614: 



PARAGUAY. 



That the foreign commerce, though still in- 

 significant, as has been observed above, and 

 far inferior to what it might be were the capa- 

 bilities of the country taxed to the full, is cer- 

 tainly on the increase since the determination 

 of the disastrous five years' war of 1865-70, 

 no clearer proof can be adduced than the fact 

 that the custom-house receipts have more 

 than quintupled in the quinquennial period 

 1870-74, as follows: 



Years. Amounts. 



1 870 $105,720 



1871 225,202 



1872 333,574 



1873 423,543 



1874 563,456 



The total value of the exports for the year 

 1873 was $1,100,160 ; the chief staples shipped 

 having been as follows : yerba mate or Para- 

 guayan tea (Ilex Paraguayensis), 4,537,775 

 pounds, $635,000 (or rather over seven cents 

 per pound) ; tobacco, $224,544 ; cigars, $466,- 

 616; skins, $134,000; hides, timber, etc. 



The commodities comprising the imports for 



the same year are, with their respective values, 

 exhibited in the subjoined table : 



Commoditiw. Valuei. 



Cotton fabrics $210,842 



Fancy goods 209,716 



Clothing 115,815 



Wine 86.403 



Sugar, etc 525,407 



Total $1,147,653 



The foregoing totals, if correct, would show 

 the foreign trade to have so far recuperated 

 since 1870 as to compare favorably with that 

 of 1862, one of the most prosperous years be- 

 fore the war, as follows : 



Mr. Keith Johnson says : 



Yerba mate, or Paraguay tea, the staple product 

 of the country, is derived from the twigs ana leaves 

 of a bushy evergreen tree, scattered, more or less 



ASUNCION. 



thickly, through the wild forests of the central Cor- 

 dillera from north to south. The districts in which 

 it is most abundant are hence termed yerbales, and 

 are named from their locality ; the most important 

 are those of Chiriguelo and Tacurupyta, in the ex- 

 treme north ; of Concepcion, at the head of the Ypa- 

 ne" ; of Rosario and San Pedro, in the basin of the 

 Xexuy ; of Caaguazu and Tacurupucu, on the shed 

 to the Parana ; and of Yuti and Jesus, in the south. 

 The yerha-trade is a government monopoly. Hav- 

 ing obtained a concession, the yerba speculator may 

 take his gang of peons to any chosen yerbal : there 

 he settles down during the time that the trees are in 

 sazon, or for the six months of spring and summer. 

 The processes of gathering the twigs and leaves, 

 drying these over a fire, and afterward beating them 

 into small fragments, and packing the tea thus pre- 

 pared in hide bags, are simple and rude in the ex- 

 treme. At the present time yerba is not a cultivated 



product in any part of Paraguay. In former times, 

 nowever, the Jesuit missionaries, recognizing the 

 great advantages of having the yerba close at hand, 

 made large plantations of the tree about the south- 

 ern reductions; and at Santiago, it is said that a 

 grove of not less than twenty thousand yerba-trees 

 flourished at the end of last century. It is surprising 

 that, considering the value of the product to Para- 

 guay, no subsequent efforts have been made to ex- 

 tend the cultivation of yerba ; but it is probable that 

 the tree yields afiner tea in its native state and habi- 

 tat than when cultivated, as the mate" of the mis- 

 sions was not considered superior. The trees of the 

 far northern yerbales yield a finer tea than those of 

 the south of 'Paraguay, and the mate of Chiriguelo 

 is reported the best of all. From the difficulty of ac- 

 cess to this remote yerbal it has never been worked, 

 and the mate of trade is chiefly derived from the 

 districts of San Pedro and Kosario. 



