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THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.

ness for it is not confined to the natives, for laboring whites become fond of it, and you as often see the kava bowl with this class as with the natives.

The making of kava is quite a ceremony. The root is either grated or pounded in a stone mortar. On ceremonial occasions three girls, usually the taupon (the maid of the village, with her attendants), appear dressed in their best, and seat themselves in a row on one side of the house, or on the grass under the shade of the mango, or orange trees (if the gathering is out of doors), and the large kava bowl is placed in front of them. The girl selected to make the kava then holds her hands outside the house and one of the attendants pours the contents of the coCoanut shell full of water over them, to assure us that they are clean. Then one of the girls puts the pulverized kava into the bowl, and the other pours some water in from one of the cocoanut water- carriers near by. The taiipou stirs this vigorously with her hands for some minutes. The water-carriers are always cocoanuts especially prepared for this purpose. Then the other attendant hands the fou (the strainer) to the taupou\ the strainer is made from the bark of the fou tree, which gives it the name, and is a bunch of strings of vegetable fiber. The taupou takes the fou and with many graceful and dexterous twists, moves it about in the liquid with great precision; then she takes up all the particles of kava on the strainer that it will hold, and after wringing it dry passes this to her attendant on the right, who flings it out in a most graceful manner and returns it. This is repeated again and again until all the sediment is removed. This mixture is of a yellowish tint, and I must say does not look very inviting to the uninitiated stranger. When all is satisfactorily concluded, three claps of the hands by the girls, proclaim the kava ready. You can hardly conceive, without seeing this ceremony, the perfect ease and grace displayed in serving the kava. One of the girls takes the cup, presents it to the taupou to be filled; this is sometimes done by plunging the fou into the liquid and squeezing the contents into the cup, or dipping with another cup from the bowl and pouring it into the one presented when filled, the girl faces about, and holding the cup by the outer rim, crosses to the person named to be served, and bend­ing forward, reaches him the cup in the most graceful manner. One is expected to drain the cup. The taste of the beverage at first is by no means tempting, but it leaves a not unpleasant aromatic taste in the mouth.

We are often asked if kava is intoxicating. We are told that the long continued excessive use of it will produce paralysis of the lower limbs, while the head will be perfectly clear, but the patient is unable to stand or walk, and he is obliged to wait for the effect of his excess to wear off. Old foreign residents use kava equally as much as the natives. Mr. Churchward, a former British consul in Samoa, says: “ During my whole stay in Samoa I do not think I met one white resident of more than two months’ standing who had not in a greater or less degree become a convert to the use of the national beverage.” 1 must say that this was not our experience, for after a year’s residence on the Island both my husband and myself still found it difficult to drain the cup as is customary. The talolo is one of their most important fes­tivities, of which there are several kinds observed. The talolo proper, we were told, is the presentation of food by a whole district (which comprises several villages). The scene of operation of the first one we witnessed was at Mulinu, where King Malietoa lives, surrounded by his chiefs, who are selected from the Island of Upolu, and the other islands of the group. These gifts were brought to be distributed among his chiefs.

The natives marched in large delegations from different villages, and each chief had a tu-la-fa-li (or talking man), as the chief considers it beneath his dignity to speak in public, who stepped out with considerable flourish and enumerated what his village had brought, the number of taro , pigs, cocoanuts, bananas, fowls, etc., and then this was all carried across the square to the opposite side and placed on the grass. (This square is always kept very neat and clean.) After several delegations had come and been announced, one came, bearing on the shoulders of ten or twelve men what looked like a boat made of the branches of sugar-cane, with bright flowers tied in them, the