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The study of kava is a
treasure hunt which yields chests of gold at many turns,
not just at the end of the quest. Kava's history and the
interest generated by kava over the past two centuries
are as colorful and broad as the plant is potent, and
many who have described kava and its effects have done
so with vivid imagination and lavish language.
On Captain James Cook's first voyage to the South
Pacific on the Endeavour (1768-1771) were Daniel Carl
Solander, a Swedish botanist, and Sydney Parkinson, an
artist assigned to the task of drawing and recording
newly discovered plants along the way. These men were
probably the first non-natives to encounter and describe
kava. But it was a subsequent account of kava given by
Johann Georg Forster, a botanist who, along with his
father Johann Reinhold Forster, accompanied Captain Cook
on his second voyage on the Resolution (1771-1775), that
generated significant interest in the plant and the
beverage into which it is made.
Forster witnessed the cultivation and harvesting of
kava, the preparation of kava beverage, and the
ritualized customs surrounding the consumption of the
drink. His illustrations of the plant and his account of
its use set off a storm of interest in kava, not all of
it favorable. In some cases, accounts of kava were
grossly distorted to reflect the ideological and
religious biases of the writers.
Forster's account of kava drinking conveys just how
bizarre the ritual appeared to non - natives. In
September of 1773, while the Resolution was moored off
Raiatea, Forster witnessed two young men prepare and
drink kava inside Captain Cook's cabin. In choosing that
location, the youths were exhibiting profound respect
for Cook and his mission. But Forster was transfixed
with revulsion, rather than recognizing the deference
shown by the kava drinkers.
He commented that kava is made in the most disgusting
manner that can be imagined, from the juice contained in
the roots of a species of pepper tree. This root is cut
small, and the pieces chewed by several people, who spit
the macerated mass into a bowl, where some water of
coconuts is poured upon it. They then strain it through
a quantity of the fibres of coconuts, squeezing the
chips, till all their juices mix with the coconut milk;
and the whole liquor is decanted into another bowl. They
swallow this nauseous stuff as fast as possible; and
some old topers value themselves on being able to empty
a great number of bowls.
In "The Journal of James Morrison" the author, who
visited Tahiti between 1788 and 1791, offers a somewhat
exaggerated but not antagonistic account of kava
consumption. [Kava] almost immediately deprives them of
the use of their limbs and speech, but does not touch
the mental faculty and they appear to be in a thoughtful
mood and frequently fall backwards before they have
finished eating. Some of their attendants then attend to
chafe their limbs all over until they fall asleep and
the rest retire and no noise is suffered to be made near
them. After a few hours they are as fresh as if nothing
had happened and are ready for another dose.
The idea of naked or mostly naked black-skinned natives
chewing kava root into a pulp, spitting that pulp into a
communal vessel of preparation, making a beverage from
it, drinking it together, and altering their physical
and mental state through consumption was more than most
white European and American explorers and missionaries
in the 1800s and early 1900s could handle.
To both, the kava preparation process was filthy,
unhygienic, and thoroughly repugnant. To missionaries,
the practice of drinking kava was a heinous, devilish
act. As a result of extreme biases, accounts of kava
drinking from those periods are typically distorted and
deprecating.
In 1848 William Torrey, in "Torrey's Narrative, or the
Life and Adventures of William Torrey" offered a skewed
account of the effects of kava consumption among
natives. "Copious draughts cause a dizziness and a
horribly distorted countenance. They lose the use of
their limbs and fall and roll about on the ground, until
the stupefaction wears away."
In 1908 Thompson, in "The Fijians: A Study in the Decay
of Custom" delivered a more strident indictment of kava
consumption. "The body becomes emaciated. The skin
becomes dry and covered with scales, especially the
palms of the hands, the soles of the feet and the
forearms and the shins. Appetite is lost. Sleep is
disordered. Eyes become bloodshot. There are pains in
the pit of the stomach. The drinker sinks into
unwholesome lethargy."
In the publication Polynesian Researches, William Ellis,
a missionary in the Society Islands from 1817 to 1824,
railed unrestrained against native kava users. "They
were sometimes engaged for several days together,
drinking the spirit as it issued from the still, sinking
into a state of indescribable wretchedness and often
practicing the most ferocious barbarities. Under the
unrestrained influence of their intoxicating draught, in
their appearance and actions, they resembled demons more
than human beings."
Today the account given by Ellis is immediately
recognizable as a transparent fiction on two counts. The
first is that kava is not a spirit.
Anybody, even a meagerly informed kava antagonist, would
know that kava is completely non-alcoholic. Secondly, no
such device as a still has ever been used for the
preparation of kava. Instead of reflecting the truth in
any form, the views espoused by Ellis reflect the
zealous blindness with which many missionaries have
attacked numerous native customs deemed to be
inconsistent with the principles and practices of the
church.
In 1929 Hocart offered a more sympathetic and accurate
account of kava drinking. "It gives a pleasant, warm and
cheerful, but lazy feeling, sociable, though not
hilarious or loquacious; the reason is not obscured."
In 1948 Titcomb reported a less flattering account of
kava drinking given to him by a Hawaiian named
Kaulilinoe. "There is no admiration for the body and
face of a [kava] drinker whose eyes are sticky and whose
skin cracks like the bark of the kukui trees of Lilikoi
in unsightliness. If you are drunk with [kava], you will
find your muscles and cords limp, the head feels
weighted and the whole body too."
The mention of cracking skin is rooted in fact.
Excessive consumption of kava, in combination with
inadequate nutrition, can produce a patchy dermatitis
that is quite unsightly, and which rapidly disappears
after regular kava consumption is suspended and
nutrition is improved.
In 1967 Lemert brought to light the common effects of
kava upon attitude and outlook. "The head is affected
pleasantly; you feel friendly, not beer sentimental; you
cannot hate with kava in you. Kava quiets the mind; the
world gains no new color or rose tint; it fits in its
place and in one easily understandable whole."
It is exactly because kava is a fundamentally friendly
agent that it is used throughout Oceania as a means to
settle disputes. If two people or groups have a problem,
they come together at the kava drinking ground and they
share kava. Typically, when this is done, the problem is
quickly settled and harmony is restored. Kava drinkers
do not become belligerent or blustering. Instead they
experience a greater peace and equanimity, and they
convey that mood in their behavior and speech.
Excerpted from "Kava: Medicine Hunting in Paradise" by
Chris Kilham. |
