ANTI-LEBANON. —The centre and culminating point of Anti-lebanon is HERNION. From it a number of ranges radiate, like the ribs of a half open fan. The first and loftiest runs north-east, parallel to Lebanon, and separated from it by the valley of Ccele-syria, whose average breadth is about six miles. This ridge is the back-bone ol Anti-Iebanon. Where it joins Hermon it is broad, irregular, intersected by numerous valleys and little fertile plains, and covered with thin forests of dwarf oak. Its elevation is not more than 4500 feet. Advancing northward its features become wilder and grander, oak trees give place to juniper, and the elevation increases until, above the beautiful plain of Zebedany—which lies embosomed in its very centre—it attains a. height of about 7o00 feet (Van de Velde, Memoir, 175). From this point to the parallel of Da'albek there is little change in the elevation or scenery. Beyond the latter it begins to fall, and declines gradually until at length it sinks down into the great plain of Hamath, eight miles east of Riblah, and sixteen south of Emesa. With the exception of the little upland plains, and a few of the deeper valleys, this ridge is incapable of cultivation. The sides are steep and rugged, in many places sheer precipices of naked, jaoed rock, nearly woo feet high. They are not so bare or bleak, however, as the higher summits of Lebanon. Vegetation is abundant among the rocks ; and though the inhabitants are few and far between, immense flocks of sheep and goats are pastured upon the mountains, and wild beasts—bears, boars, wolves, jackals, hyrias, foxes—are far more abun dant than in any other part of Syria or Palestine (Porter's Damascus, ii. 315).
The lowest and last of the ridges that radiate from Hermon runs nearly due east along the mag nificent plain of Damascus, and continues onward to Palmyra. Its average elevation is not more than 3000 feet, and it does not rise more than about 7oo feet above the plain, though some of its peaks are much higher. Its rock is chalky, ahnost pure white, and entirely naked—not a tree, or shrub, or patch of verdure, is anywhere seen upon it. It
thus forms a remarkable contrast to the rich green of the plain of Damascus. From the central range to this ridge, there is a descent, by a series of broad bare terraces or plateaus, supported by long conti nuous walls of bare whitish limestone, varying from too to moo feet in height. Nothing could be more dreary or desolate than the scenery on these steppes. The gravelly soil, in many places thickly strewn with dints, is as bare as the cliffs that bound them. Yet they are intersected by several rich and beauti ful glens, so deep, however, that their verdure and foliage cannot be seen from a distance. Towards the east these steppes gradually expand into broad upland plains, and poi tions of them are irrigated and tilled. On them stand the small but ancient towns of Yabrfid, Nebk, Jerfid, etc., around which madder is successfully cultivated.
Rivers. —Anti-lebanon is the source of the four great rivers of Syria. The Orontes, springing from the western base of the main ridge, beside the ruins of Lybo, flows away northward through a broad rich vale, laving in its course the walls of Emesa, Ilamath, Apamea, and Antioch. The .727-dan, Palestine's sacred river, bursting from the side of Ifermon, rolls down its deep mysterious valley into the Sea of Death. The A bana, the golden flowing' stream of Damascus (Chrysorrhoas, Pliny, v. 16 ; also called Bardines, Steph. Byz.; See ABANA) rises on the western side of the main ridge, cuts through it and the others, and falls into the lake east of the city. The Leontes, Phcenicia's nameless stream, has its two principal fountains at the western base of Anti-lebanon, beside Chalcis and Ba'albek (Porter, Damascus, i. 11; Robinson, iii. 498, 5o6). The only other streams of Anti lebanon are the Pharpar, now called el-'Awaj, rising on the eastern flank of Hermon [PHARPAR]; and the torrent which flows down the fertile glen of Helbon [HELBoN] into the plain of Damascus.