100 ENNEANDRIA. 



the woods and hedges^ as the hazel with us, and is 

 used by the Ceylonese for fuel and other domestic 

 purposes. There are many varieties, or different 

 species, of this tree, which grow also in Sumatra and 

 the coast of Malabar, as well as in the island of Ceylon 

 itself, where Seba has described no less than ten 

 kinds j but whetlier these different kinds are so many 

 species or only varieties, does not seem at present to 

 be clearly ascertained. 



The Cinnamon of Ceylon is more highly flavoured 

 than that of any other country. It is the inner bark 

 of the trecj in the language of botany called the 

 Liber, which is used as a grateful aromatic spice. 

 This bark is produced in the most perfect state when 

 the tree is about six or seven years old, but this varies 

 according to circumstances. Seba says, that those trees 

 which grow in the vallies where the ground is a fine 

 whitish sand, will in five years time be fit to have 

 the bark taken off. Others, on the contrary, which 

 are in a wet sHmy soil, must have seven or eight 

 years time to grow before they are fit to peel. When 

 the tree is considered to be sufficiently mature for this 

 purpose it is first stripped of its outer greenish coat, 

 and is then cut longitudinally from the tree, and 

 dried in the sand till it becomes fit for the market, 

 when it is of a reddish yellow, or pale rusty-iron co- 

 lour, very light, thin, and by the heat of the sun 

 curled up in quills or flakes. The outer part of the 

 bark, when taken off from the tree, differs very little 

 in taste from that of other trees; but after being 



