Mr. J. Miera on the History of the ' Mate* Plant, 221 



called a Mate. In the Portuguese Missions the Yerba is called 

 Cauna, and in most of the Brazilian provinces it is known by 

 the name of Congonha*. 



Under the Spanish government, the principal harvests of 

 Yerba were made in the valleys bordering upon the river Ypane, 

 a tributary of the Rio Paraguay, — the produce there collected 

 being conveyed to the town of Villareal, at its mouth, in lat. 

 23° 30' S., and thence transported dowTi the River Paraguay, in 

 large pontoons, to the metropolitan town Assuncion. Although 

 the largest harvests were obtained in Paraguay, considerable 

 quantities in addition were raised in the various settlements of 

 Indians founded by the Jesuits beyond its limits. These were 

 called Missions, and were thirty in number, twenty-three being 

 situated between the rivers Parana and Uruguay, and seven on 

 the left bank of the latter river, in the province of Entrerios. 

 These, as well as all the extensive settlements in Paraguay 

 proper, were at their greatest prosperity at the period of the 

 expulsion of the Jesuits in 1768; but, owing to the defective 

 management of the Indians under the subsequent rule of the 

 Spanish authorities, the commerce in Yerba languished consider- 

 ably. In 1810 the quantity raised was supposed to amount to 

 five millions of pounds ; but Mr. Robertson states that in 1812 

 (two years after Paraguay became independent) the exports of 

 Yerba still amounted to eight millions of pounds, or 3750 tons, 

 from the port of Assuncion alone, at which period, too, its cul- 

 tivation in the Missions had become almost annihilated. In 

 all these Missions, during the devastating wars then raging 

 throughout the Argentine provinces, the Indian settlers were 

 robbed of all their cattle and horses, their farms were destroyed, 

 the men forced to become soldiers, and otherwise were so op- 

 pressed, that the greater number sought a refuge in Paraguay. 

 Some idea of the extent of this depopulation may be formed 

 from the records preserved of the seven Uruguay Missions, 

 which in 1768 had a population of 30,000, nearly all Indians ; 

 in 1801, when taken by the Portuguese, they numbered only 

 14,000 ; by the subsequent wars they were further reduced, in 

 1814, to 6395; and in 1821, at the census taken when St.-Hi- 

 laire was there, they scarcely amounted to 3000 individuals of 

 all ages. This celebrated botanist remarks concerning them — 

 " En un mot, la province des Missions, naguere si florissante, 

 ofi're aujourd'hui le tableau de toutes les miseres qui aflBigent 

 notre espece, et dans peu, I'on y chercherait vainement des 

 Indiens." Owing to political causes subsequent to 1812, the trade 

 with Paraguay became in great measure suspended ; so that the 

 Yerba from the Curitiba Mountains was much sought for, and 

 * Pronounced Congonia. 



