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ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

says that his party ascended thehighest point of the mountain, “and saw nothinghigher, but only a small hill before us, all covered with snow, at the bottomwhereof the high cedar trees were standing. And, though this hill hath, informer ages, been quite covered with cedar trees, yet they are since so de-creased, that I could tell no more but twenty-four, that stood round about i

in a circle; and two others, the branches whereof are quite decayed for age.

I also went about in this place to look for some young ones, but could findnone at all. These trees are green all the year long; have strong stems, thatare several fathoms about; and are as high as our fir trees.” ( Itin ., partii. chap, xii.) Thevenot, a French traveller, who visited Mount Lebanon in1655, makes the number of trees twenty-three; and alludes to a popularsuperstition, which appears to have been prevalent in his day, that “ whenthe cedars of Mount Lebanon are counted several times, their number is foundeach time to vary.” (Voy, du Levant, part i. p. 443., ed. 1664.) The Dutchtraveller, Cornelius Bruyer, in his Voyage to the Levant, the English editionof which was published in 1702, appears firmly to believe in this superstition ;and says it is impossible to count them. He, however, thought the numberwas about thirty-six. Maundrell, in his Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem,in 1696, gives a more detailed account. After ascending the mountain forfour hours and a half, he came to a small village called Eden ; and in twohours and a half more, to the cedars. “ These noble trees,” he says, “ growamongst the snow, near the highest part of Libanus ; and are remarkable, as \

well for their own age and largeness, as for the frequent allusions made tothem in the Word of God. Here are some very old, and of a prodigious bulk; >

and others younger, of a smaller size. Of the former, I could reckon up onlysixteen : the latter are very numerous. I measured one of the largest, and '

found it 12 yards 6 in. in girt, and yet sound; and 37 yards in the spread ofits boughs. At about 5 or 6 yards from the ground, it was divided into fivelimbs, each of which was equal to a great tree.” ( Journ., &c., p. 142.) Miller, •

in the first edition of his Dictionary, art. Cedrus, states that a friend of his, whovisited the trees in 1720, confirms this account, except that he found thespread of the largest tree to be 22 yards in diameter, instead of 37 yards in cir-cumference. La Roque, who visited the cedars in 1722, says that he counted20 large cedars, the largest of which had a trunk 19 ft. in circumference,and a head 120ft. in circumference. (Voy., & c.) Dr. Pococke, who visitedSyria in the years 1744 and 1745, has given us the following account of thestate in which he found these celebrated trees :—“ From the Convent of St.

Sergius (Latin Carmelite friars), there is a gentle ascent, for about an hour, toa large plain between the highest parts of Mount Lebanon. Towards thenorth-east corner of it are the famous cedars of Lebanon : they form a groveabout a mile in circumference, which consists of some large cedars that arenear to one another, a great number of young cedars, and some pines. Thegreat cedars, at some distance, look like very large spreading oaks : the bodiesof the trees are short, dividing at bottom into three or four limbs, some of ;

which, growing up together for about 10 ft., appear something like those Gothic •

columns which seem to be composed of several pillars : higher up they begin (

to spread horizontally. One that had the roundest body, though not thelargest, measured 24 ft. in circumference; and another, with a sort of triplebody, as described above, and of a triangular figure, measured 12 ft. on eachside. The young cedars are not easily known from pines : I observed theybear a greater quantity of fruit than the large ones. The wood does not differfrom white deal in appearance, nor does it seem to be harder. It has a finesmell, but is not so fragrant as the juniper of America, which is commonlycalled cedar; and it also falls short of it in beauty. I took a piece of thewood from a great tree that was blown down by the wind, and left there torot: there are 15 large ones standing. The Christians of several denomina-tions near this place come hereto celebrate the festival of the Transfiguration,and have built altars against several of the large trees, where they administer j

the sacrament. These trees are about half a mile north of the road, to which ;

we returned, and, from this plain on the mountains, ascended about three hours j

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