236  ON  THE  MATERIA  MEDICA   OF  THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 
the  Hawaiian  Dispensary.  »  The  kernels  of  these  are  stuck, 
one  over  another,  like  beads,  upon  a  fibre  of  cocoa-nut  leaf,  a 
foot  long,  and,  containing  a  considerable  proportion  of  inflam- 
mable oil,  they  give  sufficient  light  for  ordinary  purposes,  the 
flame  communicating  downward  till  the  last  piece  is  consumed. 
Sometimes  five  or  six  such  strings,  two  yards  in  length,  are 
wrapped  in  a  leaf  of  banana,  and  carried  before  the  king,  as 
flambeaux,  when  he  travels  by  night."  (Tyerman  and  Bennet's 
Journal.)  Dr.  Chapin  remarks: — "  I  know  it  to  be  used  as  a 
cathartic,  but  never  experimented  with  it  myself."  An  oil  ex- 
tracted from  this  nut  forms  an  article  of  export  for  painting — 
may  it  not  have  available  medicinal  properties  ? 
The  Piper  methysticum,  called  «  ava  "  by  the  Hawaiians,  is 
one  of  the  most  important  of  their  indigenous  Materia  Medica. 
From  it  they  prepared  a  narcotic  drink,  esteemed  throughout 
Polynesia.  The  bark  of  its  stem  is  possessed  of  the  peculiar 
properties  of  the  plant,  but  it  is  the  root  which  was  principally 
used  by  them.  "  They  prepared  it  for  use  by  mastication.  A 
person  chews  it  thoroughly,  and  ejects  it  with  the  accumulated 
saliva  into  a  dish,  in  which  state  it  is  drunk  by  the  patient. 
Most  of  their  medicines  they  prepare  in  the  same  manner."  In 
continuation,  Dr.  Chapin  says  to  the  author  : — "  I  supposed  it 
might  be  serviceable  as  an  anodyne :  I  gave  it  repeatedly  in 
powder.  It  did  not  seem  to  possess  narcotic  properties,  and 
after  a  number  of  trials  with  it  I  gave  it  up.  The  natives,  as 
they  said,  used  it  to  cure  cutaneous  diseases,  by  producing 
desquamation  of  the  cuticle.  They  give  it  daily  in  such  quanti- 
ties as  at  length  to  accomplish  the  object.  I  think  the  article 
deserves  further  trial."  Mr.  Bingham  informs  me  that  "  the 
juice  is  highly  valued,  and  was  much  used  both  as  a  luxury  and 
as  a  medicine,  as  alcohol  still  is  in  wiser  countries.  A  singular 
effect  of  taking  a  course  of  ava  was  the  cracking  and  coming  off 
of  the  cuticle  over  the  whole  body  of  the  patient,  with  which, 
it  is  maintained,  the  system  parted  with  maladies."  Mr.  Jarvis 
says  : — "  Its  effects  were  very  pernicious,  covering  the  body  with 
a  white  scurf,  *  *  *  inflaming  the  eyes  and  causing  pre- 
mature decrepitude.  It  was  also  taken  as  a  medicine,  and  was 
supposed  to  be  an  effectual  remedy  for  corpulence."  Mr.  Ellis 
speaks  of  the  "burning  effect  and  unpleasant  taste  of  the  ava." 
A  few  years  since,  a  gentleman,  long  a  resident  of  the  Islands, 
