162 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 
of a brighter green, flourish especially in moist and swampy woods. The 
leaves, after being parched in a fire, are pounded in mortars, and, when 
reduced to dust, are packed in cases, and carried many miles on the backs 
of the Indians. On account of the unhealthiness of the climate, and 
the scarcity of food, which their poverty-stricken masters cannot provide, 
these unhappy Indians are forced to subsist on snakes, grubs and spiders. 
And so, worn out by contagious diseases and famine, they die. It is a 
pitiable picture, for, in return for their labour, all they receive when 
they return from this slavery is a beggarly two yards of cloth. Some 
even go home empty-handed, because the Spaniards themselves are 
extremely poor. The Spaniards sell the powder of this herb (which they 
call ‘‘ Herb” par excellence) to traders who come hither (Guaira), or 
rather exchange it for necessaries. And it often happens that 2,000 lbs. 
of this powder is given for a suit of common cloth, or 500 lbs. for a hat. 
Spaniards and Indians of both sexes drink this powder, mixed with hot 
water, once or twice daily, which proves a most efficacious emetic. So 
much are they slaves of this habit, that they will barter shirt, trousers or 
bedding for it. An instance is known where a woman stripped her hut 
of its roofing in order to buy this herb. They say too that their strength 
fails, and that they cannot live, if they are deprived of its use. The 
Indians take it at daybreak and at frequent intervals during the day. It 
has come to be such a vice in these provinces that all the inhabitants of 
the River Plate, Tucuman and Chile make use of it. So that in Potosi, 
and throughout Peru, 1 lb. of this herb is sold for four golden crowns. 
This herb makes men gluttons, slaves to their bellies, and renders them 
averse to work of any kind. And its efficacy appears to lie more in the 
imagination of him who uses it than its own inherent virtue.’ 
By the middle of the seventeenth century, Nicolas del Techo (du Toict), 
who became Superior of the Province of Paraguay, as a Jesuit missionary, 
writes of the use of the drink as follows : 
‘In Paraguay, for a long time, sugar and cotton, both produced in 
small quantities, were the chief wealth, till the leaves of a certain tree, 
growing in marshy grounds, commonly called the Herb of Paraguay, 
began to be in esteem. These leaves they dry in the fire and reduce to 
powder ; then, mixing with hot water, the Spaniards and Indians, both 
men and women, drink of it several times a day ; and, vomiting it up 
with all they have eaten, they find it creates an appetite. Many things 
are reported concerning this powder or herb ; for they say if you cannot 
sleep, it will compose you to it; if you are lethargick, it drives away 
sleep; if you are hungry it satisfies; if your meat does not digest, it 
causes an appetite ; it refreshes after weariness and drives away melancholy 
and several diseases. ‘Those who once use themselves to it cannot easily 
leave it, for they affirm, their strength leaves them when they want it and 
can’t live long : and so great slaves are they to this slender diet, that they 
will almost sell themselves rather than want wherewithal to purchase it. 
The wiser sort (tho’, moderately used, it strengthens and brings other 
advantages) will hardly ever make use of it ; and, if immoderately used, 
it causes drunkenness and breeds distempers, as too much wine does. 
Yet this vice has not only overrun Paraguay, but Tucuman, Chile and 
