CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION. 13! 



ready for drinking, the nourishing properties attributed to 

 the infusion by the natives, it is contended, being due, in 

 a great measure, to the excess of saccharine matter. It 

 ranges in price from four to eight cents per pound in the 

 prepared state, one pound yielding as much as twenty 

 quarts of the infusion of moderate strength. It is diffi- 

 cult to get at any reliable returns for the entire traffic in 

 this commodity, the production being carried on in such 

 a crude and desultory manner, extending, as it does, over 

 a vast area of wild country, the official returns furnishing 

 only an approximate estimate of its trade and consump- 

 tion. The total production may, however, be computed at 

 1,500,000 arobas, equivalent to about 40,000,000 pounds 

 per annum, the total consumption averaging thirteen 

 pounds per capita to the population, as against two 

 pounds of coffee and one-fourth pound of China tea. Its 

 use is confined chiefly to Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentine, 

 Peru, Chili and Brazil. Its consumption in Paraguay and 

 Argentine alone is over 3 5, 000,000 pounds per annum, as 

 against 5, 000,000 pounds of coffee. Surprising as this large 

 quantity may appear at first sight, it is explained by the 

 fact that Mate constitutes the only vegetable nourishment 

 of many classes in these communities, forming, as it does, 

 the chief dietic beverage of over 20,000,000 of people in 

 South America alone. Yet it is singular, to say the 

 least, that its consumption should be so great in such 

 large coffee-producing countries, and which export 

 annually over half the world's supply of that commodity. 

 Strong efforts are being made at the present time to open up 

 a trade in it in Europe, particularly in France, where the 

 cafes now advertise it among their regular beverages, 

 and shops devoted to its exclusive sale also recommend 

 it. But whether these efforts will succeed remains 

 to be proven, considering the enormous increase in the 



