228 



that's it ; 



cedar of Lebanon was once 

 plentiful. 



l 



611. 



The prophet Ezekiel has given 

 us an eloquent description of 

 the cedar : — 



" Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon 

 with fair branches, and with a shadowing 

 shroud, and of an high stature, and his top was 

 among the thick boughs. The waters made 

 him great, the deep set him up on high, with 

 her rivers running round about his plants, and 

 sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of 

 the field. 



" Therefore his height was exalted above all 

 the trees of the field, and his boughs were 

 multiplied, and his branches became long, 

 because, of the multitude of waters, when he 

 shot forth. 



" All the fowls of heaven made their nests in 

 his boughs, and under his branches did all the 

 beasts of the field bring forth their young, and 

 under his shadow dwelt all great nations. 



" Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the 

 length of his branches, for his root was by 

 great waters. The cedars in the garden of 

 God could not hide him : the fir-trees were not 

 like his boughs, and the chestnut-trees were 

 not like his branches ; nor any tree in the 

 garden of God, was like unto him in his 

 beauty. 



" The fir trees were not like his boughs, nor 

 the chestnut trees like his branches, nor any 

 tree in the garden of God like unto him for 

 beauty." — Ezek. xxxi. 



In this description, two of the 

 principal characteristics of the 

 cedar are marked. The first is 

 the multiplicity and length of 

 its branches. Few trees divide 



so many fair branches from the 

 main stems, or spread over so 

 large a compass of ground. The 

 second characteristic is what 

 Ezekiel calls his " shadowing 

 shroud." No tree in the forest 

 is more remarkable than the 

 cedar for its close-woven leafy- 

 canopy. 



612. 



The cones, 3, are oval, and their 

 scales close-pressed ; the con- 

 tained seeds are of an irregular 

 triangular form, nearly half an 

 inch long, with a broad membra- 

 naceous wing. 



The leaves, 4, remain two years 

 upon the branches, and are singly 

 disposed upon the shoots of the 

 current year, like those of the 

 birch ; but as numerous buds are 

 formed upon the young wood, 

 from each of these in the follow- 

 ing season a tuft or circle ot 

 leaves is produced ; these leaves 

 are succeeded by others for many 

 years in sue cess ion, and cause a 



