30 
CEDRUS LIBANI 
Mr. Tristram’s account of this interesting spot is the latest which we have to record. He visited it in 
1864, taking it on his return route by Damascus and Baalbec. Of the Grove itself, this is his account: 
“ The snow had been so far melted by the summer sun that we were able to ascend by the highest pass, 
very close to the summit of Lebanon, 10,000 feet high, and descend almost directly upon the Cedars. . . . 
All was brown and bare, save on one dark spot where stood a clump of trees, the famous Cedar Grove. 
Viewed from above, the effect of that Grove is much more remarkable than when, as is generally the case, 
it is approached from below. Insignificant perhaps in itself, it here becomes the one noticeable feature in 
a landscape otherwise peculiarly bare and monotonous. ... A few separate trees stood out from the mass, 
but the general appearance of the Grove was of a thick clump, as though it had been a fragment of 
some antient forest.” * 
To the devout spirit of Mr. Tristram, “ the breeze, as it soughed through the dark boughs, seemed to 
breathe sounds of solemnity and awe, and to proclaim these to be the ‘ trees of the Lord,’ ‘ the Cedars of 
Lebanon,’ which He hath planted.” But the charm of solitude was no longer there, for within the last few 
years a hideous Maronite chapel has been built in the centre of the Grove, which is still more unwelcome 
from several fine trees having been cut down to supply wood for its erection ; and as an adjunct to his 
chapel, the priest has collected around him many of the goatherds of the neighbouring villages, who spend 
the summer under the rude shelter of the huts. 
The trees are not too close, nor are they entirely confined to the Grove. In the topmost boughs, 
ravens, hooded crows, kestrels, hobbys, and wood owls were secreted in abundance; but so lofty are the 
trees that Mr. Tristram found the birds out of reach of ordinary shot. The older trees have each several 
trunks, and spread themselves widely round, but most of the others "are of cone-like form, and do not 
send out wide lateral branches. 
The following table shews, in a condensed form, the facts relating to the number of the trees 
contained in the foregoing quotations :— 
Date of 
Authority. 
Name of Author. 
Number of 
Very Large 
Trees. 
Number 
of Large 
Trees. 
Number of Young 
Trees. 
Date of 
Authority. 
Name of Author. 
Number of 
Very Large 
Trees. 
Number 
of Large 
Trees, 
Number of Young 
Trees. 
1487 
Le Huen. 
1738 
Pococke. 
100 
1508 
Baumgarten. 
. . . 
99 
Karte. 
. . . 
18 
1550 
Belon . 
28 
1755 
Schulz. 
. . . 
. . . 
1556 
Fischtner. 
25 
1784 
Volney. 
4 or 5 
. . . 
I 5<55 
Turner. 
25 
1787 
Labillardi&re. 
7 
. . . 
IS66 
1574 
1579 
Furer. 
Rauwolff.. 
25 
24 
26, and 2 dead 
None. 
1805 
Seetzen. 
... 
625 very large, 50 of 
3 middling size, and 
Jacobi. 
l8lO 
Burckhardt. 
12 
ji 
Brenning. 
23, and 3 dead 
1 300 small and 
1583 
Radzivil. 
24 
None. 
\ younger ones. 
1585 
Zuallardo. 
23 
1813 
Kinneir. 
. . . 
. . . 
400 to 500. 
1590 
Villamont. 
24 or 25 
1816 
Buckingham. 
... 
20 
1598 
Harrant. 
26 
1818 
Richardson. 
7 
... 
1599 
Dandini. 
23 
99 
Cassias, Deslong- 
Two genera- 
1 
Many. 
99 
De Beauvais. 
23 
champs. 
tions of trees 
i 
1600 
Biddulph. 
24 
1823 
Bovd. 
. . . 
1605 
De Braves . 
24 
99 
Irby and Mangles... 
. . . 
. . . 
1612 
Lithgow . 
24 
99 
Erhrenberg. 
. . . 
13 
387 
1629 
Philinnins. 
21, and 1 fallen 
1824 
Wolff.. 
1630 
Fermanel . 
... { 
22, and 1 
newly fallen 
1828 
99 
Paxton . 
Pliny Fisk. 
5 
15 
300 to 500 
389 
( 
14, including 
2 on the 
ground. 
A little shrubbery 
1829 
Pariset . 
12 
400 to SOO 
1636 
Roger .< 
> 22 
of young Cedars 
(largest 2 or 3 ft. in 
1832 
99 
Geramb . 
Lamartine . 
7 
12 
400 to soo 
400 to 500 
( 
) 
girth). 
1835 
Addison. 
7 
1647 
Monconys . 
. . . 
25 or 30 
1836 
Laure. 
. .. 
15 
40 
1650 
Boullaye de Gouz... 
. . . 
22 
99 
Lord Lindsay. 
7 
12 
400 
1655 
Thevenot. 
. . . 
23 
1840 
Salle. 
12 
1658 
Cuzzy and Ouare- 
23 
1841 
G. Fisk. 
.. . 
12 
About 250 in all. 
simis. 
f - 
1842 
Lord Castlereagh ... 
7 or 8 
. . . 
1660 
Castillo. 
. . . 
1844 
Kinglake (Eothen)... 
. . . 
. . . 
400 
1666 
D’Arvieux. 
... 
23 
1850 
Schwarz. 
... 
. . . 
200 
1667 
Von Troilo. 
36 
99 
Patterson. 
8 or 10 
. . . 
200 
1675 
Le Brun. 
• « • 
1851 
Van der Velde. 
. . . 
12 
400 
1679 
Bremond. 
... 
20 
1852 
Robinson. 
. . . 
12 
1680 
Von der Groben. 
. . . 
18 
1853 
Wilson. 
. . . 
325 
1688 
La Roque. 
. • . 
16 
Very numerous. 
99 
Porter. 
. . . 
about 12 
1696 
Maundrell . 
. . . 
. . . 
1854 
Good Words . 
7 
. . . 
400 
99 
Beaugrand. 
7 or 8 
. . . 
i860 
Hooker.. 
6 
17 
400 
1714 
Lucas. 
. . . 
16 
Very numerous. 
99 
Washington. 
6 
17 
400 
1720 
Miller. 
. . • 
15 
Great numbers. 
l86l 
Tobin. 
. . . 
. . . 
1721 
Petit Queux. 
... { 
12, and 15 
blown down 
1862 
1864 
Ridgway. 
Tristram. 
6 
10 
* Tristram, op. cit., p. 623. 
The 
