Padre José Berrutieta, at Santa Rosa. In view of the extraordi- 
nary detail of Padre Serra’s report, it may be worth transcribing 
it here in full. 
“The day after the arrival of the President [head priest], I saw 
strings being hung out in the patio and hanging from them 
bundles of leaves. I went into the kitchen and asked their pur- 
pose. A woman answered: ‘Father, this is guayusa. The Presi- 
dent drinks it twice a day, and we have hung it in the sun to dry.’ 
I told her that I would like to try it, and she said that she would 
give me some in the afternoon. Later . . . I tasted it; but as it was 
already sweetened, I did not drink more, but told her: ‘I do not 
like it sweet, but unsweetened, in order to discover its true taste.’ 
Later, they brought me more, and I drank a whole cupful. It has 
the color of dark honey, and five leaves are enough to make a 
chocolate pot full of its juice. Its taste is like tea but finer and 
more pleasant. When I drank it, I began to sweat and expecto- 
rate so much that I was obliged to change my habit, and within 
half an hour coughed enough phlegm to fill a large cup. These 
effects seemed to me to be very good. I went to the President and 
asked him about guayusa. He said that the beverage was excel- 
lent for the treatment of venereal diseases, that it .. . cleansed 
the blood and improved the digestion and appetite, because, 
when taken in the morning, one does not feel hunger until the 
afternoon. It strengthened the body and removed all impurities 
through perspiration and phlegm. All these effects are true, and 
I have experienced them many times. Father Berrutieta told me 
also that guayusa taken with honey caused women to become 
fertile, and, if the honey was that of the bee called apate, the 
woman, if married, would become pregnant immediately. This 
fact is well known and proven in Quito and the highlands. The 
Jesuits brought the plant from their mission and sold it in Quito 
at five leaves for a half real. I asked him where it might be found, 
and he told me that in the village of La Concepcion, Fr. Jose 
Garvo had a big tree, but in Pueblo Viejo, the first town one 
reaches from here, about four days distant, there is a grove of 
more than one league in area, entirely of guayusa trees. I at once 
wrote the name of the village and the name of the tree, in order 
not to forget them, in order that I might provide myself with 
supplies for my journey and destination.” 
147 
