386 



SPICES ANI> TKAGEA^fT WOODS. 



ganic matter cannot sustain vegetation." Certainly it is not 

 organic matter wliich supports the cinnamon trees of Colombo. 



Peeling. — The best cinnamon is obtained from the stalks or 

 twigs, which shoot up in a cluster of eight or ten together from 

 the roots, after the parent bush or tree has been cut down. These 

 shoots are cut once in about three years, close to the ground. 

 Great care is requisite, both as to the exact size and age ; for if 

 the bark is too young, it has a green taste, if too old it is rough 

 and gritty. These shoots yield an incomparably fine cinnamon 

 bark. "When cut for peeling they are of various sizes and lengths, 

 depending on the texture of the bark. These rods afford the hazel- 

 like walking-sticks so much esteemed by strangers, and which, 

 though difficult to be procured during the prevalence of the 

 oppressive cinnamon regulations, may now be very easily ob- 

 tained from proprietors of grounds producing that spice. Cinna- 

 mon is barked at two periods of the year, between April and 

 December. Those suckers which are considered fit for cutting, 

 are usually about three-fom^ths of an inch in diameter, and five 

 feet or more long. The first operation is to strip them of the 

 outside pellicle of bark. The twigs are then ripped up length- 

 Avise with the point of a knife, and the liber or inner bark gradu- 

 ally loosened, till it can be entirely taken ofi". While drying they 

 are cut up into long narrow rolls, called " quills," then stuck into 

 oue another, so as to form pipes about three or four feet long, 

 which are afterwards made up in round bundles. 



During the first day the cinnamon is suspended under shelter 

 upon open platforms, and on the second day it is placed on 

 wicker-work shelves, and exposed to the sun until sufiiciently 

 dry to be examined and sorted for shipment. 



It is brought home in bags or bales of 80 or 90 lbs. weight, 

 and classed before export into three sorts ; first, second, and third 

 quality. The different kinds of cinnamon bark may be thus 

 classified, according to quality — 



1. That which ranks above all others in quality, is known by 

 the Singhalese name of penne or rasse huroondu, sharp sweet, or 

 honey cinnamon, 



2. Naya huroonclu., snake cinnamon. 



3. Kapoorn Jcuroondu, camphorated cinnamon, from the very 

 strong smell of camphor which it possesses. This variety is prin- 

 cipally obtained from the plantations of the interior. 



4. Kaliate or canalle huroondu, astringent cinnamon. In this 

 species the bark peels off" very easily, and smells agreeably when 

 fresh, but it has a bitter taste. 



5. Savel Jcuroondu, mucilaginous or glutinous cinnamon. This 

 sort acquires a very considerable degree of hardness, which the 

 chewing of it sufficiently proves. It has otherwise little taste, 

 and an ungrateful smell ; but the color is very fine, and it is 

 often mixed with the first and best sort ; the color being much 

 alike, excepting only that in the good sort some few yellowish 

 spots appear towards the extremities. 



6. JDawool huroondu, or drum cinnamon. The wood of this 



