making images of the gods, and that the effigies of the ancestors
of Latinus were carved out of an old Cedar. He also informs
us that Cedar-wood was used for fragrant torches. Sesostris,
King of Egypt, is reported to have built a ship of Cedar timber,
which, according to Evelyn, was “ of 280 cubits, all gilded without
and within.” Gerarde says that the Egyptians used Cedar for
the coffins of their dead, and Cedar-pitch in the process of embalming
the bodies. The books of Numa, recovered in Rome
after a lapse of 535 years, are stated to have been perfumed with
Cedar. The Chinese have a legend which tells how a husband and
wife were transformed into two Cedars, in order that their mutual
love might be perpetuated. A certain King Kang, in the time
of the Soungs, had as secretary one Hanpang, whose young
and beautiful wife Ho the King unfortunately coveted. Both
husband and wife were tenderly attached to one another, so the
King threw Hanpang into prison, where he shortly died of grief.
His wife, to escape the odious attentions of the King, threw herself
from the summit of a high terrace. After her death, a letter
was discovered in her bosom, addressed to the King, in which she
asked, as a last favour, to be buried beside her dear husband.
The King, however, terribly angered, would not accede to poor Ho’s
request, but ordered her to be interred separately. The will of
heaven was not long being revealed. That same night two Cedars
sprang from the two graves, and in ten days had become so tall
and vigorous in their growth, that they were able to interlace
their branches and roots, although separated from one another.
The people henceforth called these Cedars “ The trees of faithful
love.” Tchihatcheff, a Russian traveller, speaks of vast Cedar
forests on Mount Taurus in Asia Minor : the tree was not introduced
into England till about Evelyn’s time, nor into France till
1737, when Bernard de Jussieu brought over from the Holy Land
a little seedling of the plant from the forests of Mount Lebanon. A
romantic account is given of the difficulty this naturalist experienced
in conveying it to France, owing to the tempestuous weather and
contrary winds he experienced, which drove his vessel out of its
course, and so prolonged the voyage, that the water began to fail.
All on board were consequently put on short allowance; the crew
having to work, being allowed one glass of water a day, the passenger
only half that quantity. Jussieu, from his attachment to
botany, was reduced to abridge even this small daily allowance, by
sharing it with his cherished plant, and by this act of self-sacrifice
succeeded in keeping it alive till they reached Marseilles. Here,
however, all his pains seemed likely to be thrown away, for as he
had been driven, by want of a flower-pot, to plant his seedling in
his hat, he excited on landing the suspicions of the Custom-house
officers, who at first insisted on emptying the strange pot, to see
whether any contraband goods were concealed therein. With much
difficulty he prevailed upon them to spare his treasure, and succeeded
in carrying it in triumph to Paris, where it flourished in the
Jardin des Plantes, and grew until it reached one hundred years of
age, and eighty feet in height. In 1837 it was cut down, to make
room for a railway. According to the ancient Chaldean magicians,
the Cedar is a tree of good omen—protedling the good and overthrowing
the machinations of evil spirits. M, Lenormant has
published an Egyptian legend concerning the Cedar, which De
Gubernatis has quoted. This legend recites that Baton having consented
to incorporate his heart with the Cedar, if the tree were cut the
life of Baton would at the same time be jeopardised ; but if he died
his brother would seek his heart for seven years, and when he had
tound it, he would place it in a vase filled with divine essence, which
was to impart to it animation, and so restore Baton to life..............
Anpou, in a fit of rage, one day enters Baton’s house, and slays
the shameless woman who had separated him from his brother.
Meanwhile Baton proceeds to the valley of Cedars, and places, as he
had announced, his heart in the fruit of the tree at the foot of which
he fixes his abode. The gods, not desiring to leave him solitary,
create a woman, endowed with extraordinary beauty, but carrying
evil with her. Falling madly in love with her. Baton reveals to
the woman the secret of his life being bound up with that of the
Cedar. Meantime the river becomes enamoured of Baton’s wife;
the tree, to pacify it, gives it a lock of the beauty’s hair. The river
continues its course, carrying on the surface of its waters the tress,
which diffuses a delicious odour. It reaches at last the king’s
laundress, who carries it to his majesty. At the mere sight and
perfume of the tress, the king falls in love with the woman to
whom it belongs. He sends men to the vale of Cedars to carry
her off; but Baton kills them all. Then the king despatches an
army, who at last bring him the woman whom the gods themselves
had fashioned. But while Baton lives she cannot become the wife
of the k in g ; so she reveals to him the secret of her husband’s
twofold life. Immediately workmen are despatched, who cut down
the Cedar. Baton expires direcftly. Soon Anpou, who had come to
visit his brother, finds him stretched out dead beside the felled
Cedar. Instantly he sets out to search for Baton’s heart; but for
four years his search is fruitless. At the end of that period the
soul of Baton yearns to be resuscitated: the time has arrived
when, in its transmigrations, it should rejoin his body. Anpou
discovers the heart of his brother in one of the cones of the tree.
Taking the vase which contains the sacred fluid, he places the heart
in i t ; and, during the day, it remains unaffe(5fed, but so soon as night
arrives, the heart becomes imbued with the elixir. Baton regains
all his members; but he is without vigour. Then Anpou gives to
him the sacred fluid in which he had steeped the heart of his
young brother, and bids him drink. The heart returns to its place,
and Baton becomes himself again. The two brothers set out to
punish the unfaithful one. Baton takes the form of a sacred bul
T— 2