The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 4: Babylon: The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.Rawlinson, George
History
The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 4: Babylon: The History, Geography, And Antiquities Of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, Persia, Parthia, And Sassanian or New Persian Empire; With Maps and Illustrations.
There is one tributary of the Orontes which deserves a cursory mention.
This is the Kara Su, or “Black River,” which reaches it from the Aga
Denghis, or Bahr-el-Abiyad, about five miles below Jisr Hadid and four
or five above Antioch. This stream brings into the Orontes the greater
part of the water that is drained from the southern side of Amanus. It
is formed by a union of two rivers, the upper Kara Su and the Afrin,
which flow into the Aga Denghis (White Sea), or Lake of Antioch, from
the north-west, the one entering it at its northern, the other at its
eastern extremity. Both are considerable streams; and the Kara Su on
issuing from the lake carries a greater body of water than the Orontes
itself, and thus adds largely to the volume of that stream in its lower
course from the point of junction to the Mediterranean.
The Litany, or river of Tyre, rises from a source at no great distance
from the head springs of the Orontes. The almost imperceptible watershed
of the Buka’a runs between Yunin and Baalbek, a few miles north of
the latter; and when it is once passed, the drainage of the water is
southwards. The highest permanent fountain of the southern stream seems
to be a small 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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