CHURCHILL— SAMOAN KAVA CUSTOM 



Kava, da sie durch die Einwirkung des Speichelferments milder 

 wird," in which I understand his adjective to refer to the correction 

 of what I have described as the raw flavor of unchewed kava. 



We find a few instances in which pre-ptyalization is practised. In 

 the communities of the kava custom we have observed the feeding of 

 infants with solid food of a predominant starchy content even in the 

 very early period of lactation and long before weaning. The nursing 

 mothers masticate breadfruit until thoroughly moistened with saliva 

 and feed these boluses to children while at the breast. The same food 

 thus prepared is fed to the pet pigeons (manutagi, Ptilonopus fascia- 

 tus) and it is a common spectacle to see the Samoan mother dividing 

 a bolus between the two dependents on her affection. 



In Formosa rice is chewed and allowed to ferment in preparation 

 of an intoxicating beverage. This, and the next items, differ from the 

 kava of the Pacific in that the action of the salivary enzyme is 

 followed by alcoholic fermentation. 



In Andean Peru and Bolivia we find the fermented and intoxicant 

 liquor chicha or chica prepared by ptyalization of grain. It is prepared 

 from maize which is chewed by women until thoroughly saturated 

 with the saliva and then set aside to undergo alcoholic fermentation. 



Notes on a collection of Conebo pottery 1 gathered by DrFarabee 

 in his Amazons expedition establish a new locus for this drink, which 

 formerly had been considered to pertain only to Andean culture. 

 "The largest of all [the pots] are made primarily to hold the intoxi- 

 cating drink used at the puberty ceremony for girls. At the time of 

 this ceremony a great fiesta is held when all drink freely of chichi, the 

 native intoxicating liquor made from fermented pica (sweet casava) 

 and corn. The mother of the girl makes one or more of these very 

 large pots to hold the supply of liquor for this occasion. After the 

 ceremony they may be used for any kind of storage purposes. The 

 largest one in the collection sent to the museum, which is the largest 

 I ever saw, was filled with beans. Another of the jars was filled with 

 unfermented drink. To make the chichi the younger women chew the 

 root of the juca until saliva is thoroughly mixed with it and then spit 

 it into a large wooden trough made from the hollowed trunk of a tree. 

 The trough is then placed in the sun for two or three days while the 

 mass ferments. Ripe corn is then finely ground and added with water. 

 Fermentation continues for two days more, during which the liquor 

 is constantly stirred. The girls strain it through closely woven baskets 

 of palm into the large pots where it is allowed to ripen for three or 



1 University of Pennsylvania Museum Journal, VI, 97. 

 [59] 



