416 THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. 



them assume a new shape, without which these trees never 

 could sustain the immense weight of snow remaining for 

 so long a time." l 



The Cedar is a native not only of the mountain from 

 which it derives its name, but of Northern Africa, where 

 it was found in abundance by Mr. Drummond Hay. Of 

 the many accounts that have been published of the famous 

 grove of Cedars on Mount Lebanon, it will be. sufficient 

 to quote the following : " These noble trees grow amongst 

 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 to them 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 only sixteen ; the latter are very numerous. 

 I measured one of the largest, and found it twelve yards 

 six inches in girth, and yet sound, and thirty- seven yards 

 in the spread of its boughs. At about five or six yards 

 from the ground it was divided into five limbs, each of 

 which was equal to a great tree." 2 



"We are informed, from the 'Memoirs of the Mis- 

 sionaries in the Levant,' that, upon the day of Trans- 

 figuration, the Patriarch of the Maronites (Christians 

 inhabiting Mount Libanus), attended by a number of 

 bishops, priests, and monks, and followed by five or six 

 thousand of the religious from all parts, repairs to these 

 Cedars, and there celebrates the festival that is called ' The 

 feast of Cedars.' We are also told, that the Patriarch 

 officiates pontifically on this solemn occasion ; that his 

 followers are particularly mindful of the Blessed Virgin 

 on this day, because the Scripture compares her to the 

 Cedars of Lebanon ; and that the same Holy Father 

 threatens with ecclesiastical censure those who presume to 

 hurt or diminish the Cedars still remaining." 3 



" The famous Cedars of Lebanon are situated on a 



1 De la Eoque, 1772. 2 Maundrell. 3 Dr. Hunter. 



