SPICES. 34 1 



- ' ' -" ' As when to them who sail 



Beyond the Cape of Hope, and now are past 



Mozambic, off at sea north-east winds blow 



Sabean odours from the spicy shore 



Of Araby the Blest : with such delay 



Well pleased they slack their course, and many a league 



Cheered with the grateful smell, old Ocean smiles.' 



Although the ancient writers all agree that Arabia 

 Felix has thus obtained its name from its odour- 

 breathing plants, it is probable that their accounts 

 are mostly fabulous, and that being but imperfectly 

 acquainted with the regions beyond, they concluded 

 that the country whence they procured their spicy 

 luxuries must, of necessity, be the country of produc- 

 tion. The spices which Queen Sheba presented to 

 Solomon* were not known in Jerusalem, and were 

 probably obtained from Ceylon, or the Islands still 

 farther to the east. It is, however, most certain, that, 

 with but one or two exceptions, those of familiar use 

 among the moderns were all originally derived from 

 these latter countries. 



CINNAMON Laurus Cinnamomum is said to 

 be indigenous only to the Island of Ceylon, and even 

 there confined to a small district in the south-western 

 part of that Island. There are however doubts, whe- 

 ther the inferior sorts, found in other places, known 

 by the name of Cassia, and considered by botanists 

 as a distinct species (Laurus Cassia), be not the very 

 same tree, deteriorated by being produced on a soil 

 and in a climate less adapted for the developement of 

 its finer qualities. Whether it be cinnamon or cassia, 

 the bark of the tree, freed from the external part, 

 forms the spice. 



Although, ever since the Dutch first had a settle- 



* Chron. ii, 9. 

 VOL. xv. 29* 



