It is more doubtful, however, whether Virgil and other classical writers are alluding to the wood of what we now call the Cedar when they speak of it as being incorruptible, and therefore used for statues of the gods. This was used to protect papyri from the attacks of worms, and is stated to have preserved the books of Numa uninjured in his tomb for five centuries after his death. The reddish catkins are about two inches long, but the cones, after fertilization, become four or five inches in length. When young and green these latter have a pinkish or plum-colored bloom, which however, they soon lose, becoming a rich brown. The scales of the cone are very broad and tough, though thin, and each of them bears two broadly-winged seeds.
Resin exudes from the cones, and after some years the scales fall away from the axis.
Squirrels are fond of the seeds, but the Cedar is singularly free from the attacks either of insects or of fungal diseases. The Cedars on Mount Lebanon have been frequently visited by travelers since the middle of the sixteenth century. The Arabs of all sects entertain a traditional veneration for them. They attribute to them not only a vegetative power, which enables them to live eternally, but also an intelligence, which causes them to manifest signs of wisdom and foresight similar to those of instinct and reason in man. Most of the Cedars show signs of having been frequently struck by lightning.