History of Phoenicia | Page 8

through the plain of Esdraelon to Tabor and the Sea of Galilee.[28]
Like most limestone formations, Carmel abounds in caves, which are
said to be more than 2,000 in number,[29] and are often of great length
and extremely tortuous.
Carmel, the great southern headland of Phœnicia, is balanced in a
certain sense by the extreme northern headland of Casius. Mount
Casius is, strictly speaking, the termination of a spur from Bargylus;
but it has so marked and peculiar a character that it seems entitled to
separate description. Rising up abruptly from the Mediterranean to the
height of 5,318 feet, it dominates the entire region in its vicinity, and
from the sea forms a landmark that is extraordinarily conspicuous.
Forests of fine trees clothe its flanks, but the lofty summit towers high
above them, a bare mass of rock, known at the present day as
Jebel-el-Akra, or "the Bald Mountain." It is formed mainly of the same

cretaceous limestone as the other mountains of these parts, and like
them has a rounded summit; but rocks of igneous origin enter into its
geological structure; and in its vegetation it more resembles the
mountain ranges of Taurus and Amanus than those of southern Syria
and Palestine. On its north-eastern prolongation, which is washed by
the Orontes, lay the enchanting pleasure-ground of Daphné, bubbling
with fountains, and bright with flowering shrubs, where from a remote
antiquity the Syrians held frequent festival to their favourite deity --the
"Dea Syra"--the great nature goddess.
The elevated tract known to the ancients as Bargylus, and to modern
geographers as the Ansayrieh or Nasariyeh mountain-region, runs at
right angles to the spur terminating in the Mount Casius, and extends
from the Orontes near Antioch to the valley of the Eleutherus. This is a
distance of not less than a hundred miles. The range forms the western
boundary of the lower Cœlesyrian valley, which abuts upon it towards
the east, while westward it looks down upon the region, partly hill,
partly lowland, which may be regarded as constituting "Northern
Phoenicia." The axis of the range is almost due north and south, but
with a slight deflection towards the south-east. Bargylus is not a chain
comparable to Lebanon, but still it is a romantic and picturesque region.
The lower spurs towards the west are clothed with olive grounds and
vineyards, or covered with myrtles and rhododendrons; between them
are broad open valleys, productive of tobacco and corn. Higher up "the
scenery becomes wild and bold; hill rises to mountain; soft springing
green corn gives place to sterner crag, smooth plain to precipitous
heights;"[30] and if in the more elevated region the majesty of the cedar
is wanting, yet forests of fir and pine abound, and creep up the
mountain-side, in places almost to the summit, while here and there
bare masses of rock protrude themselves, and crag and cliff rise into the
clouds that hang about the highest summits. Water abounds throughout
the region, which is the parent of numerous streams, as the northern
Nahr-el-Kebir, which flows into the sea by Latakia, the Nahr-el-Melk,
the Nahr Amrith, the Nahr Kublé, the Nahr-el-Abrath, and many others.
From the conformation of the land they have of necessity short courses;
but each and all of them spread along their banks a rich verdure and an
uncommon fertility.

But the /great/ range of Phœnicia, its glory and its boast is Lebanon.
Lebanon, the "White Mountain"[31]--"the Mont Blanc of
Palestine"[32]-- now known as "the Old White-headed Man"
(Jebel-esh-Sheikh), or "the Mountain of Ice" (Jebel-el-Tilj), was to
Phœnicia at once its protection, the source of its greatness, and its
crowning beauty. Extended in a continuous line for a distance of above
a hundred miles, with an average elevation of from 6,000 to 8,000 feet,
and steepest on its eastern side, it formed a wall against which the
waves of eastern invasion naturally broke--a bulwark which seemed to
say to them, "Thus far shall ye go, and no further." The flood of
conquest swept along its eastern flank, down the broad vale of the
Buka'a, and then over the hills of Galilee; but its frowning precipices
and its lofty crest deterred or baffled the invader, and the smiling region
between its summit and the Mediterranean was, in the early times at
any rate, but rarely traversed by a hostile army. This western region it
was which held those inexhaustible stores of forest trees that supplied
Phœnicia with her war ships and her immense commercial navy; here
were the most productive valleys, the vineyards, and the olive grounds,
and here too were the streams and rills, the dashing cascades, the lovely
dells, and the deep gorges which gave her the palm over all the
surrounding countries for variety of picturesque scenery.
The geology of the Lebanon is exceedingly complicated. "While the