Nahr el-Kelb t far north from Beirut; the Adonis,
now the Nahr Ibrahim, about five miles south of Gebal; and the Eleutherus, now the Nahr el-Keblr, in the bend between Tripolis and Antaradus.
The climate of Phoenicia an item of immense mo- ment in the history of a nation varies very consider- ably. Near the coast, and in the lower plains, the heat in summer is at times tropical, while the more m i-
tainous regions enjoy a moderate temperature, and in winter even heavy tails of snow are not uncommon. In
the southern parts the early rains begin in « ictoher. and
are, after an interval of dry weather, followed by the
winter rains, which last till March, the time of the
'.'latter" rains, from May till October the skj remains cloudless. The rare difference ot temperature found in
so small a compass is thus happily described by Vblnej :
•• If the heal o! July [a oppressive, a six hours' journey
to the neighboring mountains transports you into the coolness of March ; and if, on the contrary, the hoar-frost troubles you at Besharrai, a day's travel will bring you into the midst of blooming May;" or. as an Arabic poet, has it. •■ Lebanon hears winter on its head, spring on its shoulders, autumn on its lap. and summer at its foot," The dense population assembled in the great mercantile towns greatly contributed to augment by artificial means the natural fertility of the soil. The population ol the country is at present very much reduced, hut there are still found aqueducts and artificial vineyards formed of mould carried up to the terraces of the native rock. Ammianus Marcellinus says (xiv, 8), "Phoenicia is a charming ami beautiful country, adorned with large and elegant cities." Even now this country is among the most fertile in Western Asia. It produces wheat) rye. and barley, and, besides the more ordinary fruits, also apricots, peaches, pomegranates, almonds, citrons, oranges, figs, dates, sugar-cane, and grapes, which furnish an excellent wine. In addition to these prod- ucts, it yields cotton, silk, and tobacco. The country is also adorned by the variegated flowers of oleander and cactus. The higher regions are distinguished from the bare mountains of Palestine by being covered with oaks, pines, cypress-trees, acacias, and tamarisks ; and above all by majestic cedars, of which there are still a few very old trees, whose stems measure from thirty to forty feet in circumference. The inhabitants ofSur still carry on a profitable traffic with the produce of Mount Lebanon, namely, in wood and charcoal. Phoenicia pro- duces also flocks of sheep and goats; and innumerable swarms of bees supply excellent honey. In the forests there arc hears, woh l S, panthers, and jackals. The sea furnishes great quantities offish, bo that Sidon, the most ancient anion-- the Phoenician towns, derived its name from fishing.
II. Tfu People. 1. Respecting the ethnography of the Phoenicians, we have only to observe that the opin- ions are as much divided on the subject as ever. Ac- cording to Gen. x, 15, Canaan had eleven -sons'' ("Ca- naan begat Sidon his first-born, and Qeth, and the Jebu- site, and the Amorite,and the Girgasite, and the Unite. and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite. and the Hamathite; and afterwards were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad"), six of whom had settled in the north of rale-tine: and al- though all his descendants are sometimes included, both by classical writers and the Sept. (e. g. in Josh. v. 1, 12), in the name of 4>ot'vtKf c, yet in general the term chiefly applies to i he inhabitants of the north. Scripture speaks of them as descendants of primeval giants i Autochthons) who had inhabited Canaan since the flood that is, from times immemorial. Considering the careful attention paid by the Biblical writers to the early history ol Pal- estine, and the close contact between the Phoenicians and lsraehtcs.it would appear as it all traditions of a nine anterior to their sojourn in that land had been long lost Gen. x. 6, on the other hand, calls Canaan a de- scendant oi Ham a statement which, unless explained to icier to their darker skins, would seem to war against their being indigenous inhabitants of Palestine, or a Shemitic population, an assumption much favored by their language. Herodotus, however, makes them, both
On their own statements and hy accounts preserved in
Persian historians, immigrants from "the Erythraean Sea;" and Justin hacks the notion of immigration by recording that the Tyrian nation was founded by the Phoenicians, and that these, being force. 1 by an earth- quake to leave their native land, first s, tiled on the Assyrian lake (Dead Sea or lake of ( icnnesarci h i. and
subsequently on a shore near the sea, where they found- ed a city called Sidon. The locality of the " Erj thraaan
Sea." however, is a moot point still. It is taken hy dif- ferent investigators to stand either lor the Arabian or Persian Gulf; the latter view being apparently favored l>v the occurrence of Phoenician names home bj Bome
of Us islands i Straho)— though these may have been
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