ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



201 



which is a very troublesome and disagreeable office : it is but seldom a per- 

 son is able to hold out two or three days successively, as the cinnamon 

 deprives the tongue and lips of all the mucus with which they are covered. 

 Each bundle is then made nearly the length of four feet, and is weighed off 

 subsequently to its being well secured. It is sewed in double gunnies, and 

 when stowed in the ship^s hold, loose black pepper is sprinkled over the 

 bales, to fill up every hole and interstice, by which means the cinnamon is 

 preserved in its original goodness. 



The Dutch cinnamon inspectors divided the bark into the following 

 kinds, viz, 



I. The first and best sort of cinnamon, which is peculiar to the island, 

 is called by the natives rasse coronde, or sharp sweet cinnamon. 



II. Is called vanalle coronde, which is bitter and astringent cinnamon. 

 The bark of this tree comes off very easily, and smells veiy agreeably when 

 fresh, but it has a bitter taste. 



IIL Is called cappiroe coronde., which implies camphorated cinnamon, 

 because it has a very strong smell of camphire. This sort is only found in 

 the interior. 



IV. Is called the welle coronde, or sandy cinnamon; hecause, upon 

 chewing it, one feels as it were bits of sand between the teeth ; but in fact 

 there is nothing sandy in it. The bark of this tree comes off readily ; but it 

 is not so easily rolled as other sorts are, being apt to burst open and unfold 

 itself. It is of a sharp and bitterish taste, and the root of it produces but a 

 small quantity of camphire. 



V. Is called sewet coronde, 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 

 colour of it is very fine, and it is often mixed with the first and best sort, 

 the colour being much alike, excepting only that in the good sort, some few 

 yellowish spots appear towards the extremities. 



VI. Is called nickc commie. The bark of this tree has no taste or 

 smell when taken off, and is made use of by the natives only in physic, and 

 to extract an oil, to anoint their bodies, 



VII. Is called dnwel coronde, which is drum cinnamon. The wood of 

 this tree, when grown hard, is light mid tough, and of which the natives 

 make some of their vessels and drums. The bark is stripped while the tree 

 is yet growing, and is of a pale colour. It is used in the same manner as 

 the sixth sorth. 



VIII. Is called catte coronde, or thorny cinnamon ; for this tree is 

 very prickly. The bark is somewhat like cinnamon in appearance, but the 



