Ch. V. SOUTH AMERICA. 271 

 tion that a frefli quantity is wanting. It is alfo ufual 

 to fqueeze into the liquor a few drops of the juice of 

 lemons or Seville oranges, mixed with fome perfumes 

 from odoriferous flowers. This is their ufual drink 

 in the morning fafting, and many ufe it alfo as their 

 evening regale. I have nothing to objed againft the 

 falubrity and ufe of this liquor ; but the manner of 

 drinking it is certainly very indelicate, the whole 

 company drinking fucceffively through the fame pipe. 

 Thus the mate is carried feveral times round the com- 

 pany, till all are fatisfied. The Chapitones make very 

 little ufe of it but among the Creoles it is the higheft 

 enjoyment , fo that even when they travel, they never 

 fail to carry with them a fufficient quantity of it. 

 This may indeed be owing in fome meafure to the 

 difpatch and facility with which it is prepared ; but 

 till they have taken their dofe of mate, they never eat. j 

 There is no vice to which idlenefs is not a prelimi- 

 nary 5 nor is floth ever unaccompanied with fome vice 

 or other. What muil then be the ftate of morality in 

 a country, where the greateft part of the people have 

 no work, employment, or calling, to occupy their 

 thoughts ; nor any idea of intelle6tual entertain- 

 ment? The prevalence of drunkennefs has been al- 

 ready mentioned, and the deftrudtive vice of gaming 

 is equally common. But in the latter, peribns of 

 rank and opulence, whofe example is always follow- 

 ed, have led the way ; and their inferiors have uhiver- 

 fally followed in their deftrudlive paths, to the ruin of 

 families, and the breach of conjugal affedtion ; fome 

 lofing their (locks in trade, others the very cloaths 

 from their backs, and afterwards thofe belonging to 

 their wives, rifking the latter to recover their own. 

 This propenfity in the Indians for gaming has by fome 

 been imputed to caufes, in which I can perceive no 

 manner of relation. To me it plainly appears ow- 

 ing to the leifure of fome, who know not how to fpend 



their 



