Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/15

 THE AMERICAN CYCLOPAEDIA PALESTINE T)ALESTI]VE (Gr. HahatGrivij, derived from the JL Heb. Pelesheth, Philistia), a country of western Asia, now forming a part of the Turk- ish empire, bounded N. by the Lebanon moun- tains, which separate it from Ccele-Syria, E. and S. by the desert which separates it from Arabia and Egypt, and W. by the Mediterra- nean. It lies between lat. 30 40' and 33 15' K, and Ion. 33 45' and 36 30' E. ; length about 200 m., average breadth 60 m. ; area, 12,000 sq. m. ; pop. estimated at 300,000. The name Palestine was never applied by the an- cient Hebrews to anything more than the southern portion of the coast region, as synony- mous with Philistia; and when it occurs in the English translation of the Bible it has this sense. The earlier Greek usage was the same ; but under the Romans it became the general name for the whole country of the Jews, and Josephus nses it in both the early and the later application. Modern Palestine is included in the vilayet of Syria, and contains the two sub- pashalics of Acre and Jerusalem. It is a " land of hills and valleys." It is remarkably sepa- rated by mountain and desert from other coun- tries, and its seashore is without any good harbor. The ancient harbor of Caasarea, the principal port during the Eoman dominion, was entirely artificial, and the ruins of its break- water are now only a dangerous reef. From Tyre, which is N. of Palestine proper, to the borders of Egypt, there is now but one port, Jaffa, and this only allows landing by boats under favorable circumstances. From the coast on the west the land rises rapidly to a moun- tainous height in the centre, and declines on the other side to the low level of the desert, being cleft through the centre IT. and S. by the deep valley of the Jordan. This depression, called by the Arabs el-Ghor, is the most char- acteristic feature of the physical geography of Palestine, and corresponds with the valley of the Orontes and Leontes in Coele-Syria, and with the wady Arabah in Arabia Petraaa. The coast level varies much in breadth, being in some places only a narrow pass between the mountains and the sea, and in others expand- ing into plains of considerable width. The southern portion of the coast level is termed in the Scriptures the plain or low country (Heb. SJiefelaJi), and the western part of it was the abode of the Philistines. This plain is very fertile, and is covered with corn fields. N". of it is a plain less level and fertile, the Sharon of the Scriptures, a land of fine pastures, which under the Eoman empire contained Cassarea, the Roman capital of Palestine. Be- yond Csesarea the plain grows narrower, un- til it is terminated by Mt. Oarmel, N. of which lies the plain of Acre, about 15 m. long from N. to S., and about 5 m. in average breadth from the seashore to the hills on the east. Mt. Carmel is a ridge about 10 m. long and 1,500 ft. high, stretching N. by W., and ter- minating at the sea in a high promontory which encloses on the south the bay of Acre. North of Mt. Carmel are the Lebanon moun- tains (in the wider sense), which consist of two parallel ranges running N. into Syria, and en- closing between them a beautiful and fertile plain, called in Scripture the valley of Leba- non, and by the classic writers Coele-Syria, the " hollow or enclosed Syria." This plain, only the extreme southern portion of which is in Palestine, is 90 m. long and from 10 to 20 m. broad, except at the S. end, where it is nar- rower. The western range of these mountains runs nearly parallel to the sea, into which it projects several promontories ; and its average elevation is about 7,000 ft., while its loftiest summits, including Jebel Timarun (10,533 ft. according to Burton) and Jebel Makmel (9,998 ft.), are covered with perpetual snow. These summits are outside of Palestine, as is the nat-