Headlong cast them into ditches;
Kill our foes, but spare thy servants.”
[18]. The women, who are the drawers of water.
When the priest finished drinking, all the company clapped their hands together quickly in time, ending abruptly with a loud shout, which was caught up by those outside the ring, and was carried to the most distant outskirt of the town.
This part of the ceremony reminded me of the scene in “Hamlet.”
“And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without,
The cannons to the Heavens, the Heavens to earth,
Now the king drinks to Hamlet.”
When the King drank, and those next of high rank in their proper order, the same formulas were observed. After each draught, the string of the kava bowl was always thrown towards the man next in rank, whose turn it now was. Each cup, which generally measured a pint and a half, was drained without pausing.