Boki (Hawaiian chief)
Hawaiian high chief and merchant
Boki (sometimes Poki, born Kamāʻuleʻule) (before 1785–after December 1829) was a High Chief in the ancient Hawaiian tradition and served the Kingdom of Hawaii as royal governor of the island of Oahu. Boki ran a mercantile and shipping business and encouraged the Hawaiians to gather sandalwood for trade.
Early life
Boki was the son of Kekuamanoha and Kamakahukilani. His father was a chief of Maui and grandson of Kekaulike, King of Maui. He was a younger brother of William Pitt Kalanimoku, but it was rumored that he was a son of Kahekili II. His original name was Kamāʻuleʻule ("The one who faints") and his nickname came from a variation of "Boss", the name of Kamehameha I's favorite dog which was a very common name for dogs in Hawaii at the time.
Royal governor
Boki was appointed Royal Governor of Oahu and chief of the Waiʻanae District by Kamehameha I, and continued in his post under Kamehameha I's son Kamehameha II.
Boki and his wife Kuini Liliha (1802–1839) were leading members of a delegation to England led by King Kamehameha II and Queen Kamamalu in 1824. After the monarchs died from measles during the stay, Boki and his wife returned to Hawaii with Admiral Lord Byron aboard the British frigate, HMS Blonde, which bore the bodies of the late king and queen. En route, the ship stopped at Brazil and obtained several Arabica coffee trees, which Boki gave to ex-West Indies settler and agriculturalist John Wilkinson, to plant on the Chief's land in Oahu's Mānoa Valley. Wilkinson was never able to cultivate the strain for commercial production. He also transplanted South American native turkeys to Hawai'i and Rotuma, along with the Hawaiian transliteration of the Portuguese name for turkey, peru (pelehu in Hawaiian, perehu in Rotuman).
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