54 



PINACE^. 



heathen idols, the greater portion of the original Venice pillars, and 

 the wood from which the old Komans made their tiger, leopard, or 

 peacock tables, upon which were spread the viands and drinks for their 

 great feasts in the banqueting halls in days of yore, when Eome was 

 the greatest and most powerful nation on the face of our planet j when 

 Tiberius was mighty, and graciously condescended to accept as a pro- 

 pitiatory offering a superlatively beautiful table — so fragrant, veined, 

 and variegated, so rich in natural colours, and so elaborately plated 

 and ornamented by the artificers in Ophir's finest gold ; yes, methinks 

 that many of these, and many other woods mentioned both in Scripture 

 and natural history, were the ligneous tissue produced by my prototype 

 Deodara ; for Lihani is as untenable as it is untruthful as the virtuous 

 Lebanon wood of Scripture, and likewise as the venerable KeSjOoc 

 of Homer and Hesiod, the most ancient of natural philosophic books 

 extant, most probably as old as the days of the J udges in Israel ; 

 Virgil's Cedrosque, Pliny's " costly, red, and odorous, it bumeth not, 

 nor yieldeth carbon, and is no more combustible than stones ; ever- 

 green and indestructible;" and then most truly he adds, "neither are 

 they easily distinguished by their foliage even by skilful men :" vide 

 " IS'atural History," book xvi. This he states concerning his Larix, 

 which certainly cannot be our Larix^ nay, but doubtless our Oedrus, 

 and a true word picture of my prototype Deodara^ the venerated 

 Devadara of the heathen Hindoo. 



This remarkable tree, however, was only introduced into this 

 country from I^epal about half a century ago, and it is only very 

 recently that its intrinsic merits as a timber tree have been appre- 

 ciated j and in only a very few instances has it, up to the present 

 time, been planted upon anything like an extensive scale with a view 

 to good or profitable timber ; nor is it likely to be so until practical 

 experience takes the place of theoretical speculation, and common 

 sense the place of prejudice, when sound practice in matters of 

 forestry shall exchange places with rule -of thumb, and arboriculture be 

 elevated to her place as an art ; then, but not until then, will this tree 

 take the high rank which it must eventually take as a British timber tree. 



Its wood is strong, compact, close-grained, long-fibred, not liable to 

 warp, delightfully fragrant, never subject to the ravages of wood-vermin, 

 tolerably resinous, and durable ; so much so that proof is not wanting 

 to corroborate the fact that it will continue sound, not for hundreds, 

 but for tens of hundreds of years, without decay or destruction from 

 wood-moths. Yes, a practical chemist is the Deodar, extracting from 



