Page:Natural History Review (1862).djvu/24

Rh standing tree, or two, not far from the rest, and appear as a black speck in the great area of the corry and its moraines, which contain no other arboreous vegetation, nor any shrubs, but a few small berberry and rose bushes, that form no feature in the landscape. A section from east to west, along the axis of the basin, presents something of the following character:

The number of trees is about 400, and they are disposed in nine groups, corresponding with as many hummocks of the range of moraines; they are of various sizes, from about 18 inches to upwards of 40 feet in girth; but the most remarkable and significant fact connected with their size, and consequently with the age of the grove, is that there is no tree of less than 18 inches girth, and that we found no young trees, bushes, nor even seedlings of a second year's growth. We had no means of estimating accurately the ages of the youngest or oldest tree; nor shall we have, till the specimens of the former arrive. It may be remarked, however, that the wood of the branch of the old tree, cut at the time, is eight inches in diameter (exclusive of bark), presents an extremely firm, compact, and close-grained texture, and has no less than 140 rings, which are so close in some parts that they cannot be counted without a lens. This specimen further, is both harder and browner than any English-grown Cedar or native Deodar, and is as odoriferous as the latter. These, however, are the characters of an old lower branch of a very old tree, and are no guide to the general character of the wood on the Lebanon, and still less to that of English-grown specimens, which are always very inferior in colour, odour, grain, and texture. Calculating only from the rings in this branch, the youngest trees in Lebanon would average 100 years old, the oldest 2500, both estimates no doubt widely far from the mark. Calculating from trunks of English rapidly-grown specimens, their ages might be calculated as low respectively as 5 and 200 years; while