Ehden, and another in the district Ed-Dunniyeh, south of Akkar; but he visited neither of them
personally. He, however, was at Etnub, north of Ehden, where the region is wooded, and there he
found Cedars to the number of several thousands.
In respect to the grove near El Hadith (which the natives and others speak of as Arz, Cedar),
Dr. Robinson, in his " Biblical Researches," says that he was informed by Dr. Paulding of Damascus,
that although the trees bear a general resemblance to the Cedar, yet their leaves were altogether different,
and mark them as a different kind of tree. But Mr. Tristram thinks that Dr. Paulding must have been
either mistaken in his botany or in his topography.
Hemprich and Ehrenberg next added to the number of known habitats. These eminent naturalists
spent a considerable time on Lebanon, and found Cedars between Tripoli and Beyrout. They mention
this in their Report in 1823, but they do not specify the exact locality. Dr. Robinson, however, states
that Ehrenberg told him that he had found the Cedars growing abundantly on those parts of the mountain
lying north of the road between Baalbec and Tripoli, and that the trees were of all sizes, old and young, but
none so antient and venerable as those usually visited. Sir Joseph Hooker, however, obtained further
information from him, which he, in his paper on the Cedars of Lebanon, has noticed. (Hooker, op. cit.,
1862, p. 4.) He there mentions that, in answer to his inquiries, Professor Ehrenberg informed him that
he had found many Cedars in the forests of Oak, &c., on the route between Bsherreh and Bshinnate.
These two places lie about five miles apart, north and south, as the crow flies, and the former is about
three miles west of the main grove. The trees noticed by Ehrenberg, therefore, are obviously only
stragglers from or part of the main detachment at the head of the valley of the Kedisha.
M. Bové, ex-director of Agriculture of Ibrahim Pacha at Cairo, met with a new habitat on the route
from Baalbec to Beyrout. He says: "The nth of October, 1861, I set out from Sakhlehe, conducted
by Maromb guides, to go to Der El Khamar. . . . . We crossed a valley in the afternoon, of
which the right was enclosed by a mountain, on whose summit grew some thousands of Pinus Cedrus
covered with flowers. These trees are from one to four yards in circumference, and their height exceeds
fifteen yards. I think that these Cedars owe their preservation to their position on mountains of difficult
access, and distant from towns where their timber would be of use, and to which it could only be
transported on the backs of animals." (Annal, des Sciences Naturelles, 2d ser., vol. i., p. 235.)
M. Laure, in 1863, remarked : "Above the village of Ehden one sees large trees which the distance
does not permit to recognise, but the natives affirm them to be Cedars." (Laure in "Cultivateur
Provençal," p. 317.)
Sir Joseph Hooker visited the Cedar Grove himself, along with Captain (afterwards Admiral)
Washington and Captain Maunsell, in 1860, and the paper by Sir Joseph Hooker, above referred to,
gives an account of their observations. They did not, however, meet with any additional groves ; but
the Rev. R. B. Tristram, who with a party of naturalists made an extended tour in Palestine in 1863,
having more time, was more successful. He seems to have re-discovered one (he thinks two) of
the groves mentioned by Seetzen in 1805, and at any rate, found four localities in all, including the chief
grove, and one of these at least, and perhaps the largest, was previously unknown. The first additional
habitat which he discovered was the following :—
"Just above the fountain of Ehden, towards Bsherreh, stands another clump of antient Cedars, which, though fine old trees, have from their
comparatively smaller size been neither noticed nor recorded by travellers. They are probably a relic of the antient forests which may have
extended along the edge of the valley." (Tristram's " Land of Israel," p. 626.)
The second discovery is thus described :—
" We sent on our mules direct to Akurah, but determined to make a slight detour ourselves, in order to visit a district marked by Van de Valde
as not examined. We had hardly left Hazrûn, when we had to turn our backs on the romantic Kadisha, and climb the bare shoulder of Lebanon
which projects to the south-west, in order to reach EI Hadith. As we were riding up the steep, we met two men carrying firewood, and Lowndes'
quick eye at once detected some boughs of Cedar. We eagerly inquired where they found Arz. They pointed to some scattered trees on a
bare hill-side, between El-Hadilh and Niha, which they said were all Arz. On examination we found they were quite right. The nearer slopes
were scattered very sparsely with old riven and half-decayed Junipers, and a lew aged Pirns HaUfmsis, while the Cedars were all collected on
this hill." (Tristram, op. cit., p. 6-8.)
