te a deep impression on his hearer's mind, and after he had left for
home, Kamehameha called his chief priest, and announced he was about to
break the tabus and to change his faith. The Kahuna replied that he was
the King's servant, but the step was grave, and it would be wiser to
proceed by divination. Kamehameha consented. Each built a new heiau over
against the other's; and when both were finished, a game of what we call
_French and English_ or _The Tug of War_ was played upon the intervening
space. The party of the priest prevailed; the King's men were dragged in
a body into the opposite temple; and the tabus were maintained. None
employed in this momentous foolery were informed of its significance;
the King's misgivings were studiously concealed; but there is little
doubt he continued to cherish them in secret. At his death, he had
another memorable word, testifying to his old preoccupation for his
son's estate: implying besides a weakened confidence in the island
deities. His sickness was heavy upon him; the time had manifestly come
to offer sacrifice; the people had fled already from the then dangerous
vicinity, and lay hid; none but priests and chiefs remained about the
King. "A man to your god!" they urged--"a man to your god, that you may
recover!" "The man is sacred to (my son) the King," replied Kamehameha.
So much appeared in public; but it is believed that he left secret
commands upon the high chief Kalanimoku, and on Kaahumanu, the most
beautiful and energetic of his wives, to do (as soon as he was dead)
that which he had spared to do while living.

No time was lost. The very day of his death, May 8th, 1819, the women of
the court ate of forbidden food, and some of the men sat down with them
to meat. Infidelity must have been deep-seated in the circle of
Kamehameha; for no portent followed this defiance of the gods, and none
of the transgressors died. But the priests were doubtless informed of
what was doing; the blame lay clearly on the shoulders of Kaahumanu, the
most conspicuous person in the land, named by the dying Kamehameha for a
conditional successor: "If Liholiho do amiss, let Kaahumanu take the
kingdom and preserve it." The priests met in council of diviners; and by
a natural retort, it was upon Kaahumanu that they laid the fault of the
King's death. This conspiracy appears to have been quite in vain.
Kaahumanu sat secure. On the day of the coronation, when the young King
came forth from the heia