PINETUM BRITANNICUM. 
It is, above all, in the magnificent forest of Teniet-el-Haad that the Cedar attains the most considerable 
dimensions.” [Cosson, op. cit., p. 67.) 
In speaking of the vegetation of Djebel Tongour, M. Cosson says :— 
“ Towards the extremity of this plateau a band of rocks extends to the west, reaching almost to the peak (about 1800 metres in height), which 
offers us the Linaria reflexci , var. lanigera and several species characteristic of this new region of vegetation, among others the Cotoneaster fonta- 
nessir, and nummularia, which form some scattered clumps, and the Draba Hispanica, which carpets with its broad branches the ruggedness of 
the rocks ; and near that some plants of Crattzgus monogyna , var. hirsuta. After having turned the extremity of these rocks, and passed the last 
ravine which separates us from the base of the peak, we arrive at the limit of the forest of Cedars, at about 2030 metres in altitude, and still 
about 50 metres below the summit of the peak. On the slopes of the ridges which separate the principal faces, the Cedars, better sheltered 
from the violence of the winds, can attain an altitude still nearer the summit of the peak. It is probable that the summit and the abrupt crests are 
disfurnished with wood only through the rocky nature of the soil, the absence of vegetable mould, and the violence of the winds. On Djebel 
Tongour, as on other mountains covered with forests of Cedar, the tree, even towards the summit of the mountain, retains almost the same pro¬ 
portions as at its inferior limit of altitude. It is not so in the Alps, where the arborescent species diminish successively in size, and, at the ex¬ 
treme limit, are only represented by dwarfed shrubs.” (Cosson , op. cit., p. 244.) 
The inferior limit of the Cedar is determined, as we have already said, by the level of the valley itself 
(about 1620 metres in altitude). On no part of the northern face was there found either the trees or 
shrubs which constitute the woody vegetation of the lower part of the eastern face. The Cedar only shews 
itself at the base of the rocks which crown the summits, or in the upper part of the ravines of these strong 
centre-forts of the chain of the Djebel Bordjein. 
“ When we reach the fissure of the neck we see, losing themselves in the horizon, immense forests of Cedars covering all the slopes of the 
numerous mountains, which appear to lie in the direction of Setif. The presence or the abundance of the Cedar on the different faces, as well as 
the forms which it may present, have appeared to us to result from a concourse of circumstances, and to be submissive to laws of which the expose 
will find its place better in the general considerations on the mountain region. We shall confine ourselves here to direct attention to the fad that 
the superficies occupied by the Cedar is much more extensive on the slopes facing the north than on the opposite slopes, where it generally only 
shews itself below the more elevated tops and in the upper parts of the deepest ravines. 
“The forests of Djebel Tongour are estimated approximately at 1200 acres of Cedars, and 1500 of Evergreen Oak and other species. 
The vast forests which cover the numerous mountains of Bellesma, offer an extent of about 1800 acres of Evergreen Oaks, and 3000 acres 
of Cedars, which upon the northern faces reach the tops, and in the ravines prolong themselves to a distance of about six leagues. In one of 
these forests, a Cedar has been cut down nearly 45 metres in height, and of which the trunk, measured at one metre above the ground, gave 
6.25 metres in circumference. The forest of Teniet-el-Haad, in the province of Algiers, which we have now visited, commonly presents Cedars of 
that circumference, and a considerable number of still more remarkable proportions. At about 5 leagues from Lambese, at Squaq, a forest of 
Cedars covers more than 3000 hectares.” ( Cosson , op. cit., p. 254.) 
“ To the south, the mountain of Ichemoul shews the upper part of its slopes, covered with trees of a pyramidal form, which our guides 
assure us to be Cedars. ( Cosson , op. cit., vol. v. p. 31.) 
“ In the neighbourhood of the encampment of Ain Turck (Djebel Cheliah), and on the margin of the streams, stretch bare and woodless 
pastures, circumscribed by the wood of the lower part of the mountain, and by the forest of Cedars which occupies the slope above. At 
about 2150 metres of altitude, we arrive at the upper limit of the forest of Cedars, which terminates abruptly, as at Djebel Tongour, by 
Cedars as largely developed as those of the lower part. A narrow valley separates us from the base of the peak : the two slopes of that valley 
are equally covered with Cedars.” ( Cosson , op. cit., vol. v. p. 37.) 
“ The south slope of Djebel Cheliah is too abrupt and too disfurnished with vegetable mould to be regularly wooded. Thus the Cedars in 
general only occupy the ravines, and only reach a height much below that which they reach on the north slope. The greater number of them 
present characters of antiquity, and their summits have been broken by the wind or the fall of rocks. Several south slopes of elevated 
mountains which surround Djebel Cheliah, or which are its dependants, are, on the contrary, covered with Cedars almost to the summit. But 
these trees of which the tops generally are spread out like a parasol, do not present such a free development as those of the slopes turned 
towards the north.” ( Cosson , op. cit., vol. v. p. 38.) 
The same denudation which we have to deplore in the case of the mountains of Lebanon, is threaten¬ 
ing those of Algeria, although probably more slowly and by feebler instruments than worked the havoc in 
them. M. Cosson says on this head :— 
“ May we be permitted here to express our fears for the preservation of these magnificent forests of the Aures. The numerous debris of 
the Cedars which marked the former limit of the forests, indicate that this limit has been already notably lowered through the depredations of 
the Arabs, who often, in the vicinity of their pastures or encampments, put fire to the foot of the forest trees. It is much to be desired that 
severe regulations should put a stop to these disorders in countries where the preservation of the arborescent vegetation is one of the indispensable 
conditions of the richness of the country ; for the denudation of the soil and the falling of rocks would come to sterilise the valleys, and, in the 
end 
