The leaves cut from the tree _Caà_, and parched at a slow fire, got the name of the Herb of Paraguay, from a sort of resemblance to the herb tea, which, like itself, is drunk infused in boiling water. The tree _caà_ grows no where spontaneously but in woods about two hundred leagues from the city of Asumpcion. Like reeds, it thrives best in a moist swampy soil. In form and foliage, except that the leaves are softer, it resembles the orange tree, but far exceeds it in size. Its flowers are small and white, with a calyx composed of five leaflets. The seed is very like American pepper, except that three or four small whitish, oblong kernels appear beneath the skin. The boughs, which are cut off from the trees with a bill, are parched for some time on beams laid cross-wise over the fire; after which the leaves, with the smaller twigs, are spread on the ground, and beat to powder with sticks. When prepared by this less laborious method, it is called _yerba de palos_, because it is composed of leaves and leaf-stems, and their fibres, which are in a certain degree woody. An _arroba_ (which is twenty-five pounds) of this herb, is sold in the forest for nearly two German florins; in the city of Asumpcion, from the expense of carriage, the price is double. The _caà-miri_ is sold at a double price, being prepared by our Guaranies, with more labour and accuracy; for they carefully separate and throw aside the leaf-stems and larger fibres. After parching the leaves at a slow fire, they pound them gently in a wooden mortar, taking care not to beat them too small. For the more entire they remain, the more taste and smell they possess; if pulverized very small, they lose both. _Caà-miri_ signifies the small herb, being made by the Indian Guaranies of the tender parts of the leaves, the leaf-stems and all the particles of wood being excluded; it is not, however, reduced to powder, like that of the Spaniards. The herb, when properly prepared, exhales a very pleasant fragrance, without the admixture of any thing else; but if it be sprinkled with a little of the leaves or rind of the fruits of the _quabira miri_, the odour is doubled, the flavour improved, and the price increased. Add to this, that the herb is of a gummy nature, and in parching it, care must be taken that it be not over-dried. Merchants, when they would try the quality of the herb, put a little of it into the palm of their hand, and blow upon it; when much of the herb flies off, they judge it to be too high dried, and deprived of juice and virtue; but when it adheres to the hand as if glued there by a natural gum, they value it highly. In consequence of the bitterness natural to the herb, it is drunk with sugar. The Indians, however, and the lower orders amongst the Spaniards, drink it unmingled with any thing. Though the _caà_ is only found in the remotest parts of Paraguay towards the N. E., it affords a beverage not only to the Paraguayans, but to the Peruvians