350 Varttcidar Account of the Cinnamon. 
bundle is at the time of packing up eighty-five pounds ; al- 
though it is marked and reckoned for only eighty pounds ; five 
pounds being allowed for the loss by drying during the voy- 
age. The bundles are firmly bound and packed up in coarse 
cloths made of strong hemp or from the cocoa-tree ; and are 
then carried on board the ships which touch at Ceylon for 
tliat purpose. In stowing the bales, black pepper is sprinkled 
among them so as to fill up all the interstices, and by this 
means not only is the cinnamon preserved, but both spices 
improved ; as the pepper, being of a hot and dry quality, at- 
tracts to itself the moisture of the cinnamon. As the island 
of Ceylon does not produce within itself a sufficient quantity 
of pepper for this purpose, the ships which come to carry the 
cinnamon to Europe, bring along with them a sufficient quan- 
tity from the other parts of India, and particularly from the 
Malabar coast. 
After that part of the cinnamon which is fit for exportation 
has been sent off to Europe, the very refuse of this valuable 
spice is capable of being converted to use. The fragments and 
small pieces, which happen to be broken off in packing up 
the bales are collected, and put into large tubs, about a hun- 
dred weight into each, with just as much water as is sufficient 
to cover them completely. This mass is left for six or seven 
days to macerate, and is afterwards poured by little and little 
into a copper alembic, to which a slow fire is applied. Tlie 
water which comes over, called aqua cinnamoni, is received in 
glass vessels of a peculiar construction ; it is nearly of the colour 
of milk, and the oil floats at the top of the glass recipient. 
The process is slowly and cautiously conducted ; one tub be- 
ing usually distilled off in twenty-four hours. Two commissa- 
