524 LAURACEyE. 



heavy rains in May and June, and again in November and December, 

 the bark at those seasons is easily separated from the wood, so that a 

 principal harvest takes place in the spring, and a smaller one in the 

 latter part of the year. 



The shoots having been cut off by means of a long sickle-shaped 

 hook called a catty, and stripped of their leaves, are slightly trimmed with 

 a knife, the little pieces thus removed being reserved and sold as 

 Ginnavion Chips. The bark is next cut through at distances of about 

 a foot, and slit lengthwise, when it is easily and completely removed 

 by the insertion of a peculiar knife termed a "mama, the separation 

 being assisted, if necessary, by strongly rubbing with the handle. The 

 pieces of bark are now carefully put one into another, and the compound 

 sticks firmly bound together into bundles. Thus they are left for 24< 

 hours or more, during which a sort of "fermentation" (?) goes on which 

 facilitates the subsequent removal part. This is accomplished by placing 

 each quill on a stick of wood of suitable thickness, and carefully scraping 

 off with a knife the outer and middle cortical layer. In a few hours 

 after this operation, the peeler commences to place the smaller tubes 

 within the larger, also inserting the small pieces so as to make up an 

 almost solid stick, of about 40 inches in length. The cinnamon thus 

 prepared is kept one day in the shade, and then placed on wicker trays 

 in the sun to dry. When sufHciently dry, it is made into bundles of 

 about 30 lb. each.^ 



The cinnamon gardens of Ceylon were estimated in 1860-64 to 

 occupy an area of about 14,400 acres; in the catalogue of the British 

 Colonies, Paris Exhibition, 1 878, about 2 millions of acres are stated to 

 be under cultivation in the island, 26,000 acres with cinnamon." 



The exports of cinnamon from Ceylon have been as follows : — 



1871 1872 1875 



1,359,3271b., value £67,966. 1,267,953 lb., value £64,747. 1,500,000 lb. 



At present the cultivation of coffee is displacing that of cinnamon, 

 the exports of the former in 1875 being 928,606 cwts. valued at 4|- 

 millions sterling. Of the crop of 1872 there were 1,179,516 lb. of 

 cinnamon shipped to the United Kingdom, 53,439 lb. to the United 

 States of North America, and 10,000 ft), to Hamburg. 



Besides the above-named exports of cinnamon, the official 

 statistics^ record the export of ^'Cinnamon Bark"' — 8846 lb. in 

 1871 — 23,449 ft), in 1872. This name includes two distinct articles, 

 namely Cinnamon Chips, and a very thick bark derived from old 

 stems. The Cinnamon Chips which, as explained on the previous 

 page, are the first trimmings of the shoots, are very aromatic ; they used 

 to be considered worthless, and were thrown away. The second article, 

 to which in the London drug sales the name "Cinnamon Bark" is 

 restricted, is in flat or slightly channelled fragments, which are as much 

 as j^ of an inch in thickness, and remind one of New Granada cinchona 



^ Formerly called fardela or fardello, a we may judge by the statement that the 



name signifying in the Romance languages five principal cinnamon gardens around 



bundle or parkatje. The word fa7-del, having Negumbo, Colombo, Barberyn, Galle, and 



the same meaning, is found in old English Matura, were each from 15 to 20 guiles in 



writers. circumference (Tenneut'a Ceylon, ii. 163). 



- Yet the cultivation was far more exten- ■' C< ylon Blue Bookn for 1871 and 1872, 



sive in the earlier part of the century, as printed at Colombo. 



