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No. 238
in the Register of the Grand Lodge of
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No. 238
in the Register of the Grand Lodge of
CLICK on Lodge Badge to RETURN to Front Page |
|
Cedars of Lebanon in January 1919, on Mount Lebanon: Here are two
scans
of b/w photos. The photographer was apparently a Trooper H G
Miell
of the Australian 9th Light Horse Regiment. These photographs were
found
in the year 2000 in a paperback book (seemingly employed as as
bookmarks)
on the streetstall of a second hand book dealer. Trooper Miell
became
a Freemason in South Australia in the 1920's and his last record at the
Grand Lodge is in the mid 1950's. Snow can be seen on the ground, and
perhaps
some idea of the height of the trees might be gained from examination
of
the small foreground figures in one of the photos. This grove of cedars
still exists on the slopes of Mount Lebanon and was said in 1919 to be
the last remaining such grove.
The origin of the name Cedar is somewhat doubtful; it is probably a Semitic word allied to the Arabic "kedre," meaning "power." The most striking characters of the Lebanon Cedar are the numerous large and wide-spreading horizontal branches and the broad and flattened summit of the full-grown tree.
The mountain is covered with snow
during
a great part of the year. About 400 of these majestic trees still
stand at the foot of Jebel Makmal (123 km from Beirut), at an altitude
of about 6300 ft. The age of these Cedar trees ranges between 200 and
1500
years. The largest is about 82 feet in height and 40 ft. in
circumference.
The Cedar tree has become the national symbol of Lebanon and is
represented
in the centre of the country's flag.
Further reading:
Darley, T. H. (Thomas Henry) . With the Ninth Light Horse in the Great War. (Adelaide : Hassell Press, 1924) On-line
history of Ninth Light Horse
Cedars of
Lebanon:
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