174 SYLVA FLORIFERA. 



foot of Libanus; and from thence, con- 

 tinually ascending, not without great fatigue, 

 came in four hours and a half to a small 

 village, called Eden> and in two hours and 

 a half more to the cedars. These noble trees 

 grow amongst the snow near the highest part 

 of Libanus, and are remarkable as well for 

 their own age and largeness, as for those fre- 

 quent allusions made to them in the word of 

 God. Here are some of them very old and 

 of prodigious bulk ; and others younger of a 

 smaller size; and the latter are very nu- 

 merous. I measured one of the largest, and 

 found it twelve yards six inches in girt, and 

 yet sound, and 37 yards in the spread of its 

 boughs. At about five or six yards from the 

 ground, it was divided into five limbs, each 

 of which was equal to a great tree." " What 

 Maundrell has related," says Mr. Miller, " was 

 confirmed to me by a worthy gentleman of 

 my acquaintance, who was there in the year 

 1720; with this difference only, that in 

 measuring the branches of the largest tree, 

 he found them to be twenty-two yards in 

 diameter. The traveller, Le Bruyn, counted 

 about thirty-five or thirty-six remaining on 

 Mount Libanus when he was there; and 

 would persuade us, it was not easy to reckon 



