Asia,
seeks conquests in Africa, or which, proceeding from Africa, aims at the
acquisition of an Asiatic dominion. Few richer tracts are to be found
even in these most favored portions of the earth's surface. Towards the
south the famous El-Bukaa is a land of cornfields and vineyards, watered
by numerous small streams which fall into the Litany. Towards the
north El-Ghab is even more splendidly fertile, with a dark rich soil,
luxuriant vegetation, and water in the utmost abundance, though at
present it is cultivated only in patches immediately about the towns,
from fear of the Nusairiyeh and the Bedouins.

[Illustration: PLATE VII.]

Parallel with the southern part of the Coele-Syrian valley, to the west
and to the east, were two small but important tracts, usually regarded
as distinct states. Westward, between the heights of Lebanon and the
sea, and extending somewhat beyond Lebanon, both up and down the coast,
was Phoenicia, a narrow strip of territory lying along the shore, in
length from 150 to 180 miles, and in breadth varying from one mile to
twenty. This tract consisted of a mere belt of sandy land along the sea,
where the smiling palm-groves grew from which the country derived its
name, of a broader upland region along the flank of the hills, which
was cultivated in grain, and of the higher slopes of the mountains
which furnished excellent timber. Small harbors, sheltered by rocky
projections, were frequent along the coast. Wood cut in Lebanon was
readily floated down the many streams to the shore, and then conveyed
by sea to the ports. A narrow and scanty land made commerce almost a
necessity. Here accordingly the first great maritime nation of antiquity
grew up. The Phoenician fleets explored the Mediterranean at a time
anterior to Homer, and conveyed to the Greeks and the other inhabitants
of Europe, and of Northern and Western Africa, the wares of Assyria,
Babylon, and Egypt. Industry and enterprise reaped their usual harvest
of success; the Phoenicians grew in wealth, and their towns became great
and magnificent cities. In the time when the Babylonian Empire came
into being, the narrow tract of Phoenicia--smaller than many an
English county--was among the most valuable countries of Asia; and its
possession was far more to be coveted than that of many a land whose
area was ten or twenty times as great.

Eastward of Antilibanus, in the tract between that range and the great
Syrian desert, was another v