Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/412

 394 LEBANON much more extensive application. At present its full name is Buka a el- Aziz (the dear Buka a), and its northern portion is known as Sahlet Ba albek (the plain of Baalbec). The valley is from 4 to 6 miles broad, with an undulating surface. It is said to contain one hundred and thirty-seven hamlets or settlements, the larger of which skirt the hills, while the smaller, consisting of mud hovels, stand upon dwarf mounds, the debris of ages. The whole valley could be much more richly cultivated than it is at present ; but fever is frequent. The Antilibanus chain has in many respects been much less fully explored than that of Lebanon. Apart from its southern offshoots it is 67 miles long, while its width varies from 16 to 13^ miles. It rises from the plain of Hasya-Homs, and in its northern portion is very arid and barren. The range has not so many offshoots as occur on the west side of Lebanon ; under its precipitous slopes stretch table-lands and broad plateaus, which, especially on the east side looking towards the steppe, steadily increase in width. Along the western side of northern Antilibanus stretches the Khashd a, a rough red region lined with juniper trees, a succession of the hardest limestone crests and ridges, bristling with bare rock and crag that shelter tufts of vegetation, and are divided by a succession of grassy ravines. On the eastern side the parallel valley of Asal el- Ward deserves special mention ; the descent towards the plain eastwards, as seen for example at Ma liila, is singular, first a spacious amphitheatre and then two deep very narrow gorges. The perennial streams that take their rise in Antilibanus are not numerous ; one of the finest and best watered valleys is that of Helbiin, the ancient Chalybon, the Helbon of Ezek. xxvii. 18. The highest points of the range, reckoning from the north, are Hallmat el-Kabu (8257 feet), which has a splendid view; the Fatly block, including Tal at Musa (8721 feet) and the adjoining Jebel Nebi Baruh (7900 feet) ; and a third group near Bludan, in which the most prominent names are Shakif, Akhyar, and Abu 1-Hin (8330 feet). Of the valleys descending westward the first to claim mention is the Wady Yafufa ; a little further to the south, lying north and south, is the rich upland valley of Zebedani, where the Baradd has its highest sources. Pursuing an easterly course of several hours, this stream receives the waters of the romantic Am Ffje (which doubles its volume), and bursts out by a rocky gateway upon the plain of Damascus, in the irrigation of which it is the chief agent. It is the Amana of 2 Kings v. 12 ; the portion of Antilibanus traversed by it was also called by the same name (Cant. iv. 8). The French post road after leaving the Buka a first enters a little valley running north and south, where a projecting ridge of Antilibanus bears the ruins of the ancient cities Chalcis and Gerrha. It next traverses the gorge of Wady el-Harir, the level upland Sahlet Judeideh, the ravine of Wady el-Karn, the ridge of Akabat et-Tin, the descent Daurat el-Bilkin, and finally the unpeopled plain of Dimas, from which it enters the valley of Barada, This route marks the southern boundary of Antilibanus proper, where the Herrnon group begins (vol. xi. p. 751). From the point where this continuation of Antilibanus begins to take a more westerly direction, a low ridge shoots out towards the south-west, trending further and further away from the eastern chain and narrowing the Buka a ; upon the eastern side of this ridge lies the elevated valley or hilly stretch known as Wady et-Teim. In the north, beside Ain Faluj, it is connected by a low watershed with the Buka a ; from the gorge of the Litany it is separated by the ridge of Jebel ed-Dahr. At its southern end it contracts and merges into the plain of Banias, thus enclosing Mount Hermon on its north-west and west sides ; eastward from the Hasbany branch of the Jordan lies the meadow-land Merj lyiin, the ancient Ijon (1 Kings xv. 20). Political Divisions and Population. The inhabitants of Lebanon have at no time played