ENTRANCE TO THE CINNAMON GARDENS.
The return to Galle was by a different route, which led them by the cinnamon gardens, where a fee was charged for looking at the trees. Some of the natives stripped off a portion of the bark of one of the trees, and allowed the boys to taste and smell it to make sure that it was cinnamon and nothing else. It was not the season of gathering the bark, and consequently they were unable to witness the process of obtaining the spice, which forms an important export to Europe and America.
While they were wandering about the gardens, and looking at the trees, the Doctor told the boys about the plant they were studying.
"You see," said he, "that the trees are from fifteen to thirty feet high, and when you stand half a dozen yards away the strong perfume that rises from them is plainly perceptible. The scientific men call it the Laurus cinnamomum, and it was known to the ancients long before the beginning of the Christian era; it is a native of Ceylon, and it is said that there are not far from 15,000 acres of ground in the island devoted to its culture. The trees are grown from seed, and when they are eight years old they begin to yield the cinnamon of commerce, and they continue to yield it till they have passed a hundred years. An acre of ground well planted with good trees will give not less than 400 pounds of cinnamon in a year, and sometimes as much as 500 pounds.
"The bark is stripped off in pieces about forty inches long, and is then fermented till the outer skin separates from the inner, which is the one that is wanted. Then the inner skin is dried in the sun very slowly, and it is this drying that makes it curl up in the way you see it in the stores at home. It does not require a rich soil for its production, and many of the cinnamon gardens of Ceylon are on sandy land that would not easily produce anything else."
Frank asked if all the cinnamon used in the world came from the island of Ceylon.
"Not by any means," was the reply; "but there was a time when Ceylon had a monopoly of the commerce. When the Dutch held the island they carried the trees to Java and started the culture there; and the Chinese have a tree that belongs to the same family as this one, though its product is not as good. The Chinese variety is called cassia, and is extensively used for medicinal purposes. About half the cinnamon used in Europe and America comes from Ceylon, and the rest from Java, China, and South America."
It was near sunset when our friends returned to Galle, and were dropped at the door of the hotel. Before starting on the ride to Wockwalla the Doctor had sent the commissionnaire of the hotel to bring their baggage from the steamer, and on their return they found it waiting for them in the corridor. The heavy trunks were sent off early in the evening by a wagon bound for Colombo, and the three passengers were to leave about ten o'clock at night by the coach.
The distance between Galle and Colombo is nearly seventy miles, and a coach runs each way daily; the fare is £2 5s., or about $11.00, and an extra coach of four seats may be had for £11. The steamers of the P. and O. Company do not touch at Colombo, and passengers bound for that place are ticketed through at the same rates as to Galle alone. After the arrival of a steamer of this company at Galle the coaches are apt to be greatly crowded for a day or two, and, as one was due the next day, the Doctor thought it best to get off at once; besides, they had exhausted the sights of Galle, and there was no use in waiting longer.