202 
A CRUSADE IN THE EAST. 
lage, distant by Syrian measurement two hours from Aheden, 
lies on the left of the gorge, not far from which is a celebrated 
grotto, visited by many of the pilgrims as a place of peculiar 
interest. Our time, however, being limited, we pushed on, 
and in another hour entered the celebrated grove of cedars— 
a mere patch of green in the bare and desert hollow of the 
mountains. It was cold and gloomy within the shadowy in¬ 
closure, and quite deserted. Not a living thing was to be 
seen, and all was silent as death, save an occasional plaintive 
note from some lonesome bird among the branches. Entering 
by a ravine below, we ascended some distance among the 
younger growth of trees till we reached an elevation a few 
hundred yards higher up, upon which stands a rude stone 
chapel, built by some of the Frank monks, in the midst of the 
ancient grove, and still used by Christian pilgrims in their an¬ 
nual visits of devotion. There are twelve veteran and storm- 
beaten trees pointed out as the original cedars of Lebanon ; 
and the best authorities, I believe, concur in admitting these 
to be the veritable cedars referred tq in the Scriptures. Cer¬ 
tainly they bear every indication of extraordinary antiquity; 
and there is no reason to doubt that they existed in very re¬ 
mote ages. From these have sprung, during the lapse of cen¬ 
turies, the surrounding grove, consisting of nearly four hundred 
trees of various degrees of antiquity, but all of the same spe¬ 
cies. The chapel was quite deserted, the priests having left 
some days before for the more genial climate of Tripoli. It is 
the custom for all the inhabitants of the vicinity to depart for 
the valleys below on the approach of winter, which is very 
severe and protracted at this elevation. Our guide pointed 
out the height to which the snow reached during the previous 
winter on some of the trees, and we judged it to be not less 
than twenty feet. It often covers the walls of the chapel en¬ 
tirely up to the roof, completely blocking up all means of in¬ 
gress and exit. At such a time, of course, it would be very 
difficult, if not altogether impracticable, to exist in this region; 
but, if we are to credit the strange histories related to us by 
our Arabs, it has been done by the aid of miracles, and may 
be done again. Eleas, one of our interpreters, assured us that 
