THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. 123 



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mountainous places, and on Mount Lebanon it grows 

 freely among the snow. 



With some of the inhabitants of the East the wood 

 of this tree has the reputation of never decaying, 

 and it certainly must be possessed of great durability, 

 or it would not have been selected by Solomon for 

 the many purposes in which he used it, where that 

 property seemed requisite. It is described as soft 

 and fine-grained, and sometimes beautifully marked 

 with waving lines. It has an agreeable smell, and 

 indeed everything about the trees has a strong bal- 

 samic odor, giving a delightful fragrance to the air 

 in their vicinity. This is most probably the smell of 

 Lebanon spoken of in Cant. iv. 11, and Hosea xiv. 6. 



Cone of Cedar of Lebanon 



