Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1913-08-02
TREES OF LEBANON
Solomon Col His Timber for
Temple From Sacred Grove.
cedars Stood 1900 Years--HIstory
Tells That They Have Been as
They Are Now since the
Days Of the Flood.


We left Bsherreh at dawn and made
our way up the steep and winding
road toward the cedars. In some
places It was difficult to pass the load
ed animals coming or going. Having
made all possible haste, we reached
the cedars just as the sun was sift-
ing its first rays through the thick
foliage-a sight calculated to make
any heart beat faster, writes John ID.
Whitney In the National Geographic
Review. With the exception of few
stragglers, the grove is inclosed by
neat stone wall to protect the smaller
trees from goats. In the center is a
small Maronite chapel.
To dwellers in Syria, where forests
of tall trees do not exist, these ma
jestic cedars must be overawing. A
modern Syrian writer says of them
that they are undoubtedly the most
lofty of all the vegetable kingdom"
The fact is that they are about eighty
feet high, which is more than the
height of the trees of an average
American forest They are justly re-
nowned for the size of their trunks,
the girth of the largest reaching
forty-seven feet
A striking popularity of these trees
is the growth of their branches, which
extend straight out at right angles to
the trunk and are furnished with ex-
ceedingly thick foliage, brown as seen
from beneath, but when viewed from
the hillsides their upper surface re
sembles a rich dark green lawn stud
ded with cones standing erect. These
latter are the size of large goose eggs.
1t was here that King Solomon's
$4,000 hewers wrought, with their
$500 overseers, besides those supplied
by Hiram, king of Tyre to get the ce-
dar wood required for the temple at
Jerusalem, and which was taken in
RATS to Jaffa and thence carried up to
Jerusalem. These trees were also
used in the construction of David's
house, and later in the building of the
second temple. A white resin which
they exude served in the ancient pro-
cess of embalming.
These trees (cedrus libanD, called
by the natives "ariz,' are local va
riety of a widely distributed species.
The wood is cream color and works
up easily, much resembling soft pine.
This grove stands on a small hill
situated at 6,315 feet above sea level
and above it rises abruptly the lofty
Jebal ell ARR, whose summit is seldom
without snow.
The Christian natives attach sane
tity to these trees, and here is held
an annual feast, to which pilgrims
flock from all directions. 1t also
serves as a delightful summer camping
place. At the time of our visit num-
Der of families were encamped among
the trees, including some of the pro-
fessors from the American college at
Beirut, who, with their families, were
here for their summer vacation.
While sauntering through the grove
we encountered the Maronite priest in
charge of the chapel He asked how
we liked the cedars, and in reply we
expressed our admiration, but said
It was a pity there were so few left.
He replied:
$50 they have been for 1000 years
and history tells us that they have
been just as you see them since the
food"
But" we demonstrated, Solomon
got all his timber for the building of
his temple from these mountains, so
there must have been many more"
1T is true" he said, that Solomon
got his timber here, but that was long
before what l have just mentioned. +"