662 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION G. 



he expeotorates straight out with a vengeance that would beat 

 the proverbial Yankee hollow. The expectorating is done 

 with a whish j)ecnliarly its own. Tlie effect on an onlooker 

 is peculiar. A still evening settling into the gloom of night; 

 half a dozen privileged youths bursting with fun ; a dozen or 

 more men sitting round a iire looking at one another without 

 seeing one another ; the gulp of deglutition and the whish of 

 expectoration that seems to come in between the chirps of 

 innumerable crickets. In the midst of one such scene a 

 violent earthquake made the earth heave and the trees sway 

 to and fro. 



The effect on individuals depends on the quahty of the 

 kava root, the strength and quantity of the potion, and the 

 idiosyncrasies of the individual. Chewing the root paralyses 

 the sense of taste and teeling in the tongue. If the dose has 

 been sufficient (I speak from observation and enquiry — my 

 experience has never extended beyond chewing a bit of small 

 root), the eyes soon become affected and things go round, as 

 natives say. The speech becomes slow and thick ; the legs 

 are partly paralysed ; the gait is irregular, very much like 

 the steps of a landsman newly on board a ship pitching in a 

 heavy sea. The et!ect lasts for some hours, but gradually 

 subsides. The power of kava can be very much increased 

 by the addition of leaves, flowers, &;c, of other plants. An 

 almost powerless draught of kava can be so intensified to 

 produce something equivalent to the dehrium of our 

 "drunks." When a man has "got 'em badly," he has to be 

 thrashed into his senses, and has foi- days thereafter a violent 

 headache. I once had to do with an English trader who was 

 thus drugged. He had been boasting that the kava had no 

 effect on him. So the natives added the leaf of a plant 

 imported to Tanna, and then gathered to see the " fmi." The 

 man nearly tore the house down and saw " snakes " all night. 

 It took him several days to recover. The flower of the rose 

 apple is also used in kava to intensify its effects, and there 

 are other plants so used. 



So far as I can gather, the use of kava never produces an 

 effect similar to the craving for drink. No man would ever 

 think of touching kava till the evening hour. Anyone can 

 give up its use at will. The drinking of it is a sort of 

 sentiment— a thing a good Tannaman ought to do. Natives 

 have compared it to our use of tea, and have said they feel 

 weak without, and strong with, kava. There are doubtless 

 religious beliefs connected with its use. Perhaps they have 



