HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



of the poisonous amanita. Many, indeed most, of these fluids which 

 bring happiness may bring stupefaction when used to excess, moral- 

 ists are ever urging moderation, in the latest stages of civic righteous- 

 ness abnegation is assumed as a virtue with its correlated prohibition 

 enforced upon the infirm of purpose. 



Now what is the class into which the Polynesian kava falls? Un- 

 fortunately it has come into our knowledge through the record of 

 earnest but stupid men who had consecrated uniformly dull lives to 

 the amelioration of the happy pagans of the island world. They were 

 temperamentally unable to distinguish between liquor and intoxicat- 

 ing liquor; because the kava bowl was the center of all social pleasure 

 the missionaries drew the conclusion that it must be an intoxicant and 

 therefore to be foregone. Acquaintance with the mode of preparation 

 of the beverage is sufficient to show its quality. It is an infusion, it is 

 of the tisane type rather than a tea, since decoction is not employed in 

 releasing the extractives of the raw material. 



The name kava, as is commonly the case in the early classes of 

 speech, is definitely distinctive; the object is designated by a quality 

 which to the simple mind appears specific. The plant and the beverage 

 bear the name kava in Tonga, Niue, Futuna, Uvea, Mangareva, Ma- 

 ngaia, the Marquesas, Nukuoro, Tikopia, Fotuna, Aneityum; kawa in 

 Maori and Rarotonga; gabai in Uap; 'ava in Samoa; ava in Tahiti and 

 the Marquesas; awa in Hawaii. Aside from its use as a noun to desig- 

 nate this plant in particular, kava appears in most of the languages of 

 the Pacific as an adjective applicable to a considerable range of mate- 

 rials which as food or as drink may be taken into the mouth. From 

 the various vocabularies of Polynesia we derive the following signifi- 

 cations: 



Bitter: Maori, Tahiti, Hawaii, Marquesas, Mangareva, Rapanui. 



Sour: Samoa, Maori, Tahiti, Hawaii, Marquesas, Rarotonga. 



Acid: Mangareva, Tuamotu, Tahiti, Rapanui. 



Acrid: Samoa, Tahiti, Mangareva. 



Salt: Mangareva, Tahiti, Rapanui. 



Sharp: Hawaii, Marquesas, Rarotonga, Tuamotu, Tahiti, Rapanui. 



Pungent: Samoa, Hawaii, Rarotonga, Tahiti. 



Unpleasant to taste: Maori, Hawaii, Tuamotu, Tahiti, Rapanui. 



Now it is quite clear that a descriptive adjective which applies 

 quite as well to salt as to pepper, to vinegar and ginger and mustard 

 alike, is not to be brought into harmony with even such loose varieties 

 of the taste sensation as we recognize. The Polynesians do not praise 

 the kava for its taste, it is the odor which appeals to their sense of 

 pleasure, as we observe in Tofaeono's acknowledgment of the receipt 



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