Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1892-10-06
TEA Grown IN SOUTH AMEslgs
A Substitute for tho chinese Article Used
by Thousands in This Country.


A Substitute for the chinese Article Used
by Thousands in This Country.
"Taste that" said tea merchant
to New York Tribune reporter the
other day, as he handed him curl.
GUS shaped bowl. full Of thin,
brownish liquor, with something that
looked like tobacco pipe resting in
it, bowl downward. The reporter
put his lips to the stem of the pipe,
and sucked at 1t cautiously.
What is it?" he asked. t1ttastes
like weak tea"
THAT'S just what it is" answered
the merchant, "but it's brand of
tea Pm pretty sure you never tasted
before. That's genuine American
tea; grown in America, cured in
America, indigenous to America and
consumed in large quantities for
years by hundreds of thousands OF
Americans; and yet I'll be bound you
never heard of it"
"Perhaps not" admitted the re-
porter guardedly. "What state is it
raised in' Is some four-story brick
tea farm down here in Water street
responsible for it? VIII ~ leaves,
arsenic and a patent essence of
theme, or something of that sort,
eh?"
mot at all, ;" said the merchant, a
little Indignantly. ''It's a Der Getty
genuine and unauthorized article.
Its native state is Paraguay, and that
country raises enough for its own
consumption and 5000, 900 pounds
annually for export to other South
American countries.
'Oh, South American" exclaimed
the reporter. "You misled me by
saving American.
''Did r." said the merchant sar-
castically. ANY why pray? That's
one of the annoying peculiarities of
this people. They're too conceited to
get themselves distinctive name,
but in lordly way dub themselves
Americans. They speak of Brazilians,
Canadians, Chileans, Paraguayans
and the other millions as if they had
no right to that title at all"
''But about the tea?" interrupted
the reporter apprehenslvely, what
do you call it,"
''Mate IS the name of it." replied
the merchant, pronounced match
And many South Americans are very
fond of it. You have just had the
pleasure Of drinking it in the native
manner That curious bowl is not
made of papier-mache, as you might
think, but is gourd, trained into
that shape while growing. The ma
tives are experts in that line, and by
binding the green gourd here and
there with cords, or bending it one
way or another, they made it take
diversity of shapes before it becomes
ripe enough to be cut, dried, scooped
out and used as a utensil. 1t will
not stand fire, of course; but the
mate is first put in the gourd, and
then boiling water is poured on it.
After few moments a pipe OF tube
is inserted, and the liquor is drawn
of by suction.
"What looks like the bowl of the
pipe" continued the tea merchant, as
he lifted it from the liquid and al
lowed the reporter to examine it, sis
in reality strainer, which prevents
the grounds from reaching the
mouth. 1t is made in the shape of a
bulb or ball, and this one is a curl
osity in its way, for it is all woven by
hand, in very fine meshes, from a
species of dried grass. Metal ones are
more common, and the rich have sill
yer strainerS. This is an old style one,
and | value 1t on that account. 1t is
called bombilla. The natives like
their mate, as we would say, red hot
Its effect is much the same as that
of the tea you are accustomed to,
stimulating and restorative, and, OF
course, has it's enemies, who pro-
nounce it slow poison, and its friends,
who call it the Paraguayan equivalent
for the cup that cheers, but not,
etc."
us 1T real tea, hotanically con-
sidered?" persisted the skeptical re-
porter,
"Well, if you come down to bot
any," admitted the merchant, tits
really aspecies of holly, Hex Para.
but it contains in large
proportions the constituent which
makes other teas useful, that of
theme, Its leaves and green shoots
are collected, dried and ground up
unevenly; that is, some of it gets to
be a fine powder in the rough method
of preparation, and then again you
will find twigs in itan inch long. A
large number of people get employ
ment in its growth, preparation and
export, but / am not aware that it
finds market in any but South
American countries.
IT is no trouble to get striking
nictura of n DuUilict