C02 



THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. 



soar above their neighbours, or above the rock which protects them, 

 there comes a sudden storm, a flash of lightning, or an insect pierces 

 their terminal shoot, and deprives them of their shapely spire ; 

 the tree is discrowned ; then, the branches spread horizontally in 

 terraces or layers of verdure, one upon another, screening the sky 

 from the gaze of the traveller, who presses forward in a sort of 



CEDAR or LEBANON. 



twilight under these vaults impenetrable to the solar rays. From an 

 elevated point of the mountain still more majestic is the spectacle. 

 The horizontal surfaces resemble lawns of the deepest green, or of a 

 glaucous colour like that of water, upon which are sprinkled cones of 

 a violet hue ; the eye plunges into an abyss of greenery in whose 

 depth mutters an invisible torrent." 



