The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-08
IN CINNAMON GARDENS.
Raising and Preparing a Well
Known Spice.
From Demorest's Magazine

From Demorest's Magazine.
Upon reaching Columbo," says Mr..
Field, the tourist in Ceylon very natur-
ally desires to take a drive in the famous
cinnamon gardens. which form one of
the most interesting features of the SUI
burbs. We were fortunate enough to find
time for a visit to them, and shall never
forget the lovely drive we had one fine
morning to the tropical paradise where
the cinnamon tree grows IN wild abund-
ance.
"Our course lay through the most
charming jungle, and the bright-hued
tropical flowers, with swarms of bril-
liant butterflies lowering around them,
produced an array of color almost daz-
cling We had expected to have our OIL
factory organs gratified by the spicy
odors associated in our minds with Gin
namon, but found that no fragrance is
emitted by the shrub until it has been
bruised and broken.
ION the way to the gardens a 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 pro-
attacks of wild Kandayan troopers. These
bellicose natives, it appears, were in the
habit of making raids on the planta-
tons after the European demand for Gin
namon had made it so valuable. CHINA
mon growing was at that time a govern
ment monopoly, and so jealousy was the
privilege guarded that n anyone injured
a shrub he became liable to a severe fog
ging, and in case of the destruction of
a tree or the taking of any bark, the
death penalty was eXacted This serves
to illustrate how very valuable a COM
modify cinnamon at one time was, al
though 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
we were therefore afforded the opportu-
nifty of seeing how cinnamon is prepared
for the market The tree, which is
known as the cinnamon laurel, in its nat
ural state grows to a hight of forty feet;
and we were told it is very plentiful in
the forests or jungles in certain parts of
Ceylon, where it is apparently indigen-
Gus. The shoots from which the sticks
of cinnamon are obtained, with which we
are familiar, seldom grow to a greater
hight than fifteen feet. AS our guide in
formed us, they are cut down to the
stump every year, and a new crop of sap
pings springs up in their place. The
young leaves of the cinnamon laurel are
at first of a vivid, scarlet color, but as
sumo a dark green hue when the berries,
which develop from small white flowers,
have ripened. These berries are of
brown or purple color, and a fragrant oil
is obtained from them by the natives
with which they anoint their bodies. Wax
tapers are also made from the berries,
which are used in the temples of the
Buddhists.
1--WE 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 furn-
ishes 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
which the bark is slit and then peeled off
with the fingers, in pieces as nearly as
possible for uniform size. The men who
cut and peel the shoots belong entirely to
the Chalia caste. While thus toiling they
Go not wear clothes above~ their wasists,
and for a headdress either a white turban
or coil the hair and fasten it with a comb
Of tortise shell. after the curious fashion
peculiar to the male Cingalese. The