From the highest point, which perhaps one has gained on⑦a journey from Damascus and Baalbec to the Cedar Forest,the prospect is one of " surpassing grandeur. All at once the mountains sink and fall away to a giddy depth beneath-a maze of furrowed ridges, surging, like the waves of a frozen sea, through a veil of warm blue vapour; old castles and convents perched on islanded heights; villages everywhere clustering on the terraced steeps; at your feet the venerable Cedar Wood dwindled to a thicket of shrubs; and away in the distance the hazy gleam of the Mediterranean waters. One is reminded of the paradise of that gorgeous dream of Coleridge:-"There were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;And here were forests ancient as the hills,Infolding sunny spots of greenery."It is not for the multitude of its cedars that Lebanon is now renowned; but the spot where stand the last surviving relics of the forests that once clothed its sides will always be a haunt of pilgrimage. The wood contains about three hundred cedars, of which fifty trees, twisted by the storms and scarred by the tempests of centuries, may challenge special admiration. OnTHE CEDAR GROVEa mound in the centre stands the patriarch of the grove, nine feet in diameter, spreading his ponderous arms, each a tree in itself, over the heads of the many generations that have grown up below.
Nowhere, perhaps, is the wonderful union of mountain grandeur with beauty of site and richness of culture better seen than near the Christian village of Ehden,⑧ described in glowing terms by all who have visited it. It stands on the brinkof a gorge nearly two thousand feet in depth, its houses of hewn stone scattered under the shade of walnut trees, every slope and terrace waving with cornfields and vineyards, and groves of mulberry and poplar. The chime of bells, so seldom heard in the East, awakens a peculiar emotion when ringing the hour of prayer in these Christian villages.
Stability, fragrance, fruitfulness, types of the highest graces that beautify and exalt the life of man, dwell in pure and endless companionship beneath the cedars of Lebanon.
- J. D. BURNS
NOTES
① Damascus, the ancient capital of Syria, and probably the oldest city in the world. It has belonged successively to all the great conquering nations of the globe,-Assyrians. Persians. Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Tartars, and Turks. Damascus is a great caravan centre. The cloth called Damask is supposed to have originated there and Damascus steel has never been surpassed.
② Antioch, formerly the capital of all Syria, and at onetime the third city in the Roman Empire for wealth and refinement. It is situated on the river Orontes, 20 miles from its mouth. It has many times been nearly destroyed by earthquakes, and now its population is 30, 000.
③ Baalbec, an ancient city of Syria, in the valley between Lebanon and AntiLebanon. It was also called Helio-polis , both names having the same meaning,-City of the Sun. The origin of the city has been ascribed to Solomon. Among the ruins of its temples, there are found single blocks of stone over 60 feet long. One of these is 69 feet long, 17 broad, and 14 feet thick.
④ The Jewish leader.-Moses, who led the Israelites through the wilderness, but was notallowed to cross the Jordan with them.
⑤ Maronites; so called from their founder, Maron, who lived in the fifth century. They were reconciled to the Church of Rome in the twelfth century, and are still subject to it, but they hold their service in Syriac. They number about 200, 000.
⑥ Druses, Arabs, who came from the eastern confines of Syria, and settled in Lebanon within the last nine hundred years. It is said that they were originally Egyptians, and that the sect was founded by one of the followers of Hakim, an Egyptian prophet, who was expelled from Egypt for his heretical belief in Hakim. They now number 100, 000. In 1860 the Druses attacked the Maronites, and massacred great numbers of them. The Turks and the French interfered, and the Druses surrendered in January 1861, giving up their leaders.
⑦ The Cedar Forest, on the western slope of Lebanon, 25 miles inland from Botrys.
⑧ Ehden, about five miles north-west of the Cedar Forest.
QUESTIONS
What relics of the old oriental world lie in the shadow of Lebanon? What is the highest peak of Anti-Lebanon? and its height? Why would Lebanon be reverently endeared to the Jewish people? Of what was the cedar tree the symbol? Who dwell in the northern and the southern parts of the Lebanon region respectively? By what is one struck on approaching Lebanon from the sea? How many trees does the Cedar Forest now contain? Describe the patriarch of the grove. Where is the village of Ehden situated? For what is it remarkable?
