374 Voyage of the Novara. 



on the island were abandoned, with most deplorable con- 

 sequences. The cinnamon culture, a monopoly of the 

 various governments which one after another conquered 

 Ceylon, and domineered over its inhabitants, was carried 

 on, especially by the Dutch East India Company, with terrible 

 severity. The slightest embezzlement of cinnamon, or wilful 

 damage to the plant, was visited with death. The uninten- 

 tional breaking off of a twig of the cinnamon bush was 

 punished with amputation of the offending member. Every 

 cinnamon bush, even to those growing in the gardens of 

 private individuals, was the property of the Government, and 

 the cinnamon collector, or even cinnamon-peeler alone, had 

 the right to strip off the rind when ripe. To destroy such a 

 plant, or even to dispose of it to any one, was regarded 

 as a crime affecting life. The labourers, who were employed 

 in the cutting off, peeling, and preparation of the rind, 

 belonged to the caste of Chalias, and constituted the lowest 

 grade of that class. In like manner, under the EngHsh rule, 

 the monopoly of cinnamon was at first continued, with such 

 disastrous consequences to the trade that it was finally aban- 

 doned in 1832, and the merchants of Colombo and Galle 

 were left to divide among themselves the exportation of this 

 important article, under an exporting duty of 3s. per lb. 

 These duties, however, were found much too high, as the 

 higliest price obtainable in Europe was from 6s. to 7s.; 

 and this advance in the price to the trade of the genuine 

 article, was the cause of foreign merchants turniiio- tlieir 



