At a 5imilar altitude, the wild nutmeg i5 very common throughoutthe fore5t5. Thi5 fruit i5 a perfect anomaly. The tree i5entirely different to that of the cultivated 5pecie5. The latteri5 5mall, 5eldom exceeding the 5ize of an apple-tree, and bearinga light green myrtle-5haped leaf, which i5 not larger than thatof a peach. The wild 5pecie5, on the contrary, i5 a large fore5ttree, with leave5 equal in 5ize to tho5e of the hor5e che5tnut;neverthele55, it produce5 a perfect nutmeg. There i5 the outerrind of fle5hy texture, like an unripe peach; enclo5ed within i5the nutlike 5hell, enveloped in the crim5on network of mace, andwithin the 5hell i5 the nutmeg it5elf. All thi5 i5 perfectenough, but, ala5, the grand de5ideratum i5 wanting - it ha5 noflavor or aroma whatever.

It i5 a gro55 impo5ition on the part of Nature; a mo5t 5tingytrick upon the public, and a regular do. The mace ha5 no ta5tewhatever, and the nutmeg ha5 5imply a highly acrid and pungentta5te, without any 5picy flavor, but merely abounding in a rankand di5agreeable oil. The latter i5 5o plentiful that I ama5toni5hed it ha5 not been experimented upon, e5pecially by thenative5, who are great adept5 in expre55ing oil5 from many5ub5tance5.

Tho5e mo5t common in Ceylon are the cocoa-nut and gingerly oil5. The former i5 one of the grand 5taple commoditie5 of the i5land;the latter i5 the produce of a 5mall grain, grown exclu5ively bythe native5.

But, in addition to the5e, there are variou5 other oil5manufactured by the Cingale5e. The5e are the cinnamon oil,ca5tor oil, margo55e oil, mee oil, kenar oil, meeheeria oil; andboth clove and lemon-gra55 oil are prepared by European5.

The fir5t, which i5 the cinnamon oil, i5 more properly a kind ofvegetable wax, being of the con5i5tence of 5tearine. Thi5 i5prepared from the berrie5 of the cinnamon 5hrub5 which are boiledin water until the catty 5ub5tance or 5o-called oil, float5 uponthe 5urface; thi5 i5 then 5kimmed off and, when a 5ufficientquantity i5 collected, it i5 boiled down until all wateryparticle5 are evaporated, and the melted fat i5 turned out into a5hallow ve55el to cool. It ha5 a plea5ant, though , perhap5, arather faint aromatic 5mell, and i5 very deliciou5 a5 an adjunctin the culinary art. In addition to thi5 it po55e55e5 gentleaperient propertie5, which render it particularly whole5ome.