October i, i 883.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



289 



at present existing in the Argentine Eepublic and in Monte 

 Video it is difficult to see how Paraguay will be able to 

 profit by exporting this valuable article, more especially as 

 sugar-producing and cane-planting have been taken up 

 during these last few years qn a large scale in the Argentine 

 province of Tucuman. The total produce of the sugar-grow- 

 ing Argentine pro\nnce is calculated for the year 1882 at 

 1,500,000 arrobas (37,500,000 lb.). The two sugar mills which 

 at present exist in this country are generally idle, o%ving to 

 want of capital and to a deficient supjjly of the prime 

 material, viz.. Sugar-cane ; so scarce is the latter that plan- 

 tation will have to be formed for the purj^ose of producing 

 cane for these two mills, which are on a scale sufficient to 

 supply the whole of Paraguay with sugar. 



The Coffee of the coimtry is of an excellent quality, al- 

 though its flavoiu* is somewhat bitter. At present it is grown 

 on a very limited scale, o^\'ing to the scarcity of capital, 

 and to the length of time which is requisite before the cul- 

 tivator is able to reap any benefit. It is calculated that on 

 the average a period of five years or so must elapse before 

 Coffee plantations are ripe for their first harvest. Indigo is 

 of a regular quality, and the extraction of the dye is ea.'^ily 

 effected. M. Balansa, a French naturalist, settled in Para- 

 guay, has begun planting Indigo with considerable success, 

 some samples of which were to be sent to Europe for ex- 

 amination. 



There is an endless supply of fibre-producing plants 

 equalling the Indian jute, and the only thingrequired to make 

 its preparation for the European market a most important 

 article of export, is machinery to separate the fibre from 

 its vegetable envelope, in the plant called Caraguata (Eryn- 

 gium) [? a Bromeliad]. A certain PaUn-leaf produces a 

 filament rather superior to the proceeding, but perhaps the 

 very best of anything yet known is the fibre obtained from 

 the Pino guazii." This is described as Urtica utilis. For a 

 long time past, it is statetl, the native have been in the habit 

 of taking a string of remarkable fineness and strength from 

 the two indigenous plants — the Caraguata and the Elvira. 

 This thread is used for making cordage, and samples sent 

 to England have been valued at £24 per ton. Up to the 

 present it has not been worked on a large scale, from the 

 mpossibility of obtaining machinery to properly extract the 

 fibre, A cordage maker at Buenos Ayres has, however, it 

 seems, succeeded in producmg the necessary machinery, and 

 intends putting it up in the Argentine colony of Formosa, 

 a province of the Gran Chaco. Should this macliine succeed, 

 a valuable article of export would be produced, of which 

 Paraguay could furnish several thousands of tons yearly. 



A bark called Curuguay is described as being very abun- 

 dant in the country. It contains a large proportion of 

 tannin, and is very valuable for tanning piu-poses. There 

 are, however, no tanneries in Paraguay. 



Besides the articles already referred to, the report says 

 that "there exist, unknown to the world in general, a 

 variety of dinags, medicinal plants, gums, &c., which have 

 yet to be explored." 



MATE OR PARAGUAY TEA.* 



BY DR. THEODOEE PECEOLT. 



This plant, which belongs to the holly family (Iliciueaj), 

 has several names in different parts of South America. 

 In the Guarani language it is called Cua, which i.s the 

 Indian word for leaf. The prepared leaves were named 

 by the Spanish '• yerba" (herb), and the infusion "matc"t 

 from the native name for the vessel in which the tea \s 

 made, and the drug is now generally known as mate iu 

 Brazilian commerce, although the Spaniards call it " yerva 

 mate" or " yerva de palos." The nam.f " congonha" has 

 been said by some wi-iters to be applied to mate, but 

 this is an error, for the Brazihans understand by the 

 names " congonha mansa" and " congonha brava." "other 

 trees belonging to the same natural order, which are used 

 as a substitute for mate when it is not easUy procurable. 



The plant was fir.st briefly described by St. HUaire, iii 

 1822, when he gave to it the name Ilex pacatjurriensis, 

 which he altered in 1S26, to Uex Mate, subsequently pub- 

 lishing the fii-st name again in 1833 and this is now 



* Abstracted from a paper iu the Zeits. d. alli/. oster 

 Jjiot.- Verein. 

 t The word is not accented, as sometimes written. T. P. 



adopted in the ' Flora Brasiliensis. ' In 1824 the pI.^nt was 

 described in detail by Lambert, under the name of '/ 

 parayuensis and the ijlant illustrated from specimens obtained 

 from the Jesuit Missions. The synonyms stand as follows ■ 



Ilex paraguariemis, St. Hil.; /. J/nte, St. Hil., /. pum- 

 giiayensis, Hooker, fil.; /. parai/iiemit, D. Don.; /. para- 

 guariensii, a, obtiisifolia, ilATt.; 'S, acutifolid. Mart.; Ccissine 

 Gonganha, Raben.; C. Gougulia Guibom-t; Chomtlia amara 

 Veil. 



