The

of these "remnants of the giants." trees are accounted sacred; and the patriarch performs a solemn yearly mass under their shade, on the feast of the Transfiguration' (i. 368). Robinson (iii. 440) says on the subject: The celebrated cedar-grove of Lebanon is at least two days' journey from Beirut, near the northern, and perhaps highest summit of the mountain, six or eight hours north of Jebel Sunnin. It has often been, and sufficiently, described by travellers for the last three centuries; but they all differ as to the number of the oldest trees; inasmuch as, in counting, some have included more, and some less, of the younger ones. At present the number of (young) trees appears to be on the increase, and amounts in all to several hundred. This grove was long held to be the only remnant of the ancient cedars of Lebanon. But Seetzen, in 1805, discovered two other groves of equal extent; and the American missionaries, in travelling through the mountains, have found many cedars in other parts. I mention the subJect here, chiefly in order to add the testimony of Professor Ehrenberg to the same fact. This distinguished naturalist spent a considerable time on Lebanon, and informs me that he found the cedar growing abundantly in those parts of the mountains lying north of the road between Baalbek and Tripolis. The trees are of all sizes, old and young, but none so ancient and venerable as those usually visited.'

The celebrated grove stands on a group of stony knolls, about three quarters of a mile in circumference, and consists of three or four hundred trees, partly the remains of a forest, that once perhaps filled the whole valley, and partly the younger progeny of the venerable patriarchs among them. The younger are numerous. They, however, are not so very young. Russeger thinks that most of the trees in the grove may be a couple of centuries old, and several between the ages of four and eight hundred years. There are said to be twelve whose age cannot be calculated; seven standing near each other: the largest is sixty-three feet in circumference. These giants are more remarkable for girth than stature. Their height hardly exceeds fifty feet. They all part into several stems; but, as this division takes place about five feet from the root, there is not much difficulty in ascertaining their true dimensions. Their age is variously estimated. Their most sanguine admirers believe them to have been contemporary with Solomon; and though this draws rather too strongly on our credulity, yet there is no direct evidence to contradict it. The rules by which botanists determine the age of trees are said not to be applicable to these, because their stems have ceased to grow in regular concentric rings; and they owe their prolonged existence to the superior vitality

of a portion of their bark, which has survived the decay of the rest. Russeger, however, is inclined to admit that these trees may possibly number some two thousand years; taking into consideration their size, their girth, the stony soil in which they grow, and their lofty position, exposed so much to the violence of the winds. They are, however, among the most celebrated natural monuments on the earth. Religion, poetry, and history, have equally consecrated them. The Arabians of all creeds have still a traditional veneration for them. They hold that an evil fate would overtake any one who should dare to lay sacrilegious hands on these 'saints,' as they fondly call them. They attribute to them, not only a vegetative vigour that endows them with perpetual existence, but also a soul which enables them to exhibit signs of sagacity and foresight, similar to those arising from instinct in animals, and from intellect in man. They know the seasons beforehand; they move their vast limbs; they stretch them out or draw them in, raise them to the heavens or bend them to the earth, according as the snow is about to fall or to melt. They are divine beings under the form of trees. The very air of the cedar impresses one with the idea of its comparative immortality. There is a firmness in the bark, and a stability in the trunk, in the mode in which it lays hold of the ground, and in the form of the branches, and their insertion into the trunk, scarcely found in any other

wanting the bluish tint of the pine and fir, and the lurid and gloomy hue of the cypress. The cedar is an evergreen. The fruit resembles the cone of the pine. The wood is compact, and of a beautiful brown tint.' These are the words of Lamartine:And though its resistance to actual wear is not equal to that of the oak, it is so bitter that no insect will touch it; and it seems proof against time itself. If the rapidity of its growth were at all correspondent to its other qualities, it would be the most valuable tree in the forest.'

Lord Lindsay's 'Letters from the Holy Land' supply the following graphic description of the Lebanon cedars and their locality (ii. 210-15).

