Am.  Jour.  Pharm. ) 
Nov.,  1883.  i" 
Mate  or  Paraguay  Tea. 
571 
How  long  the  South  American  Indians  had  been  in  the  habit  [of  using 
mate  is  not  known,  but  when  the  Spaniards  seized  the  provinces  on  the 
rivers  Paraguay  and  Uruguay  they  found  this  custom  prevailed  there 
exactly  as  first  mentioned  in  the  writings  of  Azara,  who  stated  that  the  tree 
grew  wild  in  different  parts  of  Paraguay.  In  proof  of  the  high  estimation 
in  which  it  was  held  by  the  Indians  it  may  be  mentioned  that  the  name 
"caa,"  which  signifies  in  the  Tupi  language  a  tree  or  plant,  was  given  by 
way  of  distinction  to  mate,  that  being  the  tree  vakied  above  all  others.  The 
use  of  mate  does  not  appear,  however,  to  have  extended  to  extra-tropical 
districts,  but  to  have  been  confined  to  the  more  intelligent  tribes  known 
now  under  the  name  of  Guarani  Indians.  Nevertheless,  when  these  people 
were  driven  further  north  by  Europeans,  they  do  not  appear  to  have  carried 
the  use  [of  the  drug  with  them,  probably  thinking  it  not  worth  while  to 
obtain  it  from  a  distance  and  from  a  hostile  people  when  they  found  a  sub- 
stitute close  at  hand  in  the  Guarana  plant. 
The  extensive  use  of  mate  in  South  America  at  the  present  time  is  prob- 
ably due  in  great  measure  to  the  Jesuits,  who  encouraged  its  use,  finding 
that  it  restrained  the  desire  of  the  Indians  for  spirituous  drinks,  while  its 
cultivation,  collection  and  preparation  gave  employment  to  converted  In- 
dians and  brought  wealth  to  the  order.  In  the  Jesuit  Republic,  the  Indians 
were  not  paid  in  money  but  in  produce ;  4  lbs.  of  meat,  a  definite  amount 
of  Indian  corn  and  1  oz.  of  mate  were  allowed  to  each  family. 
After  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits,  the  preparation  of  mate  was  continued 
in  the  Paraguay  Republic  under  the  administration  of  the  Dictator  Francia 
and  his  successors,  until  the  Dictator  Solano  Lopes  was  killed  in  battle  with 
the  Brazilians  in  1870.  An  overseer  was  appointed  over  the  work,  who  also 
was  paid  in  kind,  receiving  for  each  aroba  of  the  tea  natural  produce  of 
the  value  of  I  ounce  of  gold.  Since  1870  there  has  been  free  trade  in  the 
article,  which  renders  an  increase  of  the  trade  very  desirable.  At  the 
present  time  mate  is  used  only  by  about  12,000,000  of  people,  and  the  con- 
sumption amounts  to  about  8,000,000  pounds. 
It  has  been  stated  that  mate  is  not  prepared  solely  from  j;  paraguari- 
ensis,  St.  Hil.,  but  that  the  leaves  of  other  species  are  mixed  with  it. 
In  1842,  Sir  W.  J.  Hooker  published  in  the  London  Journal  of  Botany 
(vol.  i,  p.  30)  an  exhaustive  account  of  yerba  mate,  together  with  the  char- 
acteristics of  the  different  varieties  which  he  considered  identical  with  Ilex 
paraguariensis.  This  paper  strengthened  the  previous  opinion  of  Miers 
that  probably  more  than  one  species  was  used  in  the  preparation  of  the  tea. 
The  investigations  made  by  Miers  and  the  monk  Leandro,  Director  of  the 
Botanical  Gardens  in  Rio  Janeiro,  confirmed  by  Bonpland,  indicate  that 
six  different  species  are  used  for  the  purpose  :  1.  Ilex  theezans^  BonpL, 
growing  in  Paraguay,  Entre  Rios  and  Brazil ;  2.  Ilex  ovalifolia,  growing 
in  the  neighborhood  of  Rio  Pardo;  3.  Ilex  amara,  BonpL,  on  the  moun- 
tains of  Santa  Cruz  and  in  the  forests  of  the  Brazilian  province  of  Parana  ; 
4.  Ilex  crepitans^  BonpL,  in  the  interior  of  Santa  Cruz  and  the  banks  of  the 
Parana  river ;  bAllex  gigantea^  BonpL,  on  the  banks  of  the  Parana  river. 
This  is  the  "caa-una"  of  the  Guaranis.  6.  IlexHumboldtiana,  BonpL,  in 
the  province  of  Rio  Grande  do  SuL    This  is  the  "  caa-unina  "  of  the  Bra- 
