“It means the fragrant resin which exudes from both the trunk and the cones of the beautiful cedar.  It is soft, and its fragrance is like that of the balsam of Mecca.  ’Everything about this tree has a strong balsamic odor, and hence the whole grove is so pleasant and fragrant that it is delightful to walk in it.  The wood is peculiarly adapted for building, because it is not subject to decay, nor is it eaten of worms.  It was much used for rafters and for boards with which to cover houses and form the floors and ceilings of rooms.  It was of a red color, beautiful, solid and free from knots.  The palace of Persepolis, the temple of Jerusalem and Solomon’s palace were all in this way built with cedar, and the house of the forest of Lebanon was perhaps so called from the quantity of this wood used in its construction.’  We are told in First Kings that Solomon ’built also the house of the forest of Lebanon[24],’ and that ‘he made three hundred shields of beaten gold’ and ‘put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon[25].’  All the drinking-vessels, too, of this wonderful palace, which is always spoken of as ‘the house of the forest of Lebanon,’ were of pure gold, and its magnificence shows how highly the beautiful cedar-wood was valued.”

[24] I Kings vii. 2.

[25] I Kings x. 17.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE PALMS.

“There is a wonderful evergreen,” said Miss Harson, “which grows in tropical countries, and also in some sub-tropical countries, such as the Holy Land, and is said to have nearly as many uses as there are days in a year.  You must tell me what it is when you have seen the picture.”

[Illustration:  PALM TREE.]

Malcolm and Clara both pronounced it a palm tree, and Clara asked if there were any such trees growing in this country.

“Some of its relations are found on our Southern seacoast,” replied their governess; “South Carolina, you know, is called ’the Palmetto State.’  There is a member of the family called the cabbage-palmetto, the unexpanded leaves of which are used as a table vegetable, which you may see in Florida.  Its young leaves are all in a mass at the top, and when boiled make a dish something like cabbage.  The leaves of the palmetto are also used, when perfect, in the manufacture of hats, baskets and mats, and for many other purposes.  But its stately and majestic cousin, the date-palm of the East, with its tall, slender stalk and magnificent crown of feathery leaves, has had its praises sung in every age and clime.  ’Besides its great importance as a fruit-producer, it has a special beauty of its own when the clusters of dates are hanging in golden ripeness under its coronal of dark-green leaves.  Its well-known fruit affords sustenance to the dwellers on the borders of the great African desert; it is as necessary to them as is the camel, and in many cases they may be said to owe their existence