116 CINNAMON. 
which, on being exposed to the sun, curl up in drying. 
The smaller pieces or quills, as they are called, are in- 
serted into the larger ones, and the whole are after- 
wards tied into bundles. 
Cinnamon is examined and arranged, according to its 
quality, by persons who, for this purpose, are obliged 
to taste and chew it. This is a very troublesome and 
disagreeable work ; and few persons are able to continue 
it more than two or three clays successively, as the cin- 
namon deprives the tongue and lips of all the mucus 
with which they are covered. After this examination, 
the bundles are made up to the length of about four 
feet, and weight of eighty-eight pounds each. 
From the roots of the trees numerous offsets shoot 
up. These, when they have attained the height of 
about ten feet, are cut down and barked, being then 
about the thickness of a common walking-stick. The 
cinnamon which they yield is much finer than any 
other. 
A French ship, bound in 1782, from the island of 
Bourbon, to Cape Fran9ois in St. Domingo, and hav- 
ing on board various oriental productions, the cinnamon 
tree among the rest, was taken by the late Admiral 
Rodney, who presented the trees to the assembly of 
Jamaica ; and, from this parent stock, different parts of 
that island were afterwards supplied. In Ceylon the 
cinnamon trees are said to be so common as to be used 
for fuel and other domestic purposes. 
The smell of cinnamon, particularly of the thinnest 
pieces, is delightfully fragrant ; and its taste is pungent 
and aromatic, with considerable sweetness and astrin- 
gency. If infused in boiling water in a covered vessel, 
it gives out much of its grateful flavour, and forms an 
agreeable liquid. An oil is extracted from cinnamon, 
which is heavier than water. This is prepared in 
Ceylon, and almost wholly from the small and broken 
pieces. It is, however, obtained in such small quantity 
that the oil of cassia (128) is generally substituted for 
it. Indeed the cassia bark is often substituted for cin- 
