The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1861-03-20
The Cedars of Lebanon.

celebrated Cedars OF Lebanon Is given by
Mr.. Urquhart, membsr of the British Psrlia.
meut, in a work lately published
"The whole Of a knoll, couple Of hun
dred feet in height, and perhaps halfa mile
cross is covered with grove, some trees
OF which are scattered on the side Of an ad-
joining one. You approach them by the
gully between the two. There were trees,
but nothing in them apparently to strike !;
no graphic features which belong to the
rare ard beautiful neither the tent.Iike
sweep OF the Tanin, nor the spreading root
OF the Snowbgr, nor the ospirine plume Of
the Deodara or the Arar, or the festhery tori
Of the Palm. There was neither the son-
bre gloom Of an impenetrsbIe forest, the
GassVe grandeur of the solitary oak, nor
the airy shadow of the vuuted pIatani.-
They appeared nothing but frs, remarkable
neither in form or dimensions. The only
peculiatity os the horizontal bars of foliage
from which stood up. like bobbins ON ree',
the cones not large and rude as those OF
The fruit bearing pine, but smoothed end
Systematically formed like perns of brown
silk. wondered IN. what consisted their
fame, and wandered amid their stems till
had become familiar with my vexation !;
when before me came block protrudng
from the snow. 1t tappeured mass ofrock,
but it was timber and raising my cys, found
myself below Cedsr Of Lebanon! The
rock. like trunk might be twenty feet broad
Ond as many high then out from it grew
seven ancient trees, as if seven oaks of the
forest had been joined OF their base, and fit
ted TO a stem. Each OF these trees or
branches was seventy or eighty feet in height,
and, nearly at their summit, FIVE or six feet
in girth. The mass Of timber was enormous; !;
and to the foliage, disposed in bars like
the yards Of ship, bore no proportion
their scnnty and methodical lines sttOngely
contrasting with the giant and distorted
limbs. Who could have imagined a Cedar
like this-rhis, the emblem Of the maiden of
Israel {! Yet shared the fervent ipslinct OF
the mountaineer, which found this name 10
cal! them by-"Cedars OF God" On exam.
lining broken bough, found that it resisted
the nail, like oak. The rings are so fine and
close that fifty or sixty did not occupy on
inch, The rings were SO irregular, that the
timber mnde In one year sometimes equal
led the growth of twelve at another period.
The b.ush was examining was fourth tr
fifth rate one, perhaps q span in dometer :
but on counting its ripgs, found it coeval
with the Ottoman empire. The branch out
of which it grew, rating it in like manner,
was as old as the Norman cog uest its pa
rent branch might in the days of Solomon
hive sprouted from branch then worthy TO
sustain an srchitrave in the "House of the
Forest Of Lebanon" end which had shot
from the main branch during the building Of
the Pyramids. That mighty branch itself
must have been washed with suit waters
in the time of the de!uge, and figured
among the trees which God had already
planted when man appeared. Eve might
have spun, Adam delved beneath is branch
es. :. have spoken as yet but
of one cedar. Whist then was the grove
II was OF trees OF the same species ineed,
but OF ordinary dimensions, and these shot
slraght up, as we see in the so.called cedars
to Europe there was no block and no part
ing off of branches; this peculiarly belong.
ed only to the ontediIuvian breed. The
Ti,ons only had the arms of Briareus. In
other places found more Of these vast veg.
etuble polypi they are chiefly on the top
OF the hill, perhaps ten in all. OF these
two approach their fall /; one by being burn
at the root, the other branched by the storm
hree more are unsound two only ore in
their prime, Ond TO them it belongs to con-
vey to future times an idea of the giant
brood il indeed they be not soon killed by
the m;screaut habit OF stripping off the bark
for fools to write their names. From sheer
shame I would not read the disgraceful lit;
but one struck my eye, for it was like a
pacard it was Lamartine. The way these
Franks proceed is, to slice off the bark with
q hatchet, ond.then TO smooth the surface OF
the trunk. FIR this purpose the ancient
trees are chosen, and of course it is only at
the height Of the man that these tablets
are prepared. The finest trees are at pres,
ent two.thirds barke1, ct about six feet
from the ground. With the influx Of trav
elers, few years will suffice TO ring then
completely. No shame restrans that brood
no onthe ma stays their sacrilegious hands
a class Of persons, generally supposed tc
consist OF scholars and gentlemen, demear
themselves as live cargo discharged from Q
Msrgate steamer on a Sunday afternoon.-
Thus is civilization laying its poisoned axe
OF the root OF these 0s of so many ancient
stems and, in another generation. the ce'
dors of Lebanon n,sy exist only in the
Song of Solomon and the dirges OF the
PROPHETS"
TPrenlce thinks If young lady has