Ciguatera in the Gilbert Islands- — -COOPER 
followed by a severe pain high in his stomach, 
accompanied by violent vomiting and diarrhea. 
He lost his sense of balance, his legs became 
powerless, and he just lay on his bed, suffering 
from acute pain in his stomach for a week. Af- 
ter this time the pain in his stomach eased, and 
he felt that perhaps he was not going to die. 
During the second week, although he suffered 
from intense itchiness, he began to feel much 
better and slowly regained his sense of balance. 
When he left his bed, he said, he almost had to 
relearn to walk. By the third week he was very 
much better, the itchiness finally having sub- 
sided with the flaking away of the skin from 
all over his body. This was the first time that 
this man had been poisoned, and he thought 
that it was because he was a newcomer to the 
island and had not had time to build up an im- 
munity to the poison. The other five men, who 
ate the eel with him, had been living on Canton 
Island for some months, and considered that 
they had become partly immune to toxic fish 
during the time they had lived there. At that 
time, 1947, mild cases of ciguatera poisoning 
on Canton Island were not infrequent. 
SOME GILBERTESE REMEDIES FOR 
CIGUATERA POISONING 
Gilbertese have a variety of herbal remedies 
for ciguatera poisoning but, apart from an 
emetic, it is doubtful if any of them is of real 
value. If a fish has already been eaten and is then 
thought to be toxic, the best thing is to get rid 
of it. An emetic may be made from the juice 
of a commonly found spurge, "te tarai,” Euphor- 
bia atoto (Forst). A few drops of the milky 
sap are squeezed into a small drinking coconut 
and this, when drunk, usually has the desired 
effect. 
One of the oldest remedies may be made 
from the fruits of the Indian mulberry, "te non,’’ 
Morinda citrifolia (Linnaeus). Three unripe 
fruits are crushed with three ripe fruits and 
mixed with the juice from a drinking coconut; 
sometimes only three unripe fruits are used. 
This very bitter concoction is one dose, which 
may be repeated when needed. 
A newer but very popular remedy on the 
more northern islands may be made from the 
buds of the seedless breadfruit tree, "te buki- 
415 
raro,” Artocarpus sp. One terminal bud is finely 
chopped, put in a cloth, and squeezed with 
about half an inch of rain water in a mug until 
all the juice is extracted. This must be drunk 
immediately, and is one dose. It may be repeated 
as often as necessary. Another new remedy is 
made from the fruits of the papaya, Carica pa- 
paya (Linnaeus). Several unripe fruits are 
chopped and crushed and the milky sap ex- 
tracted. This is added to an unspecified amount 
of rain water; the mixture must be boiled and 
taken as soon as it is cool enough. This is again 
one dose and may be repeated when required. 
Finally, a very popular medicine for many 
ailments, including ciguatera poisoning, may be 
made from the fruits of the saltbush, "te mao,” 
Scaevola frutescens (Mill); an indefinite num- 
ber of ripe fruits are gathered, and the bitter 
juice from them is squeezed into a drinking co- 
conut. This dose may be repeated when it is 
thought to be needed. 
SOME GILBERTESE OPINIONS ABOUT 
CIGUATERA POISONING 
Gilbertese opinions as to the cause of toxicity 
in fishes vary from island to island, and even 
between individuals. On Abemama, Nonouti, 
Tabiteuea, Onotoa, Bern, and Nukunau the 
islanders say that the fish have been toxic since 
a vessel was wrecked on the reef which is toxic 
at the present time, and blame the wrecks for 
the toxicity. On Tarawa the war with its result- 
ing bombs, increase in shipping and in rubbish 
of various sorts dumped in the sea, is blamed 
for the violent increase in toxicity which began 
in about 1944. On Butaritari the increase in 
shipping and above all the rubbish dumped by 
the ships during the war is. thought to have 
caused the poisoning there. All these islanders 
agree with Randall (1958), who found that on 
many islands wrecks were cited as the location 
of a toxic reef, and that rubbish dumped in the 
sea was often blamed for toxicity. Randall’s 
hypothesis (1958) that toxicity may be caused 
by an alga that is the first alga to grow on a new 
substrate appears at first sight to be borne out 
by these Gilbertese statements. Wrecks, rub- 
bish, and bomb craters all form new surfaces 
in the sea. 
On Marakei, where toxicity suddenly ap- 
peared in 1946, the people blame a certain kind 
