Chap. 43.] 
CASSIA. 
141 
then sew them in the fresh skins of cattle that have heen 
killed expressly for the purpose; the object being that the 
skins may putrefy, and the maggots generated thereby may 
eat away the woody parts, and so excavate the bark; which 
is so intensely bitter, that it is quite safe from their attacks. 
That which is the freshest is the most highly esteemed ; it 
has a very delicate smell, and is so extremely hot to the taste, 
that it may be said to burn the tongue, rather than gradually 
warm the mouth. It is of a purple colour, and though of 
considerable volume, weighs but very little in comparison ; the 
outer coat forms into short tubes which are by no means easily 
broken : this choice kind of cassia, the barbarians call by the 
name of lada. There is another sort, again, which is called 
balsamodes,^^ because it has a smell like that of balsam, but it 
is bitter ; for which reason it is more employed for medicinal 
purposes, just as the black cassia is used for unguents. There 
is no substance known that is subject to greater variations in 
price : the best qualities sell at fifty denarii per pound, others, 
again, at five. 
(20.) To these varieties the dealers have added another, 
which they call daphnoides,^^ and give it the surname of isocin- 
namon;^ the price at which it sells is three hundred 
denarii per pound. It is adulterated with storax, and, in 
consequence of the resemblance of the bark, with very small 
sprigs of laurel. Cassia is also planted in our part of the 
world, and, indeed, at the extreme verge of the Empire, on the 
banks of the river Ehenus, where it flourishes when planted 
in the vicinity of hives of bees. It has not, however, that 
scorched colour which is produced by the excessive heat of the 
sun ; nor has it, for the same reason, a similar smell to that 
which comes from the south. 
CHAP. 44. CAKCAMUM AND TAETJM. 
From the confines of the country which produces cinnamon 
There is httle doubt that all this is fiabulous. 
Or, ^'smelling like balsam." 
" Looking like laurel." 
Equal to cinnamon." Fee thinks that it is a variety of the Laurus 
cassia. 
^1 He probably alludes to the Daphne Cnidium of Linnaeus, which, as 
Pee remarks, is altogether different from the Laurus cassia, or genuine 
cassia. 
