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Article COLLECTANEA. ← Page 2 of 4 →
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Collectanea.
trees to make crosses and tabernacles , the Patriarch of the Maronites fearing that the trees would he destroyed , threatened excommunication to all those who should injure the cedars , and , at the same time , exhorted all Christians to preserve trees so celebrated in holy writ . The Maronites were only allowed to cut even the branches of these trees once a-year , and that was on the eve of the Transfiguration of our Saviour , which festival occurs in Augustand consequentlat a suitable period for visit
, y - ing the mountain . On this festival the Maronites and pilgrims repaired to Mount Lebanon , and , passing the night in the woods , regaled themselves on wine made from grapes grown on the mountain , ancl lighted their fires with branches cut from the cedars . They passed the night in dancing a kind of Pyrrhic dance , ancl in singing aud regaling , and the following clay the festival of the Transfiguration was held on the mountain , and the patriarch celebrated hi gh mass on an altar under one of the
largest and oldest cedars . Mr . Loudon afterwards enumerates the other writers who have visited the cedars , giving extracts from each , down to the visit of the Prince de Joinville , as recorded by his aid-decamp M . Laure , in September , 1836 . Fifteen of the old trees were then still remaining , one of which had a trunk nearly thirty-six feet in circumference , ancl there were about forty younger trees , the smallest of which had a trunk measuring ten feet in circumference but there
; were no young seedlings to succeed them . " The soil of the forest of Lebanon , " says M . Laure , " in which there was not a single blade of grass growing in September , 1 S 3 G , was covered to the thickness of half a foot with the fallen leaves , cones , ancl scales of the cedars , so that it was almost impossible for the seeds of the trees to reach the ground ancl germinate . —Arboretum et Fruticetem Britannieum .
MOUNT TABOR , THE SCENE OF THE TRANSFIGURATION . —It stands perfectly isolated ; rising alone from the plain in a rounded tapering form , like a truncated cone , to the height of three thousand feet , covered with trees , grass , and wild flowers , from the base to its summit , and presenting the combination , so rarely found in natural scenery , of the bold ancl the beautiful . At twelve o ' clock , we were at the miserable village of Deborah , at the foot of the mountain , supposed to be the place where Deborah the hetess
prop , who then judged Israel , and Barak and "ten thousand men after him , descended upon Sisera , and discomfited him and all his chariots , even nine hundred chariots of iron , and all the people with him . " The men and boys had all gone out to their dail y labour , and we tried to persuade a woman to guide lis to the top of the mountain , but she turned away with contempt ; and , having had some practice in climbing , we moved around its sides until we found a regular and
path , ascending nearl y to the top without dismounting . The path wound around the mountain , and gave us a view from all its different sides , every step presenting something new , and more ancl more beautiful , until all was completely forgotten ancl lost in the exceeding loveliness of the view from tbe summit . Stripped of every association , and considered merel y as an elevation commanding a view of unknown valleys and mountains . I never saw a mountain whichfor beauty of
, scene , better repaid the toil of ascending it ; and 1 need not say what an interest was given to every feature when we saw in the valley beneath the large plain of Jezreel , the great battle-ground of nations ! on the south the supposed range of Hermon , with whose dews the Psalmist compares tlie " pleasantness of ( . brethren dwelling together in unity ; " beyond the
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Collectanea.
trees to make crosses and tabernacles , the Patriarch of the Maronites fearing that the trees would he destroyed , threatened excommunication to all those who should injure the cedars , and , at the same time , exhorted all Christians to preserve trees so celebrated in holy writ . The Maronites were only allowed to cut even the branches of these trees once a-year , and that was on the eve of the Transfiguration of our Saviour , which festival occurs in Augustand consequentlat a suitable period for visit
, y - ing the mountain . On this festival the Maronites and pilgrims repaired to Mount Lebanon , and , passing the night in the woods , regaled themselves on wine made from grapes grown on the mountain , ancl lighted their fires with branches cut from the cedars . They passed the night in dancing a kind of Pyrrhic dance , ancl in singing aud regaling , and the following clay the festival of the Transfiguration was held on the mountain , and the patriarch celebrated hi gh mass on an altar under one of the
largest and oldest cedars . Mr . Loudon afterwards enumerates the other writers who have visited the cedars , giving extracts from each , down to the visit of the Prince de Joinville , as recorded by his aid-decamp M . Laure , in September , 1836 . Fifteen of the old trees were then still remaining , one of which had a trunk nearly thirty-six feet in circumference , ancl there were about forty younger trees , the smallest of which had a trunk measuring ten feet in circumference but there
; were no young seedlings to succeed them . " The soil of the forest of Lebanon , " says M . Laure , " in which there was not a single blade of grass growing in September , 1 S 3 G , was covered to the thickness of half a foot with the fallen leaves , cones , ancl scales of the cedars , so that it was almost impossible for the seeds of the trees to reach the ground ancl germinate . —Arboretum et Fruticetem Britannieum .
MOUNT TABOR , THE SCENE OF THE TRANSFIGURATION . —It stands perfectly isolated ; rising alone from the plain in a rounded tapering form , like a truncated cone , to the height of three thousand feet , covered with trees , grass , and wild flowers , from the base to its summit , and presenting the combination , so rarely found in natural scenery , of the bold ancl the beautiful . At twelve o ' clock , we were at the miserable village of Deborah , at the foot of the mountain , supposed to be the place where Deborah the hetess
prop , who then judged Israel , and Barak and "ten thousand men after him , descended upon Sisera , and discomfited him and all his chariots , even nine hundred chariots of iron , and all the people with him . " The men and boys had all gone out to their dail y labour , and we tried to persuade a woman to guide lis to the top of the mountain , but she turned away with contempt ; and , having had some practice in climbing , we moved around its sides until we found a regular and
path , ascending nearl y to the top without dismounting . The path wound around the mountain , and gave us a view from all its different sides , every step presenting something new , and more ancl more beautiful , until all was completely forgotten ancl lost in the exceeding loveliness of the view from tbe summit . Stripped of every association , and considered merel y as an elevation commanding a view of unknown valleys and mountains . I never saw a mountain whichfor beauty of
, scene , better repaid the toil of ascending it ; and 1 need not say what an interest was given to every feature when we saw in the valley beneath the large plain of Jezreel , the great battle-ground of nations ! on the south the supposed range of Hermon , with whose dews the Psalmist compares tlie " pleasantness of ( . brethren dwelling together in unity ; " beyond the