( ^^-o ) 
CHAPTER YII. 
TROPICAL SPICES, 
Tho Cinnamon Gardens of Ceylon — Immeiifio profiti of the Dutch — 
Decline of the trade— Neglected state of the Gardens —Nutmtga 
and Cloves — Cmel mtmopoly of the Dutch — A Spice Fire in Am- 
aterdam— The Cl<*vc Tree— Beauty of an avenue of Gli>ve Treea— 
The Nutmeg Tree— Mace— The Pepper Vine— The Pimento Tree^ 
ALTHOtJGH tlie beaufcLftil laurel wliose bark furnishes the 
most exquisite of alt the spices of the East is indigenous 
to the forests of Ceylon, yet, as no author previous to the 
fonrteenth century mentions its aronmtic rind among the 
productions of the island, there is every reason to believe 
that the cinnamonj which in the earlier ages was imported 
into Europe through Arabia, was obtained first from Africa, 
and afterwards from India. That the Portuguese, who 
had been mainly attracted to the East by the fame of its 
spiceSj were nearly twenty years in India before they took 
steps to obtain a footing at Colombo, proves that there can 
have been nothing veiy remarkable in the quality of the 
spice at the beginrdng of the sixteenth century, and that 
the high reputation of the Ceylon cinnamon is compara- 
tively modern, and attributable to the attention bestowed 
upon its preparation for market by the I'ort.uguese, and 
afterwards on its cultivation by the Dutch. 
Long after the appearance of Europeans in Ceylon, 
cinnamon was only found in the forests of the interior, 
where it was cut and brought away by the Chcdias^ an 
emigrant teibe which, in consideration of its location 
ia villageSj was bound to go into the woods to cut and 
