chants of Phoenicia and Egypt found large stores of the produce of India ; and by this medium the demands 
from all Europe were supplied. The enormous expense incurred by transporting cinnamon such a circuitous 
route, must have greatly enhanced its price and prevented its very general use. On some occasions, however, 
the quantity consumed was considerable. At the funeral of Sylla, 210 burthens of spices were strewed upon 
the pile ; and it is probable that cinnamon formed a great part of the spices used on this occasion, the pro- 
duce of the Moluccas being then but little, if at all, known to the Romans. Nero is reported to have burned 
a greater quantity of cinnamon and cassia at the funeral of Poppoea than the countries from which it was 
imported yielded in one year. 
In 1498 Vasco de Gama landed at Calicut. Indian commerce now took a different route, and the Por- 
tuguese supplied Europe with the articles which had formerly passed through the hands of the Venetians. 
Eager to engross the cinnamon trade, the Portuguese, early in the sixteenth century, arrived at Ceylon, and 
obtained leave to establish a factory, which led to the erection of the fort of Colombo. Shortly after the 
fort had been built, they concluded a treaty with the king of Kandy, wherein he agreed to furnish them 
annually with 1 24,000 pounds of cinnamon, in return for which they were to assist the king and his suc- 
cessors, both by sea and land, against all his enemies. The thriving settlements of the Portuguese in the 
East, eventually attracted the attention of the merchants of Holland. Soon after they had gained a footing 
in India, they became anxious to engross the cinnamon trade, and early in the seventeenth century found 
means to ingratiate themselves with the king of Kandy, who invited them to aid him in expelling the Portu- 
guese from the islands. In 1612, the king engaged to deliver to the Dutch East India Company all the cin- 
namon he was able to collect. Peace was concluded between the Portuguese and Dutch in 1644. By this 
treaty a moiety of the trade was ceded to the Dutch. War commenced again in 1652. Colombo surrendered 
to the Dutch in 1656, and Jaffna, the last place of strength of the Portuguese, fell in 1658. After monopo- 
lizing the trade for many years, during which time they extirpated the trees in Malabar to enhance the value 
of the cinnamon of Ceylon, the Dutch found serious rivals in the Chinese, whose cinnamon is inferior to none. 
To check, therefore, this rivalship, and to render themselves independent of the king of Kandy, they began 
to cultivate the cinnamon on their own ground at Ceylon; and Dr. Thunberg, who visited Ceylon in 1778, 
informs us, that by the unwearied exertions of Governor Falck, exceedingly large plantations of cinnamon 
had been formed, and that the shoots of some of the early plantations had been already three times barked. 
Political altercations between the colonial government and the court of Kandy occurred about 1792, during 
which the peeling of cinnamon in the king’s territory was greatly interrupted, and the governor declined to 
send an ambassador to obtain leave, as the king of Kandy required. By the year 1793, the propagation of 
the cinnamon plant had so far succeeded, that the governor was enabled to furnish the annual investment 
from the territory of the company, and in a letter to his successor, he congratulates him, that, in future, they 
would be under the necessity of flattering the court of Kandy. Ceylon was reduced by a British force in Feb. 
1796, and in the latter end of 1797, 13,893 bales of cinnamon were sent to this country. By the treaty of 
Amiens, concluded in 1802, the Batavian republic ceded to his Britannic majesty all their possessions in the 
Island of Ceylon, which belonged before the war to the United Provinces. Soon after our countrymen be- 
came possessed of Ceylon, they became infected with the Dutch mania, and such serious alarm did they 
entertain that the market would be overstocked with cinnamon, the produce of the island, that the govern- 
ment, anxious to keep up its price, ordered many of the plantations to be rooted up. In July 1805, General 
Maitland assumed the government of Ceylon, and one of his first acts was to arrest the destruction of the 
plantations. He readily saw the propriety of encouraging and increasing the cultivation of cinnamon, and 
adopted means which have been followed with success. During this government, the annual investments 
continued gradually to increase, and many hundred acres of new ground were planted. Less dependence 
was now placed on the supply from the Kandian territory, which was always uncertain and subject to many 
impediments. To rival the excellence of the cultivated cinnamon of Ceylon, Dr. Marshall thinks it probable 
that the Dutch will cultivate it in Java, or some of its dependencies, and he strongly urges the propriety of 
exerting the powerful means, which circumstances have placed in our power, to cultivate, collect, and export 
a greatly increased quantity of this spice with the view of supplying the markets both of Europe and 
America ; while the trade will be rendered less profitable to our rivals, and less encouraging to them to 
attempt to monopolize the commerce of this important article. 
The ground for planting cinnamon is in the first instance prepared, by cutting down the low brushwood 
and young trees. The lofty trees are allowed to remain, as the cinnamon is observed to thrive better under 
their shade, when not too close, than when it is exposed to the direct rays of the sun. The brushwood is 
collected into heaps, and burned. The planting commences when the seeds are ripe, generally during the 
months of June, July, and August. The workmen stretch a line upon the ground, along which they with a 
mammettee (hoe) turn up about a foot square of earth, at intervals of six or seven feet. The ashes of the 
