the whole collection of dried plants. By this means he obtained a considerable herbarium of his own; and this, added to the collection which he made at his own expense in the province of Bahia, before he entered the service of Russia, gave him altogether a herbarium of about 8000 species of Brazilian plants, and nearly 60,000 specimens. This very rich and interesting herbarium M. Riedel offered, on his arrival at St. Petersburgh, to the museum of the Imperial Botanic Garden, where it is at present deposited, for the use of science. The Emperor Nicholas has been pleased to grant him the sum of 12,000 rubles banc. asig. (480l. sterling), for his great exertions and indefatigable perseverance during the time of his travels for the Russian government; and the emperor has also conferred on him the rank of a captain in the Russian service. This gracious mark of distinction from the sovereign will be of great service to him in his further travels at the Brazils, that being a country where people of government distinction are in general more respected. M. Riedel remained during the winter at the Imperial Botanic Garden, arranging his herbarium for the museum of that establishment. On the 14th of February, 1831, an order was signed by the Emperor Nicholas, consisting of the following articles: "I. That the botanist L. Riedel shall be attached to the Imperial Botanic Garden, and shall depart immediately again to the Brazils, to collect there, for the said establishment, principally live plants, of all scarce and new kinds; also a herbarium, and any thing belonging to natural history. "His appointment, as long as he shall travel at the Brazils, shall be each year 5000 rub. bco. asig.; and after his return to St. Petersburgh to be employed at the garden for the salary of 3000 rub. bco. asig. annually. II. He shall receive for the voyage from St. Petersburgh to the Brazils, from the cabinet of His Imperial Majesty 500 ducats. "III. He shall receive the sum of 5000 rubles bco. asig. annually, for the expenses of travelling in the forementioned country. "He shall receive the sum of 6000 rub. bco. asig. at once, to buy instruments, maps, books, and all things necessary for his journey into the Brazils. "He shall have 5000 rubles bco. asig., to buy, at Rio de Janeiro, three slaves to attend him on his excursions; and shall receive an annual sum of 900 rubles bco. asig. for their maintenance. "IV. A painter from the Imperial Academy of Arts, and a gardener from the Imperial Botanic Garden, shall be joined to M. Riedel, and the first vessel going to the Brazils shall take them there. "V. The money to maintain the aforesaid shall be taken from the funds of the Imperial Botanic Garden; and, in case it should not suffice, it shall be reported to the minister of His Imperial Majesty's court, who shall draw the necessary sums from the cabinet of the Emperor. "The expedition shall be under the general direction and control of Dr. Fischer, the director of the Imperial Botanic Garden, who shall receive all the collections for that establishment, and who has to report on them, as well as on the further proceedings of the travellers, to the minister of this Imperial court.” According to that most noble order of the Emperor, M. Riedel left St. Petersburgh in the beginning of March, 1831, and is now on his way to the Brazils. He proposed to himself to go first to London, to buy there some of the necessary books, maps, instruments, &c., for the use of his new voyage; but I have since received letters from M. Riedel, informing me that he had made his preparations at Hamburgh, and started thence direct to the Brazils, where, no doubt, he will by this time have safely arrived. It is proposed that the painter shall attend M. Riedel on his travels in the interior of the Brazils, but that the gardener shall remain at Rio de Janeiro, to receive the plants and seeds which will be sent by M. Riedel out of the interior parts of the country; and it is to be the gardener's business to cultivate the plants, and prepare them for shipping. He is charged to send, by every opportunity, to St. Petersburgh, boxes of plants, herbariums, collections of different species of wood, seeds, &c.; but the main collection of the more rare plants, particularly of palms, is to remain at Rio de Janeiro, and to be eventually brought over, under the especial care of the above-mentioned gardener. We now, therefore, entertain hopes of receiving a good many of those plants which we at present so much admire in the books descriptive of that rich country, from the pens of some noted travellers. Under such promising circumstances, we may have one day the pleasure to see some of the enormous stoves of the Imperial Botanic Garden filled with a beautiful Brazilian vegetation. No doubt they will prosper, as many of the Brazilian and other tropical plants already in the establishment, under the 59th degree of northern latitude, thrive uncommonly well; and, although the garden has only been about nine years in existence, we have gathered already fruits of several Eugènia, Jambòsæ, Uvàriæ, Mùsæ, Psídia, Euphòriæ, Xanthochymus, Chrysophýlla, Sterculia nóbilis, Sarcocéphalus esculentus, Cinnamomum dúlce, &c. I hope subsequently to be able to give you some further relations of the proceedings of M. Riedel at the Brazils; and remain, dear Sir, your most obedient servant, F. FALDERMANN. Imperial Botanic Garden, St. Petersburgh, August 10. 