Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/131

 t. Benedict's Abbey, Atchison, lounded

T fifty

e Benedictine Fathers conduct St. Benedict' College, a boarding school with 300 pupils. St. Mary's College, a boarding school with 450 pupils, conducted b^ the Jesuit Fathers, ig the development of the Mia- Bion School which the Jesuits established among the Pottawatomie Indiana in 1841. There are churches for the Crofltians, Slovaks, Slovenians, Poles, Bo- hemians, and Germans, as well as for the English- speaking congregations. The majority aS the Cath' olics in the diocese are Irish and Germans who came to America over fifty years ago, and tlicir descendants. A goodly proportion of the cler^ ordained durmg the paflt twenty-five years are natives of the state Sev eraJ of the clergy are still active, after more than a quarter of a century of pastoral duties. TheRt Rev Mgr Ant. Kuhls, ordained in 1863, retired to St Mar^ garet's Hospital after forty-five years of EealouB work (See Duchesne, pHiijpws-E-RoaE; KANaAS )

DCFOtiHl. Onginal Dinriii and LMrrt aJJauit MunoiHina, Catholic DircctoTv. I36I-I9W: CtAilRi, Liwi of Oir Drccattd BUIiopi of tht "-■'-'- "■- - I - -•-- >■--■--■ -. -" ..

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mon, 9300. Deposits due to glacier formations m^ be observed at the top, but no one has as yet reached the actual snow line. Between Lebanon and Antt- libaous extends the table-land of Be<)^'a, 5 to 9 miles broad.about 70 miles long, never rising to any height, considered by many the true Ccelesycia. The plain of Lebanon (D. V. Libanus) mentioned in Joe., zi, 17, and xii, 7, is probably MerJ 'Aiyun. The southern ana central parts are very fertile to-day. Near Ba'albek is the watershed (about 3800 f^t) between south and north, between the Nahr el-'Aei (Orontes) and the Nahr el-Lltlni (not the Leontes), which latter aa

York. 1888). All mo.: HEUsa. Biol. Curt, i,f Iht arrhu in U. S. (^liTwBukee, ISBS); Watim H. Louis, MiBBOuri). files. J A °

Shorter

possibly, Ramanu; Gr. Jil^rat), modern Jehel _ ndn, or "White Mountain" (Semitic root laban) so called from the snow which covers the highest peaks during almost the entire year, or from the Imiestone which glistens white in the distance. The centre of the great mountain range of Central Svna which stretches from N.N.E. to S.S.W. almost parallel v- th tiie sea for about 95 miles from 33° 20' to 34 40 is separated in the south by the Q&simiye from the Gah lean hill-country; in the north, by the Nahr el Keblr from Jcbel el-Ansarieh. It consists of two parallel mountain chains of the same formation; the western, or Lebanon proper, called Jebei el-gharbi; the east- ern, known as Jebel e!-sharqi (the Antilibanus of the Greeks). The primeval mass was cleft asunder to- wards the end of the Tertiary formation (Pliocene), forming the northern part of the Jordan fissure, which extends southward to the Red Sea.

Geologically there are four strata, which are easily distinguishable in the deeply rent ravines. The first stratum, consisting of a laj'cr of limestone (Araya limestone), about 980 feet m thicltneas, is sparingly strewn with fossils {cidaris glanduTta, corals and sponges), and belongs to the Cenoman, earliest of the Upper Jura. Above it lies a richly fossilized com- posite (Cephalopoda) of sandstone, from 650 to 1630 feet in thickness, and clay marl, divided by layers of chalky deposit (Trigonia or Nubian sandstone) from the Cenoman. Basaltic masses of lava appear in the sandstone. Peat, iron ore, and traces of copper are also found, and fossilized resin in the coal schiste. The third layer of Lebanon limestone (about 3580 feet thick) is characterized at the base by abundant ovster beds or by hippurite limestone (Cenonian- TSiron). One peeuliarity is the slate of Ilakcl, con- taining fossil fishes, found also in the marly limestone of SShil 'Alma. In Antililianus (the BeqS'a), and on the outer edges of Lebanon, a fourth stratum of Sen- onian (not over 330 feet in thickness) appears in flinty chalk and limestone.

The highest peaks of these mountuns are in the Wesl<?m chain. They rise in the Art Libndn to a height of more than 9800 feet, as Dahr el-Qodlb; Jcbel Makmal; Dahr cl-Duhab (Qarn Sauda), about 10,000 feet. Exact measurementa are wanting. To- wards the south the ele\-af ion is not so great: Jcbcl-e! Huneitira. 0130: Jebel Sannin, 8500 feet. In Anti- libanus the Tala' at MOsa is 8710 feet in height; Her-

Nahr el-QAsimiye empties into the sea a httle to the north of Tyre. The western slope of Lebanon has many springs and rivers which pierce the limestone after a partly subterranean course, e. K- the Nahr el- Kelb. From south to north we come m succession to the Nahr el-Zaherfini; Nahr e!-'Awali; Nahr Dflmttr (Tamyras); Nahr Beirut (Magoras); Nalir el-Kelb (Lykus), at the mouth of which Egyptian, As^rian, Greek, and Latin inscriptions are found; Nahr Ibrlt- hlm (Adonis), at whose source was AfjEa(Apheka), the celebrated temple of Venus n-ith iia lewd and bloody cult, destroyed by Constantine; finally the Nahr el-Joz, and Nahr Qadisha. The eastern slope and the AntiUbanus are less favoured. In the north and east of Antilibanus there is great scarcity of water. Towards the south there arc a few tributaries of the lit^ni, chiefly the celebrated BaradA, the river of Damascus (with 'Ain Hje), the Abana of Holy Writ (IV Kings, V, 12). Hermon feeds the three sources of the Jord^.

The Wcinity of the sea causes proportionate damp- ' ness and warmth on the western side. The mountaios are frequented aa summer resorts on account of their agreeable climate. In the Beqd'a the winter is apt to be sharp. During severe winters the snow descends to the most outlying spurs of the Lebanon. Along the coast, frost is unusual. In October the rainy season ushers itself in with sudden and violent showers. From December until February there are, on an aver- age, twelve rainy days. In May rain is infrequent. The effects of the rainstorms, which are frequently of tropical violence and accompanied by thunder and lightning, are seen in the excetu^ive erosion of the viJ- leys. "The natural bridges are also the result of ero- sion, for instance those of 'Aqflra and Jisr el-^ajar (with a span of about 130 feet; more than 65 over the Neba' el-Leben).