Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1864-11-23
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acre or so lets | abuudantiy the light
OF heaven All around stand these
nobetrees, about four hundred num-
Der, IN the midst of wilderness, far
away from the abodes of men, and
elevated six Thousand five hundred
teetaboyethe level ofthe sea of which
he can catch a distant glimpse. They
are in the centre ola vast ampitheatre,
open towards the Mediterranean, and
walled around on the north, east and
south by the very highest ridges of
Lebanon.
AS to the antiquity OF this grove
there can be no doubt. 1t is its own
historian. The enormous size of some
of the trees, considering their slow
growth, especially as they advance in
years, tell the story of their remote
origin. Twelve ofthem are full worthy
the name of %patriarchs. Two of them
measure more than forty feet in girth,
and most of them more than thirty.
Their whole appearance, too, as COM
pared with the body of the grove,
their irregularity Of feature, and bro
ken and stubbed limbs, indicate the
wear and tear of many an age. One
sees the same difference between them
and their companions, as between the
sire of a hundred years and his -four
ishing posterity around him. Their
youthful beauty has departed, but
there remains the beauty Of age and
of association. l cannot doubt that
their age is coeval at least with Sol
onion, l have sometimes thought with
Abraham. There are dates on some
of them carved by travellers at differ
ent periods of the last century, and
one distinctly readable, reaching as
far back as 1873. The travellers Irby
and Mangles, who were here in 1917,
speak of a much earlier date even
than this. As the carving is done on
the body of the tree, often denuding
it of a portion OF It's bark, and as the
increment of trees is always between
the wood and the bark, of course the
change in size from period to period
can easily be determined. Thus We
determine that the tree on which is
LuS N6lO AOaC hdc a. lBdS ALlS A(dAi0
what it now is. Its present girth is
forty-two feet; two hundred years ago
it was but little less. With such facts
in mind, it seems impossible to limit
the origin of these larger trees to any
perioi in modern history. And thus
we may say that a cedar tree here, or
the heights of Lebanon, was o than
coeval with the founding of Rome by
Romulus; held on its fourishing course
during all the ages ofthe increase and
decay of that mighty empire; was
nearits maturity when Imperial Rome
became Papal Rome in the seventh
century; and nov, near the end of the
1860 years of the predicted apostasy,
still stands silent witness to Gods
majesty, and mans littleness. And
who can say that it, or its fragments
will not remain till that apostasy shall
be among the things that were, and
the kingdoms of the earth have be-
come the kingdoms of our Lord and
Saviour.
Between these seniors, twelve in
number, and all their juniors, there is
no doubt in their origin q gap of cen
turtles. Thu history of those iaterve-
ming years one would like to know,
but it must forever remain unwrittep.
Did the twelve stand alone in solitary
majesty, or had they companions of
q still remote date, which age by age
wore away under the corroding infu
ence of storm and time? Certain it
is,there has sprung up around them
in later centuries a goodly family OF
sons and daughters, the present oc-
cupants Of the place. Most of them
are straight and well formed, and have
still the freshness and beauty ofyouth
though the age of some of them must
doubtless be measured by centuries,
and very few of them a have origin
later than the last hundred years.
An exact measurement gives to a
considerable number of them a vary
ing girth of from fifteen to nine feet.
Very few of them have less girth than
four feet. No additions have been
made to them for a long period.
The flock Of goats that roam over
these higher regions of Leblanc Il, dur
ing the summer, devour ever shoot.
Our children, some of whom are with
me on this visit, are competing with
The goats for q share, and so have
gathered up a quantity ofthis years
sprouts for pressing. What think
you of cedar of Lebanon, root and
branches, pressed in a book
There are no villages on Lebanon
as high as the cedars by more than
a thousand feet, and not a half dozen
by more than two thousand. Snow
lies on the ground about half the year
on the heights above, it never ent irely
disappears. Bears and wolves find
a home among the erags, and the
latter often annoy the goatherds by
carrying off a kid. RABBITS and part
ridges are numerous at some seasons
of the year. The crow, too, l often
hear, reminding me Gifts relative in
the American forests; though 1 think
your American crow has the advan-
tage in smoothnass of voice.
This is the only cedar grove on
Lebanon now. Scattered trees, and
in some places clumps of the same
species are to be found. l see no rea-
son to doubt that in ancient times the
cedar was abundant in other parts
Of the mountain, and that Solomon
procured his timber for the temple
and other buildings from the lower
ranges of Lebanon. Indeed, L donol
see how such timber as Solomon
needed, and which was conveyed by
raft to Joppa, could have been trans
ported, Gas it must necessarily have
been,)o the banks of camels or mules
from these heights over the perilous
roads to the coast.
nI-- - IL