfish and guava were brought to the island. The guava was kapu to eat by anyone else, but birds would come and eat them. So the birds themselves spread guava around the island chain.
"... Realizing that the end was near, Kaahumanu asked to be taken to Pukaomaomao, her mountain home far up in Manoa Valley...
The King, his sister, other members of the alii and many retainers had already arrived at Pukaaomaomao and had dressed the large grass house for the dying queen's last homecoming. The walls of the main room had been hung with ropes of sweet maile and decorated with lehua blossoms and great stalks of fragrant mountain ginger.
The couch upon which Kaahumanu was to rest had been prepared with loving care. Spread first with sweet-scented maile and ginger leaves, it was covered with a golden velvet coverlet. At the head and foot stood towering feather kahilis. Over a chair nearby was draped the Kamehameha feather cloak which had been worn by Kaahumanu since the monarch's death."
-The Magnificent Matriarch, pp 270,272
(Kaahumanu died June 5, 1832)
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