Hawaiian feast given by H M King Kalakaua, p. 40

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

19365

Title

p. 40, Hawaiian feast given by H M King Kalakaua of Hawaiian Islands to Robert Louis Stevenson and party at Waikiki, Sandwich Islands

Description

King Kalakaua sits with a magnificent Hawaiian banquet spread before him. To his right is his sister, Liliuokalani, who is looking at Robert Louis Stevenson. To the left of the King sits Margaret Stevenson. Also on the left is Belle Strong with a garland round her neck, opposite who is sitting Lloyd Osborne. The banquet consists of many small food dishes and bottles of wine and beer can also be seen. A large British naval flag is hanging from the wooden paneling behind them.

The image is from the photograph album entitled 'The Cruise of the Casco' of Robert Louis Stevenson's travels around Hawaii and French Polynesia in 1888.

Date

1889

Size

16.4 x 21 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Writers' Museum

Henry Poor (1856-1899), Superintendent, Postal Savings Bank, Honolulu, gave a luau or feast at Manuia Lanai, his bungalow at Waikiki, in honour of Stevenson, with King Kalakaua and his sister Princess Liliuokalani as chief guests. Fanny presented the King with a golden pearl and Robert Louis Stevenson read a specially written poem, 'To Kalakaua' (Songs of Travel, XXX). Also present at the feast were Joe Strong, Miss Lydia Fitzsimons, Mrs Caroline Bush, Lloyd Osbourne, Robert Louis Stevenson, maid, Liliuokalani, King Kalakaua, Mrs Margaret Stevenson, maid, Fanny Stevenson, Henry Poor, Isobel Strong, and James W. Robertson.

One of a series of photographs taken on 3rd February by Arthur Richardson.

The Stevenson party stayed first with Henry Poor and his mother Mrs Caroline Bush, at 40 Emma Street, Honolulu. Stevenson and Fanny moved to Poor's bungalow, Manuia Lanai, at Waikiki for some peace and quiet

Hawaii is a state of the United States of America, located in the central Pacific Ocean. It became part of the Union in 1959, making it the 50th state. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oahu. When Stevenson visited Hawaii it was an independent kingdom. The 1887 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii however stripped the Hawaiian monarchy of much of its authority, disenfranchised most of the native population and transferred power to American, European and native Hawaiian elites. This was followed by the forced creation of the Republic of Hawaii in 1893, the abdication of Queen Liliuokalani and Hawaii's annexation by the United States of America in 1898.

Born in Edinburgh on 13th November 1850, Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, playwright and travel writer. Although he was plagued by ill health all his life, he was extraordinarily well-travelled, visiting Europe, America and the South Seas. He married American born Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne in 1880 and is best-known for works like Treasure Island (1883), Kidnapped and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (both 1886). From the late 1880s, Stevenson stayed in the South Pacific with his family on his own estate in Vailima in Samoa. He died here on the 3rd December 1894 of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 44, leaving what many consider his best work, Weir of Hermiston (1896) unfinished.

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Communication > Written > Flags

Homes > Residential buildings > Houses

People > Entertainment and sports > Authors

People > Politics and government > Kings

People > Politics and government > Queens

Places > North America > Hawaii

Sport and leisure > Activities > Eating and drinking