46 Transactions of Ike 



name is Ilex'paraganensis. It is a small shrub, attaining the size 

 of the orange- tree; leaves oval, oblong- lanceolate, remotely ser- 

 rated, smooth, with umbelliferous flowers seated in the axils of 

 the leaves. It grows wild in Paraguay and Brazil, where it is 

 called by the Spaniards Yerva Mat^. 



The leaves are used largely over the whole of South America 

 in a similar manner to the tea of China. Upwards of 40,000,000 

 lbs. of the leaves are annually collected in Paraguay, and sent to 

 Chili and Buenos Ayres. Paraguay tea is not cultivated to the 

 extent that Chinese tea is, but merchants, carrying various articles 

 of use, penetrate into the interior, and exchange them for the 

 leaves of the shrub which the natives collect. I need hardly say 

 that the merchants get the best of the barter. 



The mode of preparation differs from the Chinese in that the 

 leaves, branches, and, in fact, the whole shrub is dried, and after- 

 wards beaten and pressed into bags, and in this state it comes into 

 the market. 



When used, the leaves are steeped in boiling-water, to which a 

 little sugar and sometimes lemon-juice are added. The beverage 

 is drunk out of a vessel called mate, which has a spout perforated 

 with holes, for the purpose of preventing the powdered leaves from 

 passing out with the fluid. The Creoles are extremely fond of 

 Paraguay tea, and seldom take a meal without it. The properties 

 of matd are sedative and stimulative. 



The leaves of the coSee-tree (Coffea arabica) are also used as 

 a substitute for tea. CofFee-tea is much used in Java, and over 

 the whole Eastern Archipelago. In the Dutch island of Sumatra 

 especially, prepared coffee-leaves form ' the only beverage of the 

 whole population, and from their nutritive qualities have become 

 an important necessary of life.' 



Labrador tea is the name given in North America to the dried 

 leaves of the Sedum palustre, and Sedum latifolium. 



Abyssinian tea, or the native Khat or Chaat, is composed of 

 the dried leaves of the Catha edulis. This tea is used extensively 

 over North Africa. 



Of the other chief substitutes for tea used in different countries, 

 the names must suffice. 



Tasmanian tea, used in Australia and Tasmania. 



Fahani tea, used in Mauritius. 



Appalachian tea, Oswego tea. Mountain tea, and Neio Jersey 

 tea, are used in North America. 



On the sanitary effects of tea, there was for a long period much 

 controversy. 'Among many other novelties,' says a medical 

 writer in 1722, 'there is one which seems to be particularly the 

 cause of hypochondriac disorders, and is generally known by the 



