180 



JOURNEY ACROSS 



a dish of mutton broth, mixed with maize and 

 pumkin; after which came an assado or roasted 

 lump of beef on a stick, which we all charged 

 with our knives. Hungry as I was, I could 

 hardly help being sickened at the sight of a 

 number of hands, begrimed with dirt, all help- 

 ing themselves from the same piece of meat ; 

 and all eating soup out of the same dish. This 

 last arrangement I could not stomach, so I re- 

 stricted myself to a large slice of the beef, with 

 which, like a sulky dog over his bone, I retired 

 into a corner — w r ashing it down afterwards with 

 some of my own tea. 



We have brought a good deal of the famous 

 yerba or mate with us, and I begin almost to 

 prefer it to tea, when made by the natives, who 

 seem alone perfectly to understand the mode of 

 mixing this beverage. 



The leaf of the mate (Ilex paraguemis) is of 



