NATURAL HISTORY. 



519 



on the Malabar coast, considered 

 this a most important discovery. 

 I have not learned that any no- 

 tice was taken of IMr. Brown's 

 report. 



In 1799 the Company exported 

 from Ceylon 564'2 bales. 



During the same year Mr. Jon- 

 ville, a French gentleman,, who 

 held an appointment in the cinna- 

 mon department, addressed a me- 

 morial to governor Noith, wherein 

 he sets forth that he had disco- 

 vered that a cinnamon plant, when 

 well taken care of, ought to pro- 

 duce 23 oz. of cinnamon every 

 second year ; whereas those at 

 present in the Marandhan produce, 

 in the same space of time, no 

 more than four-tenths of an ounce 

 per tree. These comparative cal- 

 culations appear to have been 

 made in a very unequal manner. 

 The first is most probably the 

 amount of the produce of a choice 

 plantj or bush : the second is ad- 

 mitted to be the average produce 

 of each plant in the plantation. 

 No allowance is made for bad soil, 

 although there are many spots in 

 the Marandhan so steril, or other- 

 wise ill adapted for the cultivation 

 of cinnamon, that the plants 

 barely live, become stunted, and 

 never afford cinnamon of a quality 

 tit for the Company's investment. 



Governor North, whose desire 

 to promote and to engross the 

 monopoly of the cinnamon trade 

 appears to have been ardent, was 

 evidently much influenced by the 

 misrejjresentations and sophistical 

 arguments of M. Jonville. In 

 1799 he addressed an elaborate 

 memoir respecting the cultivation 

 and trade of Ceylon cinnamon to 

 the Governor-general in council. 



In this memoir we find that he 

 had three grand objects in view : 

 first, to obtain a sufficient quan- 

 tity of cinnamon annually ; se- 

 condly, at a cheap rate ; and, 

 thirdly, to preserve entire the Com- 

 pany's monopoly of this article. 

 The annual consumption of cin- 

 namon throiighout the world he 

 estimated at 5200 bales. In sug- 

 gesting tiie means of obtaining 

 this quantity he enters into an 

 elaborate calculation, founded on 

 the statements of M. Jonville, to 

 ascertain how much cinnamon the 

 Marandhan plantation could be 

 made annually to produce. The 

 conclusion he draws is, that this 

 plantation alone would yield an- 

 nually 13,G18 bales. In prose- 

 cuting this subject, he strongly 

 and precipitately reconmiends the 

 immediate grubbing up of the 

 cinnamon plants in the Kaderane 

 plantation, and in the innumerable 

 small plantations which were 

 found in the private property of 

 individuals, and eventually the 

 plantations of Ekele and Morotto. 

 The enormous, exaggerated esti- 

 mation of the eventual produce of 

 the Marandhan plantation, conse- 

 quential to an improved mode of 

 cultivation, led to unfortunate 

 results, and afford a strong in- 

 stance of the propriety of much 

 caution being used before a mere 

 speculative theory should be 

 adopted. 



Among the causes which in- 

 duced Governor North to recom- 

 mend the uprooting of the cinna- 

 mon growing- in the plantation of 

 Ekele and Morotto, he mentions 

 their proximity to the sea. His 

 innaginary fears respecting smug- 

 ling contributed greatly to his 



enter- 



