THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. HI 



What more productive of elevated thoughts than the 

 cedar, the dome of which has sheltered and still shel- 

 ters so many human generations, each one of which 

 calls upon the name of God in a different tongue ; but 

 recognizes Him alike in all His works, and worships 

 Him in the manifestation of his greatness in nature ! " 



The trees rise to the height of from sixty to one 

 hundred feet. The largest of those that remain is 

 thirteen feet in diameter and covers a circumference 

 of one hundred and twenty feet. The branches, of a 

 clear green even during the part of the year when 

 they are covered with snow, are flat, horizontal, and 

 covered with a close foliage. For a long time the ce- 

 dar was classed as belonging to the larch family, but 

 it is now regarded as a group of the Pinus family. 



The fruit, as large as that of the pine, is round- 

 er, more compact and smoother. 



In his narrative of his journey to the Eastern Sa- 

 hara, Mr. Martins speaks with the greatest admiration 

 of the superb cedars of that part of the world. " The 

 most beautiful forests of cedars," he says, " ornament 

 the crests and the gorges of Chellalah, near Batna ; few 

 are seen in Djurjura and at Teniet-el-Had, south 

 of Miliana. What a contrast between these beautiful 

 forests and the sterile tracts that lead to where they 

 grow ! When young, the cedars of the Atlas are pyr- 

 amidal in form ; but, when they have grown taller 

 than their neighbors or the rock which shelters them, 

 a tempest, a thunderbolt, or an insect that pierces the 

 terminal sprouts deprive them of their pointed tops. 

 The branches spread sideways, and form a perfect 



