The Cinnamon Gardens of Ceylon—Immense profits of the Dutch—Decline of the Trade—Neglected state of the Gardens—Nutmegs and Cloves1—Cruel monopoly of the Dutch—A Spice Fire in Amsterdam—The Clove2 Tree—Beauty of an Avenue of Clove Trees—The Nutmeg Tree—Mace3—The Pepper Vine—The Pimento Tree.
Although the beautiful laurel whose bark furnishes the most exquisite4 of all the spices of the East, is indigenous5 to the forests of Ceylon, yet, as no author previous to the fourteenth century mentions its aromatic6 rind among the productions of the island, there is every reason to believe that the cinnamon, which in the earlier ages was imported into Europe through Arabia, was obtained first from Africa, and afterwards from India. That the Portuguese7, who had been mainly attracted to the East by the fame of its spices, were nearly twenty years in India before they took steps to obtain a footing at Colombo, proves that there can have been nothing very remarkable8 in the quality of the spice at the beginning of the sixteenth century, and that the high reputation of the Ceylon cinnamon is comparatively modern, and attributable to the attention bestowed9 upon its preparation for market by the Portuguese, and afterwards on its cultivation10 by the Dutch.
Long after the appearance of Europeans in Ceylon, cinnamon was only found in the forests of the interior, where it was cut and brought away by the Chalias, an emigrant11 tribe which, in consideration of its location in villages, was bound to go into198 the woods to cut and deliver, at certain prices, a given quantity of cinnamon properly peeled and ready for exportation.
This system remained unchanged so long as Portugal was master of the country, but the forests in which the spice was found being exposed to constant incursions from the Kandyans, the Dutch were compelled to form enclosed plantations12 of their own within range of their fortresses14. The native chieftains, fearful of losing the profits derived15 from the labour of the Chalias, who were attached as serfs to their domains16, and whose work they let out to the Dutch, were at first extremely opposed to this innovation, and endeavoured to persuade the Hollanders that the cinnamon would degenerate17 as soon as it was artificially planted. The withering18 of many of the young trees seemed to justify19 the assertion, but on a closer examination it was found that boiling water had been poured upon the roots. A law was now passed declaring the wilful20 injury of a cinnamon plant a crime punishable with death, and by this severity the project was saved.
The extent of the trade during the time of the Dutch may be inferred from the fact, that the five principal cinnamon-gardens around Nejombo, Colombo, Barberyn, Galle, and Maduro were each from fifteen to twenty miles in circumference21. Although they were only first planted in the year 1770, yet before 1796, when Colombo was taken by the English, their annual produce amounted to more than 400,000 lbs. of cinnamon, as much as the demands of the market required.
The profits must have been enormous, for cinnamon was then at least ten times dearer than at present, the trade being exclusively in the hands of the Dutch East Indian Company, which, in order to keep up the price, restricted the production to a certain quantity, and watched over its monopoly with the most jealous tyranny. No one was allowed to plant cinnamon or to peel it, and the selling or importing of a single stick was punished as a capital offence. Since that time the cultivation of the cinnamon laurel having been introduced into many other tropical lands, competition has reduced prices, and the spice which was formerly22 the main product of Ceylon is now of very inferior importance. The cinnamon-gardens, whose beauty and luxuriance has been so often vaunted by travellers, have partly been sold, partly leased to private individuals, and though less199 than a century has elapsed since they were formed by the Dutch, they are already becoming a wilderness23. Those which surround Colombo on the land side exhibit the effects of a quarter of a century of neglect, and produce a feeling of disappointment and melancholy24. The beautiful shrubs25 which furnish this spice have been left to the wild growth of nature, and in some places are entirely26 supplanted27 by an undergrowth of jungle, while in others a thick cover of climbing plants and other parasites28 conceals29 them under masses of verdure and blossom. It would, however, be erroneous to suppose that the cinnamon-gardens have been universally doomed30 to the same neglect. Thus Professor Schmarda, who visited Mr. Stewart’s plantation13 two miles to the south of Colombo, admired the beautiful order in which it was kept. A reddish sandy clay and fine white quartz31 sand form the soil of the plantation. White sand is considered as the best ground for the cinnamon tree to grow on, but it requires an abundance of rain (which is never wanting in the south-western part of the island), much sun, and many termites32. For these otherwise so destructive creatures do not injure the cinnamon trees, but render themselves useful by destroying many other insects. They consequently remain unmolested, and everywhere raise their high conical mounds33 in the midst of the plantation. The aspect of a well-conditioned cinnamon-garden is rather monotonous34, for though the trees when left to their full growth attain35 a height of forty or fifty feet, yet, as the best spice is furnished by the shoots that spring from the roots after the chief stem has been removed, they are kept as a kind of coppice, and not allowed to rise higher than ten feet.
