122 
WONDERS OP THE TROPICAL FORESTS, 
being exclusively in the Lands of the Dutch East Indian 
Company, which, in order to keep np the price, restricted 
the production to a certain qnantity, and watched over its 
monopoly with the most jeiilous tyrannj*. No one was 
allowed to plant cinnamon or to peel it, and the st'lling 
or importing of a single stick was pnnisbed as a capital 
offence. Since that time the cnltivation of the cinnamon 
lanrel having been introduced into many other tropical 
lauds, competition has reduced prices, and the spice which 
Was formerly the main product of Ceylon is now of very 
interior importance. The cinnamon-gardens, whose beanty 
and luxuriance have been so often vaunted by travellers, 
have paiily been sold, partly leased to private individuals, 
and though less than a century has elapsed since they were 
fomxed by the Dutch, they are already l^ecoming a wilder- 
ness. Those which tsurround Colombo on the land side 
exbihit the effects of a quarter of a century of neglect, 
and produce a feeling of disappointment and melancholy. 
The beautiful shrubs which furnish this spice have been 
left to the wild growth of nature, and in some places are 
entirely supplanted by an undergrowtli of jungle, while 
in others a thick cover of climbing plants and other 
parasites conceals them under masses of verdure and 
blossom. It would, however, be erroneous to suppose 
that the cinnamon-gardens have been universally doomed 
to the same neglect. Thus Professor Schmarda, who 
visited Mr. Stewart's plantation two miles to the south of 
Colombo, admired the beautiful order in which it was kept. 
A reddish sandy clay and fine white quartz sand form the 
soil of the plantation. White sand is considered as the 
best ground for the cinnamon tree to grow on, but it 
requires an abundance of rain (which is never wanting in 
the south-'western part of the island), much sun, and many 
termites. For these otherwise bo dL^gtructive creatures 
do not injure the cinnamon trees, but render themselves 
useful by destroying many other insects. They conse- 
quently remain unmolested, and everywhere raise their 
