sweeping round their base, runs first west and then south-west down the
broad valley of Antioch, in the midst of the most lovely scenery, to the
coast, which it reaches a little above the 36th parallel, in long. 35°
55'. The course of the Orontes, exclusive of lesser windings, is about
200 miles. It is a considerable stream almost from its source. At Hamah,
more than a hundred miles from its mouth, it is crossed by a bridge
of thirteen arches. At Antioch it is fifty yards in width, and runs
rapidly. The natives now call it the Nahr-el-Asy, or "Rebel River,"
either from its running in an opposite direction to all other streams of
the country, or (more probably) from its violence and impetuosity.

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