ON THE PARAGUAY TEA. 35 
Azara, who wrote forty years ago, gives an interesting ac- 
count of the Herbe du Paraguay; but offers no remark 
upon the botanical affinities of it; and his editor, M. 
Walckenaér, nine years later, falls into the strange blunder of 
considering it identical with the Culen of Chili (Psoralea 
glandulosa), simply, as it would appear, because the Culen 
is drunk as tea by the Chilenos. His history is no doubt in 
other respects faithful. 
* The tree, which produces the Paraguay Tea, is found 
growing wild, among others, in all the woods which border 
those rivers and streams that fall into the Parana and Uru- 
guay; and also on the shores of those whose waters join with 
the river Paraguay, towards the north-east. I have seen 
several of these trees, equalling in size a tolerably large 
apple tree. But in those situations, where the leaves are 
regularly gathered, the parent plant only forms a shrub, 
because it is periodically stripped of all its foliage and small 
branches every second or third year—never oftener, however, 
as this interval is found needfal for permitting the leaves to 
attain perfection, as they do not drop off in winter. The 
trunk is about the thickness of a man’s thigh, with a shining 
and whitish bark, and branches, which, like those of a laurel, 
grow pointing upwards to the sky; and the whole plant has 
a tufted and much branched appearance.” 
To prepare the “ Herb of Paraguay,” (as the shrub which 
yields their favourite beverage is called, par excellence, by 
the natives of this country), the leaves first are slightly 
Scorched, by passing the branches quickly through the flame 
of fire. The foliage is then roasted and broken down to a 
certain degree, and also subjected to strong pressure for a 
time, as the flavour is thought to improve by keeping. The 
Jesuits, who paid much attention to the culture and prepara- 
tion of Paraguay Tea, were accustomed to remove carefully 
any little twigs that might be found among the foliage, and 
to break the leaves much smaller than was the practice of 
the natives. The article which they produced, was called 
Caa-miri ; but the excellencies of its quality were not attri- 
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