mall lake near Tel Hushben, which lies about six miles to the
south-west of the Baalbek ruins. Springing from this source the Litany
flows along the lower Buka'a in a direction which is generally a little
west of south, receiving on either side a number of streamlets and
rills from Libanus and Anti-libanus, and giving out in its turn numerous
canals for irrigation, which fertilize the thirsty soil. As the stream
descends with numerous windings, but still with the same general course,
the valley of the Buka'a contracts more and more, till finally it
terminates in a gorge, down which thunders the Litany--a gorge a
thousand feet or more in depth, and so narrow that in one place it
is actually bridged over by masses of rock which have fallen from the
jagged sides. Narrower and deeper grows the gorge, and the river chafes
and foams through it, gradually working itself round to the west, and so
clearing a way through the very roots of Lebanon to the low coast tract,
across which it meanders slowly, as if wearied with its long struggle,
before finally emptying itself into the sea. The course of the Litany
may be roughly estimated at from 70 to 75 miles.

The Barada, or river of Damascus, rises in the plain of Zebdany--the
very centre of the Antilibanus. It has its real permanent source in a
small nameless lake in the lower part of the plain, about lat. 33 deg.
41'; but in winter it is fed by streams flowing from the valley above,
especially by one which rises in lat. 33 deg. 46', near the small hamlet
of Ain Hawar. The course of the Barada from the small lake is at first
towards the east; but it soon sweeps round and flows-southward for about
four miles to the lower end of the plain, after which it again turns to
the east and enters a romantic glen, running between high cliffs, and
cutting through the main ridge of the Antilibanus between the Zebdany
plain and Suk, the Abila of the ancients. From Suk the river flows
through a narrow but lovely valley, in a course which has a general
direction of south-east, past Ain Fijoh (where its waters are greatly
increased), through a series of gorges and glens, to the point where the
roots of the Antilibanus sink down upon the plain, when it bursts forth
from the mountains and scatters. Channels are drawn from it on either
side, and its waters are spread far and wide over the Merj, which it
covers with fine trees and splendid herbage.

One branch passes right through the city, cutting it