270 BARKS 



occupation of the island by the Portuguese in 1536, the exportation 

 became more regular. In 1770 the cultivation of the tree was 

 successfully carried out by the Dutch, who, as in other cases, made 

 strenuous efforts to retain the cinnamon trade in their own hands, 

 controlling the supply and the price. Soon afterwards the English 

 obtained possession of the island, and the trade in cinnamon was 

 diverted from Amsterdam to London. 



Cinnamon is now almost entirely obtained from cultivated plants. 

 These are cut down to form stools, from which adventitious shoots 

 arise. When these are from 1-5 to 2 metres long and about a year 

 and a half or two years old, they are cut down during the rainy season. 

 The shoots are trimmed from the leaves, &c., ringed at the nodes 

 with a brass or copper knife (to avoid the discoloration that steel 

 would cause), and the bark removed in strips, which are allowed 

 to remain exposed in heaps for about twenty-four hours. Each 

 strip is then stretched upon a stick and the epidermis and cortex 

 scraped off, great care being taken that neither too much nor too little 

 is removed. They are then packed inside one another so as to form 

 sticks, which are dried, cut to a definite length, sorted, and made 

 into bundles. In the London docks each bundle is opened, care- 

 fully sorted and again made up ; the bundles are then classified as 

 1 firsts,' 'seconds,' 'thirds,' or 'fourths.' The trimmings are either 

 exported as such (cinnamon chips), or are used in the island for the 

 distillation of the volatile oil. The leaves and petioles also yield an 

 oil, which, however, is less valuable than that from the bark. 



Description. Cinnamon occurs in long, slender, flexible sticks 

 about 1 metre in length and 6 mm. in width, each consisting of 

 numerous (about forty) channelled pieces or single quills, about 

 1 to 2 dm. in length, skilfully packed into one another, the largest 

 on the outside, so as to form a long stick of compound double 

 quills ; such a stick may easily be separated into its component parts 

 after it has been soaked in water. 



Each of the pieces of bark of which the stick is composed is of 

 papery thickness and of a dull, pale brown colour. The outer sur- 

 face is marked with paler, glossy, undulating, longitudinal lines 

 (bundles of bast fibres), and show here and there scars or holes, 

 indicating the insertion of leaves or lateral shoots, but is quite free 

 of epidermis or cork. The inner surface is rather darker than the 

 outer, and finely striated longitudinally. The drug consists almost 

 entirely of secondary bast, the epidermis (or cork) and cortex having 

 been removed by scraping. 



The fracture is short and rather splintery ; the transverse section 

 shows an outer pale layer (sclerenchymatous cells) and an inner dark 

 layer (bast). 



Cinnamon has a fragrant odour and a warm, sweet, aromatic taste. 



