THE CYPRESS. 119 



sands of acres. In this rich alluvial soil, upon which 

 a new layer of vegetable mould is every year depo- 

 sited by the floods, the Cypress attains its utmost 

 development; the largest being about 120 feet high, 

 and 30 to 40 feet in circumference. 



The European Cypress is an evergreen : its foliage 

 bears a close resemblance to our common Red Cedar. 

 It grows in various parts of the country adjacent to 

 the Mediterranean Sea. It is most abundant on the 

 islands of Crete and Cyprus, from the latter of which 

 it derives its name. It is also spoken of in Ecclesi- 

 asticus as growing on Mount Sion. The Gopher 

 Wood of which Noah built the ark is supposed to 

 be identical with the Cypress. The great durability 

 of the wood rendered it peculiarly serviceable to the 

 ancients. Pliny, the Roman historian, says that the 

 statue of Jupiter, in the Capitol at Rome, which 

 was of Cypress, had existed above 600 years without 

 exhibiting any signs of decay. Plato, a heathen 

 philosopher, had his laws engraven on Cypress-wood 

 as being more durable than brass. Leon Alberti, a 

 celebrated Florentine architect of the fifteenth cen- 

 tury, tells us that he found the wood of a vessel 

 which had been submerged 1300 years, and which 

 was perfectly sound, to be principally of Cypress. 

 The Cypress doors of St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome, 

 which were removed by Eugene IV., after having 

 stood the usage of over 1100 years, were entirely 

 sound ; and it was the custom in the middle ages to 

 bury the Popes in coffins of Cypress, under the belief 

 that they would never decay. 



