A Trip to Mar ild Plata 191 



in the gourd, a few more leaves of the herb are added 

 with a little sugar, and then water which has been 

 heated almost to the boiling-point is poured into the 

 gourd, and after a few seconds the drink is ready to be 

 drawn up into the mouth through the tube. From time 

 to time as the tea is exhausted more hot water may be 

 supplied, and the process of imbibition goes on. In 

 the rural districts the drinking of mate is universal 

 among the Creoles. The gourd is passed from hand to 

 hand, and each one who receives it takes a draught from 

 the bombilla, which must not be unduly disturbed, as 

 it is thought that the stirring of the mixture impairs 

 its quality. The fear of the deadly microbe has only 

 recently been implanted in the minds of men, and has 

 not as yet thoroughly invaded the remoter districts 

 of South America. To those who possess this whole- 

 some horror the custom of passing the bombilla from 

 mouth to mouth does not commend itself. In recent 

 years the preparation of Paraguay-tea for the table to 

 be used in the same way as oriental tea has been under- 

 taken. I purchased a box of the preparation, which is 

 branded as ' ' Mateina, ' ' and is put up in an enameled 

 caddy, which has upon its lid a rather gorgeously 

 executed picture of several gentlemen in evening-dress 

 and a number of ladies in decollete attire seated under 

 the glow of the lamplight about a table holding or- 

 dinary teacups in their hands or to their lips. This 

 preparation, which is extensively sold by all grocers in 

 the larger cities, is, according to the information sup- 

 plied upon the caddy, warranted to be Hygienico, 

 agradable, y confortante. The drinking of mate does not 

 obtrude itself upon the eye in Buenos Aires and other 

 large cities, where the population is largely of foreign 

 origin, but among the inhabitants of smaller towns 



