SYRIA, OR EGYPTIAN ASIA. 



911 



or Lake of Tiberias ; INazareth, the early residence of the Savior ; the plain of Esdraelon, the 

 theatre of many actions in Jewish history, as well as in the times of the crusades ; the moun- 

 tains of Gilboa, where the Philistines gained a signal triumph over the chosen people ; the 

 village of Cana, the scene of the first miracle of Jesus, are all within the sphere of vision. 



3. Rivers and Lakes. The Orontes is the principal river of this region ; it rises in the 

 Anti-Libanus, and reaches the sea after a course of 250 miles. The other rivers are small. The 

 Jordan^, or Jlrden, rises in Mount Hermon in the chain of the Anti-Libanus, and flows througl; 

 the small Lake of Genesareth, or Tiberias^ into the lake called by writers the Dead Sea. The 



Sea of Tiberias. 



latter is a small body of water, about 60 miles long, and from 10 to 15 wide ; its waters are 

 salt and bitterish, and remarkable for their great weight ; they abound in asphaltum, a sort of 

 bituminous substance, whence the lake is also called Lake JlsphaUites. It is supposed to oc- 

 cupy the site of the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, whose guilty inhabitants were 

 engulfed in its gloomy waves. 



4. Climate and Vegetation. The climate of Syria is for the most part like that of North- 

 ern Africa, but there are districts in the north where the cold is 

 too great for the free growth of the date, orange, and lemon. " It 

 has been remarked," says Malte Brun, " that if the advantages 

 of nature were duly seconded by the eflorts of human skill, we 

 might, in the space of 20 leagues, bring together in Syria all the 

 vegetable riches of the most distant countries. Besides wheat, 

 rye, barley, beans, and the cotton-plant, which are cultivated eve- 

 rywhere, there are several objects of utility or pleasure, peculiar 

 to different localities. Palestine, for instance, abounds in sesa- 

 mum, which affords oil, and dhoura, similar to that of Egypt. 

 Maize thrives in the light soil of Balbec, and rice is cultivated 

 with success along the marsh of Haoule. Within these 25 years 

 the sugar-canes introduced into the gardens of Saide and Bei- 

 rout ; indigo grows without culture on the banks of the .lordan, and tobacco is cultivated in all 

 the mountains. The white mulberry forms the riches of the Druses, and the vines furnish 

 red and white wines equal to those of Bordeaux. .Jaffa boasts of its lemons and watermelons ; 

 Gaza possesses the dates of Mecca, and the pomegranate of Algiers. Tripoli has oranges 

 which vie with those of Rlalta ; Beirout has figs like Marseilles, and bananas like St. Do- 

 mingo ; Aleppo is unequaled for pistachio-nuts, and Damascus possesses all the fruits of Eu- 

 rope, apples, plums, and peaches growing with equal facility on her rocky soil." A peculiai 



