See _Journal asiatique_ (1877), vol. i. pp. 377-386. (G. W. T.)

CARMAUX, a town of southern France, in the department of Tarn, on the
left bank of the Cerou, 10 m. N. of Albi by rail. Pop. (1906) 8618. The
town gives its name to an important coal-basin, and carries on the
manufacture of glass.

CARMEL, the mountain promontory by which the seacoast of Palestine is
interrupted south of the Bay of Acre, 32 deg. 50' N., 35 deg. E. It
continues as a ridge of oolitic limestone, broken by ravines and
honeycombed by caves, running for about 20 m. in a south-easterly
direction, and finally joining the mountains of Samaria. Its maximum
height is at '_Esfia_, 1760 ft. It was included in the territory of the
tribe of Asher. No great political event is recorded in connexion with
it; it appears throughout the Old Testament "either as a symbol or as a
sanctuary"; its name means "garden-land." Its fruitfulness is referred
to by Isaiah and by Amos; Micah describes it as wooded, to which was no
doubt due its value as a hiding-place (Amos ix. 3). It is now wild, only
a few patches being cultivated; most of the mountain is covered with a
thick brushwood of evergreens, oaks, myrtles, pines, &c., which is
gradually being cleared away. That the cultivation was once much more
extensive is indicated by the large number of rock-hewn wine and olive
presses. Vines and olives are now found at '_Esfia_ only. The
outstanding position of Carmel, its solitariness, its visibility over a
wide area of country, and its fertility, marked it out as a suitable
place for a sanctuary from very ancient times. It is possibly referred
to in the Palestine lists of Thothmes III. as _Rosh Kodsu_, "the holy
headland." An altar of Jehovah existed here from early times; it was
destroyed when the Phoenician Baal claimed the country under Jezebel,
and repaired by Elijah (1 Kings xviii. 30) before the great sacrifice
which decided the claims of the contending deities. The traditional site
of this sacrifice is at _El-Muhraka_, at the eastern end of the ridge.
The Druses still visit this site, where is a dilapidated structure of
stones, as a holy place for sacrifice. On the bank of the Kishon below
is a mound known as _Tell el-Kusis_, "the Priest's mound," but the
connexion that has been sought between this name and the slaughter of
the priests of Baal is hardly justifiable. Other sites on the hill are
traditionally connected with Elijah, and some melon