518 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



cessfuUy in preventing the custo- 

 mary annual message. The chief 

 cause was, that the Kandian court 

 received all the smbassies and pre- 

 sents as a homage due to their 

 monarch, who conducted himself 

 with such an overbearing, haughty 

 demeanour, even while the am- 

 bassadors were performing the 

 degrading and abject ceremonies, 

 which inveterate custom had ren- 

 dered indispensably requisite to 

 aj)proach his presence, that the 

 colonial government became alarm- 

 ed less the native Cingalese should 

 suppose that they were dependant 

 upon the Kandian court ^ in fine, 

 that they would entertain the same 

 opinion as the king did himself. 



By the year 1793, governor 

 Vande Graafs exertions in ex- 

 tending the propagation of the 

 cinnamon plant had so far suc- 

 ceeded, that he was enabled to fur- 

 nish the annual investment from 

 the territory of the company, in- 

 cluding the plantations. In a 

 memorial addressed to Gerard Van 

 Angelbeek, his successor, bearing 

 date July 15, 1794, he congratu- 

 lates him that in future they 

 would not be under the necessity 

 of flattering the court of Kandy 

 any longer. 



G. Van Angelbeek's govern- 

 ment was short, but destructive 

 to the labours of the two preced- 

 ing governors in the cultivation 

 of cinnamon. During his go- 

 Tcrnment little care was taken to 

 defend it from cattle, or to pre- 

 vent the plants from being over- 

 grown Avith creepers and under- 

 wood. 



Ceylon was reduced by a Bri- 

 tish force in February, 1796. The 

 cinnamon found in the .storehouses 

 was sold by the captors to the 



English East India Company for 

 180,000/. I have not been able 

 to ascertain the number of bales 

 captured by the army. In the 

 latter end of 1797 the quantity of 

 13,893 bales was brought to Eng- 

 land. 



Mr. North assumed the govern- 

 ment of Ceylon in October, 1798, 

 but was under the control of the 

 governor-general in India until 

 the year 1802. 



The English company, like the 

 Dutch, engrossed the exclusive 

 privilege of trading in Ceylon 

 cinnamon : the natives of Ceylon, 

 and all other persons, were de- 

 barred from the smallest partici- 

 pation in the commerce of this 

 article. In December, 1798, a 

 regulation was issued by the pre- 

 sident in council. Fort St. Geoi-ge, 

 directing that every ship, &c. on 

 board which a quantity of cinna- 

 mon above 20 lb. might be found, 

 without authority from govern- 

 ment, should be confiscated, with 

 all her cargo j and that for every 

 pound of cinnamon, the quantity 

 being less than 20lb., a penalty 

 of 50 star pagodas shall be paid. 

 This prohibition continues in force. 



The same year a number of 

 chalias were sent to the Malabar 

 coast by the Ceylon government 

 to bark and prepare casia. On 

 proceeding to the forests, they 

 discovered the cinnamon - tree 

 growing in great abundance, 

 which they divided into the fanci- 

 ful sorts, or varieties, that they 

 had been accustomed to do with 

 the cinnamon pioduced in their 

 own island. Specimens of the 

 ])repared bark were forwarded to 

 Ceylon for the inspection of go- 

 vernor North. Mr. Brown, the 

 agent of the East India Company 



on 