The third and last discovery was made almost immediately afterwards:—
"An hour afterwards, as we crossed the next ridge, and came to one of the feeders of the Dunzeir, we noticed that the wild gorge to our
right was clad from top to bottom with a scattered forest of trees, which, when examined through the glass, appeared too spreading and fiat
topped for Pines. In spile of Hammond's angry remonstrance against our wandering we knew not whither, we pushed on for the ravine. It was
too elevated, as well as too rugged, to encourage any attempt at cultivation, even by the mountaineers of the Lebanon, and has remained,
untouched by man, one of the last refuges of the Syrian bear. The trees were all Cedars, grouped in clusters or scattered in every variety of
situation, some clinging to the steep slopes, or gnarled and twisted on the bare hill-tops, others sheltered in the recesses of the dell. Lowndes
climbed one of the larger trees, and brought down some cones in triumph. The largest tree might be 15 or 18 feet in circumference, but none
that we saw approached the patriarchs of the Grove, either in size or magnificence. Still there was Cedar enough here to have rebuilt Solomon's
Temple. We have now discovered it in two mountain valleys, growing in every variety of situation. . . . Nor are the four places I have referred
to the only spots where the Cedar of Lebanon still lingers. I have good authority for stating that it is also found abundantly scattered about
Duma, a place five hours south-west of Hadith. More interesting still is its existence in a far distant part of the mountain. In one of the glens
to the north of Deir El Kamar, the antient stronghold of the Druses up the course of the Nahr El Baruk, south-east of lihamdun, near the
village of Ain Zahalteh, are many scattered trees and small clumps. Probably a careful search among the western roots of the Lebanon would
result in the discovery of many more relics of the primeval forest." (Tristram, op. cit„ p. 629.)
Mr. Tristram modestly disclaims any priority of discovery in regard to these new habitats; but, as
it appears to us, in doing so he neither does justice to himself nor his companions. One of the new
localities certainly belongs entirely to his party; and we do not see that he has any grounds for holding,
as he does, that both of the other new groves were those which had been recorded by Seetzen. The first
may have been, but we see no indications that either of the others was. Mr. Tristram's own conclusion
regarding the distribution of Cedars in that district, as stated in the first edition of his " Land of Israel,"
was that they might yet be found in far greater abundance than he has ventured to suggest.
His anticipation in this respect has been already amply verified. Before leaving Syria, he interested
the American Missionaries at Beyrout in the subject, and pointed out to them the probable localities. We
learn from a note to the second edition of his work (page 634) that his friends had made several excursions
in the interior, and one of them, Mr. Jessop, had found five additional localities, three of great extent east
of Ain Zahalteh, in the southern Lebanon, and situate far to the south, with a wide break between them
and " the Grove." He found that this new habitat recently contained some 10,000 trees, but unfortunately
the Sheik of the district had got a concession of the forest from the local authorities, for the purpose of
extracting pitch, and destroyed several thousand trees in the attempt, which proving, as might have been
anticipated, unsuccessful, retributive justice fell upon him, and he was utterly ruined by the speculation,
although not until he had perpetrated his vandalism very effectually.* Mr. Jessop found that one of the
stumps in this forest (it cannot be called a grove) measured 13 feet in diameter, that is 39 feet in circumference,
a size not greatly short of that of the largest tree in " the Grove," which was 404 feet in circumference
5 feet from the ground. The stump in question would probably be nearer the ground. This
forest is full of young Cedar trees, springing up with great vigour.
There are two other large groves containing many thousand trees, one above El Baruk and another
near Maasir. He reports these trees as very large, and equal to any others. They are being sadly
destroyed for firewood near Duma. Mr. Jessop also discovered a second grove, near where Mr. Tristram
discovered a grove, or rather glen of Cedar, on the western slopes of Lebanon. What is perhaps of still
greater interest, two small groves have been found on the eastern slope of Lebanon, overlooking the
Bukaa above El Medenk. This is the first indication that the Cedars may have covered both sides of
Lebanon in former times, as we see that they do both sides of Anti-Taurus in the same line. We have