to Queen Emma who was abroad in Europe at the time, "But thanks to a vigorous constitution and still young, she has rallied", and he wished Emma would see Victoria alive when she returned. The princess was suffering from much pain, swelling in the body, and was unable to move without assistance. She was nursed by her ladies-in-waiting Nancy Sumner and Liliʻuokalani. The Honolulu English language newspaper The Pacific Commercial Advertiser reported, "On Sunday she was better, but her disease took an unfavorable turn soon after". Kamāmalu did not recover and died at 10 a.m. on May 29, 1866, at Papakanene house at Mokuʻaikaua, at the age of 27. The exact illness that caused her death has never been discussed in detail. The official statement was that she died "imprudently bathing while heated". Mark Twain was in Honolulu at the time and wrote favorably of her in his public correspondence to the Sacramento Daily Union. However, privately in his notebook, he wrote, "Pr. V. died in forcing abortion — kept half a dozen bucks to do her washing, & has suffered 7 abortions" and later described how she kept a harem of "thirty-six splendidly built young native men" who were present at her funeral. Victoria's childless death left her brother the king without obvious heirs. Her brother, a bachelor throughout his life, had intended that she should be his heir. Her death left her brother without an obvious successor. After his brother's death in 1872 an election was held between Kalākaua and Lunalilo, both former suitors of the princess. Lunalilo easily won the election, yet his reign lasted less than a year. Victoria died without a written will, so her vast landholdings, including much of the original private lands of her mother and Queen Kaʻahumanu, were inherited by her father and eventually passed to her half-sister Keʻelikōlani who willed them to Bernice Pauahi Bishop and from whence they became part of the Kamehameha Schools. The Kaʻahumanu Society went to the wayside after her death, but Lucy Kaopaulu Peabody reorganized the club in 1905, and it continues to this day. Funeral The Legislature had to raise $6,000 for her funeral expenses including a coffin made from fine kou and koa wood. Her funeral ceremony also revived many funeral rites of the Native Hawaiians including the kanikau (grief wailing) and public hula performances. The wailing lasted for weeks. Many loyal Hawaiians walked