394 LEBANON
much more extensive application. At present its full name is Buká'a el-'Aziz (the dear Buká'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 13½ miles. It rises from the plain of Ḥasya-Ḥomṣ, 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 Khashá'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'lúla, 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 Helbún, the ancient Chalybon, the Helbon of Ezek. xxvii. 18. The highest points of the range, reckoning from the north, are Halímat el-Kabu (8257 feet), which has a splendid view; the Fatly block, including Tal'at Músa (8721 feet) and the adjoining Jebel Nebi Bárúh (7900 feet); and a third group near Blúdán, in which the most prominent names are Shakif, Akhyar, and Abu'l-Hín (8330 feet). Of the valleys descending westward the first to claim mention is the Wády Yafúfa; a little further to the south, lying north and south, is the rich upland valley of Zebedáni, where the Baradá has its highest sources. Pursuing an easterly course of several hours, this stream receives the waters of the romantic 'Ain Fíje (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 Buká'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 Wády el-Harir, the level upland Sahlet Judeideh, the ravine of Wády el-Ḳarn, the ridge of 'Akabat et-Tín, the descent Daurat el-Billán, and finally the unpeopled plain of Dimás, from which it enters the valley of Baradá. This route marks the southern boundary of Antilibanus proper, where the Hermon 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 Buká'a; upon the eastern side of this ridge lies the elevated valley or hilly stretch known as Wády et-Teim. In the north, beside 'Ain Fálúj, it is connected by a low watershed with the Buká'a; from the gorge of the Litány it is separated by the ridge of Jebel ed-Ḍahr. 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 Hasbány branch of the Jordan lies the meadow-land Merj 'Iyún, 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 Aramæan
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 Phœnician
states, and it is possible that once and again their sovereignty may
have extended even into the Buká'a. Lebanon was also included
within the ideal boundaries of the land 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 Phœnice extended into Lebanon; in the 2d century it, along with the inland districts pertaining to it, constituted a subdivision of the province of Syria, having Emesa (Ḥomṣ) for its capital; from the time of Diocletian there was a Phœnice ad Libanum, with Emesa as capital, as well as a Phœnice 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 footing in 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 (Aramæan) 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 Buká'a Gharbi or Western Buká'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, in direct dependence on Constantinople. The seat of the pasha is at present at Ba'abda, 6 miles south-east from Beyrout, his summer residence being at Bteddin. The pashalik is subdivided into the lieutenancies of Jurd, Batrún, Kasrawán, Metn, Zahle, Shúf, and Jezzin. A somewhat different account of the districts is given in the statistical statement (1875) of the English consul at Beyrout: –
District. Chief Place. Mohammedans. Maronites. Druses. Orthodox Greek. Catholic Greek. Metáwile. Other Sects. Total. Shúf 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 Kesrawán Behannes Zahle Ghazír 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 Batrún Torsa 46,060 2,542 356 1.574 50,532 Kúra 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 estimate. The same authority gives the districts (taken in order from north to south) as follow: – Akkár, ed-Dunníye, el-Kúra (Upper and Lower), ez-Záwiye, Bsherre, Batrún, Jebeil, Muneitira, el-Fetúh, Kesrawán, el-Metn, Zahle, es-Sáhil, el-Gharb, el-Manásif, Shahar, Jurd, Arkúb, Shúf, Jezzín, Rihán, Kharnúb, Tuffáh, Shakíf, Shumár Beshára, Merj Ayún. 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 Buká'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
