with the white limestone, and gave little variety to the scene. In the very centre of this vast bosom I saw
a solitary black speck, apparently out of place. It was the Grove of the Cedars. On approaching the brow
of the hill, where my eye took in the sublime glen of the Kadishes, with its terraced banks and numerous
villages peeping out from the dark masses of foliage, this view was finer and more varied, but still a long
naked slope separated the Cedars from the grandeur of the glen below.
" I t was not till I had entered the precincts of the sacred Grove that feelings of disappointment
vanished. Then the beautiful fan-like branches of the younger trees, the gracefulness of their pyramidal
forms, and, above all, the huge trunks of . the patriarchs themselves, which one must walk round to form
a true conception of their vast proportions, excited feelings of unmingled admiration. And when all the
associations of their high antiquity, antient glory, and sacred interest swelled upon my memory, the
wondrous attraction that had for centuries drawn crowds of pilgrims to this lonely spot from the ends
of the earth, became at once manifest. The Pine groves of the Metu are far more picturesque, and the
oak forests of Hermon and Bashan are far more extensive and beautiful; but Cedar beams were laid on
the Lord's house at Jerusalem, and Cedar forests were the glory of Lebanon, as Lebanon was the glory
of the Land of Israel.
" Only a few, perhaps a dozen, very antient trees now remain. There are, however, many others of
very respectable dimensions and antiquity, some of which are four or five feet in diameter. The whole
Grove is compact, the trees growing close together on the summit and sides of a little limestone knoll. In
the centre a small rude chapel has been constructed within the last few years, the roof of which is wholly
of Cedar wood. In a chamber attached to it resides the deacon, who is the recognised guardian of the
place, and expects from all travellers some little present in exchange for a few cones or a fragment of
a branch which the winter's snow may have broken down. I was present during the celebration of
morning mass by two stranger bishops who had just arrived. During the performance the deacon brought
me the traveller's book, with a pencil, from off the altar! He requested me to write my name in it. This
is certainly a more rational mode of recording a visit than the sacrilegious practice of carving the letters on
the bark of some noble tree. In fact, the trunks of all the most antient trees, with one exception, are now
all hacked, hewn, and disfigured by this barbarous propensity of travellers. There may be read by the
curious, names of illustrious savans, joined with elsewhere unheard-of individuals. Noble lords, too, figure
beside the autographs of their dragomen; and other associations equally ennobling are formed to excite the
amusement and indignation of posterity." *
The writer of a " Bundle of Old Letters " in Good Words gives the following graphic account of the
Grove. Although without date, from the allusions in some of the letters (as, for example, to the siege of
Sebastopol, then going on), we assign to them a date of about 1854: "About 400 of them remain, but
only a few of them heard the sound of Hiram and his axe-bearing host. If these few had been more
accessible, I believe the modern Hirams would soon have demolished them. They all stand within a very
small circuit, and the seven oldest are called ' the Apostles.' These seven alone arc believed to be real
antients, i.e., to date from a time before the kings of Israel, mighty, wise, and strong. They stand in the
centre of the whole group, surrounded and guarded by their descendants and kinsfolk. . . . The huge boles,
some of them measuring between forty and fifty feet in circumference, send forth to a great distance their
fantastically-twisted branches laden with mighty cones. The lofty tops shoot high up towards heaven, and
when, in their august presence, we imagine the whole mountain covered as it once was by such giants, we
can well comprehend how the Cedars of Lebanon should be so often used in Scripture as emblems of
strength, and majesty, and glory." t
Sir Joseph Hooker is our next authority. He visited the Cedars in company with Admiral Washt
A Bundle of Old Letters from i Wanderer. Good Words, Octobcr 1803, p. 701.
ington
ington in i860, and his excellent paper, and an admirable survey of the spot made by the latter and Captain
Maunsell, supply us with as much information on every point connected with them, and the specimens
which they brought home, and which are now preserved at Kew, tell us as much regarding their age and
growth, as we can expect to know, until the winds lay low one of the patriarchs, and allow us by inspection
of the annual rings composing its trunk to obtain positive proof of its age. From Sir Joseph's paper and
Admiral Washington's map, (which, being Government work, may be relied on for absolute accuracy and
authenticity,) we learn that the number of trees is about four hundred, which are disposed in nine groups,
corresponding to as many hummocks of moraines. They are of various sizes, from about 18 inches to upwards
of 40 feet in girth. The two largest are on the slope north of the chapel, and stand near a boulder. Then,
a little to the south of these, and close to the chapel, there is one large tree ; and still farther to the south
and east, on another hummock, three large trees. In all, there are only eight trees which are above 20 feet
in girth. These we should divide into two ages: the oldest, consisting of the first three, which were in
i860 respectively 40 feet, 38.10 feet, and 36.9 feet in girth; the second age, consisting of the next three,
respectively 33 feet, 29.8 feet, and 28 feet in girth; and a third age, consisting of the remaining two, 22
and 21 feet in girth. There are only fifteen trees above 15 feet in girth, and these all occur in two of the
nine clumps, which two contain 180 trees. Only two others exceed 12 feet in girth, and these
are found in immediately adjoining clumps, one on one side and one on the other of those above
mentioned. We think, therefore, that we may class them with the rest of the fifteen; they were, perhaps,
stunted specimens, or possibly exceptional strays of a subsequent growth, which escaped the destruction
which befell any others of the same age. Deducting the eight of above 20 feet, we should thus have another
group of seven in number between 15 and 20 feet, or of nine in number between 12 and 20 feet in girth.
Then there are two eastern clumps containing 163, and five western clumps containing 156 trees, none of
which were above 12 feet in girth, but of which those to the westward (or down valley) side of the others
are the smallest. On this side, therefore, says Sir Joseph, the latest addition to the Grove has taken place.
None of these, however, were less in girth than a foot and a half or thereby. From the annual rings of two
of the youngest trees, sections of which were brought home by Sir Joseph and Captain Maunsell, we know
that their age is about 188 years.
In 1861 the Cedars were visited by Sir John Tobin, of Ballincolly, Cork, and his wife, Lady Tobin.
The latter says : " The Cedars are of many different growths, and it is utterly in vain to speculate upon the
distinct antiquity of some of them. The tall and graceful stature of the younger trees, with their dark-leaved
fan-like boughs, the enormous trunks, some of them more than 40 feet in girth, the gnarled and widelyspreading
sombre branches of the aged patriarchs, which speak with silent tongue of other days, must almost
forcibly remind the stranger of their world-renowned and antient glory." *
We gather also a little additional information as to the dimensions of some more of these largest
specimens"from a short notice of a visit to the Grove made in 1862 by Mr. Ridgway of Fairlawn. He
says : " Of the oldest trees, we could make out only nine, or, at the outside, ten." Mr. Ridgway measured
eight of the largest trees at three feet from the ground, and found them to girth as follows: 21 feet, 22 feet,
28 feet, 29 feet 8 inches, 33 feet 4 inches, 36 feet 9 inches, 38 feet 10 inches, and 40 feet respectively. " It
was impossible for us to have counted the trees, as the snow was three feet deep and soft, and the sides
of the plateau very steep. I am quite of opinion that the Cedar and Deodar are the same tree. There
is a young tree growing about 50 yards west of the chapel in the middle of the Grove, of exactly the same
form and°habit as a Deodar in the park here [Fairlawn, near Tunbridge] ; the same graceful drooping
habit; the same light silvery green ; and having none of the usual rigid horizontal form of the Cedar. The
remainder of the younger race of trees vary from 5 to 20 feet in girth; some are as tall and branchless as
Poplars; some not 30 feet high, gnarled and stunted." t