"My own father and mother had other children, ten in all, the most of them being adopted into other chiefs' families; and although I knew that these were my own brothers and sisters, yet we met throughout my younger life as though we had not known our common parentage.
"This was, and indeed is, in accordance with Hawaiian customs. It is not easy to explain its origin to those alien to our national life, but it seems perfectly natural to us.
"As intelligible a reason as can be given is that this alliance by adoption cemented the ties of friendship between the chiefs. It spread to the common people, and it has doubtless fostered a community of interest and harmony."
It is odd to think of a princess, even of an Hawaiian princess, as being educated, like other girls, in a school. But the school she attended was for those pupils only who had some claim on the succession to the throne.
Near-by, however, there was another school, where some of the children of American residents were educated. Among these was John O. Dominis, the son of a sea-captain of Italian descent, and whose mother was a Boston woman.
Young Dominis made the acquaintance of the future Queen by climbing over the wall and talking to the pupils of the Royal School, as it was called.
A number of years later, in 1862, Liliuokalani became his wife.
This long name, by the way, was not given her until 1877, when the heir to the throne died, and she became the next in succession to the reigning King Kalakaua.
This King may be said to have helped to cause the revolution that made Hawaii a republic. In 1887 he was persuaded by the white residents, largely Americans or the sons of Americans, to give the country a new constitution that took away a great deal of his power.
"It may be asked," the Queen writes, "Why did the King give them his signature? I answer without hesitation, because he had discovered traitors among his most trusted friends, and knew not in whom he could trust; and because he had every assurance, short of actual demonstration, that the conspirators were ripe for revolution, and had taken measures to have him assassinated if he refused.
"His movements of late had been watched, and his steps dogged, as though he had been a fugitive from justice. Whenever he attempted to go out in the evening, either to call at the hotel or visit any one of his friends' houses, he was conscious of the presence of enemies who were following stealthily on his track.