Or Good For You

Kava Is Bad For You—

Fiji Society Proves Only That Opinions Differ

SUVA, April 29.

TAKING up a debate that has been going on in erudite circles for 150 years, the Fiji Society has been looking into the medical aspects of yaqona (kava in Poly nesia).

Kava-drinking and its effects have been part of the stock-in-trade of travel writers and tourist-folders for several generations, and a great deal of drivel has been written on the subject.

Dr. A. S. Frater, president of the Fiji Society, has been experimenting and has come to the conclusion that the diuretic effect of yacona has been over-estimated but that there is room for more study of its effects as a local anaesthetic and soporific.

What is more, he is inclined to sup port the much-derided claim that yaqona in large doses “goes to the legs”. (Ratu George Cakobau long ago came up with the theory that the cause of any European instability after a yaqona ceremony was the un wonted ordeal of sitting cross-legged on the floor for long periods).

Dr. Frater opens up a new vista of argument by ?. statement that he has found that the entire nervous system is affected and that the sensory responses are impaired.

When addressing the Fiji Society, Dr. Frater produced photographs and a Suva pathological laboratory report to show that there is a strong resemblance between “Kani”—the scaly skin sometimes noticeable on inveterate and long-established yaqona drinkers—and ichthyosis. He pointed out, however, that ichthyosis is an incurable skin disease, whereas a kani patient can be completely cured in four months by strict regulation of the amount of yaqona drunk, plus a full diet.

Dr. Frater said that he could not state the actual cause of kani, but it could be a vitamin deficiency due to a lack of absorption which in turn was due to the effects of a prolonged excess of yaqona.

In a subsequent discussion by members of the society, Mr. A. H.

Lester claimed that there was a dis tinct difference between a yaqona brew made from a dry root and that made from a green root. He held that the dry root was non-soporific and constipating, while the fresh root was soporific and laxative. An

other speaker disagreed and said that the only difference was that dry root yaqona was more concentrated.

The alleged antiseptic qualities of yaqona, the danger of spreading TB by the use of a common bilo (coco nut drinking-cup) and the strong Fijian belief that yaqona-drinkers escaped comparatively lightly in the 1918 influenza epidemic, were among the. points mentioned in the discus

sion, during which Mr. Lester was heard asking whether the human stomach received a yaqona-coating similar to that acquired by a long used tanoa (wooden yaqona bowl).

Nobody mentioned the tourist idea of kava, which is probably based on the inspiration of an American play of 50 years ago. This play, (Bird of Paradise ), featured kava as a sort of concentrated wood-alcohol.

The qualities of yaqona vary in different parts of Fiji. The brew concocted in some of the western districts of Viti Levu often has a slightly fuddling effect on European heads—a point on which most Fijians concur.