The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-11-01
MIDERtl LEBANON CEDARS.
Survivors Of the Groves That Are Colo.
trxtad in biblical History.

, brxtcd in Biblical History.
! At an elevation OF about 5000 feet
above the sea, On the left OF the road
70 Eaaebek. is q group Of the noblest
spccincns OF the vegetable kingdom
in the East. which are believed to be
thousands Of years old and the rem
rant of tic far-famC'i ctdar3 OF Lc-
/ banon, CT which Da-:,- and Solomon
sang. and from which came the tim
bcrs for the ten pic
| Dicbcl-ci-ArZ lthc mountains of the
cedarsj. which rises 117O feet, Is gen
orally covered with snow, and today
, is draped in a mantle of unusual
thickness, which trails way into the
forest and the foothills: fer there were
q heavy rein and sharp irCst last
night. AS I have explained before.
the term Mount Lebanon is mislead-
ing. There is no peak of that name,
which is applied to io-iy range with
several conspicuous summlt5 extend
ing about one hundred mics from the
moi hborhood of Damascus to the sea
! and being about 20 miles bread
from base to base. The most
; elevated Dcaks arc these that | have
Just named, Mount Hermon. 1888
feet; Daharcl-k udhib, 1o.020 feet; Je-
! bel Makmai, 1906; FL Miskysch. TO-
OBJ; Fun-el-M;zab, 5000; Sannin,
, 500 feet. These peaks are broken by
rugged ridges, prccipitcus ellis and
deep gorges. A parallel range, which
does rot reach 50 great height, Is
known as the an,i-I -cbanOn.
OF all the mighty forests which for
mcrly covered the slopes Of Lebanon
only five ROMAN today, and they are
| limited in area. The lofticat trees
end these most celebrated for their an
ticuity are found near the town of
Bccherre at an altitude OF $500 feet.
and are known as The Ccdars OF
God"--"Thc CedarG Of Lebanon Whlcn
He hath planted" and, according to
| the hotanists who count their age by
| the circles in their trunks, they are
5000 CT 4OG0 years Old Like the i'm
mortal cliffs that tower above them.
they have watched the passage OF q
procession of kings down the centu-
! res led by David SoiC-rc1 and Hiram.
with a rcarguard commanded by Kali
ser William II Of Germany.
They are not so large nor so lofty
| rs the great trCcs OF California, but
their antiquity and associations make
them the most inter- sting groves in
the world. aud pilgrims come here to
worship them The best authorities
are sure that we make no mistake
| when VIC revere them rs the survlV-
ors of that forest whence liam OBJ
tanned ,.e timber fCc SolOmCn's tenn
| plc. The logs must have been carried
down to the coast by hand. conveyed
| Ey sea in RATS to Jaffa and thence
| carried over the mountains to Jcru-
I salem.
| It is sG:d that $4,000 men were at
work in the forest for II years and re-
Heyed each ether every month in bod
| les Of 10000 men, who were organized
and managed like an army. DAVID
| obtained here the timber for his pal
| ace, and Zerubba5cl in constructing
| the second temple. The tlmberS In
| the temple Of Diana at Ephesus and
in the temples ct BaalDek came from
the same forests, and we know that
the Phceniciars shipped much cedar
| to Greece. to Egypt, and to other
places en- the coast CT the Mediterr-
anean. not only before but for
centuries after the days of Iiyram, the
mighty King of Tyre.
The remaining forest consists OF
about 400 trees. The tallest exceeds
100 feet and the largest is sc feet in
circumference.
In the midst of the forest is small
chapel in which the Maronites worship
and where they hold great feasts on
the anniversary of the TransfiSura-
ton and other ecclesiastical holidays.
Below the forest is a beautiful lake
about half mile in length, and a
quarter Of a mile in breadth, fed by In
Vulnerable springs that gush from the
surrounding rocks. Upon the bank
was once a temple to Venus, and &C
cording to mythology (and the same
story is told of the Egyptian goddess
Isis), that amiable lady took refuge
here when she fed from the Tphon
who had killed AdCn;s, and trans
formed herself into fish. Her laugh
ter Dercatis, was her companion, ana
suffered a similar fatc.-ChicagO Rec
| ord Herald