[550] See c. [55] of the present Book.
[551] Because its perfumes were held in such high esteem, for burning on the piles of the dead. This, of course, was done primarily to avoid the offensive smell.
[552] The bark of the Cinnamomum Zeylanicum of the modern naturalists, the cinnamon-tree of Ceylon.
[553] B. iii.
[554] See B. vi. c. 34.
[555] See B. vi. c. 26.
[556] As Fée observes, this description does not at all resemble that of the cinnamon-tree of Ceylon, as known to us. M. Bonastre is of opinion that the nutmeg-tree was known to the ancients under this name; but, as Fée observes, the nutmeg could never have been taken for a bark, and cinnamon is described as such in the ancient writers. He inclines to think that their cinnamon was really the bark of a species of amyris.
[557] See c. [33] of the present Book, and the Note.
[558] Or “wood of cinnamon.”
[559] “Interrasili.” Gold partly embossed, and partly left plain, was thus called.