All the trees ceased now, except a species of dwarf cedar, emitting a delicious fragrance, which replaced them, and continued, though diminishing in number, almost to the summit. The rocky slope of the mountain is covered with yellow, white, red, and pink flowers, affording delicious food to the bees of Lebanon their honey is excellent. We reached an immense wreath of snow, lying on the breast of the mountain, just below the summit; and from that summit, five minutes afterwards, what a prospect opened before us! Two vast ridges of Lebanon, curving westwards from the central spot where we stood, like the horns of a bent bow, or the wings of a theatre, ran down towards the sea, breaking in their descent into a hundred minor hills, between which, unseen, unheard, and through as deep and dark and jagged a chasm as ever yawned, the Kadisha, or Sacred River of Lebanon, rushes down to the Mediterranean-the blue and boundless Mediterranean, which, far on the western horizon, meets and mingles with the sky.

Our eyes coming home again, after roving over this noble view, we had leisure to observe a small group of trees, not larger, apparently, than a clump in an English park, at the very foot of the northern wing or horn of this great natural theatre: these were the far-famed cedars. We were an hour and twenty minutes reaching them, the descent being very precipitous and difficult. As we entered the grove, the air was quite perfumed with their odour, the "smell of Lebanon," so celebrated by the pen of inspiration (Hos. xiv. 6).

'We halted under one of the largest trees, inscribed with De Laborde's name on one side, and Lamartine's on the other. But do not think that we were sacrilegious enough to wound these glorious trees: there are few English names comparatively, I am happy to say: I would as soon cut my name on the wall of a church. Several generations of cedars, all growing promiscuously together, compose this beautiful grove. The younger are very nu

merous, the second-rate would form a noble wood of themselves, were even the patriarchal dynasty quite extinct. One of them, by no means the largest, measures nineteen feet and a quarter in circumference; and, in repeated instances, two, three, and four large trunks spring from a single root: but they have all a fresher appearance than the patriarchs, and straighter stems, straight as young palm-trees. Of the giants, there were seven standing very near each other, all on the same hill; three more, a little further on, nearly in a line with them: and in a second walk of discovery, after my companions had laid down to rest, I had the pleasure of detecting two others low down on the northern edge of the grove-twelve, therefore, in all, of which the ninth from the south is the smallest; but even that bears tokens of antiquity coeval with its brethren. I measured several of them: De Lamartine's tree is forty-nine feet in circumference, and the largest of my two, on the northern slope, sixty-three, - following the sinuosities of

the bark.

The stately bearing and graceful repose of the young cedars contrast singularly with the wild aspect and frantic attitude of the old ones, flinging abroad their knotted and muscular limbs like so many Laocoons; while others, broken off, lie rotting at their feet. But life is strong in them all: they look as if they had been struggling for existence with evil spirits, and God had interposed and forbidden the war, that the trees he had planted might remain living witnesses to faithless men of that ancient "glory of Lebanon"-Lebanon, the emblem of the righteous. - which departed from her when Israel rejected Christ: her vines drooping, her trees few, that a child may number them, she stands blighted.

"We had intended proceeding that evening to Psherée; but no,- we could not resolve to leave those glorious trees so soon- the loveliest, the noblest, the holiest, in the whole world. The tent was pitched, and we spent the rest of the day under their "shadowy shroud." Oh! what a church that grove is! Never did I think Solomon's Song so beautiful, and that most noble chapter of Ezekiel, the thirty-first. I had read it on the heights of Syene, Egypt on my right hand, and Ethiopia on my left, with many another denunciation, how awfully fulfilled! of desolation against Pathros, and judgments upon No. But this was the place to enjoy it, lying under one of those vast trees, looking up every now and then into its thick boughs, hearing the little birds warbling, and a perpetual hum of insect life pervading the air with its drowsy me lody. Eden is close by. These are "the trees of Eden," "the choice and best of Lebanon." These are the trees there can

be cone nobler which Solomon spake of, "from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop on the wall," the object of repeated allusion and comparison throughout the Bible, the emblem of the righteous in David's sabbath hymn.

