MATTEE, OR PARAGUAY TEA. 



5 



everywhere received with the utmost frankness, 

 and, as far as the simple means of the inhabitants 

 went, with hospitality. They were chiefly brick- 

 makers, day-labourers, and washerwomen, who 

 were always gratified by the interest we took in 

 their affairs, replying readily and cheerfully to our 

 enquiries. Their first anxiety was that we should 

 be seated, in order, to use their phrase, that we 

 might " feel ourselves in our own house." Their 

 next wish was that we should taste something, 

 no matter how little ; some offering us spirits, or 

 milk and bread ; others, who could afford nothing 

 else, pressed upon us a cup of water. Yet, how- 

 ever wretched the habitation or poor the fare, 

 the deficiency was never made more apparent by 

 apologies : with untaught politeness the best they 

 had was placed before us, and always with a 

 hearty welcome. 



These ranchos, as well as the houses in the 

 town, are built of large flat bricks dried in the sun; 

 and thatched with broad palm leaves, the ends of 

 which, by overhanging the walls, afford shade from 

 the scorching sun, as well as shelter from the rain. 

 Each cottage is divided into two rooms ; one for 

 the beds, and the other as a dining-room ; a por- 

 tion of the mud floor in this apartment is always 

 raised seven or eight inches above the level of the 

 other parts, and being covered with mats, serves 

 as a couch for the siesta sleepers after dinner. 



In one cottage we found a young woman grind- 

 ing corn in a very primitive mill, which consisted 

 of two stones, one a large grooved block placed on 

 the ground, the other polished and about twice 

 the size of her hand. The unground corn ap- 

 peared to be baked till it could be crumbled into 

 powder between the finger and thumb ; this coarse 

 flour, when mixed with water, made an agreeable 

 drink called ulpa. 



In some of the quebradas, we occasionally dis- 

 covered houses of a better class, generally occupied 

 by elderly ladies of small incomes, who had relin- 

 quished the fashionable and expensive parts of the 

 town, for more remote though not less comfortable 

 dwellings. Nothing could exceed the neatness and 

 regularity which prevailed in these houses ; where 

 we were often received by the inmates with a 

 politeness of manners, indicating that they had 

 seen better days. These good ladies generally 

 entertained us with the celebrated Paraguay tea, 

 called mattee, a beverage of which the inhabitants 

 are passionately fond. Before infusion, the yerba, 

 as it is called, has a yellow colour, and appeal's 

 partly ground, and partly chopped ; the flavour 

 resembles that of fine tea, to which, indeed, many 

 people prefer it. The mattee is made in an oval- 

 shaped metal pot, about twice as large as an egg- 

 cup, placed nearly full of water, on the hot embers 

 of the brazier, which always stands in the middle 

 of the parlour ; when the water begins to boil, a 

 lump of sugar burnt on the outside is added. The 

 pot is next removed to a filagree silver stand, on 

 which it is handed to the guest, who draws the 

 mattee into his mouth through a silver pipe seven 

 or eight inches in length ; furnished at the lower 

 extremity with a bulb pierced with small holes. 

 The natives drink it almost boiling hot, and it 

 costs a stranger many a tear before he can imitate 

 them in this practice. There is one custom in 

 these mattee drinkings, to which, though not 

 easily reconcilable to our habits, a stranger must 



not venture to object. However numerous the 

 company be, or however often the mattee pot be 

 replenished, the tube is never changed ; and to 

 decline taking mattee, because the tube had been 

 previously used, would be thought the height of 

 rudeness. A gentleman of my acquaintance, 

 becoming very fond of this beverage, bought a 

 tube for himself, and carried it constantly in his 

 pocket ; but this gave so much offence, that he 

 was eventually obliged to throw away his private 

 bombilla, as it is called, and follow the customs of 

 the country. 



The people in general, and particularly the pea- 

 santry, and the lower orders in the outskirts of 

 the town, appeared to us much better bred than 

 the corresponding ranks in other countries. In 

 their domestic circle, they were at all times re- 

 markably polite to one another ; the children 

 being respectful and attentive, and the parents 

 considerate and indulgent. But this was con- 

 spicuous only at home ; for, when abroad, the men 

 were very negligent of good manners : and, 

 although actual rudeness was contrary to their 

 nature, they were, in general, careless of the 

 wishes of the women, and never sought opportu- 

 nities of obliging them, nor seemed to take any 

 pleasure in being useful on trivial occasions. This 

 habitual inattention on the part of the young men 

 rendered the women, in some degree, distrustful 

 of the civility with which strangers, as a matter of 

 course, treated them ; and, at first, we often 

 observed a look of embarrassment and doubt 

 when we paid them the most ordinary attention. 



The state of education at Valparaiso is very 

 low, and in this respect the men have the advan- 

 tage. The refinement, however, is all with the 

 other sex ; in knowledge of the world, in sound 

 judgment, and in everything relative to manners, 

 they are clearly superior to the men. 



For some time after arriving at Valparaiso, our 

 attention was much engrossed by the scenes at 

 the bull-fights, and we became well acquainted 

 with the habits and opinions of the lower classes. 

 There seemed, indeed, little probability of such an 

 opportunity occurring again, and, therefore, all of 

 us who took an interest in such inquiries mixed 

 with the natives every evening. This was the 

 more agreeable, as there was nothing coarse or 

 vulgar in their manners ; on the contraiy, a bold 

 and rather graceful address characterised all their 

 deportment. To us they were uniformly respect- 

 ful, and always willing to communicate or receive 

 information. 



Our curiosity was naturally directed towards 

 politics, and, knowing that we should eventually 

 have ample opportunities of learning the state of 

 political feeling in the upper classes, we occupied 

 ourselves, upon this occasion, in ascertaining the 

 sentiments of the peasantry. At first we were 

 rather disappointed with their calmness, and 

 wondered to hear them speaking with so little 

 enthusiasm, and in terms so little vindictive, of 

 the Spaniards : while we remarked that the upper 

 classes, in the same town, were filled with anima- 

 tion when the subject was mentioned, and never 

 allowed themselves to think of their ancient rulers 

 without expressing the bitterest animosity. 



It must, however, be remembered that, with 

 regard to the effects of this revolution, the upper 

 and lower classes are differently circumstanced. 



