SECTION II. 

 AROMATIC TREES. 



THE CEDAR. 



' The forest of cedars ' on the farnsd mountain of Lebanon, which 

 once furnished the sacred writers with so many beautiful images, 

 has now almost wholly disappeared. Some few trees remain, to re- 

 mind us of their former glory, (Isa. Ix. 13.) and to teach us the mu- 

 tability of all sublunary things. 



Burckhardt, the celebrated traveller, describes these ancient 

 inhabitants of the forest, which are among the chief objects 

 of the traveller's curiosity, in the following terms: 'They stand 

 on uneven ground, and form a small wood. Of the oldest and 

 best looking trees, I counted eleven or twelve : twenty-five very 

 large ones ; about fifty of middling size ; and more than three 

 hundred smaller and younger ones. The older trees are distin- 

 guished, by having the foliage and small branches at the top only, 

 and by four, five, or even seven trunks springing from one base ; 

 the branches and foliage of the others were lower, but I saw none 

 whose leaves touched the ground, like those in Kevv Gardens. 

 The trunks of the old trees are covered with the names of travel- 

 lers and other persons who have visited them : I saw a date of the 

 seventeenth century. The trunks of the oldest trees seem to be 

 quite dead: the wood is of a grey tint. 



The cedar is a large majestic tree, rising to the height of thirty 

 or forty yards ; and some of them are from thirty -five to forty feet 

 in girth. It is a beautiful evergreen, possessing leaves something 

 like those of the rosemary, and distils a kind of gum, to which va- 

 rious qualities are attributed. Le Bruyn says, the leaves of the 

 tree point upward, and the fruit hangs downward : it grows like 

 cones of the pine tree, but is longer, harder, and fuller, and not ea- 

 sily separated from the stalk. It contains a seed, like that of the 

 cypress tree. 



The wood of the cedar is very valuable; it possesses a strong 

 aromatic smell, arid is reputed to be incorruptible. The ark of the 

 covenant, and many parts of Solomon's temple, were constructed 

 of it. 



The cedar of Lebanon, says Paxton, is one of the natural images 

 which frequently occur in the poetical style of the prophets ; and 

 is appropriated to denote kings, princes, and potentates of the high- 

 est rank. Thus, the prophet Isaiah, in denouncing the judgment 