'Our encampment was very picturesque that night, the fire throwing a strong light on the cedar that over canopied us. Those enormous arms, of ghastly whiteness, seemed almost alive, and about to grasp and catch us up into the thick darkness they issued from.'

CEDRON (H. dark, troubled), a winter torrent or brook, which runs through a valley or cleft of the same name; also called from an early period, though not in Scripture, the valley of Jehoshaphat. This water course runs on two sides of Jerusalem, the north and the east; and, on leaving the metropolis, takes a south-eastern direction to the Dead Sea. The bed of this torrent begins near the tombs of the Judges; on the north-eastern side of the city, about half an hour distant from its northern gate. The tract around the spot is very rocky; and the rocks have been much cut away, partly in quarrying building stone, and partly in the formation of sepulchres. The region is full of excavated tombs; which continue with more or less frequency on both sides of the valley, all the way down to Jerusalem. The valley runs for fifteen minutes directly towards the city: it is here shallow and broad, and in some parts tilled, though very stony. The road follows along its bottom to the same point. Then the valley turns nearly east, almost at a right angle, and passes to the northward of the tombs of the kings. Here it is about two hundred rods distant from the city. The tract between it is tolerably level ground, planted with olive-trees. The Nablous road crosses it in this part, and ascends a hill on the north. The valley is still shallow, and runs in the same direction for about ten minutes. It then bends again to the south, and, following the general course, passes between the city and the Mount of Olives. Before reaching the city, and also opposite its northern part, the valley spreads out into a basin of some breadth, which is tilled, and contains plantations of olive and other fruit-trees. In this part it is crossed obliquely by a road leading from the north east corner of Jerusalem, across the northern part of the Mount of Olives to Anata. Its sides are full of excavated tombs. As the valley descends, the steep side upon the right becomes more and more elevated above it, until, at the gate of St. Stephen, the height of this brow is about one hundred feet. Here a path winds down from the gate in a course south-east by east, crossing the valley by a bridge; beyond which, are the church with the tomb of the Virgin, Gethsemane, and other plantations of olive-trees.

The last three numbers give the breadth of the proper bottom of the valley at this spot, namely, 485 feet, or 145 yards. Further north it is somewhat broader.

Below the bridge, the valley contracts gradually, and sinks more rapidly. The first continuous traces of a water course commence at the bridge, though indications of the passage of water occur likewise, at inter, vals, higher up. The western hill becomes steeper and more elevated; while, on the east, the Mount of Olives rises much higher, but is not so steep. At the distance of a thousand feet from the bridge, on a course south, ten degrees west, the bottom of the valley has become merely a deep gully; the narrow bed of a torrent from which the hills rise directly on each side. Here another bridge is thrown across it on an arch, and partly on the left are the alleged tombs of Jehoshaphat, Absalom, and others; also a Jewish cemetery.

mountains. The south-east corner of the area of the mosque overhangs this part; the corner of the wall standing on the very brink of the declivity, at an elevation of a hundred and fifty feet. This is the highest point above the valley; for, further south, the narrow ridge of Ophel slopes down as rapidly as the valley itself.

Below the short turn above mentioned, a line of a thousand and twenty-five feet, on a course south-west, conducts to the Fountain of the Virgin, lying deep under the western hill. The valley has now opened a little; but its bottom is still occupied only by the bed of the torrent. From here a course S. 20° W. carries the visitor along the vil lage of Siloam (Kefr Selwan), on the eastern side; and at one thousand one hundred and seventy feet, he is opposite the mouth of the Tyropoon and the Pool of Siloam, which lies two hundred and fifty-five feet within it. The mouth of this valley is still forty or fifty feet higher than the bed of the Kidron. There is a steep descent between the two, built up in terraces; which, as well as the strip of level ground below, are occupied with gardens belonging to the village of Siloam. These are irrigated by the waters of the Pool of Siloam. In these gardens the stones have been removed, and the soil is a fine mould. They are planted with fig and other fruittrees, and furnish also vegetables for the city. Elsewhere, the bottom of the valley is thickly strewed with small stones.

