MONOGYNIA.
127. CINNAMON is the under bark of the branches of a tree of the bay tribe (Laurus cinnamomum, Fig. 40,) which is chiefly found in the island of Ceylon, but which also grows in Malabar and other parts of the East Indies.
This tree attains the height of twenty or thirty feet. Its leaves are oval, each from four to six inches long, and marked with three principal nerves. The flowers stand on slender footstalks, and are of pale yellow colour; and the fruit is somewhat shaped like an acorn.
There are two principal seasons of the year in which the Ceylonese enter their woods for the purpose of barking the cinnamon trees. The first of these commences in April, and the last in November: but the former is that in which the great crop is obtained. In this operation the branches of three years' growth are cut down, and the outside pellicle of the bark is scraped away. The twigs are then ripped up lengthways with a knife, and the bark is gradually loosened till it can be entirely taken off. It is then cut into slices, which, on being exposed to the sun, curl up in drying. The smaller pieces or quills, as they are called, are inserted into the larger ones, and the whole are afterwards tied into bundles.
Cinnamon is examined and arranged, according to its quality, by persons who, for this purpose, are obliged to taste and chew it. This is a very troublesome and disagreeable work; and few persons are able to continue it more than two or three days successively, as the cinnamon deprives the tongue and lips of all the mucus with which they are covered. After this examination, the bundles are made up to the length of about four feet, and weight of eighty-eight pounds each.
From the roots of the trees numerous offsets shoot up. These, when they have attained the height of about ten feet, are cut down and barked, being then about the thickness of a common walking-stick. The cinnamon which they yield is much finer than any other.
A French ship, bound in 1782, from the island of Bourbon, to Cape François in St. Domingo, and having on board various oriental productions, the cinnamon tree among the rest, was taken by the late Admiral Rodney, who presented the trees to the assembly of Jamaica; and, from this parent stock, different parts of that island were afterwards supplied. In Ceylon the cinnamon trees are said to be so common as to be used for fuel and other domestic purposes.
The smell of cinnamon, particularly of the thinnest pieces, is delightfully fragrant; and its taste is pungent and aromatic, with considerable sweetness and astringency. If infused in boiling water in a covered vessel, it gives out much of its grateful flavour, and forms an agreeable liquid. An oil is extracted from cinnamon, which is heavier than water. This is prepared in Ceylon, and almost wholly from the small and broken pieces. It is, however, obtained in such small quantity that the oil of cassia ([128]) is generally substituted for it. Indeed the cassia bark is often substituted for cinnamon, to which it has considerable resemblance, although, in its qualities, it is much weaker, and although it is immediately distinguishable by its slimy taste.
The virtues of cinnamon are not confined to the bark. The leaves, the fruit, and the root all yield oil of considerable value. That from the fruit is highly fragrant, of thick consistence, and, in Ceylon, was formerly made into candles for the exclusive use of the king.