In December 1987, my 20-year-old son Johnny and I were in a boat approaching a smallish tropical island off Fiji with long, sandy beaches and a peaceful blue lagoon surrounded by white coral reefs against which the Pacific surf was breaking. You might imagine a luxurious hotel nestled amongst the palms, with discreetly placed cabins, a large pool, and a smiling, attentive Fijian staff. You would be wrong. As our boat rounded a promontory, our host proudly pointed out where we would live--a tin-roofed shack, with corrugated iron sheeting tacked onto the sides, reminiscent of the Rio or Johannesburg slums portrayed on television.

Our guidebook had remarked: "If you are lucky enough to be invited to a Fijian village . . ." And we had been, by a Fijian man called Benny, whom we met on the ferry. We had also done other things that the guidebook told us to do: We were wearing the sarongs, or sulus, worn by Fijian men and women, and we were carrying our sevusevu, or gift, to the village headman.

We made our way to Benny's hut, a smallish room with an earth floor covered by dirty rush mats. A small raised box on one side served as a single bed; in one corner were a couple of pots and a spoon or two. Chickens ran in and out, and flies and tiny mosquitoes were everywhere. Benny said the village headman was expecting us up on the hill, where we would have yanggona, the Fijian drink, also called kava.

We were presented to the headman, Seta, and two or three chief men of the village, dressed in sulus and sitting on rush mats on the floor. Benny offered our sevusevu, which appeared to be graciously received, and we were told to sit. Then the yanggona ceremony began.

After pounding the kava roots in a wooden bowl and adding a bucket of water, the kava server dipped half a coconut in the bowl and presented it to each person in turn. Each drinker clapped once, then drained the bowl at a gulp; afterwards everyone clapped three times and shouted Matha! The liquid looked and tasted like dirty sock water, but we had read that in fact it was some kind of drug--a tranquilizer.