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| Cedars of Lebanon |
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Source: Matson Collection. |
General View of
Cedars
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After two and a half hours' ride over the undulating moraines which extend east
of Ehden, and form the curved shelf around the base of the encircling
amphitheatre of giant mountains, we descry on our right, far down in the east
end of the Kadīsha gorge, the large crowded village of Bsherreh, with its
churches and convents, its water and trees, and east of it the roaring cataract
which leaps down the rocks from the fountain of the sacred river. Still higher
up, standing solitary and alone, is the dark compact cluster of trees known as
the Cedars of Lebanon . . . (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 3, p. 24.) |
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A Cedar of Lebanon |
Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 2, p. 236. |
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We hasten our pace . . . to the sacred
grove called "Arz er Rub," that is, "The
Cedars of the Lord." There are three hundred
and ninety-three trees, some ten or twelve of
which are of giant girth, though the loftiest
is not more than eighty feet in height. The
twelve largest trees are called by the
fellahīn "The Twelve Apostles," and they have
a curious tradition that our Lord and His
apostles came to this spot and left their
walking staves standing in the soil, which
sprouted into cedar-trees. A Maronite chapel
stands in the grove, and the patriarch claims
the sole right to the sacred trees. The clergy
have cultivated the superstition that those
cutting the trees for fuel will be smitten
with disease or calamity by the guardian
divinity of the grove . . . .H.E. Rustem
Pasha, Governor-General of the Lebanon, has
surrounded this grove with a well-built stone
wall with two strong gates, and appointed
guardians to prevent the ravages of the goats
on the young trees, and to compel travellers
to pitch their tents outside the enclosure.
(Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 3, pp.
24, 25.) |
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Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 2, p.
237. |
In the Grove of Cedars,
Lebanon |
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The range of Lebanon for a hundred miles along
the Jird was doubtless once covered with cedar
forests. We have visited eleven distinct
groves of cedars in Lebanon:-1. The ancient
"Cedars of the Lord" above Bsherreh, three
hundred and ninety-three in number . . . .2.
The grove at the fountain of Ehden, fifty
trees. 3. The great grove between El Hadeth
and Nīha, numbering tens of thousands of
trees, covers an area of nearly twelve miles.
4. A smaller grove farther south on the summit
and brink of the precipice. 5. The scattered
trees above Duma. 6. The Ain Zehalteh grove of
ten thousand trees, cut down by Murad Akīl,
and now growing up again. 7. A small grove on
the cliff overhanging El Medūk. 8. A small
cluster near Kŭl'at
el Bizzeh. 9. The fine grove of Māsir el
Fukhkhar, about three hundred trees, some of
great size. 10. The forest of Jird el Barūk,
thousands of trees. 11. The eastern grove of
Barūk, about two hundred trees. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 3, pp. 25-26.) |
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Cedars of Lebanon, Straight Trees Like
Solomon Used |
Source: Matson Collection. |
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The first historical notice of the cedars
of Lebanon is in the reign of David, when this
monarch built himself a palace of cedar-wood
(2 Samuel v. 11). Solomon caused cedars to be
brought from Lebanon for the building of the
Temple, and they were floated down the coast
from Jebeil to Jaffa, after being cut by the
"four score thousand hewers in the mountains."
In 536 B.C. Zerubbabel hired the Phoenicians
of Tyre and Sidon "to bring cedar-trees from
Lebanon to the Sea of Joppa." . . . Tiglath
Pileser . . . visited the Lebanon for the
purpose of obtaining cedar-wood to adorn the
temples and palaces of Kileh Shergat. The
groves of Lebanon have thus been despoiled for
three thousand years by the kings of the
adjacent countries, until the upper ranges are
quite denuded, and the voracity of the flocks
of goats in nipping the tender shoots, and the
rapacity of the fellahīn, are preventing the
growth of new forests from the seed. Were it
not for the energetic action of the Lebanon
Government the whole mountain would soon be
stripped of its forest glory. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 3, p. 26.) |
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See
Carpentry,
Baalbek,
Beirut,
Sidon,
Tripoli,
or
Tyre |
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