which is a very troublesome and disagreeable office: it is but seldom a person is able to hold out two or three days successively, as the cinnamon deprives the tongue and lips of all the mucus with which they are covered. Each bundle is then made nearly the length of four feet, and is weighed off subsequently to its being well secured. It is sewed in double gunnies, and when stowed in the ship's hold, loose black pepper is sprinkled over the bales, to fill up every hole and interstice, by which as the cinnamon is preserved in its original goodness.

The Dutch cinnamon inspectors divided the bark into the following kinds, vix.

I. The first and best sort of cinnamon, which is peculiar to the island, is called by the natives rasse coronde, or sharp sweet cinnamon.

II. Is called canalle coronde, which is bitter and astringent cinnamon. The bark of this tree comes off very easily, and smells very agreeably when fresh, but it has a bitter taste.

III. Is called cappiroe coronde, which implies camphorated cinnamon, because it has a very strong smell of camphire. This sort is only found in the interior.

IV. Is called the welle coronde, or sandy cinnamon; because, upon chewing it, one feels as it were bits of sand between the teeth; but in fact there is nothing sandy in it. The bark of this tree comes off readily; but it is not so easily rolled as other sorts are, being apt to burst open and unfold itself. It is of a sharp and bitterish taste, and the root of it produces but a small quantity of camphire.

V. Is called sewel coronde, or glutinous cinnamon. This sort acquires a very considerable degree of hardness, which the chewing of it sufficiently proves. It has otherwise little taste, and an ungrateful smell; but the colour of it is very fine, and it is often mixed with the first and best sort, the colour being much alike, excepting only that in the good sort, some few yellowish spots appear towards the extremities.

VI. Is called nicke coronde. The bark of this tree has no taste or smell when taken off, and is made use of by the natives only in physic, and to extract an oil, to anoint their bodies.

VII. Is called dawel coronde, which is drum cinnamon. The wood of this tree, when grown hard, is light and tough, and of which the natives make some of their vessels and drums. The bark is stripped while the tree is yet growing, and is of a pale colour. It is used in the same manner as the sixth sorth.

VIII. Is called catte coronde, or thorny cinnamon; for this tree is very prickly. The bark is somewhat like cinnamon in appearance, but the

leaves are diferent; and the bark itself has nothing either of the taste or The natives use it in medicine.

smell of camon.

IX. Is calltree is always in solid and weighty

el coronde, or the flowering cinnamon, because this som. The substance of the wood never becomes so his as in the other cinnamon-trees before mentioned, which are sometnes ght, nine, or ten feet in circumference. If this everflowering cinnamon be cut or bored, a limpid water will issue out of the wound; but it is of use only for the leaves and bark.

The inhabitants of Ceylon say there is yet another sort of cinnamon, which they call toupat coronde, or the three-leafed cinnamon. This grows in the Candy country.

The cinnamon-tree flourishes only in a small portion of the island. It is confined to the S. W. angle, formed by the sea coast, from Negombo to Matura. The largest cinnamon plantation is situated in the vicinity of Columbo, and is upwards of twelve miles in circumference; others of a smaller size lie near Negombo, Calture, Point de Galle, and Matura, and all stretch along the sea coast.

The best cinnamon is known by the following properties :- -it is thin, and rather pliable; it ought to be about the substance of royal paper, or somewhat thicker. It is of a light colour, and rather inclinable to yellow, bordering but little upon the brown: it possesses a sweetish taste, at the same time is not stronger than can be borne without pain, and is not succeeded by any after-taste. The more cinnamon departs from these characteristics, the coarser and less serviceable it is esteemed; and it should be rejected if it be hard, and thick as a half-crown piece; if it be very darkcoloured or brown; if it be very pungent and hot upon the tongue, with a taste bordering upon that of cloves, so that it cannot be suffered without pain, and so that the mucus upon the tongue is consumed by it when several trials are made of it; or if it has any after-taste, such as to be harsh, bitter, and mucilaginous. Particular care should be taken that it is not false packed, or mixed with cinnamon of a common sort.

The tonnage of cinnamon is calculated at 8 Cwt. to the ton.

OIL OF CINNAMON.-This valuable oil is drawn from the broken and small cinnamon, which yielding but a small quantity of essential oil, that of cassia is in general substituted in its place. If the oil of cinnamon be genuine, and you dip the point of a penknife into it, it will not flame at a candle, but smoke; if it soon flames, it is adulterated with spirits of wine. If adulterated with an expressed oil, put a few drops into water, and shake it, when the essential oil will sink to the bottom, and the expressed oil float on the surface. Or drop it into a glass of brandy, and if good, it will

sink in a lump to the bottom, but if adulterated, part only will sink, and will leave an oil on the top of the brandy. Water and sugar mixed together are the strongest proof; one drop in a glass will make the glass above the liquor turn blue, which is a good sign.

CHANK SHELLS, or the common conch shell, is an article of trade from Ceylon to the Coast of Coromandel and Bengal, where they are used in beetling the finer cloths manufactured there, and as wrist ornaments for the women, when sawed into narrow rings, and the edges polished. They are also met with at Chittagong and Aracan.

These shells are fished up by divers in the Gulph of Manar, in about two fathoms water. They are of a spiral form, and are chiefly exported to Bengal, where they are sawed into rings of various sizes, and worn on the arms, legs, fingers, and toes of the Hindoos. A chank opening to the right hand is highly valued by the natives of India, and being rarely found, sells for its weight in gold.

PEARLS are found in the Mytilus Margaritiferus, a testaceous fish of the oyster kind; they are formed of the nature of the shell, and consist of a number of coats spread with perfect regularity one over another, in the same manner as the several coats of an onion, or like the several strata of stones found in the bladders or stomachs of animals, only much thinner.

