224 TROPICAL SPICES 



WTien the English took possession of the island, the monopoly )| 

 was ceded to the East India Company for an annual sum of i;: 

 60,000^. until 1823, when the colonial government undertook' 

 the administration of the cinnamon- gardens for its own 

 account. 



In 1831 the produce sank to 16,000?. sterling, and in the 

 following year the ancient monopoly was abandoned ; the govern- 

 ment ceased to be the sole exporters of cinnamon, and thencefor- 

 ward the merchants of Colombo and Gralle were permitted to take 

 a share in the trade, on paying to the crown an export duty of three 

 shillings a pound. This was afterwards reduced to one shilling, 

 and ultimately totally abolished ; as not alone India and Java, 

 but also Martinique, Gruiana, and Mauritius, where the cinnamon 

 tree had been introduced, were found capable of producing the 

 spice ; and the cheap substitute of Cassia, a still more formidable 

 competitor, was arriving in Europe in large quantities from 

 South China and the Trans-Grangetic peninsula. In Java alone 

 the export of cinnamon, which in the year 1835 amounted only 

 to 2,200 lbs., increased so rapidly that in 1845 it had already 

 risen to 134,000 lbs., and as it can there be more cheaply 

 produced, and the Dutch government was wise enough to limit 

 the export duty to one halfpenny a pound, an unrestricted free 

 trade was evidently the only means for preventing Ceylon from 

 being entirely supplanted in the markets of the world. Under 

 these circumstances, the Singhalese cinnamon has lost its ancient 

 excellence, less care has been given of late 3^ears to the produc- 

 tion of the finest qualities for the European market, and the 

 coarser and less valuable shoots have been cut and peeled in 

 larger proportions than formerly. Hence the gross quantity 

 exported from Ceylon in 1857 (887,959 lbs.) was nearly double 

 that of 1841 (452,039 lbs.) ; but from the joint effects of compe- 

 tition and the deterioration of quality, the prices have propor- 

 tionally declined, and the total value of the export now hardly 

 amounts to 50,000L 



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 than a century 

 has elapsed since they were formed by the Dutch, they are 

 already becoming a wilderness. 



Those which surround Colombo on the land side exhibit the 



