Yerba maté has much in common with both tea and coffee, but does not contain as much tannin as either; of caffein it contains about as much as coffee, and this imparts to it the sustaining virtues. In many parts of the maté-drinking belt the beverage only is taken for breakfast, and I have seen a man in western Argentina take thirty-two matéfuls in rapid succession. The flavor is very agreeable and not unlike that of rather strong tea.
After spending a few days at Trinidad we returned to Asuncion. A launch was placed at our disposal, through the courtesy of the President of the republic, and on November 11 we started on a short voyage up the Rio Pilcomayo, into the Gran Chaco of Paraguay. Several men had been sent with us to look after the luggage, which was carried in a separate boat towed behind the launch, and three local naturalists, representing the museum of Asuncion, went along to collect specimens for their institution.
The Pilcomayo is a river of great size, coming from the northeast and emptying into the Paraguay a short distance above Asuncion. The greater part of its course is in the Gran Chaco, a wild, uninviting region inhabited by savage Indian tribes, and of the interior of which practically nothing is known. We proceeded up the river but a comparatively short distance to the little settlement of Porto Gallileo, the headquarters of a concern engaged in extracting tannin from quebracho-logs. A comfortable home had been erected for the management, and their attention and courtesy were most touching. They were a polyglot community, consisting of a Frenchman, a Brazilian, a Swede, an Argentinian, a Paraguayan, and a German. However, they lived on the friendliest possible terms, and all co-operated for the general good of the company. We came unexpectedly, so no preparations had been made for our accommodation; but each man had a private store of treasured articles from home hidden away somewhere, and before long one brought sheets, another blankets, a third monogrammed towels, etc., until we were as comfortably provided for as any one could wish. The men were very fond of a pet jaguar which they had taken when a cub, but as the animal grew older its temper became uncertain, so it was necessary to confine it in a barred cage. Its wild brethren came from the forest at night to pay it a short visit occasionally, as attested by the footprints left in the soft ground near the cage.
The factory at Porto Gallileo for the manufacture of tannin was of considerable size. Upon arrival from the forest the trees were stripped of bark, ground, and boiled in huge vats. The extract was boiled down to a concentrate and pressed into small cakes; it is very valuable in tanning hides, and its use shortens the time usually required for the process. A number of valuable by-products are also obtained, including dyestuffs.
A narrow-gauge railway line was being built farther and farther into the interior as the land was cleared; this had been completed a distance of fifteen kilometers, and the road-bed was in course of construction for forty additional kilometres. The morning after our arrival at Porto Gallileo we proceeded to the end of the line on the daily work-train, and pitched camp on the bank of a small stream, the Rio Negro.
A street in Buenos Aires.
Porto Gallileo on the Rio Pilcomayo.
Our camp was merely a rough shed built of sheets of corrugated iron supported on poles driven into the ground. The river-water was salt and unfit for use, so each morning several large jugs of fresh drinking-water were sent in from Porto Gallileo, together with a supply of provisions. All about lay marshes, swamps, and large grass-covered areas, the latter type of country predominating.