DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10358#0047
26
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
Lebanon :— i. The ancient " Cedars of the Lord" above Bsherreh, three hundred and ninety-three
in number (see page 474, vol. i.). 2. The grove at the fountain of Ehden, fifty trees. 3. The
oreat prove between El Hadeth and Niha, numbering; tens of thousands of trees, covers an
area of nearly twelve miles. 4. A smaller grove farther south on the summit and brink of the
precipice. 5. The scattered trees above Duma. 6. The Ain Zehalteh grove of ten thousand
trees, cut down by Murad Akil, and now growing up again. 7. A small grove on the cliff
overhanging El Meduk. 8. A small cluster near Kul'at el Bizzeh. o. The fine grove of
Masir el Fukhkhar, about three hundred trees, some of great size. 10. The forest of Jird el
Baruk, thousands of trees. 1 r. The eastern grove of Baruk, about two hundred trees.
The first historical notice of the cedars of Lebanon is in the reign of David, when this
monarch built himself a palace of cedar-wood (2 Samuel v. 11). Solomon caused cedars to be
brought from Lebanon for the building of the Temple, and they were floated down the coast
from Jebeil to Jaffa, after being cut by the " four score thousand hewers in the mountains."
In 536 B.C. Zerubbabel hired the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon "to bring cedar-trees from
Lebanon to the Sea of Joppa." The cedar was also used in ship-building and in idol
manufacture. Tiglath Pileser, after his successful campaigns against the Khatti and the
Hittites and the subjugation of Carchemish, visited the Lebanon for the purpose of obtaining
cedar-wood to adorn the temples and palaces of Kileh Shergat. The groves of Lebanon have
thus been despoiled for three thousand years by the kings of the adjacent countries, until the
upper ranges are quite denuded, and the voracity of the flocks of goats in nipping the tender
shoots, and the rapacity of the fellahin, are preventing the growth of new forests from the seed.
Were it not for the energetic action of the Lebanon Government the whole mountain would
soon be stripped of its forest glory.
The geological formation of Lebanon is the lower cretaceous limestone with a stratum of
ferruginous sandstone running through it almost from one end to the other, and here and there
an outcropping of trap, amygdaloid or partially columnar. In the sandstone is a well-defined
stratum of bituminous coal or lignite, which crops out at Korna.il and elsewhere in the district
of El Metn, east of Beirut (see sketch map, page 12). The Jura limestone has been found by
Professor Lewis, of the Beirut College, in but one place, at Mejdel Shems, on the southern
slope of Mount Hermon, where the Jurassic fossils, such as half-crystallized Ammonites, &c,
have been found in great profusion.
The strata of the Lebanon rocks, upheaved by mighty internal convulsions of nature,
stand at every conceivable angle of inclination. On the very top of Ard Akluk is a singular
battlemented hill called Jebel Akluk, looking in the distance like an artificial fortress. Passing
around it on the west, we turn south-east and begin the four-mile descent to Akura, which
lies at the head of the great valley of Mogheriye, or " little cavern." To the east of the
village rises a rock wall one thousand feet in height, through which a narrow chasm has been
rent, opening a highway to the east, the shortest route from this point, via Ain Rumeh, to the
Cedars and to Baalbek, via Yamuneh (see page 15). The village is small, but the sides of
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
Lebanon :— i. The ancient " Cedars of the Lord" above Bsherreh, three hundred and ninety-three
in number (see page 474, vol. i.). 2. The grove at the fountain of Ehden, fifty trees. 3. The
oreat prove between El Hadeth and Niha, numbering; tens of thousands of trees, covers an
area of nearly twelve miles. 4. A smaller grove farther south on the summit and brink of the
precipice. 5. The scattered trees above Duma. 6. The Ain Zehalteh grove of ten thousand
trees, cut down by Murad Akil, and now growing up again. 7. A small grove on the cliff
overhanging El Meduk. 8. A small cluster near Kul'at el Bizzeh. o. The fine grove of
Masir el Fukhkhar, about three hundred trees, some of great size. 10. The forest of Jird el
Baruk, thousands of trees. 1 r. The eastern grove of Baruk, about two hundred trees.
The first historical notice of the cedars of Lebanon is in the reign of David, when this
monarch built himself a palace of cedar-wood (2 Samuel v. 11). Solomon caused cedars to be
brought from Lebanon for the building of the Temple, and they were floated down the coast
from Jebeil to Jaffa, after being cut by the " four score thousand hewers in the mountains."
In 536 B.C. Zerubbabel hired the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon "to bring cedar-trees from
Lebanon to the Sea of Joppa." The cedar was also used in ship-building and in idol
manufacture. Tiglath Pileser, after his successful campaigns against the Khatti and the
Hittites and the subjugation of Carchemish, visited the Lebanon for the purpose of obtaining
cedar-wood to adorn the temples and palaces of Kileh Shergat. The groves of Lebanon have
thus been despoiled for three thousand years by the kings of the adjacent countries, until the
upper ranges are quite denuded, and the voracity of the flocks of goats in nipping the tender
shoots, and the rapacity of the fellahin, are preventing the growth of new forests from the seed.
Were it not for the energetic action of the Lebanon Government the whole mountain would
soon be stripped of its forest glory.
The geological formation of Lebanon is the lower cretaceous limestone with a stratum of
ferruginous sandstone running through it almost from one end to the other, and here and there
an outcropping of trap, amygdaloid or partially columnar. In the sandstone is a well-defined
stratum of bituminous coal or lignite, which crops out at Korna.il and elsewhere in the district
of El Metn, east of Beirut (see sketch map, page 12). The Jura limestone has been found by
Professor Lewis, of the Beirut College, in but one place, at Mejdel Shems, on the southern
slope of Mount Hermon, where the Jurassic fossils, such as half-crystallized Ammonites, &c,
have been found in great profusion.
The strata of the Lebanon rocks, upheaved by mighty internal convulsions of nature,
stand at every conceivable angle of inclination. On the very top of Ard Akluk is a singular
battlemented hill called Jebel Akluk, looking in the distance like an artificial fortress. Passing
around it on the west, we turn south-east and begin the four-mile descent to Akura, which
lies at the head of the great valley of Mogheriye, or " little cavern." To the east of the
village rises a rock wall one thousand feet in height, through which a narrow chasm has been
rent, opening a highway to the east, the shortest route from this point, via Ain Rumeh, to the
Cedars and to Baalbek, via Yamuneh (see page 15). The village is small, but the sides of