Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-10-10
cEDARs OF LEBANON.

In point of interest there are but few
trees possessing more than the cedar Of
Lebanon tCedrus LibGnum). This cele-
brated tree is a native OF the coolest parts
of the mountains of Libanus, Amanus and
Taurus but it is not now to be found in
great numbers in any of these localities.
"The Lebanon" says the Arabian poets,
"bears winter on his head, spring on his
shoulders and autumn III his bosom, while
summer sleeps at his feet > and in con.
frmation of the truth of the sentiment a
few venerable cedars yet remain; they
form beautiful grove on the line of route
from Baalbec to the coast. They are large
and msssy, rearing their heads to an enor-
nous hight, and spreading their branches
afar but they have a strangely wild as
pect, travellers say, as if wrestling with
some invisible person bent on their destruc-
ton while life is still strong in them but
they are gradually disappearing In 1875
there were found twenty four standing in
q circle in 1880 Fermanil counted twenty
two there are now seven standing near
each other, and few more almost in line
with them
Standing in their strength erect,
befying the bsttled storm"
The timber of this tree is of the most en-.
during character, it is so bitter that no
insect will touch it, and it seems to be
proof against time itself We are told that
the timber in the Temple of Apollo at
Utica was found undecayed after the lapse
OF two thousand years and that a beam
in the oratory of Diana, at Ssguntum in
Spain, was carried from ZAnte two centuries
before the Trojan war. Some OF the most
celebrated erections of antiquity were con-
structed Of this tree. "Solomon raised A
levy of thirty thousand men out of all
Israel and he sent them to Lebanon. ten
thousand month, by courses and he had
three score and ten thousand that bore
burthens, and four score thousand of
hewers III the mountains. And he covered
the temple with beams and boards of cedar.
And the cedar of the house within was
carved with knops and flowers. All was
cedar there was no stone seen." Thus
writes the sacred historian, who mentions
that the same monarch had palace Of
cedar in the forest of Lebanon. Ancient
writers notice that the ships of Sesostris,
the Egyptian conquerer, one Of them two
hundred and eighty cubits long, were
formed of this timber, as was also the
gigantic statue of Diana in the temple at
Ephesus.
In addition to the durability of it's tim.
Der, the cedar is, in it's appearance, the
most majestic of trees and when it stands
alone in a situation worthy of it, it is
hardly possible to conceive finer vegeta.
BILE ornament. There is a frmness in the
bark and a stability in the trunk, in the
mode in which that lays hold of the ground,
and in the form of the branches and their
insertion into the trunk, not found in any
other of the order. or scarcely in any other
tree. The foliage, too, is superior to that
of any other of the tribe, each branch be-
ing perfect in its form the points of the
leaves spread upwards into beautiful little
tufts, and the whole upper surface of the
branch, which droops in a graceful curve
toward the extremity, having the sem
blance of velvet. The color is also fine; it
is rich green, wanting the blush tint of
the pine and fir, and the lurid and gloomy
one of the cypress
The prophet Ezekiel gives beautiful
description Of this cedar: "Behold the
Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, with
fair branches, and of high stature and
his top was among thick boughs. His
boughs were multiplied and his branches
became long. The fir trees were not like
his boughs, nor the chestnut trees like his
branches; nor any tree in the garden of
God like unto him in beauty"
Whether the eedars of Lebanon were
exhausted by the four-score thousand
axes of the King of Israel, or whether
they have decayed in consequence of
some variation of climate, it is impossible
to say; but modern travellers represent
that very few now exist, though some
are of immense bulk, about thirty six feet
in circumference and quite undecayed.
Floral Cabinet.