36 ON THE PARAGUAY TEA. 
butable to these precautions, and many persons prefer the 
less pulverized leaf; the principal point is to have the foliage 
thoroughly singed and roasted, and to gather it at a suitable 
season, when the air is not impregnated with damp. 
Azara farther mentions that two kinds of Paraguay Tea are 
made, the mild, or choice, (eletta) and the strong (fuerte). 
Paraguay and the province of La Plata consume all the first, 
the latter is exported to Potosi, Peru, Chili, and Quito. 
In Brazil, the Maté Tree, also called there Congonha, is 
found. It grows abundantly near Curutiba, in the Province 
of St. Paul, and at Paranagua, an adjoining port; and - 
thence, when political circumstances cut off all communica- 
tion between Buenos Ayres and Montevideo, with Paraguay, 
the inhabitants of those cities obtained their supply of this 
favourite leaf. The Spanish Americans, perceiving the 
difference between the Maté obtained in Paraguay, and that 
of Brazil, imagined that they were not the produce of the - 
same tree, but a careful examination and comparison of ` 
authentic specimens enabled M. Auguste St. Hilaire, to 
assure the Brazilian authorities of their specific identity, and 
he was afterwards more firmly convinced of this fact, by 
examining the plantations of Paraguay Tea originally reared 
by the Jesuits in their old settlements. Ifthe Maté from 
Paraguay be really superior in quality to the Brazilian plant, 
the mode of preparation is the sole cause of the difference. — — 
Sensible of the importance which attached to the possession — 
of this plant in their own country, the chief individuals in- 
the Republic of Buenos Ayres were anxious to procure | 
authentic and living specimens of the Yerba de Paraguay, — 
and accordingly, in 1820, they sent thither Dr. Bonpland, the — 
coadjutor of the learned Humboldt, whom they desired to ` 
bring away the shrubs, and to plant them on the shores of : 
the river La Plata, near its mouth. The issue of this mission — 
is well known; Bonpland was seized and detained in an | 
honourable but close captivity for many years, during which, : 
his many and powerful friends in Europe were wholly unable ` 
to procure his release. It is, however, by no means necessary F 
