692 NOTE ON THE "KEU" OF THE MACLAY-COAST, NEW GUINEA, 



sufficient reason for calling the " Keu " fin the concentration 

 used at that coast) a very intoxicating drink. It is more a 

 soporific. 



Regarding the immediate effects of the " Keu," I will translate 

 a portion of letter written by me some 12 years ago, and puljlished 

 in the " Isvestia" of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society. (1) 



"The natives who have drunk their usual portion of "Keu" 

 " enter soon into a melancholic sleepy state, staggering they retire 

 " from their companions, sit down in some comparatively shady 

 " corner, and stare intently on something round, spit freely, on 

 " account of the bitter taste of the " K6u " remaining a long time 

 " in the mouth and fall at last into an agitated but heavy sleep. 

 " It is difficult then to wake them and to make them understand 

 " anything. The greater number of men take only such a quantity 

 " of " Keu " that after dozing for 10 or 20 minutes, they awake 

 " quite themselves again. With the drinking of the " Keu " the 

 " meal (during a feast) begins. Nothing is eaten before, and the 

 " indulgers of greater quantities of " Keu " take only the same and 

 " eat nothing, because they fall asleep for hours. I never saw the 

 " " Keu" make the natives noisy, or quarrelsome — very likely the 

 " stuff acts too quickly, at all events the effects of the " Keu " are 

 " very different from those of alcohol." 



Wishing to know by my own experience the taste and the effects 

 of the " K6u " and finding with Capt. (now Admiral) I. E. Erskine, 

 E.N., that "its preparation is not so disgusting as the accounts 

 of some travellers had led me to expect," (Loc. cit., p. 49), I took 

 once, during my first stay at the Maclay-Coast (in 1871 and 72), a 

 dose (equal to an average portion usually taken by natives), about 

 sixty grammes. The stuff was without a special scent, of a bitter 

 and astringent taste, and a bitter and slightly aromatic after-taste. 

 About 10 minutes after taking the " Keu, " I felt giddy and my 

 legs objected to hold me. I was glad to find that I could sit down 

 where I was standing, and felt that I could not resist sleep. After 

 half-an-hour's sleep I was all right again. I did not care to repeat 

 the trial. 



(1) "Isvestia" of the Imp. Russ. Geograp. Soc, Vol. X., IST-l, p. 85. 