Nutmegs and cloves, the costly36 productions of the remotest isles37 of the Indian Ocean, were known in Europe for centuries before the countries where they grow had ever been heard of. Arabian navigators brought them to Egypt, where they were purchased by the Venetians, and sold at an enormous profit to the nations of the West. But, as is well known, the commercial grandeur38 of the City of the Lagunes was suddenly eclipsed after Vasco de Grama discovered the new maritime39 road to the East Indies, round the Cape40 of Good Hope (1498); and when, a few years later, the countrymen of the great navigator conquered the Moluccas (1511), they for a short time monopolised200 the whole spice trade much more than their predecessors41 had ever done before. But here also, as in Ceylon, the Portuguese were soon obliged to yield to a stronger rival; for the Dutch now appeared upon the scene, and by dint42 of enterprise and courage soon made themselves masters of the Indian Ocean. In 1605 they drove the Portuguese from Amboyna, and before 1621 had elapsed the whole of the Moluccas were in their possession. Five-and-twenty years later, Ceylon also fell into their hands, and thus they became the sole purveyors of Europe with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmegs. Unfortunately, the scandalous manner in which they misused43 their power throws a dark shade over their exploits. For the better to secure the monopoly of the spice trade, they declared war against nature itself, allowed the trees to grow only in particular places, and extirpated44 them everywhere else. Thus the planting of the nutmeg tree was confined to the small islands of Banda, Lonthoir, and Pulo Aij, and that of the clove to Amboyna. Wherever the trees were seen to grow in a wild state they were unsparingly rooted up, and the remainder of the Moluccas were occupied and subjugated45 for no other reason. The natives were treated with unmerciful cruelty, and blood flowed in torrents46 to keep up the prices of cloves and nutmegs at an usurious height.
When the spices accumulated in too large a quantity for the market, they were thrown into the sea or destroyed by fire. Thus M. Beaumare, a French traveller, relates that on June 10, 1760, he beheld47 near the Admiralty at Amsterdam a blazing pile of cinnamons and cloves, valued at four millions of florins, and an equal quantity was to be burnt the next day. The air was perfumed with their delicious fragrance48, the essential oils freed from their confinement49 distilled50 over, mixing in one spicy51 stream, which flowed at the feet of the spectators; but no one was suffered to collect any of this, or, on pain of heavy punishment, to rescue the smallest quantity of the spice from the flames.
Fortunately these distressing52 scenes—for it is painful to see man, under the impulse of an insatiable greed, thus wilfully53 destroying the gifts of Nature—belong to the history of the past. The reign54 of monopoly has ceased even in the remote Moluccas, and their ports are now, at length, thrown open to201 the commerce of all nations; for the spice trees having been transplanted into countries beyond the control of the Dutch, the ancient system could not possibly be maintained any longer.
The clove tree belongs to the far-spread family of the myrtles; the small lanceolate evergreen55 leaves resemble those of the laurel, the flowers growing in bunches at the extremity56 of the branches. When they first appear, which is at the beginning of the rainy season, they are in the form of elongated57 greenish buds, from the extremity of which the corolla is expanded, which is of a delicate peach-blossom colour. The corolla having fallen off, the calyx turns yellow, and then red; when it is beaten from the tree, and dried in the sun. If the fruit be allowed to remain longer on the tree the calyx or clove gradually swells58, the embryo59 seed enlarges, and the pungent60 properties of the clove are in great part dissipated.
