Better wisdom came with them, and in these later days of English rule, sensible ideas still prevailed.

The cinnamon trees were kept pruned, and the comparatively young shoots were found to produce better cinnamon than old trees had done.
Comale, arriving at the gardens, began to work.

The branches he chose for cutting were about three feet long and were the growth of from three to five years.
Comale made longitudinal cuts in the bark, two cuts in a small shoot, more cuts in a large shoot, and then with his instrument carefully removed the bark strips.
He placed the pieces of bark in bundles, in which shape the cinnamon was to stay for a while, that it might ferment, so that the outer skin and the under green portion might be more easily scraped away by Comale with a curved knife.

After that, the inner cinnamon bark would dry and draw up, till the pieces looked like quills.

But ever, as Comale worked this day, something inly disturbed his thoughts.