Further down, the valley opens more, and is tilled. A line of six hundred and eightyfive feet on the same course (S. 200 W.) leads to a rocky point of the eastern hill, here called the Mount of Offence, over against the entrance of the Valley of Hinnom. Thence, to the well of Job or Nehemiah, is two hundred and seventy-five feet due south. At the junction of the two valleys, the bottom forms an oblong plat, extending from the gardens above mentioned nearly to the well of Nehemiah, being a hundred and fifty yards or more in breadth. The western and north-western parts of this plat are in like manner occupied with gardens, many of which are on terraces, and receive a portion of the waters of Siloam.

Below the well of Nehemiah, the valley continues to run south-west, between the Mount of Offence on the east, and the Hill of Evil Counsel on the west. At a hundred and thirty feet is a small cavity or outlet, by which the water of the well sometimes runs off. At about one thousand two hundred feet, or four hundred yards from the well, is a place under the western hill, where, in the rainy season, water flows out as from a fountain. At about one thousand five hundred feet below the well, the valley bends off, S. 750 E. for half a mile or more, and then turns again more to the south, pursuing its

way to the Dead Sea. At the angle where it thus bends eastward, a small Wady comes in from the west, from behind the Hill of Evil Counsel. The width of the main valley below the well, as far as to the turn, varies from fifty to a hundred yards: it is full of olive and fig-trees, and is in most parts ploughed and sown with grain. Further down, it takes among the Arabs the name of Wady er-Rahib, Monk's Valley,' from the convent Saba, situated on it, and still nearer to the Dead Sea: it is called Wady en-Nar, 'Fire Valley.'

The channel of the brook Kidron is the bed of a winter torrent, expressly so denominated by Josephus (Antiq. viii. 1. 5; also a gulley, Antiq. ix. 7, 3; also the Seventy), bearing marks of being occasionally swept over by a large volume of water.

When the water descends from the neighbouring hills, the stream is considerable anl rapid; but, even in winter, there is no constant flow. Nor is there any evidence taut there was anciently more water in it than at present. Like the Wadys of the desert, the vale of Kidron probably served of old, as now, to drain off the waters in the rainy

season.

This vale also, according to Rabbinical authority, served to carry off the blood of the victims slaughtered in sacrifice, and other impurities, by a sewer whose products were employed as manure for gardens. The brook and the vale in which it lay, are mentioned in the history of David: 'The king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness' (2 Sam. xv. 23. Comp. 1 Kings xv. 13. 2 Kings xxiii. 4, 6, 12. Neh. ii. 15). A passage found in Job (vi. 15, 16) throws light on the character and the import of the name of this brook. Over this vale our Lord retired with his disciples, and entered the Garden of Gethsemane, leaving the city by St. Stephen's Gate. Whether or not a bridge then existed as now, we know not, but we see that Jesus might have passed without such an aid. His finding a garden beyond the brook is agreeable to the present condition of the valley. This garden was a favourite resort of our Lord. On the eastern side of the city, then, we should naturally infer he was ordinarily found; and on the eastern side of the city, accordingly, the temple stood. There is a difference in the spelling of the name. In the passages given above from the Old Testament, it is spelt Kidron; in John, it is Cedron. The apostle followed the usage of both the Septuagint and of Josephus. We prefer the spelling Kidron, because, while it is found in the passages of the Old Testament, and thus has a plurality of votes, it points out to the English reader the proper pronunciation of the word, which Cedron' leaves in doubt.

