198 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



the woods to cut and deliver, at certain prices, a given quantity 

 of cinnamon properly peeled and ready for exportation. 



This system remained unchanged so long as Portugal was 

 master of the country, but the forests in which the spice was 

 found being exposed to constant incursions from the Kandyans, 

 the Dutch were compelled to form enclosed plantations of their 

 own within range of their fortresses. The native chieftains, 

 fearful of losing the profits derived from the labour of the 

 Chalias, who were attached as serfs to their domains, and whose 

 work they let out to the Dutch, were at first extremely opposed 

 to this innovation, and endeavoured to persuade the Hollanders 

 that the cinnamon would degenerate as soon as it was artificially 

 planted. The withering of many of the young trees seemed to 

 justify the assertion, but on a closer examination it was found 

 that boiling water had been poured upon the roots. A law was 

 now passed declaring the wilful injury of a cinnamon plant a 

 crime punishable with death, and by this severity the project 

 was saved. 



The extent of the trade during the time of the Dutch may be 

 inferred from the fact, that the five principal cinnamon-gardens 

 around Nejombo, Colombo, Barberyn, Gralle, and Maduro were 

 each from fifteen to twenty miles in circumference. Although 

 they were only first planted in the year 1770, yet before 1 796, 

 when Colombo was taken by the English, their annual produce 

 amounted to more than 400,000 lbs. of cinnamon, as much as 

 the demands of the market required. 



The profits must have been enormous, for cinnamon was 

 then at least ten times dearer than at present, the trade being 

 exclusively in the hands of the Dutch East Indian Company, 

 which, in order to keep up the price, restricted the production 

 to a certain quantity, and watched over its monopoly with the 

 most jealous tyranny. No one was allowed to plant cinnamon 

 or to peel it, and the selling or importing of a single stick was 

 punished as a capital offence. Since that time the cultivation 

 of the cinnamon laurel having been introduced into many other 

 tropical lands, competition has reduced prices, and the spice 

 which was formerly the main product of Ceylon is now of very 

 inferior importance. The cinnamon-gardens, whose beauty and 

 luxuriance has been so often vaunted by travellers, have partly 

 been sold, partly leased to private individuals, and though less 



