THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. 417 



small eminence, in a valley at the foot of the highest part 

 of the mountain. The land on the mountain's side has a 

 sterile aspect, and the trees are more remarkable, as they 

 stand all together in one clump, and are the only trees to 

 be seen in this part of Lebanon. There may be about fifty 

 of them, but their present appearance ill corresponds with 

 the character given of them in Scripture. There was not 

 one of them at all remarkable for its dimensions or beauty ; 

 the largest among them is formed by the junction of four 

 or five trunks into one tree. Numerous names carved on 

 the trunk of the larger trees, some with dates as far back 

 as 1 640, record the visits of individuals to this interesting 

 spot, which is nearly surrounded by the barren chain of 

 Lebanon, in the form of an amphitheatre of about thirty 

 miles' circuit, the opening being towards the sea." l 



" These trees are the most renowned natural monuments 

 in the universe ; religion, poetry, and history have all 

 equally celebrated them. The Arabs of all sects entertain 

 a traditional veneration for these trees. They attribute to 

 them, not only a vegetative power which enables them to 

 live eternally, but also an intelligence which causes them 

 to manifest signs of wisdom and foresight, similar to 

 those of instinct and reason in man. They are said to 

 understand the changes of seasons ; they stir their vast 

 branches as if they were limbs ; they spread out or 

 contract their boughs, inclining them towards heaven or 

 towards earth, according as the snow prepares to fall or 

 melt. These trees diminish in every succeeding age. 

 Travellers formerly counted thirty or forty ; more recently, 

 seventeen ; more recently still, only twelve. There are 

 now but seven. 2 These, however, from their size and 

 general appearance, may be fairly presumed to have 

 existed in Biblical times. Around these ancient witnesses 

 of ages long since past there still remains a little grove 

 of yellower Cedars, appearing to me to form a group of 



i Irby and Mangles. 



3 Warburton maintains that there are still twelve of the very 

 largest trees, and about a thousand of all ages. 

 T 3 



