Syria

Syria, in Asiatic Turkey, extends along the E. coast of the Mediterranean, from the Taurus range on the N. to Egypt and Arabia on the S., and has the Euphrates and the Syrian desert on the E. On the coast are some low sandy tracts, but it is generally precipitous, rising in Mount Carmel to 3,000 feet. [The portion of country between Libanus and the Sinai Peninsula is described under the word PALESTINE.] The peak of Jebel-el-Sheik in Anti-Libanus, 30 miles W. of Damascus, is ten or twelve thousand feet high, and forma a landmark through a wide stretch of country. The principal rivers are the Euphrates and Jordan, and the rivers that water Damascus. The valley between Libanus and Anti-Libanus was called Coele (hollow) Syria. The climate of the mountains is good, but the coast is unhealthy. The valleys of Libanus are very fertile, and produce corn, cotton, fruit, indigo, grapes, sugar canes, mulberries, olives, tobacco, and there are large forests. Game is plentiful, and domestic animals are the camel, ox, goat, sheep, mule, ass, horse. The bee is largely cultivated. Iron and some coal have been found, but exploration has not gone far. Trade is in a languishing state, though Damascus still manufactures silk and swords, and some silk is made at Aleppo and Beyrout. The last of these towns is the only port of any commercial consequence. The inhabitants number almost 3,000,000, and consist of Syrians, Arabs, Turks, Greeks, and Jews, besides nomad Turkomans, Kurds and Bedouins. The mountaineers are Druses and the Christian Maronites. Their quarrels led to the intervention of the Western Powers in 1861. Syria has belonged successively to Assyria, Persia, Greece, Rome, the Byzantine Empire, the Arabs, and the Turks, and was from 1833-40 in the hands of Mehemet Ali.