This is remarkably pure, with a most
pungent aroma. If rubbed upon the skin, it will prevent the
attacks of insects while its perfume remains; but the oil is so
volatile that the scent quickly evaporates and the spell is
broken.
Clove oil is extracted from the leaves of the cinnamon tree, and
not from cloves, as its name would imply. The process is very
similar to that employed in the manufacture of citronella oil.
Cinnamon is indigenous throughout the jungles of Ceylon. Even at
the high elevation of Newera Ellia, it is one of the most common
woods, and it grows to the dimensions of a forest tree, the trunk
being usually about three feet in circumference. At Newera Ellia
it loses much of its fine flavor, although it is still highly
aromatic.
This tree flourishes in a white quartz sandy soil, and in its
cultivated state is never allowed to exceed the dimensions of a
bush, being pruned down close to the ground every year. This
system of close cutting induces the growth of a large number of
shoots, in the same manner that withes are produced in England.
Every twelve months these shoots attain the length of six or
seven feet, and the thickness of a man's finger.
