reat eaters, have generally
stomachs of a prodigious capacity. Here is an example: To compensate my
servants, some seven in number, for the hardships I had made them endure
on Mauna Kea, I presented them with an ox that weighed five hundred pounds
uncooked. They killed him in the morning, and the next evening there was
not a morsel left. One will be less astonished at this when I say that
these ogres, when completely stuffed, promote vomitings by introducing
their fingers into their throats, and return again to the charge. [It is
equally true that the Kanakas will go for a long time without much food,
and it can not be said they are a race of gluttons.]

(14.) Awa (_Piper methysticum_) grows spontaneously in the mountains of
the Hawaiian group. The natives formerly cultivated it largely [and
since the removal of the strict prohibition on its culture fields are not
uncommon]. From the roots the natives prepare a very warm and slightly
narcotic intoxicating drink. It is made thus: women chew the roots, and
having well masticated them, spit them, well charged with saliva, into
a calabash used for the purpose. They add a small portion of water, and
press the juice from the chewed roots by squeezing them in their hands.
This done, the liquid is strained through cocoa-nut fibres to separate all
the woody particles it may contain, and the awa is in a drinkable state.
The quantity drunk by each person varies from a quarter to half a
litre (two to four gills). This liquor is taken just before supper, or
immediately after. The taste is very nauseous, disagreeable to the
last degree. One would suppose he was drinking thick dish-water of a
greenish-yellow color. But its effects are particularly pleasant. An
irresistible sleep seizes you, and lasts twelve, twenty-four hours, or
even more, according to the dose, and the temperament of the individual.
Delicious dreams charm this long torpor.

Often when the dose is too great or too small, sleep does not follow; but
in its place an intoxication, accompanied by fantastic ideas, and a strong
desire to skip about, although one can not for a moment balance himself
on his legs. I felt these last symptoms for sixty hours the first time I
tasted this Polynesian liquor. The effects of awa on the constitution of
habitual drinkers are disastrous. The body becomes emaciated, and the skin
is covered, as in leprosy, with large scales, which fall off, and leave
lasting white spots, which often becom