Pearls are generally divided into oriental and occidental, more from their qualities than their place of produce, the oriental being reckoned the best. The principal oriental pearl fisheries are in the Gulph of Manar, the Persian Gulph, Sooloo Archipelago, and on some of the Japan Islands.

The Ceylon oyster banks are scattered over a space at the bottom of the Gulph of Manar, extending about 30 miles from N. to S., and 24 from E. to W. There are 14 beds; but they are not all productive, and not more than two or three can be fished in one season: the largest is ten miles in length, and two miles in breadth; the others are much smaller. The depth of water over the different banks varies from 3 to 15 fathoms, but the best fishing is found in from 6 to 8 fathoms. The pearl banks are about fifteen miles from the shore of Condatchy.

The pearl oysters in these banks are all of one species, and of the same regular form, but of different qualities and denominations, from the nature of the ground to which they are attached. The shape of the oyster is an imperfect oval, pretty nearly the same as that of the cockle, about 9 inches in circumference, with a segment cut off by a straight line at the hinge, or point of union of the two valves. The body of the oyster is white, fleshy, and glutinous. The inside of the shell is brighter and more beautiful than

the pearl itself; the outside is smooth, unless when covered with corals, sponges, and other marine productions.

The pearls are commonly contained in the thickest and most fleshy part of the oyster, contiguous to one of the angles of the shell, close to the hinge. An oyster frequently contains several pearls: one has been known to produce 150, including the seed or dust pearls; and 100 oysters have been opened without yielding one pearl large enough to be of any estimation.

The pearl oyster is said to attain its maturity at the age of seven or eight years; after which its existence soon terminates, and its contents are washed away by the waves.

The fishery generally begins about the 20th of February. Sometimes Government fishes the banks at its own risk; sometimes the boats are let to many speculators; but most frequently the right of fishing is sold to one individual, who sub-rents boats to others. Although the contractor is conditioned to take the contract with all risks, yet if the speculation fail, Government is obliged to remit a full proportion of the rent.

The boats with their crews and divers come from Manar, Jaffnapatam, Nagore, Tuticorin, Travancore, and other parts of the Coast of Coromandel. They arrive completely equipped, and are open boats of one ton burthen, about 45 feet long, 7 or 8 broad, and 3 feet deep, having but one mast and one sail; and unless when heavily laden, do not draw more than 8 or 10 inches water. The crew generally consists of 23 persons, 10 of whom are divers, 10 munducs, or men to haul up the divers; 1 tindal, 1 steersman, a boy to bale out water, and a man to take care of the boat. added a peon on the part of the renter, to guard against fraud.

To these is

The period the divers continue under water, in the depth of seven fathoms, seldom exceeds a minute, sometimes a minute and a half; but other persons, who are willing to allow the greatest latitude, say they never knew a diver remain under water more than two minutes. In ground richly clothed with oysters, a diver often brings up in his basket 150 oysters at a dip; but when they are thinly scattered, he frequently collects no more than five. One boat has been known to land in one day 33,000 oysters, and another not more than 300.

The oysters are generally allowed to remain in heaps for ten days after they are brought on shore, that time being necessary to render them putrid. They are not esteemed good to eat, being of a much fatter and more glutinous substance than the common oyster. When they are opened fresh, they are sometimes dried in the sun, and eaten by the lower classes of people. After the pearls are separated from the sand, washed with salt water, dried, and rendered perfectly clean, they are sorted into classes, according to

their sizes, by being passed through ten brass sieves, or saucers full of round holes. The saucers are all apparently of one size, but made so as to go one within the other. They are distinguished into numbers, 20, 30, 50, 80, 100, 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1000. This is a kind of ratio to estimate the value of the different sizes of pearls; and probably the distinguishing numbers in some measure correspond with the quantity of holes in each bason. These completely occupy the bottom of the vessel; and as they increase in number, they necessarily decrease in size. The pearls are thrown in a promiscuous heap into the uppermost sieve, which being raised a little, and shaken, the greater part of them pass through into the second sieve, and only those remain which exceed a large pea in size. The second sieve is shaken in the same manner; the pearls that remain in it are of the size of a small pea, or grain of black pepper. The quantity of pearls gradually increases as the size diminishes. Those which fall through the tenth saucer (No. 1000) belong to the class of tool, or seed pearls, so called from the smallness of their size.

The pearls contained in the sieves 20 to 80 inclusive, are distinguished by the general name of mell, or the first order. Those of the sieves from No. 100 to 1000 are denominated vadivoo, or the second order. Both these orders are divided into various sorts, according to their shape, lustre, and other qualities, amongst which are annees, annadaree, kayarel, samadiem, kallipoo, koorwel, pesul, and tool.

Annees are the first sort, perfectly round, and of the most brilliant lustre.

Annadaree is a subdivision of them, possessing the same qualities in an inferior degree.

Kayarel is the next in beauty, but not so completely round, and of a duller colour. To this class belong the samadiem, which is nearly of the form of a pear, and the kallipoo, which has flat sides.

The koorwel, or third class, is a double pearl, ill-shaped, and of a dull water; to it may be added the pesul, the most deformed of all the pearls, and the tool, or seed pearl, the most diminutive.

The different descriptions of pearls are sent to different markets; but at the fishery all the kinds are generally sold mixed together, at 200 pagodas per pound.

The method of determining the price of the different sorts of pearls is regulated by an imaginary criterion, estimating the proportion of that quality which attaches to them the highest value. It has the appearance of being intricate and difficult, but is considered simple by those who understand it. Size, roundness, and brightness seem to be the qualities on which it depends.