It Likewise Produces Great Store Of That Kind Of Crystal Called _Ochi De Gati_ Or Cats Eyes, And It Is Said To Produce Some Rubies; But On My Return Thither From Pegu, I Sold Some Rubies Here For A Good Price, Which I Had Bought In That Country.

Being desirous to see how the cinnamon is gathered from the trees, and happening to be there during the

Season when it is gathered, which is in the month of April; at this time the Portuguese were in the field making war on the king of the country, yet to satisfy my curiosity, I took a guide and went out into a wood about three miles from the city, where there grew great numbers of cinnamon trees intermixed among other wild trees. The cinnamon is a small tree not very high, and has leaves resembling those of the bay tree. In March or April, when the sap rises, the cinnamon or bark is taken from the trees. They cut the bark of the trees round about in lengths, from knot to knot, or from joint to joint, both above and below, and then easily strip it off with their hands, after which it is laid in the sun to dry. Yet for all this the tree does not die, but recovers a new bark by the next year. That which is gathered every year is the best cinnamon, as what remains upon the trees for two or three years becomes thick and coarse, and not so good as the other.

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