132 SISSANO. 
Some facts may be mentioned in favor of this mode of origin of the use of 
kava. In the Bismarck Archipelago, according to Stephan and Graebner, 
the pepper used as a constituent of betel mixture is probably Piper methys- 
ticum, suggesting that the betel people found this plant when they reached 
this region and substituted it for that they had used in their former home. 
Further, the betel pepper is known in various parts of Polynesia as kavakava- 
atua (Marquesas), ‘ava‘avaaitu (Samoa), and avaava-atua (Tahiti). ‘These 
names clearly indicate the sacred character of the plant, and it seems possible 
that this sanctity is due to the tradition of the existence and use of this 
plant in the former home of the kava people. It may be noted that one of 
the very few plants used in Tikopia as a remedy is the kavakava, which may 
be the betel pepper. 
I suggest, then, that the use of kava was a development of the practice 
of chewing betel, a view which has already been advanced in somewhat 
different form by Christian (Caroline Islands, 189). ‘This seems to furnish 
by far the most probable explanation of the origin of a practice which is 
distinctly Oceanic. 
One alternative must be mentioned. It is possible that the practices of 
drinking kava and chewing betel do not indicate two successive migrations, 
but have arisen only through the absence of the proper constituents of betel 
mixture in certain parts of Oceania. ‘Thus, it might be held that the absence 
of betel chewing in southern Melanesia, Fiji, and Polynesia is due to the 
absence of the areca palm, so that it was only in these parts of Oceania that 
the immigrants were driven to the exclusive use of a betel pepper identical 
with, or similar to, that used in betel chewing. It might seem to be in favor 
of this view that the areca palm is said to be absent in Fiji and Polynesia, 
although its presence has been recorded in the New Hebrides. 
There are, however, two sets of facts which make this alternative improb- 
able. There can be little doubt that many of the food plants and other 
objects of economic importance of Oceania have been introduced by the 
immigrant peoples to whom I have ascribed the use of kava and betel; we 
should then have to explain why these immigrants failed to introduce the 
arcea palm in a similar way. Still more conclusive, however, is the fact 
that the presence and mode of use of both kava and betel in Vanikolo and 
Tikopia show that there have been successive introductions of the two 
substances. I have therefore no hesitation in adhering to my hypothesis 
of the two streams of migration into Melanesia which I denote by their 
respective uses of kava and betel. (Chapter xxvi, pp. 243-257.) 
(Tikopia.) The evidence of outside influence was of the slightest; very 
few of the people wore anything but the native dress, a loin cloth of tapa 
stained with turmeric. They swarmed over the ship in the most fearless 
and free manner, talking vociferously and ready to lay hands on any object 
which took their fancy, their general appearance and their teeth and lips 
stained red with betel mixture driving some new members of the crew to 
hide themselves in alarm. . . . We visited one of the chiefs . . . and were 
given some excellent food consisting of sago flavored with coconut. (Vol. I, 
Pp. 298-299.) 
(Tikopia.) At the death of a chief another chief comes to make an offering 
of kava before burial takes place and it is probable that this offering is also 
made in the case of ordinary people. (Vol. I, p. 313.) 
(Tikopia.) All the relatives would abstain from betel, but only for about 
two months. . . . For the first ten days after death offerings of food and 
kava are made at the grave daily and betel is usually offered too. These 
offerings of food and occasionally of betel continue indefinitely, probably 
