e called, are generally musical with
the cooing of turtle-doves, whose plump condition is owing to free
living upon the nutritious purple berries of the spice-producing tree.
The birds are not interfered with, as the berries have no commercial
value, and it should be remembered that the natives do not kill birds
or animals for food. Sometimes English sportsmen go into the
plantations and get a bag of this palatable game, though it seems
cruel to shoot such, delicate and pretty creatures. Dove-pie,
however,--this between ourselves,--is by no means to be despised,
especially where, as in Ceylon, beef and mutton of a good quality are
so rare.

On the occasion of the author's first visit to Colombo, the Cinnamon
Gardens in the immediate suburbs were much lauded, and they were in
fact one of the first attractions to which strangers were introduced.
There was a pleasant promise in the very name, and we had anticipated
something not only beautiful to behold, but which would prove grateful
to all the senses. Disappointment was inevitable. Finally, when we
reached the grounds, it seemed hardly possible that the broad area of
low, scrubby jungle and thick undergrowth which bore this attractive
name could really be the Cinnamon Gardens of which so much poetical
fiction has been written. It seems rather an anomaly, but the fact is,
clove oil is not produced by the pungent spice whose name it bears,
but is extracted from the refuse of the cinnamon bark. The "gardens"
referred to were misnamed. There was no garden about them. It was
simply a plantation of thick-growing shrubbery, apparently much
neglected. The spacious area is now improved by picturesque European
residences, spacious domestic flower plants, and croquet grounds,
carpeted with velvety grass. Flourishing fruit trees and nodding palms
render the place attractive at this writing. While strolling or
driving through a cinnamon plantation,--and there are plenty of them
all over the island, especially in the south,--one seeks in vain to
detect the perfume derived from the spice so well known. It is not the
bloom nor the berry which creates this scent, but when the bark is
being gathered at the semi-annual harvest, the aroma is distinct
enough. The spice of commerce is the ground inner bark of the tree,
the branches of which are cut, peeled, and dried in the sun. The
harvests occur about Christmas and again in midsummer. By trimming the
smaller branches the productiveness of