NATIONAL BEVERAGES. 325 
to minute particles, which, according to regular Polyne- 
sian usage, is done by chewing—a task in Fiji devolving 
upon lads who have sound teeth, and occupy a certain 
social rank towards the man for whom they perform the 
office. In other Polynesian islands it is done by young 
women. When a sufficient quantity has been chewed, 
the masticated mass is placed in a bowl made of the 
wood of the Vesi (Afzelia bijuga, A. Gray), and having 
four legs and a piece of rope attached to it, which, when 
the bowl is brought in, is thrown towards the greatest 
man present, and guides those who happen to arrive in 
ignorance of his rank in observing the ceremonies re- 
quired from them. Some Fijians make it a point to 
chew as great a quantity as possible in one mouthful ; 
and there is a man of this sort at Verata, famous all 
over the group, who is able within three hours’ time to 
chew a single mouthful sufficient to intoxicate fifty per- 
sons. Fortunately, Kava, unlike distilled spirits, does not 
render people quarrelsome; and Fijians, on extolling 
the virtues of their national beverage, often make this 
observation. On public occasions, or at convivial meet- 
ings, when the chewed root is placed in the bowl, and 
water is poured on, the whole assembly begin to chant 
appropriate songs, accompanied by the beating of little 
sticks on a bamboo or log of wood, and this is kept up 
until the dregs of the root have been strained through 
the fibres of the Vau (different species of Paritiwm), or 
in the absence of them, through fern leaves. When the 
beverage is ready, the chant is discontinued, and the 
priest or any head man present pronounces a toast or 
prayer over it, after which the first cup—a cocoa-nut 
