The mountain-chain now turns south-west, and terminates abruptly in the rocky point called in Arabic _Ras El Khanzîr_, ‘The Pig’s Head,’ while its southern slopes descend steeply to the estuary of the Orontes. Beyond, the mountainous character of the coast is continued south in the Jebel Ansarîa (or Bargylus Mountains), which hold on until broken by the broad rift which divides them from the Lebanon. Hugging the eastern side of this range the Orontes River comes northward, and turning sharply where the mountains break, it flows past Antioch south-westward to the sea. At the bend it is joined by the Afrîn River and the Kara Su in a broad and swampy hollow almost shut in by the mountain-ranges and the eastern plains. The sources of the Orontes are found in the northern region of the Anti-Lebanon, and here the southern limit of the Hittite monuments is reached.[18] In this vicinity was Kadesh, the frontier fortress of the Hittites that figures so prominently in the battle-scenes of Egypt. Here, too, is Homs, now a remarkable Arab city, at the junction of the main routes from Damascus to Aleppo, and from Palmyra to Tripolis on the sea. Further north is Restan, strongly placed at a bend of the river on a steep and naturally defended knoll. Further again is Hamath, where the main road and the river separate, the latter turning westward to seek its green bed below the mountains, and the former holding on directly towards Aleppo across the plains. Here, at Hamath, were found the hieroglyphic inscriptions which first gave rise to systematic Hittite studies. Here, too, types of people are found strongly reminiscent of the past, like living models of the ancient sculptures.[19] [Illustration: PLATE VII BEILAN: VIEW OF THE VILLAGE AT THE SUMMIT OF THE PASS (_See p. 15._)] This district, in the head-waters of the Orontes, was not only the Hittite frontier, but was such as the Hittites in the period of their settlement seem to have delighted in. Here their walled towns and citadels sprang up, in the midst of a land well watered and reasonably fertile, under the shadow of mountains which cut them off from the sea and from their enemy of the South; while behind the road was open to call up in necessity the assistance of the northern branches of their people. * * * * *