CEILING, an Indo-Germanic word, denoting what is hollow or vaulted, like the concavity of heaven. It has two Hebrew representatives:-I. Ghaphah, the primary meaning of which is to cover (2 Sam. xv. 30), or overlay (2 Chron. iii. 5, 7, 8); and, hence, as a noun, a covered place or chamber (Ps. xix. 5). In 2 Chron. iii. 5, the same word in the former part of the verse is translated ceiled,' which is immediately after rendered 'overlaid.' In this the only instance in which the term is translated 'ceiled,' 'roofed' would probably have been better. The house was covered with cypress rafters, in a roof open within; and these rafters were covered with gold.

II. The proper word to denote ceiling or a vaulted covering to a house or temple is Saphan, from a root which signifies to construct or frame, as in a dome or vaulted roof. Hence the substantive came to signify 'ceiling (1 Kings vi. 15): a word from the same root, and of similar form, signifies a 'ship' (Jonah i. 5), which is in shape an inverted dome. In the English Bible, the word Saphan is several times rendered 'covered,' where vaulted' would have been preferable (1 Kings vii. 3. Jer. xxii. 14).

Houses having roofs of this construction would be very costly. Hence they became a token of wealth and luxury; and we may discern the force of the prophet's reproach to the Jews, who, having returned from exile, delayed the building of the temple, while they themselves inhabited splendid residences:This people say, The time is not come, the time that Jehovah's house should be built. Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house waste?' (Hag. i. 2, 4.)

CEILINGS PAINTED.

Vaulted ceilings and domes are still common in many parts of the East. Jerusalem itself is covered with them. It was, however, the interior of the vaulted or domed hall that received special attention. So with

the ancient Egyptians, who employed for decorations, not only the art of carving, but also that of painting. Of their skill in the latter, evidences are here presented.

The effect of the Egyptian ceilings can now be only imperfectly felt, since there are none but those in the tombs that have been tolerably well preserved. The ceilings were laid out in compartments, each having a pattern with an appropriate border, in many instances reminding the spectator of Greek taste. Some of these patterns can be traced back to the early date of 1600 before our era. Similar designs were adopted by the Romans, some of which, having been found in the baths of Titus, gave Raphael the idea of his celebrated Arabesques. The paintings of Pompeii make us acquainted with a still greater variety. The ceilings of Turkish palaces, executed by Greek artists, are frequently very handsome, displaying great elegance and taste. That the Jews united painting with architecture in adorning their ceilings, is evident from Jer. xxii. 14,-A wide house, ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.'

CENSER (L. to burn), an instrument for burning incense. The Hebrew term by which 'censer,' in all but one place (2 Chron. xxx. 14, where the original word strictly means an incense-bearer), is rendered, is Maghtah, from a root meaning to take: hence, I. to receive as a censer; and, II. to take hold of as tongs. In agreement with this, we find the word translated by snuff-dishes' (Exod. XXV. 38); fire-pans' (Exod. xxvii. 3); more frequently by censer' (Lev. x. 1; xvi. 12. Numb. iv. 14; xvi. 6). The use of the censer is described in the command given by Moses to Aaron, on occasion of the insurrectionary movement of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement' (Numb. xvi. 46; comp. Lev. xvi. 12). The necessity for articles such as have now been mentioned, arose from the daily practice of offering burnt incense before Jehovah' (5). As many as two hundred and fifty censers were set on fire by the princes of the assembly' engaged in the afore-named rising. Aaron also kindled his censer. Fire being put into them, and incense laid thereon, they were placed before Jehovah, when his glory appeared in sight of the whole congregation of Israelites assembled to behold the result, declaring, in some mysterious but distinctly recognised manner, the divine displeasure against the rebels, who were afterwards consumed by a fire from Jehovah (Numb. xvi. 5-7, 122, 35, 42).

It is probable that this is the instrument which the writer to the Hebrews intended, when, in enumerating the things that were in the tabernacle of the first covenant, he men