BY N. DE MIKLOUIIO-MACLAY. 693 



The natives on the Maclay-Coast never complained to me about 

 any bad effects of prolonged excessive nse of the Keu-drink, effects 

 something like the Tahitian " arevareva." (1) 



As the use of the " Kava," on the islands of the Pacific, is, as 

 far as we know, a very ancient custom, it appears to me of 

 importance, for Ethnology and Ethnography, that the distribu- 

 tion of this custom on the islands shoiild be carefully recorded, 

 especially, as the same is gradually disappearing before the 

 invasion of the white man. (2) Such records of the use of 

 the plant, of the mode of preparation of the beverage, the 

 ceremonies connected with the drinking of the same, may lead 

 to the solving of interesting ethnographical questions. 



According to Gerland (3), the use ot the *' Kava" has been 

 known on all the Islands of Polynesia, with the exception of 

 Mangareva Ar"" , and New Zealand (4) ; in both cases, as 

 Gerland supposes, because, the emigrants to these Islands, when 

 emigrating have not imported the plant with them and have not 

 found the same in their new homes. 



(1) The daily use of the drug " Kava" is sometimes followed by a kind 

 of skin disease, called in Tahiti "arevareva." The effect on those who 

 are addicted to tlie use of "Kava" for any length of time is to produce 

 obscurity of vision, red conjunctiva, and yellow colouration of the teeth, 

 while the skin, where thick, becomes dry, scaly, cracked and ulcerated, 

 and the body becomes emaciated and decrepit. (" Kava " in the Encyclo- 

 pEcdia Britannica, Vol. XIV. of the 9th edition, p. IS.) The scars 

 produced by the ulcers of " arevareva " were regaided on many islands of 

 the Pacific as "marks of honour," because only people of rank could 

 indulge freely in the use of "Kava." [Waitz and Gerland. Anthro- 

 pologic der Naturviilker, 6er Theil. Die Volker der Siidsee. Dritte 

 Abtheilung. Leipzig, 1872, p. 60.) 



(2) Mariner, when he was at Wahoo (Sandwich Islands), in the 

 beginning of this century saw the "Kava" drunk twice as a luxury, and 

 was told that several of the old men still preferred it to spirit. Four years 

 later Campbell (Voyage Round the World) never saw the " Ava" employed 

 (at the Sandwich Islands) but as a medicine to prevent corpulency, ardent 

 spirits being adopted as a luxury instead of it. (AV. Mariner's account of 

 the Tonga Islands, compiled and arranged by John Martin, M.D. London, 

 1818, Vol. I., p. XLIX.) 



(3) Waitz Gerland. Loc. cit., 6ter. Th., pp. 59, 60, 61. 



(4) In New Zealand the name " Kawa '' is given to another species of 

 Piper — the Piper excelsum. Waitz Gerland, Loc. cit., p. 60. 



