EESOURCES OF PARAGUAY. 



323 



caa nana. But there are no longer any plantations, but only thickets of the wild 

 plant, which is often recklessly cut down in order the more easily to gather the 

 leaves. The yerbatcros, who have to make long journeys to these grounds, first 

 dry the foliage and tender branchlets over a slow fire, and then reduce them to a 

 powder when they are ready for the market. The decoction appears to act both 

 as a stimulant and as a substitute for food, by retarding the progress of digestion. 

 About half the yearly crop is required for the local consumption, the rest being 

 exported. 



It is even claimed for maté that it stimulates the physical and mental powers, 

 without any waste to the system. And herein, remarks De Bourgade, lies the 

 secret of the preference shown by Americans for this beverage. It is not from 

 any scientific theories, but from practical experience, that they have been convinced 



Fig. 138.— Yeeea Maté Regions of Paraguay and Beazil. 

 Scale 1 ; 14,000 000 



Yerba Maté. 



310 Miles. 



of its immense superiority over tea and coffee. Coca also is just as available to 

 them as the ilex; but while the latter has become as indispensable as manioc 

 itself, coca has been rejected, and is now consumed only by a few Indian tribes 

 and some residents in the mountain districts. 



Such a practical verdict in its favour proclaims its excellency ; it is a popular, 

 as distinguished from a scientific, tribute to its virtues, and may well provoke the 

 inquiry why the Old World has remained indijfferent, continuing to import tea 

 from China and India, and coffee from Arabia and the Colonies, but neglecting 

 the yerba maté of South America ? Yet the supply is adequate to all possible 

 demands ; subject, however, at present, it must be owned, to the disadvantage 

 that the yerba is under no well-organised system of cultivation.* 



* Faraguay, p. 21. 



