306 ON KAVA OR AVA. 



mild form, the rapid action, or the lasting effects of the intoxication which 

 it produces. 



The Piper meihysticum is a shrub, the root of which weighs, on an 

 average, from 2 to 4 lbs., but which often attains larger dimensions, weigh- 

 ing 22 lbs. and more. It is entirely covered with a grey epidermis, white 

 in the interior, sometimes of a citron yellow colour, as in the variety called 

 Marea. The spirit prepared with this variety is yellower than that which 

 is obtained from all the others. Occasionally it acquires a rosy tint, by ex- 

 posure to the air, as in the variety Avini- Ute. The root loses 55 per cent, 

 of water on drying, becomes very light, and assumes a yellowish colour. 



Chewed in the freshly-gathered state, it tastes first sweet and aromatic, 

 then bitter, acrid, and pungent. It provokes abundant salivation, and in the 

 course of a few seconds, occasions a sensation of burning on the tongue. 



Ava is not much cultivated in Tahiti, the use of the drink being nearly 

 obsolete. Some old men may still be met with, however, on the Peninsula 

 who are unable to acquire a taste for our alcoholic liquors, and who, when- 

 ever a great occasion occurs, subject themselves to privations in order to 

 save sufficient money to purchase a root of Ava, for which they sometimes 

 pay as much as 5 piastres. 



At the Marquesas, its cultivation is carefully attended to, and many 

 varieties of the plant are found there. The natives drink, in company, 

 every morning, one or more draughts of this inebriating beverage, but like 

 the Tahitiens, they prefer the more powerful intoxication produced by wine, 

 gin, absinth, and brandy, to the milder effects of Kava. At the Tonga 

 islands, this indigenous spirit has maintained all its ancient uses and repu- 

 tation. 



Method of preparing the Kava Spirit. — The roots are chewed by girls, or 

 in their absence, by boys. For this delicate operation only those are 

 selected who have good teeth. Before commencing, they wash their mouths 

 and hands, and arrange special vessels, of unexceptionable cleanliness, for 

 the reception of the masticated root. 



They never use any other than fresh roots, which chew very much 

 better than the dry. The mastication is slowly performed, and no morsel 

 of root is ejected until the fibrous tissue is thoroughly divided, and the 

 whole forms a homogeneous bolus. 



When the supply of Kava is chewed (the quantity varies according to 

 the number of those who are to partake of it), the fibrous boluses, yellow 

 and viscid with saliva, are collected in a large bowl of wood, supported on 

 three legs, called Umete,* and they are then mixed with a certain quantity 

 of water, and gently squeezed by the hand. The mixture being effected, 

 the ligneous particles, which float in the liquid, are removed by means of 

 a handful of the filaments of the Cyperus cinctus (M6u), prepared at the 

 time by crushing the green and tender stalks of the plant, and drawing 

 them repeatedly between two pieces of wood. Passed with care and fre- 



* Specimens of these vessels may be seen in the Museum at Kew.— Ed. 



