OR LEBANON.) (3) Vegetable Productions. Phcenicia was distinguished by the variety of its vegetable pro ductions. This variety was occasioned by the great diversity of climate produced by the di versity in the elevation of the soil. The Lebanon is said to bear winter on its head, spring On its shoulders, autumn in its lap, and to have summer at its feet. The fertility of Phcenicia is increased by the numerous streams whose springs are in Mount Lebanon. Even in the Song of Solomon we read the praises of the spring of living waters which flows down front Lebanon. The dense population assembled in the great mercantile towns greatly contributed to augment by artificial means the natural fertility of the soil.
The population of the country is at present very much reduced, but there are still found aqueducts and artificial vineyards formed of mold carried up to the terraces of the naked rock. Ammianus Marcellinus says, Plzwilice regio plena gratiarion et vciiiistatis, tirbibits decorato ',lavas et pulchris —Phcenicia is a charming and beautiful country, adorned with large and elegant cities.
Even now this country is among the most fertile in Western Asia. It produces wheat, rye, and barley, and, besides the more ordinary fruits, also apricots, peaches, pomegranates, almonds, cit rons, oranges, figs, dates, sugar-cane, and grapes, which furnish an excellent wine. In addition to thesc products, it yields cotton, silk, and tobacco. The country is also adorned by the variegated flowers of oleander and cactus.
The higher regions are distinguished from the bare mountains of Palestine by being covered with oaks, pines, cypress trees, acacias, and tamarisks; and above all by majestic cedars, of which there are still a few very old trees, whose stems meas ure from thirty to forty feet in circumfercnce. The inhabitants of Sur still carry on a profitable traffic with the produce of Mt. Lebanon, namely, wood and charcoal.
(4) Animal Productions. Phcenicia produces also flocks of sheep and goats; and innumerable swarms of bccs supply excellent honey. In the
forests there are bears, wolves, panthers, and jackals. The sea furnishes great quantities of fish, so that Sidon, the most ancient among the Plicenician towns, derived its name from fishing. Concerning the natural geography of Phcenicia, compare especially the works of Forbiger,Raumer, and Robinson; also Winer, vol. ii. p. 3o.
(5) Inhabitants. The inhabitants of Phcenicia might at the first view appear to have derived their origin from the same source (pre-Abra hamite) as the Hebrews, for they spoke the same language.
In the Old Testament the Phcenicians and Ca naanites are, however, described as descending, not from Shem, but from Ham. Herodotus, also, on the authority of some Persian historians, states that the Phcenicians came as colonists to the Sy rian coasts from the Erythrxan Sea. The first Phcenician colony was Sidon, which is therefore called in Genesis (x:15) the first-born of Ca naan. But soon other colonies arose, like Arka (Gen. x :17), Aradus, and Smyrna (Gen. x :18), etc., whose power extended beyond the Jordan, and who drove out before them the earlier inhabi tants of Palestine. Hence it arose that the ap pellation, 'the land of Canaan,' was transferred to the whole of Palestine, although it is by no means a country of a low level, but is full of high ele vations. However, the Canaanites, in a stricter sense, were the people who resided in the lower regions along the coast, and on the banks of the Jordan.
When the Israelites conquered the country, the Canaanites on the Phcenician coast, who resided in powerful maritime towns, preserved their inde pendence, and were called Canaanites in particu lar. Thus we read, in Is. XXiii :II, the term Ca naan, in the signification of Phcenicia. The same word has also this meaning in the inscriptions on the Phcenician coins. In the Septuagint the He brew word is frequently translated foi-nix, ln Job x1:3o, A. V. xli :6, the Hebrew word means a merchant, because the Phcenicians were the most important of all mercantile nations.