HOLMES ANNIVERSARY VOLUME 



knowledge arose of the quality which makes kava such a pleasure 

 to an enjoyment-loving people. 



Le la'au o le 'ava 

 na tupua'i i Suasami'ava'ava. 

 Na alu ane le 'imoa, gau le ata, 

 fono 'i le tolo, na iloa ai tagata. 



The bush of the kava 



sprouted in Suasami'ava'ava. 



The rat passed by, chewed the stalk, 



took a snack of sugar-cane, men saw it. 



Here we find the discovery arising out of observation of animals. 

 It is interesting to note that Captain Ernest Rason, R.N., has com- 

 municated to me a similar story from Yemen as offering the dis- 

 covery of the value of coffee: A goatherd in the mountains observed 

 that his flock nibbled the leaves of a certain shrub and seemed plea- 

 surably affected; he tried it for himself, found that he had as much 

 enjoyment as a goat, gave coffee to a waiting and appreciative world. 

 The similarity of these myths of discovery is at least enhanced by the 

 similarity of the names of the two great plants, Arabic gahwe and 

 Polynesian kava, though it would be injudicious to base any linguistic 

 speculations upon a resemblance which is but fortuitous. 



In the long and intricate narrative of the history of the demigod 

 Pili of western Samoa we find the fuller explanation of the foregoing 

 lay. Suasami'ava'ava was the son of a king of Fiji and a Samoan 

 wise woman. When he lay dying he bade his mother not to uproot 

 the plants which might sprout from his grave. She saw the rat nibble 

 one and grow dizzy, nibble the other and recover, for these were the 

 kava and the sugar-cane. These great treasures she brought back to 

 Samoa. 



In eastern Samoa the origin of these blessings, as of most others, is 

 ascribed to Manu'a as the first home of mankind, the first land to 

 emerge upon earth from the chaos of waters. 



Fagaina se tamaloa Tafuna 

 na 'aumai 'ava mai Manu'a. 

 Le 'ava e toia nei, 

 le 'ava e atia nei, 

 le 'ava e maia nei. 



Fagaina a man of Tafuna 

 fetched kava from Manu'a. 

 The kava was planted here, 

 the kava was uprooted here, 

 the kava was chewed here. 



The same thought is expressed more positively in another lay: 



Se 'ava 'ea lena maifea? 

 'O le 'ava lenei mai luluga, 

 'o le 'ava o le Tuimanu'a, 

 'o le 'ava nei ona muamua. 



That kava, whence comes it? 

 This is the kava from up the wind, 

 the kava of Tuimanu'a, 

 this is the first kava of all. 



In another poem an anonymous Aulus Gellius of the South Sea 

 records the varying tales without undertaking to determine their com- 

 parative accuracy: 



[64] 



