172 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



gantly displayed by Dillenius, is a cedar of 

 Lebanon, which, Lyson tells us, girths nine 

 feet, at three feet from the ground. 



In the Fellows' Garden at Emmanuel College, 

 in Cambridge, on a lawn by the side of the 

 pond, is a cedar that was planted in the year 

 1730, by Professor John Martin, then a 

 member of that college. 



The cedar of Lebanon, is now much more 

 common in this kingdom than on its ancient 

 birth-place; yet, we must not accuse the 

 Mahommedans of destroying these venerable 

 trees, as they almost consider it a sacrilege 

 to demolish a fine tree of any description. 

 Their greatest luxury seems to be that of re- 

 clining under the shade of a tree, to enjoy 

 their tobacco. It was remarked by Chardin, 

 at Ispahan, in the 17th century, that the re- 

 ligious Mahommedans chose rather to pray 

 under a very old tree, than in the neighbour- 

 ing mosque. " They devoutly reverence," says 

 he, " those trees which seem to have existed 

 during many ages, piously believing that the 

 holy men of former times had prayed and 

 meditated under their umbrageous shade." 



The few cedars still remaining on Mount 

 Libanus are preserved with a religious strict- 

 ness. On the day of the Transfiguration, the 

 patriarch repairs in procession to these trees. 



