CINNAMON, PEPPER 109 



Oil of cinnamon, which is made from the bark of the tree, 

 is of a golden-yellow colour and is much used in perfumery. 



CULTIVATION. Cinnamon can be propagated by seed, or by 

 layers, or by cuttings. It requires a sandy soil, and abundance 

 of heat and moisture. 



SOURCES OF SUPPLY. Though the tree has been introduced 

 into other countries, e.g. the West Indies, Senegal, and India, 

 it is from Ceylon and the Seychelles that we obtain our chief 

 supplies. 



PEPPER (Piper Nigrum) . ' Moreover that it maybe manifest 

 how pepper is had, it is to be understood that it groweth in 

 a certain kingdome whereat I my self e arrived, being called 

 Minibar. and it is not so plentifull in any other part of the 

 world as it is there. For the wood wherein it growes conteineth 

 in circuit 18 dayes journey. ... In the foresaid wood pepper 

 is had after this maner ; first it groweth in leaves like unto 

 pot-hearbes, which they plant neere unto great trees as we 

 do our vines, and they bring forth pepper in clusters as our 

 vines doe yield grapes, but being ripe they are of a greene x 

 colour, and are gathered as we gather grapes, and then the 

 graines are laid in the Sunne to be dried, and being dried are 

 put into earthen vessels : and thus is pepper made and 

 kept.' 2 



Pepper has always been a most important article of com- 

 merce between the east and west ; and as far back as the 

 reign of Ethelred the Unready (86&-71) we read that merchants, 

 who came to trade at Billingsgate, had to pay ten pounds 

 of pepper as tribute at Christmas and Easter. 



It is interesting, too, to remember that the present Worship- 

 ful Company of Grocers was originally the Company of 

 Pepperers, i.e. of pepper merchants, and to learn that, instead 

 of money, tenants sometimes agreed to pay a certain amount 

 of pepper as rent, landlords in this way making sure of 

 a plentiful supply of their favourite condiment. 



The plant from which this valuable spice is obtained is 

 a climbing shrub with soft stems, and rather leathery leaves. 



1 They are gathered when green, but when ripe they are red. 

 * ' The journall of Frier Odoricus ' (Purchas His Pilgrimes). 



