Evening star., 1895-08-30
IN CINNAMON GARDENS.

IN CINNAMON GARDENS.
Raising and Preparing a Well-Known
Spice.
From Demorest's Magazine.
Upon reaching Columbo," says MI
Field, 1.-The tourist in Ceylon very naturally
desires to take drive in the famous Gin
namon gardens, which form one of the
most interesting features of the suburbs.
We were fortunate enough to find time
for visit to them, and I shall never for
get the lovely drive we had one fine morn
ing to the tropical paradise where the
cinnamon tree grows in wild abundance.
Our course lay through the most
charming jungle, and the bright-hued
tropical flowers. with swarms of bril-
liant butterflies lowering around them. pro-
duced an array of color almost dazzling.
We had expected to have our olfactory
organs gratifed by the spicy odors asso-
ciated in our minds with cinnamon, but
found that no fragrance Is emitted by the
shrub until it has been bruised and broken.
"On the way to the gardens quaint
looking structure was pointed out to us,
which We were told was an old fort, used
in past times to accommodate a garrison
placed there to protect the precious pro-
duct of the vicinity, or, rather, to protect
the government employees from the at
tacks of wild Kandayan troopers. These
habit Of making raids on the plantations
after the European demand for cinnamon
had made 1t so valuable. Cinnamon grow
ing was at that time government monop-
oily. and so jealousy was the privilege
guarded that If anyone injured shrub
he became liable to severe hogging, and
in case of the destruction Of tree or the
| taking of any bark, the death penalty was
eXacted. This serves to illustrate how
very valuable a commodity cinnamon at
one time was. although it has in these
times fallen to a second-rate place in the
commerce of the island.
I'VE were fortunate in the time Of our
VISIT which was made in May, just at the
commencement of the peeling season. and
ity Of seeing how cinnamon Is prepared
for the market. The tree, which is known
as the cinnamon laurel, in it's natural
state grows to height of forty feet; and
We were told it Is very plentiful In the
forests or jungles in certain parts of Cey
Ion, where it is apparently Indigenous.
The shoots from which the sticks of Gin
namon are obtained, with which We are
familiar, seldom grow to greater height
than fifteen feet AS our guide informed
us, they are cut down to the stump every
year, and new crop of sapplings springs
up in their place. The young leaves of the
cinnamon laurel are at first of a vivid.
scarlet color, but assume dark green
hue when the berries. which develop from
small white flowers. have ripened. These
berries are of brown or purple color. and
fragrant oil is obtained from them by
the natives, with which they anoint their
tcdies. Wax tapers are also made from
the berries, which are used in the temples
Of the Buddhists.
Packed for Market.
I'VE saw numbers Of natives at work
on the plantations, cutting. stripping and
scraping the cinnamon, preparatory to its
| being dried and packed for market. 1t
is the inner bark of the shoot which fur
nishes the cinnamon of commerce, and the
process of preparation consists of first
stripping off the leaves, and after cutting
the shoot into pieces of convenient length.
a peculiar-looking knife is used, with
with the fingers, in pieces as nearly as
possible of uniform size. The men who
to the Chalia caste: While thus toll
above their waists, and for headdress
either a white turban or coil the hair and
fasten it with comb of tortoise-shell,
after the curious fashion peculiar to the
male Cingalese. The Chalias earn about
twelve cents of our money day.
''1t Is necessary before taking the next
step to lay the bark aside for a time until
it is in proper condition for scraping, as
the outer skin has to be removed This is
done by curling the still soft and pliable
bark around stick, which is held by the
left hand. and also secured in position
by the feet of the stripper. The outer skin
Of the bark is then carefully scraped away.
The pieces are deftly held in place by lodg
ing them in a frame of crossed sticks and
holding them there by means of the toes,
while the delicate operation is performed.
The bark is then placed in the sun to dry,
and naturally curls up into the quills which
form the article of commerce. Three or
four of these quills or sticks are placed in
side one another to prevent breakage, and
the cinnamon is then ready for shipment
The bundles are composed of assorted
cinnamon sticks, and usually weigh about
thirty pounds.
CeyIOn Has the Monopoly.
1.-THE reason that almost all the cinna-
mon used today is grown in Ceylon is prob
ably due to two causes. In the first place.
although cinnamon is not believed to have
been Indigenous to Ceylon, nowhere else
has it been found SO susceptible to the
highest cultivation. The cinnamon grown
in the Philippine Islands, for instance, is
not to be mentioned in comparison with
the Ceylon product; in fact, Ceylon Gin
namon mopopolizes the market. The
other cause of its rarity elsewhere is the
severe penalties imposed by the Portu-
gUese and Dutch during their rule in Cey-
Ion for exporting it. which made it prac-
tically impossible to get seeds or plants
out of the country for propagation else
where. The high price at which CHINA
mon was kept for long time was MAIN
tanned by destroying any surplus that was
produced, and thus making it difficult to
teenth century cinnamon sold for much
as eighteen shillings a pound, where it
now brings but one shilling.
The government monopoly has been
abolished, and cheaper grades from vari-
Gus tropical countries are now on the
market. One Of the peculiarities which
surprised us at the plantation, and, in
deed, surprises most people who see It for
the first time in connection with such
luxuriant vegetation, was that the soil
is apparently composed of glittering white
sand; but underneath IS rich soil from
which the shrubs draw their nutriment.
The plantations were originally started
by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century,
and were formed by wedding out other
trees in the jungle and thus affording
better opportunity for the cinnamon shrubs
TO develop.
1.-The Dutch followed the Portuguese in
the control of this valuable monopoly,
end took the most selfish precautions to
secure themselves heavy revenue from
the sale of the cinnamon crop. We were
informed that one of the principal uses to
which cinnamon is now put is in the man
ufacture of chocolate.
New Version.