both for yerba mate, the taller with chained lid, 7.25"h; gourd 3.25" diam; the smaller for drinking with metal bombilla (straw), 4.5"h; gourd 2.75" diam.
Known for it stimulant benefits, yerba mate was harvested from wild stands of the plant. The consumption of yerba mate became widespread in the Spanish colony of Paraguay in the late 16th century among Spanish settlers and indigenous Guaraní people. This widespread consumption turned it into Paraguay's main commodity above other wares like tobacco. Mate consumption spread in the 17th century to Chile and Peru. In the mid 17th century Jesuits managed to domesticate the plant and establish plantations in their Indian reductions in Misiones, sparking severe competition with the Paraguayan harvesters of wild stands. After the expulsion of the Jesuits in the 1770s their plantations fell into decay, as did their domestication secrets.