THE CEDAR OP LEBANON. 121 



a Cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and with a 

 shadowing shroud, and of an high stature, and his 

 top was among the thick boughs: his height was 

 exalted above all the 

 trees of the field, and his 

 boughs were multiplied 

 and his branches became 

 long, because of the mul- 

 titude of waters when he 

 shot forth. The Cedars 

 in the garden of God 

 could not hide him : the 

 Fir trees were not like 

 his boughs, and the 



Chestnut trees were not like his branches ; nor any 

 tree in the garden of God was like unto him in 

 his beauty/' In this beautiful description, two of 

 the principal characteristics of the Cedar of Lebanon 

 are marked; viz., the length and number of its 

 branches, and the wide expanse and density of its 

 shade. Few trees spread themselves so thickly upon 

 every side. This is in consequence of the horizontal 

 growth of the branches, which shoot out in great 

 numbers from the parent stem, forming a deep and 

 quite impenetrable shade. These branches sometimes 

 droop so as almost to reach the ground. 



It is supposed that some of the trees still standing 

 on Mount Lebanon are the remains of the forests 

 from which Solomon obtained the wood for the 

 building of the Temple. These are protected with 

 great care, and are accounted sacred by the inhabi- 

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