150 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



Pliny tells us, that the cinnamon grew in 

 that part of /Ethiopia now called Abyssinia, 

 and that the sale of it was confined to the 

 King of the Gebanites, by whom it was 

 taxed and then sold in open market to the 

 merchants at a price fixed by that sovereign. 

 " In old times," says Pliny, " it sold for one 

 thousand denarii per pound, but it afterwards 

 rose to one thousand five hundred denarii, 

 owing to the forest of cinnamon being burnt 

 down by the wrath of the Troglodites, their 

 barbarous neighbours." This proves that the 

 cinnamon tree was not anciently confined to 

 Asia, much less to the Island of Ceylon. 

 The same author informs us that the /Ethio- 

 pians bought up all the cinnamon of their 

 neighbours, and transported it to other coun- 

 tries, in small punts or boats, without either 

 helm, rudder, or sail, and only one man to a 

 boat. They chose the dead of the winter for 

 the voyage, when the south-east winds blew, 

 and on which alone their safe arrival must 

 have depended, as these winds drove them 

 through the Gulfs. They doubled the point 

 of Argest, and coasted along to the port of 

 Ocila, the principal town of the Gebanites. 

 It took them five years to make one voyage 

 and to return. This will naturally account 