a conspicuous part in history. There are remains of prehistoric occupation, but we do not even know what races dwelt there in the historical period of antiquity. Probably they belonged partly to Canaanite, but chiefly to the Aramaean group of nationalities ; the Bible mentions Hivites (Judg. iii. 3) and Giblites (Josh. xiii. 5). A portion of the western coast land was always, it may be assumed, in the hands of the Phoenician states, and it is possible that once and again their sovereignty may have extended even into the Buka a. Lebanon was also included within the ideal boundaries of the laud of Israel, and the whole region was well known to the Hebrews, by whose poets its many excellences are often praised. In the Roman period the district of Phoenice ex tended into Lebanon ; in the 2d century it, along with the inland districts pertaining to it, constituted a subdivision of the province of Syria, having Einesa (Horns) for its capital ; from the time of Diocletian there was a Phoenice ad Libanum, with Emesa as capital, as well as a Phoenice Maritima of which Tyre was the chief city. Remains of the Roman period occur throughout Lebanon, and more especially in Hermon, in the shape of small temples in more or less perfect preservation; for the more splendid ruins of Baalbec see that article (vol. iii. p. 176). Although Christianity early obtained a foot ing iii Lebanon, the pagan worship, and even human sacrifice, nevertheless survived for a long time, especially in remote valleys such as Afka. The present inhabitants are for the most part of Syrian (Aramaean) descent ; Islam and the Arabs have at no time penetrated very deep into the mountain land. At present the eastern range belongs to the vilayet of Damascus (Soria), of which Damascus itself constitutes the first subdivision (mutasarriflik) ; the subordinate divisions (kazas) of the government are Damascus, Baalbec, Hasbaya, Rashaya, and Buka a Gharbi or Western Buka a. Included within the vilayet of Soria, but with an independent administration, is the government of Lebanon properly so called, a region some 87 miles long, which in virtue of an ordinance published by the Porte in concert with the protecting powers in 1861 and revised in 1864 is ruled by a governor, who must be a Christian, indirect dependence on Constantinople. The seat of the pasha is at present at Ba abda, 6 miles south-east from Bey rout, his summer residence being at Btcddin. The pashalik is subdivided into the lieutenancies of Jurd, Batrun, Kasrawan, Metn, Zahle, Shuf, and Jezzin. A somewhat different account of the districts is given in the statistical statement (1875) of the English consul at Beyront: District. Chief Place. Moham medans. Maronites. Druses. Orthodox Greek. Catholic Greek. Metafile. Other Sects. Total. Shuf 4 426 14,472 20,274 4,546 3,756 520 292 48,286 170 G,150 46 310 3,042 1,402 11,120 Deir el-Kamar Deir el-Kamar 2,342 22 352 2,716 Metn Zahle Ke.srawan Behannes Zahle Ghazfr 130 72 380 27,986 1,364 35,366 4746 9,292 1,324 1,004 3,310 5,892 604 798 30 3,436 34 46,296 8,682 40,790 Hatrtin Torsa 46,060 2,542 356 1.574 50,532 Kiir.i Beshmessin 1,076 1,996 8,962 8 40 12,082 Total 6 254 135,736 25,088 27,980 17,320 7,800 326 220,504 The statistics accompanying the French map of 1862 give the population of Lebanon proper as some 100,000 in excess of these figures, but there can be no doubt of the inaccuracy of this esti mate. The same authority gives the districts (taken in order from north to south) as follow : Akkar, ed-Dunniye, el-Kura (Upper and Lower), ez-Zawiye, Bsherre, Batrun, Jebeil, Muneitira, el-Fetuh, Kesrawan, el-Metn, Zahle, es-Sahil, el-Gharb, el-Manasif, Shahar, Jurd, Arkiib, Shuf, Jezzin, Riha*, Kharnub, TurTah, Shakif, Shumar Beshara, Merj Ayun. Hule and the towns of Sidon, Beyrout, and Tripoli are also reckoned in this account as belonging to Lebanon. It also enumerates the following districts: Maron ites. Orthod. Greek. Cath. Greek. Druses. MetiC- wile Moham. Total. Hasbaya 820 4,610 170 5,080 3,140 13,820 Rashaya 800 4,000 7.000 500 12,300 BukiC a 4,100 3,000 2,100 500 2,000 7,500 19,200 Baalbek 6,000 2,000 4,000 8,000 1,200 21,200