11
Original Articles.
In the Autumn of 1860, Captain Washington, Hydrographer of the Navy, asked me to accompany him to Syria, where he proposed, amongst many other important scientific agenda, that we should examine the Cedar Grove on Lebanon, of whose history, position and age, nothing was accurately known. It had occurred to him, that although our visit must be far too brief to investigate any part thoroughly, or even to review all the points worth noting, yet that an examination of the trees on the spot might suggest to us the kinds of observations best worth making by future travellers, and would enable him to judge whether an accurate topographical plan of the valley in which the trees grow, were desirable. He further offered to have this executed, if necessary, by the officers of H.M.S. "Firefly," then surveying the Syrian coast, under the command of Captain Mansell, an officer who unites to the highest professional attainments, a thorough appreciation of the interests of science.
We arrived at Beyrout on the 25th September, and, thanks to Captain Mansell's arrangements, we were equipped and off on the following day, accompanied by himself, on a fortnight's journey, taking the Cedars in our way to the summit of Lebanon[1] (whose height had never been ascertained). On the 29th we reached the Kedisha valley, and camped in the evening at its head, under the Cedars, at an elevation of 6,172 feet.[2] We remained two nights there, and from it we twice ascended the Lebanon, which gave us excellent opportunities of studying the relative position of the grove to the surrounding country, from various heights and positions on the flanks of the enclosing valley. Furthermore, two of our party, the Rev. G. Washington and Mr. Hanbury, devoted a day to counting and measuring the trees, and to making a rough ground plan of their positions, which has proved of great use. Captain Mansell also procured a capital section of the lower limb of one of the oldest trees (which lay dead on the ground), and which is very
- ↑ By our observations, calculated from an assumed height of the barometer of 30 inches at the level of the sea, it is about 10,200 feet; according to those quoted by Van de Velde, it has been supposed to be as low as 9621, and as high as 10,051.
- ↑ By four sets of morning and evening observations, with four barometers, and two boiling-point thermometers. Assuming the height of the barometer at the level of the Mediterranean to have been 30 inches, the height of the chapel in the grove is, by Captain Washington's barometer, 6,210 feet; by my own, 6,165; by two siphons, 6,176; and by boiling-points, 6,138. According to Van de Velde, it is 6,315. The elevation of the summit and of the Cedars will be re-calculated when the necessary data for the lower level have been received.
