730. The famous cedars of Mount Lebanon are thus mentioned by Buckingham: - 'Leaving Biskerry on our right, we ascended for an hour over light snow, until we came to the Arz-el-Libenein, or the cedars of Lebanon. These trees form a little grove by themselves, as if planted by art, and are seated in a hollow, amid rocky eminences all round them, at the foot of the ridge which forms the highest peak of Lebanon. There are, I should think, at present, about 200 in number, all fresh and green. They look, on approaching them, like a grove of firs; but, on coming nearer, are found to be in general much larger, though the foliage still keeps its resemblance. There are about twenty that are very large, and, among them, several from ten to twelve feet in diameter at the trunk, with branches of a corresponding size, each of them like large trees extending outward from the parent stock, and overshadowing a considerable space of ground.' (Travels among the Arab Tribes, p. 475.)
