On various Plants used as Tea in different Countries. 397 



occupations at home or in the fields, and no person departs 

 on a journey without being provided with a quantity of the 

 herb. It is made by merely pouring warm water on the leaves ; 

 and is sipped, through a silver or glass tube, from a small 

 vessel called a Mate Pot, which is carried in the hand ; or 

 should the person be on horseback, or engaged in any occu- 

 pation requiring the use of his hands, it is suspended from the 

 neck by means of a small chain. It is frequently mixed with 

 a little lemon-juice, and is used with or without sugar. Eu- 

 ropean travellers with whom I have conversed prefer this to 

 any of the teas imported from China. The Paraguay tea is 

 the more remarkable from its being the produce of a species 

 of holly, a genus hitherto considered as deleterious. It is de- 

 scribed and figured under the name of Bex Paragiiensis in an 

 Appendix to the second volume of Mi'. Lambert's work on the 

 genus Piniis, and is noticed by M. Auguste St. Hilaire in the 

 " Menioires du Museum," under the name of Ilex Mate; and 

 by Drs. Spix and Martins, in their Brazilian Travels, under 

 that of Ilex Gongonha. It has an extensive geographical 

 range, being found in the extensive woody regions of Para- 

 guay watered by the Parane, the Ypane, and Jejni, in the 

 province of the Minas Geraes, and other districts of Brazil ; 

 and it appears to have been found in Guiana by M. Martin, 

 as there are numerous specimens in his herbarium, part of 

 which is in the possession of Mr. Lambert. We must believe 

 these specimens to have been collected in the mountainous 

 district, otherwise it would be impossible to reconcile the idea 

 of the same plant being found in so different a latitude. The 

 tree is about the size of the orange-tree, to which it bears con- 

 siderable resemblance in its habits and leaves. The flowers 

 are white, disposed in small cymes in the axils of the leaves. 

 They are tetrandrous, and are succeeded by scarlet berries, 

 like those of the common holly. The leaves, whether fresh 

 or dried, are destitute of smell ; but on a little warm water 

 being poured upon them they exhale an agreeable odour. 

 Mr. Lambert has been so fortunate as to obtain a living plant 

 of this highly interesting tree, which is now growing in his 

 collection at Boyton House, Wilts. — In New Holland the 

 leaves of the Corrcca alba make very good tea. — The inha- 

 bitants of those barren and remote islands denominated the 

 Kurile Isles, in the Sea of Kamtschatka, prepare a tea from 

 an undescribed species of Pediculaiis, named by Professor 

 Pallas in his herbarium (now in Mi'. Lambert's possession) 

 Pcdicularis lanata. — It is unnecessary to take notice of all the 

 aromatic herbs of tlie order Lahiata used as tea iji different 

 count) ies: my object has been to show that teas are afforded 



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