Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-01-06
sufficiently large beams for the


efforts were made to preserve the
trees, which had long been considered
of a peculiar sanctity. High up on
the rocky side of Lebanon, Hadrian
carved his imperial command that the
groves should be left untouched
Modern Maronite patriarchs have eX-
communicated those who cut down
the trees of God" But the rowing
goats who nibble the tender young
saplings have regarded neither en-
peror nor patriarch. Now there Is
/ little timber Of any kind in syria
and the profiles of the mountains cut
sharp against the sky. OF the cedars
there remain only seven groups the
finest Of which is the one we are Wis
iting, above the village Of Besherrah
A Stone Wall to Save Thorn.
| A former governor Of Lebanon
Rustum Pasha, protected the grove
against rowing animals by a we'll built
stone wall, and in recent years the
number Of young trees has conse-
quently slightly increased. But the
really old cedars grow fewer century
by century; indeed. young and old
together, their number is pathetically
few. Twelve of the very largest are
usually counted as the patriarchs OF
the grove. The mountaineers say
, that these had their origin when
Christ and the eleven faithful dis
ciples once visited Lebanon, and each
stuck his staff into the earth, where
! it took root and became an undying
cedar. In all there are about four
hundred trees. A local tradition says
that they can never be counted twice
alike: and, in fact, 1 have yet to find
two travellers who agree as to the
number. 1t is doubtless due to the
fact that several trunks will grow SO
close together that no one can say
whether they should be considered as
a single tree or as two or more
When no fewer than seven trunks al
most touch at the bottom it Is quite
impossible to tell whether they sprane
originally from one seed or from
many.
Yet though the cedars are few IN
number, these few are kingly trees
Their height is never more than a
hundred feet, but some have trunks
over forty feet around, and mighty
wide-spreading limbs which cover a
circle two or three hundred feet In
circumference. Those which have
been unhindered in their growth are
tall and symmetrical; others are
gnarled and knotted, with room fol
the Swiss Family Robinson to keep
house in their great forks. Some
years ago a monk lived in hollow
of one Of the trunks. When you
climb a little way into cedar and
look out over the whorl Of horizontal
branches, the upper surface seems as
smooth and soft as rug, upon which
have apparently fallen the uplifted
cones. Indeed, the close growing
foliage will bear you almost as well
as a carpeted floor. Eighty feet
above the ground have thrown my
self carelessly down, not upon a
bough, but just upon the network OF
interlacing twigs, and rested as Sc
curely as if I had been lying in an
enormous hammock.
Grow in Curious Ways.
Most Of the cedars are crowded sc
closely that their growth has been
very irregular. Sometimes two
branches from different trees rub
against each other until the bark is
broken; then the exuding sap cements
them together, and in the course OF
years they grow into each other sc
that you cannot tell where one tree
ends and the other begins. Just over
my tent two such Siamese twins were
Joined by a common bough a foot In
diameter. Near by 1 found three
trees thus united, and another
traveller reports having seen no fewer
than four connected by single hor-
izontal branch which apparently
drew its sap from all of the parent
and foster parent trunks. Even more
remarkable is cedar which has been
burned completely through near the
ground, and yet draws so much sap
from an adjoining tree that its upper
branches continue to bear consider
able foliage.
The wood is slightly aromatic, hard,
very close grained and takes high
polish. It literally never rots. The
most striking characteristic Of the
cedars is their almost incredibl- vi
tality. The oldest of all are gnarled
and twisted, but they have the rough
strength of muscle bound giants.
Each year new cones rise above the
broad, green branches, and the bal
samic juice flows fresh from every
break in the bark. The
single enemy feared by full grown
cedar is the thunderbolt. "The voice
Of Jehovah breaketh in
pieces the cedars Of Lebanon" One
or two trees felled by this power have
lain PROSTATE for a generation; but
their wood will still turn the edge of
a penknife. Here and there, visitors
to the grove have stripped off a bit
of bark and inscribed their names on
the exposed wood. Martin, 1769,"
"Giradin, 1791-"the edges Of the let
ters are as hard and clear cut as If
they had been carved last season.
A Thousand Years Old.
Probably the wood is so enduring
because it grows so slowly. When
you are told that a slender shoot,
hardly shoulder high, is ten or twelve
years old, you begin to speculate as
to the probable age Of the patriarchs
of the grove. On a broken branch
only thirty inches in diameter, I once,
with the aid of a magnifying glass,
counted SIT rings-577 years. And
some of the cedars are forty feet and
over in girth! Certainly these must
be a thousand years old, probably
two thousand. We are tempted to
believe that one or two of the most