30 



Mr Marshall on Cinnamon. 



Tlie Honourable the East India Company continued to contract for the 

 Ceylon cinnamon until about the year 1823, from which period it was re- 

 mitted to the Colonial agent in London to be sold, and the proceeds placed 

 to the credit of the funds of the colony. Shortly after Sir Robert Brown- 

 rigg became Governor of Ceylon, eome use was made of the third or re- 

 jected sort of cinnamon, as will appear by the following statement. 



Statement shewing the quantity of rejected cinnamon which was disposed of 

 hy the Ceylon Government in 1815 and IBIG, and the amount of revenue 

 derived from it. 



The above quantitj- of cinnamon was sold to Madras and Bengal mer- 

 chants, they engaging not to transmit it to Europe, but which, it was uni- 

 versally believed, reached England under the denomination of cassia, not 

 of cinnamon. No cinnamon has been exported from Ceylon, as cassia, 

 .'since the contract with the East India Company terminated. 



8rf. The essential Oil of Cinnamon. — This oil is prepared in Ceylon, and 

 generally from the broken portions which are separated from the quills 

 during the inspection and sorting. The cinnamon chips are grossly 

 powdered and immersed for about 48 hours in sea water. When the process 

 of distillation commences an oil comes orcr which separates into two 

 kinds, a heavier and a lighter. The light oil separates from the water in 

 a few hours, but the heavy oil requires ten or twelve da3's to separate 

 completely. Eighty pounds weight of cinnamon yield about two and a 

 half ounces of light oil, and five and a half ounces of heavy oil. The light 

 and the heavy oil are kept distinct and sold separately ; they are never 

 mixed. The following extract from an advertisement in the Colombo 

 Journal will shew the market value of the different kinds of cinnamon- 

 oil. 



Report of the sale of cinnamon and clove oil held in October last : — 

 Heavy cinnamon-oil, . 29 lb. 12 oz. at 3s. per oz. 



Light cinnamon-oil, . 29 .., 12 ... at 3s. 



Clove-oil, . . . 76 ... 7 ... at 4d. ... 



The following quantities will be put up for sale on the 7tli January : — 

 Heavy cinnamon-oil, ... 18 quarts 

 Light cinnamon-oil, . . . 18 ... 

 Clove-oil, . . . . . 45 ... 

 Colombo, December 18. 1832, 

 Portions of bark which have been deprived of their volatile oil, are 

 never substituted for cinnamon, as has been frequently asserted. 



