A'va, Ar

'VA, or CA'VA, an intoxicating liquor used by the South-Sea Islanders. In Tahiti, the use of it is said to have swept away many of the inhabitants. In the Tonga Islands it is prepared and drunk on every festival; and in the Feejee Islands the preparation of the king's morning drink of A. is one of the most solemn and important duties of the courtiers. The use of A. was forbidden in the Sandwich Islands some years ago. The liquor is prepared by a very disgusting proce from the root of the intoxicating long-pepper shrub, the Macro piper methysticum. The root, either fresh or dried, having been scraped clean and cut into small pieces, is handed to the A. -makers, who at once commence to chew it with great formality. The pulp obtained by the chewers, who are required to have good teeth and clean mouths, is thrown into a bowl and mixed with cold water. After this me has stood for a little while, the liquor is strained from the chewed fibre through cocoanut husks, and is then ready for use. Profe or Johnston, in describing the preparation of A., suggests that the saliva may produce a chemical change in the ingredients of the root, and that the intoxicating properties of the liquor may depend, in some measure, on such change. See MACRO PIPER. try.