686 smithsonian miscellaneous collections vol. 102 



Chapter XLIII [33] 



Of Other Provinces and Tribes, and of the Maracayii, from Which 

 They Get the So-called Yerba Santa of Paraguay. 



1806. Upstream beyond the Province of the Giiaycurus is the 

 Province of the Payagua tribe, bordering on the Guaycurus ; they 

 are usually on the water, have the same customs in every respect as 

 their neighbors, and go naked. The village of Maracayii is 60 leagues 

 upstream from the city ; these are tame Indians and do household 

 service in the city of Asuncion ; it is here that they prepare the herb 

 which is the usual remedy in that country ; it is 60 leagues from the 

 city of Asuncion, and is a large village with more than 700 Indians, 

 good and intelligent people ; they are farmers. The village of Jujuy 

 comes before this ; it is built on the river bank and will have 200 

 Indians, farmers ; it has the same hot climate. Then comes the village 

 of Terecafie, 7 leagues inland from Maracayu, and the village of 

 Guirapariya, with over 500 Indians, at 4 leagues' distance. 



1807. In Maracayu they gather the yerba santa, which grows in 

 those wide plains between the Rio Paraguay and the Rio de la Plata, 

 on damp ground. The tree is the size of an orange tree and the leaf 

 like an orange leaf but thicker, very moist, round, and without a point. 

 The tree is very brittle, so much so that it can be broken easily 

 anywhere, no matter how thick the branch. They collect large amounts 

 of this leaf or herb and it is worth many ducats ; it is exploited by 

 the Spanish residents of Guaira and Villa Rica and all that country. 



1808. This yerba santa, as they call it, is very cooling and purga- 

 tive ; it is taken in a large amount of hot water, which causes vomiting 

 and gets rid of phlegm and bile. Those who take this remedy lead 

 very healthy lives in that country and live many years. The natives 

 of that country esteem it highly, as the Peruvian Indians do coca, 

 and smokers, tobacco. 



1809. The city of Guaira is built beside the Rio de la Plata 30 

 leagues from Maracayii ; it will have 200 Spanish residents. It is 

 hot and heavily wooded country ; cattle do not breed here, and so 

 they bring their table beef up from Paraguay. In that country cows 

 grow hair a palm long, and bulls lose their bellow ; horses die off ; 

 there is no salt. In this country they raise mandioc, corn, kidney 

 beans, and other vegetables. It is very wretched country; there is 

 abundance of tapirs (dantas), deer, hogs, and fowls, with which 

 the Spaniards eke out a pitiful and wretched existence. It is 90 

 leagues from Asuncion, on the Rio de la Plata, ^ league from the 

 Falls, which they call Salto, at the narrows of the Rio de la Plata, 



