530 LAURACEiE. 



resembling cinnamon, but cheaper and commoner, exactly as at the 

 present day. 



Production — We have no information whether the tree which 

 affords the cassia bark of Southern China is cultivated, or whether 

 it is exclusively found wild. 



The Calcutta cassia bark collected in the Khasya mountains and 

 brought to Calcutta is afforded b}'^ wild trees of small size. Dr. Hooker 

 who visited the district with Dr. Thomson in 1850, observes that the 

 trade in the bark is of recent introduction.^ The bark which varies 

 much in thickness, has been scraped of its outer layer. 



Cassia is extensively produced in Sumatra, as may be inferred from 

 the fact that Padang in that island, exported of the bark in 1871, 6127 

 peculs (817,066 lb.), a large proportion of which was shipped to 

 America."^ Regarding the collection of cassia on the Malabar coast, in 

 Java and in the Philippines, no particular account has, so far as we 

 know, been published. Spain imported from the Philippines by way 

 of Cadiz in 1871, 93,000 lb. of cassia." 



Description — Chinese Cassia Ugnea, otherwise called Chinese 

 Cinnamon, which of all the varieties is that most esteemed, and ap- 

 proaching most nearly to Ceylon cinnamon, arrives in small bundles 

 about a foot in length and a pound in weight, the pieces of bark being 

 held together with bands of bamboo. 



The bark has a general resemblance to cinnamon, but is in simple 

 quills, not inserted one within the other. The quills moreover are less 

 straight, even and regular, and are of a darker brown ; and though 

 some of the bark is extremely thin, other pieces are much stouter than 

 fine cinnamon, — in fact, it is much less uniform. The outer coat has 

 been removed with less care than that of Ceylon cinnamon, and pieces 

 can easily be found with the corky layer untouched by the knife. 



Cassia bark breaks with a short fracture. The thicker bark cut 

 transversely shows a faint white line in the centre running parallel 

 with the surface. Good cassia in taste resembles cinnamon, than which 

 it is not less sweet and aromatic, though it is often described as less fine 

 and delicate in flavour. 



An unusual kind of cassia lignea is imported since 1870 from China 

 and offered in the London market as China Cinnamon* though it is 

 not the bark that bears this name in continental trade. The new drug 

 is in unscraped quills, which are mostly of about the thickness of 

 ordinary Chinese cassia lignea ; it has a very saccharine taste and 

 pungent cinnamon flavour. 



The less esteemed kinds of cassia bark, which of late years have 

 been poured into the market in vast quantity, are known in commerce 

 as Cassia lignea. Cassia vera or Wild Cassia, and are further distin- 

 guished by the names of the localities whence shipped, as Calcutta, 

 Java, Timor, etc. 



The barks thus met with vary exceedingly in colour, thickness and 

 aroma, so that it is vain to attempt any general classification. Some 



1 Hooker, op. cit. of Cadiz for 1871, where the spice is called 



2 Consular Beports, August 1873. 953. ^'cinnamon." 



^ Consul Reade, Beport on the Trade, etc., * Fliickiger in Wiggers and Husemann's 



Jahresbericht for 1872. 52. 



