minating point of Anti-Lebanon is Herjiox. Erom it a number of ranges radiate, like the ribs of a half-open fan. The rirst and loftiest runs north-east, parallel to Lebanon, and separated from it by the valley of Ccele- Syria, whose average breadth is about six miles. This ridge is the backbone of Anti-Lebanon. Where it joins Hermon it is broad, irregular, intersected by numerous valleys and little fertile plains, and covered with thin forests of dwarf oak Its elevation is not more than 4500 feet. Advancing northwards, its features become wilder and grander, oak-trees give place to juniper, and tlie elevation increases until, above the beautiful plain of Zebedany — which lies embosomed in its very centre —it attains a height of about 7000 feet (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 175). Erom this point to the parallel of Ba'albek tliere is little change in the elevation or scen- ery. Beyond the latter it begins to fall, and declines gradually until at length it sinks down into the great plain of llamath, eight miles east of Klblah, and sixteen south of Emesa. With the exception of the Uttle up- land jilains, and a few of the deeper valleys, this ridge is incajjable of cultivation. The sides are steep and rugged, in many places sheer precipices of naked, jagged rock, nearly 1000 feet high. They are not so bare or bleak, however, as the higher summits of Lebanon. Veg- etation is abundant among the rocks; and though the inhabitants are few and far between, immense flocks of sheep and goats arc pastured upon the mountains, and wild beasts— bears, boars, wolves, jackals, hya-nas, foxes —are far more abundant tlian in any other "part of Syria or Palestine (Porter, Damascus, ii, 315).
The lowest and last of the ridges that radiate from Hermon rinis nearly due east along the magnificent plain of Damascus, and continues onward to Palmvra. Its average elevation is not more than 3000 feet, and it does not rise more than about 7()0 feet above the plain, though some of its peaks are much higher. Its rock is chalky, almost jnire white, and entirely naked— not a tree, or slirul). or patch of verdure is anywhere seon upon it. It thus forms a remarkable contrast to the rich green of the ])lain of Damascus. Erom tlie central range to this ridge there is a descent, by a series of l)road.bare terraces or plateaus, supported by long, con- tinuoua walls of bare, whitish limestone, varving from
100 to 1000 feet in height. Nothing could be more dreary and desolate than the scenery on these stejtpes. The graveUy soil, in many places tliickly strewn with flints, is as bare as the clift's that bound them. Yet they are intersected by several rich and beautiful glens, so deep, however, that their verdure and foliage can not be seen from a distance. Towards the east these steppes gradually expand into broad upland plains, and portions of tliem are irrigated and tilled. (Jn them stand the small but ancient towns of Yabrud, Nebk, Jerud, etc., around which madder is successfully cultivated.
(2.) Ricers. — Anti-Lebanon is the source of the four great rivers of Syria : 1. The Orontes (q. v.), springing irom the western base of the main ridge, beside the ruins of Lybo, flows away northward through a broad, rich vale, laving in its course the walls of Emesa, Hamath, Apamea, and Antioch. 2. The Jordan (q. v.), Palestine's sacred river, bursting from the side of Hermon, rolls down its deep, mysterious valley into the Sea of Death. 3. The Abana, the " golden-flowing" stream of Damas- cus {ChrijsorrliQas, Pliny, v, IG ; also called Dardines, Steph. Byz. ; see Abaxa), rises on the western side of the main ridge, cuts through it and the others, and falls into the lake east of the city. 3. The Leontes (q. v.), Phoenicia's nameless stream, has its two principal foun- tains at the western base of Anti-Lebanon, beside Chal- cis and Ba'albek (Porter, Damascus, i, 11 ; Robinson, iii, 498, 506). The oidy other streams of Anti-Lebanon are (4) the Pharpar, now called el-'Awaj, rising on the east- ern flank of Hermon (see Pharpar), and (5) the torrent wliicii flows down the fertile glen of Helbon (q. v.) into the plain of Damascus.
3. These parallel ranges enclose between them a fer- tile and well- watered vallej-, averaging about rifteen miles in width, which is the Ccele-Syria (Hollow Syria) of the ancients, but is called by the present inhabitants, by w-ay of pre-eminence, el-Bekaa, or "the Valley." This is traversed through the greater portion of its length by the river Litany, the ancient Leontes. It is the " vaUey of Lebanon" ('(i^sri r^'pS) mentioned in Josh, xi, 17 ; xii, 7, and later '• the plain of Aveii" Ci'lNTS'pa) alluded to by Amos (i, 5), where also Sol- omon constructed one of his palaces (1 Kings vij, 2; ix, 0; X, 17; Cant, vii, 4). See Ccele-Syria.
III. Natural Science. — 1. Tlie geolofjtj of Lebanon has never been thoroughly investigated. Dr. Anderson, who accompanied the United States expedition under lieu- tenant Lynch, is the only man who has attempted any- thing like a scientitic examination of the mountains. We are much indebted to his lieconnaissance, embodied in Lynch's Official lieporf. The German traveller lius- segger also supplies some facts in his lieiscn (vol. iii). Tristram, in his Land of Israel (s. f.) has considerably enlarged our knowledge of the geologj' as well as natu- ral history of Lebanon.