1831. 1 M PARAGUAY Tea, and the Tea Tree of Paraguay, the Ilex paraguaiénsis, of the botanist St. Hilaire. (fig. 1.)-In M. Faldermann's interesting communication (in Vol. IV. p. 394-403.) on the plants of Brazil, mention is several times made of the tea tree of Paraguay. On this account we beg to present the following interesting extract, relating to it, which is taken from the fourth volume of the Seminario de Buenos Ayres of Azara. M. Faldermann remarks (p. 401.) that it should be spelled tea of Paraquay, and I'lex paraquaiénsis; but this may be deemed doubtful out of Russia, where q and g are said to be often convertible: "The tea tree of Paraguay, called in the country yerva mate, is one of the most useful trees in Paraguay, to which it is nearly peculiar. It is found growing spontaneously, intermingled with the other native trees, in the forests which cover the banks of the rivers and streams which fall into the Parana and Uruguay, as well as the sources of the rivers Ipane and Jejui. The tree is large, and often equals in size the common orange tree; but in the places where the leaf is regularly gathered, it becomes stunted, from the limbs being cut every two or three years, but not oftener, owing to an opinion that this time is requisite to season the leaves, which do not fall off in winter. The trunk is about a foot in diameter; the bark is smooth and whitish; the boughs, which spring upwards like those of the laurel, are leafy and tufted. The leaf is elliptic, cuneiform, from 4 to 5 in. long; thick, glossy, crenated, of a dark green above, and paler below. The petiole is of a dark red, and half an inch long. Its flowers are produced in umbels of thirty or forty flowers each, with four petals, with the same number of stamens. The berry is red, very smooth, and of the size of a small pea. "The method of preparing the leaves is as follows: A hurdle of long poles is constructed, in the form of a cylindrical vault, which they call barbaqua; under this a large fire is made, and the branches being placed on the hurdle remain there till the leaves are sufficiently dry. After this they remove the fire; and on the hard and hot platform, after being swept clean, they throw the branches, which they beat to separate the leaves. In this each is assisted by a boy, called a quayno, who receives the proportion of 25 lbs. of leaves for every bundle of branches he cleans. "The leaves being separated from the branches, and prepared sufficiently, are next put into a large bag made of hides, which has the four upper corners fixed to four large stakes placed in the ground, fitted to support a considerable weight; into this they put the leaves, and beat them down with a pole, in the same way as the negroes of the West Indies pack their cotton bags. When the bag is filled and packed hard, the mouth is sewed up; and in this state, without farther preparation, the leaves are fit for use, but not considered as seasoned till they are a few months old. "We find, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, that this plant was in common use throughout Paraguay; and there can be no doubt but the Indians of Monday taught it to the conquerors, from their being the natives who lived in the vicinity of the forests. The quantity used by a person who is fond of it is an ounce. The amount daily gathered by a labourer is from four to twelve, and sometimes more, arrobas. There are among the creoles or mestizoes many who falsely charge the Paraguayans with having exterminated the Indians by making them work at this labour. These leaves are used in Paraguay, La Plata, Peru, and Quito, at all hours of the day, by putting a handful into a kind of tea-pot called mate (which has given its name to the herb), and from the spout of this the hot liquid is imbibed. Some mix sugar with it, and others add a few drops of lemon juice; and by pouring fresh boiling water the infusion may be renewed, 200,000 arrobas, equal to five millions of pounds, are annually obtained from Paraguay, 110 arrobas of which go to Chile, whence Lima and Quito are supplied; the rest is expended in the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres." (Sem. de Buenos Ayres.) "There are three kinds of it in its prepared state, though produced but by one plant. Caa is the distinctive Indian appellation of the plant; and the three sorts are called caa-cuys, caa-mini, and caa-guazu, the last being denominated by the Spaniards yerva de palos. The people of South America attribute innumerable virtues to this plant. It is certainly aperient and diuretic; but the other qualities ascribed to it are doubtful. Like opium, it produces some singular and contrary effects: it gives sleep to the restless, and spirit to the torpid. Those who have once contracted the habit of taking it, do not find it an easy matter to leave it off, or even to use it in moderation; though, when taken to excess, it brings on similar disorders to those which are produced by the immoderate use of strong liquors." (Wilcocke's History of Buenos Ayres, p. 494.) A doubt has been expressed whether the I'lex, which M. Riedel observed to prevail in Brazil in various places, and which he denominates Flex paraguaiensis, may not rather be a species nearly allied to, but still distinct from, that, and be the species which Dr. Martius has denominated Cassine Gongonha, but which Mr. David Don has more accurately denominated Ilex Gongónha.