90 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
resident in Fiji had 6 ounces of the root chewed and found 
thaé after the operation it weighed 17 oz., a gain of 11 oz. or 
183 per cent. of the root taken.* 
I have frequently drank Yagona prepared by both the 
pounding and the chewing methods, and I cannot say that I 
noticed any particular difference in flavour or effect, though the 
Fijians and many Europeans say it is much better when pre- 
pared by chewing. Amongst Europeans resident in Fiji the 
root is very commonly prepared for use by grating to a coarse 
powder on an ordinary vegetable grater. 
The taste of the liquid is a pungent aromatic, reminding me 
somewhat of the flavour of calamus root. Few people like it 
at first, but the taste for it is readily acquired, and it is very 
extensively and regularly used by Europeans resident in the 
islands. Yagona is a mild diuric and tonic, and is favoured by 
many medical men, it has a well-established popular reputation 
as a blood purifier. In moderate quantities it is slightly 
stimulant and tonic, especially when drank in the evening after 
a hot day. When taken in excess it is stated to produce a 
peculiar muscular intoxication, so that the drinker is unable? to 
use his limbs, the brain, however, remaining clear and but little 
affected, this state is called Mateni by the Fijians. I have never 
personally experienced this effect, though on one occasion I pur- 
posely tried to produce it by drinking as much Yagona as I 
could swallow, until I felt an uncomfortable cold dilation of the 
stomach and my thirst for knowledge became swamped in an 
amply quenched thirst for Yaqona. 
It is astonishing to see the quantity of Yaqona which natives 
and Europeans who have become habituated to it, will con- 
sume. I have repeatedly seen one man drink a tarnoa full hold- 
ing from 13 to 2 gallons, in the course of an evening, and even 
larger amounts are drunk by some individuals. The same 
amount of ordinary water would almost certainly induce an at- 
tack of dysentery. 
A very decided craving for yagona is acquired by indiyi- 
duals, but this is neither so strong nor anything like so hurtful 
in its effects, as that for alcohol. 
The Fijians call spirits and fermented liquors “lialia ni 
yagona,’ meaning literally, “the other kind of yaqona,’ and 
“yaqgona ni papalagi” or the “white man’s yaqona.” 
*Gordon-Cumming. At Home in Fiji. 1882. p. 51. 