The mate plant attains the height of an apple tree be- 

 coming even larger iu favourable situations, but when 'cul- 

 tivated and deprived from time to time of its leaves, it re- 

 mains small and forms a mere bush. The leaves are shortly 

 stalked, simple, wedge-shaped, obovate or elongate-lanceolate 

 toothed, dark green above, paler beneath, shining, of leathery 

 consistence, 1 to 3 inches long, and i to 1^ inch broad. The 

 flowers are axillary, situated on one to three times iforked 

 peduncles, white, and of similar size to those of the common 

 holly. The calyx consists of four nearly orbicular sepals with 

 a four-parted corolla and four short stamens, the ovary 

 being crowned with a four-lobed stigma. The fruit is red 

 and of the size of a peppercorn, containing four seeds en- 

 closed in a slightly glutmous pulp, but often one seed only is 

 developed. The home of the Paraguay tea plant is said by 

 Martuis to he between 18 ° and 30 = S. Latitude, but the dis- 

 trict in which the tree grows mo.st luxuriantly i.s between 

 21 » and 24 « S. latitude iu the watershed of the Para-'uay 

 river on the west, and in that of the Parana on the east,°and 

 it is here in a zone between the Serra Amambuhy on the 

 south and the Serra Maracaju on the north that "the best 

 and most highly prized mate is prepared. 



How long the South American Indians had been iu the 

 habit of using mate is not knorni, but when the Spaniards 

 seized the province on the rivers Paraguay and Uruguay 

 they found this custom prevailed there exactly as first men- 

 tioned in the writings of Azara, who stated that the tree 

 grew wUd in different parts of Paraguay. In proof of the 

 high estimation in which it was held by the Indians it may 

 be mentioned that the name "caa" which signifies iu the 

 Tupi language a tree or plant, was given by way of distinc- 

 tion to mate, that bemg the tree valued above all others. 

 The use of mate does not appear, however, to have extend- 

 ed to extra-tropical districts, but to have been confined to 

 the more mtelligent tribes known now under the name of 

 Guarani Indians. Nevertheless, when these people were 

 (h-iven fmther north by Europeans, they do not appear to 

 have cai-ried the use of the dr-ug wth lliem, probably think- 

 ing it not worth while to obtain it from a distance and 

 from a hostile people when they found a substitute close at 

 hand in the Guarana plant. 



The extensive use of mate in South America at the pre- 

 sent time is probably due in great measure to the Jesuits 

 who encouraged its use, finding that it restrained the desire' 

 of the Indians for spirituous ch-inks, while its cultivation' 

 collection and preparation gave employment to converted' 

 Indians and brought wealth to the order. In the Jesuit 

 Republic, the Indians were not paid m money but in produce ; 

 4 lb. of meat, a definite amount of Indian com and 1 oz. of 

 mate were allowed to each family. 



After the expulsion of the Jesuits, the preparation of 

 mate was continued in the Paraguay Re[niblic under the 

 administration of the Dictator Fi-ancia and his successors, 

 until the Dictator Solano Lopes was killed in battle with 

 the Brazihans iu 1S70. An overseer was appointed over the 

 work who also was paid in kind, receiving for each aroba of 

 the tea natural produce of the value of J ounce of gold. 

 Since 1870 there has been free trade iu the article, vThich 

 renders an increase of the trade very desirable. At the 

 present time mate is used only by about 12.000,000 of people 

 and the cousiunption amounts to about 8,000,000 poimds. ' 



It has been stated that mate is not prepared solely from 

 I. paramariensis, St. Hil., but that the leaves of other 

 species are mixed with it. 



In 1842, Sh- W. J. Hooker pubished iu the London Jour- 

 nal of Botani/ (vol. i., p. 30) an exhaustive account of yerba 

 mate, together witii the characteristics of the different 

 varieties which he considered identical with Ilex pamquari- 

 ensis. This p.aper strengthened the previous opinion of'Mior.s 

 that probably more than one species was used in the pre- 

 paration of the tea. The mvestigations made by Miers and 

 the monk Leandro. Director of the Botanical Garilens in Rio 

 Janeiro, confirmed by Bonpland, indicate that six different 



