The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-07-05
a SEDUCTIVE DRINK.
The National Beverage of Samoa anc
How 1t Is COncOcted.

The National Beverage of Samoa ant
How 1t Is Connected.
Hospitality is part of the Samoan
religion, pOliteness one of their CHIEF
characteristics, and a dishonest act the
exception. Food and shelter are vOuch.
safed to every one entering their homes
or villages, and the stranger has but
to consult his own wishes when he Is
ready to depart. Attached to every
village is a Fdlet0le, or guest-hOuse,
set apart for the recep ton, lodging and
entertainment or visitors. Generally
this is situated in the middle OF the
village, and is also used as a council
house on occasions when the chief and
the people assemble to discuss subjects
of Importance. Foreigners and WIS.,
itors from other villages are at once
conducted to this house, set apart for
their occupation, a journey of consider
BILE distance often being made es-
pecially to meet them, when they are
received by the chief of the town and
the maid whose duty it is to look after
the welfare of the guests. During the
preliminary conversation, in which the
compliments of the day are exchanged
with a lavish expenditure of persona,
fattery, the kavabOwl is produced,
and while the free interchange Of COM
pliments continues, the bewitching
nut-brown maid, with the assistance
Of her dusky attendants, begins too
masticate the seductive root. In the
meantime the villagers, being advised
of the arrival of the visitors, have as
sembled in another part of the village,
collected articles of food, and begun to
sing and march in procession towards
the Fate-tale. Boys and girls, young
and old. making a festive
display. their persons anointed
with cOcoanut oil and arrayed
in scanty toilets of leaves and flowers,
join in demonstration of songs of
praise and welcome. The music of
their well-attuned voices, first heard
family in the distance and increasing
in sweetness and volume as they ap-
proach nearer and nearer, produces
a charming effect, the impression of
which is long retained by strangers.
In the meantime the guests, who have
remained seated and silent, if uncon-
scious of what is going on, preserve a
wonderful solemnity of countenance as
each donor in turn modestly places
his offering at the feet of the most
hOnOred one, with salutations inimit-
able in gracefulness. On such occa-
sions food, consisting of fruits, fish,
and sucking pigs, is sometimes given
in sufficient quantities to sustain a
visiting party for days and weeks.
No occasion of ceremony or impor-
lance takes place without the use of
kava, root of the pepper family, and
all exchanges of sociability are con.
Quoted under its influence. The con-
coctiOn of the seductive beverage made
from this root is attended with so many
ceremOnious observations and accia-
nations of approval that an account
OF the customs of these people would be
incomplete without reference to the
manner in which the drink is prepared.
A wooden bowl, cocoanut cup, and
strainer are the implements used in
making the brew. That parsonage OF
the chief social Importance in Samoa,
1.-THE maid of the village" is invariably
called upon to brew the beverage,
which ceremony, with her attendants,
she conducts with becoming dignity.
After carefully washing out her
mouth in the presence of all
assembled, she seats herself up
on the matted floor with the
bowl in front of her, and with resigned
manner and preoccupied countenance
begins to masticate the bits of root
handed her by the attendants. Piece
after piece is chewed until the mouth
is full and the cheeks bullying, when
the mass is elected into the palm of
her hand and. with a graceful swing,
deposited in the bowl. This operation
is repeated until the proper quantity
OF the root is secured. Then her hands
are washed scrupulously clean, and an
attendant having poured the required
amount of water into the bowl, the
maid proceeds with the compromising.
With graceful rolling and twisting
movement of the hands she mixes all
the undissolved portions of the root in
the 'fou," or strainer, which, after
wringing, is shaken out, and the strain
ing repeated until the brew is finished.
Century.