CINNAMON. This well known spice is the bark of the Laurus rinnanzoniunz, which is cultivated both in the spice islands and at Cayenne, though most abundant ly in the former, whence almost the whole of the cinna mon for the European market is brought. The charac ters of the &turns Cillna711071711772 are given under the arti cle BOTANY. It belongs to the class Enncandria, or der Monogynia, and to the natural order Oleracue.
Captain Perceval has given the fullest account of this plant that has ever met our eye, and the following ac count is substantially derived from his history of Cey lon. The cinnamon gardens are within half a mile of the fort of Columbo in Ceylon. They extend over a surface of more than 15 miles, which is traversed by various roads. There are also plantations of the shrub at Ma deira, and Point de Galls. It thrives best in a loose white sand. It has a slender trunk, rises to the height of from four to ten feet, innumerable branches shoot from the stern, and give it the appearance of the Portugal lau rel. The wood is light and porous like that of the osier. It is used as fuel. Shoots spring up from the roots in immense profusion. The leaves, when they first burst, have a beautiful scarlet colour ; they then become green, and have both the taste and smell of cloves. The blossom is white, and has no smell. The fruit re sembles an acorn. It is ripe at the end of autumn, when oil is obtained by bruising and boiling- it. The natives anoint themselves with the oil, which is skimmed off, and they also mix it with cocoa nut nil, and burn it in lamps. During all audiences with the sovereign of Candy this oil is burnt. When the trees become too old, they are cut down, and their places arc soon occupied by young shoots, that rise from the roots in vast profusion. For merly, many of these young twigs were cut as sticks, which are highly prized ; but this is now prohibited.
The natives divide the true cinnamon into four classes. 1. Resse curundu, or honey cinnamon, which is known by its broad thick leaves. 2. Nu icurundu, or snake cinnamon,
which is also known by the size of its leaves. 3. Capn re or camphor cinnamon, which is very interi or to the former two. The root yields camphor by dis tillation. 4. Cabatte curundu, which is harsh and ast.rin ,-, bent• Its leaves are also smaller. There are other spe cies of cinnamon, which are entirely rejected by the ser vants of government.
Originally the cinnamon tree was wild, but one of the Dutch governors raised it artificially. The cultivation was neglected by his successors, until the capture of Ceylon by the British. The plantations are now in regular rows, which facilitates the gathering of the spice.
The bark may be collected at any period of the year; but there are two seasons at which the regular harvests are gathered in. The first of these takes place between the months of April and August, and is called the great harvest ; the second lasts only one month, from the end of November to the beginning of January. The whole barking is carried on by a particular class of the natives, called Schjalias by the Dutch, and Choliahs by the English. These are again divided into different ranks, and are all subordinate to a man that receives the title of Capitain Canaille. Every district furnishes a quantity of cinnamon, proportionate to its extent and the number of its inhabitants.
The branches which are three years old arc lopped off ; the epidermis is scraped off with a knife, having one side concave, and the other convex : the true bark is then ripped up, loosened by the convex side of the knife, and separated from the wood. The smaller portions are then put into the larger. They are then dried in the sun. When the drying is complete, the cinnamon is packed into bundles, which weigh about 30 pounds. These bun dles are bound with bamboo twigs. They arc then mark ed and numbered. These different processes are per formed by different classes of the choliahs.