The whole tree is highly aromatic, and the foot-stalks of the leaves have nearly the same pungent quality as the calyx of the flowers. ‘Clove trees,’ says Sir Stamford Raffles61, ‘as an avenue to a residence, are perhaps unrivalled—their noble height, the beauty of their form, the luxuriance of their foliage62, and, above all, the spicy fragrance with which they perfume the air, produce, on driving through a long line of them, a degree of exquisite pleasure only to be enjoyed in the clear light atmosphere of the Eastern Archipelago.’
In spite of the endeavours of the Dutch to confine the nutmeg tree to the narrow precincts of Banda, it has likewise extended its range not only over Sumatra, Mauritius, Bourbon, and Ceylon, but even over the western hemisphere. It is of a more majestic63 growth than the clove, as it attains64 a height of fifty feet, and the leaves of a fine green on the upper surface, and grey beneath, are more handsome in the outline, and broader in proportion to the length. When the trees are about nine years old, they begin to bear. They are diœcious, having male or barren flowers upon one tree, and female or fertile upon another. The flowers of both are small, white, and bell-shaped; the embryo-fruit appearing at the bottom of the female flowers in the form of a little reddish knob. When ripe, it resembles in appearance and size a small peach, and then the outer rind, which is about half an inch thick, bursts202 at the side, and discloses a shining black nut, which seems the darker from the contrast of the leafy network of a fine red colour with which it is enveloped65. The latter forms the Mace of commerce, and having been laid to dry in the shade for a short time, is packed in bags and pressed together very tightly.
NUTMEG.
The shell of the nut is larger and harder than that of the filbert, and could not, in the state in which it is gathered, be broken without injuring the nut. On that account the nuts are successively dried in the sun and then by fire-heat, till the kernel66 shrinks so much as to rattle67 in the shell, which is then easily broken.
Although not so costly as cloves or cinnamon, pepper is of a much greater commercial value, as its consumption is at least a hundred times greater. It grows on a beautiful vine, which, incapable68 of supporting itself, twines69 round poles or mango and other trees of straight high stems. As these are stripped of the lower branches, the vine embraces the trunk, covering it with elegant festoons and rich bunches of fruit in the style of the Italian vineyards.
PEPPER PLANT.
The leaf of the pepper plant is large, resembling that of the ivy70, and of a bright green; the blossoms appear in June, soon after the commencement of the rains; they are small, of a greenish white, and are followed by the pungent berries, which hang in large bunches, resembling in shape those of grapes, but the fruit grows distinct on little stalks like currants.
This valuable spice grows chiefly on the Malabar Coast, in Sumatra, Borneo, Java, Singapore; its cultivation has also been introduced in Cayenne and the West Indies. The black and white sorts of pepper are both the produce of the same plant.
203 The best white peppers are supposed to be the finest berries, which drop from the tree, and, lying under it, become somewhat bleached71 by exposure to weather; the greater part of the white pepper used as a condiment72 is, however, the black merely steeped in water, and decorticated, by which means the pungency73 and real value of the spice are diminished; but having a fairer and more uniform appearance when thus prepared, it fetches a higher price.
Jamaica is the chief seat of the magnificent myrtle (Myrtus pimenta), which furnishes the pimento of commerce. This beautiful tree grows to the height of about thirty feet, with a smooth, brown trunk, and shining green leaves resembling those of the bay. In July and August a profusion74 of white flowers, filling the air with their delicious odours, forms a very pleasing contrast to the dark foliage of its wide-spreading branches. It grows spontaneously in many parts of the island, particularly on the northern side, in high spots near the coast.
