136 SISSANO. 
be quite impracticable to make a second infusion. In those cultures 
the dried root after comminution by chewing or pounding undergoes 
the process of maceration, the minute fragments of the woody fiber 
of the root being removed from the infusion by being caught in a 
tangle of hibiscus fiber. ‘This is the converse of straining, whereby 
the material might be conserved for future use if such were considered 
desirable; for the hibiscus swab collects the particles and they are 
then thrown away in the process of shaking out the swab. Even if 
the particles were kept, as would be the case in a process of straining 
whereby the liquid was removed from the solid rather than the solid 
removed from the liquid by swabbing, it is not easy to see what second 
use could be made of the remnant, for the first maceration dissolves 
out practically all the active principle contained in the starch-cells 
of the root, and I have certified to myself that the portion removed by 
the swab retains almost none of the characteristic flavor of the fresh 
root and probably little of its active principle. 
In the region of the secret societies of the Banks Group it is noted 
by our author (p. 225) that the religious character of kava use argues 
against the recent introduction from Polynesia of the custom. We 
should note in a most important addition to this fact the further fact 
that in Polynesia kava is not in the least associated with religious 
custom or religious ideas. We do find kava used by the gods (a per- 
tinent example is in the Samoan story of peeping Pava in my manu- 
scripts), but such use is exactly as is the use of man on the earth below, 
a social custom. ‘The nearest suggestion of religious idea may be 
conceived to appear in the libation to the divine principle which per- 
sists in Samoan usage. In spilling a few drops of the infusion upon 
the pavement just at the edge of the house the first who drinks mur- 
murs the phrase “‘Let the god drink; this recognition is decorous.” 
But as this is used as a grace before any meat it will be manifest that 
it does not particularize the use of kava. 
Several notes find place along with the remarks of Dr. Rivers (p. 226) 
upon the chewing or pounding of the root. It must be understood 
clearly that the island taste does not revolt at the practice of having 
the root chewed in the mouths of others and no part of the operation 
seems unbecoming. In fact, I venture to record that as a result of 
long experience with kava in all parts of the Pacific it is not mere idle 
fancy to hold and to express the opinion that there is a distinct dif- 
ference in the quality of the infusion which can be traced only to the 
difference in the mode of preparing the root for maceration. When 
made from pounded root the infusion has a raw flavor quite inferior 
to the smoother blend when chewed. In the latter process we have 
not only the stimulation of the salivary glands in normal response 
to the presence within the mouth of a foreign substance, but the active 
peppery principle of the root set free by solution within the ruptured 
