The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-06-16
SOUTH AMERICAN TEA.
It's Name Is Mate and It Is Pop-
ular Drink
A Product OF Paraguay That Affords En-
ployment to Many Natives-The
Particulars of Its Prep
aratiOn.

TASTE that said a tea merchant tc
q New York Tribune reporter the other
| day. as he handed him a curiously-
shaped bowl, full of thin, browrlish
liquor, with something that looked like
a tobacco-pipe resting in it, bowl down
ward. The reporter put his lips to the
stem cf the pipe and sucked at it eau
tiously-.
'sWhat is it9'' he asked. ''It tastes
like weak tea
That's just what it is,'' answered the
merchant, but it's a brand of tea I'm
pretty sure you never tasted before.
That's a genuine American tea; grown
in America, cured in America, indi-
genous in 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 reporter,
yuardedly what state is it raised
n? Is some four-story brick tea farm
1own here in Water street responsible
Tor it? Willow leaves, arsenic, and a
patent essence of theme, or something
IF that sort, eh?''
Not at all,'' said the merchant. a
title indignant. It's perfectly genu-
native state is Paraguay, and that coun-
try raises enough for it's own consump-
ton and five million pounds annually
for export to other South American
countries
'Oh, South America exclaimed the
reporter. ''You misled me by saying
American
did I?'' said the merchant, sar-
castically. And why, pray? That's
one of the annoying peculiarities of this
people. They're too conceited to get
themselves distinctive name, but in a
Iordly way dub themselves Americans.
They speak of Brazilians, Canadians,
Chilians, Paraguayans and the other
millions of Americans as if they had no
right to this title at ALL
"But about the tea.'' interrupted the
reporter apprehensively. What do you
call it?''
'sMate 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 papermache,
as you might think, but is a gourd,
trained into that shape while growing.
The natives are experts in that line, and
by binding the green gourd here and
there with cords, or bending it one way
and another, they make it take a diver.
sity of shapes before it becomes ripe
enough to be cut, dried, scooped out and
used as utensil. twill not stand fire.
of course; but the mate is first put into
the gourd and then boiling water is
poured on it. After a few moments
pipe or tube is inserted, and the liquor
is drawn off by suction.
''What looks like the bowl of the
pipe continued the tea merchant, as
he lifted it from the liquid and allowed
the reporter to examine it, sis in real
ity. strainer, which prevents the
grounds from reaching the mouth. II
is made in the shape of a bulb or ball,
and this one is a curiosity in it's 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 silver strainers. This is an
old-style one, and / value it on that ac-
count. 1t is called a 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 accus-
toned to, stimulating and restorative,
and, of course, has its enemies, who
pronounce 1t Slow poison, and its
friends, who call it the Paraguayan
equivalent for the cup that cheers but
not,' ETC."
SIS it real tea, botanically consid-
ered?' persisted the skeptical reporter.
'.Well, if you come down to botany"
admitted the merchant, 'it's really
species of holly, lex Paraguayensis,
but it contains in large proportions the
constituent which makes other teas use
full, 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 it an inch long.
large number of people get employ
ment in its growth, preparation and ex-
port, but am not aware that it finds
market in any but South American