LEBANON, or LIRANVS, is a celebrated mountain of Asia, on the borders of Palestine and Syria. It is part of a group in the form of a horse-shoe, which commences a lit tle above Smyrna, about three or four leagues horn the Mediterranean, and extending southwards towards Sidon, takes an easterly direction towards Damascus, and thence winds northward. The name of Lebanon is given to the western ridge, and Antilcbanon to the eastern, comprehend ing Ccelosyria between them.
Mount Lebanon is said to be composed of a hard calca reous stone of a whitish colour, sonorous like freestone, and arranged in strata of various inclinations. The celebrat ed traveller, M. Burckhardt, whose recent death is so deep ly deplored, ascended this mountain in 1811, and has stated in a letter to Dr. E. D. Clarke, that it is composed of pri mitive limestone.
From a very vague calculation, Volney has estimated the height of Lebanon at 1500 or 1600 fathoms. It is about 100 leagues in compass, and consists of four ridges rising one above another. The first ridge produces grain and fruits in great abundance ; the second, which is rocky and barren, produces nothing but thorns ; the third is covered with fruitful gardens and orchards ; and the last, which is uninhabitable from the extreme cold, is covered with deep snows, which remain almost all the year.
The rivers which flow from this mountain, are the Jor dan, Rocham, Nahar-Rossian, and Nahar-Cadicha, and se veral smaller streams.
The wines of Lebanon have long been celebrated. The principal of these is the Vino d'Oro, or golden coloured wine, which is not boiled, but purifies itself by keeping. The vintage commences about the end of September.
Mount Lebanon is chiefly inhabited by the illaronites, and by the wild Arabs, of the sect of Kali. The convent occupied by the Maronite patriarch consists of various grottos, of which the church is the largest, cut out of the rock. It lies in a deep bottom, to which there is a narrow and steep descent. See Volney's Travels in Syria, and Clarke's Travels, vol. ii. p. 456.