Under the gaze of many sparkling eyes Kivi pierced green cocoanuts
brought him fresh from the climbing, and poured the cool wine of
them over the masticated _kava_. He mixed it thoroughly and then
with his hands formed balls of the oozy mass, from which he squeezed
the juice into another _tanoa_ glazed a deep, rich blue by its
frequent saturation in _kava_. When this trough was quite full of a
muddy liquid, he deftly clarified it by sweeping through it a net of
cocoanut fiber. All the while he chanted in a deep resonant voice
the ancient song of the ceremony.

"_U haanoho ia te kai, a tapapa ia te kai!_" he called with
solemnity when the last rite was performed. "Come to supper; all is
ready."

"_Menike_," he said to me, "You know that to drink _kava_ you must
be of empty stomach. After eating, _kava_ will make you sick. If you
do not eat as soon as you have drunk it, you will not enjoy it. Take
it now, and then eat, quickly."

He dipped a shell in the trough, tossed a few drops over his
shoulder to propitiate the god of the _kava_-drinking, and placed
the shell in my hands.

Ugh! The liquor tasted like earth and water, sweetish for a moment
and then acrid and pungent. It was hard to get down, but all the men
took theirs at a gulp, and when Kivi gave me another shellful, I
followed their pattern.

"_Kai! Kai._ Eat! Eat!" Kivi shouted then. The women hurried forward
with the food, and we fell to with a will. Pig and _popoi_, shark
sweetbreads, roasted breadfruit and sweet potatoes, fruits and
cocoanut-milk leaped from the broad leaf platters to wide-open mouths.
Hardly a word was spoken. The business of eating proceeded rapidly,
in silence, save for the night-rustling of the palms and the soft
sound of the women's hastening bare feet.

Only, as he saw any slackening, Kivi repeated vigorously, "_Kai! Kai!_"

I sat with my back against the wall of the house of Broken Plate, as
I ate quickly at the mandate of my host, and soon I felt the need of
this support. The feast finished, the guests reclined upon the mats.
Women and children were devouring the remnants left upon the leaf
platters. The torches had been extinguished, all but one. Its
flickering gleam fell upon the aged face of Kivi, and the whites of
his eyes caught and reflected the light. The tattooing that framed
them appeared like black holes from which the sparks glinted
uncannily, and the _kava_ mounting to his brain or to mine gave those
sparks a gh