Ml" Marshall on Cinnamon. 



29 



to the care and skill emploj'ed in its preparation. As to climate, it may 

 be observed, that cinnamon which grows to the northward of Putlam, or 

 to the eastward of Matura, is greatly deficient of aromatic flavour, and 

 rarely considered fit for the market. Cinnamon is exported from Ceylon 

 in bales of 92i lb. weight, covered with double cloth made of hemp, not, 

 as has been stated, of cloth made of the bark of the coco-nut tree, which 

 has no bark; there is no pepper or coSee introduced into the bales, as 

 has been alleged. 



From the time the English took possession of Ceylon, until about 1823, 

 the East India Company had a monopoly of the cinnamon produced in 

 the island. For the purpose of superintending the sorting and baling of 

 the cinnamon, the Company employed an inspector and two assistants 

 at Colombo, and for a few j'ears Mr Marshall was one of the assistants. 

 The cinnamon was divided by the sorters into three qualities, a first and 

 second sort, and a third or rejected kind, which is generally in small 

 pieces or chips. The Company's contract comprehended the first two 

 sorts only, the third or rejected sort remaining in possession of the Cey- 

 lon Government. It was part of the agreement between the contracting 

 parties, that the third sort should not be imported into Europe, which 

 would have reduced the value of the first and second qualities in the 

 market. For a number of years no use was made of the rejected cinna- 

 mon, by which means the storehouses became lumbered to such a degree, 

 that General Maitland, while Governor of the island, directed a large 

 quantity of it to be burned. 



The following abstract M'ill shew the quantity of the 1st and 2d sorts of 

 cinnamon which was exported on account of the East India Company 

 from Ceylon for a period of about sixteen years. 



