FIJI ISLANDS. 311 



for the meke, and the contrast between black and white was 

 most effective. 



Kaava* drinking was going on in the chief's house at the 

 time of our arrival, the young Mbau chief presiding at the 

 ceremony. It is usual to decry kaava as a drink altogether, 

 because, no doubt, of the nasty manner in which it is prepared, 

 but some persons who habitually drink it praise it as extremely 

 pleasant and cooling. Many of the resident whites at Fiji, as I 

 was told, took kaava once or twice daily, and I knew personally 

 of a German planter and an English settler who did so. It 

 seems, however, to be only at Fiji, in Polynesia, that this occurs. 

 In the Sandwich Islands and in Tahiti the Whites never think of 

 drinking kaava, but scout the idea. 



The taste is at first strange and unpleasant, and has often 

 been compared to that of Gregory's mixture. Travellers usually 

 never make more than one trial of the drink. The taste is, 

 however, certainly not more unpleasant than that of London 

 porter, for example, must be on the first occasion to Frenchmen. 

 Great satisfaction must be derived by Polynesians from the use 

 of kaava, or it w^ould not have been so universally upheld as a 

 drink amono-st them, nor would its use have become associated 

 as it is with an elaborate ceremonial. 



Usually, when the party with which I travelled in the large 

 island of Fiji entered a village, the chief of the village made a 

 request, as an offer of hospitality, that we would drink kaava 

 with him ; and we sat on his right and left hand at the head of 

 the circle, or rather long loop, formed by those present on such 

 occasions. At the bottoms of the two sides of the loop were 

 seated the servants, or a few of the lower orders of the village, 

 who crawled in crouching and cringing, expressing their humility 

 before the chief in the most ostentatious manner, looking indeed, 

 sometimes, as if they were really half afraid to come at all. 



The kaava is prepared at the opposite end of the loop from 

 that at which the chief sits. Young men with good teeth are 

 chosen to do the chewing, and they pay great regard to clean- 

 liness, rinsing their mouths and hands carefully with water 



* A solution in water of the chewed root of a Pepper (Piper methy- 

 sticum). An intoxicating drink. 



