NAT URAL HISTORY. 



521 



the ease with which cinnamon 

 could be collected, and the faci- 

 lity with which it might be cul- 

 tivated. It is impossible to say 

 how far governor North's me- 

 moir contributed to the minister's 

 mistake. 



The contracting parties, eager 

 to retain the monopoly, and ap- 

 parently ignorant that cinnamon 

 was produced in many other parts 

 of the world, as well as Ceylon, 

 adopted the most effectual means 

 to frustrate their own views, by 

 limiting the cultivation of cinna- 

 mon, and by restricting its expor- 

 tation considerably within the 

 annual consumption of tlie inha- 

 bitants of the whole world. By 

 these restrictive measures, a pre- 

 mium was offered to the rice 

 merchants of other countries to 

 endeavour to procure cinnamon at 

 a cheap rate, and consequently to 

 undersell the Ceylon cinnamon. 

 The Ceylon government appears 

 to have entertained serious alarms 

 that the market would be over- 

 stocked with cinnamon the produce 

 of Ceylon J and, anxious to prevent 

 a reduction of the price of the 

 article, adopted a most extraor- 

 dinary measure, which was to 

 employ workmen to root up the 

 cinnamon in many of the planta- 

 tions. 



On Feb. 19, 1802, the chief- 

 tecretary to government addressed 

 a letter (from which the following 

 is an extract) to the President 

 of the Board of Revenue and Com- 

 meice. 



" It being the intention of his 

 excellency the governor that all 

 the cinnamon gardens belonging 

 to government, except those of 

 the Marandhan, Kadeiane, Mo- 



rotto, and Ekele, should be dis- 

 posed of, his excellency requests 

 that you would give diiections to 

 the agents of revenue and com- 

 merce in whose districts there are 

 any cinnamon gardens, to adver- 

 tise that they will be sold by public 

 outciy on the first of May next : 

 the purcliasers to bind the^nselves 

 to root out all the cinnamon trees ; 

 and destroy them ; and all such 

 trees belonging to private persons 

 must likewise he destroyed." 



This measure induced the root- 

 ing up the cinnamon in many of 

 the plantations. In all those which 

 were doomed to destruction the 

 plants were entirely neglected, and 

 allowed to be overgrown with 

 creepers and biushwood, or brow- 

 sed upon by cattle. No unusual 

 activity was exerted to promote 

 the cultivation of tlie four unde- 

 stroyed plantations. Fortunately, 

 however, the business of uproot- 

 ing the plants was a work of great 

 labour ; and the purchasers of a 

 number of the plantations failed 

 to perform their agreement to its 

 completion. Notwithstanding the 

 unforeseen aid of these plantations, 

 the usual investments became 

 greatly reduced, and were obtained 

 with infinite labour. 



In July, 1805, General Mait- 

 land assumed the government of 

 Ceylon. One of the first acts of 

 his government was to arrest the 

 progress of the despoliation of the 

 cinnamon plantations. He readily 

 saw the propriety of encouraging 

 and increasing the cultivation of 

 cinnamon, and adopted means 

 which have been followed with 

 great success. During his govern- 

 ment the annual investments con- 

 tinued gradually to increase, and 



many 



