L E B L E B 395
The Maronites, as the preceding statistics show, are the principal element of the Lebanon population; for the DRUSES, see vol. vii. p. 483. The Metáwile, who enjoy no good reputation, are Shi'ite Mohammedans; their sheikh resides at Jeba'a in South Lebanon. Of late years Pro testantism, through the agency of the American mission at Beyrout, has begun to take some hold of the population, and is daily gaining ground. The Catholic missions also, with Beyrout for their centre, are meeting with some success, and the Western schools are indisputably affecting the culture and manners of the country. The present comparative security of life and property are highly favourable to its development. Since the violent outbreak of 1860, the bloody contests between the Maronites and Druses have not been renewed, although the mutual hatred still continues. To what has been already said on this subject (voL vii. p. 485), it may here be added that the primary object of the Lebanon mountaineers is before everything the maintenance of their national freedom, and that the responsibility for the massacres of 1860 rests chiefly upon the Turkish Government (Ahmet Pasha of Damascus). The property of the Maronites had been promised to the Druses, and the Maronites on the other hand had been persuaded to disarm; as soon as the latter had done so they were attacked by Druses and Turks together. In Deir el-Kamar alone, the chief place of South Lebanon, eighteen hundred Maronites perished. Since the pacification of the country by foreign intervention, particularly on the part of Napoleon III., the Druses have withdrawn more into the inaccessible Hauran. Although every inhabitant of Lebanon still retains his warrior habits, and willingly enough joins the highland troops (six hundred regular soldiers), the situation is now much more pacific, a circumstance due in large measure to the fact that the power of the numerous noble families has been much curtailed. On the other hand the clergy, although for the most part an extremely uneducated body of men, has great influence among the Maronites. The number of Maronite monks in the mountain district is said to reach eight thousand. The monasteries possess a large portion of the best land, which is cultivated by the monks themselves, and is quite exempt from all public burdens. Other land is liable to be taxed annually at the rate of 3s. 6d. upon every £55 of assessed value; there is, besides, a poll tax exigible from every healthy male from the age of fourteen until he becomes unfit for work. The village head (sheikh), for every £8 of taxes, is entitled to exact from the inhabitants 4s. for his own remuneration. Every inhabitant must devote to the public service four days of free labour in the year. The gross revenue of Lebanon, which amounts to about £32,000 per annum, doss not cover the expenses of administration.
The Lebanon mountaineers are a fine vigorous set of men. In what relates to dress they show a preference for gay colours. Tattooing is universal in both sexes. Their diligence is worthy of all praise. In the upper regions cattle breeding is the chief occupation; the numerous flocks of sheep and goats are the great obstacle to forestry in these parts. No care is taken to protect the woods. For practical utility the trees which are planted (besides various fruit trees, especially figs) are the white poplar (for building purposes), the walnut, the olive, and above all the mulberry, silk culture being an important industry with the mountain population, and still remunerative notwithstanding the occasional fall of prices. In 1872 the production amounted to 2,000,000 okes (about 5,000,000 lb) of fresh cocoons, from which 1,200,000 okes of raw silk and 200,000 okes of silk fabrics were produced, the latter exclusively for home use. The vine is cultivated, and with great care, at an elevation of 3900 to 5200 feet. Unfortunately the wine is simply stored in large stone jars, there being neither barrels nor cellars; the consequence is that it cannot be kept – in point of fact it is seldom more than a year old – and exportation is impossible. The excellent Lebanon white wine known as vino d'oro belongs to the class of sweet wines. Amongst the mineral products coal deserves special mention; the beds are thick, but the presence of iron pyrites prevents it from coming into more general use. Some shafts, from which bitumen is obtained, occur in the neighbourhood of Hasbaya; also petroleum wells. The chief food crops are wheat, Holeus sorghum, and barley, the last being cultivated as high as 6500 feet above the sea. Tobacco culture is universal.
Throughout the whole of Lebanon, but especially on the slope towards the sea, carefully tended terraces occur. The houses, little four-cornered boxes, generally shaded by a walnut or fig tree, stand as a rule upon the slope; the roof is formed by pine stems upon which other timber, brushwood, and finally a coating of mud clay are laid. Under good government Lebanon, with its able and vigorous population, would rapidly develop.
Literature. – Ritter, Die Erdkunde von Asien: Die Sinai-Halbinsel, Palästina, u. Syrien, 2d ed., Berlin, 1848-55; Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine and the adjacent Regions (London, 1856), and Physical Geography of the Holy Land (London, 1865); R. F. Burton and C. F. Tyrwhitt Drake, Unexplored Syria, London, 1872; Churchill, Ten Years Residence in Mount Lebanon, 3 vols., 1853; De Rialle, "L'Antiliban," in the Bull. de la Soc. de Géogr., 5th ser., xvi. 225 sq., Paris, 1868; O. Fraas, Drei Monate am Libanon (Stuttgart, 1876), and Aus dem Orient (pt. ii., "Geologische Beobachtungen am Libanon," Stuttgart, 1878); Kotschy, "Der Libanon u. seine Alpenflora" in the Verhandl. d. K.-K. zoolog.-botan. Gesellschaft, Vienna, 1864; Porter, Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine, London, 1875; Socin, Palestine and Syria, a handbook for travellers, Bädeker, Leipsic, 1876. For maps, see Burton and Socin-Bädeker, also Van de Velde's Map of the Holy Land (Gotha, 1858; Germ, ed., 1866), and the Carte du Liban d'après les reconnaissances de la brigade topographique du corps expeditionnaire de Syrie en 1860-61, prepared at the French War Office, Paris, 1862. (A. SO.)
LEBANON, a manufacturing "borough" of the United States, capital of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, is situated on the Union Canal, 24 miles east of Harrisburg by the Lebanon Valley branch of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway. It is substantially built in brick and stone, and is steadily increasing in importance. Its principal industrial establishments are blast furnaces, rolling mills, car-works, planing mills, foundries, and manufactories of organs, paper, cigars, carriages, and agricultural implements. About 7 miles distant are the Cornwall Ore Banks, three eminences – Grassy, Middle, and Big Hill – consisting almost entirely of iron-ore veined with copper. The town was laid out in 1750, and incorporated as a borough in 1813; gas was introduced in 1857, and in 1872 water was brought into the place by gravitation at an expense of $250,000. The population of Lebanon has increased from 2184 in 1850 to 6727 in 1870, and 8778 in 1880.
LEBDA. See LEPTIS.
LE BEAU, Charles (1701-1778), a French historical writer, was born at Paris on October 15, 1701, and was educated at the College de Sainte-Barbe and the Collége du Plessis; at the latter he remained as a teacher after the termination of his course as a pupil, until he obtained the chair of rhetoric in the College des Grassins. In 1748 he was admitted a member of the Academy of Inscriptions, and in 1752 he was nominated professor of eloquence in the Collége de France. From 1755 he held the office of perpetual secretary to the Academy of Inscriptions, in which capacity he edited fifteen volumes (from the 25th to the 39th inclusive) of the Histoire of that institution. He died at Paris on March 13, 1778.
