HISTORICAL.
“Among the customs peculiar to the inhabitants of the South Pacific Islands, perhaps the most noted is that of the preparation and drinking of a narcotic beverage called ava, kava, or yakona. Much of its notoriety arises from the repulsive way in which it is sometimes made. Aside from this, it is characteristic of a certain oceanic area, and seems to be as strikingly limited to this area as is the stick-and-groove method of making fire. The custom, is not confined to one ethnic stock, many notices in literature showing that both Papuans and Polynesians practise it. In many of the islands the Liquor is concocted by chewing the root of the Macropiper methysticum, or long pepper, ejecting the comminuted mass into a bowl, adding water, straining out the pulp, and drinking the fluid. In other localities it is made by simply grating the root and adding water.
“The plant from which kava is made is a shrub of the natural order Piperaceae. It is about six feet high with stems ranging from an inch to an inch and a half in thickness; the leaves are cordate and from four to eight inches long. This family is the source of the pepper of commerce and contains several species that are of medicinal and commercial importance.
In making kava, the root and base of the stem is used. The roots usually weigh from two to four pounds, though sometimes as much as 22 pounds. Several varieties are distinguished by the natives; for instance, in Tahiti there is a yellow variety called Marea; another, which becomes pink on exposure to the air, is called avini-ute.
“Chewed when freshly gathered, the root first tastes sweet and aromatic, then bitter, acrid and pungent. It provokes abundant secretion of saliva and in a few seconds occasions a sensation of burning on the tongue. The root contains about fifty percent of starch, a little pale-yellow essential oil, two percent of an acrid resin, and one percent of the neutral crystalline principle methysticin, called kavahin. To the latter principle we must attribute the toxic qualities of the kava preparation. The resin and the kavahin are insoluble in water, but are soluble in saliva and the gastric juices.
“In Samoa, the ava root is grated or chewed, then soaked, the woody pulp strained off, and the fluid drunk. The root is used either dry or green. The flavor of the liquid is at first like that of soapsuds, but immediately afterward a pleasant aromatic taste is imparted, faintly bitter, as in quinine. In Samoa, ava drinking is the accompaniment of all meetings of the men.
“Kava is at first stimulating, but the effect of an excess resembles that of opium, producing a drowsy drunkenness, lasting for two hours. The inebriate is usually peaceable, but sometimes is irritated by noises, which is attributed by natives to the use of kava grown in moist ground. The results of excess are skin disease, emaciation, and general decrepitude. The peculiar whiteness of the skin caused by kava drinking is said to be sought after in some islands as a sign that its possessor is wealthy enough to devote his time to its acquirement.
“There is some misapprehension in regard to whether the liquid undergoes fermentation before it is consumed, but it is positively known that there can be no fermentation, for the liquor is drunk immediately after the addition of water to the macerated root. Kava that is prepared by chewing is said to be more palatable, which is perhaps due to the conversion of the starch into a fermentable substance by the ptyalin of the saliva.”[1]
[1]—By Walter Hough—Reprinted from Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections—No. 1472—August 1904. “Kava Drinking as Practised by the Papuans and Polynesians.”