396 



SPICES AKD FRAGEAIfT WOODS. 



cinnamon. The exports from China are said to be about five million 

 pounds annually; price about 32s. per cwt. In 1850, 6,509 piculs of 

 cassia lignea (nearly one million pounds), valued at 87,850 dollars, 

 were shipped from the single port of Canton. Cassia bark is of a 

 less fibrous texture, and more brittle, and it isalso distinguished from 

 cinnamon by a want of pu-ngency, and by being of a mucilaginous 

 or gelatinous quality. 



Cassia Buds are the dried flower buds (perianth and ovary) of 

 the cassia tree, and are mostly brought from China. They bear 

 some resemblance to a clove, but are smaller, and when fresh have 

 a rich cinnamon flavor. They should be chosen round, fresh, and 

 free from stalk and dirt. They are used chiefly in confectioneryj 

 and have the flavor and pungency of cassia. The exports from 

 Canton in 1844 were 21,500 lbs. ; in 1850, 44,140 lbs., valued 

 at 7,400 dollars. The average quantity of cassia buds imported 

 into the United Kingdom, in each of the thirteen years ending with 

 1842, was 40,231 lbs. ; the average quantity entered for home 

 consumption in these years was 6,610 lbs., and the average annual 

 amount of duty received was £312. 



Cassia bark yields a yellow volatile oil, called oil of cassia, the 

 finer kind of which differs but little in its properties from that of 

 cinnamon, for which it is generally substituted ; it has a specific 

 gravity of 1071. The best is manufactured in China, where the 

 wood, bark, leaves and oil are all in request. The cassia oil is rated 

 at 150 dollars per picul, and the trade in this article reaches about 

 250,000 dollars. 



Cakella Alba, or wild cinnamon, is a valuable and ornamental 

 tree, growing about fifteen feet high, which is cultivated in South 

 America and the West Indies for its pungent bark, which is 

 shipped to this coimtry in bales or cases, in long quills and flat 

 pieces, something like cinnamon. Large old cuttings root readily 

 in the sand. It is grown chiefly in the Bahama Islands, from 

 whence we derive our supplies. 



By the Caribs, the ancient natives of the West Indies, and the 

 negroes, it was first employed as a condiment. In this country 

 it is chiefly used as an aromatic stimulant and tonic, ranking 

 between cinnamon and cloves. The bark possesses, however, no 

 other quality than its hot spicy flavor and strong aromatic odor 

 when exposed to the action of heat. 



Cascaeilla Bark is obtained chiefly from the Croton cascarilla, 

 a small shrub growing at St, Domingo, the Bahama Islands, and the 

 Antilles. The chief portion comes from Eleuthera. In Hayti 

 a pleasant kind of tea is made from the leaves. Other species of 

 the family supply some of the bark of commerce. 



Erom its strong and aromatic properties it has been found very 

 efficacious in all febrile diseases, and vies with the Jesuits' bark ; 

 as a tonic it has very wholesome qualities, a pleasant and strong 

 bitterness, and was for some time held in considerable repute 

 among the faculty. 



About twenty years ago, large shipments were made from the 



