CEDAR OF LEBANON. 583 



Though the wood of the Cedar appears to have been 

 held in high estimation by the ancients, who considered 

 it, in addition to its other properties, to be almost incor- 

 ruptible, it is certain that the produce of those grown in 

 this country, is remarkable neither for its durability, tex- 

 ture, nor appearance ; this, however, we allow may, in a 

 great measure, be the result of climate and situation, and 

 it is not improbable but that the wood of the Cedar grown 

 upon the Lebanon, and other native sites, may possess 

 properties which it can never acquire in the plains of 

 England ; we may also attribute the high character which 

 Cedar wood anciently obtained to this circumstance, viz., 

 that the wood of other trees which actually possess the 

 before-mentioned qualities, was also called by the name of 

 Cedrus, so that it is impossible, where Cedar wood is men- 

 tioned in the writings of ancient profane authors, to de- 

 termine to what species it actually belonged. The usual 

 appearance of the wood of English grown Cedar is that 

 of common deal, the section of the trunk bearing a near 

 resemblance to that of the silver fir. In colour it is of 

 a pale reddish-white, its texture light and spongy, soft, 

 and easily worked, but apt to warp, split, and shrink in 

 drying, and, when exposed, by no means durable. The 

 scent of the wood is very similar to that of the larch, 

 and not of that high aromatic flavour assigned to it by 

 the ancients, and which we meet with in some of the 

 species of the genus juniperus. In the " Arboretum Brit- 

 annicum v ' Loudon mentions a slab of Cedar wood, part 

 of a large tree blown down, at Whitton, in November, 

 1836, and given to him by the proprietor ; of this he had 

 made a table, which presented nothing attractive in its 

 appearance, being similar to deal in veining and smell : 

 of the same character and appearance was another tabic 



