Note 270 — Chapter XL

It was partly in search of this spice, that Gonzalo Pizarro undertook his famous expedition into Quijos. The dried calyx alone is used as a spice, and its flavour resembles a mixture of cinnamon and cloves. The tree is a species of Lauracea. Herrera describes it as resembling an olive, with large pods. Velasco declares that the cinnamon of his country exceeds that of Ceylon in fragrance and sweetness. Garcilasso de la Vega says that the cinnamon tree of Quijos, a province of Quito, is very tall, with large leaves, and fruit growing in clusters like acorns. He adds that many grow wild in the forests, but that they are not so good as those which the Indians get from trees which they plant and cultivate for their own use, but not for the people of Peru, who care for nothing but their own condiment called uchu (aji, pepper). When I was in the forests of Caravaya, in Southern Peru, I met with trees of great height which my guide called canela (cinnamon). The inner bark had a strong taste of that spice, and the natives use it to scent and flavour their huarapu or fermented juice of the sugar cane. G. de la Vega, ii, lib. iii, cap. 2; Velasco, i, p. 51; Markham’s Travels in Peru and India, p. 264.