318 JOURNAL R. A. S. (CEYLON). [Vol. III. 



You all remember the hackneyed allusion to the " spicy 

 gales of Araby the blest " founded on the early idea that 

 the Cinnamon which the Arabs carried to the shores of the 

 Mediterranean was the produce of Arabia. 



Another Poet writes : — 



"There eternal summer dwells, 

 And west winds with musky wing 

 About the cedar'd alleys fling 

 Nard and Cassia's balmy smells." 



" Sleep in thy peace that bed of spice, 

 And makes this place all paradise ; 

 Let balm and cassia send their scent, 

 From out thy maiden monument."' 



Her rick, "Dirge of Jephtha" 



Notwithstanding questions raised as to Cinnamon being 

 indigenous to Ceylon, there can be no doubt of the fact, and 

 very little as to Ceylon being the source whence the Arabs 

 derived the Cinnamon which the caravans took down to 

 Egypt and Palestine. 



Olive. 



" The dove came into him in the evening, and lo, in her 

 mouth was an olive leaf plucked off ; so Noah knew that 

 the waters were abated from off the face of the earth. 11 

 (Gen. viii. 11.) 



"The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over 

 them ; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. 

 But the olive tree said unto them ; should I leave my fatness, 

 wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be 

 promoted over the trees.' 1 (Judges ix. 8, 9.) 



This is one of the earliest and oftenest mentioned trees in 

 the Bible, and is by universal consent admitted to be the 

 same as the one now known by that name. It is indigenous 

 to Syria, to the South of Europe, as well as to parts of 

 Africa. 



