Ava, Arva, Yava

Ava, Arva, Yava, or KAVA (Piper methysticum), a plant of the natural order Piperaceæ (q.v.), possessing narcotic properties. Until recently, it was ranked in the genus Piper (Pepper). It is a shrubby plant, with heart-shaped, acuminate leaves, and very short, solitary, axillary spikes of flowers. It is a native of many of the South-sea islands, where the inhabitants intoxicate themselves with a fermented liquor prepared from the upper portion of the root and the base of the stem. The rhizome is thick, woody, rugged, and aromatic. The intoxicating liquor is prepared by macerating it in water. The savage Tahitians were accustomed to prepare it in a very odious manner; much as the Indians of the Andes prepare Chica or Maize beer—chewing the root, depositing it in a bowl, straining through cocoa-nut husk, and mixing with water or cocoa-nut milk. As the beverage was drunk immediately afterwards, no fermentation could have taken place, and the narcotic property is therefore ascribed to an acrid resin, Kawine, which is present in the root. For an account of the manufacture of the beverage, see Mariner's History of the Tonga Islands. The taste is unpleasant to those unaccustomed to it, and has been likened to that of rhubarb and magnesia. The intoxication is not like that produced by ardent spirits, but rather a stupefaction like that caused by opium. It is succeeded by a copious perspiration. The habitual use of ava causes a whitish scurf on the skin, which, among the heathen Tahitians, was reckoned a badge of nobility, the common people not having the means of indulgence requisite to produce it. Ava is, like cocaine, a local anaesthetic.