ere, so that we saw no instances of its
effects; and as they considered drunkenness as a disgrace, they probably
would have concealed from us any instances which might have happened
during our stay. This vice is almost peculiar to the chiefs, and
considerable persons, who vie with each other in drinking the greatest
number of draughts, each draught being about a pint. They keep this
intoxicating juice with great care from their women.[10]

[Footnote 10: Turnbull speaks of intoxication being quite common and
excessive at the feasts of the Otaheitans. And the reader will often
hear of the intemperate use and had effects of the ava or yava. The love
of this liquor, or its effects rather, must indeed be strong, to
reconcile them to the disgusting manner in which it is prepared.
"Several women," says the missionary account, "have each a portion
given them to chew of the stem and root (of the yava shrub) together,
which, when masticated, they spit into a bowl into which some of the
leaves of the plant are finely broken; they add water, or cocoa-nut
liquor: The whole is then well stirred, and begins quickly to ferment;
when it is strained or wrung out in the moo gross, or cocoa-nut fibres,
and drank in cups of folded leaves. It is highly intoxicating, and seems
for a while to deprive them of the use of their limbs: They lie down and
sleep till the effects are passed, and during the time have their limbs
chafed with their women's hands. A gill of the yava is a sufficient dose
for a man. When they drink it, they always eat something afterwards; and
frequently fall asleep with the provisions in their mouths: When drank
after a hearty meal, it produces but little effect." The writer forgets
his authority, but he remembers to have read of a practice somewhat more
economical, though not more delicate, than what is adopted at Otaheite.
The people are all passionately fond of the intoxicating beverage
prepared from mushrooms; as the common sort cannot procure it at first
hand, owing to its price, they are in the habit of attending at the
houses of the grandees, where entertainments are going on, provided with
vessels for the purpose of collecting the urine of the favoured few who
have drunk of it, which they eagerly swallow. The peculiar smell and
flavour, it seems, are preserved notwithstanding this percolation, and
are considered amply remunerative of the pains and importunity used to
obtain it. Such things are strikingly expressive