Frank Coffee

“ Thereafter a few genial souls would gather around the bowl, and drink the mixture out of cocoanut shells.
When drunk to excess, kava causes intoxication, but it has the merit of not making its devotees quarrelsome in their cups. The action of kava is peculiar, inasmuch as drunkenness from this cause does not affect the brain, but paralyzes the muscles of the legs and arms so that a man lies helplessly on the ground, perfectly aware of all that is going on. Its effects are more akin to those of opium than alcohol. ”

“ The natives are usually quite susceptible to it, but even four large cocoanut bowls of it causes only a slight weakness of the knees in a European.
Most Europeans have a feeling of nausea after a cupful. Kava is said to affect the eyesight. It affords the cheapest spree I ever heard of; for, by taking a big drink of water on an empty stomach, on the following morning, the native achieves a relapse into drunkenness. ”

“ An even more ardent drink is distilled from the root of the "Ti" or "Ki" plant, Duaceona. Several of the Bounty mutineers drank themselves to death in Pitcairn Islands in this manner.
All the natives are great smokers. Tobacco is, of course,' a modern innovation, known only since shortly before the arrival of the missionaries. It is in such high favor that children as well as adults indulge in it freely. The native method of smoking is decidedly social. ”