'letter xx.] A POLYNESIAN NARCOTIC. 



195 



committee which sat upon the subject reported " that such 

 prohibition is not practicable, unless its growth and cultivatioir 

 are prevented. So long as public sentiment permits the open 

 violation of the existing laws regulating its sale without rebuke, 

 so long will it be of little use to attempt prohibition." One 

 cannot be a day on the islands without hearing wonderful 

 stories about awa; and its use is defended by some who are 

 strongly opposed to the use as well as abuse of intoxicants. 

 People who like " The Earl and the Doctor " delight them- 

 selves in the strongly sensuous element which pervades Poly- 

 nesian life, delight themselves too, in contemplating the 

 preparation and results of the awa beverage ; but both are to 

 me extremely disgusting, and I cannot believe that any drink, 

 which stupefies the senses, and deprives a human being of the 

 power to exercise reason and will, is anything but hurtful to the 

 moral nature. 



While passing the Navigator group, one of my fellow- 

 passengers, who had been for some time in Tutuila, de- 

 scribed the preparation of awa poetically, the root "being 

 masticated by the pearly teeth of flower-clad maidens ; " but 

 I was an accidental witness of a nocturnal " awa drinking" 

 on Hawaii, and saw nothing but very plain prose. I feel as if 

 I must approach the subject mysteriously. I had no time to 

 tell you of the circumstance when it occurred, when also I 

 was completely ignorant that it was an illegal affair ; and now 

 with a sort of " guilty knowledge " I tremble to relate what I 

 saw, and to divulge that though I could not touch the beverage, 

 I tasted the root, which has an acrid, pungent taste, something 

 like horse-radish, with an aromatic flavour in addition, and I 

 can imagine that the acquired taste for it must, like other 

 acquired tastes, be perfectly irresistible, even without the 

 additional gratification of the results which follow its exercise. 



In the particular instance which I saw, two girls who were 

 not beautiful, and an old man who would have been hideous 

 but for a set of sound, regular teeth, were sitting on the ground 

 masticating the awa root, the process being contemplated with 

 extreme interest by a number of adults. When, by careful 

 chewing, they had reduced the root to a pulpy consistence, 

 they tossed it into a large calabash, and relieved their mouths 

 of superfluous saliva before preparing a fresh mouthful. This 

 went on till a considerable quantity was provided, and then 

 water was added, and the mass was kneaded and stirred with 

 the hands till it looked like soap suds. It was then strained ; 



