armamomum Zeglanicum,
mon is carefully cultivated, the best cinnamon-gardens being on the south-western coast, where the soil is light and sandy, and the atmosphere moist from the prevalent sonthcni winds. This littie tree belongs to the laurel family, and the leaf is not unlike the laurel, though of a lighter green. The white blossom comes out with great profnsion, and for many miles around Colombo brightens all the landscape in its season, al- though it difi^uses hardly any perceptible odor through the air. The tree is about twenty feet in height, and spreads into numerous branches ; the fruit or nut is about the size of a damson, and when ripe is of a black color. The plants begin to yield cuinamon when about six or seven years old, after which the shoots may be cut every three or four years. The best kinds of cin-
CINNAMON
846
CIRCLE
namon are obtained from twigs and shoots ; those leA than half an inch, or more than two or three inches in diameter, are not peeled. "The peeling is effected by maldng two opposite, or, when the branch is thick, three or four longitudinal incisions, and then elevating the bark bj introducing the peelhig-knife beneath it. In twenty-four hours the epidermis and greenish pulpy matter are carefully scraped off. In a few hours Uie smaller quills are introduced into the larger ones, and in this way congeries of quills are formed, often meas- uring forty inches in length. The bark is then dried in the sun, and afterwards made into bundles, with pieces of split bamboo twigs*' (Percival's Account of CeyloUj p. 836-851). Besides cinnamon, an oil of cin- namon is obtained in Ceylon, by macerating the coarser pieces of the bark, after being reduced to a coarse pow- der, in sea-water for two days, when both are submit- ted to distillation. A fiitty substance is also obtained by bruising and boiling the riper fruit, when an oily body floats on the sur&ce, which, on cooling, concretes into a dirty-whitish, rather hard, fktty matter. As this oil bums with a delightful fragrance, when re- ceiving ambassadors and on high state occasions, the kings of Candy used to have lamps of it burning in their audience-chamber. The wood itself is pervaded by the same grateful perfume, and walking-sticks of cinnamon-wood are highly prized, as well as little ar- ticles of cabinet-work. Some camphor may be pro- cared from the roots. Cassia bark, aa we have seen.
was distinguished with difficulty from cinnamon by the ancients. In the present day it is often sold for cinnamon ; indeed, unless a purchaser specify true cin- namon, he will probably be supplied with nothing but cassia. It is made up into similar bundles with cin- namon, has the same general appearance, smell, and taste ; but its substance is thicker and coarser, its color darker, its flavor much less sweet and fine than that of Ceylon cinnamon, while it is more pungent, and is followed by a bitter taste ; it is also less closely quill- ed, and breaks shorter than genuine cinnamon. Its decoction gives a blue color when treated with tincture of iodine, which the true cinnamon does not. " The great consumers of cinnamon are the chocolate-makers of Spain, Italy, France, and Mexico, and by them the diffejence in the flavor between cinnamon and cassia is readily detected. An extensive dealer in cinnamon informs me that the Germans, Turlcs, and Russians prefer cassia, and will not purchase cinnamon, the delicate flavor of which is not strong enough for them. In illustration of this, I was told that some cinnamon (valued at Ss. 6d. per lb.), having been by mistake sent to Constantinople, was unsalable there at any price, while ccuna lignea (worth about 6dL per lb.) was in "Teat request" (Pereira's Materia Medica, p. 1806). 71 the various sources, independently of the differ-
ent qualities, it is evident, as in the case of c that the ancients might have been, as no doubt tfaer were, acquainted with several varieties of cassia. These, we have no doubt, are yielded by more tfaaa one species. Besides cassia bark, there is also a cas- sia oil and cassia buds, supposed to be produced br the same tree. There can be no reasonable doubt, air cinnamon and cassia were known to the Gre^a, ^at j they must have been known to the Hebrews also. ' as the commerce with India can be proved to hav^ ' been much more ancient than is genially aappoeed. — Kitto, s. V. Kinnamon; Fairbaim, s. v. (See tht' Pefwiy C^hpadia, s. v. Cinnamon ; Celsii HieroboL u. 850 sq. ; Bodasi a Stepel, Comm. m Theophr. p. £«4; Knox, TraoeU in C^fhn^ p. 82 ; also Ritter, Srdk. TI, iv, pt ii, p. 123 sq. ; Geiger, Pharmac. Boian. i, 331 sq. ; especially Kees v. Esenbeck, De Ciamamomc [Bonn, 1823], and Blume in Wiegmann*s ArtJut.Jkr Naiurgetch. 1881, i, 116 sq. ; Martins, Pharmaiugn. p. 182, 141 ; Smith's Diet, of Clatt. Antiq,, Amer. ed., s. V. Cinnamomum.) Comp. Cassia.
Cin'nereth (Heb. Kime'retk, rn|3, a harp; Sept Xrvfipe:^, Yulg. Cenereth, Auth. Vers? " Chinnereth T Num. xxxiv, 11 ; Deut. iii, 17 ; Josh, xiii, 27 ; -"^ 85), or Cin'neroth (Heb. Kinnerotk\ nt^ifS, karjm; Josh, xi, 2, Sept Xcvcpoid,Vulg. Ceneroik, Anih. Yen. " Chinneroth ;" Josh, xii, 8, Sept XivipiByYulg. Ctmb- roth, Auth. Vers. " Chinneroth ;" 1 Kings xv, 20, Sq«. XivkpiB, Vulg. Cenneroth, Auth. Vers. " Cinerothn. one of the " fenced cities" of the tribe of Naphtali (Josh, xix, 85; compare Deut iii, 17; Josh, xi, 2; 1 Kings XV, 20). In the last two of the texts died it seems to indicate a district^ since it is named with the *'land of Naphtali" and other northern places as hav- ing been laid waste by Benhadad, king of Damascui^ the ally of Asa, king of Judah (1 Eangs xv, 20). It probably took its name from the adjacent dty or lake of the same name, and was possibly the small endoeed district north of Tiberias, and by the side of the lake, afterwards known as '*the plain of Grennesaicth." The expression " All Cinneroth" is nnusnal, and may be compared with ** All Bithron"--^irobably, like Una, a district and not a town. It is also the earlier oasM of the lake Gennesareth (which is supposed to be a eor ruption of Cinnerethj Lightfoot, YTorXx, i, 496), from which we may collect that the town lay on the west- ern border of the lake, and was of sufficient conse- quence to give its own name to it (Josh, xii, 8 ; xiii, 27 ; Num. xxxiv, 11). Jerome says, but merely on rumor (^'i^runt," Onomast, s. v. Chennereth), that Tiberias was originally called Cinnereth ; which Be- land disputes {Pakut. p. 161), as being opposed to Matt iv, 13. The Jewish Rabbins, moreover, identify (Light- foot, Wcrkt, ii, 223) Tiberias with the Rakkath <q. v.) of Josh, xix, 85-88. See CHimrEBBTH. M. de Sanky thinks he has identified the vUlage ot Aht Sitduky lying on the western edge of the plain d-Ghuweir, on an eminence about at its midlength, at the entzanoe of wady Rubuduyeh, with the site of Cinnereth (Nat' rative, ii, 859, 864). See Gennesabst.