* This is, however, a question in systematic botany. In a popular view, it may be remarked that, as M. Riedel shows (Vol. IV. p. 401.) both Ilex paraguaiénsis and I`lex Gongónha to occur in Brazil, and also an additional species indicated by the name I'lex nova species, the former two, and possibly all three, species are equally applied or applicable to the supplying of that welcome beverage, tea. While on this subject, it may not be amiss to notice, incidentally, The Plants employed as Tea in different Countries:- In Mexico, Psoràlea (?) glandulòsa; in New Granada, Alstonia theæfórmis (Mutis), which is said to be equal to the tea of China; in North America, Gualtheria procumbens and Ledum latifolium; in Paraguay, I'lex paraguaiensis and Ilex Gongónha; in New Holland, Corræ`a álba; in Kamtschatka, Pediculàris lanàta; in China, Caméllia Bohèa and víridis, mixed with the leaves of C. Sasánqua, or oleífera, and sometimes with those of O'lea fràgrans. (Don, in Lambert's Genus Pìnus, and in Jameson's Journal.) ART. III. The Habits of the Barn Owl (Strix flámmea L., Alùco flammeus Fleming), and the Benefits it confers on Man. By CHARLES WATERTON, Esq.. THIS pretty aerial wanderer of the night often comes into my room; and after flitting to and fro, on wing so soft and silent that he is scarcely heard, he takes his departure from the same window at which he had entered. From Dr. Walsh's Notices of Brazil (vol. ii. p. 172.) we learn that the town of Congonhas do Campo, seated at the base of Congonhas, a rugged ridge of rocky mountains piled up to the clouds, and also the Rio das Congonhas, a considerable stream about thirty yards across, derive their name from the abundance of the congonha plant found there. It is used universally as tea. "It grows in marshy places, and Patricio, my Indian guide, brought me some branches of it from the banks of the river. It attains the size of an orange tree, and has somewhat of its air and aspect. The leaves are dried, or rather roasted, on twigs before the fire, where they crackle like laurel, and are then reduced nearly to powder, and kept in pots. It is used sometimes as a hot and sometimes as a cold infusion. I have drunk it prepared in three ways: either an infusion of the fresh leaves, or made with the dried leaves like China tea, or boiled with sugar and then drained off. The clear infusion exactly resembles that of common green tea; but it is insipid, and has nothing of its flavour or odour, nor, as far as my feelings warranted me to say, of its exhilarating or refreshing quality," I own I have a great liking for this bird; and I have offered it hospitality and protection on account of its persecutions, and for its many services to me, I say services, as you will see in the sequel. I wish that any little thing I could write or say might cause it to stand better with the world at large than it has hitherto done: but I have slender hopes on this score; because old and deep-rooted prejudices are seldom overcome; and when I look back into the annals of remote antiquity, I see too clearly that defamation has done its worst to ruin the whole family, in all its branches, of this poor, harmless, useful friend of mine. Ovid, nearly two thousand years ago, was extremely severe against the owl. In his Metamorphoses he says:"Fœdaque fit volucris, venturi nuncia luctus, Ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen." In his Fasti he openly accuses it of felony : "Nocte volant, puerosque petunt nutricis egentes." † Lucan, too, has hit it hard: "Et lætæ jurantur aves, bubone sinistro:" + and the Englishman who continued the Pharsalia says "Tristia mille locis Stygius dedit omina bubo." § Horace tells us that the old witch Canidia used part of the plumage of the owl in her dealings with the devil: "Plumamque nocturnæ strigis. "|| Virgil, in fine, joined in the hue and cry against this injured family: "Solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo Sæpe queri, et longas in fletum ducere voces." + In our own times we find that the village maid cannot return home from seeing her dying swain, without a doleful salutation from the owl: "Thus homeward as she hopeless went, The blast grew cold, the dark owl scream'd Her lover's funeral song." Amongst the numberless verses which might be quoted « Ill-omen'd in his form, the unlucky fowl, Abhorr'd by men, and call'd a screeching owl." Garth's Trans. "They fly by uight, and assail infants in the nurse's absence." "Even the ill-boding owl is declared a bird of good omen." "The Stygian owl gives sad omens in a thousand places." "A feather of the night owl." + "And, on her palace top, Trapp's Translation. |