Kona in Pictures >
Image 11
Pre-1820's feather cloak of the second of Hawai'i's rulers, King Kamehameha II. Upon his death in London it had changed hands many times and ended up in the Rautenstrauch-Joest museum, Cologne, Germany. Thousands of feathers of two extinct native Hawai'ian birds ('I'wi and 'O'o) were woven into this 5.5 ft wide piece. It was kapu (forbidden) for anyone else but the first owner to wear such a personalized item.
|