MATÉ.

Its Use in South America-Districts where Grown-Its Manufacture-Early Notice of-The Maté Cup and Bombilla—Method of Drinking-Its Rapid Deterioration.

ERBA Maté, or Paraguay Tea, which is made

from the leaves of the Ilex Paraguayensis, or Brazilian Holly, takes the place of Thea Sinensis in nearly the whole of South America, where it has been used by the Indians from time immemorial, and by their conquerors and settlers since the seventeenth century.

It grows abundantly in Paraguay, Corrientes, Chaco, and the south of Brazil, forming woods called yerbales. One of the principal centres of the Maté industry is the Villa Real, a small town above Asuncion, on the Paraguay River; another is the Villa de San Xavier in the district between the rivers Uruguay and Parana. If let alone, it grows into a tree some fifteen or twenty feet high; but the plants from which the Maté is collected are moderate-sized shrubs, with numerous stems fron one root. The leaves are from four to five inches long, and the finest Maté is made from the smallest shrubs. One bush will furnish three different kinds of tea, which are called caa-cuys, caa-miri, and caa

guaza -caa meaning leaf. Caa-tuys is made from the half expanded buds; but, although fine in flavour, it has the misfortune of not keeping, and, consequently, is all consumed in Paraguay. Caa-miri is prepared in the same way as the Jesuit padres made it, the leaves being carefully picked, and the nerves stripped before roasting them; and the Caa-guaza, which is the commonest, is prepared as follows:

A Maté yerbal, or plantation, having been found,

and a sum paid to Government for the collection of its leaves, a party of from twenty-five to thirty Indians settle down there with the intention of passing some five or six months. They make themselves as comfortable as circumstances will permit, by building wigwams covered with palm or banana leaves. Their next care is to beat, with mallets, a good hard and smooth earthen floor, about six feet square, which is called a tatacua. Over this is built an arch of poles,

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on which is spread the boughs of the Ilex, and under which a lively fire is kindled, that the leaves may be thoroughly dried without being scorched. This result being effected, the fire is swept off the hearth, and the dried branches being spread thereon, the leaves are beaten off with sticks, which operation reduces them to a coarse powder. Sometimes they are pounded in mortars, made by digging holes in the ground, well rammed; but now-a-days the Maté is generally treated in a more scientific and cleanly manner, the leaves being heated, as tea in China, in large iron pans set in brick work. The dried leaves are then taken to the Maté mill, which may be worked by water power, or by mules, the wooden stampers being worked by teeth placed spirally round the circumference of a revolving cylinder. A good-sized mill will turn out three tons of Maté in a day. The crushed leaves are then tightly packed in bags of damp bullock's hide, sewn up and left to dry, when they become as hard as stones. These sacks generally weigh from 200 to 220 lbs., and this quantity is considered a good day's work for a peon. The collectors suffer terribly during this six months of forest life, and the severe labour of collecting, in those tropical forests, is especially fatal to the unfortunate peons.

Its use is as universal as tea in China. The method of taking it has not varied for centuries; and a description of it in 1713' is as good as if written. to-day.

1 Relation du voyage de la Mer du Sud, aux côtes du Chily, et du Pérou, fait pendant, les on és 1712. 13, 14, par Amédée François Frezier. Paris, 1710, 4°.

"During the day, they make much use of the Herb of Paraguay, which some call St. Bartholomew's Herb, who, they pretend, came into that Province, where he made it wholesome and beneficial, whereas, before, it was venomous. Being only brought dry, and almost in Powder, I cannot describe it. Instead of drinking the Tincture, or Infusion, apart, as we drink Tea, they

put the Herb into a cup or bowl, made of a Calabash or Gourd, tipped with silver, which they call Maté; they add sugar, and pour on it the hot water, which they drink immediately, without giving it time to infuse, because it turns as black as ink. To avoid drinking the Herb which swims at the top, they make use of a silver pipe, at the end whereof is a bowl, full of little holes, so that the liquor sucked in at the other

end is clear from the Herb. They drink round from the same pipe, pouring hot water on the Herb as it is drank off. Instead of a pipe, which they call Bombilla ; some part the Herb with a silver separation, called Apartador, full of little holes. The reluctance which the French have shown to drink after all sorts of people, in a country where so many are diseased, has

occasioned the inventing of the use of little glass pipes, which they began to use at Lima. That liquor is, in my opinion, better than Tea; it has a flavour of the Herb, which is agreeable enough; the people of the country are so used to it, that even the poorest use it once a day, when they rise in the morning."

Frezier gives us an illustration of Maté drinking, in