THE CEDARS OF LEBANON. 
20 o 
there was once a dark man who came over from a distant 
country, and who, in consequence of having committed a great 
sin, was resolved to expiate his offense by starving himself to 
death in the hollow of one of the old cedars. There he fixed 
his abode, and prayed in secret, and such was the efficacy 
of his prayers, that he subsisted for two years on nourishing 
waters that were sent down to him from the branches of the 
tree by miraculous power; and he suffered neither from heat 
nor from cold, but at the expiration of his voluntary penance 
took his departure, and returned a happy man to his own 
country. To render the story strictly credible, the hollow was 
pointed out to us, and Eleas, who was a Christian of the Greek 
Church, said his prayers under the shadow of the old cedar. 
With other strange narratives of a similar kind the simple 
natives entertained us, while we sat down under the wide- 
branching trees, spread our cloth upon the ground, and re¬ 
freshed ourselves after the ride from Aheden. 
As soon as we had finished our repast, we set out to make 
a more thorough examination of the ancient cedars, or the 
original twelve, in which the chief interest is centred. It 
required no great research to convince us of their great age, 
which is strikingly apparent in their gnarled and time-worn 
trunks. Many of the branches have become sapless, and are 
fast rotting away ; others are broken off by the force of many 
tempests, or have fallen of their own accord from sheer old 
age; new ones have sprung out, and young shoots continue 
to supply the ravages worked by time ; the trunks are of vast 
circumference, and are composed of divers parts consolidated, 
some of them perhaps the growth of different ages. All the 
old trees and many of the younger ones have large pieces cut 
out of their trunks, upon which are carved the names of visitors 
who from time to time have been attracted to this remote 
region. Among these I noticed the name of Lamartine, said 
to have been carved by an Arab while the great sentimental¬ 
ist was going into ecstasies in his comfortable quarters below. 
There were several American names, but none of very recent 
date—only two within two years. In the register which is 
kept on the altar of the chapel I saw several English, French* 