When a new plantation is to be formed, no regular planting or sowing takes place, for, as Edwards (‘History of Jamaica’) observes, ‘the pimento tree is purely75 a child of Nature, and seems to mock all the labours of man in his endeavours to extend or improve its growth; not one attempt in fifty to propagate the young plants, or to raise them from the seeds in parts of the country where it is not found growing spontaneously, having succeeded. For this reason, a piece of land is chosen, either in the neighbourhood of a plantation already formed, or in a part of the woodland where the pimento-myrtles are scattered76 in a native state. The land is then cleared of all wood but these trees, which are left standing77, and the felled timber is allowed to remain, where it falls to decay, and perishes. In the course of a year, young pimento plants are found springing up on all parts of the land, produced, it is supposed, in consequence of the ripe berries having been scattered there by the birds, while the prostrate78 trees protect and shade the tender seedlings79. At the end of two years the land is thoroughly80 cleared, and none but the most vigorous plants, which come to maturity81 in about seven years, are left standing.’
The berries are carefully picked while yet green, since, when suffered to ripen82, they lose their pungency. One person on the tree gathers the small branches, and three others, usually women204 and children, find full employment in picking the berries from them. The produce is then exposed to the sun for about a week, when the berries lose their green hue83 and become of a reddish brown. When perfectly84 dry, they are in a fit state for exportation. In favourable85 seasons, which, however, seldom occur above once in five years, the pimento crop is enormous, a single tree having been known to yield one hundredweight of the dried spice. From its combining the flavour and properties of many of the oriental aromatics86, pimento has derived its popular name of allspice, and, from its being cheaper than black pepper, its consumption is very great.
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1
cloves
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| n.丁香（热带树木的干花，形似小钉子，用作调味品，尤用作甜食的香料）( clove的名词复数 )；蒜瓣(a garlic ~|a ~of garlic) | |
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clove
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| n.丁香味 | |
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mace
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| n.狼牙棒，豆蔻干皮 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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indigenous
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| adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的 | |
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aromatic
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| adj.芳香的，有香味的 | |
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Portuguese
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| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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emigrant
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| adj.移居的，移民的；n.移居外国的人，移民 | |
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plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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fortresses
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| 堡垒，要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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domains
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| n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产 | |
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degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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wilful
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| adj.任性的，故意的 | |
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circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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shrubs
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| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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supplanted
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| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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parasites
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| 寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫 | |
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conceals
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的第三人称单数 ) | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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quartz
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| n.石英 | |
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termites
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| n.白蚁( termite的名词复数 ) | |
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mounds
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| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
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monotonous
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| adj.单调的，一成不变的，使人厌倦的 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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grandeur
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| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
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maritime
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| adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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dint
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| n.由于，靠；凹坑 | |
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43
misused
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| v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用 | |
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44
extirpated
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| v.消灭，灭绝( extirpate的过去式和过去分词 )；根除 | |
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45
subjugated
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| v.征服，降伏( subjugate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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46
torrents
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| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
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47
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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48
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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distilled
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| adj.由蒸馏得来的v.蒸馏( distil的过去式和过去分词 )；从…提取精华 | |
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51
spicy
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| adj.加香料的；辛辣的，有风味的 | |
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distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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wilfully
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| adv.任性固执地；蓄意地 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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evergreen
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| n.常青树；adj.四季常青的 | |
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56
extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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elongated
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| v.延长，加长( elongate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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swells
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| 增强( swell的第三人称单数 )； 肿胀； （使）凸出； 充满（激情） | |
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embryo
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| n.胚胎，萌芽的事物 | |
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pungent
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| adj.（气味、味道）刺激性的，辛辣的；尖锐的 | |
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raffles
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| n.抽彩售物( raffle的名词复数 )v.以抽彩方式售（物）( raffle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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attains
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的第三人称单数 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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kernel
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| n.(果实的)核，仁；(问题)的中心，核心 | |
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rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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twines
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| n.盘绕( twine的名词复数 )；麻线；捻；缠绕在一起的东西 | |
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ivy
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| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
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bleached
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| 漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的 | |
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condiment
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| n.调味品 | |
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pungency
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| n.（气味等的）刺激性；辣；（言语等的）辛辣；尖刻 | |
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profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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seedlings
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| n.刚出芽的幼苗( seedling的名词复数 ) | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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81
maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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ripen
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| vt.使成熟；vi.成熟 | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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aromatics
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| n.芳香植物( aromatic的名词复数 )；芳香剂，芳香药物 | |
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